wellownedbkup | Entries tagged with life @ 23

free topic: rosebud

she's pressed to a pillar on the other side of a silver painted tree, his face thrown in light and shadow from the string of led christmas lights strung therein. she's sure that she should be at least a little upset with her position, close enough to him to feel his heat dispel the lasting chill of the outdoors. there are people out there who would be scandalized by the way his arm is proprietorially caging her in and how she's enjoying every second of being pressed against the wall by him.

if she were any kind of brave, she'd rest a hand on his side, just to hold him that much tighter to herself.

as it is, she's hardly even looking at his face, though she can see his lips curving into a smug smile from where she's staring at that notch in his collarbone that's been teasing her from his open collar all night. she doesn't stop herself from reaching up to rub a fingertip in the hollow of his throat, unsurprised to see him flush and stand back a moment. there's going from a handshake to a hug in the course of a night, but any more would be something altogether different.

he holds out a single white rosebud, stem cut short like it had been his boutonniere before he'd shrugged out of his jacket to get down to work. she doesn't take it straight away, running her fingertips along the tip of an opening petal.

"i'm not very brave, chad," she says softly, a non-sequitur if anything.

"it doesn't have to mean any more than it does, sophie." he turns her palm up and places the flower gently in her hand. "you looked pretty tonight."

when he steps away, she's colder than she's been since the beginning of the night.

Current Mood: grumpy
Current Music: lightness: death cab for cutie

free topic: unwrapping

he's, in all honesty, hard at work, sophie realizes. and then feels like slamming her head against the table where she's seated and watching him trawl for empty plates and trash left from the dinner and cake of the reception. she'd forgotten his uncle was a caterer, forgotten that chad understood proper dress for events. she'd been so caught up in...

in watching the notch at the base of his throat where his blue and white collar was unbuttoned casually. in trying to keep her hands busy and not thinking about how her fingertips itched to trace the line of his collarbone and to pluck his buttons loose one by one. in keeping her mind at least partly on the topics talked about among her new friends at the table. she was proud that she'd mostly achieved it, not so wrapped up in being aware of his presence that it overrode her ability to talk to new people. she was fully capable of ignoring the way his long, blunt fingers moved so efficiently across the table, straightening and clearing it until it was like no one had been sitting there at all.

she was possibly more distracted than she imagined.

she moved to the dance floor, forgetting him in the swirl of music and laughter of her friends. forgetting herself and worries for a time. it isn't even until he's whispering in her ear that he wants to talk to her that she even realizes he's stopped working and is standing beside her.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: transatlanticism: death cab for cutie

free topic (freaky friday)

he's without his suit jacket. the thought itself means very little and everything, she guesses. it's been so long since she's actually seen him in a suit, she doesn't know why she noticed at all, except for how odd it is to see him almost casual in this sea of Sunday Best and semi-formal dress. how he looks like it's another Friday at work and not a celebration.

he smiles at her across the three tables that separate them, the dance floor where the bride and groom are lost in each other's arms for the first time that night. and all it takes is the one smile, the acknowledgment that she's there, and she's blushing and smiling back a moment before averting her eyes. she doesn't know how to flirt, doesn't have a handle on being something more than a friend to anyone yet. she can hear him laugh and imagines that she can hear the soft padding of his shoes across the hard floor to her side.

she almost has a hand out to shake his in greeting until he takes her into a hug. it's not what she's used to from him, too used to shy handshakes and coyly saying "hey chadley," just to hear him growl about the silly name. her hands are instantly at his back, returning the hug with pressure right beneath his shoulder blades. she's shocked at the heat of him, the softness that gives way to firm muscle.

he lets her go after a minute, smile still firmly in place. "hey sophie."

she blinks, feeling thrown. "hi chad."

Current Mood: anxious
Current Music: in my head--anna nalick

free topic (winter wonderland)

the wind cuts through the leather jacket she's wearing, reminding her exactly why dress slacks and a sundress do not make a proper winter party outfit, and underlining the uselessness of leather in blocking cold weather. as it is, she is only glad that her heels won't have to make a trek through snow and ice to get to the reception. she misses the actual winter weather she remembers from her childhood, misses days of snow drifts and hot chocolate and sleeping in. misses it, but is thankful all the same for not having to face it just to get to the party.

she holds tight to the jacket as she finally gets into the building, a slow smile cracking across her frozen cheeks as she sees the room alight with white fairy lights and the tables soft with candlelight. it looks like christmas ought to: white and soft at the edges, bare trees colored silver and strewn about with lights. her fingers drift across the backs of chairs and edges of tablecloth as she makes her way towards the front of the room. she can't bring herself to speak, let alone disturb anyone else in the room.

she almost feels alone, ears tuning out all but the soft music playing from the speakers and the vaguest notions of the sea of people who part around her to allow her through. she's looking skyward to the the sparkling crystal chandeliers like icicles from the ceiling. it's idealized, this evening among tables like piles of snow and lights so soft. she shrugs out of her coat only at the last possible second, reading her name on the place card just as the announcement is made of the entry of the bride and groom.

she shivers and breaks her gaze away from the decorations, consciously stopping herself from marveling at the decorations, when she finally sees him.

Current Mood: anxious
Current Music: forever love (digame)--anna nalick

Stargazing
Sophie/Daniel, unknown timeline

( on the roof, beneath the stars )

Current Mood: awake

( holding hands )

Current Mood: calm

( chapter 9, 23 Part 3 )

Current Mood: o/
Current Music: red, red, red- fiona apple

life @ 23
Chapter 8: 23, Part 2

( cheater cheater, word count stealer )

Current Mood: wishful
Current Location: hades
Current Music: to speak true--were the world mine soundtrack

life @ 23
Chapter 7: 23, Part 1

( boy, wasn't this long in the making? where they meet again at 23 and see they aren't the fools they used to be... )

Current Music: pansy theme, max-- were the world mine soundtrack

( hide this )

Current Music: red, red, red- fiona apple

life @ 23
Chapter 5: 21, Part II

( in which Soph is back where she felt at home... England )

Current Mood: chipper

life @ 23
Chapter 4: 21, Part I

( so we hold on tight, split a cab, and call each other up when we get home.... falling asleep to the sounds of silence )

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: work work work work work
Current Music: quiet--john mayer

life @ 23
Chapter 3: 20

( long, sophie to daniel )

( brief, daniel to sophie )

( late night, sophie to daniel )( short, sophie to daniel )

Current Location: library hades
Current Music: humming buzzy noises

Title: a king ain’t a king...
Author: riyoamaya, wellowned, shadows_of…. Me, in all my incarnations.
Prompt: OFF #18: “I can’t stop you. I haven’t the power, and moreover, I haven’t the right.”
Notes: WC-517. Days late-1. Current project known as life @ 23. Catch more of it on my website (http://www.drowning-ophelia.4t.com). This is pre-proposal, post-friendship. I think this is Age 23, Part 1. Title and cut text is from "It Takes Two" from Hairspray.
( a prince is just a pauper without a chick to call his own... )

in the space of time that it takes to take in a breath, she feels at home once more. there's a knot that's been so tight inside her for so long, she didn't realize it was there until it released. she breathes in again, and she stands a little taller, a little looser than before.

celestine gives her a look, all bedraggled and glazed eyes, but with a burning excitement beneath the ragged tired of a 10 hour flight to places unseen. so smiles, giddy with the realization that yes, they're here. they're finally *here* and it only took an age to do it. she throws out her hand to grip celeste's tight before heading through to their baggage and thence through customs. nothing, not even the utter destruction of her perfectly packed cases by the guards searching for illegal substances, nothing shakes that feeling that she's only beginning to feel is coming home.

she's finally home again.

Current Music: the madness of king scar (in my head)--TLK on Broadway

( a year of maybe... and not really... )

Note:
ok. so here's how life @ 23 is laid out. chapters 1 and 2 is year 19. chapter 3 is year 20. chapters 4 and 5 are 21. chapter 6 is 22. chapters 7 and 8 are 23.

20 and 22 are epistolary chapters, consisting of letters, emails, chats, and journal entries... mostly from Sophie's perspective, but including some from others.

THERE WILL ONLY BE 8 CHAPTERS. and maybe (i mean *maybe*) an epilogue, depending on how much i adore these characters, yeah? i dunno the way i want their afterlife to be (no, not afterlife as in after life is death. more like after single life is marriage.), so that's a decision for later.

though, someone should help me round my Daniel out so he's not perfect man, and he deserves to be a full character, not a cardboard cut out.

Current Music: something silverchair. probably 'if you keep losing sleep'. which i am doing.

Title: Striking Major and Minor Chords
Author: you know who, aka me.
Prompt: “yes I said yes I will Yes.” Joyce. In 1 hr. 7/20/05. I fiddled around and did a bunch of random research, so it went over. Seriously.
Notes: Sophie and Daniel! Which means this is a piece of life @ 23… though I swear I may never get the middle done. This is near the end of the thing, anyway. No warnings, except that the story-in-the-story is kinda… screwy. And I so ran out of time.

Oh. If you want to read more about Sophie and Daniel, there's some in her story here at my site, either under life @ 23 or in any of the other short stories I've written (mostly cues challenges).
( our thoughts compressed, which makes us blest. )