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𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗞

CHAPTER THREE
my hands shake, I'm not
usually this way

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time jump, one month later!

REAL LIFE

MARY JANE COULD practically feel her heart beating out of her chest as she got out of the Uber.

The Roomies' house wasn't what caused it. She had been here before — it wasn't an unfamiliar place. It was more so who was inside that was making her freak out . . . okay, one specific person.

It hadn't gotten any better. Ever since he followed her on now multiple social media platforms, Mary Jane had taken a turn for the worst. She could feel her heat about to explode every time he liked a tweet or an Instagram post, and he still wasn't aware that she was always lurking on his streams. The usual. It was terrible, really. She honestly had to get herself together.

Which, by judging that she was about to walk into a house where he was and meet in person for the first time, hence why she was absolutely panicking . . . she was not going to get herself together.

"Okay, I think everybody should be home," Luna said, snapping MJ out of her thoughts. She started to walk up to the house, rolling her suitcase behind her. "It's kind of late, so streams should be wrapping up. And if I'm not mistaken, Rae told me Blau should be hanging around here, too. But if you're tired, please don't feel obligated to do anything. It's been a long travel day, and we have stuff to do tomorrow."

"I'm good," Mary Jane replied, following Luna with her own suitcase — she was so not good.

Luna suddenly stopped for a moment, looking over at Mary Jane with a serious look on her face. "I know you reassured me already, but are you sure you're okay with this? Everyone loves you, and Noah will be here in the next couple of days, but I am leaving you here practically by yourself for about a week."

Oh. Right. That. With things popping up, Luna was going practically everywhere. On the twenty-second, Luna would be catching a flight out to London to perform her song with Taylor, us., on the Eras Tour just two days after it was released. After doing some promo in London, she would fly to New York to perform on The Today Show on the twenty-eighth. Then she would catch a flight on the twenty-ninth back to LA, just in time for Tina' birthday on the thirtieth. And through all of that, Mary Jane would be staying in LA without her.

It wasn't that big of a deal. Mary Jane could handle herself, and she was used to being apart from Luna for periods of time. That wasn't what worried her, though. She just felt like she would be a little out of place with people she wasn't fully friends with yet. Tina was the only one she was really close to. All of them were incredibly kind, but still. And there was also the more pressing issue along with that.

"I'll be fine," Mary Jane stated. "I'm just nervous about . . . him. I don't want to make a fool out of myself, especially since you won't be here to kick me when I say something totally ridiculous."

Luna rolled her eyes fondly, beginning to walk again. "You need to have more faith in yourself. And, like I said, Ellum is a total sweetheart. He'll probably just laugh it off, trust me. Besides, maybe this can be the time you'll actually do something with your crush."

Mary Jane scoffed. "Yeah, right. I'm actually going to bury it deep down so it never appears again, thank you very much. You know what? I'm actually going to be cool, calm, and collected this entire time. He'll never find out anything."

Luna raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing her. "How much you wanna bet that'll all fly out the window when you see him?"

She sighed — curse Luna for knowing her so well. "Nothing, because it's absolutely about to happen. God, I'm screwed."

"No, you're not. You're going to be totally fine. I believe in you."

"You have more faith in me than I have in myself."

"Yeah, that's usually how it goes," Luna said. They finally reached the front door, and she paused. "Ready?"

Mary Jane shrugged. "Ready as I'll ever be."

Luna rang the doorbell. They waited for a few seconds before the door completely flew open, only to reveal the very familiar figure of TinaKitten. Mary Jane instantly smiled at the sight of the girl — she had really missed Tina.

Tina squealed in excitement. "Luna!" She jumped forwards and practically launched herself into Luna's arms. "Oh my goodness, hi darling!"

Luna caught her, laughing slightly as she hugged Tina back. "Hi, T. Glad to see you're actually awake when I arrive this time around."

"Okay, that was one time. And I was on a crazy Tina Time schedule." Tina then pulled away from Luna and turned to Mary Jane, extending her arms out with another small squeal. "MJ! Hi, my love."

Mary Jane graciously accepted her hug, reveling in the comfort. "Hi, Tina. Great to see you again."

"You as well," Tina responded. She let Mary Jane go and waved her hand forwards. "Come in, come in. We're all inside."

Luna instantly followed Tina into the house — after all, she had spent so much time here that she was considered an honorary Roomie, so it made sense. Mary Jane had never stayed here, only visited, so she hesitated for a second. Nevertheless, she followed them in, shutting the door behind her. She glanced around at the familiar walls, faintly hearing people talk from other rooms of the house.

"And I wake up in the middle of the night, with the light on, and I feel like I could die, 'cause you're not here, and it don't feel right, 'cause you're not here," the overhead speakers in the house echoed.

Luna slowed to a stop, her eyebrows knitting in thought. "Why are you playing Risk?"

"Because it's an absolute bop, and we were preparing for your arrival," Tina answered. "All of us have been listening to that and Close to You on repeat — well, mostly its been me playing it and having everyone else listen, but they don't seem to be complaining. You two are seriously so talented, I don't get it."

"You guys are too sweet."

Mary Jane felt her insides get all warm and fuzzy. "Thank you, Tina."

"Oh, no, thank you for creating it," Tina voiced. "So, I'm not sure exactly what the plans are, but I think I have a rough idea. You two are going to stay in the same room to start — Luna, it's the one you always stay in with Foolish. But Luna, you said you had to leave before Foolish arrives, so when he comes, he'll just take over that room. And MJ, you're going to come bunk with me, because my room is currently the only one that is fit to accommodate another person."

Luna raised her eyebrows. "Woah, Tina, you're actually letting someone enter your room? I never thought I'd see the day."

"Bunking with you sounds awesome, Tina," Mary Jane cut in, smiling at her. God, Tina was adorable. "Everything sounds great. Thank you for letting me stay here."

Tina waved her off. "Don't worry about it, you're welcome here any time. Or, honestly, we can just kick Ellum out of his room and have him and Foolish bunk together if that makes it easier."

"Wait, you're kicking me out?"

Everything around Mary Jane seemed to completely freeze. She tore her eyes away from Tina the second she heard his voice, and sure enough, Ellum had walked straight into the room. Even though he was still a little far away, he still practically towered over her, which made her mind spin impossibly fast. Mary Jane blinked a couple of times, trying to regain her senses, but nothing was working.

"In my head, you're in the car and you're coming to me and you get to my door and you can't even speak, but I think that it's sweet, yeah, I think that you're sweet . . ."

Oh, fuck her. The song she wrote about him, playing as she met him? This had to be some sort of cruel joke.

"Yes," Tina said. "Get out of here. Scram."

Ellum sighed and turned around. "Back to the kitchen I go, I guess."

"Without saying hello to Luna and MJ first? Wow. Some nerve you have."

"Sorry," Ellum let out, turning back around.

"'Sup, Bingle," Luna greeted before doing an absolutely horrendous mock of a British accent. "Ello, bruv."

He laughed — his deep laugh, and now hearing it in real life made her whole stomach erupt in butterflies. "Ello, bruv." Ellum extended his arm out to her. "Hi, Lunes."

Luna smiled wide, sinking into his side for a moment. "Hi, Ellum. Good to see you, as always." She then stood up straight, looking to Mary Jane with a sort of glint in her eyes. "Ellum, I know you've seen her online, but you've never met in person. This is my best friend Mary Jane. Mary Jane, this is Ellum, our resident British man that somehow got adopted into our group."

"Oh, you're the cool one who did all of that stuff with Risk," Ellum voiced. He extended his hand out to her. "I'm Josh, or you can call me Ellum, too."

Was she still staring blankly ahead? Probably. Mary Jane blinked again, this time actually snapping herself out of it . . . kind of. She lifted up her hand, only to realize it was shaking. God, why were her hands shaking? Could she even speak? Thank God Luna said her name, because she probably would've forgotten it.

Mary Jane slid her hand into his, and she could've sworn she felt tingles go up her arm. "Mary Jane, or — um, you can call me MJ, too." Why was she stammering? She stopped shaking his hand and let it fall, interlocking both of hers behind her back to hide how trembling they were. "You're, like, really tall."

Oh, wow. Great going, MJ. She had the opportunity to say anything to him, and that was what she chose? Absolute nonsense? Fantastic. If the world suddenly decided to open up and swallow her whole, she wouldn't have been opposed to it.

Ellum laughed again, and Mary Jane felt her cheeks heat up. "I get that a lot, don't worry. It's nice to meet you."

She nodded way too fast. "Nice — nice to meet you, too."

"Well, I'll let Luna show you were the room is," Tina interjected, clearly moving past whatever the hell had just happened. "You guys can drop your stuff off, do whatever. We'll be up here hanging if you want to join." She moved her way towards the living room. "Come along, Ellum."

Ellum gave them a grin and a wave before following Tina. Mary Jane stood there for a second longer before releasing a breath that she had been holding the entire time. What a disaster.

"That was . . ." Luna trailed off. "Interesting."

Mary Jane stared at her with wide eyes. "Is it too late to kill myself?"

"You're fine. It was a first time interaction — nothing to worry about."

"That is so easier said than done."

"Maybe, but it's all going to work out," Luna said. "Now, I'm going to go put my stuff away and go hang out. Like I said, you don't have to join if you don't want to."

"No, I'll come," Mary Jane responded. "Hopefully I don't embarrass myself further."

＊*•♥̩͙•̩̩͙*˚˚*•♥̩͙•̩̩͙*˚＊＊*•̩̩͙♥̩͙•̩̩͙*˚˚*•̩̩͙♥•̩̩͙*˚＊

TWITTER

Mary Jane Brooks maryjane • 1h
ever since I arrived at the roomies house sometimes everyone around me just randomly starts talking in southern accents and calling each other "brother" or "sister" and I'm just a little confused honestly is this normal

💬7,829 🔁11,240 ❤️48,223

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#1 valkyrae stan username • 1h
you entered the roleplay dominant house I am not sure what you were expecting

💬73 🔁146 ❤️200

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luna 🌙 lunahayes • 1h
sister mj you don't mean that

💬9,220 🔁15,303 ❤️52,739

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Mary Jane Brooks maryjane • 1h
southern luna is my worst enemy what is going on

💬5,120 🔁9,000 ❤️43,560

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mj & luna <3 username • 1h
OH NO NOT SOUTHERN LUNA

💬25 🔁78 ❤️54

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Foolish Gamers FoolishGamers • 1h
We're all from southern Ohio

💬3,689 🔁5,239 ❤️39,104

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Mary Jane Brooks maryjane • 1h
can I please be excluded from the "we"

💬5,920 🔁12,455 ❤️41,297

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chlo username • 1h
LMAOOOOO MJ PLEASE

💬10 🔁43 ❤️87

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Mary Jane Brooks maryjane • 1h
blau is now asking me if I want to go to a rally with him this weekend I am so highly concerned can someone come pick me up

💬7,137 🔁9,239 ❤️42,195

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mj updates! username • 1h
DON'T SAY YES MJ DON'T DO IT

💬6 🔁10 ❤️14

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blau blaustoise • 1h
come to the rally it'll be so much fun you'll fit right in

💬922 🔁5,840 ❤️7,232

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Mary Jane Brooks maryjane • 1h
blau with all due respect I don't want to go ANYWHERE with you when you ask me in that southern accent you make it sound so suspicious

💬1,645 🔁6,230 ❤️20,689

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style duo <3 username • 1h
get absolutely wrecked blau

💬35 🔁89 ❤️145

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Nolan Hansen NolansRollin • 1h
I told you going to LA would be a bad idea

💬607 🔁1,563 ❤️10,342

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Mary Jane maryjane • 1h
you told me you couldn't wait for me to be gone . . .

💬795 🔁7,449 ❤️21,320

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jamie! username • 1h
LMAOOOOO THESE TWO

💬147 🔁201 ❤️345

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Josh Ellum EllumYT • 1h
COME ON SISTER MJ JOIN IN

💬196 🔁673 ❤️942

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Mary Jane maryjane • 1h
there's something about a british man doing a southern accent that just doesn't do it for me idk

💬4,273 🔁9,303 ❤️26,490

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🪐 username • 1h
mj with the roomies is something I didn't know I needed until now

💬567 🔁772 ❤️1,894

-ˏˋ ✩✩✩ ˊˎ-

this chapter was brought to you by the song sledgehammer by fifth harmony