Chapter content warnings: semi-graphic sex; underage drinking; swearing

Don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now and that my ao3 account is wearealloflegendnow (even though I haven't posted there yet)!

~TLL~

"Since you're abandoning me on Friday night, I had to get myself a date."

Rose shoved her large sunglasses up on her face, even though the January sunshine didn't really demand for it. She scanned the parking lot as she stepped outside with Marcia, looking for a sign of Brad.

"Date date or Netflix and Chill?" Rose asked, knowing what the answer would be and revelling in the normalcy of it.

It had been several days since the story broke of her miraculous recovery. "INFANT KIDNAPPED AT BIRTH FOUND ALIVE!" "BABY GIRL PRESUMED DEAD HEALTHY AND SAFE!" "PARENTS AND KIDNAPPED CHILD LIVING IN THE SAME CITY WITH NO IDEA!" It was all trending and Rose was more than over it. It had been something for her and Lily to bond over at the dining room table but she hated that about it too. Carl and Melinda kept telling them not to look at what was being said about them or the case but Rose couldn't help herself. She stalked all the comments and YouTube videos and TikToks and reels that came to her attention and every little thing from them stuck in her brain. Rose wanted to lash out every time she saw a conspiracy about her father or, worse, her mother.

Today, though, she was focused on being normal.

"Netflix and Chill, obviously. Bethany from physics says she needs a study buddy."

"Marcia, you're practically failing physics."

"Yeah, cause I'm too busy staring at her ass."

Brad rolled up in front of them. "Hey ladies, looking hot today."

Marcia flipped her curls. "No, Brad, we're still not having a threesome."

Brad flashed his most charming smile. "Can't blame a guy for trying."

"Oh yes I can," Marcia said under her breath. She brightened as she patted Rose on the butt to usher her toward the car. "Please actually try to give her orgasms this time. She's been a little broody this week."

"I always give her orgasms."

Rose rolled her eyes but elected not to say anything as she got into the front seat of the car and waved goodbye to Marcia. She just wanted everything to be normal today even though picking fights with Brad was part of their normal. Rose gazed out the window at the familiar route while Brad chattered about Tuesday night football practice. His house came into view and Rose was relieved to have Brad park the car in his normal spot, circle around to open her door for her, and lead her inside. This was routine. This was what she wanted.

They went straight to his bedroom and shut the door behind them. It didn't matter that the house was otherwise empty. The door being open always made Rose feel like something was watching her. She dropped down on the bed, falling onto her back. She felt the weight of Brad next to her, his hand on her thigh. Rose reached over and pulled Brad on top of her, his kissing demanding and distracting. Her fingers were wound tightly in his hair while he arched over her, shimmying her tights and underwear down. As always, the school's uniform skirt stayed on. Brad had a thing for it. They kissed like that for a while and then Rose heard Brad unbuckle his belt. Rose was already on her knees by the time that Brad's pants went around his ankles. She knew how to touch him and there was no experimentation or playing around. It was almost a little cold, considering that there was a very intimate part of him in her mouth. His hands pulled on her hair and Rose took him into her hand until he finished. Rose cleaned off her hands and then Brad was back to kissing her, pulling her shirt over her head as he went. He kissed her neck and she could feel him starting to suck on it.

"No hickeys!" Rose hissed, pulling on his hair.

Then, Brad skipped to his face between her thighs. Rose wrapped her hand around one of his pillows, staring at the ceiling and hoping that he would actually give her an orgasm this time. She felt his tongue brush against some of the right spots and this was the moment that she either had to take control and make something happen for herself or lose herself in the rollercoaster. The rollercoaster where she thought of all the other girls that Brad was seeing on the side that she knew about but pretended not to know about depending on what kind of fight she wanted to pick and then just fully let her mind wander about how he kept all those girls coming back to screw him when he just was so not good in bed.

Oh, shit, Brad had found the right spot.

Rose closed her eyes, leaning back into the pillows, letting her body just feel it. Her hips pulling toward him, the feel of his mouth, where his fingers were on her skin. Rose felt the jolting starts of an orgasm, she took a deep breath and prepared for the grand finale and then Brad lifted his head.

"Did you finish?"

Fuck. Rose sighed. "Yeah, sure." It's not like she was going to get back to it.

Brad leant back over her, pressing her into the mattress as they kissed. Rose's hand went to the small of his back as his hand came between the mattress and her body, going for her clasps on her bra strap. Rose pushed against him. No. They'd done the routine and this was the part of the rollercoaster she hated the most.

"Baby, come on," Brad purred. "Please. Let's do it."

"Brad, no."

Rose pushed him off her and sat up, reaching for her shirt.

"How long do we have to be together before we can have sex?"

Same old lines, every time.

Rose yanked on her underwear. "It's not about sex! You have sex all the time!"

"Yeah and if I could get it from my girlfriend, I wouldn't go anywhere else!"

Rose scoffed. "You're full of it if you think I honestly believe that. You like screwing around, Brad, and that's fine because I like having someone to call when I want to go out. This is how this works."

"It's just sex! If my fingers are all the way inside you, what does it matter if it's my dick instead? You sit on my face, my dick goes in your mouth, we do everything but. What's the difference!?"

"I don't know!" Rose shouted, probably admitting it aloud for the first time. Even Marcia assumed that Rose and Brad were actually having sex. "It feels different and that's what matters! My feelings fucking matter, Brad!"

"I never said they didn't," Brad cooed, like Rose didn't know when she was being placated. "But, don't my feelings matter too?"

Brad wanted something and she didn't so even though his feelings mattered, Rose thought her feelings mattered a lot more.

"You're cheating on me all the time and we're still together. Either we let that keep happening or we break up, for real. Those are your options. Pick which one you want."

Brad slung his arm around her shoulders, just like Rose knew that he was going to. He pressed a messy kiss to her cheek.

"Baby, I'm sorry. You know how much I care about you. Let's not fight."

Internally, Rose let out a long sigh. She wanted to fight. She wanted to scream at the moon and see her father and hang out with her brothers and feel satisfied with her life. She thought she wanted routine but she was missing the routine of her old life and the rollercoaster with Brad wasn't going to do it today.

"Okay," she agreed, "let's not fight."

It was easier this way.

"Do you want to actually go get burgers?" Brad asked. "I'll get you onion rings."

"And a milkshake."

"And a milkshake," Brad agreed.

They got redressed and left his house, heading toward the same old burger joint that they always did. Rose turned up the radio, wishing that this day had made her feel the way that she wanted to feel when she had set out. She just felt dead inside and she hoped that things were better on Friday when they were actually out, doing something that she knew she enjoyed.

Rose reached for her phone just for something to do and was pleasantly surprised when she saw a text from Jake.

Jake: Spud just wiped out massively at the skate park! You should have been here!

Rose: You'll have to invite me again if you want me to see anything

Jake: I have to invite you again? Come on. You clearly need more skateboarding lessons.

Rose: I didn't wipe out at all!

Jake: cause you didn't do anything!

Rose: I'll show you next time

Jake: Looking forward to it

"Who are you texting?" Brad asked.

"Kyle and Nicholas," Rose said, not sure why she was lying but feeling like she should. "Since we don't live together anymore it turns out we're actually fairly co-dependent."

"Sweet," Brad said. "Tell them I said hey and tell them to text me when you all get to go home so that we can get finish our video game tournament."

"Will do," Rose promised.

Rose put her phone back in her bag as they pulled into the parking lot and the little blip of enjoyment when she'd see Jake's name faded away and then disappeared completely as she went back to the routine of her life.

(-.-)

"Who the hell is Kyle Wilkins?"

Trixie snatched her phone back out of Spud's hand. "Like, someone."

"Someone who?"

"Just, like, someone I met, is all."

"And you said I was keeping secrets about Stacey. At least I told you guys. I just wanted to see your faces when I did."

Jake rolled into the middle of the argument, flipping his skateboard into his hand. "What are we talking about?"

"Secrets," Spud said, "because Trixie has one named Kyle."

Jake cocked an eyebrow at Trixie who let out a little shriek.

"We are just talking," Trixie said. "We didn't fuck in a laundry room at a party."

"And she won't talk to me," Spud retorted, "so, who's better off here?"

"I'm just going to go over here with my long-term stable relationship," Jake said.

"Shut up," Trixie said, "And get your ass back over here. You might be long-term but that's against everyone's better judgement and you two are not stable."

Jake flopped down on the other side of Spud, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to get out of this conversation. "Lily is fine, you guys are just assholes."

"Is Kyle Wilkins an asshole?"

"Kyle likes spoken word poetry and wants to date the old-fashioned way."

Jake didn't even need to look at Spud to know that they were on the same page. As one they said, "asshole."

"Whatever, at least he talks to me," Trixie said, nudging Spud in the ribs.

"Okay, that was rude," Spud replied, nudging her right back.

"How is that rude but you're allowed to hate on my girlfriend for a literal year? Guys, I like Lily, Lily is my girlfriend, and she is not going anywhere!"

Spud and Trixie exchanged glances that Jake didn't like at all. He glared at them until finally Spud cracked, like Jake knew he would first.

"We've just noticed Rose's name on your phone a lot."

"What the fuck does that mean? She's my girlfriend's sister. We're making double date plans, with her sister, my girlfriend. It's better for Lily if we're all friends!"

"You've been a little smiley about it, Jakey."

Jake grabbed his skateboard. "Fuck you, guys, and whatever you're implying here. I'm out."

Trixie and Spud watched him go. When he was out of sight and probably wasn't using ear of the dragon to eavesdrop on them, Spud groaned.

"Trixie, he sounded pissed!"

"Of course he sounded pissed but that doesn't mean we're not right. He's so used to defending everyone all the time and just because he likes Lily, doesn't mean he like likes her."

Spud rubbed his forehead. "Say that again."

"Jake's so comfortable in their relationship because I think they actually are friends. I just think that she's like the perfect 'victim' and he's doing his hero thing without realizing it. Come on, they hooked up right after Gramps' diagnosis and right after her grandmother with Alzheimer's died. Doesn't that strike you all as a little convenient?"

"Oh." Spud could feel the lightbulb go on over his head. "Oh … That makes so much sense."

"Like, I still hate Lily. I still don't want her in the friend group but they're deluding themselves. I bet you she just feels safe and wanted with him and doesn't care about him as much as she thinks he does. Come on, they've never done more than just kind of make out. They've never said they loved each other. They don't even hold hands in public."

Spud nodded thoughtfully. "You're so right."

"I know I am," Trixie said authoritatively.

"Remember when he was with Danika? They were only officially dating for like, three months, and they'd popped each other's cherries and said I love you."

"Totally. Because that's what people do when they actually have passion for each other."

Spud's head flopped onto Trixie's shoulder and he stared up at her. "So how much passion did you have for me?"

Trixie nearly shoved him off the bench. "Gross. And I never told you I loved you, Spud."

"I love you, Trixie," he said, smooching comically at her.

Trixie kicked at him. "I'll tell Stacey you said that!"

"You wouldn't dare!" Spud stood up and grabbed his skateboard before offering Trixie his hand. "Hot dogs or half pipe?"

Trixie checked her phone. "Well, I've got a text from Jake saying he's dealing with a leprechaun problem at the bank across the street and he's making a scene so we should stay put for a bit."

"Half pipe it is," Spud said. "Race you!"

Spud took off, confident that Trixie was right behind him.

(-.-)

"Hey."

"Hey."

Jake stuck his hands in his pockets, trying not to look awkward as Brad got out of the Uber, the driver waiting patiently at the curb. He and Brad had been in the same school since the first grade, practically, and Jake knew nothing about him except for the fact that Jake and all of his friends thought that Brad was annoying. Jake was relieved when Rose and Lily came tumbling down the front stairs, actually talking about something, which was a far improvement from the first time Jake had seen them together last week.

"Baby!" Brad called. "You look hot!"

Rose giggled and did a little twirl, showing off her legs as the skirt of her short galaxy print dress, a bulky leather jacket completing the look. Jake knew that wasn't how Rose acted and wondered just how much of her relationship with Brad was an act. He reached for Lily instinctively, even though he knew how much she thought even an arm around the shoulders was PDA. Lily looked like herself, in baggy jeans and an ugly wool sweater she'd probably thrifted. Jake noticed the mascara on her eyes and the tinted gloss on her lips and he made sure to compliment her.

"Thanks," Lily said as they all piled into the Uber, Brad in the front and Jake squeezed between Rose and Lily in the middle seat. "Oh, Rose, do you have the thing?"

"Ummm, yeah." Rose dug for her purse, apparently not caring a bit about Jake's personal space. "Here you go. Your name is Jackie Abbot, you're twenty-three from Michigan."

Jake grabbed it out of Rose's hand, squinting at it. "This is a good fake."

"Thanks. Daddy's money does come in handy. Jake, are you sure you're going to get in?"

"I've got a fake, okay, even if I don't have Daddy's money."

"Good," Brad said from the front, "because I don't think you could borrow one of mine."

Admittedly, it made Jake laugh.

At seven on a Friday night, the bar was pretty packed. The bouncer looked over all their IDs incredibly carefully and Jake could tell that Lily was antsy about it, but that was why they had put her in the back. Eventually, they were waved through. Brad led the charge through the bar, rushing to secure what was apparently their "usual table" just off the left-hand side from the stage and close to the dance floor. On the stage there was a drag queen belting out Adele's Someone Like You with such force that Jake felt goosebumps emerge on his arms. Brad slung his jacket over the back of one of the chairs.

"What are we doing?" Brad asked before the rest of them had even unzipped their jackets. "Pitchers? Shots?"

"Sangria pitcher, tequila shots," Rose said.

"That's my girl. Anyone want anything different?"

"Can you just grab me a beer? Some kind of pilsner?" Jake asked. "Not super into wine."

"Gotcha."

"I'm fine with the wine," Lily said. "Is sangria a type of wine?"

"Were you raised like veal?" Rose asked as they took their seats around the table, Jake once again ending up in the middle of them.

"It's a wine that has other fruits in it, sometimes another liquor. Like a wine cocktail," Jake said.

"Thanks."

"Ooh, Jared is working," Rose said. "He's my absolute favourite for emceeing the karaoke machine. We know each other really well by now so sometimes I just let him pick my song."

"You and Brad really do come here a lot, huh?" Jake said.

"I love karaoke," Rose said. "I like the sports and the languages and the other hobbies but this is the one thing that has only been just fun. No competition, no worries."

"I can't believe you get up on that stage and sing at all," Lily said, staring at the drag queen. "I think I'd be sick."

"I'm going to go put my name in right now."

Rose hopped from her tall chair, heading to Jared. They were still chatting when Brad came back, handing out the drinks. Immediately, Brad located Rose and let out a sigh.

"I don't know how she does it sober, I'll be honest. I'll hop up, do like Never Gonna Give You Up or if I do enough tequila I really love Shake It Off." Brad took his seat as Rose skipped back to the table, grabbing her tequila shot.

"Cheers!"

They clinked shots and it went down smooth for Jake, although Lily coughed a bit.

"Next up we have Rose Hunter!"

Rose was gone in a flash, climbing the stage with confidence. Jake shouldn't have been surprised; she did everything with confidence. He was a bit surprised at the music that struck up. Rose took the mic off its stand, looking cute and innocent with her curled hair tumbling around her shoulders and her light pink lipstick. She lifted the mic to her lips and out came a voice that Jake didn't expect. It had power, depth, and a flirtatious edge.

"White shirt now red, my bloody nose," Rose started.

"She's actually pretty good," Lily admitted, leaning into Jake.

Brad was cheering. "Go baby! Go baby!"

"Bruises on both my knees for you. Don't say thank you or please –"

"Are you going to sing?" Lily asked Jake.

Jake was reluctant to look away from the performance because it was a performance. Rose was dancing around like she was the lead singer and everyone should know who she was. She was probably being watched by most of the people in the bar.

"Probably, eventually," Jake said. "It's karaoke after all."

Rose flounced toward them, launching in the chorus. She pointed at their table as the words flew out of her mouth and Jake felt like Rose was looking right at him as she belted, "I'm the bad guy. DUH!"

Jake picked up his beer as she swirled off, knowing how to move her hips in the way that her skirt flew up and teased her thighs. When the song was over, she went right back to Jared, heads together as they came to some sort of agreement. Rose was grinning as she came back to the table.

"So, am I good or am I good?" she asked.

"You're good," Lily was the first to say. "Honestly good. You could probably be a professional."

The smile that Rose gave Lily looked genuine. "Are you going to get up?"

"I am not a professional," Lily said. "I'm going to be much happier just watching people."

"Rose, Carl's on stage."

"Plug your ears," Rose advised and she poured herself a tall drink. "Jake, I put us on the rotation."

"Huh?"

"I told Jared to pick a duet for us. You said you can sing so prove it."

Lily laughed, looking at Jake. "You can't sing!"

"That's not what he told me," Rose said. "Were you lying, Jake?"

"Wait, can you sing?" Lily asked, angling into Jake. "You never told me that."

"Can you only sing K-Pop?"

Jake stared at Brad. "I'm not even Korean!"

"J-Pop?"

"Not Japanese either."

"What else is there?"

"BRAD!" Lily and Rose said in unison.

"Bloody fucking hell," Rose said. "What is wrong with you?"

"What?" Brad said and he leant across the table, gesturing at Jake. "Dude, what? Would it have been better if I said what kind of Asian are you?"

"Yes, actually, 'cause at least you wouldn't have forgotten about all of China and stereotyped me in the process."

"C-pop," Brad said. "I didn't even know that was a thing."

Jake rolled his eyes. He had wanted Brad to be better because he was setting himself up to be spending a lot of time with Brad in the near future but Jake couldn't say he was surprised. White boys who had a reasonable amount of money and dads on the police force weren't the type of person that Jake expected a lot of sensitivity from.

Jake pulled out his phone and fired off a quick text to Rose.

Jake: Your boyfriend is an asshole.

Then, Jake busied himself by pouring sangria for Rose and Lily.

"Are you nervous?" Lily asked him.

"Nah. I've definitely been through more embarrassing things." Like trying to master dragon transformations and ending up flashing the entirety of Central Park. Really, it was a miracle that Jake had any shame left at all.

Rose: Yeah, I know. That's why I like him.

Jake: Why would you like an asshole?

Rose: You're not my therapist

Jake locked his phone as he felt Lily lean in. While Jake didn't think there was anything wrong with talking to Rose or having a friendship with Rose, it felt different when he was literally sitting at a table with her, texting behind everyone else's backs.

"I'm going to go pee," Lily announced loudly.

"Don't fall in." Jake pecked her cheek affectionately.

Even in the dark lights of the karaoke bar, Jake could see the dark blush that spread across her cheeks and she disappeared into the crowd. Jake turned back to the table, feeling awkward when it was just he and Brad and Rose. Brad had his arm slung around Rose's shoulder and gave her a loud kiss. Jake rolled his eyes but then his gaze landed on Lily's empty chair. It was one of those things that he wished were different about Lily. She wasn't very affectionate, especially not in public. Jake tried not to force the issue but he wished that he could just so casually claim his girl as his.

And Lily was his girlfriend and his priority, despite what his stupid friends thought.

"Next up, Rose Hunter and Jake Long with a duet."

Rose leapt from her chair, grabbing Jake's hand and practically pulling him from his.

"What are we singing?" Jake called to Rose.

"No idea! I told Jared to surprise us!"

Rose grabbed the same microphone that she had before, leaving Jake to go to the further side of the stage for the other one. They came back together in front of the karaoke screen and Jake held his breath, hoping that he knew the song, at least a little. The first notes struck up and they sounded familiar to Jake.

"Oh!" Rose gasped. She leant over, pressing against Jake's side to whisper in his ear, "Oh, this is so fun. You take the first part."

Jake nodded but he didn't realize what song it was until he saw the first words appear and then he laughed despite himself. Haley would be over the moon if she could see him now.

"Living in my own world, didn't understand

"That anything can happen, when you take a chance

"I never believed in what I couldn't see

"I never opened my heart to all the possibilities, ooh."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Rose dancing and mouthing the words to herself, not even sparing a glance at the prompter and it made Jake smile.

"I know that something has changed

"Never felt this way

"And right here, tonight."

Rose jumped in on the chorus and Jake instinctively turned to face her, trusting himself to know the words.

"This could be the start of something new

"It feels so right to be here with you, oh

"And now, looking in your eyes

"I feel in my heart (I feel in my heart) the start of something new

"Oh, yeah!"

Rose was giggly as she launched into her part, playing up to the audience the same way that she had before. Jake stayed where he was and swayed, happy to be where he was in her background. His eyes lingered on Rose and, even though Jake didn't want to, he thought of his friends. They were wrong; Jake was not crushing on Rose. She was just a cool person and he just liked being around her and, in moments like this one where she let go of her bitchy persona and just had fun, she was impossible to resist.

Rose grabbed his hand and spun him, taking the lead in their dance as they fell into the chorus again.

(-.-)

Lily wished that she could stay hiding in the bathroom stall.

Lily knew that it wasn't fair but she hated every thought of karaoke and she was mad at Jake for trapping her into this double date. She hated Brad and she felt left out from Brad's and Rose's conversations and Jake's and Rose's conversations. Jake hadn't even told Lily that he could sing or cared about singing but Rose already knew? It didn't sit right with her. Jake was her boyfriend, her best friend. She should know everything about him. What else about Jake didn't she know?

Lily pulled out of her phone and sent off a message to Marcia.

Lily: How's your Friday?

It wasn't like they had texted a lot or anything but they had been texting. Lily hadn't told Jake that she was texting Marcia – because she didn't have to, because she and Marcia were just friends, because Marcia was helping her to figure out who she was and that was something Jake couldn't do. It wasn't wrong but the fact that she wasn't telling her boyfriend and Marcia hadn't told Rose, her best friend, put a layer of wrongness to it. There was nothing wrong with a little bit of wrongness. It was all part of hot girl shit.

Lily put her phone back in her pocket, reapplied her lip gloss, and headed back into actual bar. Immediately she felt claustrophobic with the body heat and the loud noises coming from everywhere. As she wiggled away toward their table trying her best to avoid the dance floor, she looked up at the stage to see Rose and Jake.

They were in each other's faces, only the mics at their lips keeping them from touching, belting the lyrics to each other.

"It feels so right to be here with you, oh

"And now, looking in your eyes

"I feel in my heart."

Jake took Rose's hand and she spun, neither of them missing a beat. It looked perfect and choreographed, like their duet really was part of a movie. Lily stared, feeling something like a pit in her stomach.

There was too much wrongness here.