I GOT MY GUN COCKED TIGHT AND IM READY TO BLOW--*

[HARLEY QUINN MORGAN]

”seriously?! Dex!” Harley groaned as she stared down at her blouse, covered in applesauce excessively. Her son, Dexter, had thrown a fit and threw his entire small bowl of applesauce in her direction, it landing all over her blouse. The two were sitting in the park, on her son’s Perry the Platypus blanket. He loved the show, Phineas & Ferb, he always giggled when Candice would scream their moms name, preparing to tattle tale on her younger brothers. Harley knew that Dexter was too young to truly understand the show’s plot, but he still managed to laugh, which amused her highly. ”Here…” she handed him his samba plush toy, then picked him up and sat him to the side. He was starting to walk better, but he still couldn’t do it entirely by himself. He was growing up so fast, and she couldn’t help but love every minute of being able to watch him do it.

Harley leaned over in the opposite direction towards her bag and pulled out some napkins, she started keeping a good amount once she learned that Dexter was a little messy fella. She rubbed the apple sauce off of her blouse and frowned, it didn’t help that she was wearing white. ”ugh” she threw her head back and groaned again, luckily she had an undershirt beneath it so she threw the napkin to the side and placed both hands at the bottom rim of her top. She slowly pulled her top off, feeling the light cool air touch her abdominal area, it was just her luck to have her under shirt stick to her other blouse. ”really?!” she said to herself as she quickly threw off the other, and readjusted her undershirt. She knew that she was probably showing her stomach and her black bra during that small time frame, but oh well, right? Sure, it was a family park, but Harley had to take that messy blouse off, damn it. So if an angry parent wanted to come at her with some snarky comment about being too revealing, then so be it, Harley could take it. I mean, it wasn’t like she did on purpose.

She threw her dirty blouse into Dexter’s bag, mainly because it was much bigger than her purse thanks to the snacks, diapers, toys, and baby wipes. She looked up to make sure Dexter was alright, he had sat down and was starting to chew on Simba’s nose. She giggled, ”You’re such a dork,” she smiled admirably down at her son. He was truly her pride and joy, as much as she wanted to regret having sex with his father; she couldn’t bring herself to, mainly because her son was her everything. She couldn’t even imagine life without him anymore; she reached into his bag and pulled out a stuffed Mike Wazowski fromMonsters Inc. She held it up in front of her face and looked at Dexter, ”who’s this Dex?!” she asked excitedly, he didn’t know how to talk much yet. He only knew how to say “yes” and “no”, but he watched his mom in awe and giggled, reaching up to grab Mike Wazowski from her hands. ”Can you say ‘Mike Wazowski? Come on, try it…” she said, looking over at him and handing him the stuffed toy. She seemed so sweet with her son, but if you were anyone else, besides Marco, she was a little firecracker, a female with the most sarcastic tongue you would ever come across.

She tried her best to come to park as often as she could, mainly because Dexter liked it, and it was nice bonding time for the two. It was hard though, because Harley ha to juggle school and work as well. But when she did manage to get some down time for her son, she truly enjoyed it. She never noticed anyone else around her, her focus was just on his happiness, and boy, was he such a happy little kid. Harley was all on her own now, though Marco did stand in as a somewhat male figure in Dexter’s life, but still, her parents had kicked her out, and chose to make her face her own consequences on her own from now on. But to be honest, Harley was quite proud of where she was at right now. She had a good head on her shoulders and a tremendous level of indepence.

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W O R D S --* 734
T A G G E D --* BRANDON
T H O U G H T S --* (:

[BRANDON RICHARD STEELE]

Brandon found himself routinely taking a jog around the neighborhood in order to keep his weight maintained, but only on the days he didn’t visit the weight room. Every day he got some kind of exercise, which was necessary because he needed to keep up with his football body and just in general to look good. He sported a grey tee shirt, some black gym shorts from high school with the logo in the corner and white tennis shoes. He had his headphones in his ears as he passed the elementary school, smiling a little bit as he did. He didn’t like school in general as a kid, but a little part of him missed being that young, as much as he didn’t want to admit it to anyone other than himself. He felt a rumbling in his stomach as he jogged further, rolling his eyes with frustration and slowing down. He hadn’t eaten since early that morning due to lack of food in the house so he decided to stop and get something from Hardees; he didn’t sit and eat long, but he did however sit there and take long enough to enjoy the food. Nothing came between Brandon and his food; school, exercise, football, or even ladies. He finished up in about fifteen minutes and left the fast food place, starting towards the park for a final mile or so before heading back home.

He had already gone to class earlier in the day and he didn’t have another one until tomorrow, so he planned on lying around, eating, and watching sports. It was the same old stuff a lot of the time that he did, but on some nights he’d go out and get lucky. For example, last night he had a girl he met at a party over, and she was out the door by about three, but it was definitely a fun one. He didn’t particularly feel like hunting a lady down and getting into her pants today, but there wasn’t a day that went by that Brandon wasn’t a flirting machine. He didn’t hold himself back from going for a lady, no matter what the circumstances are. He flinched a little when he felt a vibration in his pocket as he approached the park, and he pulled out his phone to read a text from his little brother, Aiden. He grinned from ear to ear, letting out a gentle but loud laugh, shaking his head. The text read dude, there's a bra in the fridge... you're lucky mom didn't find it before i did, keep ur foreplay in the bedroom, douche." Brandon rolled his eyes and laughed some more, texting back, “my bad bro,” and continuing his jog down the sidewalk.

Brandon was about to take a detour and head home before his eyes spotted a familiar face, and bra sighting from about 20 feet away. He knew the girl from school briefly, but he’d never really spoken to her. He noticed the little kid and saw the whole thing, shaking his head and jogging over, casually stopping and looking at her. He offered a seemingly friendly smile, but there was nothing genuine about it – it was rare that anything coming from Brandon was. He motioned to her messy shirt with his head and said, “guess the tot got a little creative with the apple sauce, huh?” His tone wasn’t mocking, it was also seemingly friendly, but most people knew better. He had a reputation around school, and it wasn’t a good one. He could charm girls into the bedroom, but after that he was nothing more than a horny fuck with a mean nature.

[HARLEY QUINN MORGAN]

The local park was nice and always full of families and owners taking their dogs for walks. It almost made Harley wish she was a part of a family, but no, that wasn’t for her, she was much better on her own. How about a dog? Nah, she’d totally forget to feed the damn thing. The grass was always evergreen; there were plenty of trees, a dog area, and a lovely playground for the young children. Even though little Dexter couldn’t exactly join the other kids in the play area, unless attended by Harley, he still managed to have fun, either by himself or with a nearby child. There were actually a few kids that both, he and Harley recognized, in which at times, Harley allowed him to play with near her of course. Dexter had a tendency to get into things though, and when he was around other children, he could get a bit aggressive or selfish, which was why Harley had to stay close to him at all times when around other children. She couldn’t even count the amount of notes she had been given whenever he was picked up from daycare or the snarky comments that Marco had given her whenever he babysat for her.

Harley felt a presence as she handed the stuffed monster to her toddler, she looked up at the sound of his voice, bringing an arm around her child out of protection, just in case. She looked up and her eyes looked over the male, he was definitely attractive, and she had seen him multiple times before around her college campus, but she had no idea who he was other than that. And why did he find it safe to approach her? ”I guess you could say that… if only he could talk and just say, ‘mom I don’t fucking like apple sauce’,”, she laughed mostly to herself as she fixed Dexter’s shirt, and retrieved her arm back as she realized that the male meant no harm. She was used to being approached by males at the park, hell, she was used to it at work too, being an attractive waitress and all. But it was funny because every time she opened her mouth to reply, it almost always threw the guy off due to her foul mouth. There was a 99.9% chance that the word ‘fuck’ would come out at every sentence thrown at you, it was a shock that Dexter hadn’t picked up the word yet, but only time would tell.

”So… can I help you?” she asked raising a brow, her hands loosely on her crossed legs. ”the horny desperate housewives are probably on the other side of the park, you know, with the multiple children,”, she gave off with a hint of a whisper, just being a stubborn sarcastic bitch mostly. She’s seen guys like him before, charming and confident, which was why she came off so bitchy. And her strategy was, if they couldn’t take the heat, then get the fuck out of the kitchen. She tilted her head at him, her dark eyes gazing up at him, wondering what his reaction would be. She had expected to be called a ‘bitch’ or a ‘tease’ as per usual, but in the mean time she just kept a light expecting smile on her face. She wasn’t embarrassed by the scene that the boy probably saw, her in her bra, her toned stomach available to practically the world. To be honest, she assumed that was why he had approached her. Maybe he was an arrogant bastard that thought that she was ‘supposedly’ absentmindedly coming on to him. But no, that wasn’t the case, it was a simple misunderstanding, but again, she wasn’t surprised.

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W O R D S --* 623
T A G G E D --* BRANDON
T H O U G H T S --* (:

[BRANDON RICHARD STEELE]

Little kids had to be the one kind of human that Brandon had any respect for; they just hit a soft place in his seemingly missing heart. He smiled at Dexter, a warm feeling in his chest, but then he looked back at his mother with a cocked eyebrow. He couldn’t help but smirk and laugh with a shake of his head. “Seriously.” He agreed, sitting down next to them with a good five feet in distance between them. He didn’t feel too invasive yet; but he had to admit, if the child wasn’t present the distance between them wouldn’t be either. He didn’t know much about the girl except for her name, Harley, and that she was a hot mom. People in his social circle talked about her sometimes, called her a tease, or a bitch, but he blocked out that kind of thing until he found out for himself; only in the case of a hot girl, though. Plus, he didn’t mind a little fun once and a while. It got boring having girls that give into his every word, but only because it was so routine. It was the same thing every night, almost. So today he reached out for something a little new – even if it was a little risky. Brandon looked at himself as an invincible being; he could do anything and anyone he wanted.

Brandon couldn’t help but laugh at what Harley said to him, shaking his head and looking away. “Well, I’ll keep that in mind for later, but I’m not really interested in them.” He said, seemingly genuine. Brandon nodded his head towards the little boy, “What’s his name? He’s cute…” he asked with a smile. “Oh, and knowing yours would be nice too. I'm Brandon. Brandon Steele. You go to college with me, right?” He added without too much hesitation, a laugh hanging off the end of his sentence. He offered his hand for her to shake. He sat with his legs criss-crossed and eyes set on Harley, not seeming to mind her foul mouth or obvious uninterested attitude. He thought it was hot, even.

[HARLEY QUINN MORGAN]

There was something about the male standing before her that Harley couldn’t quite put her finger on; it had always bothered her whenever she spotted him on campus. But now, that he was much closer in her view; it was bothering her even more. She hated it when that happened, when you knew you were aware of some sort of information and it was at the tip of your tongue, but you just couldn’t wrap your finger around it. She frowned a bit when he took a seat a few feet away, and couldn’t help but wonder, ’Did I have a sound of friendliness in my voice? Or was I welcoming at all?. Yes, she was sort of a bitch, but considering her history with guys, you couldn’t quite blame her. She almost wanted to groan, but managed to hold it back, giving the guy a sort of… benefit of the doubt, he hadn’t yet said anything rude or arrogant, right? It did help that he was more than easy on the eyes, definitely a nice piece of eye candy for the brunette. But then again, she wasn’t easy AT ALL, so the odds were definitely not in this guy’s favor.

The tone of the boys voice was definitely calm and collected, which lightened the stiffness in Harley’s body. She had learned to keep her guard up around boys of his nature, and she knew how to keep her head up and throw a sarcastic twist into the conversation. It was almost as if she was boy repellant, especially if you carefully examined the sexual encounters she’s had over the past year and her dating record. Before she could mention her son’s name, answering the male’s question, he continued, asking to know her name and mentioning his own. She stared back at him, her dark big eyes practically piercing into his own, it took a few seconds before she could compose herself. ”Um, yeah, I’m Harley….”, she kept her voice steady and took his hand into her own, giving it a light shake. She slowly retrieve her hand back and placed a hand on her son’s back, ”and this is Dexter,” she said using her free hand to grab Dexter’s arm and waving towards Brandon, ”Say hi…” ,she gave as much of a smile as she could. ”he doesn’t… talk much yet,”, she added with a light nod.

”Did you say ‘Steele’?... you don’t… happen to be related to Aiden Steele, do you?” she asked as casually as she could, not wanting to give anything away by her tone of voice. ”I went to high school with that guy…. So I was just… wondering and trying to connect the dots,” she gave a light fake laugh, trying to play it cool. She hadn’t seen Aiden in over a year, and to be honest, this connection could possibly be the key to why Brandon looked so damn familiar. Were they brothers? Cousins? If so, then this about to get a little bit awkward. Either way though, she almost wanted to laugh at the possible coincidence.

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W O R D S --* 514
T A G G E D --* BRANDON
T H O U G H T S --* (:

[BRANDON RICHARD STEELE]

Brandon didn't always pick girls out in the middle of his jogs; in fact, he rarely ever did, but something about this Harley girl stood out to him. She was fucking hot for one, and besides that, she provided an aura of challenge. Something Brandon longed for. It was nice to get any girl he wanted, but after nights of the same old thing, it just got boring. How many times could you bring a girl home, fuck her, and make sure she leaves before sun up before it became so routine that it wasn't satisfying? Quite a few times actually, but a little change never hurt anyone right? He smiled somewhat genuinely at her and the little boy, nodding in approval. "That's a nice name, both of them are." He commented, grinning a little when she manually had the child wave at him. He waved back, a somewhat softer side of him showing, but not for long. He looked at her once again and added, "Harley huh? Nice name, nice girl... looks like a good package deal." Normally he would've said something more flirtatious, but something told him it was a little too soon to get too touchy. Plus, he just knew she was going to be a hard one.

Brandon raised both eyebrows when she asked a question, listening and taking a moment to process. He couldn't help but smirk when she mentioned his little brother Aiden, and he nodded, "Yeah, I said Steele... we're brothers." He replied casually, his smirk transforming into a smug grin almost. "That's cool. Yeah. He's still going there.. my little prodigy." He grinned, nodding approvingly. He had very high expectations and thoughts of Aiden, and when he looked at the kid he saw a miniature version of himself. He was at all of the football games he could go to, even though he really wanted Aiden to be the quarterback, and not that weird-ass blonde gay kid.

[HARLEY QUINN MORGAN]

Harley gave a light nod as his compliment, still cautious as she awaited his answer to whether or not he was a relative of Aiden Steele. Dexter seemed to have giggled as Brandon waved back at him, and then he crawled over to the next area, closer to a nearby child and their mother. Normally Harley would have objected, but luckily it was an old friend of her sons, a child in which Dexter had grown to be comfortable around. Dexter stumbled over, Harley kept an eye, and Dexter landed comfortably in front of the other child. Once she saw that the two had begun to play with one another, she turned to look at Brandon again. Her brow raised a bit, “nice girl? Really?””she couldn’t help but laugh. Either this guy was extremely desperate or he was delusional. ”I’m sure you’d find nicer girls around campus… noses stuffed in books and what not,”, she gave a light shrug and looked into the direction of Dexter, to make sure he was still okay, which he was. ”Ever try the nerdy chicks? They’re pretty easy, you know?” she added with a light giggle. She knew how his type worked, any girl that was willing to fuck, right?

Harley couldn’t help but chuckle a bit as Brandon confirmed the relation of he and Aiden, Harley looked away, chuckling under her breath. Dexter’s uncle was sitting right before her and he didn’t even know it, hell, Aiden didn’t even know that he had a child, not that he’d care really. She just gave a light nod, wanting to play it off, ”that’s…cool”, she commented just to play off that she was over the Aiden topic. She hadn’t seen Aiden in over a year and when she wanted to tell him that she was pregnant, he had ignored her and practically kicked her to the curb. She wasn’t going to tell Brandon about his real connection to Dexter, but it was funny knowing it. Harley placed a strand of hair behind her ear as she licked her lips, studying Brandon a bit. He seemed just like Aiden, just an older version of him, so this is where Aiden got all of his cocky jerk qualities?, she thought. So yes, she knew exactly the type of guy Brandon was, especially now. ”So anyways, why are you here? At the park, I mean?” she asked half-interested as she gathered a few of Dexter’s things that were lying around.

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W O R D S --* 413
T A G G E D --* BRANDON
T H O U G H T S --* (:

[BRANDON RICHARD STEELE]

Brandon didn’t understand what she was getting at – did she really expect him to go for an ugly little nerd? He didn’t just fuck anyone; he had a type, you know. He rolled his eyes and scoffed a little, shaking his head with a smirk. “They’re also pretty damn ugly.” He said bluntly, looking at her. “You, however…” He grinned, not finishing the sentence. She knew where he was going. He checked her out once more, looking her in the eye every other couple of seconds, but his eyes were mostly giving her the up-down. He liked what he saw, but he knew this probably wasn’t going to get as far as he wanted it to. He wasn’t giving up yet, but if she knew Aiden? He probably did the same stuff with her, and that meant she knew what was coming to her. It was a slight disadvantage, but even that didn’t lower his confidence in himself. Aiden might have lured her in with the same technique, but Aiden wasn’t nearly as charming and handsome as he was. “Besides, they’re more the type that does my homework for me… in that case, I do agree, they are pretty easy to agree to that.” He told her, his arrogant persona flying in every other word or so.

He shrugged, grinning a little bit at her question. “It’s a nice day, so I went on a jog… you have to keep up with a body like this, you know. It doesn’t just appear one day.” he said, right proud of what he’d built up over his high school years. Something that he never admitted to anyone was that he was a pretty fat kid – not ridiculously, but if you looked at his pictures before the 6th grade, you’d notice he definitely was over-weight. He managed to lose most of it throughout middle school with sports, but by high school he’d pretty much turned it all into muscle. It was the one thing he really was proud of himself for, and he didn’t even have to give up eating like he did. “What about you? Other than getting Dexter out for some fresh air…”

[HARLEY QUINN MORGAN]

Harley was sort of glad Dexter had found a child to play with, mainly because she didn’t want Brandon to see any similarities. It was bad enough that Dexter almost looked like the perfect spawn of Aiden, but maybe Brandon was too distracted, which she was definitely not complaining about. Harley was a little taken a back the more he spoke, his tone of voice and choice of words becoming more arrogant as he went on. She wasn’t too surprised really, but it was a bit annoying. He turned the attention to her, almost complimenting her but not finishing his sentence, but she wasn’t stupid, he knew where he was getting at. She rolled her eyes a little and switched her gaze to her son; again, making sure he was okay, which he was. She heard him speak again and she immediately brought her eyes back to his own, raising a brow as he revealed that the nerdy chicks were only useful for one thing, which was homework. Was this guy serious? She scoffed a bit, ”too stupid to do your own homework?” she tilted her head slightly looking over at him with a light smirk.

Harley gave a nod as he explained why he was there, it was quite obvious due to his attire, but Harley wanted to see what he’d say. She looked him over as he brought attention to his body, she couldn’t help it, the boy did have a nice body and he was definitely more bulky than Aiden was. She could tell that Brandon was probably used to girls hanging on his every word, just waiting for him to invite them to his place, but little did he know, she wasn’t going to be one of them. She wasn’t the naïve insecure teenager she once was, she was smarter and more careful now, especially when it came to guys. To be honest, she stayed away from guys as far as romance is concerned; her life was work, school, Dexter, and Marco, that’s it. She didn’t have the desire to get involved with anyone, nor did she think any guy was really worth it.

Harley shifted her legs a bit, trying to get a bit more comfortable, even though she was definitely going to be leaving soon. ”What can I say? I like the outdoors…a shit ton more than I like being in an apartment all by myself…” she muttered, slightly regretting saying the last bit. She really did hate being alone sometimes, especially when Dexter was sleeping and she had no homework to do. Sometimes she’d grab her things and head over to Marco’s place, but other times, she was too lazy to. She had been saving up for a house, but her savings quickly decreased more and more every time a bill had to be paid, an appliance broke, or Dexter had to go to the doctor. It was frustrating sometimes, especially when she started feeling helpless, but she wasn’t going to reveal any of that to Brandon. She took a breath and managed to sport a light smile on her face, ”Luck you, I wish I had time to work out,” she added.

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W O R D S --* 530
T A G G E D --* BRANDON
T H O U G H T S --* (:

[BRANDON RICHARD STEELE]

Too stupid? Brandon shook his head and grinned from ear to ear, looking at her. “No. I’m just too busy.” He said simply, looking away from her to show that he wasn’t fan-boying over her. Sometimes distancing himself worked, but he had a feeling it wouldn’t in this case. You still had to try though, right? When she had thrown that stupid comment on him he’d felt a split second of offense, but there was a rock-hard shield protecting the barriers of his feelings: insults would pounce back out through his mouth in a new form, whether it be a come-back or a defense against it. The shield never went down, he didn’t allow it to. He worked it day and night to the core – and he didn’t even give it dental. He looked up at the sky and smiled a little, nodding and then looked at Dexter. He watched him play with the other child and then focused on Harley once again. “Well, you’re welcome at my place anytime,” He said with a chuckle and a wink. Following him telling her this he thought, ‘only with your clothes off, though.’ He really wasn’t one for making friends with people; especially not chicks. They were good for sex and sex only in his opinion. That being said, he didn’t care what girls thought about him as long as it wasn’t that he was ugly. But, that he knew no one thought.

“Aw. You don’t need it, anyway…” He said with a little bit of a grin. “But it is refreshing. Maybe you can fit it in or something. I make sure I take a jog every couple of days or so.” Brandon told her with a shrug. “It’s just whenever I can, instead of every day at the same time.” He explained. Brandon really didn’t have all that much to work around, but he didn’t like having a schedule. It made him feel too restrained, which was a feeling he didn't accept. He liked to do things when he wanted to, and he did. The only thing that was somewhat of a routine was making sure his homework was completed - even if it wasn't him that completed it - and getting to class somewhat on time. Oh, and football practice, and football games. He was the running-back and co-captain, and he was almost religious about being at every football related event.

[HARLEY QUINN MORGAN]

Harley nodded as he replied that he was too busy to do his own homework, she knew that wasn’t true, the male was lying through his teeth. He looked away which caught her off guard a bit, but she kept her composure. Had she insulted him? That was the plan, sure, but boy, when did guys like him get so sensitive? She watched him switch his gaze towards Dexter and got a little nervous, hoping nothing had clicked in that tiny brain of his. She scoffed a bit at his response, ”yeah, because I’m going to go to a guy’s place, a guy whom I barely even know, yeah right…”, she laughed a bit. Was this guy serious? ”I’m not that type of girl, sorry to disappoint,” she said simply as she got all of Dexter’s toys on the blanket into his pack.

Harley nodded, ”uh… well, thanks.. but I don’t know.. my schedule is pretty busy… I’m surprised I even had time to come here today,”. She pulled out her cell phone from her purse to check the time, ”I should probably get going actually… I have to get to work in an hour,”, she said honestly and packed the rest of Dexter’s things. She stood up as she moved the bags to the grass, she placed a hand on her hip and looked over at Brandon. ”Are you going to just sit there or are you going to help me fold this blanket?” she asked feistily. She knew she could be a bit much some time, but she didn’t care, it was what guys like him needed from time to time.

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W O R D S --* 273
T A G G E D --* BRANDON
T H O U G H T S --* (: