Chapter Text
Liv Morgan leans on her locker with a sigh as she waits for her friends to get done with Modeling Club. She had her club meeting with the GSA, but they had already finished, so she was stuck waiting for her ride so she could go home. Liv has her license but no wheels of her own, and she would have taken the family car, but her dad needed to get groceries while she was at school. At least there will be snacks when she gets home, a small price to pay for being the only junior without a car. Liv was scrolling mindlessly on her phone, switching back and forth between the big three social media networks before sighing and putting her phone away.
This is just like Aliyah, making me wait when she’s driving. If I was driving, she would be rushing me to get out of here, but we have all the time in the world when she’s driving! Why am I friends with her again?
“You’re still here, Morgan?”
Liv looks up and sees Bianca Belair in all of her prolific glory walking towards her with a smile. Liv returns the smile and shrugs at the tall track star. Bianca and Liv were in GSA together, and Bianca went to track practice directly afterward. The fact that Liv is still standing in the middle of the hallway a full two hours later is upsetting to the future valedictorian.
“Yep! Aliyah drove today, so I have to wait for her modeling club meeting to end.”
“Modeling Club? I walked past that classroom, and no one was in there. She left you, girl.”
“What? She told me she had a meeting today!”
“Well, when I was leaving GSA, I saw that creep boyfriend of hers, Robbie, or whatever his name is, lurking around the halls when I was on my way to practice. I think she left you to get busy with him, sis. Because you know her parents don’t let her see him outside of school.”
“She could have fucking texted me if she wanted to fuck her boyfriend and use me as a cover. That bitch I don’t know why I’m even friends with her?”
“Because your parents are friends, and you don’t really have a choice?”
“You just had to bring it up, didn’t you? Look, if you aren’t going to offer me a ride home, why are you still here?”
“Of course, I’m offering you a ride home, girl! I’m not one of those fake ass friends that you hang around. Come on!”
Bianca walks ahead of her, her long legs leaving Liv in the dust with her long strides, but she catches up quickly and follows Bianca out of the door. As they walk to the car, Liv watches Bianca wave to the other track athletes also leaving, and Liv smiles at a few of them as they walk to the truck. Liv jumps into the passenger seat as Bianca puts her bag in the backseat and gets in herself. Liv settles herself in the plush seats of Bianca’s Navigator truck and smiles as the music Bianca was playing on her phone comes through the speakers as the car starts. An intense Chicago house song blasts at full volume before Bianca quickly turns the volume down with a sheepish smile as she pulls out of the parking lot.
“Your workout playlist?”
“Those cool-down laps at the end of practice need something that intense. Also, no, that’s Montez’s playlist. Whenever he doesn’t come to school, I listen to his playlist because I miss him.”
“Gosh, why don’t you guys just get married already!?”
“Girl, uh-uh! Ain’t nobody getting married in high school! We are not in the south!”
“Aren’t you from Tennessee, though? Also, we’re in Florida; that’s the south, babes!”
“We’re not in Northern Florida, though. This is Tampa. Don’t make me kick you out of my car. You got two working legs and access to directions; you could make it work!”
“Please, no, I’m so tired from cheer this morning. Dana will tell you I almost fell asleep in two classes today. I would have ended up on Copeland’s tik tok, and the last thing I need is a concerned phone call from my social worker about my sleeping habits.”
“Isn’t your social worker his wife?”
“Yes! Which is why my highest grade is in his class. I can’t have him being a fucking snitch every time I forget to study for a test. One missed assignment, and it’s a phone call wondering if everything is okay at home.”
“You love Copeland’s class, though. Didn’t he almost get fired twice last year?”
“Twice last year and so far once this year because conservative parents don’t want him to teach what he teaches.”
“So he teaches History and Government accurately, is what you’re saying?”
“Yes! He doesn’t shy away from the racist parts of American History and why certain laws are written the way they are to hurt minority communities. I love his class. I just wish he wasn’t a snitch.”
Bianca laughs at Liv’s antics and goes to respond, but her phone starts ringing through the car speakers, cutting her off. Liv looks and sees that it’s Montez calling on the car screen and quickly shuts up because she wants to hear this conversation.
“Hello?”
“Babeeeeeeeeeeee! I missed you so much today! Are you on your way home from school? How was practice? Oh, can you come over and help me with my homework tonight? Dawks brought over my assignments, but his notes ain’t it, so I need my fine, brilliant ass lady to help me out. What do you say?”
“I’m in the car right now, but I have to drop off Liv before going home. I’m sure my Daddy will not let me take his truck to come to see you, but we can facetime and do homework later. How about you try to knock out what you can, and then we can work on what you’re struggling with together?”
“See, this is why you are so smart! I would have never thought of that myself! Ain’t my baby smart, Liv?”
Liv looks up at Bianca and then at the dashboard because she doesn’t think she mentioned her other than that one time. It was just the name drop. Bianca raises an eyebrow at her, and a laugh bubbles up out of Liv as she goes to answer.
“She’s the smartest person I know. How was your day Mr. Pole Vault? Feeling any better?”
“Much better, actually. Thank you for the memes you sent, by the way. they made me laugh when I was bored out of my mind home alone.”
“Oh good, I’m so glad you liked them. I had a lot of time in my free period, and I figured the class clown could use a laugh of his own.”
“You sent my man memes?”
“B, you know better than anyone that it isn’t like that. I’m back on black tik tok, and I sent him a few that I thought he would enjoy. There was one video that I didn’t send you, though, Tez; it’s a shoe thing that we’ll have to talk about in person.”
“Will we have to loop in J.O.?”
“We might.”
“Interesting. We’ll be talking later because you know somebody’s birthday is coming up!”
Liv gazes out of the window and sees Bianca driving through her neighborhood and knows that she is about three minutes away from the farm.
“It is coming up, that’s right. Okay, Mr. Class Clown, it looks like we have a plan. We’ll discuss more later.”
“Sounds like a plan, Mor Gan. You know you, my favorite white girl, right?”
“When you only talk to three other white girls, that doesn’t mean much.”
“You don’t know who I talk to outside of school! I have a lot of white friends!”
“Okay, Tez, whatever you say. I’m happy I’m your number one white girl on what is probably a short list of white girls. Thanks for the ride B; I would have not appreciated that walk. Love you, see you tomorrow. Bye Tez!”
“Let me know if you need a ride tomorrow; I got you! See you, girl!”
“Bye, Livvy Liv! I hope to see you tomorrow!”
As Liv gets out of the car, she hears Bianca loudly exclaim that Montez is going to school, even if he has to drag him out of his house with only his draws on. Liv laughs at the statement even harder when Montez responds, “It was a joke, damn, mama! Bianca drives off, and Liv’s laughter dies as she walks up the driveway to the farm that she calls home. Now it’s not a livestock farm but more like an orchard for fruits and vegetables. Their large backyard is sectioned off by a gate where one-half of the scape is purely used for the garden. The other half is free space for their multiple dogs to roam about and when they throw parties on the weekends. Liv walks under one of the various fruit trees and plucks an apple and orange before walking into the house.
“Anybody home? Soundoff!”
“Office!”
“Kitchen!”
Liv smiles at both her fathers being home and in the house, which is usually not the case. One of them is always either outside with the dogs or tending to the garden. She places her bag down by the door and makes her way to the kitchen to wash her fresh fruit, the apple anyway. She sees her father Finn, or as her friends call him, Daddy Ten Abs, in the kitchen preparing whatever they will have for dinner.
“Hi, Dad.”
“Hello lovey; how was school today?”
“It was good; I got a ride home from Bianca since I couldn’t take the car.”
“I’ve always liked Bianca, but didn’t you get a ride with Aliyah this morning?”
“I did, but she ran off with her boyfriend after school and left me. I normally don’t tell you when she does that, but she didn’t warn me first, so I don’t care if she gets in trouble or not.”
“Well, you know what they say, baby girl? Snitches get stitches unless it’s to your parents, then you should always tell them everything. Hi, Darlin.”
A.J., or as her friends call him, her Thicc King Daddy, walks in, and Liv hugs him so he can give her the customary kiss on the head that he always does. Even though he dropped her off in the morning, he insists on doing it every time he sees her after a long period.
“Hi daddy, how was work today?”
“Good, I need to rest my eyes for the rest of the night after all that screen time. I booked two stalls at the farmer’s market for next weekend. Maybe it’s time to get some of those soaps and candles you’ve made out into the world. Only if you want to, though. If not, we can expand the produce stand and have you run it.”
Liv, who, after hugging A.J., peeled the orange and put the peel in a ziplock bag for candle making later, pops a slice of it in her mouth and thinks. She has been making a lot of candles and soaps as a hobby and has really gotten into it. She even started taking things from the garden and incorporating them to make the scents more authentic and not just essential oils. While she would love to get some extra money in her pocket, she would already be at the market helping them, so she could do it in theory. It’s a big jump, and she doesn’t even know what she would price things on such short notice.
“I think we could start with selling them at your booth, and if they do well, we can start getting me my own booth after that. Because if I start selling my stuff, I want to do it right. With branding and business cards and everything.”
A.J. stands next to Finn, the two share a look, and A.J. smiles proudly at their daughter. He nods at her response and pats her shoulder.
“We raised a smart kid, didn’t we?”
“We didn’t do much. She had a pretty damn good head on her shoulders before we came along.”
“Guys, quit it! I hate when you get mushy on me. Oh, can I get the car this weekend? Zelina invited me to the movies, and she doesn’t have her license yet.”
“Is she the one that calls me Thicc King?”
“Yes, but mainly because most of my friends call you Short King, and she’s shorter than me.”
“Oh, the weeb, I like her. She talks comics with me whenever she comes over. Yeah, I don’t see why not. However, if you go on Saturday, it has to be after the farmer’s market.”
“Well, duh, I knew that, but we were thinking Sunday afternoon because it would be cheaper than Saturday night. It’s also going to be a bunch of us going, and everyone wasn’t free on Saturday.”
“Wait, who else is going to be there? Because you can’t say it’s a group outing and only mention one other person going.”
“I only said Zelina because she’s the only one that needed a ride. I actually don’t know who is all going because Lina’s boyfriend is bringing his band members, and that’s why she needs a ride. We’re also still inviting people, so I might not need the car by Sunday; I just wanted to ask ahead of time.”
Finn makes a face at Liv’s statement. As a recently aged-out young adult, he knows that Liv isn’t lying. Plans change at the drop of a hat, and people cancel all the time. As her legal guardian, he needs to know at least two other people going for safety reasons.
“Okay, well, when you know, let us know, okay?”
“Of course.”
“Good. Now go do your homework or something. I have to make dinner.”
“Yes, sir. Spirit! Come on, girl, let’s go upstairs and do homework!”
Liv grabs her bag and runs up the stairs and an older black lab, where the fur is more gray than black, trots up the stairs after her. Finn watches her go with a smile before stepping around to hold A.J. from behind, and he places his hands on his shoulders. He feels A.J. sigh and pats his wrist, and they stand there in silence until Finn speaks.
“When do you think she’s gonna tell us she’s gay?”
“My guess? When it comes up.”
“She has to know that her mother told us when we took her in. Also hello? Why would she be afraid to tell us, two gay men, that she’s gay?”
“I don’t think it’s fear, sweet pea. Everyone has their own journey, you know that. When the time comes, we will support her. Let her come to us.”
“Fine, fine. Now, you get out of my kitchen too. I don’t want you burning anything while I cook.”
“Excuse you, I am an excellent cook!”
“You are excellent on the grill, but we are not having barbeque tonight, so off you go, southern boy. Make some sweet tea or something to go with dinner, but you aren’t helping me cook.”
“Alright, fine, I’m going. I guess I’ll take Bully on a run or something. Come on, Bullet, let’s go outside, boy!”
The giant bulldog that, if A.J. could have a blood son, it would be him, comes bounding from deeper within the house at A.J.’s call. He runs full speed at the elder of the house and flies towards A.J. at the front door. Bullet crashes into him and almost sends them to the floor, but A.J. catches him at the last second and puts the leash on him as Bullet jumps around and tries to eat his goatee.
“How are you this excited to see me? I was here with you all day? Okay, come on, let’s get some of this energy out of you!”
As A.J. heads out with Bullet, Finn heads back into the kitchen to work on dinner. Upstairs, Liv is focused on her history assignment while Spirit lays her head on her lap. She pets her head in between writing answers in her notebook. Liv smiles when she hears her Daddy AJ shout for their old man Bullet and the sound of the door closing behind them. Morgan scritches the side of Spirit’s head, and she sighs and nuzzles in a little more, perfectly content to chill for the time being.
“Don’t worry, girl, I’ll take you for a walk after dinner. Sound good?”
“Boof.”
Liv chuckles at Spirit continues to work on her History assignment and tries to start her Algebra before she goes downstairs for dinner. Fin had made a simple vegan pasta meal with sauteed veg from the garden and fresh pesto sauce. They aren’t vegan, but they eat vegan at least once a week to stay healthy because they live very active lifestyles. A.J. cleans up the kitchen, and that’s when Liv takes Spirit out for the walk that she promised earlier. When she comes back in, both of her fathers are sitting in front of the tv on the couch. They both look up at the sound of her reentering the house.
“I think I’m gonna call it a night, you guys.”
“You sure? It’s still pretty early.”
“Yeah, but I was struggling with my Algebra, so I’m heading back upstairs for the rest of the night to focus on it. I’m not going to bed yet, just finishing my homework.”
“Okay, goodnight, baby girl.”
Liv gives both of them a kiss on the cheek and heads upstairs for the rest of the night. She joins in the facetime study session Bianca and Montez had planned in the car. With both of their help, she knocks out the rest of her assignments and gets to sleep before twelve. Marking the end of a successful day for Liv Morgan.