Holly Hood

“Never been more truthful then right now, looking at you fixes everything.”

“Life is not kind. Who are you trying to kid, Kendall?” He sighed.”

“You're maybe eighteen. Your mother didn't love you enough so you decided to pierce your lip and brand your body to piss her off. You hang around this band because they make you feel like you belong. And most days you wish you were in a band of your own, but you know that probably will never happen." I met his eyes waiting.I'm twenty. my mother has an assload of tattoos herself, she thinks its art. I have a lip ring because it turns girls on when I do this." He licked his lip, lingering on the metal for a couple intense seconds. My eyes fluttered with nervousness.”

“I wasn't used to guys making me blush, and I wasn't sure why he even was making me blush.”

“One, you moved here with your father, which means your a daddy's girl. No girl leaves their mother unless they are.”

“I was debating on jumping and ending my despair over losing my best friend, but I decided to call you instead.”

“Nona had been bonkers since I could remember. Dad said it was menopause, but I had looked that up once, and I highly doubted that was the case.”

“Well, just get used to it, because you're a long ways away from Kansas, my dear. She actually started singing "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" as she traipsed to the counter.”

“Had I just made a date with a tatted up bat wielding miscreant?”

“You like? she asked Slade. He gave her a head nod and she vanished behind the curtain.That's my sister, he said, pointing at the closed curtain.I shrugged. "I'm glad you guys are so close.”

“You're just a regular Wikipedia aren't you?”

“Does my grandma count as a bodyguard?”

“Nona I don't think your allowed to smoke in here.Nona exhaled a large cloud of smoke.Nona keeps their lights on. A little smoke won't hurt them.”

“Nona needs a very dry martini.”

“Stay away from that guy. He looks like a career criminal.”

“It would be the last thing he did if he beat my dog.”

“The moonlight caught the glint of his lip ring, which he was now fondling with the tip of his tongue as he stared down at me. It was a bit awkward.”

“I really wasn't sure if I wanted this guy knowing where I lived. After all, he was wielding a baseball bat, and I had just seen him strike several people with that bat.”

“Yeah, I was just curious. I concentrated on my footsteps.Yeah, well, next time you think about stepping into rock concerts you might want to bring a bodyguard.I stopped and turned around. I brought my hands to my hips, a bit offended. What is that supposed to mean?He dropped the end of the bat into the sand. It means your small.”

“He perched the bat on his shoulder, giving a nod that he understood I needed his help. With one loud yell and a couple swings of the bat, he cleared me another path.”

“I overheard Nona talking about my little buds and how she remembered back when she was developing into a woman, and that was enough for me.”

“Well, I guess I picked wrong then. Jesse doesn't like girls.”

“Jesse is a good guy, although I don't understand the infatuation with the spandex he is always running around in.”

“You know, Hope is also rather interesting, there's just not two of her, Dad teased Nona”

“It would have been magical I was sure, if I hadn't caught my marshmallow on fire and dropped it on his shoe.”

“I thanked the lucky stars for my great metabolism, because Karsen had showed me pictures of her mom once and it was scary the transformation she underwent after popping three kids out. She went from a small, dainty beauty to a giant pineapple blob of a body.”

“Nona was as wacky as they came.”

“It was a little difficult to take him seriously when he sang along to a song about a woman taking another woman's man.”

“Dying was misery. Death was that period at the end of the sentence.”

“I’d never get over you regardless of what happened to you. You’re not something I want to get over no matter where I am in my life.”

“She promised him she would love him until she was physically unable to anymore and then after when all she could do was hold his photograph.”

“She didn’t need hope anymore because she knew the things you wanted weren’t necessarily the things that you needed. She knew that the things that were meant to be just happened. You couldn’t control them like she once thought.”

“Love wasn’t something you decided. It was thrust upon you at the most inopportune times in your life. You didn’t choose when or who to love, love chose you.”

“Would you guys choose to walk away from possibly the most incredible encounter of your lifetime just because you had to let it go sooner then you wanted? Just because you knew that it would never be?”

“Maybe I am everything I knew that I would never be. I looked back at Jay and smiled.”

“He pulled the gun from his waist, running it along my cheek and back down to my lips. I blinked back the tears at sick game. He finally stopped the gun at my temple, my pulse fighting against the pressure of the cold metal of the gun.“Do you think you are a good person, Kendall?”“No, not at all,” I said, swallowing down the misery of my honest answer.“Really?” he asked, one eyebrow lifting in confusion. “Are you afraid to die?”I wished I could spit in his face for making everything so hard. I wished he would just pull the trigger and end it already. But a small part of me was begging and pleading internally that he wouldn’t shoot me.“No, I’m not afraid to die,” I admitted, I closed my eyes and the tears fell quickly. “I’m not afraid of much in life. I’ve seen too much to be scared.”He let out a sigh. I opened my eyes. He pulled the gun away from me.“Well, damn. How the hell am I supposed to kill someone so miserable?”I looked away. Even in death I was pitiful.”

“Why don’t we just say it already?” He smirked. “I mean come on now.”I eyed him carefully not knowing where to step. “What is it you think we want to say?”“That we love each other. I kick myself every time I stopped myself from saying it. And I know you love me and that’s all that matters,” he said, pulling me close instead of away this time. We stared at the water in a shared silence.My mind wished I could say the same thing, but knowing if I wanted to was the problem. Did I even know how?”

“And you don’t even need to say anything. I’m screwed up. I don’t know how any of this works anymore than you do. But I do believe you’re worth every second it would take to figure it out,” Mason said, a smile taking over his features.”

“Frankie raised an eyebrow. Look at you getting all sentimental. You know where to find me.Delaney nodded. That doesn’t mean you want to be found. Come on. One drink.”

“Sam studied his brother. At one time he thought Frankie had a good head on his shoulders. Sure, he had a temper. And he was conceited. But he always used common sense. But now he wasn’t so sure if that were true. He had brought him his lifeless fiancé. Like a dog dragging in a dead rabbit looking for praise.”

“If you want to get rid of Rose then fine, I’ll take care of it. But I don’t think that is going to solve your problem. You’ll still be here. And you are your problem.”

“Frankie scanned her eyes. I don’t ask for things. I take them.”

“Is that a rule? Do you have a rule that you can’t kiss people in the morning?”

“Are you coming back to campus or you sticking around here with the prick?”

“It's life. Everyone is destined for the same ending. Why are you going to hold a grudge at the timing?”

“Death was the greatest villain, no matter how it got you; it always had the same outcome. It chewed you up and spit you out. It went on a war path, destroying everything. No one was ever happy after death came around. there was always sadness and pain. Death was the most selfish and heartbreaking vulture. Death disgusted me.”

“Life had given me another sucker punch. I should have been used to it. I should have already known what was happening and what would happen. How it felt to be in the dark hole that was death.”

“Tears secretly falling down the sides of my face. I didnt touch them. I cry in the dark, no one could tell”

“I was never one to like power, but in the back of everyone's mind, you secretly wouldn't mind having some at one point or another. To be able to make things the way you wanted them would be an amazing thing.”

“It’s always funny watching something so beautiful not know how beautiful it really is. It’s sad even.”