-- YOU ARE THE MOONLIGHT OF MY LIFE ,

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

Going back to his parents’ house so soon had not been on his agenda in the near future. Actually, to tell the truth, Denny had planned on avoiding the house all together for years. It hurt him to think of his mother that way considering, outside of Annie, she was the most influential woman in his life. It felt like someone was taking a knife to his back when he thought of his sister and his father though, and two out of three was a majority. Yeah, he would admit that wasn’t exactly too fair, but he would also openly come out with the fact that nothing in life was fair. It wasn’t fair that he’d taken the place of his sister five years ago, it wasn’t fair that he’d served jail time for doing so, and it wasn’t fair that his life had to be turned upside down and inside out just because his sister had been drunk, underage, and stupidly driving his car. It wasn’t fair that he’d fallen into a depression because he had no one left to look at, no one left to talk to, no one to care about him except his mom, and it wasn’t fair that she’d pushed him out of the house. But just because it wasn’t fair didn’t mean that Denny necessarily regretted it. Of course, most of those events he did – all the way up to his mother pushing him out of the apartment because that was how he’d ended up meeting Annie.

But then his mother had called. Again. It was always Donna that was doing the planning, always the one checking up on Denver when she hadn’t heard from him in a long while. Well, about three weeks or so after the horrible meeting that ended with Denny storming out of the house, Donna called back. She tried to apologize for Eric’s actions, but Denver had insisted that she hadn’t done anything and that yeah, he missed her too. She was the only woman before Annie that had ever really shown any sort of compassion to him; all the girls that had liked him in high school were just around because he’d had a baby name and a really awesome mom. Well, then she’d come up with the offer to meet up again. Denny could tell his mom had been hesitant to bring up going to the house again, but she promised and swore on so many different people that Denny’s father and sister wouldn’t be around for the day. It would just be Donna. As much as he would have liked to believe that over the phone, he couldn’t say that he did. It would have been nice to immediately say yes to Donna, but at first Denny sat back and nearly refused. He pushed through the feelings though, mostly for his mom’s sake. She sounded like she really had something to talk about, and Denny had to believe that if she said Eric and Denny’s sister wasn’t going to be around, then they weren’t going to be around.

He waited until he’d talked Annie into shifting for the day so he could go without question. Or rather, he told her, but not necessarily promised, so he wasn’t breaking anything by lying, that he was shifting too. And actually, he wasn’t really lying at all. He did go shifting. He packed a bag of clothes after Annie left, slipped out of his shirt and boxers he’d worn to sleep, turned his long, lanky form into a hawk (mostly for speed, even though he would have rather been a vulture, but he wasn’t going hunting so it didn’t matter) and flew out the bedroom window, bag in his talons and a map on his mind. His wings went with the wind currents, pushing him towards his parents’ house across town, and soon he was landing in the back yard he’d rolled around in when he was too young to care about ant hills or dog poop – even though the Hurley family had never been allowed to domesticate a dog, for obvious “fair treatment” reasons. Either way, he landed and found that his old bedroom window was wide open, as if his mother was keeping it open for instances like this one. Denny would have smiled if he had lips, but his beak kept him from doing that. He just jumped off of the ground and glided up into his old bedroom, shifting back to his human body quickly before closing the window again and getting dressed. He hadn’t bothered to put on the shoes he had brought for the walk home because technically this was still his place of living. Plus, he doubted that his mother, on her day off and alone, would be so formal as to be wearing anything on her feet, except for maybe a pair of fuzzy slippers.

Putting his backpack on the chair by the door, Denver walked out of the room and down the familiar hall. If he’d been tired and the world outside had been darker, he would have almost felt like he was going to school, like he was running downstairs for breakfast before he put his shoes on and headed out for the day. But he wasn’t particularly tired, and the world outside was bright and sunny, just in time for Springtime. The memory was nice, it just wasn’t reality, which Denny snapped back into when he almost tripped down the stairs to the living room. He could hear pans and pots being moved around and knew where his mom was, so he headed right past all of the chairs and the entertainment center and right into the kitchen. He planned to sneak up on Donna, but before he even started to creep along, she turned around and smiled hugely at her son. “I could hear you closing the window. Next time you want to be a ninja in my house, try to refrain from making too much noise.” The look on her face was smug, but easy in a way that didn’t seem malicious. Denny sighed with a smile on his face, stood up, and rolled his eyes before walking over to his mom to hug her.

“You always catch me!” he said, standing back as he looked at the stove, then back at his mom when he realize there was no food being cooked just yet. Donna nodded and said, “Of course I do. I’m your mother – and I hate excellent hearing. There isn’t anything that doesn’t get passed me!” And she was right. Except for the huge lie that Denny had told her about hitting the girl at the party, nothing that he’d ever said or done had gone unnoticed by his mother. She was too much like him – too attentive to certain things and too caring to look away from the people she loved. Denny just smiled still and leaned against the counter, loving the fact that he could hear just as well as Donna could – which was really only something he loved then because he could hear nothing in the house except their breathing in the kitchen. Every other room was totally silent. So he spoke again. “So what’s up mom? I mean you usually don’t just call me over here to see me because if that’s the case, you usually end up just coming to my apartment-” Donna cut him off with, “Which I pay for and have every right to visit every once in a while.” Denny nodded, but continued. “That aside, you don’t call me over here unless there’s some huge event I have to witness.”

So that was a bit of an exaggeration; Donna just smiled through it and heated up the stove, picking up a bag of diced potatoes Denny hadn’t noticed until then and pouring them all in at once. “Now that I’ve got them on the stove, I’ll be right back.

[/i]” With that, Donna swiftly exited the room and practically ran up the stairs to the second floor of the house. Denny waited patiently, wafting up the smell of the potatoes as they started to sizzle from the bottom up. It was true that he constantly missed his mother’s cooking, and with Annie hardly eating anyway it was hard to not miss it. But he wasn’t there to eat, and he was pretty sure that, at this time of day, Donna was preparing dinner for the family. He would have loved to stay for dinner if he knew that his dad and sister wouldn’t be home to eat later – especially his dad. Thankfully, before he could get onto the mental rampage about how his dad had stabbed him in the back without really knowing it, Donna came back into the room with a huge smile on her face. We’re talking so huge that Donna’s face was putting Texas and Alaska to shame. In fact, Denny rather thought of comparing the smile to the entire continent of Asia, rather than just a few states in the U.S.A. Regardless of the size of her smile, she moved back to the stove and checked on the potatoes before looking up at Denny.

“Okay, so your grandmother Ida left me something when she passed.” Denny could hardly remember Grandma Ida. He could picture her white head of hair, her skinny frame and her saggy skin, but that was about it. She’d died when he was really young, just after his sister’d been born, so there really wasn’t all that much for him to remember. All he knew was that she was Donna’s mother, which meant most of the stuff she got from Grandma Ida was going to Denny and his sister rather than anyone on Eric’s side of the family. Thank god. Denny watched his mom as she pulled something out of her pocket. At first he thought it was just a little rock or something. Then he realized the dark thing he was looking at was a velvet casing, which, judging by the size of the box, could only be one thing. He stayed silent as Donna handed him the box. “And it’s just…… Every time I see you around Annie, something’s different about you. You stand straighter. You smile bigger. You light up like someone yanked your pull string and you’re a walking lamp for Pete’s sake!” Denny didn’t connect the pieces at first. He saw the box and heard her words, but he couldn’t make that immediate connection. Still, he opened the small box and caught his breath at the site. The diamond in the center of the ring looked brand new, and it was fucking huge. It had to be at least…..ten or so karats, and the silver band holding the rock up had to cost, at leas these days, close to four thousand dollars at the very smallest amount possible, like if one was purchasing it at a pawn shop. It made Denny drop his jaw and forced the connection into his mental train station.

“Mom……” He had nothing left in his head to say. He was speechless; Denny just observed the ring and thought about how he was going to go about doing this. Donna, as if reading his mind, spoke up. “I want you to go back to your apartment, find Annie, and give her the ring. I see the way you look at her – I see the way she depends on you. I know you guys are young and all, but I think you’re ready, Denver.” Denny looked up form the ring to his mom, his jaw coming back up into a smile. It was a miracle he’d had her throughout his entire life, otherwise he wasn’t sure how he would have made it through the accident – or if he would have been enough of himself to actually do what he’d done. Not closing the ring box, Denny just stretched out his arms and hugged his mom, tighter now than he had before. He felt like crying, but he was much too happy to do that, even in the case of happy tears. Donna hugged Denny back, rubbing his back in that very matronly manner that just made all of this really real. He was going to go home and ask Annie to marry him, to be with him forever because it wasn’t just himself and Annie that saw they were made for each other. Denny just kind of felt like his whole world was falling into place, that things were finally fair, and that he could literally do anything. So when Donna pulled back and that feeling started to recede, Denny tried to hold on to keep it there. Donna laughed and shook her head, pushing Denny back enough for him to see her face.

“What the hell are you waiting for, Denny? Get going! Annie’s probably wondering where you are by now anyway!” Knowing Annie, that wasn’t the case, but it was hard for Denny to not listen to his mother. Make fun of him for it or not, he had a tendency to be a typical mamma’s boy, just without the dependency – at least, not anymore. He smiled, nodded, closed the ring box, and let her go. He turned to leave, but with a swift turn back he said, “Thanks mom. This means the world to me. Seriously.” She smiled and nodded in the same fashion that he had and replied, “I knew it would. Now go! I have a meal to cook!” Denny chuckled and literally ran back up the stairs, almost tripping on the same one as before, only stopping when he reached his room again. He pulled on his shoes, stuffed the box in his bag, and ran back down into the living room. “Bye mom!” he called back as he ran to the door, flung it open, and sprinted out after closing it back up again. His energy was so high and his mind was in such a place that he managed to run half way home without stopping, only doing so to catch a few short breaths before he continued to jog the rest of the way. He skipped every other step on the way up to the apartment and burst through the door only to be hit with the same wave of silence in this place that he’d been faced with in his mother’s presence. That disappointed him a bit, but not enough to make him calm down. He just laid the bag down next to the door, picked out the ring, and headed across the house.

Denny slipped off his shoes as he walked into his bedroom, leaving them up against the bed. He jumped up, crawled across the mattress and comforter, and decided that sitting on the open window sill would just be easier than climbing up to the roof. He was too anxious to be that far away from the door anyway, so he sat himself facing the sky with his feet dangling over the faux balcony that wasn’t meant for a human body. He pulled the box up to his face and inspected the velvet, not daring to open it incase some of the magic of the ring would escape before Annie could see it. Annie. Her named made his heart stop with the thought of what he was going to do the instant she found him over here. He wanted her to be so surprised she would say nothing at first, even though that thought lead to thoughts of his self doubt. What if she said no? What if he scared her with the ring and the proposal and she refused and left? Her words from Christmas eve settled into his thoughts; I would have said yes. He had to keep believing that was true for now, when he was more than ready to marry her the instant she said she was ready to put on a dress and get it done. That was the least romantic way to put it, but Denny knew he had better intentions than that.

His heart raced even faster when he heard the door open. He felt like he was going into cardiac arrest, but he had to play it cool. He had to hide the ring first, make it look like there was nothing going on. He shoved the box into his pants pocket and forced his hands against the cool material of the window sill. Denny looked up at the sky that was quickly growing darker, though it was still pretty bright out. The sun, the clouds, the blue behind the clouds gave him a center to put himself on, and they collected his thoughts for him and made him feel at home, like he was doing the right thing. He knew with every fiber of his being that he was, he just needed the reassurance to make sure. Even hearing Annie’s footsteps didn’t make him react, but knowing that the time to ask was getting closer was. It was now or never, and now seemed like as good a time as ever.

2852 words bb -- cora/annie as always -- denny's wearing jeans and a shirt okay -- lyrics to green day okay i made everything else -- cora OKAY I HAVE TO EAT DINNER BUT HERE IT IS READ IT LOVE IT OKAY[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

Annie stretched her legs and they felt very sure underneath her. It was always such a reassuring feeling to be shifted like this, to have her body the same but so infinitely different. Each organ the same thing but so different in her body, each sense so exact and yet twisted so different in such a complex way that Annie couldn't really ever describe it to you. To feel the same ground under her feet and yet it held a completely different meaning. There was no concerete here, just the soft pine needles under her feet, moss and roots that gnarled the word pads of her feet. Her bones felt stretched out and scrunched together. Everything felt so familiar but... different, even if it was entirely repetitive. There were things she felt now that she hadn't missed in the past. There were longings that were distinctly too human and threw off everything. There was the fact that sometimes when her monstrous hind legs ground into her pelvis she would feel a little shaken. She hadn't noticed the brushes for a few days but now when the slight aches came she could feel Denny's hands there and she couldn't deny that it frightened her. It distinctly wasn't him and that set Annie on this edge that she had never really been on before. But in the last weeks he had been so genuine that the minor incident had slipped her mind. 

That was the thing about always moving; things just dissipated into the air. Before you knew it, a thought was gone and another one was whirring in it's place. Ideas came and went with the soft breezes of the wind. Annie found herself venturing from the forest cover and slinking around the back yards of cottages, stealthily crossing meadows. The grass there was sweet-smelling, the kind of scent that was heavy in your nose and almost laid thick on your tongue. Annie would catch herself looking up, searching for a bird in the sky, black feathers illuminated on the edges by the sun and the sky. But she was disappointed each time and it brought this little unsettling feeling to her stomach. She walked by beach edges where the tides would wash up and sweep away her footprints. Places like that reeked of fish and crabs hiding in their holes under unforgiving sawgrass. Everything was always changing and yet it was always some level of the same. Annie didn't know if she was comforted or put off by that fact. Like always, she found herself venturing towards the path by her old apartment. Twisted through ivy, there was a little path that led to a decrepit cottage, roof and walls mostly gone. It wasn't creepy, though; violet foxgloves sprung up between floor boards and holly pushed against remaining walls. Four o' clocks crawled up walls, mingling with the ivy. Annie's chest felt tight and she had this need to show Denny this place, one day. She hoped he would appreciate it. 

Annie lost track of time, after a while. She just moved. She didn't do much running because her head was too clouded, but she just wandered here and there. She saw the sky darken, and that was a sign to go back to the apartment. Some small part of her was sad as she ventured back to the secluded area she usually kept her clothes. She shifted and pulled everything on, frowning with the thought that her skin felt too tight. There were a couple bruises here and there that she didn't remember getting. She walked home slowly and quietly, stuck in this weird spot in her head. She hated how sometimes she could push herself into these moods where she just wanted to punch something. She wasn't mad, just...upset. Thrown off her game. It wasn't a good feeling and she really wished that it would go away, that it just didn't exist in general. Everything was kind of squished and she really just wanted to worm her way into Denny's arms and go to bed. It was early, but she felt kind of warn out. The muscles in the back of her legs felt pulled tight and her head was slow. The idea of being wrapped up and warm with Denny was just so inviting and soon it was all she was thinking about. She wanted to skip stairs and burst through the door, but she took her time and quietly turned it open. She walked into the bedroom silently, finding Denny on the window sill with his legs just dangling out in the air. Annie sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off her boots. Then she crawled over and lifted herself up next to him, curling up so that her feet were barely even off the sill, let alone the decoration balcony. 

She pulled one of his hands off the windowsill and pulled it forward so it was between her arm and her side. She wrapped it up in both of her hands, her thumbs rubbing his palm. She looked at it like maybe she could suddenly read palms. What would she see there? Would it be something she liked or something she didn't? Annie didn't know if she was afraid of the future or not. She wasn't ready for it though, she knew that much. Annie wasn't really ready for anything. She was unprepared for nearly every situation, and when they came to her and jumped in her face, she was useless. She was never ready for things. It wasn't a matter of preparation, it was a matter of panic; sometimes she freaked out and sometimes she didn't. Annie didn't know what the future even held. Marriage, right? That's what she wanted. But would she be ready, would she be good at it? Probably not. Annie wasn't much good at anything domestic like that. It just never worked out too well for her. Those were the situations where panic would set in. She would want to cry in scream and throw things. The frustration that sets in when you don't succeed is unlike any other kind of irritation ever imagined.

Annie took in a long breath and the action hurt the muscles in her breath. She sighed, curling her pips together so it made an audible sound. It was still a light and positive sound. The sky was bruise colored, darkish at the top and light at the bottom. Annie moved closer to Denny, leaning so she was half on his chest. She tucked her head against his neck, an action she was used to. It was a familiar thing and there was warmth coming from his skin and it kind of evened her body out, brought everything to this nice balance. Denny tended to do that to her, just make everything even and good for her. She closed her eyes and sighed happily. "How was your day?" she said lightly. Despite the exhausted feeling, she was in a good mood and it was evident from her tone. There was a breeze and it was kind of cold she nestled herself closer to him. She picked up one hand from his hand and dragged the tips of her fingernails up and down the inside of his arm lightly, sometimes drawing different shapes. Annie got like this when she felt good. She was light and easy to be around. She was more fun to be with. She was lighter and less frustrated. Today was one of those days; she had woken up curled up against Denny, pressing her upturned lips against his for a goodmorning kiss, which started everything off right. And it had just followed suite and now she was home and she was tired and she just wanted to curl up with him again. 

1302 words -- outfit -- weird, but I like it

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

The physical connection made him forget his own intentions for a few minutes. The silence cleared his mind and his mental schedule, leaving plenty of room for him to calm down even more as Annie curled up next to him. He let her move as she pleased, mostly because he’d rather have her where she wanted to be than where she didn’t want to be, but also because he wanted her to be comfortable when he asked his question. That is, if he even remembered that he had the ring and a question to go along with it. Annie’s hands holding his, just the fact that she was there out of the silence and being cuddly with him was enough to clear his thoughts and make him focus on only her. That was okay – actually, more than okay – because Denny would rather have Annie there distracting him than anyone else. He thought quickly that his mom was right; their love was too evident to deny. It was easy to see, although not always easy to understand. Even still, it was all Denny had, so he didn’t question anything – he just figured if he wanted to keep Annie right where she was, enjoying instead of asking would be a more suitable route of action to take.

Her voice broke the silence he’d been keeping, but he didn’t really care. It wasn’t really that he didn’t care, it was more that it didn’t bother him. Breaking the silence brought his plan back into his thoughts, which on one hand had him almost shaking, but on the other hand set him back into a focused track of action. It had him thinking, and thinking led to formation of words. That led to an answer to her question, but Denny felt the necessity to sight before he spoke, though he couldn’t verbalize a reason as to why. That was just how he worked, and if anyone didn’t like it well then haters to the left. Anyway, that was irrelevant to Denny’s now; that now was filled with Annie holding and touching him, cuddling up to his side and neck and just making him feel better than the silence had about asking her. He felt more sure when she was like this, not that he hadn’t been sure before. He just felt like he could do this, and no matter the answer, he’d walk away with his head high (though everyone could tell that if Annie rejected his proposal, he’d more likely walk away with his head chopped off). But the feeling was the same, so he looked at Annie and smiled. He couldn’t help it. Seeing her like this, knowing he was going to ask her to be his forever, it all made his face stretch out and turn into a mass of constellations in the night sky.

“Interesting.” He didn’t really have a better answer, as lame as it was. His hand in hers just squeezed her hand lightly, reinforcing his smile. He kissed the top of her head, though he would have rather kissed her lips. He didn’t complain though, and he wasn’t necessarily disappointed, he just had a preference. Either way, he sighed again and kept his face turned because Annie was much more entertaining than the sky at that point. Denny would always be connected to the sky, but he would never be engaged to, married to, or in love with it. Those were all things he could only have with Annie. That alone was enough to give him enough confidence to at least try to ask. “I shifted and left after you. I uh….. I probably should have told you, but my mom called me yesterday. She asked me to come over, and yeah at first I didn’t want to. But she promised my dad and my sister wouldn’t be around, and she said I should come alone because she had something to give me.” Denny hoped Annie could trust his mom at least half as much as he could as he told her this. He didn’t want her to start thinking he’d lied to her just to go see his mom or something, because that wasn’t the case. He just clamped onto her hand a little more, but not hard particularly, and sighed again. He could feel his palms getting grossly sweaty and clammy, and he wondered when Annie was going to let go of him because it was just weird holding a hand like that. But he couldn’t get off track – he put his mind in motion and moved.

“When I got there, it was just my mom. Not that I’d thought she’d lied or something, I was just pleasantly surprised. So I went and talked to her and, indeed, she had something to give me. But…. But really, it’s for you.” With the hand that Annie wasn’t holding, Denny pulled out the small velvet box but kept it in a place where Annie wouldn’t be able to see it. His knees suddenly jolted and his legs swung, only hard enough for his feet to move a few inches in both forward and backward directions until they settled again. His nerves felt like someone had ignited them and they were now a line of wires leading up to some major explosives. His mind was the destination, and as soon as the wires were done being lit up, his mind would explode and leave fragments of itself on the walls of his room, the pseudo balcony beneath them, and Annie herself. He pulled the box over a bit, but didn’t open it. Looking at the velvet, Denny felt like his life was at a standstill, but only long enough for it to change completely and forever at any given second. He felt like he was in a movie playing on dvd, and at any second someone could pause the movie and turn it off to watch something else that Denny was in, changing not only the plot, but also his character and the world that he lived in. To be honest, Denny didn’t necessarily think that was a bad feeling.

He looked back at Annie again and smiled, though he still felt nervous more than he ever had in his entire life. “I hadn’t expected you.” He started off with that, paused, and went on. “I had expected my life to go exactly as it had been. I’d expected darkness and if I’d spent any more time in it, I probably would have embraced that knowledge. But then…. Then everything changed. Everything’s been changing since. Darkness is still there – I can still see it and I know it, but there’s this huge ball of light that’s blocking it. There’s this presence that keeps me from going back to being that way.” Denny refrained from saying the word ‘depression’ as he highly hated it. “That was all because of you. You…..somehow brought the light into my life again. You changed me and you’re still changing me. I hope that you will always be changing me, because the change now is that we’re growing together. I know that’s like….the cheesiest thing you’ve probably ever heard, but that’s how I see it.” He gave the box another glance, then looked back at Annie again. “I can’t tell you why it was you that came in and made this all happen. I can just tell you that I’m glad it was you. I’m scared of what I’d be if someone else – or worse, no one else – had been the one to do all of this to me.”

Denny kissed her head again. “Annie, there’s no one else in the entire universe – or the next, or any universe – that can make me feel the way you make me feel. You’re everything I have and everything I want. And today, when I saw my mom, what she gave me….. It all just made sense that today was a good day. I love you, and I always will, until the very day that I don’t live anymore and even then for much, much longer. I just….” Denny’s hand shook a bit, but just enough so Annie might get the fact that he was nervous. “I want to know if you’d want to…..marry me?” With that, he held the box out to Annie and opened it, showing her the ring his mom had given him. All he could do now was watch and wait.

1408 words bb -- cora/annie as always -- denny's wearing jeans and a shirt okay -- lyrics to green day okay i made everything else -- AHHHH HE ASKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this post needs more exclamation points.

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

Annie hadn't really ever seen herself as stationary. She had constantly been moving, she had been endlessly pushed forward, bored with people, bored with places, bored with breathing. All of that had changed the moment she met Denny. Even before he was so substantial in her life, he had pulled her attention, he had kept her interested and she hadn't even really noticed. And now Annie was stuck. Although she wouldn't use the word stuck. Once upon a time, she would rather die than be in this situation. She didn't like to get attached to things, didn't like people getting attached to her. Annie didn't see why they should; she wasn't some brilliant thing, she wasn't a shining light. She was dark and corrupted and endlessly upset. She wouldn't touch someone with a ten foot pole. She hissed and clawed when emotions held her down. She would have seen any situation as being stuck. Stuck meant being held down, fixed in place, resentful. Freedom was taken and she was alone even though she was held. Annie had always been afraid of feeling stuck.

With Denny it wasn't like that, though. Annie felt held down in a way that she would be guilty if she left, but also in a way where she saw no reason to leave. She didn't feel trapped. She almost wished that he would hold her down tighter. He was all she really wanted and needed to be happy. The idea of happiness had always been something of a foreign thing for her, but now it was so real and tangible and that was such a surreal feeling. Denny didn’t feel like he was doing anything Annie didn’t want. He was so balanced and aware, and there in a very good sense of the word. She didn’t need much else other than him, and she didn’t want anything outside of what he could provide for her. If Denny couldn’t give her a big house and a wealthy future, than she didn’t want that. If he could, then she’d take it. It was like she didn’t even think about it though. All she needed was here, here with him and being there, and it brought this huge feeling of peace over her, like she had been searching for something her whole life when before Denny she had never really looked at it that way. It was like suddenly she had found this thing that she had been looking for nearly endlessly, and it filled up her entire being and made her feel very happy and content, like the whole reason she had been living had been fulfilled and now she just got to relax and ride everything else out in peace.

His palm was sweaty, and Annie smiled in a curiously, light way, like what was going on with that? He leaned forward and kissed her head. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the contact. Her body felt heavy with exhaustion, but it just kind of added to the peaceful feeling, like today had really just done it’s job. It had reached this standard of just being a good day. His words seemed kind of weird and Annie just watched him as he spoke. Something about this moment was surreal, it was ethereal and she was wondering what was going to happen. It was like slowly shaking a soda can or something, and she just watched his actions and wondered what the reactions should be. His hand got weirder to hold but it would just be mean if she let go. He kept talking and Annie didn’t really get was he was trying for. What could her mom possibly give him that could be more for her? God, she really hoped it wasn’t food. That would kind of ruin her whole day which was really kind of pathetic. Annie was doubting if she would ever really ”get better” with that kind of stuff.

That obviously wasn’t what he was getting at though, and soon he was continuing and Annie started to feel nervous just being next to him. Denny being nervous put her on edge because it made her worry. That was her stability, her protection, and when he started to worry and become unsure, Annie felt very vulnerable and exposed and it was just so not healthy for her because any amount of worrying was unneeded for her already stressful existence. He continued and Annie felt her skin get warm with the things he was saying. Her fingers traced his skin again, over and over on the tanness there, like maybe she could get him to relax. Her head was hurting just being next to him. And she didn’t get what he was saying. What did it all mean, where was he going with this? What was the reason for him to talk about this, to feel the need to flatter her like that? Annie thought he was giving her too much credit. She really didn’t understand why he loved her, but she was at the point where she was done arguing about it. She was just going to accept it even though she didn’t understand it. In her opinion she was kind of a leech to him. She just sucked all of his life and love and attention and gave him hell in return. But, again, she wasn’t going to say she was wrong for that. She was way too selfish to do that.

Annie blushed, hard. She didn’t want to be this light in his life. Well, she did. But she didn’t understand how she invited all this brightness. She just had a hard time wrapping her head around that idea. She didn’t like the idea that anyone else could have done anything like what she had done with Denny. She wouldn’t have liked who he was. Would she have even noticed him though? Where would she be without him? In a gutter somewhere, most likely. He kissed her head again and she had the same reaction as earlier, only amplified. Her smile came back, rueful and cute because she felt spoiled by that simple little kiss. She couldn’t really explain it, but she leaned her head against his lips for the seconds that they were there. She liked hearing that he loved her. At a time she had almost cried herself to death over the fact that he was so conditional. Now he said there were no conditions. Forever, all the time, always. His hands were shaking. Annie held his hand tighter, still wondering.

And suddenly… that wondering factor was gone. She just stared at him like a retard. She just looked at him with this blank expression on her face like she just didn’t get it. “Oh my god.” she said finally. Her grip on his hand was crippling. “Oh my god. You just asked me to marry you.” Oh, thanks for informing him, Annie. It wasn’t like he wasn’t completely aware of that seeing as he was nearly sweating and he had definitely just asked you that. Yes, of course, but her lips just weren’t working. She looked at what he was holding and saw the ring and she felt her hand tremble and god, suddenly she was the nervous one. She knew her answer but her body was just still stuck in that oh my god state, and she just looked at what he was holding and she wasn’t really getting the idea across all that well that Denny had just asked her to marry him. This was something she had been thinking about for a while but suddenly the concept seemed so fucking unreal and her head refused to wrap around it. Because that was just so… she had always thought about it, and she joked about it, and stuff like that, but now it was happening and Annie’s heart felt like it was about to jump out of her throat.

”Uh, yes. Of course. Yes.” She closed her eyes and then she opened them again and she felt dizzy because everything was moving really fast and her head was just chanting holy shit and Annie felt her fingers shaking. And then things moved fast again, like they had hitched themselves stopped and froze, and now they were moving and Annie was moving forward and she wrapped her arms around Denny. They both fell back onto his bed from the windowsill. It was like a two second movement but Annie felt like she was going to puke. The feeling of falling was not something she liked, and she already felt like her whole body was just moving in too many directions at a speed that wasn’t really good for her. She liked that she was on top of him though because he broke her fall and she smiled devilishly and put one hand on either side of his face and just kissed him because it felt good. All of this just felt really good. The ache in her sides and the exhaustion from the day were completely eclipsed by the fact that she was engaged.


1517 words -- outfit -- blahhhhhh

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

Be patient. This is new, this is surprising. Be patient and don’t beat yourself up if it takes a while to get an answer. Denny had to remind himself to stay calm and just wait. His impatience was closer to him than his patience, which made waiting hard, but he had to. It was hard to tell what would happen, which was a major reason he was so nervous. Although Annie had said before that she would have said yes if he asked, he couldn’t be too sure now, mostly because when he’d asked to just have the promise hanging over their heads, things had been much different. Then they’d moved so fast, so carelessly that it had all fallen apart to the point where they couldn’t be together but they couldn’t be apart. Then the beach had happened, and things changed again – now they couldn’t be apart without not being about to be together. They had to be together; they needed each other or support and stability, which was odd to think of when one thought of Annie. Sure, Denny was the more stable of the two of them, but when push came to shove and he was the one that needed a shoulder to cry on, Annie was right there, ready and willing to assume the role of sturdy wall, at least for a little while.

And then her words filled his world, and the biggest smile ever stretched across his face. This enchanted mood set in around him, engulfed him in unrealistic happiness that he knew he could only experience with Annie. It was finally like the movies, only not so much because relationships in movies were conventional and slightly predictable – that wasn’t so for him and Annie. They weren’t conventional, and that was the reason he felt he and Annie were both so entertained with each other. There was no one else like the other, and that uniqueness made them a puzzle that only the two of them could figure out – knowing that was a reason Denny just felt like he’d picked the right time (or rather that his mom had picked the right time) to ask Annie. Finally, when they were both at least a little more stable than they had been months before, and Denny thought they were ready to take this step, everything just felt right. It was possible, but a bit out of place, and yet still relevant to say that Denny felt invincible. He felt like he could taken on an 18 wheeler and win, like he was Will Smith in that movie about the super alien guy or something that lost his powers when he found his other half – except that Denny didn’t have to suffer that latter setback. He had the freedom to still be a bird with Annie, as he’d always had, and he gave her the same freedom to be a canine because he loved that about her. He loved everything about her.

What took him by surprise was Annie tackling him, pushing the both of them back onto the bed. It wasn’t a bad surprise, and Denny chuckled when he was able to think again. The ring was still in his hand; he’d grabbed hard onto it so it wouldn’t fly away from him, and when he landed on the bed beneath Annie, he just kept it close. Her hands on his face gave way for his to find their place on her hips, a place he was so comfortable with holding because it just seemed safe. Safe or not, his hands didn’t stay just on her hips for long; his arms just wrapped around her entire middle because he felt the need to keep her as close as he could. Her words rang through his head: “Uh yes. Of course. Yes.” It filled his entire mind with the most pleasant thoughts he’d ever had, made him feel so light and nice and worthy. For one, there wasn’t something he could blame himself for, and it felt nice to be proud of himself again. It felt nice to just lay there and think I’M FUCKING ENGAGED. Yes, his mind was shouting, but not in the way it had months ago when he’d thought he’d done something wrong. This shouting was like shouting you heard at a concert, when your favorite band came onto the stage and you knew you were about to witness something that would change your perspective on everything forever.

The biggest smile he could manage without breaking the kiss broke out across his lips. Her skin against his arms between the end of her sweater and her pants made everything real – if he could touch it, if it was tangible and he could believe it, then it was real, and there she was. There Annie was, and there Denny was, totally in love and so happy he didn’t think he could live much longer without a downturn. But that thought didn’t last long; all of the positive in his head blurred out anything that would deter this mood, that would tear it down and make him want to be alone for a while. He couldn’t want that – even if he did, he’d fight it. Denny wanted Annie right where she was, so close and so real and so very his. It just made sense to him, and it made more sense with every passing second that it was just so undeniably right to have asked her to marry him now. It made sense that he hadn’t thought to breathe – that he’d rather die happily in that moment from lack of oxygen than go on living to have this mood removed from his perspective because he’d decided to breathe.

However, pain in his chest from that lack of oxygen was not how he wanted this mood to end either, so unfortunately he had to pull back just a bit to be able to breathe. His smile didn’t falter though; it stayed spread across his face so far he felt his lips cracking. If he had seen himself, he would have seen how his eyes were sparkling from this immense happiness, and he see just how extremely un-Denny-like he looked, while still retaining himself. It was more that he just……had never been this happy in his life, rather than being some new person all together physically. In any case, despite his short, fast breathing, Denny was still smiling. His arm with the ring in his hand let go of Annie just to bring the ring to their face level. “You want me to put it on or what?” He asked with that smile still stretched so far across his face, and although it felt odd to do so, he didn’t complain. His other hand lifted from her waist line and pulled the hand with his promise ring from his face gently. He pulled the ring out of the box his mom had given him, threw the box at the ground, and easily slipped the ring onto Annie’s finger. From where he was, it seemed to fit perfectly, which to Denny was just a sign that this was supposed to happen.

His hand closest to that one moved up and took her fingers between his, while the other replaced itself around her waist. The sun outside shone at just the right angle for him to see her face, which was not helping with the stretching of his lips. Denny didn’t care though; he’d rather be able to say he couldn’t move his face because he was so happy than have to say he had to stop smiling because his face hurt. Either way, he moved his head up enough to kiss Annie again, this time shorter but still with just as much emotion as the last one. When he pulled away this time, his eyes stayed closed even though he didn’t know why. He breathed a few times before opening them, looking up at Annie and smiling again. “I love you so much. Thank you.” He wasn’t thankful for just one thing, so he figured naming everything he was thanking her for would just take out too much time. If she asked, he’d have something to give a speech about, but for now he just stuck to thanking her. Annie meant the world to him, and finally there was some way that he could prove that to her without getting into some elongated story about his life before her; by genuinely wanting to marry her.

1419 words bb -- cora/annie as always -- denny's wearing jeans and a shirt okay -- lyrics to green day okay i made everything else -- okay cheesy denny is back hai where have you been?

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

"I feel like I'm gonna puke.," she admitted watching him put the ring on her finger. Her hands were shaking. Part of her wondered if maybe she should have thought a bit more. Commitment was so scary, being engaged was something no one ever had expected for Annie. It wasn't her way to be tied down, it wasn't something someone expected for her. Annie wasn't one to give long speeches, and if Denny wasn't worrying about those things then she wouldn't bring them up, but if she was she would have told him that for Denny it was different. She wanted to be tied down to him, for as long as that rope would hold them. She wanted Denny to be stuck with her, she was terrified that he would leave, that something would change. It was in the back of her mind, but it was there. She was surprised she didn't have nightmares about it. But Annie had already given so much more than a minor commitment of marriage. People did that all the time. Annie had given herself over to love. Love was the most terrifying thing she could ever imagine, and she had willingly sacrificed herself to it. Her biggest fear, and now she lived her life by it. Every aspect of how she lived was ruled by her relationship with Denver, how she felt about him and the actions she took about it. 

His fingers laced through her's and his arm held her so close that her body went along with every line of his, like the sky and the horizon. Considering how they viewed each other, it was kind of like you'd flipped the world upside down. He kissed her again, and Annie sighed. She watched him open his eyes, smiled when he said he loved her. Annie could see what he was thanking her for. Well not really, but she could see how thankful he was, how absolutely sincere he was when he said those words, like they were the most honest letters that had ever fallen from his mouth. His smile was enormous and his eyes were so bright. But then again Annie could barely see those beautiful brown things, on account of he his smile was literally eating up his whole face. "'You're welcome' is so overrated." She said, smiling again and leaning forward to kiss him once more.

Annie laid her head against him then, looking at the ring on her finger. Light filtered through the diamond and Annie just looked at it. She was having a hard time believing that this was happening to her. "It's so pretty." Her voice was filled with two things; the awe that she wAs feeling, the pure joy of seeing that on her finger. In her voice you could hear how she almost didnt believe it, didn't believe she had this beautiful ring to go with the man laying under her, the one who treated her well, and always took care of her because she just couldn't take care of herself. The second was her exhaustion; Annie had gotten so tired through the day and she had all this nervous energy. She wasn't sleepy, just exhausted. She turned slightly, her body slumping to the side and she cuddled closer to him. Her shirt got all messed up, but Denny was so warm and there and he was going to be there forever, so she forgot about what had happened just a fee weeks ago. 

581 words -- outfit -- sucks

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

Denny hoped Annie was talking about puking because she was so happy. Not that he wanted her to puke at all; he just didn’t want her to feel any negative feelings. He’d seen that happen before, but he didn’t really want to think about it. He wanted to be happy, to stay happy, to never have a reason to tear his smile off his face. Denver just pushed the thought of Annie doing anything that wasn’t pleasant out of his mind, mostly because this was just too great a time to ruin with anything. He didn’t even acknowledge she’d said that – he just moved on to her next bit of speech and smiled. He had to admit it was a bit cliché, so he didn’t really feel offended for her not having said it. He just understood, which was enough to keep his smile where it was as she kissed him again.

He couldn’t believe it. Just yesterday he’d worried more about whether or not Annie was eating, and now he was just worried that she’d change her mind and take the ring off again. She didn’t seem to want to do that though, so he was happy to relax beneath her and enjoy being her fiancé. Somehow, not worrying about anything really just felt right for once. He could enjoy laying there with his fiancé, really understand the weight of that title and really enjoy the way it felt in his mind. Denny had never seen himself as the type to get married, though he’d pictured himself with the right girl once or twice before. With everything that had happened since his childhood, Denny had lost the image of ‘the right girl’ almost completely. He’d admit he’d hoped a girl would come along and change his life, make him see that he wasn’t a totally horrid person, but he’d lost hope in ever really being with one girl for too long. No one wanted his baggage; he’d convinced himself of that. No girl wanted to deal with his shit, and no girl wanted to be around someone that drove their cars into younger girls while intoxicated. No one trusted him after the accident, and that had been a huge factor in the ruining of his image on his love life.

Along came Annie. She threw his life into that light he’d described before, which didn’t make much sense considering Annie wasn’t the most light creature – at least on a personality basis. It wasn’t that Denny didn’t love her as a person, because he did, he just knew she had flaws that determined who she was. He loved those flaws too, which really was a sign that this was supposed to be happening. She’d just taken what he had been and turned him into what he was now, slowly and surely, little by little. Once having been introverted, quiet, selfish, and depressed, Denny was thoughtful, talkative (at least, compared to before), giving, caring, honest, and happy. Of course he had that second personality that he wasn’t going to think of tonight, but that didn’t matter. It was just a sliver of himself that he’d learn how to defeat one day, but until then he’d ignore it for as long as he could. As long as he was totally happy, he could do that. Anything was possible now, or so it felt, all because he was engaged and his entire world was coming together. The light was meeting the dark, the up was coming towards the down. It all felt so natural, almost as natural as Denny’s fingers on Annie’s face and waist felt. All of this natural felt so good.

When Annie’s face moved away from his, he looked in the direction she’d taken to looking. The ring looked amazing on her finger; it fit perfectly and it shone, even in the darkening room. “Glad you like it.” He’d been hoping the whole way home that she wouldn’t hate it, especially since it belonged to his grandma. It was older than his mother, but gracefully taken care of, and therefore retaining its vintage (and inexpensive, in Denny’s case) charm. Without much else to say, Annie moved sideways and slid against Denny, cuddling closer to his side and giving him no room between his body and hers. He was okay with that, but he was still wearing jeans and he wasn’t tired at all. He should have been, considering he ran the whole way home – which he wasn’t exactly built to do – but his mind was racing in the best way possible. Thoughts and images of their wedding just came and went, throwing themselves around in his head and creating this feel that made Denny know he was ready to get married tomorrow. It made sense to him, but he wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t what Annie wanted. If she wanted a huge wedding with all of the people in town invited, he’d do that. If she wanted just him and herself on the beach with some local official reading off some lines, then he’d go with that. Whatever Annie wanted, Denny would plan out and go for.

Soon enough, without him realizing it, Annie was weightless and sleeping up against him. She seemed to cling to him, but Denny didn’t complain. He just relaxed and thought, realizing they were faced away from the pillows and the top of the blanket. He waited a few minutes, just to make sure Annie was completely out, before gently sitting up to lift her up and turn her around, moving his body around to lay against hers again. Only before he laid back, his eyes caught something purple and yellow right above the top of her jeans. He stopped, looked down, looked at Annie’s face to make sure she was asleep, then looked back. The spots, though he could only see three on one hip and two on the other, were relatively small, but just as dark as he would expect a cloud to be on a rainy day. The yellow around the rim let him know exactly what they were – bruises. They were slowly healing from the outside in, hence the yellow coloring, but the were bruises nonetheless. And they were not from anything she might have run into today. They were already starting to heal – anything Annie might have gotten herself caught on today would be red and swollen, not purple and yellow and smooth for the most part.

These were in the shape of something that Annie wouldn’t have come across today anyway. Denny held his hand up, watched his fingers in the dimming light, and placed a few against the purple dots. Immediately his eyes closed and his hand retracted, only to be forced back as his eyes were forced open. His fingers fit the dots perfectly on both sides. The yellow circled the tips of his fingers, the purple was completely hidden beneath his skin. Suddenly, this amazing night was ruined. Thoughts just ran through Denny’s head, and the night he’d been in his parent’s house last flashed through his mind – the sex afterwards that had been so off because of Denny’s mental displacement. His hands had been tense and rough, which he hadn’t really noticed until then. His hands that loved to hold Annie the way she liked him holding her, and left purple spots and bruises – they’d hurt her. The worst part was that she hadn’t said anything. She’d let Denny go on thinking everything had been okay. Denny had to lay back and face the ceiling; sleep was going to be impossible and the guilt of those bruises was going to haunt him.

1278 words bb -- cora/annie as always -- denny's wearing jeans and a shirt okay -- lyrics to green day okay i made everything else -- oh god