to RM, because his comments and messages light up my life 100% ❤️

:

Settle Down by No Doubt

"Hey dad." I greet with a warm smile as I walk into Oberlin's Finest for my very first day of work.

Dad's walking out of the kitchen through its double doors as I enter and beams when he sees me, wrapping me in his arms and kissing me on my head. "Hi sweetie." He chirps. "Glad you've finally decided to work here."

"Well no one else would hire me because of my last job so," I shrug. "You were all I had left."

"It warms my heart to be your last choice." Dad chuckles.

It's true, no one else was willing to hire me when I told them all about how I missed an entire month of work because my boyfriend broke up with me, so I took my fathers offer to work at the restaurant. He's been offering since forever actually but I thought that it'd be awkward being the owners daughter and I didn't want the employees to have any animosity towards me for it. But now that I need him I'm thankful that the offer still stands.

Dad leads me behind the maître d stand and plants me there, shooing off a confused young boy. "You can just work this for now, honey." He tells me, handing me a walkie-talkie and a large stack of menus. "When you need a table, just buzz this and one of the busboys will tell you if ones available. Now, you memorized the restaurant layout, right?"

"Yep." I nod, recalling the few hours it took for me to memorize the entire landscape of the restaurant. "I know this place like the back of my hand."

"That's what I like to hear." He rubs my hair lovingly, messing up the neat ponytail that took way too long to perfect. "Now, if you need any help, I've assigned an employee to you and he should be here any minute now. I'll be in the kitchen, obviously, so just holler if you need me."

"Okay dad." I chuckle, stepping up onto the stand and shoving the menus in the slot beneath it. "You have fun, now."

"Same to you." Dad beams, giving me a quick thumbs up before dashing back through the large restaurant and towards the back.

Taking a deep breath, I take a glance around the restaurant for a moment just to get my bearings straight. Behind me is a wall with a long slot for dishes that waitress and waiters alike are dashing back and forth from. From there they take the plates into the huge dining area that has about 100 tables that can seat 2-10 people, depending on the party. There's a large chandelier hanging from the middle of the ceiling that lights up the entire place perfectly, and along with that are the gleaming windows giving way to the sun's natural rays. People are eating and chatting happily, most likely enjoying my father's amazing menu. It's great to see so many people enjoying something that's so near and dear to his heart.

"Ma'am?"

Jumping out of my day dream, I look forward and see that there's a family of four waiting to be seated. "Hi." I greet them with a smile. "Table for four?"

"Yes." The mother replies.

"Okay, uh, one sec." I duck under the stand and reach for a few menus, but end up knocking the entire group of them off of the stand and onto the floor. "Shit." I mumble, quickly ducking up and smiling at the family. "Sorry, I'm new here."

The mother begins to take her kids over to the waiting area as the father glances uneasily at me. "We can wait if you'd like." He tells me.

"No, no." I quickly deny, crouching down and gathering the menus in my hands before shoving them sloppily into the stand. "Just one—"

"I can take you guys to your table." A familiar voice politely says to the group of four.

I jump up from the ground, prepared to pounce on whoever's speaking before seeing a smiling Ford lead the family away from me and somewhere deeper into the restaurant. When he returns he holds a teasing grin on his face before leaning on the maître d stand and wiggling his eyebrows. "Hey." He says to me.

"Why am I not surprised?" I sigh, pulling down my Oberlin's Finest white polo.

"I don't know, why aren't you?"

I glance up at Ford with annoyance. If only he didn't look so good in his uniform—the white polo fits his lean body perfectly, emphasizing his lean biceps and the black slacks he has on gives him a touch of sophistication. His sandy brown hair is neat yet sloppy, typical Ford, and his eyes look alive at such an early hour. All in all Ford looks undeniably handsome.

"Because you just seem to pop up everywhere, Ford." I tell him. "I literally just saw you yesterday."

"That's because I needed you yesterday." He reminds me, glancing at me with a bit of seriousness before returning to his naturally carefree state. "But everything's good now, and the twins really miss you."

I snort, "I highly doubt that Sam misses me. Maybe Macy, but definitely not Sam."

Ford opens his mouth to respond, but is beaten by a red headed girl carrying two trays of food. "I could use some help, Ford." She sighs dramatically, rapidly blinking her fake-eyelash-coated eyes. The girl then looks at me, "And I'm sure there's something you could be doing."

"Sure thing, Haven." Ford easily takes both trays from her hands and lefts them up, flexing his arms in the process. "I'll take these." He tells her, and Haven giggles before dashing to the counter to grab more trays. Ford then turns to me with a warm smile on his handsome face, "How about after your shift we go and get something to eat?"

I roll my eyes. Does he really think that I'm that easy? Maybe Haven would stand for something like that but I sure won't, not after everything that I've been through and all that I'm attempting to stand for. "How about no." I reply curtly, flicking my thin ponytail over my shoulder. "I'm sure Haven would love to go."

Ford begins to speak but Haven soon joins his side and they're off to whatever table ordered two trays of food. Once again I'm proud of myself for being so blunt to Ford, but then again another part of me feels the tiniest bit guilty. What if he was just trying to be polite? Maybe go out as friends, and I blew it. But I can't always be that girl that hangs onto every word he says—somehow I have to let him know that, and if being blunt and saying no every once in a while is the way to go than so be it.

As the day goes by, my job becomes a lot easier than expected. All I really do is ask if a tables ready and then lead a family there. It isn't time consuming, I play on my phone between people, and it uses a lot less energy than a job as a waitress. I become so good at it that during my waiting minutes I start bussing tables just for the heck of it, without my father's permission. I don't want the employees to think I'm too good for an actual job but I don't want my father to get worried about me, so I don't tell him. I do get on good terms with the employees though, even making friends with a few, which makes the day even better.

Soon it's 12:00, and my shift is to be taken over by another girl. I clock out and gather my things from the stand, and jump into my car to head home and hopefully relax.

The house is empty, just like I expected it to be, as I hang my jacket up on a hook and head upstairs. In my room I know I can successfully relax, and I begin my ritual by changing out of my work uniform and into some plaid pajama pants and a long sleeve vacation shirt. I tie my hair up into a bun and then grab my notebook and phone before plopping onto my bed.

When I plan on writing songs I always, always, always start with chords. I'll sit at a piano for days and just play chords for hours until I find a progression that I like the best and write that down in my notebook. Chords are initially a backbone of any type of music, whether it's a full out song or simply some type of improvisation of sorts. After I have the chords down, I move onto rhythms and a few lyrics, depending on what I'm feeling. Since the song is about Ford I've chosen dismal chords in Bb minor for the beginning and then I've chosen to switch into major near the end. I haven't gotten much lyrics tied into the song but I have been scribbling some thoughts down, so that's what I'll be doing today.

I've recorded all of the chords and rhythms on my phone so when I start playing that, that's when inspiration slowly begins to hit. Humming lightly, I scribble down the first few things that come to mind:

He's gold and bold and everything better

He wore me out like my favorite sweater

I always knew you'd be the one to break my heart

All this time you've been tearing me apart

It isn't very good but it'll have to do for now since it's just idea time. Later on when I've got all of the lyrics put together I'll record my voice on my mic—a really expensive one that I got a year or two back—and then I'll upload it all onto my computer to add any cool mixes or beats to it. It may sound simple but that'll all take a few months to complete because of how much a perfectionist I am when it comes to my music. Music is so near and dear to my heart that I really can't help it, because when it isn't perfect I feel like I'm letting myself down, like I'm not worth it to be perfect.

I'm so focused on my music that I don't even notice Brady enter my room and my house, at least not until he plops onto my bed with a smile so adorable and bright that it could light up the night sky without the use of the stars. "Hey," He easily greets, crossing his legs that are clad in loose black jeans.

"Hey," I look up from my notebook and smile, dropping my pen into it and beginning to shut it. "What's up?"

"Just wanted to come and see you." He shrugs. "You really should start locking your door."

Thinking about my door reminds me of the other night and the broken visitor that stumbled through it. Sighing, I say, "You're probably right."

"Whatcha writing?" Brady nods his head towards my notebook.

"That song I told you about." I reach for my phone and press pause on the recording. "I've got all of the chords and rhythms down but the lyrics are taking a little while."

"Well just think of a trash can and describe that." Brady suggests, referring to Ford, most likely not at all joking.

I roll my eyes but laugh non the less. "I'm serious, Brady, I want this to be a really raw and emotional song." I explain. "But ironically it's really hard for me to get any type of emotion out when it comes to Ford."

"That's 'cause he came in like a thief and robbed you of your emotions." Brady says. "And he has yet to even attempt to return them."

"That was good." I mumble before scribbling down exactly what he said. "How's this: You were a thief that came in through night / Leaving nothing but agony and strife?"

Brady nods approvingly. "Me gusta."

"Awesome," I smile, scooting closer to him and setting my notebook aside. "You should try your hand at songwriting sometime."

"Nah," Brady waves me off. "They'd just all be about the same thing."

"And what's that?"

Brady shrugs, a little shyness hidden behind his green eyes. "Just this girl that I'm really into."

I raise my eyes, not expecting that one. Brady's never really been that much of a ladies man, not like Ford. I remember him maybe having a girlfriend or two before but he would always tell us that it ended mutually because they couldn't agree on things. We never questioned it, just like we never really question anything Brady does because it's always nonchalant. Whoever Brady likes now, though, is one lucky girl because I know how much a sweetheart he is.

"Really?" I wonder curiously. "That's definitely new and now you definitely have to tell me who it is so I can make fun of you for it."

"I don't know," Brady runs hand through his wavy brown hair. "I don't know how you'd feel about it."

"What, is it Kendra?" I giggle. "Because I'm pretty sure that her and Landon have something."

"No, and probably." Brady chuckles. "But yeah, maybe I just shouldn't tell you."

"No!" I cry out, gripping onto his arm and pulling him closer to me so that our knees are touching—both of us now sitting with our legs crossed. "Tell me."

"Do you really want to know?" Brady teases, taking one of my hands in his and gently beginning to trace the veins that pop out of the back of it.

The movement gives me a weird feeling, but I ignore it for a moment as I lock eyes with Brady. "Yes." I say, noticing how the air has already become tense.

Brady's eyes get a little darker, but not to the forest green that usually happens when he's angry. Slowly, I notice him leaning into me until his face is mere centimeters away from mine and I can smell the wet wood from his chest and hair that leaves me in a light daze. At this distance I can see every detail on Brady's face, from the couple of freckles near his nose to the lean sculpture of his cheek bones. Brady's a mixture of boyish charm and an ominous bad boy. His pink lips open for a moment just as time seems to stop, "You." He whispers before setting his lips on mine.

I'm hit by a wave of warmth as the pure softness of Brady's lips leaves me in awe. I kiss him back of course, but kind of because I feel some type of obligation to because it's Brady, the boy that I've known almost as long as I've known Ford, the boy with the wavy hair and the adorable smile, the boy who has always been there to protect me. The fact that I'm the girl he likes is such an honor and a privilege that I'm not sure I can own up to his standards of me, even though he's probably got them extremely low.

The kiss is everything that one would expect from Brady. It's gentle and tamed with a hint of innocence as he suckles on my bottom lip. My hands go for his hair, running my fingers through its silky texture as his arms wrap around my torso and he rubs his fingers against my back teasingly. I moan into the kiss as Brady's tongue enters my mouth and leaves delicate cursive around the roof of my mouth, starting a flame in the pit of my stomach. Unable to contain myself, I pull Brady forward until my back hits the bed and he's basically on top of me.

"Leah," He murmurs huskily before pulling out of the kiss and leaving a trail of gentle kisses down my chin and onto my neck. "God, Leah, you taste so fucking good."

"Mm," I murmur back, way too distracted by the way his lips feel on my skin to reply logically.

Eventually Brady reaches the neckline of my shirt, beginning to leave a hickey there. The immense arousal is driving me insane, so before Brady can leave too big of a hickey, I reach down and yank my shirt over my head.

And the rest is history.

↣↣↣↣↣↣

a u t h o r s n o t e:

WOWOWOW MY FIRST TIME WRITING A STEAMY SCENE LMAO

I know that some of you were probably expecting this, but I'm curious to know those of you that weren't. I really tried not to make it too obvious by throwing Ford into some hot situations here and there, but Brady's always had feelings for Leah and those just needed to be expressed. Hopefully you guys are somewhat excited to see gentlemanly Brady, because I sure am hella excited to write him lol.

ANYWHO, I need to take a minute and thank you ALL for the immense love being sent my way right now. I'm not just talking about votes and stuff but I mean like, messages in my board and replies to messages because they're just so heartwarming and reassuring! If you guys EVER need to talk my social media is in my bio and my PMs are open forever and always ❤️

Hope you all are having a gr8 8/8 week (I'm a dead meme I swear), and I'll see you all next time!

PS: if you haven't already, check out my teasers (((: