bucket list babes || cleop

[bailee]

cleome hayes

---

You couldn't believe you let you had let Prop know about your stupid fucking bucket list, and now you were standing in front of the O'Malley farmhouse with your fist hovering over the door wondering how the hell you got yourself into this mess. How you finally let someone in so close that you almost announced the news of your imminent death, the secret you kept so closely tucked inside of you that only Poppy knew.

You wrapped on the door gently, the noises of a house filled with life and plenty of children filling the air. It was quite a contrast to what you were used to, the quietness of your small childhood home you and Poppy shared. It was almost refreshing.

After hearing the news of Abel, you had let Prop rest and mourn with his family. You knew the O'Malley's just couldn't catch a break, and you almost felt guilty letting yourself into Prop's life knowing you would just end up breaking his heart once again in the long run.

The door opened to reveal a tiny ginger girl.

"Is Prop here?" You shyly ask, peering in behind the little girl to see if you could catch a glimpse of him.

[Deleted]

I N S I D E     O ‘ M A L L E Y

I was in the living room working on homework when I heard a knock, knock, knock on the door! And boy was I relieved, I was looking for an excuse to not do my homework anyway and my teacher stopped believing that the dog ate it a while ago, especially since I started using that excuse before we had a dog! I hopped up from the couch and ran to the door before someone else could answer it.

For a second I was confused. Was this a cousin or something I forgot about? I can be kinda forgetful but I feel like I would remember a cousin! And most of our cousins don’t have red hair. Maybe it was one of Hook’s friends! She looked around that age. And then she said it!

She was looking for Prop! A girl was actually here for Prop! Did Ma and Pa know? Were they going to get married? I couldn’t believe Prop actually had a girl here for him! I was going to tell everyone! Starting with Lock! I wonder why Prop never told us about this? Well now I know.

”PROP A GIRLS HERE FOR YOU! Hi are you his girlfriend?”

[bailee]

cleome hayes

---

Your cheeks begin to glow a light shade of pink at the little girl's comment. Of course you knew that you couldn't let yourself get too close to Prop, but the idea of being any kind of romantic interest to him made your heart just the slightest fainter. Each time you ran into each other, it seemed that something bad happened to each of you. You knew it wasn't destined to be. You even told yourself when the doctor gave you six months that you couldn't let yourself get closer to anyone, you couldn't let yourself hurt someone like that.

But looking at Prop's toothy grinned little sister in front of you, you knew that you had already broken your own rule by revealing your diagnosis to him and allowing him to take you on a journey to complete your bucket list. It was selfish, but a part of you wanted to see it through. See what Prop O'Malley had in store for you.

You could always reject him if he came onto you, even though the butterflies in your stomach advised you against it.

"You must be his little sister," you tell her, as you smile back at her. They were spitting images of each other, but it wasn't shocking, all the O'Malley's were almost identical. "I'm Cleome. Prop's friend. Not girlfriend, so I'm sorry to disappoint. And you are...?"

You could tell just by looking at the girl that she was a handful, and you wondered if all the O'Malley's were like that. You could definitely picture Prop as a little hell-raising twelve-year-old who his parents couldn't keep under control. Then again, the O'Malley's did have a reputation of being quiet, slightly odd church kids.

But you knew Prop, and Prop was the polar opposite of what the rumours say the O'Malley clan are. Maybe they weren't so odd after all. Maybe they were just a big family who have been dealt a shitty hand. That's all.

[Deleted]

God damn it.

”Inside, go finish up your homework.”

”But Prop-!”

“If you do all of your homework today, and I mean all of it, I might be able to bring you back a candy bar. How does that sound?”

“Fiiiine.”

Once Inside was back on the couch working on her school work I went to the door Cleome was still waiting at and gave her a slight smile. I loved Inside, even if she was a bit of a handful. That’s what people didn’t get. It wasn’t that my siblings were all quiet and weird. They were just quiet in public because when they did speak people were rude to them. It’s not that hard to understand.

”Sorry about that, Inside can be a little excitable. Do you want to come in? We can head up to my room and talk. Or we can talk out there, I’d just have to grab a coat first.”

For once I didn’t smell of cigarettes, I wondered if she noticed. I had been trying not to smoke. I hadn’t smoked once since I found out about her. Even after Abel died. It was hard, but I managed to do it. And honestly I was pretty damn proud of that fact. It was hard to do - really hard.

[ table by tom ]

[bailee]

cleome hayes

---

Prop appears behind the little girl, his voice hardened at the edges yet soft at the same time promptly shooing her away as he fully appears in front of you in the door frame. All of the sudden, you feel your heart drop. The same kind of flutter that you remembered having when the cutest boy in your class asked you out on a date in the seventh grade, the same flutter you saw when you looked with envy onto that one couple holding hands down the District Square, the kind of flutter that is annoying and warm all at the same time.

It was a grade school crush, that's all it was, you tried telling yourself. It had just been so long since a boy last gave you attention and you didn't actually like Prop O'Malley and gosh, this was all just one big disaster, wasn't it? Thoughts swarmed your head as you try to suppress them and focus on Prop, he just asked you a question, didn't he? Frazzled, you nod your head, and begin sputtering your words. This isn't you. Prop just has some sort of... wicked magic against you that's making you lose all of your confidence, he's... a warlock, a weird, ginger warlock who's put a love spell on you and now you can't think at all.

You offer him a half smile and apologize as you finally pull yourself out of whatever embarrassing pit you had just dug yourself. "That depends," you say, after finally finding your words. They come out much more eloquently and normal and God, so help you. You mentally curse yourself before continuing. "You did say you were gonna show me a good time. Help me cross some of these things off my list."


You pull a crinkled, old paper that's fighting for its life out of your back pocket, scribbles and doodles lining the margins. It has some lines crossed out in black ink, but for the most part, most of the bullet points remain untouched. "So, what do you say, Prop? Help a gal out?"