Krista

Which is probably a good thing, at least as far as the person you squared up against is concerned. They throw a punch and you somehow keel them over with a toothpick and ambition or something...

There is a reason I've not marked this story as complete yet. As I have one more chapter to post. It will be the end though. It isn't an epilogue. Something in this chapter just failed with me and I kept thinking... it has missed its mark. So I set out writing a fix for it over a week ago after reading and doing some trimming down work. So yeah... we get to round out this story in 32 chapters. No epilogue. It is a short chapter, just around 6600 words if I'm remembering correctly. Next week, or whenever this chapter gets posted will be the last one.

That's your kindness? Remind me to be nice to you, forever.

Oh gosh, I don't know star signs... let me go look up Virgos and see.. Okay, I did a quick scan... it says Virgos are picky and that they love hard and seek partners who fall seamlessly into the relationship with them. Good thing the boy was born in May... let me go look again.. Ohh ohhh he's a Taurus, apparently they're confident in bed and have great attention to detail. They're powerful and can satisfy others and themselves easily. You're welcome Joel. Which Joel would be Leo, I'm thinking...but Leos are challenging matches for Taurus... pity.

Oh it's fiction, Kathy Taft can come drink her bitter resentment tea as a ghost. I don't know her story, how she died - probably rather inventive if your street credibility is to be believed, I don't doubt it.

... also, why is this popping up every time I hit the .gif thing... I mean, I'm not entirely hating it... for a reason in blue shorts, but wtf else is happening? Is he that hungry?

Yikes that sounds rather creative... lol. I may need to take notes.

Yes, that tugged on me. At the end of their day, it was a special day for them... out of the ordinary and everyday. Something that only would come around once a year. Thanksgiving and Christmas are family functions and I doubt Joel will be eating at the Benton table for either one of them... so yeah, it tugged on me.

Yes, the world would be better if there were more Trace and Celia to counter balance the Lisa and Francines walking alongside them. Lorianne has been rather observant, but she hasn't had the time to figure everything out. Roy and him have been rather attached at the hip since joining and Joel didn't give them much to go on. I doubt it will take her long to figure out the correct pairing now that she has more information to go on. Trace was strong with his promise not to tell Joel's story. That it was Joel's to tell. I don't know if I could be that in the dark as Celia and not ask or push for further information, especially after I saw healing and more of the living circumstances by meeting Joel's parents. But yeah, Celia never pushed him to tell her things that he didn't feel comfortable telling her and in the end, that's what he needed. Support without pressure. Guidance without expectations, at least until he showed her that he could handle them. I think with twins, they're just so comfortable with one another that they let their guards down. Although they never had the conversation to set it all bare. Gavin decided early that he didn't care who Davin was sexually though, since he realized when they were fourteen.

Franny and Lisa Benton sipping tea together would be a rather scary combination of bitter and judgmental minds. It would be interesting to see how quickly they turned on one another about their parenting styles... totally missing the point that they're both flawed, of course. Colt being a songwriter, I needed something worthwhile for him. He seems rather secretive about it, but he's let Davin, likely Gavin, and now Sierra, Faith, and Joel in on his plans. So it is something he's felt passionate about. I do wonder if he's any good... and how much depth his thinking goes. He's shown hints of it throughout the story, or at least I've thought he has. Maybe he won't be one of these country artists that sing solely about tight holey jeans, dirt roads, drinking, and trucks...

Are you trying to sell them on the idea? If so, keep at it.

I'll let a more filthy author take on this scenario. lol. But it has legs, not going to lie.

Yeah, the distance is very dependent on Cody's lack of freedoms due to his age. But they don't stay young forever. It sucks that there is such a separation between them. I felt throughout the writing that Joel and Cody have always been rather close. His parents worked long hours and Westley older than Joel didn't want anything to do with either of them for the most part. So they kind of bonded as brothers in the absence of the rest of the family. They developed friendships with classmates to a point, Cody more so than Joel it seems. But yeah, severing that bond and keeping them at a distance is a cruelty. Francine didn't see it coming from Joel either, mind you... lol. I don't think she is the type that gets told where to go and how to feel about it very often. She got three good doses of it during her stay though. I doubt it does anything, Celia has seemingly dealt with a cold parent type her entire life. I wonder if Celia's father is the warmer one, someone had to show Celia how to love and be loving. Celia may have just wanted to break the cycle too though and taught herself. It kind of makes her story a bit sad, if that's the case... we don't know much about that dynamic. Jaxton crashing a birthday party for an 11 year old boy, mostly it was for him... and partially Lacey really since she helped plan it. That would have been rather rude and ballsy... and stupid. Trace probably would have grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and pants and tossed him. Or at least that's how I would've written it. Of course Lorianne or someone would have recorded and and we have volume two of the series of unfortunate fails by Jaxton the would be bully. He wouldn't come back from failing to crash an eleven year old's birthday party...

Yeah, he got to see Cody, got more affirmation that Trace and Celia are behind him. Got told he was loved by Davin... found some accepting friends that he was somewhat afraid of. Overall it was a good party for him to build the rest of his life on... a bit bittersweet that it still likely feels like a large part of his life was stolen from him, but he can see himself building it back again.

Thank you! It was a lot. I tried to close some things, leave things nuanced, and my usual open-ended pointing towards positive sort of ending I lean heavily on.

Aww.

Yeah the poor dear waited too long to spill the tea about already knowing... now he has to come to terms with mostly everyone knowing, but still having to keep it a secret from some people just because Joel doesn't want them to know yet. He's guarded Davin's secret though, I'm sure he can manage.

The Connleys would need to put another addition onto their house. I suck at blueprints, if you saw the panic in the middle portions of the writing when I realized that I've created the Weasley house... that only magic can keep standing... don't put that on me. I refuse. But I think they'd cling to Cody, he's younger and there's a lot more legal action to be taken as far as his custody would be concerned, they dodged a bullet with Joel only because Joel decided he didn't want to cause them that damage of abandonment.

Hmm there seems to be theories floating around... about that. 😮

oh gosh.. a ballet with banjo music, male tights that resemble jeans and button-up shirts... all male cast. I think we have a hit.

Yeah, well can't say that this year can we? With the SEC or football country all folding like limp soggy toast. And I am sad that you didn't edit this to rub being first on page two in @Jason Rimbaud's face. Do consider fixing that error.

Damn, got the posting glitch.. sighs.. hold on. There was a lot to close in this chapter, a lot of it came about rather rapid fire despite the chapter being a bit massive. I probably could have trimmed out the trip to Tempton and then the Birthday BJ, but where's the fun in at least the second one. Maybe it being sort of rapid fire kind of suited the story a bit, Joel rose to the occasion, something he wouldn't have been able to do less than a month ago. Which realistically a month may not have been enough time for what he's been through. Trace and Celia cultivating a safe, accepting, and welcoming space for him though might have helped him grow a bit quicker. I don't really like Aerosmith, but I do like 'Dream On.' But we do remember how uncultured I am when it comes to music. That plot continues. You know shit is about to get real bad if the G-ma's are feisty. There must be something, apparently you have on in Encrypted, and the Grandma character in the back-burner story Ellis is also feisty, despite me having a mostly clean slate now... that story is still back burner for me.

Oh goodness, the scandal! 😮 But yeah, there was a lot of small reactions to that whole conversation.