WHEN YOU'RE NOT AROUND --

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

do you know your worth?
'CAUSE EVERY DAY I PRAY FOR YOUR WORDS.

If Denny had been in tenth grade, sitting in his bedroom trying to figure out what to wear, how he would match with his date without knowing what she was wearing, or what he’d even drive over to her house, Denny would have been on the ground shaking. He would have had a panic attack. He’d be freaking out, running around in circles tripping over the clutter in his room just to impress a girl that talked to much and said nothing of any interest. He’d just been sort of a people pleaser back then, though not normally to that extent. It had just been the fact that a girl had caught his eye enough for him to use the effort to ask her out. See, back then, before the accident, Denny didn’t really have too much motivation outside of music. He’d rather sit at home and make some songs up and play his guitar on a Saturday rather than hang out at the same mall every weekend. Of course he’d rather be flying or hanging out somewhere fun like the forest or a water park or something than being alone. But at the same time, he’d been quite laid back and rather lazy, with nothing really pushing him to put effort into things that didn’t need effort. Girls were one of those things, and his parents loosely made that clear.

But this wasn’t tenth grade, and this wasn’t just any girl. This was twenty-two year old Denny and Annie, his girlfriend that he was convinced he was staying with forever. Actually, it was more than convinced, because someone can be persuaded otherwise if they’re just convinced. There was no telling Denny that him and Annie weren’t going to last because that just wasn’t possible. Knowing that made asking her out the hardest part of this whole ordeal. And again, his mental choice of words wasn’t exactly accurate; Ordeal was such a laid back word, almost as if he was placed into this situation against his own will. That wasn’t the truth though, because Denver was more than excited to get out and show off the fact that he had Annie like no one else ever would. All he really had to do after leaving that white building he wasn’t letting himself think about was throw on some pants and put on the hat he’d promised Annie he’d wear. Well, he knew Annie needed to rest for a while, so they just hanged out and did what they usually did these days. Kisses here, talking there, almost dozing off in between with a hint of just joking and being happy together in a way that they hadn’t been in a while. It was refreshing and it made nerves that would have been there if they hadn’t been so light and happy today regardless of this morning disappear.

Around dinner time, by the time he was hungry again anyway, Denny changed out of the shorts and pulled on a pair of jeans he thought were clean and threw on his hoodie again after having just taken it off earlier. He was home; he didn’t really feel the need to have worn it, but at the same time he felt the need to not wear anything under it to go out. It was cold outside, and sure it might help if he had a shirt underneath, but Denny had been fine earlier. Plus, he’d only be outside long enough to walk from the apartment to the diner, then from the diner to the movies and from the movies home unless plans changed. For now, the hoodie and pants would do. He slipped on the shoes Abby had brought him this morning then waited for Annie, and once she was ready to go they were out and down the street. Denny held tight to her hand, just tight enough for her to know he was there at all times, but his real ulterior motive was just because his fingers were cold. He didn’t have any gloves to think of bringing, but with Annie’s hand in his it wasn’t so bad. Before he knew it, he could see the diner, and once again before he could think, they were warm and inside. The host asked how many but obviously there were only two of them, so quickly they were seated and handed menus. Denny looked over the choices and heard his stomach growl a bit, but it wasn’t an urgent growling so there really wasn’t any hurry. He leaned his menu down and smiled at Annie, for a minute forgetting where he was or the fact that it was starting to get a little crowded.

It was just…Annie was there. They could have been on the Grand Canyon or in Las Vegas or even in Paris and Denny really would have only seen one thing. He thought it was funny how he could just look right at her and everything around him and everyone else would just disappear. It made him wonder if that was always going to be the case – would he always just give her a glance and the whole world would vanish and all Denny would know was that he loved Annie more than any possession he’d ever had before her? Well, in that case, Denny was okay with that thought. He’d rather see Annie than anything else; he’d rather hold her and be close to her than see anything else or hold anything else or be close to anything or anyone else. So seeing only Annie really just made sense to him, after all. But he remembered quickly they were there to eat something, whatever it may be, and so he knew he had to speak. “Cheese pizza okay?” He closed his menu and leaned forward, crossing his arms over the table just to get a bit comfier. He caught Annie’s answer just as the waiter came to the table to ask for drinks, and then left once he had them. Denny smiled again, realizing he’d let the smile fall when anther person had stepped into their little two-person bubble.

He hadn’t thought to ask until then, but some little part of his mind seeped into the conversation. He just remembered that they’d been in the hospital this morning, and so his manners kicked in along with a tiny little hint of worry. “How do you feel?” Denny asked, which probably sounded out of place considering their current situation and the smile on his face. He wanted to keep conversation light, but he felt like he had to know Annie’s current state of well being. Everything he wasn’t allowing himself to think about tonight was just sitting there, a heavy box that Denny was too afraid to open, almost like Pandora’s Box except that he didn’t feel that natural pull of curiosity towards what was inside. Instead, Denny could see that big line of caution tape and left it there, just letting the foul thoughts linger around the box without really even moving outward in any direction. But knowing that it was there drove him to needing to know what Annie was feeling, almost like he was a therapist of some kind or something. He really should have just backed up and stopped worrying, but he knew the look on his face didn’t really show that he was worried. All he would need is a little answer and things would settle – for better or worse – in his mind. “I don’t know about you, but this hat kind of makes me feel like I’m a little kid or something.” He shrugged, still smiling. “Eh, I don’t mind it.”

On instinct he reached up and pushed his bangs out of his face, which was exceedingly hard considering they were being pushed down by the hat. If anyone was staring, Denver didn’t notice, but he didn’t really care. He wasn’t wearing the hat for them, and they already had opinions of him anyway. What would a hat like that do? Make them think he was cute and cuddly? Whatever; it was better than being tagged the town criminal when he really didn’t do anything wrong. At least not to society. Either way, the hat was an icon for the night, and for better or worse (though Denny highly doubted it would dip into the worse) he’d remember the night by the hat. Even if he didn’t know where it had come from. It had just sat in his closet until yesterday morning when he’d found it, and then there was really only a matter of hours between the time he’d taken it off and the time he’d put it back on. He had to admit it was quite comfortable, but extremely hot when he was inside. Whatever; Denny didn’t really care too much. Hair was hair and though he liked to look good and cherished his hair, as long as he kept the hat on no one would really know what was going on underneath.

“So, I have something to confess.” That smile stayed in its place as Denny straightened himself a bit. “This is actually the first date I’ve ever been on where I didn’t want to rip my ears off of my head.”

1542 -- seren/annie bby <3 -- OUTFIT YO -- i made u no but the lyrics go to eye alaska -- UGH THIS IS KOALATEA CUTE DENNY? wow.

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

WHEN YOU TOUCH ME IT'S LIKE THE VERY FIRST TIME
and i'm so lucky to say that you're mine

Annie didn’t really realize that she was wearing the same thing that she had been on the beach until they were outside. The air wasn’t bad, but compared to the warmth of just being close to Denny, and cuddling and kissing and hushed voices… well the wind and the weather was a bit harsh. It gave her an excuse to hold Denny’s hand tighter than she should, it gave her an excuse to do really anything she could think of and anything she wanted.
[lol I was gonna write something here but then I forgot and yep cool story bro]
Annie hated that even when she was with Denver and feeling absolutely perfect, she still worried. She worried about everything. She worried about the way she looked, the way she breathed. Was she sitting weird, was something about her manner lopsided? Annie really didn’t know why she cared so much about what other people thought of her, she didn’t know why she was so driven to have this infuriating fear of looking stupid. It wasn’t rational in the least for her, it didn’t make any sense for her demeanor or personality. It didn’t add up to anything about her. But she still felt that way, she still felt like every nerve of her’s was on fire. It made her hands fidget nervously in her lap. She looked up from hersaid fidgeting hands at Denny, just on impulse, for something to do. The look he was giving her didn’t really help the knots in her stomach. It was like… it was just her. It wasn’t bad it just… it unnerved her and made her kind of want to whimper. Annie just wasn’t very fond of being out in public. It held no appeal or charm or allure to her when she could be inside with Denny. She wished that they had just watched DVD’s on his couch instead.

She was about to ask what he was looking at – because she felt like she couldn’t possibly be worth that degree of staring – when he spoke. Annie opened her mouth to say she wasn’t hungry; it was a habit. But then she realized that was working backwards. She couldn’t really decide if she was hungry or not, but she definitely couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten. Normally, that would have been some sort of small success story for her, but it all went back to working backwards. Progress was trying to be achieved today, not degraded. So she smiled shakily. “Yeah, that’s good.” She was trying, that was sure. Annie wanted to try, she wanted some level of pride for Denny to have over her. She felt her smile falter a little because… she just couldn’t help the fact that the idea of eating just didn’t appeal to her and probably never would. But right now she didn’t care if she felt so full that she would puke. She was going to eat something, whether she liked it or not. It was what she owed him, honestly. She didn’t even notice the waitress had come over until she was gone.

She watched her walk away, just because her mind was completely everywhere right now and Annie was finding it hard to focus. How do you feel? “Uh – What?” But then she looked at Denny and was force to focus on him just because there was nothing else for her. It didn’t matter how ridiculous his hat looked, or that someone might walk over and say something like Uhm, miss, you’re aware that you’re on a date with an alcoholic criminal, right? They would have it all wrong, thinking that Denny had been the one to drink and drive. Annie had killed so many people in her head, what was one accident for him? Not to mention, he hadn’t even done it. And Annie was obviously the alcoholic, homicidal freak in this relationship. She would just kindly tell them that they could fuck off, because Annie didn’t care about what anyone thought.

That was the most conflicting sentence that she could have ever thought. But she mentally shrugged it off, and plastered a smile on her face. “Yeah, I’m great.” she tried to say it honestly, but she didn’t know if she pulled it off. In this moment, she was great. She was great because she could look across the table and see something that was just entirely her’s, something no one would ever stake a claim to. Annie took some sort of pride in knowing that, like she had finally come to the epiphany that no one would love Denny like she did, no one would care about him the way she did, no one would kiss him or touch him or talk to him like she did. Because – not only (even if he pushed her away) would she only let someone get within feet of him over her dead body – no one did things like Annie did things. She did them with an alien conviction, something that just wasn’t human. It was more than that, it was raw as hell and primitive, and just so Annie. It was like society didn’t touch her and she just did everything the way she wanted to, so full of her heart. She did that with everything, just put her entire being into it. So, yeah, although she was sore and disgusted with herself, just realizing what she had made her feel great, and soon her smile really was earnest and she felt so much better about everything.

He spoke about the hat, and Annie’s smile just grew. “I like it,” she said. “It brings out your eyes and your inner child.” she laughed lightly. But she really did like it, even if everyone else was giving them a stare because it looked like you had seated a half-starved dog and some crazed ex-con at a dinner table to enjoy some sort of date. She felt like people would be placing bets on which one of them would last seated the longest. But she just… she couldn’t bring herself to care, suddenly. All her thoughts about how much she really just despised herself kind of melted away. It really didn’t matter to her when she was so comfortable here. She could overlook everyone else’s gaze when his was on her. It was a freeing feeling for her.

When he spoke again, his words brought mixed feelings in Annie. She sucked in her bottom lip, chewing on it lightly. “This is my first date… at all.” That didn’t exactly make sense, and she made a weird face because of it. Her hands itched to pick at the scab on her thigh, but her pants were in the way. So she just sighed, unable to accurately understand the feelings twisting in her stomach.

Making this easy was harder than she thought.




1,151 - REUSING OUTFITS LIKE A BOSS - lyrics to he is we <333 - so, this was a piece of shit yep.

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

do you know your worth?
'CAUSE EVERY DAY I PRAY FOR YOUR WORDS.

At first Denny didn’t believe Annie’s excuse of an ‘I’m great.’ Truth be told, he could almost see completely through it. There was just this intuition that had him thinking about this morning, like nothing could really be great today because of what had happened since yesterday. Maybe this date had been too soon, but after he’d been able to breathe in the cold, fresh, natural air, Denny hadn’t really thought so. No time had been as good as then to ask, he’d thought, and at that point he’d felt like no time would be as good as now to actually go out. It wouldn’t have been a big deal if they’d gone out some other time, but Denny hadn’t thought that back outside of the hospital. He’d just wanted to spend time with Annie, no matter where they were or who was around them. And all of that just boiled down to him not really believing that Annie was as good as she said she was. Maybe they needed to go home – but he wasn’t really ready for that. As selfish as that sounded and as selfish as it really was, Denny wasn’t ready to just give up and go home.

But he didn’t really have to worry about that actually. Soon enough Annie was smiling more, and with that brought a bit of a back up. Her words didn’t seem so transparent any longer, like she actually meant them instead of like she was just saying them to calm Denny or keep him from worrying. For a second it was just like nothing had really been said that he doubted, and he held on to that feeling for a few minutes. Denny just grabbed on until the thought of ever seeing through her words had left his mind forever….or at least for now. Or maybe it was just the fact that she was talking, that Annie was distracting him from worrying about the transparency of her words. It was just that Denny’s mind focused on one thing at a time, and that one thing above all was Annie speaking to him. He wasn’t even sure why that of all things distracted him, took a hold of his attention and totally centered it to the point where Denny couldn’t be pulled out of it, but he guessed it was just that same sensation that Annie had when she fell into a mood that Denny had to try and coax her out of. Though that hadn’t happened in a while, it was still possible, and it still held relevance to the way Denny was reacting right now.

Denny couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. The child in him? Denny didn’t even know he could channel that, especially not through a hat. To him a hat was an accessory, nothing that could affect his sense of nostalgia or whatever anyone wanted to call this. But he had to admit that he did feel like a little kid wearing the hat. It just…..brought about a sense of youth to someone that was forced into growing up because of society. Denny had discovered the guy he’d never gotten to be before Annie through Annie, but that didn’t necessarily mean he’d gained his adolescence back. The hat sort of aided in that feeling, which really just set him back in senior year, before the accident or any of the shit that had gone on. But Annie hadn’t been there senior year, which meant that the only life Denny really had didn’t mean much. He’d had his guitar, sure, but that was insignificant compared to Annie in contrast to how much Denny cared. Senior year had been the year Denny had sat back and enjoyed the ride to college until the accident, and after that there’d pretty much been a lifeless nothing until Annie had come around – and all of that was just a fancy, drawn out way of saying that Denny would rather be here with Annie, hat or no, than be back in Senior year without her. He felt like that had already been established, so he didn’t spend too much time and energy entertaining the thought.

“Maybe I’ll wear it more often then,” he said, probably joking. Denny didn’t really care now because whether he was joking or not, he was wearing it. The hat itself was a joke, or at least he thought so, but if it kept Annie happy he’d wear it in the shower. Honestly it was just a hat, and if there was any way to ruin an already destroyed reputation Denny just figured wearing a ridiculous hat like this one was just that way. So maybe he’d seriously make a job out of wearing it, just to please the eyes around him – but that didn’t sound like the Denny anyone knew anymore. That sounded like the Denny that people might have known in high school. That sounded like the Denny that would go to a party just to have someone to talk to because all of his friends were at that party. That sounded like the Denny that hadn’t used shifting as an outlet but rather just as something to do in his spare time, which he’d seemed to have quite a lot of. This Denny sitting at the table, waiting for the waitress to come back just so he could order pizza and move on to the movie, was a completely different being. Wearing the hat for everyone but himself, with the exception of Annie obviously, was so unlike this Denny that it wasn’t likely to happen – and in fact, Denver knew with the very basis of his being that he would never wear such a ridiculous hat in order to make himself look like a little kid so people would stop thinking he was some homicidal criminal. The effort wasn’t worth pleasing anyone outside of himself and Annie.

Moving right along, Denny focused again on Annie’s words instead of his own thoughts. He was pleased that he was able to pull himself so fast out of his own head, but the pride didn’t last too long as he just took in what Annie had said. Finally, he was a first for her for something simple, though Denny really thought that love was simple. He and Annie were the complicated ones, not the emotion that flowed between the two of them. But either way, the pride had dulled and suddenly brightened again; Denny was the first guy to take Annie out, and knowing that was like finding the fountain of youth – or maybe he was wearing that on his head. Regardless of the hat, Denny just held onto the fact that Annie had never been on a date. Finally, besides being the first to take her out, Denny had done something relationship related that Annie hadn’t. Not that any of the three or four dates he’d ever been on before this were by any means of equal entertainment value. This one eclipsed them all in the emotional, physical, and entertaining values – there’d never been a girl like Annie in Denny’s life before, and there’d never been a circumstance quite like theirs before that he’d ever heard of. This date was so above all the others that it had its own level. “Well,” he started, still smiling. “I guess we could just count this as our first best date ever?” Maybe Annie was right – his inner child was being channeled or something because he felt sort of juvenile, but not in an entirely bad way for saying that.

“Besides, any of those other dates didn’t include you. They’d just been missing a huge element and I hadn’t even known it until right now.” Now Denny was channeling that cheesy side he had, but that seemed quite refreshing.

1300 -- seren/annie bby <3 -- OUTFIT YO -- i made u no but the lyrics go to eye alaska -- okay i like i like u no <3

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

WHEN YOU TOUCH ME IT'S LIKE THE VERY FIRST TIME
and i'm so lucky to say that you're mine

Besides, any of those other dates didn’t include you. They’d just been missing a huge element and I hadn’t even known it until right now. Was Annie blushing? Yeah, she was. Was it because she was embarrassed for being twenty and having never been on a date? Not really; Annie had never seen herself as much of a catch, and she didn't blame people for not expecting anything as long (well, short to most people, but with Annie's commitment issues it was long) term as that. It was a happy kind of blush, she supposed. Annie felt silly for noticing it, but Denny complimenting her and just the situation they were in... well it was new to Annie. But that didn't mean she minded it. It just coaxed this new dimension from her, this giggling, blushing faucet of herself. It was something so unlike her, but at the same time it was just so Annie. She still felt self-concious, but now it was a weird version of self conscious, mainly just revolving around Denny; what he thought of her, and how her stomach was suddenly turning, like she was nervous. Maybe nervous wasn't the right word, because she wasn't scared of Denver or his opinion. Excited, maybe? It was more just like nerves that had tangled up in her stomach. It felt weird and made her want to squirm like someone was looking at her from under a microscope. Either way, she felt herself start to blush a bit more with just the idea of blushing, and she looked down at the table, still smiling. She lifted her hand from her lap and tucked some hair back, setting her hand down again after that. Her hand was shaking the whole time, and she wasn't sure what that was from. Nervousness, cold, just too weak to keep it steady? Annie didn't know, but after this week she was, quite frankly, sick of the shaking. When she was conscious of what her hand had done it took every ounce of her self control to just not scowl. Her smile faltered slightly, resembling the shaking that had caused the stumble, but she looked up at him. 

The table felt like a million miles in-between them, and Annie wanted to move her foot to see if his was under there, too, but she felt frozen. She kind of just wanted dinner to be over so that they could go to a movie and she could push up the arm rest and pull herself really close to him. It was weird to think that at one point they hadn't been this in love. It was weird to think that at one time they didn't touch, or hold hands, or kiss, or do any of that except occasionally hang out and play shows together. It was even weirder to think that had only been a few months ago. To Annie it was starting to feel like they had been together forever. She felt like if she tried to remember a time before him (which she wouldn't anyway because it was useless) she would just struggle. It was like everything was clearer now, and she could relive everything that they had been through as clear as the moment it happened. Everything before that seemed like trying to remember a dream from a week ago; fuzzy and not impossible, but not really worth all that trouble. It was easier to live in the moment. 

And in this moment food was coming. Immediately, two things happened; first off, her stomach growled and she felt her mouth water. Normal reactions, she guessed she was hungry. At the same time, her stomach clenched and her mind reeled. The idea of eating just absolutely repulsed her. She hated that feeling of wanting to get as far from that table as possible. She tried her hardest to bottle it up, but she just felt like she couldn't. Eating had to be done, though, Annie knew it. Fixing, fixing, fixing her vices, vices, vices. Her life felt like some sort of stupid pattern that she didn't know how to fix. It gave her this weird depression, but she just didn't know how to stumble out of it. Eating seemed like a good idea, she guessed. So she swallowed the lump in her throat, and just grabbed a piece of pizza. She felt like she had something to say, but she couldn't think what there was to say. She felt like anything she could think to say would just sound stupid, and that worried her. She didn't want to sound stupid even though she figured Denny wouldn't care either way. She was worrying way too much about all of this, she just needed to let go and take a deep breath. But she couldn't, it was like it was physically impossible. Her throat felt tight and her chest felt constricted like something heavy was on it again. She felt like if she tried to take a calm breath she would look like a gasping fish out of water.

So that just left eating. She didn't want to do that, but she did. Annie didn't really know why, whether it was because she was hungry, or she just thought it would make Denver happy, or because there just wasn't anything else to do. She didn't know how she was making such a mental fuss over everything today. She got through the first piece of pizza easier than she thought, and then she thought about another piece, because she was hungrier than she thought. But she felt like that was binging and that would lead to purging and suddenly her mind felt very crowded. She was upset with her thoughts, she was upset that she couldn't focus on the fact that this was an actual date with her actual boyfriend who actually loved her. Those were all things that had never been in Annie's life until Denny came around. So why the hell was she so worried about fucking pizza? Clearly, her priorities needed some looking into. 

Honestly, Annie just wanted to leave. She hated that she felt so unnerved just by eating. Would that get any easier? She wished that they had just stayed home, in private, but still together... actually, she didn't. She wanted to be out in public with him. She didn't care if people thought she was crazy - whether it be for her own questionably sanity or dating someone who had been convicted (of a crime he didn't commit, Annie would chime in) - she was just glad that someone wanted her. No, no, even that wasn't right. Denny wanted her, and she would always stay right there, where he wanted her; where she belonged. That thought calmed her down an immeasurable amount. She uncrossed her legs, moving one of them forward so her shoe was touching his calf. She leaned forward, laying one arm on the table and resting her other elbow on it so she could rest her head in her hand. She was thankful it was winter; warm clothes covered her burns. "Denny," she said quietly, but earnestly; a truth that was meant for his ears only. "I love you." There was an unreadable look in her eyes. Maybe it was kind of urgent, but Annie sure as hell didn't know. She just... needed to say it. 





1,228 - REUSING OUTFITS LIKE A BOSS - lyrics to he is we <333 - beettteeerrr.

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

do you know your worth?
'CAUSE EVERY DAY I PRAY FOR YOUR WORDS.

Denny hadn’t meant to just let everything around him go when the pizza finally made its way to the table, but he remembered how hungry he really was once the food was in front of him. As soon as the waitress was gone, Denny was digging in. His mind was actually rather empty, but so was his stomach and soon enough that was taking over. He was driven by this hunger considering he hadn’t really eaten all that much since two days ago anyway. You know, some snacks there, dinner once in the last two days, and maybe a muffin for breakfast once a week these days. Yeah, Denny knew that was a horrible habit to pick up, but with Annie around he just had more important things to worry about. He hadn’t really thought about food when he was more focused on getting her better, on fixing what had been broken between the two of them if there’d been anything. So now, with pizza intoxicatingly close, Denny was sort of distracted, even though ‘in a trance’ might have been a better description. His stomach was driving him more than anything else for a few minutes, and he was sure he looked like an animal eating the cheesy dough.

After the first slice, Denny’s stomach had calmed down. He felt a bit more human and less animal, which made it easier to realize he’d neglected conversation as soon as the pizza had arrived. But that was okay for now, considering Annie wasn’t really replying to anything he’d said anyway. He wasn’t hurt that she wasn’t and she wasn’t hurt (he thought) that he’d all but ignored her for the food. Plus, now that he could think, he realized she’d eaten at least a piece, and that was really all he could ask of her. Little steps, they were taking, and little steps would get them to a recovering point. So one piece was enough for him to be content, for now at least. Eventually he’d plan out his pushiness as to not seem like he really was trying to push something on her, but when that time came Denny would freak out about it, instead of now. But Denny didn’t really say anything as he took a second slice, not even feeling any remorse for having done so. That was the difference between him and Annie right now; Denny could eat and eat forever and never really regret it, but Annie……well, Denny knew the issue at hand, and it was the very issue he was working on fixing. For now, he just shut his mind up and ate slower, sort of just looking between what he was doing and Annie. He looked like a slob, he knew, and the damn hat just added to the child that Denny was so obviously channeling right now that he was surprised why no one had stopped to ask Annie where she’d gotten the hat for her son.

Halfway through the second slice, Denny heard Annie call his name. Instantly he looked up, smiling at her with a bit of cheese hanging from the side of his mouth. Nothing tonight was proving that he was twenty-two, but honestly he didn’t exactly care. He waited, not impatiently but at the same time not patient either. His hunger still lingered in the back of his mind, and it fueled that antsy feeling behind everything else, but it was easy enough to control hat it was equally easy to just hide. But his smile pushed through it all still, and suddenly he was no longer in a pizza parlor with food in front of him but rather just an empty vast of space that was so full of Annie that he really had all he needed. He heard her loud and clear, and though he should have thought maybe there was some sort of emotion she was trying to calm behind her physical appearance, Denny just mellowed out with the physical meaning of the words. It was easy for him to tell Annie he loved her because it was the most true statement he knew, but to hear her say it back and to know that she meant it made Denny feel like the world was his. And he knew that Annie wasn’t just saying that to make him happy – he knew Annie too well to even think she’d come close to trying to pull that. She hated being touched and hated most other people but….but Denny was the exception, and he was just beginning to understand and embrace the reasoning behind that exception. In any case, Denny just knew above all other things about Annie that she loved him; he didn’t have to hope and pray that her words held truth when she said those three words, those eight fantastic letters.

Licking up the cheese in the corner of his smile, Denny just felt so foolish, but not in a bad way. He felt like nothing could bring him down, and he wasn’t going to let anything bring Annie down. This was their first date, and though those were usually flawed and awkward, Denny wasn’t about to let that happen. He had to admit he’d rather be in the dark movie theater with Annie close to him rather than across the table in this bright, semi-crowded pizza place. But for now, he wasn’t going to let that get to him; Denny just kept smiling and sat up a bit, putting his piece of pizza on the plate before him. He thought maybe he had to find some magical, mystical way of saying it back, like Annie didn’t already know that he loved her, but he realized that he didn’t need to be any cheesier than he already was. So he figured just coming out with it was the easiest, simplest way of saying what he wanted to say – which actually made sense for once. “I love you too, Annie.” Denver said it at the same octave – or the closest one he could manage – to Annie’s, and then just continued to smile. He felt this magnitude pulling him towards Annie, and suddenly he found himself moving forward despite the table. He just leaned as far as he could without being uncomfortable, then took another bite of his slice and realized how close to not being hungry he was. So he stopped eating and just waited for the waitress again.

Faster than he’d excepted, the bill was brought and the rest of the pizza was taken away, and eventually Denny was ready to go. He stood up and held his hand out for Annie, just waiting for her to take it so he’d be connected to her. It sounded creepy and cheesy at the same time, but that almost perfectly described the things running through his head right now. Much cheesier than creepy, he’d assure anyone that questioned, but the fact remained that Denny just felt so odd right now, especially compared to this morning. He felt like he was on a date, and though that was the case, it was a new feeling, even with its hints of familiarity. “Ready to get to the movie?” He knew he was, so he just waited for Annie to take his hand before they were walking out and heading down the road again. He kept Annie close as they moved mostly silently down to the theater, where he bought the tickets and led the way inside. “Want any candy or anything?” Denny asked, but he didn’t know what the answer would be. But then an idea sprang and he realized how it would make things a bit easier for Annie. “We can share something small if you’d like.” He smiled again, not even noticing the way people were staring at his hat. He didn’t care, honestly.


1306 -- seren/annie bby <3 -- OUTFIT YO -- i made u no but the lyrics go to eye alaska -- this is pitiful. what is wrong with me?

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

WHEN YOU TOUCH ME IT'S LIKE THE VERY FIRST TIME
and i'm so lucky to say that you're mine

I'd Denny were to tell Annie she was beautiful, she would say Really?. She wouldn't say it because she didn't believe him, but rather because she would want to hear it again. She would want to hear it again, and again, and again, and again. It was like after what he had told her that morning she just had to believe everything he said. It was impossible that he could ever be wrong. It was impossible for him to lie to her; even the probability of that seemed unbelievable and imaginary to Annie. Suddenly, all his opinions were right, too. It was just that if Denny told her she was pretty, she would believe him. He told her she wasn't wrong; she was starting to believe him. Actually... it was kind of impossible for her to feel wrong or conflicted or damaged when Denny's eyes were the ones on her, when he had that look that nothing else mattered but her face and words. That was all she needed to be convinced. 

She just merely smiled when he said he loved her too. Her smile broke into a grin as she watched him wolf down that pizza in that hat. He was just too adorable. Some of her thoughts (because Annie couldn't help that she was an inner whore, somewhat) were wandering a little too far, especially considering the way he was looking, and Annie just started to feel like a pedophile. She pressed the back of her hand against her forehead, closing her eyes for a minute. Her body was all mixed up and so was her head and her heart, and Annie just felt really confused. 

The bill came quicker than she expected, but as soon as she wanted. She took Denny's hand when he put it out for her, and she stood up, liking the way he kept her close as they walked out of the diner and into the night. She liked being close to him, especially when he pulled her close and kept her close. It made her feel wanted and just... smug. She just wanted to show this off. Him off. This relationship. It was too much for her to keep to herself, and she was done denying anything. 

Inside it was hard to clear out her mind again. She only listened to Denny with half her mind. "Um, I don't care. Whatever's good with you." She waited for his choice (or lack of) and then followed him into the dark theatre. 

By the opening credits, Annie has already lost interest. She sighed lightly and turned her head to watch Denny. She could see the outline of his face, and her hands itched to just reach out, trace her index finger down the bridge of his nose and over his lips. She looked down at her thighs, just wanting to sit on her hands. This feeling was weird, and she didn't know what exactly she wanted. That was a lie; she wanted to crawl into his lap and ignore the movie and everyone in the theatre. She wanted to kiss him short and soft and she wanted to kiss him long and hard. She wanted to go home and just feel his skin against her's in all the right places. And she didn't mean sex; Annie just wanted to touch her fingers to his spine and count the gaps, she wanted to kiss the spot between his neck and shoulders and she just wanted to be really close to him. She wanted his arms to hold her really close and tight, like she was smoke and would dissipate, hold her like she was wasting away and he needed to keep her there. 

All that was comfort for her. She just wanted that last reassurance that he was there, and he was her's. For some reason, the redheaded witch's words came back her with the kind of sting those guitar strings would have had if they had hit her. Annie pushed her hand through her hair. What were they even watching? She couldn't tell you even what sort or archetype this film was following. She just pushed the armrest up and leaned most of her weight onto Denver, nestling her head against his arm, which was slightly uncomfortable, but better than sitting too far from him. Her fingers laced through his. She still wanted to kiss him and forget that something was even on that screen, but she wouldn't.... unless of course Denny started it. Because she really just couldn't deny him anything. 




758 - REUSING OUTFITS LIKE A BOSS - lyrics to he is we <333 - welp this sucks so hard

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

do you know your worth?
'CAUSE EVERY DAY I PRAY FOR YOUR WORDS.

Well, since Annie wasn’t really too against not getting candy and Denny wasn’t all that hungry anymore, he figured they’d just be better off without food as a distraction. Instead of waiting in the lines in the lobby, the two of them just headed to the theater and grabbed seats as far away from everyone else as they could get but close enough to each other that – well, actually every seat was equally close to the one next to it, except for the end seats. Whatever the case was, he and Annie had their own little section to themselves, almost like a little island in the abyss of a movie theater in the dark. Well from Denny’s perspective, he really had the best seat in the room. It was right next to Annie, which was better than being so close to the screen your face was practically a part of whatever material it was made of. No one else in the room would be able to say that they got to sit next to Annie, and with that thought Denny was really starting to understand the immensity of the immaturity the hat was putting into his thoughts and feelings. Seriously he must have gotten it in high school or something because all of these very fifteen-year-old Denny-like thoughts were just flowing through his head, making him have to remember that he was actually twenty-two.

The funny about this immaturity though was that Denny didn’t particularly feel like a horny 17 year old. He didn’t feel like making out in the dark, didn’t feel like feeling up since his parents couldn’t see, didn’t feel like having a story to tell his friends the next day at school. Maybe that was because he didn’t have to just make out in the dark with Annie. Maybe it was because he didn’t have to cop a feel when his parents weren’t looking because he no longer depended on them. Maybe it was because he didn’t have friends to tell things to anymore. Or maybe it was because he knew he was taking this as slowly but as non-painfully as possible. He knew he didn’t have to restrain himself as much as he’d felt he had to before, but that didn’t mean that he could just leap out and attack Annie in public – after all that wasn’t how he was going to go about fixing things. In any and all cases, Denny just didn’t feel exactly the way he thought the hat was making him feel – so really, maybe it wasn’t the hat at all. Maybe it was just the fact that he’d been cooped up like a caged bird between his bedroom and the hospital room in the past few weeks. Maybe because of that, he was acting so strangely because he wasn’t anywhere near either of those places and he was enjoying himself.

Whatever the reason, Denny just had this internal smile. He seriously felt like nothing could tear him from this feeling – not even that guy that he’d beaten up the day before Christmas. He could walk right into the theater and taunt Denny all he wanted but Denny didn’t even think he’d hear him. He’d be too caught up in Annie, too caught up in what really meant anything to him to notice anyone else. And for now that was okay. Denny didn’t feel that pull to hold himself back right now, mostly because he’d fallen into this immaturity to the extent that he could trust himself to take things at a pace both of them would be happy with tomorrow morning. Instead of worrying and playing out possible situations to avoid, Denny just held Annie’s hand and let her lean on him. He shifted a bit just to let her get comfier, and suddenly that feeling was back – the feeling where nothing was real besides him and Annie and everything around him was moving in a way that suggested its unrealisticness. That wasn’t even a word, but to Denny it meant that reality was nonexistent and the only reality was the one where he was sitting with Annie against him in a dark room, just enjoying the connection and the night as a whole so far. He sort of wished the movie was over so they could go home and just be together without words or noise or the feeling that the light moving around him wasn’t real when it felt so real that his mind was starting to tear in two. All he knew was he really wanted to be as close to Annie as possible, to have his hands around her waist and to kiss whatever parts of her he could get to.

For now, he was on a date with her, and he was okay with that – more than okay, but the fact remained that he was content. He could hear the noise of the movie and he could see the action but none of it made sense to him. He just saw people moving and speaking like the teacher from Charlie Brown. Whatever was going on, none of it was putting itself together in his head. It held no relevance, like a lot of things, to him and Annie. The entire movie was a waste of eye sight considering the way Denny was digesting it, but the fact that he was there with Annie was enough for him to forget that little detail. Still, he felt like he was wasting time looking straight ahead, so he turned to look at Annie and found himself smiling more and more with every passing second. It seemed impossible because smiles should only be able to stretch so far, but apparently Denny’s face defied whatever scientific law applied to skin. He couldn’t help it; just looking at Annie in a room full of people that didn’t mean a thing to him made Denny smile like this. He gently squeezed her hand in his and leaned towards her face, kissing her lightly just to start. The movie was getting intense from the sounds getting louder around them, but Denny didn’t care. He was too preoccupied to notice in any sense, and with that knowledge Denny just kissed Annie again and again, promising himself he couldn’t stop until he absolutely needed too. He didn’t have to take the kiss farther, but he wasn’t going to just stop kissing her once he started.

It felt like he hadn’t kissed her in a year or something, when really they’d kissed this morning. That felt so long ago though, and Denny was just so happy sitting there with his face attached to Annie’s. He didn’t care if someone turned around and saw them kissing; he didn’t care if they were the center of attention and they didn’t notice – Denny just wanted to sit there and enjoy kissing his girlfriend. That was what he set out to do with his hand in hers’, an odd place considering he usually kept his hand on her face. He liked to be able to hold her to him, keep her there so she wouldn’t pull away for any nonsensical reason. It made sense to him to just hold her and keep her close, mostly because he liked to and he felt Annie liked it, too. Still, he had his hand around hers, and for now that was good enough. Her hand was still just as much a part of her as her face, and through all of this connection Denny just felt so much like a person, like a boyfriend. Well, there was no way the movie was going to hold his attention now, not when he’d made the move and kissed Annie.

When he needed to breathe, as he always did when he pulled away, Denny moved his arm and put it around her shoulders, grabbing the hand that had been in his in the other hand. He still smiled and leaned as close as he could to Annie. “Love you,” he said, holding her as close as he could manage with his arm just draped around her shoulders. It was all he needed to say and once it was said, he just moved as close as he could to Annie, but not so much that he thought she’d feel claustrophobic or trapped. Without worrying about it, he was back to kissing her.



1395 -- seren/annie bby <3 -- OUTFIT YO -- i made u no but the lyrics go to eye alaska -- oh look i'm done and ready to kill someone ugh i get aggravated so easily.