Very important that I tell you I have a scene planned in HTB where Eve introduces mimic!Cesar to the concept of wearing makeup and she essentially becomes the reason he wears dark eyeshadow from then on

I love their friendship so so much

The Five Stages of Drunk Aelin

Holiday Fic Collection #1 - Rowaelin College au (Let me know if you would like to be tagged in this collection)

Requested by Anonymous: 26 “Ok, I think you’ve had a little too much wine.”

“Can I see your ID please, miss?” The clerk behind the counter eyes the half dozen bottles of wine before him as Aelin riffles through her cluttered purse in search of her elusive license. She finally fishes it out and hands it to him resolutely, much more confident in her legal, newly printed ID than she had been only a year ago with her fake one. The clerk glances at the card then hands it back and begins to ring her up. “Big party?”

Aelin hesitates a moment, wondering whether or not to tell the truth. “Yeah, a ton of my friends are coming over to celebrate the holiday,” she lies smoothly as she runs her credit card through and the six bottles of wine are placed in bags. “They all like different kinds of liquor and can never compromise.”

The clerk nods absently and Aelin knows he really wouldn’t have cared either way, she could have told him the truth and he would have accepted it just as readily, although he might have thrown one or two odd looks her way as she left.

In all actuality, all six bottles were for only two people—herself, and her best friend, Rowan. The two of them are planning on getting completely drunk tonight on the fanciest wine available for the third Christmas Eve in a row.

Aelin grabs her bags and nods to the clerk. He wishes her a fun party and happy holiday as she exits and then Aelin walks out into the freezing December air. She nudges her nose under the heap of yarn that is her hand knit scarf and bunches her hands tightly in the paper bags she’s holding as she hurries the three blocks back to her apartment.

The blistering cold burns her cheeks but Aelin doesn’t dare run as ice this time of year can be easy to miss and she would rather not have a twisted ankle and make Rowan carry her up the three floors to her apartment. Although, on second thought, perhaps that’s exactly what she wants.

To say Aelin is infatuated with her best friend would be an understatement. They met three years ago at orientation and were enemies from the start. He was her tutor in Law and Society freshman year and was her own personal version of hell on earth.

The first year they spent Christmas Eve together was an accident. He had only been tutoring her for a few months but with finals coming up they were studying together late that night—Rowan took his job as tutor very seriously, even if he didn’t particularly like his pupil. He was supposed to leave before it got too late but the power ended up going out. With everyone out of the dorms for the holidays, Aelin’s room was one of the only occupied and though she wasn’t scared, she didn’t really feel like staying the whole night alone in a practically abandoned, dark, and increasingly cold dorm house.

Rowan invited her to crash on his couch for the night and she accepted. Turns out neither of them had Christmas plans and when Rowan pulled out a few hidden bottles of Merlot, the night had gotten exponentially better. That night had been the first time Aelin had seen Rowan smile and ever since she has been teetering on the edge of love.

As time went on throughout freshman year and Rowan loosened up, she actually found him a quite enjoyable person to hang out with. It was only when they started going to the same gym and worked out together everyday that they actually became friends. 

Now, with them both in the middle of junior year and better friends than ever, Aelin finds herself wishing more and more that they could be something more.

She finally makes it to her door and quickly buzzes in, relishing the blast of warm air on her frozen face and hands. She sprints up the stairs—almost dropping one of the bags in the process—and tries to one handedly unlock her apartment. Her arms are aching with the weight of the wine bottles and she can’t get the key to go into the slot with her thawing fingers.

The bottle of Merlot—the most important bottle in the batch because of what it signifies—begins to teeter over the damp, ripping edge of the bag. Aelin sees it happen but can’t move quick enough to catch it as it slips and practically falls in slow motion toward the floor.

Rowan catches it just before it can touch the hard wood and Aelin lets out a sigh of relief. “Clumsy,” Rowan chastises as he puts the bottle back in it’s rightful spot and takes half her load so she can finally fit the key in the lock.

“Thanks, you just saved the night,” Aelin laughs as she pushes the door open and deposits her remaining bag on the counter, Rowan following.

She shucks off her coat to hang up and decides to keep her scarf on for a bit as she warms up. She smooths her frizzy hair back into a somewhat presentable arrangement, it’s only Rowan, after all... just Rowan... who she just happens to be hopelessly in love with.

He hangs up his own coat and then turns to her with open arms, a small, rare, genuine smile on his face. She practically falls into his chest and his strong arms wrap around her shoulders tightly. “Merry Christmas Eve, Fireheart,” Rowan says softly while resting his cold, pink cheek on top of her head.

“Merry Christmas Eve, Buzzard,” Aelin murmurs into his chest, partially muffled by his wool sweater that fits very nicely over his toned torso. She loosens her grip on him, assuming the hug has reached it’s acceptable time limit, but his arms do not loosen and Aelin is surprised. It has been a long time since Rowan has been cold and rude to her, but any affection on his part has always been restrained, timed, careful. “You’re just using me for warmth, aren’t you?”

She hears Rowan grunt against her hair. “Maybe.”

Aelin laughs and pushes him away—perhaps not as swiftly as she could have, her hands lingering on his chest—then walks towards the kitchen where leftover containers from their last three late night study sessions awaits. Although he is no longer required to, Rowan still makes a fantastic tutor and study partner, especially during finals week.

Rowan walks in behind her and pulls two wine glasses from the cabinet. He studies the label on each of the bottles while Aelin serves two a plate to heat up. It feels very domestic and Aelin’s stomach is already turning from that extra-long hug.

He finally settles on a liquor that suits him and pours them both a glass—the first of many over the course of the night. When the food is heated, Aelin hands him his plate. “Christmas Eve feast,” she declares with a grim smile.

Aelin doesn’t have a family to go home to over Christmas, she and her cousin, Aedion, get together every year but that is about it. Rowan has a family but never feels particularly inclined to go home and deal with all the drama and politics that comes along with it. Neither of them has had a proper Christmas meal in years.

Still, Rowan takes the paper plate piled with fried rice, pizza, and fried chicken like it is the best meal that has ever been prepared for him. “Looks absolutely delicious, Aelin, thank you.” He says, his green eyes sincere. Rowan hands her the wine glass and begins walking towards the main room. Aelin follows with a small smile on her face.

They settle into the couch and Rowan raises his wine glass for a  toast. "To another Christmas of drunk fun, and to another year of being friends with the best girl I know."

Aelin can't help her blush as she raises her glass to his and takes the first sip. Rowan is too cold and has too many walls to be a player, but he knows how to make a girl feel special—yet another thing Aelin loves about him. Shaking her head slightly to clear her mind, Aelin fetches the green fuzzy blanket from the back of the couch—something Rowan had gifted her last Christmas and she has cherished ever since, partly because it reminds her of his eyes—and drapes it over the both of them.

She reaches for the remote and flips on the tv. "We have a long night ahead of us," she reminds and her heart skips a beat at the excited anticipation in Rowan's eyes, "Which cheesy Christmas movie should we start with first?"

...

Rowan doesn't usually drink, at least, not a lot. He'll have a beer or two at parties or with his friends, but rarely does he ever consume more alcohol than would prohibit him to drive. He likes to be alert at all times, aware of his surroundings and always anticipating what will happen next. Alcohol messes that up, as well as his brain, which is very important to him and his family as it gives them bragging rights about his achievements in school. Thus, as a rule, Rowan does not drink a lot. However, one night a year, there is an exception to that rule, and it's mostly because of who that one night is spent with. 

Aelin has been starring in his dreams since he was a freshman when they were paired up during orientation. He had hated her—her obstinance and snark and sneers—and he was forced to be her tutor. Then, when they spent their first Christmas Eve together all those years ago, he had woken up before her, head pounding from drinking more than he ever had, and she was sleeping peacefully on the couch. She wasn't glaring at him or flipping him off or insulting him with that colorful mouth of hers, and Rowan began to feel a part of his frozen heart begin to thaw. 

He'd spent the last two years trying to not to fall in love with her and hopelessly failing. Aelin is everything he wants and he has no desire to be with anyone but her on Christmas for the rest of his life. 

"I'm in love with you."

Now, four bottles into the night, Rowan is feeling lightheaded, but not only because of the alcohol. Aelin sits across from him on the couch, her scarf and sweater long gone, leaving her in just a tank-top, her legs intertwined with his beneath the blanket, and her eyes blazing with drunken heat as she stares down the fifth bottle like it's her enemy. Rowan is somehow shirtless and his addled brain can barely comprehend how they got here. 

From the years they've been friends, Rowan has learned that Aelin has four stages of drunkenness. 

During the first stage Aelin becomes obscenely competitive. 

In the last 6 hours, they watched three movies, each one more cliche than the last. They had polished off one bottle of red wine during the first one, laughing and joking and making fun of the plot as they easily fell into their familiar pattern. Neither of them were feeling very tipsy at that point so Aelin decided to make it interesting. She challenged him to a race. 

Even when Rowan is completely sober, he can almost never resist a challenge. The rules were simple: each picked a bottle from the repertoire and whoever finished it first, won. Unfortunately, Rowan is not nearly as skilled as Aelin at drinking so much liquor at one time. He had barely finished half of his bottle by the time she was done. 

Aelin's second stage of inebriation is when she gets super energized.

Immediately following finishing her bottle and realizing she won, Aelin decided to do a victory lap, running around the apartment whooping and cheering and shoving it in his face with all those colorful words of hers. Rowan just smiled as he watched her and laughed when she finally plopped herself back down, sweating, and proceeded to strip her scarf from her neck. Rowan's smile vanished when her sweater followed, promptly landing in a pile on the ground.

Rowan gulped and remembered Aelin's third stage of drunkenness: overheating and shedding layers. Aelin was already too engrossed in the second movie to notice Rowan's attitude change. 

He knew he was being ridiculous, he'd seen Aelin in her swimsuit and had gotten glimpses of her in even less over the years they'd been friends, but something about tonight felt different. Rowan had finished the rest of his bottle of wine during the second movie, trying to ignore how hard it was not to look at her. 

Aelin's fourth stage—and the last Rowan had ever seen—is despair.

The last movie had made Aelin start sobbing hysterically for basically no reason Rowan could discern. Still, he took pity on her and opened his arms. She crawled right over and cried her heart out into his chest. Rowan sat there and held her for what could have been minutes, could have been hours, he's not completely sure. He held her and stroked her back and let her soak his own sweater for as long as she needed to. He couldn't remember the last time he was so comfortable with a girl—or anyone for that matter. 

When Aelin's tears were reduced to hiccups, Rowan helped her dry her tears, and then promptly had to make her stop feeling guilty for making his wool sweater all wet. She insisted that he take it off, and truly, Rowan was helpless as she all but pulled it over his head herself. She spent fifteen minutes trying to figure out how to fix it and keep it from shrinking. Rowan is pretty sure that the sweater might have been salvageable before she started messing with it, but definitely not after. 

So now, with another wine bottle down their throats and Aelin's hands on the Merlot—their signature wine—Rowan can't help but think he misheard her. "Pardon me?" 

"I'm in love with you," Aelin repeats, her hand on the corkscrew as she slowly turns it, all her attention focused on the task. 

Rowan blinks. "Ok, I think you’ve had a little too much wine.”

Aelin's hands fall away from the bottle as she seems to ponder his words for a moment. "Perhaps, but that doesn't make my words any less valid," Rowan realizes that Aelin has now moved past stage four, and he has no experience with this kind of drunken Aelin. "I'm in love with you, and I have been for way too long to hide it anymore." 

Rowan has a feeling that stage five is confession. 

He can't believe what he's hearing, and he's pretty sure it's just the wine talking, which makes his heart clench all the more painfully. Sighing heavily, Rowan reigns in his hard earned self-control and reaches for the remote to turn off the movie. "I think it's time we go to bed for the night Aelin. We can talk about this in the morning if you still want to." His head is already pounding in time with his racing heart and Rowan doesn't think he can listen to any more of Aelin's confessions without waking up with a broken heart as well as a hangover tomorrow morning. 

Aelin glares at him for a few seconds and he can see the wheels turning in her head, the words she's putting in the right order, much slower in her addled mind than usual but Rowan just squeezes his eyes shut to stop any of his own words from escaping—words he knows both of them will regret. Finally, Aelin grabs a pen from the table and scribbles something on her hand. 

"Fine," she shoves her hand in his face and Rowan has to lean back to read it. 'you love Rowan, tell him' is written in a much sloppier version of her usual script. "When I wake up, I'll read this and remember and when I'm sober, you'll believe me, right?"

"Sure," Rowan replies, losing steam as his brain works overload. He might fall asleep before he gets her to bed, although sleeping is the last thing he wants to do right now, because he knows exactly what his dreams will be about. He untangles their legs to stand, missing the heat of her body and the feeling of her skin against his. He scoops her up in his arms and the bottle of Merlot, still halfway corked, falls off her lap and onto the couch. 

Aelin rests her head against his chest as he carries her to her bedroom. "I wish you were shirtless more often," she admits, her fingers tracing the lines of his tattoo. Rowan can't help but chuckle, although he doesn't trust himself to reply. "I know you like me back... at least I think I do," Aelin continues with a yawn. Rowan's control is slipping, just a few more steps and he can slip her under the covers and head back to the couch to sleep. "If I tell you that I love you tomorrow, do you promise to say it back?" 

Rowan's voice is hoarse when he finally says, "I promise."

Aelin's responding smile practically stops his heart. "Good, and I'll promise you something as well," He lays her down on the bed and covers her with the blanket. She grabs his hand before he can escape and with the last of her energy, pulls him down onto the small bed next to her. His self restraint is all but gone, his mind already slipping into unconsciousness as she tucks the blanket around him and nuzzles into his arms. "I promise that I will tell you in the morning, and I promise that we'll drink that bottle of Merlot." 

Rowan is fading fast, he barely computes her words. He feels her soft lips against his shoulder, where a scar lays from a long time ago, from another life. "Merry Christmas, Buzzard, I love you."

"I love you too, Fireheart."

Holiday Collection Prompt List

Holiday Masterlist

Follow my blog with Bloglovin 2017 Hopes, Goals and Resolutions At the start of every new year I get a diary and in the back of it I write down all the resolutions that I have for the year ahead. Then once the year is over I read through them and check off everything I have achieved, the things I still need to do and the stuff that doesn't even matter to me anymore. I feel like writing down goals helps me keep focused on the things that I need to do to achieve them. The goals I had for 2016 were; Buy our own house (done) Get pregnant and have our first baby by the end of 2016 (done.) Get engaged (I wasn't actually in control of this but achieved!) Be healthy and workout reguarly (I have worked out all year...my diet hasn't been that clean though admittedly) Pay more attention to personal grooming, hair, nails, tan etc (this has somewhat fallen to the way side.) Go on at least one amazing holiday (definitely not done and unlikely to be achieved this year either.) So evidently I have failed to reach all my goals but the main and most important ones I have. 2017 I want to focus on being a better person, in every way. I have found since becoming a mother that my priorities have changed a lot and I have become less selfish.  My 2017 goals are centered around being the best mum that I can be and the best fiance. I want to make fitness a real focus. I have never had to work that hard to be in okay shape before, but since having a baby I have some real problem areas that I want to address to get my confidence back. By eating clean and working out I feel like I am setting a good example for Rafe, I think exercise is so good for both your body and your mind. A natural anti-depressant and I would really like him to be active as he grows up and enjoy sports.  I also want to try and make my own money and maintain my independence financially after my maternity pay has ended. I am not planning on returning to my job full time, I had a baby to be a mum and I feel like Rafe will be too young to leave by September. I am not making any judgement of mothers who do work full time it's just not my preference. If there was something that I could do from home while looking after my baby then that would be ideal. I also want to improve my confidence and maybe start meditation (could be tricky with a newborn). I am interested in the idea that practising positivity and gratitude in everyday life can help us achieve everything that we desire. A few years ago I read The Secret by Rhonda Byrne and I have since purchased The Magic which is the second book in the series. I would highly recommend them,they tell us we have the power within us to attract whatever we want into our lives by our thought processes. I am intending on re-visiting The Secret and then reading The Magic.

Another book that I recently purchased but haven't yet got round to reading is 'Who says you can't? YOU DO' by Daniel Chidiac. I saw it had many positive reviews on Instagram and was intrigued by it's ideas. I have so far only read a few pages of it but it's about fulfilling your dreams and unlocking our potential. I think the mind is an incredibly important factor in what we do or do not achieve in life. A lack of confidence or insecurity can hold us back so much, I have struggled with confidence for as long as I can remember.  It was at it's worst when I was at school and I am so much better at dealing with things than I ever used to be but I think having a baby has really dug up some of my past anxiety issues. I had to drive Rafe to the hospital the other week, the first time I had taken him out in the car by myself as Richard was working. I was incredibly worried that I would be involved in an accident and put him in danger. After many tears and encouragement from Richard I did eventually force myself to do it and it was all completely fine and I felt so much better afterwards. I am aware how petty and ridiculous that sounds by the way but it just goes to show how powerful the human mind is, and if it has the power to hold us back so much and trap us then why shouldn't it have the power to change our lives and help us achieve anything and everything that we want. I intend to do a full review on the books and everything I learn from them after I have read them. Some of them have tasks in them for the reader to complete and so this may take me some time, if I am going to do this I want to do it properly so I can fairly judge whether they have helped me. Anyway the last couple of days have not been too easy in terms of being a new mum. Lots of cluster feeding (think Rafe may be going through a growth spurt) and not much sleep. Plus Rafe welcomed in the New Year by weeing on daddy during a nappy change...I had just got Richard back doing them aswell! But more on that in Rafe's one month update...which is Wednesday! Scary! Time goes so quick with a newborn! Will try and get his update posted on time, lots planned this week, I am actually seeing one of my friends every day! Hurrah! Escaping from the house for a bit will be very good for me I think...Although housewife duties may suffer for it! Hope everybody had a lovely New Years Eve. We stayed in and watched telly...you know you are getting old when that's all you want to do...and you are seriously considering calling it a night and heading off to bed by 10pm! We made it to midnight though. Sorry this New years post is late...but everything I do tends to be late these days!  Happy New Year! Jx     Follow(function(d, s, id) {var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if (d.getElementById(id)) return;js = d.createElement(s);js.id = id;js.src = "https://www.bloglovin.com/widget/js/loader.js?v=1";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, "script", "bloglovin-sdk"))Follow(function(d, s, id) {var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if (d.getElementById(id)) return;js = d.createElement(s);js.id = id;js.src = "https://www.bloglovin.com/widget/js/loader.js?v=1";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, "script", "bloglovin-sdk")) (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-89626973-1', 'auto'); Pinterest ga('send', 'pageview');