#sarah who grew up with alice (alice is a few years younger but since she was the only other girl they were forced to play together) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

selfishsunnies · 4 years

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I wish you sidewalk pennies // JJ maybank x named reader

summary: Alice, Kiara’s cousin, comes to stay with her for the summer. for the first time in seven years. She attempts to remember all the memories, piece her family back together, and make the best friends. Maybe a little romance never hurt anyone.

warnings: nothing more than the show

word count: 2,200

Ch. 1

Alice had grown up in the city her whole life. Each summer, her and her parents would come to the Outer Banks to visit her mother’s family for a few weeks. She had gotten used to the idea of spending a month with Kiara and her friends, helping out at her aunt and uncle’s restaurant. The two girls were inseparable. They’d stay up late making up nonsense scenarios and messily trying to bake cookies well after they should’ve been asleep. It was where Alice could leave the school year behind her and act like she was one of the islanders.That is until her family stopped visiting. Alice didn’t understand why when the girls turned 11 they stopped coming around. She had even gotten a new number and had no way of contacting her cousin since then. Now, at 18, Alice was being driven, with a whole summer’s worth of luggage in the back of her mom's car, to the Outer Banks.

“But, Mom, I don’t get why now is a good time?” Alice asked, she had been asking her mother this since they told her she was leaving. Two weeks ago. Alice was angry to say the least, she wanted to spend her last summer before college with her friends. The ones she went to high school with and not Kiara, who she wasn’t sure would even still like her, and her friends, who’s names she could barely remember. For all she knew, they weren’t friends anymore. The possible scenarios ran through her head as her mother sighed, giving her the same answer she had been for weeks, “Your aunt and uncle want to see you and it will be good for you to get away for a little, see some things.”

“Three months is not a little,” she murmured. Alice didn’t understand. Why did her family just now want to see her? They hadn’t been there for her while she was growing up. Not when she broke her leg at a dance competition, when she went on her first date, or graduated high school. She didn’t understand why they stopped coming and neither of her parents gave her a straightforward answer. She just learned not to ask.

Alice thought back to the past seven years, her anger and resentment building. She tried to shake it, but she felt it coursing through her body. It was in her hands, her teeth.

“Well, it’s too late now, we’re only a few minutes away,” her mother responded, snapping her back to reality.

Alice watched the trees disappear into water and felt a sense of anxiety in her stomach. The air smelled of salt water and dirt, bringing back a vague memory she couldn’t quite visualize yet. The feeling her stomach only grew as the car drove down the dirt road to the house. It looked familiar in the way that she knew she should remember it, but didn’t. Her mother barely parked the car for Alice to get out.

“Now, be good for you aunt and uncle and give Kiara a hug from me. I’ll see you soon, bug. Love you,” her mother said. Alice sighed at the use of her old nickname, but it brought a warmth to her heart for a moment.

Alice stood there, watching her mom drive away, back down the dirt road they had come up on and struggled to pick up her bags. She didn’t have much, but it was enough that she had to make two trips from the steps to the curb. She marched up the steps the final time and knocked on the door lightly, it was loud enough for someone inside to hear and soon enough she was settling into the guest room.

Alice tried to put new images to the memories she had. Her aunt and uncle were older now, showing a few gray hairs and wrinkles where there weren’t before. The house was painted differently and it smelled like a new car in almost every room. She tried to remember how she felt here, afterall, this was home for a little. She placed a few personal items around the guest room, making it feel more familiar before passing out on the bed.

A few days had passed since Alice had arrived. It was awkward to say the least. She felt out of place in their routine, like everyone was making sure she wouldn’t fall over and break something. Kiara had been trying to be friendly, a lot changes in seven years though, Alice couldn’t blame her for the uncomfortable air lingering. The hallways rang with laughter from days passed, but Alice couldn’t quite place the memories. They talked about school for all of thirty seconds before they both realized it wasn’t important. Kiara had told her stories about surfing and the beach and even this crazy treasure hunt her and friends had gone on. It seemed a bit exaggerated, but Alice didn’t push.

“So, do you still have the same friends as the last time I was here?”

“Oh, yeah. John B, you remember him?” She asked, Alice nodded her head in agreement, although she didn’t. At least, she didn’t think so. You would’ve thought she’d remember someone with two first names.

“Yeah, and then he’s dating Sarah, who I don’t think you’ve met before. She’s great. Uhm, then there’s Pope. We’ve been together for a little bit.”

“I didn’t know you had a boyfriend,” She saw Kiara blush slightly, “He’s the real smart one, right?”

She laughed at this, “Yeah, he’s got this crazy scholarship lined up for the fall,” she paused, “and then there’s JJ.” Alice tried to remember, but everything got mixed together.

“Sounds like a good crew,” she laughed.

“They’re the best,” Kiara answered, “I’m sure they’d be down to meet you, since you are spending summer with us. There’s a party tonight at the beach, I wasn’t gonna say anything in case you didn’t feel like going.”

Finally. “I’m so down,” Alice replied. Maybe this will break the tension she felt in the house. If not, it was an excuse to drink and meet some new people.

The two of them got ready to leave. Kiara effortlessly braided a few pieces of her hair and let them fall. She wore her swimsuit underneath a pair of shorts and a knitted tank top. Alice, feeling a little nervous again, threw on some makeup and let her hair down. She was wearing jean shorts and a black tube top.

“You two be careful,” a voice called from the kitchen, “stay out of trouble.”

“We will!” Kiara called out, letting the door shut behind her.

When they finally arrived at the party, the sun was setting and a cool air was settling in. Alice secretly wished she brought a sweatshirt with her, but knew that soon she’d feel warm from the alcohol. Kiara poured them both some drinks from the keg and said hello to a few people on the way over to a few logs with a group of people.

“Look who decided to show up?” a boy with shaggy brown hair and an open hawaiian shirt yelled when we got close enough, “Kie!”

Kiara lifted her drink as if to say hello. Alice subtly slid out from behind her and tried to look more confident than she felt. The boy who yelled at her, got up and hugged her before sitting back down next to a blonde with a pair of reflective sunglasses on her head. John B, Alice inquired.

“Alice, these are my screw up friends, John B, Sarah and Pope. Guys, my badass cousin.” And that was it for introductions.

“You used to visit when we were younger, right?” Pope asked.

She smiled, happy to be remembered, “Yeah, that seems like a lifetime ago.”

They sat down, Kiara throwing her arm around Pope’s waist on a log directly across from where Alice had laid down a blanket. Sarah and John B were to her right.

“Isn’t there another one of you?” Alice asked, taking in the scene and realizing they were missing someone.

“Yeah, JJ,” John B chuckled.

“He’s off macking on some poor touron.” Pope said, moving his hand as if to dismiss the question.

Alice’s confused expression must have been enough because soon Sarah realized and explained, “Uh, touron just means tourist. And JJ does this at every party. Kinda his thing, you get used to it.”

“You guys talk weird down here,” Alice responded, making everybody laugh. The pit in her stomach was soon gone and the group was laughing and telling stories like they’d known each other forever. Well, Alice thought, they practically had. Not just Kiara and the boys, but her too. She had spent so many summers here without even realizing it. Alice thought back to old hide and seek games with the kids in the neighborhood, inquiring that these were the same kids she’d team up with. They probably spent nights running around barefoot through backyards, catching fireflies before getting called in for the night by their parents. This wasn’t much different, she thought.

A few drinks in, the group seemed ready to leave. The music was bad and the alcohol was slightly warm even though the air had quickly gotten colder. They all agreed to head back to John B’s. As soon as they found the keys. After searching in the sand using their phone flashlights, someone spoke up, “Do you think JJ has them?”

“He shouldn’t. God knows he’s probably wasted right now.” Pope said, rolling his eyes and collapsing back into the sand. Pope was deemed the designated driver tonight after he lost a bet with John B earlier in the day. He was beating himself up about not having the keys.

“Shit, you guys.” He muttered to no one in particular. Kiara rubbed his back gently.

“Why don’t you just call him?” Alice asked.

Kiara replied, “Phone towers are down. Happens most of the time after storms.”

“This is just typical JJ though,” Sarah started, but was soon interrupted by a figure walking towards them. It was stumbling, but Alice couldn’t tell if that was because of the uneven sand or because of the possible alcohol consumption.

“Hey!” He yelled. Upon coming closer Alice noticed his blonde hair was falling in his face. He was wearing a muscle tee and had a cut just above his lip.

“JJ!” everyone, but Alice yelled in unison. JJ, she thought. Memories flooded back, he looked a lot more grown up then last time.

“Who’s the kook?” He asked, looking right at Alice. She felt her face light up, but luckily it was too dark to realize. What the hell was a kook?

“She’s not a kook!” Sarah responded quickly.

“Sorry, dude, you can’t tell me she doesn’t look like your people.”

“My-” Sarah started only for John B to cut her off, “Hey!”

JJ put his hands up in defense, “Well, she’s not a pogue and she’s definitely not a touron. I just got done dancing with about every single one.”

“She’s my cousin, JJ.” Kiara said, tense. There wasn’t even a slight change in his disposition upon hearing this. His face remained blank, his eyes far away. By the way everyone was acting, this wasn’t surprising JJ behavior. Alice didn’t bother introducing herself, she was sure he wasn’t going to remember any of this in the morning.

There was a tension in the air that hadn’t been there before he showed up.

“You guys talk weird,” Alice muttered, once again. Sarah chuckled at her comment, breaking up the stale air.

“What’s your problem anyway, J?” Pope asked.

“Uh,” he glanced in Alice’s direction before continuing, “things got a little messy out there.” They waited for him to elaborate, “I guess this one touron has a boyfriend and he might have just seen me macking on her. I don’t know, but I ran out of there.” There were a few laughs from the boys and knowing looks shared between the two girls. Once again Alice felt out of the loop.

One awkward car ride later, they were all at John B’s house. Alice had since learned that John B and Sarah lived alone, with the occasional JJ sleeping in the spare room. She had also learned that they call themselves Pogues and the rich, snotty kids from the other side of the cut, kooks. She was still confused about the whole label thing, but didn’t question it. It was like a different language half the time.

The six of them naturally ended up in the living room, sprawled out on couches and chairs, a few laying on the floor. JJ had immediately grabbed another beer from the fridge upon getting home. There were a few looks from the others, but no one spoke up. Alice noticed though. They told stories until everyone was too tired to move and ended up crashing on the floor. Alice felt balanced for the first time since arriving. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Thanks for the love you guys! feel free to ask questions or just comment. new chapter will be up soon

#obx #outerbanks #jj maybank #jj x y/n #obx fic

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valenciaflores · 5 years

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ORIGINS & FAMILY:

Name: Valencia Grace Flores

Nickname: Val

Birthday: April 8th

Age: 28

Gender: Female

Place of Birth: Barking & Dagenham, London, UK

Places Lived Since: Leeds, UK

Current Residence: Kings Cross, Islington, London, UK

Nationality: British

Parents: Jessica Flores (née Miller) & Miguel Flores (deceased)

Grandparents: Howard Miller & Alice Miller (née Williams); Antonio Flores & Ximena Flores (née Pérez) (both deceased)

Aunts & Uncles: Ricardo Flores (deceased); Sarah Walsh (non-biological, godmother)

Number of Siblings: One - Victor Flores

Relationship With Family: Val grew up in very close proximity to her mother, grandparents, and brother, and as a result was very close to them - and thus they all got on each other’s nerves very quickly. She appreciated everything they did to raise her and her brother despite their debts and money issues over the years. She’d done what she can to try to repay them, offering to help her mother pay for a new apartment or just give them some money, but they accept nothing. All their willing to let her do is pay for a nice meal at their favorite restaurant that used to be a splurge but to Val now isn’t that bad. As a PA she doesn’t make an exorbitant amount of money by any means, but she saved a great deal during her year working for a high-end PR firm and she splits a one bedroom apartment rent with her girlfriend so she’s spending even less on rent and housing now.

Happiest Memory: A recital where she was rewarded a certificate for her excellence in dance within her age group (she was young enough to be blissfully unaware every child received the certificate).

Childhood Trauma: Val was only a couple years old when her father died so she barely remembers it but sees everyday how it affects her brother, mother, and even grandparents who loved her father so much. Miguel and Jessica worked for almost ten years to save up enough money to fly Miguel’s brother and parents out to London to live there. It took some time for his family to get their immigration figured out, but once Victor was born and then Jessica became pregnant a couple years later with Val, it was settled - the Flores’ would move to London to be with their grandchildren. Miguel and Jessica both worked overtime, they skipped vacations, they got married by a clerk, and they stayed in a cheap apartment to save up money for flights, moving costs, and to help pay a few months rent for an apartment. All they wanted was for their family to be together, and it finally was about to happen when Miguel left for Mexico to help his family pack up their things. They sent all their possessions ahead of them, spent a night at a hotel, and departed the next morning on a plane that never made it back to London. Ricardo was the only one to survive, but not for more than a few days and the cost of all the medical procedures to try to save his life wiped out the rest of Jessica’s savings. She and her parents were plunged into debt trying to save Ricardo and get Miguel’s body back to London, and they could not get any money back spent on apartments and various other expenses to help the Flores’ move. After that, Jessica moved with her children to her parents’ home. Not that she could ever afford it, but she refused to get on a plane ever again and stays up all night worrying and praying whenever Val goes on a trip. Victor was so terrified of flying after what happened to his father that it ruined his football career because he refused to agree to the need to take flights to different games.

PHYSICAL:

Height: 5′8″

Weight: 123 lbs

Build: Slim, athletic; frequently underweight

Hair Color: Brown

Usual Hair Style: Up in a high, tight ponytail or bun

Eye Color: Brown

Glasses? Contacts?: N/A

Style of Dress/Typical Outfit(s): Val is a big fan of skirts and dresses and usually tries to wear them year-round, pairing them with appropriate sweaters, jackets, and tights when necessary. If she does wear pants or jumpsuits in a situation where skinny jeans aren’t acceptable, they’re usually fairly loose through the legs. Her outfits tend to be made of solid colors with the occasional patterned skirt, belt, scarf, or other accessory. She finds solid colors lend more to flexibility. Pink, blue, white and maroon tend to show up in her closet the most, as she finds those colors most complimentary. More often than not she can be found in business or business casual attire, even on “days off,” and always carrying a bag big enough to hold some beauty essentials, a spare leotard and shorts, and canvas lyrical shoes.

Typical Style of Shoes: Heels are a must and unless she’s running errands or knows she’ll be standing for a very long time, she tends not to wear sneakers or flats that much.

Jewellery? Tattoos? Piercings?: Val’s jewelry is very basic, with two piercings per earlobe. Her girlfriend continuously tries to convince her to get another piercing but she refuses because she thinks they can look trashy (not on Spirit, thought, of course). Her jewelry is all gold (or gold-plated) and very minimalist. If she wears a bracelet, it’s no more than 1-2 bangles. A necklace is rarely more than a thin chain with an unassuming little charm. Her only ring is a thin gold band on her right ring finger with her father’s initials and birth and death dates carved into it that her mother gave her. She has one tattoo on the top of her outer left thigh that matches one her brother has on the middle of his back. It’s a creative take, personal to them both, on the national coat of arms for Mexico, her father’s home country.

Unique Mannerisms/Physical Habits: She tends to stick her chin and nose up a bit, quite literally, when she’s annoyed or revolted.

Athleticism: Very athletic and graceful, which she always channeled into dance. Outside of dance, she often practiced with her brother and got pretty good at football, too.

Health Problems/Illnesses: None.

INTELLECT:

Level of Education: A bachelor’s degree.

Languages Spoken: English (fluently, mother tongue); Italian (nearly fluent); Spanish (broken, only some key phrases)

Level of Self-Esteem: Fairly high. Self-esteem has never been an issue for Val, and some might even say she’s a little too confident sometimes.

Gifts/Talents: A natural inclination for dance that even a severe injury couldn’t quell. She also is very talented when it comes to writing and speaking publicly, but that was mostly through practice and an avid interest in the subjects.

Mathematical?: Somewhat. She’s very good with statistics.

Makes Decisions Based Mostly On Emotions, or On Logic?: Emotions more than she cares to admit, but usually she’ll make adjustments to decisions after some logical processing.

Life Philosophy: Stand up for yourself and your people.

Religious Stance: Not very religious at all.

Cautious or Daring?: She’ll claim cautious, but there are times when the things she says prove she’s actually fairly daring.

Most Sensitive About/Vulnerable To: Her destroyed dance career, people making negative comments about those less fortunate than them, and people who underestimate her.

Optimist or Pessimist?: An idealistic pessimist on the side of the optimists.

Extrovert or Introvert?: Extroverted. She’ll talk to anyone, either to tell them off or tell them how lovely they look.

RELATIONSHIPS:

Current Relationship Status: Living with partner (Spirit Leafstorm)

Sexual Orientation: Bisexual

Past Relationships:

Baxter Watson - ex-boyfriend/formerly lived together. The two started dating about a year before she went to university, and made the dumb decision to move in together when she got into Leeds. The two fought frequently over petty things and eventually broke up in the middle of her second year at university. The two came together through activist work, but Val grew disenchanted with the man when she realized he was far better at just complaining about the state of things than actually doing anything to help. Since their break-up, she’s heard he’s barely changed his ways and currently lives with his parents.

Maya Foster - ex-girlfriend/former professor. When Baxter left, it was the first time Val had been single in a while, and she certainly didn’t hold back from taking advantage of it as much as possible. It was a funny coincidence that she ran into an attractive, younger professor on a night out, but it quickly lost its humor when the single hook-up turned into nightly meetings and then an actual relationship. Discretion and secrecy were key, both from the university because Maya had been Val’s professor and from Val’s family, not because she was a woman but because she was ten years older than Val. For a while, they were good. Then they hit the year mark, celebrated it, and things started to turn for the worse. Maya suddenly had a lot of “meetings” and Val found herself falling asleep alone more often than not. She tried not to be jealous or skeptical, but everyone has their breaking point, and she eventually confronted Maya about her increasing absence - not just when she was physically away, but even mentally when she was home. Maya claimed she was just overworked, Val wanted to believe her. A couple weeks later she got a call from a close friend who knew about the relationship. She said she’d been visiting family a couple towns over and saw Maya out to dinner with another woman - young and brunette. The break-up was really nasty, and it still left Val with a bad taste in her mouth to think about it in the months following because she realized how naive she’d been to believe she was an equal partner in a relationship that had actually been dominated by Maya.

James Morris - ex-boyfriend. One of the worst things to do at a new job is to start dating someone, but James was one of the few people at Val’s first job at a PR firm that she actually enjoyed talking to everyday. James was only about a year older than her, the smallest age gap she’d ever had in a relationship, and the two were relative equal on the career playing field. James was more involved with the art, Val with the copyediting, and the two made a good team. He wasn’t from as poor of a background as Val, but he wasn’t nearly as rich and snobby as many of the other workers at the boutique firm who’d gotten placements through “family friends.” It was always Val and James who were the ones working late, and it often led to late-night takeaway orders and shared cabs to their nearby apartments. They kept things friendly, though it was obvious there was some attraction. Maybe both had a feeling that if they acted on it, it’d get serious, and they were too busy with work to have that kind of commitment. Both were enjoying being single too much to stop it. When Val decided that commercial PR wasn’t for her, James supported the decision and was the first at the firm to congratulate her when he found out she was leaving. They went out for a celebratory dinner...then had celebratory sex. The pieces fell into place rather well, better than they’d expected. Off-the-bat Val worked late hours at work to prove she was worthy of her position, and with the hope that she could make some bit of a difference to the community. James worked late hours, too, when he was promoted and took on more creative responsibilities that often left him coming home with graphite stained hands. They were happy, they traveled, they supported each other’s careers, and they were able to maintain their independence in a way that Val hadn’t ever experienced in a relationship before. It was amazing to her. After a few years, they considered moving in. It was her mother who was the first to ask if that meant they might get engaged soon, then her grandparents, then James’s brother, then his parents, and the little seeds of hope their families tried to plant did nothing but give them cold feet. They spent most of their savings on travel a couple times a year - they couldn’t afford a ring, or a wedding, or anything like that. They spent so much time together at each other’s places that they thought they knew what moving in together would be like, but maybe they didn’t - maybe it would change things and make an already committed relationship more serious than either were ready for financially or emotionally. They had a long talk and split amicably face to face, but the fallout personally was worse than Val had ever experienced. Her mother even came to stay with her for a few days, and she took a week away from her dance troupe. She and James decided to sever all contact because it might be easier, but it was even more painful to hear from someone else that James moved to America a few months later.

Spirit Leafstorm - a separate post will come, but her relationship with Spirit ended a little under a year after her relationship with James ended.

Primary Reason For Being Broken Up With: Usually she did the breaking up with other people, but with James it was because they both got a little scared and felt they were too young for what others were trying to push on them.

Primary Reasons For Breaking Up With People: They cheated.

Ever Cheated?: When Val is in a relationship, she is whole-heartedly dedicated to that person and would never even imagine cheating. Even when “dating around” she would never go on dates with multiple people in even the same month. However, during times of complete single-ness (or even during the “dating around” periods if it was this one particular person), she tended to be drawn to forbidden fruit. This included not only employers, professors, and friends exes, but married men and women. She’s not proud of it, but there’s a reason it’s called a guilty pleasure.

Been Cheated On: Yes, by Maya.

Level of Sexual Experience: Very. She’s body-positive, sex-positive, try-new-things-positive. When in relationships she tends to explore new things even more, but even outside of relationships she’s gotten pretty adventurous with hook-ups.

Story of First Kiss: Hardly all that special. She played a kissing game with some friends when she was thirteen and ended up kissing her best friend’s crush. The two girls have, thankfully, gotten over it since.

Story of Loss of Virginity:

A Social Person?: Yes, though sometimes that means she won’t be afraid to get up in someone’s face if they rub her the wrong way.

Most Comfortable Around: Her family, her girlfriend, and anyone she considers a good friend.

Oldest Friend: Her brother, Victor. He’s her best, oldest, most headache-inducing friend and she wouldn’t trade him for the world.

How Does She Think Others Perceive Her?: She believes others see her as a strong-willed, independent person who strives for their goals.

How Do Others Actually Perceive Her?: People certainly believe she strives for her goals, just perhaps with a bit too much sharpness toward those around her sometimes. A softer tone now and then wouldn’t hurt to make her more endearing to the people whose support she may one day need.

SECRETS:

Life Goals: Maybe to be an MP one day, but that will likely be more of a post-children goal for much farther in the future. Ideally, she’ll one day be the Press Secretary for the Prime Minister, and she’ll go down in history books as eloquent, tactful, and a new standard for her successors.

Dreams: For Val, dreams and life goals are very intertwined and are essentially the same. Why dream of something that can’t really be achieved?

Greatest Fears: Losing her job, losing anyone else in her family, and watching her brother potentially become a bum if he doesn’t get his act together a little more (he’s actually a teacher and a coach, but she just wishes he’d do even more).

Most Ashamed Of: Some harsher comments she’s made in the past to supervisors or other people she knows are more worthy of her respect. Sometimes her need to define herself as a smart, strong person can actually be relayed in a rather brusque, rude tone, and she’s slowly working on calming that down.

Secret Hobbies: Not very secret at all, but all time not spent at the office is spent dancing.

Crimes Committed (Was she caught? Charged?): N/A

DETAILS/QUIRKS:

Night Owl or Early Bird?: Early Bird

Light or Heavy Sleeper?: Light Sleeper

Favorite Animal: Cats of all kind

Favorite Foods: Veggies and fruits

Least Favorite Food: Anything greasy or fried

Favorite Book: “Just Ella” by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Least Favorite Book: Every single gothic novel she ever had to read for school

Favorite Movie: Black Swan

Least Favorite Movie: Every “Step Up” movie

Favorite Song: “Dancing Queen” by ABBA

Favorite Sport: Football

Coffee or Tea?: Tea, preferably green or ginger

Crunchy or Smooth Peanut Butter?: Smooth, but it’s fattening so she doesn’t have it often

Type of Car She Drives: N/A, no car

Lefty or Righty?: Righty

Favorite Color: Deep red

Cusser?: Occasionally.

Smoker? Drinker? Drug User?: Never smokes, barely drinks, not a drug user.

Biggest Regret: Spending a year at a PR firm that she could’ve spent working with her current colleagues

Pets: None

#headcanon #about

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