Kechi

omg same! I was craving beef ribs so badly this past weekend. My fiancee kept saying, just make them yourself, and I was like I can't it would take hours for them to be done, I want them now!! They did not disappoint, I just know it'll take days to get through them 😂

FORK! I feel like I haven't seen them in so long 🥹

nope! They live in Windenburg, so completely different school district 💁🏿‍♀️

"You don't? Isn't it obvious?"

In moments like this her frank honesty and innocence were the very particular mix of intoxicants that Matthew felt drawn to indulge. He could delude himself into what he hoped she meant, but he needed more.

"Explain it to me as plainly as possible."

"—that I valued us spending time together any less."

Matthew knew how he felt about the words that Cordelia had just exchanged, but he had no idea if there were more to them on her end.

"So.." He hesitated, "when you say that you value our time together, I'm not really sure I know what you mean."

"It's not really anything to apologize for. He's your boyfriend, and I wasn't supposed to be there anyway. PDA is all a part of courtship, I suppose." He begrudgingly admitted.

"Yeah, but when you came over to hang out, I was really happy. I didn't want you to think just because Jai was there—"

"Of course that's what happened. I feel so dumb for worrying about it!"

"You were worried about it?"

"Oh, well, it's just I was texting and it felt like you were ignoring me, so I thought you were mad about what happened the day after the party, and saying this out loud now and sounds way dumb."

"I haven't been. We've been traveling. I normally keep my phone in airplane mode when we go abroad. Sometimes I don't flip it back till we get home because I don't really stay in communication with that may people."

The explanation made so much sense. And suddenly Cordie felt so stupid.

"I know I already apologized, but I get it if you didn't really forgive me. I don't actually like PDA and all that. Jai just got overzealous, but if it made you feel like I didn't want you there, that's not at all—"

"I'm not mad at you."

"You're...not? Then why have you been ignoring my texts?"

"No, I—" and Cordelia remembered how much she owed Matthew in this moment. "Thank you, by the way. You fibbed to get me out of that tricky situation. That's too much to ask. But at least I know you're not mad at me anymore."

"Mad at you?"

"You've....been ignoring my texts."

a drawing of a girl laying on a bed next to a bottle of water ALT: a drawing of a girl laying on a bed next to a bottle of water

you taking a break to do this on your bed 😂

Matthew and Cordie watched Maverick saunter away like a sad puppy with his tail between his legs.

"I kind of feel bad for him." Cordie remarked. "I mean, he looks so dejected. I really didn't mean to come down harshly on him."

"Would you prefer I get him back for you so you can dance after all?"

When they were kids, he was a snotty little pretentious brat, but now he was tall, and built, and he was always loaded.

He didn't stand a chance.

Maverick turned away in embarrassment.

"Sorry, Cordelia. It was nice to see you again too, but I can see now I'm in the way. You two enjoy yourselves"

"Landgraab. Matthew Landgraab." Matthew answered him back with the full weight of how he knew he would take leading with his last name first.

"Land.." Maverick couldn't finish as his words were sucked out of him. This guy was that Matthew Landgraab? The heir to the Landgraab fortune?

"Yup, that's right!" Cordie echoed Matthew's reply. "We're together! Sorry, Maverick, but it was really nice seeing you again. You haven't changed a bit."

"Right." Her assertion he hadn't changed wounded him. "Guess I didn't quite luck out this time. You're a lucky guy, umm—"

Maverick was taken aback by the harsh reply. He could feel the intense glower from Matthew, looking instead to Cordie for even an inch of denial to run with. Instead Cordie pulled back her surprise from Matthew backing her up and took things farther, looping herself around Matthew's arm.

With that direct question, Cordie began to panic. It was one thing to hope that Matthew would go along with a white lie, but another to expect him to directly lie on her behalf. She began to loosen her hold on his hand, but he gripped it back.

"We're together." Matthew bit back. "So back off."

Despite by all the appearances Maverick's dream of sweeping Cordelia off her feet seemed very dead, his undying tenacity and inability to give up had him clinging to the tiniest bit of skepticism.

He turned to Matthew. "So...the two of you are really together? You're dating? Boyfriend girlfriend?"

"Matthew is my boy friend, so since he's here, that means I can't dance with you. Sorry!" The brief space she left between "boy" and "friend" was enough to make the statement not a lie. She was hopeful the squeeze she gave Matthew was enough of a signal to him to go along with it.

As surprised as Cordelia was to suddenly have Matthew appear before her, she didn't even realize he'd been at the wedding, she also wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. She gave Matthew's palm in hers a firm squeeze.

"Actually, Mav, I never gave a hard 'no' to that question."

After Matthew took Cordelia's hand into his, he held firm, staring Maverick Lahela down with all the conviction of a man who would not be budged.

Maverick gulped. "Cordie, this guy has it wrong, doesn't he? You said your boyfriend wasn't in attendance today."

You could have all the leftovers 😅

So y'all don't think I was lying about those dino ribs 😅

I ate a half of one rib when it was fesh. There are 2 left, but like definitely 4-6 meals left out of this 🥴

Thank you!! Still feels surreal 😄

missed the end of the month by 8 minutes 🫠

but who cares! I'm done!!!

Now to put some expressions on these faces and test these bad boys out in some story screenshots 😏

If I finish this last pose before midnight, I'll have met the goal of finishing this pose set by the end of the month with an asterisk of course because testing the poses and releasing them will definitely push this to a next month release, but I was close damn it!

I actually questioned that choice of word as "argue" felt quite strong but I couldn't think of another that quite described the kind of discourse we were having 😅

I think I just meant there probably isn't any right or wrong opinion to have about her personally so no point in beating that dead horse

Dre has such beautiful daughters 🥰

It's become both a blessing and curse for her 😅

The way I'm just now realizing they're both redheads whose names start with M 😅