air in your lungs

(gonna put the sisters for each side first so that everything’s a little more organized lol)

Lerae had spent the past few days, taking bus ride after bus ride to get to the other side of the country, to get as far away from her parents as possible. At first, she hadn’t been sure where she was going, only acting on instinct, on desperation, but she knew where her destination was once she stopped in the city. Her step-sister lived here, with her boyfriend, and it was the only place she knew to go. Her last ride was in a taxi, and she gave the driver the address before settling back in the seat, chewing anxiously on her lip. When she finally got to the house, she thanked the man and paid him what little she had left - she’d barely eaten during this whole journey, almost everything she’d saved up having gone into the travel - and she made her way up to the door, knocking.

Anamaria was in the kitchen, fixing a meal for her, Luke, and Ash. Ash had come over to visit and hang out, and Anamaria was all for it, because it meant keeping her boyfriend, Luke, distracted and busy so that he couldn’t try to distract her from cooking. She smiled with the thought, though her mind wandered to her step-sister and how she was doing. They’d been raised in a neglectful and sometimes abusive household, having often gone days without eating when they were younger, and Anamaria always felt an awful guilt for leaving Lerae to that. She’d tried to get Lerae out, having gone to social services and everything, but her parents must have scared Lerae into lying and pretending everything was okay or something. So, all Anamaria could do was send Lerae money in a secret bank account so that she could at least have money to eat or she could save it to get away - a huge part of her hoped it would be the latter. As she finished cooking, she heard the knock on the door and blinked. “Can one of you get that?” she called out to the guys.

Calum grinned as he helped Tiffany set up the grill, and he started it up before he moved over to her, sliding his arms around her from behind, leaning to press a kiss to the side of her neck. “I think this was a good decision,” he decided, motioning to their decision to grill some food rather than to be inside, cooking. “Means I get to see you get all hot and sweaty at the grill.” He smirked teasingly, though he intended to do as much of the cooking as he could - Tiffany tended to do so much already, he wanted to make things at least a little easier on her. Grinning with the thought, he kissed her neck again. “I love you.” And, while he murmured the words, he heard Louis’ remark and was certain Louis had heard him, causing him to scoff and throw a mitt at him. “Keep it up and I’ll get the tongs to attack you with,” he joked, though he blinked at the car pulling up, his brows furrowing, and he swore he recognized one of the people through the window. “Tiff, is that your sister?”

Louis shook his head as he sat outside with Calum and Tiffany, sipping on a beer as he listened to them. “You two are sickeningly sweet,” he joked lightly, amused, though he was happy for the two of them, really. In the same breath, though, he found himself wishing he had a relationship like them, that he had somebody who loved him as much as he loved them, who he could be there for and vice versa, who he could just be happy with. But, he refused to be bitter about any of that - he was sure he’d find his one eventually, and he grinned with the thought, certain that, once he did, they’d be even better than Calum and Tiffany, at least in his mind. He laughed at Calum’s words and shook his head, standing to move over to help with the grill, figuring he could at least play a part in helping to get all the food cooked. He may be a guest, but he didn’t want to just sit around and do nothing while Calum and Tiffany did everything else. Looking over, though, he saw a car pulling up, and he arched a brow, wondering who it could be - maybe they got the wrong address or something, for all he knew.

Ivona breathed out as she laid down in bed, relaxing for the day, and she reached for her phone to do the same thing she did every day and night: to call Harry. They’d met earlier that year, when Harry had been passing through, and they’d hit it off pretty quickly and easily, having developed a relationship within the span of time that Harry had been there. By now, she knew what she felt for Harry, how much she loved him, how much comfort he brought her, but they were on opposite sides of the world now and all she wanted was to be near him. The best she could do was talk to him on the phone, though, and hear his voice, so she pressed the call button and lifted her phone to her ear, waiting for him to answer.

Michael looked at the time when he got home, glad he’d gotten home in time to call Astoria. She was his world, in more ways than one, and he hated being so far away from her, with her all the way on the other side of the world. His constant craving for her presence had made him come up with an idea to have her at his side, but he hadn’t been brave enough to bring it up yet, too worried about what her answer would be. But, he was determined to ask tonight, desperately wishing she was there with him, so that he knew she was there, safe, okay, happy - and he intended to do everything he could possibly do to manage that. Smiling with the thought, he pulled out his phone to call her, eager to hear her voice, his mind already imagining her smiling face, and wanting nothing more than to see it in person again.

Alexina sighed quietly as she arrived at her cousin’s house. This was her parents’ last ditch effort to stop her from causing trouble, but this was the last place she wanted to be - she barely even knew any of her extended family. They were rich, famous, so on and so forth, and it had her constantly rolling her eyes. She hadn’t even seen her cousin in years, she couldn’t remember what he looked like. Not that it really mattered; she doubted she’d be here long, anyway. With the thought, she made her way up to Jared’s house to knock on the door.

Jared groaned as he scrubbed a hand over his face, ignoring Jensen for the moment as he tried to think. It’d been about a month since he’d last seen Winona - they’d had a quick fling that lasted about a month. It was only supposed to be about sex, nothing more, and they’d agreed to delete each other’s numbers afterward, but now all he found himself doing was craving her presence. Some time during everything, it had become about more than sex for him, and he hadn’t realized it until after he’d deleted her number from his phone - and, now, all he wanted was to call her, to tell her how much he missed her, how badly he wanted to see her, and he was struggling, trying to remember her number, having even called several wrong numbers. Crossing out another possible number on the list, he heard the knock at his door and shook his head. “Can you get that?” he asked Jensen as he typed in the next number to try to call it instead.

Catina stared at herself in the mirror for a long while, frowning slightly to herself. She was miserable, she could admit that to herself, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. She’d been with Nathaniel for years, and they’d been happy during most of that time, but the past few months had been too hard; they hadn’t been able to see each other much, they barely got to talk, and it put a strain on everything that they ended up breaking up. Shaking her head with the thought, she pulled her hair into a ponytail before she walked out of her new apartment to go for a run - maybe some exercise would get her mind off of it.

Cillian listened to his friend as he explained that he had a cousin coming to stay for a while. It raised questions for Cillian, admittedly, but he didn’t bother asking any of them, certain he would just get mild, half-answers, and those weren’t actually answers at all. He’d never even heard his friend mention this particular cousin, but it wasn’t really his business, anyway. Shrugging the thought from his head, he looked over when he heard a car pulling up, but he saw that his friend was otherwise occupying himself with another round of alcohol. Wondering if it was the supposed cousin, Cillian couldn’t help but let his curiosity get the better of him and he stood up, making his way to the door, opening it to stare at the car that had pulled up.

Ashton smiled to himself as he watched his friends, so in love with each other that it was almost sickening - but still, Luke had waited such a long time for this happiness, and Ashton would do all in his power to encourage it. "Of course I'll get the door, you heathens." Ashton teased, standing to his own feet. Pushing his hair from his face, Ashton went to the door, pulling it open to reveal the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen, clearly afraid and on guard. Frowning, Ashton looked over his shoulder, looking back to the girl. "Uh... Anamaria!" He called. "It's an emergency!"

Luke sat with Ashton but still, his gaze was upon Anamaria, because she was so beautiful and Luke thanked every deity to ever possibly exist that she loved him and she was his. "Smells good, babe." Luke called with a grin, studying her mannerisms carefully. Frowning when he saw Anamaria's frown, Luke stood to his feet and went to her, wrapping his arms around her from behind. "What's the matter?" Luke asked quietly, nuzzling into her neck, the sweet smell of her perfume enough to intoxicate Luke in the most wonderful way. "Why the frown, hm?" Luke asked. "Ashton, can you get the door, mate?" Luke called, squeezing around Anamaria, not even bothering to acknowledge that someone had knocked to begin with. "Whatever you're worrying about - don't."

Tiffany couldn't help but smile as she felt Calum's arms wrap around her, and feeling his lips against her skin, Tiffany let out a happy sigh. "Mm, hi baby." She murmured, resting her hands on top of his, but hearing his words, Tiffany rolled her eyes playfully, pulling away from her boyfriend with a frown. "Hey now, we have company." Tiffany teased, squeezing Calum's cheeks. "I love you too, you know." Tiffany promised, nuzzling into Calum, smirking as she heard Louis' words. "Oi! No tong fighting around here, you two." She warned, moving away from Calum completely to turn the heat up on the grill. Hearing Calum's words though, Tiffany blinked with surprise, following Calum's gaze and gasping. "Cherry!" Abandoning everything, Tiffany ran to the front to greet the unexpected arrival, hugging her sister as soon as she got out of the car. "What're you doing here?!"

Cherry sat for a moment behind the wheel of the cheapest car she could buy, wondering if she'd made the right choice - she knew Tiffany and Calum would help her through, but with no warning and no phone call or text, Cherry wondered if all of this was a mistake. Exhaling heavily, Cherry found her fears were crushed as soon as she got out of the car, feeling Tiffany's arms around her. Hugging her sister back, Cherry didn't speak for a long moment, having missed her sister more than anything else. "I - I've left home. They don't know I'm here, so please, Tiff, please don't tell them..." Cherry spoke, voice weak and hoarse from crying. Wiping at her eyes with the sleeve of her sweatshirt, Cherry pulled away from Tiffany, offering her sister a watery smile. "Where's Cal? And Duke? I hope they don't mind if I impose until I can find a job..."

Harry was certain he'd never fall in love, and then he met Ivona, and she squashed every disbelief he had. She brought colour back into his world and he discovered so early into their relationship that she was the one he wanted to call his forever, to share his last name with her one day, to start a family... to live together and love together. Biting his lip with the thought, Harry sat up, ready to start the day, and when his phone began to ring from the bedside table, Harry's smile only grew, because he knew it was Ivona. Reaching over, Harry flopped back onto his pillows and pressed the pad of his thumb against the accept button. "Hello darling," he breathed happily, voice still heavy with sleep. "I missed you." And he did, he really did. Just hanging up the phone was starting to become too much of a task that made Harry's heart ache, and that was another push in the right direction to ask Ivona, finally, if she wanted to move in with him.

Astoria looked to the clock that hung on her wall and her heart dropped within her chest, because she missed Michael so much. They lived on opposite sides of the world, and yet, Astoria felt as though she'd known Michael her whole life. Their connection came so easily, their bond was already unbreakable and Astoria knew that there was a place in her future for Michael Clifford. Exhaling with the thought, Astoria changed to pyjamas and just as she climbed into bed, her phone began to ring. Grinning, Astoria answered the call. "Hi, Mikey." Astoria breathed happily. "I thought you'd never call, I was just getting ready for bed." She explained softly. "Busy day, baby?" Getting comfortable, Astoria lay down against the pillows, sighing out happily.

Jensen raised his eyebrows at Jared with a slight smirk playing on his lips. "Man," he laughed. "You're whipped. Are you still trying to find her?" He asked, placing his beer onto the coffee table before standing to his feet, wiping the palms of his hands on his jeans. Hearing another knock at the door, Jensen made his way over quickly, pulling the door open. "Well, hello there." He raised his eyebrows at the pretty young brunette on the door step, suitcase trailing behind her, a bad mood etched onto features that looked as though the gods had carved them. "You're uh... Alex, right? Jared's cousin? He was expecting you today, come in." Jensen smiled, the crinkles by his eyes becoming more prominent as he did so. "I'm Jensen, a friend of his. He's just on the phone." Moving out of the way for Alexina to come inside, Jensen exhaled, because she had to be the prettiest thing Jensen had ever laid eyes on and staying with Jared was going to be difficult when she was around.

Winona wondered if it was normal to dwell on something for so long after it had ended. She and Jared had only been a one time fling, something that was brilliant while it lasted, and yet, Winona found that after seperating from Jared, she found herself missing him, his presence, his touch, the sound of his voice... it had become so much more than just sex, and although that scared Winona, she wondered if reaching out would be worth it - but she'd already deleted his number and god dammit, she couldn't remember it, and Winona knew she and Jared would regret breaking things off when they were going so good. Being pulled from her thoughts at the sound of her phone ringing, Winona sighed, fishing the device from the pocket of her jeans. "Hello, Winona Wright speaking, how can I help you?"

Nathaniel sat on the edge of his empty bed with his head in his hands, wondering if happiness would ever return to him - he was certain he had to chase happiness this time, because his happiness came as Catina, the one woman he was so sure he would marry, start a family with - he hoped more than anything it would be her, and things were going so well until they weren't. One moment they were on top of the world, and the other, they were at the bottom of the heap, and the only option there was was to end the misery before they ended up resenting each other. Scrubbing his hands down his face, Nathaniel exhaled and wondered if taking his new dog, Jack, for a walk would help with the crippling loneliness that had resided in his home since Catina left. "Jack," Nathaniel whistled. "C'mon boy, we're getting out of here."

Annette climbed out of the backseat, slinging her duffel bag over her shoulder as she straightened. "Thanks, here's a tip: don't try and look down a girl's shirt through your rear view mirror, you creep." She smirked, slamming the back door shut and flipping her middle finger to the driver as he drove off. Exhaling, Annette flipped her hair over her shoulders, walking up the pathway and studying Cillian. "Are you a friend of Adrian's?" She asked, moving past him to get inside without waiting for an answer, knowing damn well that Adrian didn't care and neither of his weirdo friends would either. "Do you know where my room is?" She asked, turning to look at Cillian.