[Perfect by Bibi Bourelly ft. Earl St. Clair]

I'm not sure if you guys have realized but there's a reason that we're learning so much about Paul later on. Julian had to figure himself out before he could figure out his relationship and I think that's a good thing. You have to learn who you are and learn how to love yourself before you put yourself into the position to love someone else unconditionally and he has struggled with that.

That being said, there's a lot more than meets the eye with Paul, which you've seen but this chapter will go further into that. He's not perfect, no one is.

FORTY-FOUR: when you go on an emotional rollercoaster.

Being in love with someone was really a new experience, with everything going on in my life, I thought I was feeling better but seeing Paul hurting, in a way, it hurt me. It was truly painful seeing the tears in his eyes and not being able to do anything because that's it, he didn't want me to.

He didn't want me to know anything.

"What the hell was I thinking?" His voice was distressed, my heart clamping and I'd stopped moving. Hoping that Paul would still be in the apartment, I went to look around for him. And when I made it to the living room, I'd caught him on the couch with Brandon. With them facing away, I was able to make my way into the kitchen, trying not to become even sadder at the glimpse I got of him with his head in his hands.

Leaning back on the counter, I made sure I was out of sight and twined my arms around my body for comfort. "It's okay, Paul." Brandon's voice was soothing and really, I could see how they were best friends. Looking to the side and almost behind me through the window above the sink, I noticed Brandon rubbing his shoulder and my heart ached. "Sometimes we say shit we don't mean."

"I basically yelled at him for no real reason." Despite how calming his friend's voice was, Paul was still stressed. I hated hearing him like this, all worried about things and sad but I was sad too and both of us being sad... it wasn't something I liked. "He knows I'm hiding things from him, B."

"He was bound to find out that you're not Mr. Perfect."

There was a chuckle in Brandon's voice and I smiled sadly when Paul barely let out a sigh. "He's really upset with me."

But I wasn't upset. Or maybe I was, all I knew was I wanted him to trust me but maybe I pushed a little too hard. He wasn't ready, I had to respect that, I know but... why wasn't he ready? Why didn't he trust me? I always trusted him.

"Can you blame him?" Brandon couldn't stand me, why the hell was he sticking up for me? "You always talk about how trust is a huge part of a relationship and now you're not trusting him with things."

And Paul went quiet for a few minutes, shuffling being heard and I looked over to see his head on Brandon's shoulder. A pang of jealousy shot through me at that, Brandon's arm going to wrap around my boyfriend and comfort him. Don't get upset, don't get upset, don't get upset. Paul was a very affectionate person, he loved being held, that was it. "It's hard. I just wish he would get it."

"I know it is." Brandon had said, free hand going to play in Paul's hair and even if they were talking about me, I felt out of place. Their relationship was so strong, their love was so there and it hurt to know that not even an hour before, he'd rejected my comfort. "It was hard for him too, I'm sure."

It was still quiet as I pulled my eyes away from them. Moving back before I was caught, I sunk to the floor, bringing my knees to my chest and leaning on them. They're just really close, he doesn't have a problem with me being close to Benji, I can't have a problem with him and Brandon. But Ben wasn't sexually attracted to me, Ben was straight, Ben and I had never touched each other in any way that wasn't platonic.

The realization of my hypocrisy hit me then: I didn't 100% trust him around Brandon yet I expected him to trust me with things that were so fucking deep for him. So when I heard Brandon's voice speaking up, I had to hold back from getting up and leaving. "And I know that what you've dealt with is fucking torture, you're so fucking strong, Paul." I didn't know what they were talking about but it sounded deeper than I originally thought and it wasn't about me. "I know you're strong enough to let him know about it."

It wasn't something about me, it was something deep and hurtful that he'd gone through and I was being so fucking inconsiderate listening in on something he wasn't ready to tell me about.

But they were alluding to it, not speaking of it, maybe it wasn't a break of trust if I didn't know what they were talking about. I really wanted to know but I didn't and as soon as they started delving deeper into it... if they talked about it... I would leave as quick as I came. I wanted Paul to tell me on his own terms and siting there eavesdropping didn't feel so wrong as long as I didn't hear anything too personal. "Everything with Milo and then the drinking and the incident, it's just," the incident? "I don't want to relive it."

"The incident, Paul? Really?" Brandon's voice was disbelieving and a lot of shuffling had convinced me that he was walking around. Pacing, maybe but either way, I was on high alert hoping he wouldn't come into the kitchen.  "You're afraid he's gonna look at you different because some dick-"

Wincing at how harsh Brandon's voice was, I listened to my boyfriend's words jumbling. His voice was so weak and his breathing was heavy and all I wanted to do was hold him and kiss him and tell him I loved him. But I couldn't. "Stop, Brandon."

It all went silent at his plea and I sucked in a sharp breath. A creak had alerted me that Brandon had sat back down and his voice was slightly muffled. Peaking around the corner, my eyes met his arms wrapped around Paul again and his lips in his hair. "I know you don't like to hear about it, I know. But would you rather lose the guy you love because you're scared?" And how could I be upset when his best friend was vouching for me? Even if they were nearly on top of each other... it was innocent.

I didn't notice Paul hadn't denied the aforementioned statement until Brandon spoke again, humor in his tone. "Don't give me that look, you're so in love with him."

"B..." Paul's voice held a small smile and my heart beat a little faster. That was until he continued on with his sentence. "We've only been dating for a few months, I'm not in love with him."

Ouch. "You fell in love with Nic-"

"You know it's not the same." Cutting his friend off, Paul's voice was stern and I was trying to figure out why he was so opposed to being in love with me. "I don't love him yet, I-I just... I love being with him."

The teasing hadn't died down and I tried to smile through my insecurities. We weren't on bad terms, things could be fixed, and I had to be more understanding. "You wanna marry him."

: : :

Landon was doing a collab. They hadn't done many of them but some girl named Sa'diyah was an up and coming artist on the rise and since she lived around the area -over in Detroit- she'd been invited to the LightHouse to sing a song with Landon.

It was weird seeing a new face in the apartment, maybe that was how the guys felt when I showed up but they made sure to make her comfortable all while showing their... charming habits. Well, charming on behalf of my boyfriend and somewhat Lanny, treating her like one of them and cracking jokes to ease any awkward tension.

She was beautiful and she sang like an angel, normally I would've pushed for Landon to ask her out because she was basically him. Well, a female version that looked absolutely nothing like him but him nonetheless. Her hair was long and black and flowed just below her shoulder blades, thick eyebrows and her eyes were big and doe-like. Her skin was a very pretty shade of brown -lighter than Will but darker than Benji- and she had a ruby-red stud in her nose.

I'd caught him staring a little too long at her a few times as they sang, they clearly had chemistry. And harmony.

"You a little too perfect, baby." Her voice was gentle and soft but with a bit of a dip to a lower octave and then back into falsetto. Her voice was beautiful. Lanny was messing around with some sort of keyboard that was connected to his laptop, a drum like beat looping. "You a little too perfect...for me..."

"You perfect." He sang voice deep with a small smile on his face and he'd played around with a beat over this one, a diluted trumpet sounding through and Sa'diyah had tapped her fingers gently against the table. Watching them work was magic, you could see Lanny in a different world, face scrunched up, eyes closed, and voice a bit shaky with emotion. "A little too perfect for me."

Sa'diyah cut in again, hand gripping on of her earphones and she breathed into the mic, starting in a low octave and leading to a breathless sound. "Me, me, me, me, me, me ya!" And she was loud and full of soul as Landon harmonized with her. Opening her eyes as she spoke her last line, she stared straight at the boy playing his instrument and he wasn't looking back at her. She had a crush and her voice was softer as it faded out. "You a little too perfect."

And the sound of a keyboard had surfaced, Landon playing expertly. How many instruments did he play? "You's a little too perfect and," his voice was raspy as he sang, "I don't know... if its what I want," playing the last few notes, he sang from his throat and a deep sound had laced itself through his words, "or what I neeeeed."

When that was over, Landon smiled over at the girl next to him before looking back at the camera, "well that was Perfect by Bibi Bourelly featuring Earl St. Claire. We also did a video on Diyah's channel, the link will be in the description below."

And with a smile and a gesture to himself, he spoke, "This is Landon Ross and..."

"Sa'diyah Mohammed." She'd piped in, moving more into frame.

"Signing off." Looking over at her, Lanny raised his eyebrows before finishing the outro. "You wanna do it with me?"

And when she nodded, he smiled and they spoke almost in unison, Sa'diyah giggling when she'd snapped too soon. "Okay guys, stay safe, lights out."

Snapping at their outro, I nodded as that was a signal for me to turn the camera off. Since it was a simple video with no real movement and Brandon was at a meet-up with some of his photography friends, Lanny had asked me to help film.

Which was basically: press record, sit by the tripod and make sure it didn't fall over and then turn the camera off at the end.

Really, I think I was willing to film to clear my head since Paul wasn't in the mood to so much as talk to me. It still hurt, he was out with Rilee picking up some new supplies or whatever to get him out of his creative block but really, I knew he was trying to avoid me. I hadn't talked to him in three days since our altercation and opted to stay home, letting him have some space to clear his head.

Popping around after not talking to my boyfriend, I was there to hang out with Lanny, trying to ignore that Paul wouldn't look at me as he left and he also didn't answer my call when I'd tried to reach him.

Maybe he needed space but how much space was too much space?

"Can we just talk about that grunt you just let out in the middle of the last harmony? Sexy as fuck." Sa'diyah's melodic voice had rang through the room, chill as ever as she leant back in the beanbag Lanny had pulled from his room. We were gonna sit and hang for a little while until she had to call an uber to some meeting she had. I sighed, trying to resist checking my phone for notifications and instead focused on Lanny.

"She's right." I'd interjected, smiling as a blush lit up his cheeks. Landon wasn't used to being hit on, as he'd informed me early on in our friendship, he'd always looked at himself as Brandon's annoying shadow. People paying attention to Lanny must've felt amazing so I continued to praise his vocals. "I nearly passed out when your voice dropped, damn."

And Diyah let out a shriek somewhat sounding like a wild bird call, "Aye, Daddy Lanny."

Shoving his face into his hands, he'd laughed and kicked at her beanbag, "Shut up." They were cute, really fucking cute and I kind of couldn't stand it.

Deciding to give him a break and also not feel jealous because Paul wasn't speaking to me, I chuckled. Cutting in on a staring contest that had somehow been initiated. "All flirting aside, that was amazing."

At that Landon blinked before groaning, "that doesn't count!" His voice was in a high-pitched whine and I found myself laughing.

"It so fucking does!" Her voice was even louder than his and I wondered how their audience wasn't completely deaf, entertainers were loud as fuck. "I won, Headass." Sticking her tongue out at him, she reached over at the living room table and grabbed a few Swedish Fish that they'd opened up before the collab. Tossing a couple in her mouth, she grabbed for the entire bag before taking it for herself and claiming it as hers.

Exactly like Lanny would.

"Anyways," stealing a few fish, he leaned back a bit not paying attention to the dirty look the girl next to him had thrown, "thanks, Frecks but I wasn't really feeling it."

"Why not?"

And he laughed, leaning back a bit and shrugging. "Well, I'm not in love with Diyah, obviously." He didn't notice the small falter in her smile before she rolled her eyes. Her eyebrows were furrowed and she frowned a bit.

"I'm offended." She'd pouted and although she probably, most-likely wasn't, I could tell she had a small crush on him even if it was barely there. "I'm gonna go get something to drink and try and recover from heartache, you want something?" Their tones were teasing again and I frowned at the lost chance.

They obviously weren't aware of the tension so I didn't say anything.

"Root beer and oh, waitress," waving at her exaggeratedly, he winked and she rolled her eyes in false-annoyance, "don't forget the ice."

"Shut up."

When she was gone, I tried to keep the conversation light and flowing so I didn't think too much about anything. Watching him playing around with his keyboard, I smiled as the same sound came out but a bit staggered and I hummed to the beat. "That was perfect, Lanny, I don't know what you're talking about."

"I've never been in love." He shrugged, biting a two chord before retracting his hands abruptly. "I wanna be and I want someone to love me and maybe that wasn't a love song, love song but... I don't know. I want to sing it and think about someone and you can feel it though to music, I haven't found her yet." He was still looking at the equipment instead of meeting my eyes. Moving his finger around the mouse-pad, he edited the tale they had just done but something wasn't siting right.

"What about that girl you're dating? The one from the video?"

Shaking his head, his eyes flickered to meet mine before averting again and internally, I sighed. "Kiara? We talk, but she's not my girlfriend." I nodded, my bottom lip pulled into my mouth and I didn't understand why Lanny couldn't find love, he was such a good guy. "I mean, she's okay, just doesn't seem like she's always into me, you know?" That was understandable as that was how I felt when I had first started dating Paul so of course, hope was still there. "Like she's nice when we're together just hanging out but it's weird when we get around other people."

That didn't sound good but giving her the benefit of the doubt was better than telling him how I really felt. I didn't know her, who knew what she was like or what their conversations were like. "You've only been talking for a little while, give it some time, maybe she's nervous."

"I just don't feel like Kiara's her."

And trying not to make him any more uncomfortable than he was,  "I get it, you're gonna find her though." How could he not? Landon was so great and honestly, it surprised me that so many people couldn't see it. "I mean, look at you: you're gorgeous and funny and really sweet. Any girl would be lucky to call you their boyfriend."

"You're lucky, someone loves you." And I didn't know how to respond, he must've expected that. Leaning forward back into his keyboard, he tweaked a few things. "Anyways, let's get back to the music, the harmonies could always be better."

"You were a little pitchy." Sa'diyah had joked as she'd entered the room again with two glasses in her hand, oreos and peanut butter. Siting down beside Lanny, she picked up her phone and focused her attention on that, barely paying attention to Lanny's gaze on her.

"And you were a little bitchy." He'd smirked at that, groaning when she moved her leg to the side to kick him in the chest. The force of it knocked him back into the couch.

"Don't play me, white boy."

Rubbing at his chest, he frowned a bit, "You're so rude."

"Love you too, Lan."

: : :

"I'm sorry." Were the first words out of my mouth when my boyfriend had gotten home later that day. The way I'd planned out my apology was small but thoughtful, a small note I'd written for him about how sorry I really was and his favorite comforting movies. I'd even went as far as to walk to the coffee shop down the street and grab his favorite drink. On my way back, I'd bought him a bear and some roses.

What I didn't expect was for him to say the same thing as he entered, flowers in his hand and a pout on his lips.

"I was trying to be romantic." He blushed, looking down towards the white lilies he held. Me too. Flicking his eyes up to mine, he went to apologize again and I was confused, "I'm really sorry, Jules."

It wasn't his fault, he wasn't ready and it wasn't my place to push him... even if he was my boyfriend. "About?"

"Being an ass." And he was back to being extremely selfless even though caring about himself wasn't deed selfish. I loved selfless Paul but what I loved more was brutally honest Paul and I wanted that to resurface again. He never used to hold back and always told me exactly how he felt but ever since that dramatic ass panic attack at like three am, he'd become hesitant and cautious around me.

Even now, he had this soft smile on his face and although it warmed my heart, I could tell he was still incredibly closed off. "I love being with you, yeah? And I love how well we know each other and I-I wanna tell you more things, it's just..."

"Hard?" I'd suggested, going to cut off his apology. He shouldn't have felt the need to apologize because he wasn't ready to talk about heavy things with me and although it hurt... a lot, I wanted to be okay with it. "I shouldn't have pushed so hard, just, I want you to open up to me." It was difficult lately, not to unintentionally make everything about myself, but I was dealing with it.

After seeing Paul coming into his room with that apologetic look as if he'd done something horrible, it struck me how selfish I was really being.

"I know." He spoke softly, inching closer towards the bed and when he'd gotten to me, he smiled at the setup. Placing both sets of flowers on his bedside table, he leaned forward and kissed my lips softly before grabbing the coffee out of my hands and taking a sip.

"But if you're not ready, I'm gonna respect that."

He shook his head at that, sitting the cup next to the flowers and intertwining his fingers with mine. With a sigh, he explained himself although he shouldn't have had to. "No, I want to. It's just not an easy thing to do considering it all."

"It was hard for me too, Paul. Sometimes you just have to let someone in, it's easier than keeping it to yourself."

"I just can't do that right now, baby." And just as I said, I respected that.

Nodding, I brushed my lips on his cheek before pulling him into my arms. "When you're ready." And kissing at his shoulder gently, I tried to provide comfort, happy when his body melted into mine, "I love you."

"I'm falling for you." His voice was soft, sincere and his words from earlier basically punched me in the face. DID telling him that make him uncomfortable, did he still not believe me?

No, we were fine. I had to stop creating problems. Paul was into me, I was going to make him fall in love with me, we had a lot of time for that anyways. He didn't have to love me right away. "Can I kiss you again?"

But what was so wrong with me that he didn't love me yet?

"Come here." Kissing at the corner of my mouth, he laughed a bit, hands balling around the shirt I was wearing. "Is this my shirt?"

Yes, I'd stolen the shirt from his drawer earlier that day. It was one of his cute painting shirts that had Paul written on the sleeve along with a beat up logo for some place he'd probably never been. It was so soft and comfortable, one of those oversized things that would fall off his shoulders but stayed on mine. It was cute and maybe that's why I couldn't help but speak sweet as hell, "I like wearing your clothes."

"I like seeing you in them." Moving a bit, he sat down in my lap, facing me and I smiled back at him. His glasses were perched perfectly on the bridge of his nose and his eyes were so brown being this close to him. He was so beautiful. "So, roses?"

"I didn't know your favorite flower, I mean, I figure a guy like you has one." And that had made a blush crawl slowly up his neck, his bottom lip pulled into his mouth, I wanted to bite his lip for him.

"Shut up." Toying with the hair at the nape of my neck, his eyes flickered to my lips and I struggled to keep myself from pressing my lips to his and pushing him back on his bed. I wanted to fuck him, I really did and this was supposed to be a simple sweet apology and intimate night. "You're so cute."

"You too." His lips were on my neck, innocent until his fingers teased the hem of my -his- shirt.

That innocence dissipated as he moved around on my lap, his ass sitting flush on the top of my dick and my eyes rolled back. Trying to keep myself in check, I pushed him back a bit and tried to breath easily but that wasn't something he wanted.

"Paul." I'd moaned, throwing my head back and Paul sat up, forehead hitting mine gently before he kissed my lips again and placed a kiss on my jaw. Nipping softly at my skin, his hands had moved their way around my waist, dipping his fingertips into the back of my pants.

My hands were still on his thighs but slightly moving upwards. Maybe I could've taken his mind off of things, even up the playing field maybe. He wasn't that excited yet, small bulge in the front of his pants but only slightly and my lips had made their way to his neck, kissing softly.

"Julian." His voice was breathless as he instantly grabbed my hands and stopped me.

"What'd I do?"

And he seemed to be thinking, a little troubled before he shut his eyes tight and shook his head. "Nothing, nothing." He'd gone back to kissing me, wrapping his arms back around me and running his hands up my back instead. It seemed as if he was trying to push himself away from what was making him uncomfortable, trying to compensate for something and I wanted to ask more but... I couldn't think straight when he touched me like this and he knew it too.

My hands were on his thighs, fingers grazing at the thin material of his sweatpants and things had gotten heated again, my shirt coming off and he finally touched the skin of my back. Pulling back so he could kiss down my chest, Paul laid me back and I'd wrapped my legs around his waist.

My skin was burning where he touched, his kisses igniting a fire in my bloodstream and I found myself shivering as his cold fingers traced after his mouth. I'd had enough of that when his lips were on my stomach and he still hadn't stripped of his shirt. Pulling it off myself, I smiled as Paul's eyes met mine, his hair messy. He was so gorgeous.

"You're really... pretty."

He was smiling on my skin that that, propping up to look at me. "Thank you, baby. You are too."

I'd bit my lip, trying not to blush at how cute his voice sounded. Running my hands through his curls, I pulled his head down to mine and kissed his lips again.

And I wanted his pants off, wanted to possibly get him off, anything really. Gaining control, I flipped us over, Paul's eyes widening at that and I thought about how good he looked underneath me. Pushing my hands into the back of his sweatpants, I gestured for him to take them off, his head shaking and that knocked me a bit but I let it go. I didn't wanna fuck up, that's what I was thinking, maybe I could do something that he'd be into.

Moving further in, deepening our kiss, I unbuckled his belt before slipping my hands under his boxers, hands gripping his ass as he'd done before and that was when he froze. He wasn't kissing back and I thought maybe it was just shock until he'd pulled away. Leaning up a little bit, he shook his head and he seemed to be thinking hard about something. Swallowing thick, he backed up a bit and met my eyes.

"I don't wanna do that."

That threw me for a loop, my head foggy. All I knew was the fact that we were kissing a few seconds ago and now we weren't. Maybe he just didn't want to have sex. Leaning closer, my hand back on his thigh, I bit my lip and gestured to the imprint of his dick. "I thought I could..." going to place my lips back on his, I stopped when he held his hand to my chest firmly.

"No." grabbing my hand and pulling it off his body, he looked away from me and I retracted myself from his body. Feeling embarrassed at the rejection, I focused my eyes on his comforter, absentmindedly thumbing it. "I don't wanna kiss you anymore."

And that hurt. "Anymore?" What was he saying? What was suddenly wrong with me? "Like, at all?" Did I do something? Did I touch him the wrong way?

"No, like, right now."

But, why not? He was fine with it a few minutes before, he'd kissed me, he initiated it. He wanted it before... Something had to have changed and all I could think of was it being my fault. "What did I do?"

"Stop." Stop speaking? I didn't notice how close we were until my hand had grazed his. "I, I don't want to-"

"Paul," trying to figure out that look in his eyes, I moved a bit closer, hoping he'd calm down. But something in him changed and he breathed a bit heavier, almost as if he were panicking. Gripping his waist gently, I tried to soothe him by resting my other hand on the small of his back, I loved it when he held me while I broke down. Maybe he needed that. "baby, did I-"

Cutting me off, he harshly shoved me away, voice choked with tears and eyes wide. "I said stop!" His yell was louder than I'd ever heard it, a look on his face that reminded me of Calum's the day before. My back had hit the ground as I fell off his bed and I looked up at him to find him looking at me, tears in his brown eyes and voice laced with fear. He was scared and I wanted to cry because that meant that he was scared of me.

I couldn't focus on the pain of hitting the ground when he'd looked at me like that, as if I was gonna hurt him. Footsteps had skidded through the hall, sounds of trampling and his best friend was there in an instant. Voice frantic, he eyed the situation with suspicion. When Brandon had noticed me sitting up, his eyes narrowed and he got a little closer. "What's wrong?"

Not moving his eyes from me, he stuttered out a reply, my throat dry and Paul was stammering, nervousness lacing through his words. "I-I'm not- I'm not in the mood right now."

"Baby?" He was closing in on himself, I'd never seen Paul like this before and it scared me. "Baby, I'm sorry." What I did, I still didn't understand but I did something that made him uncomfortable and that was a problem. The way Brandon was looking at me was also a problem.

His voice was strong and forceful and me being already confused and worried... I cowered at the sight of him growling at me. "The hell did you do to him?"

Backing up a bit at the anger on his face, I looked in between him and Paul and still, I was trying to figure out the answer to that. What did I do to him? "I-I didn't, I didn't mean to-"

Realizing my distress, Paul cut in and Brandon's eyes had shifted to him instead. "It's fine, we were doing things and it got sexual." But it obviously wasn't fine, he obviously wasn't okay, his body still slightly shaking and breathing hitching as his best friend got closer to him. "It's not your fault."

"Did he touch you?"

His voice was hoarse and he hadn't answered that question and I had a feeling that it was because I had. I did touch him and Brandon would've flipped the hell out if he said that. "I'm fine, B."

"Paul..." and I felt like shit.

"I'm fine, B." Still, he defended my actions as I tried to make sense of what exactly was going on. I stopped touching him when he asked me to, didn't I? I mean, yeah, the first time was a little weird but I honestly didn't think I was overwhelming him. "He didn't do anything I didn't want him to do."

And that sounded as if he were lying, compensating for something and it struck me that he didn't want to. He just wanted to innocently kiss and I'd ruined everything.

"Okay." Brandon didn't seem convinced but they'd obviously been through this before and he backed off instantly. It wasn't until he'd left the room that I tried to talk, my voice barely coming out and my apologies seemed useless

"Maybe I should go..." I tried and maybe I didn't want him to agree.

"I-" he seemed to be thinking and I resisted the urge to go to him. It hit me a bit off guard when he spoke up, "you're right." He was hiding things, more things than I thought and that night, I stayed up late just thinking.

A/N:

chapter probably will be re-written.

thoughts on the US:
i'm gonna sit back and calculate for a while before i make my move. trust me, for the next one to four years, we need to think more than ever. (i honestly don't know what we can do but let it ride for a while, don't beg for his impeachment or assassination because, truly, pence is way worse for all of us.)

most of all, we need to comfort those more afraid than we are and be positive but being positive does not mean being ignorant. tell your fellow POC, LGBT+, females, etc that you are with them, be an ally. if you are white, stand up for POC, show us that you are on our side now more than ever. if you are straight, be an ally for your LGBT+ friends and even not your friends. if you are a man, be an ally for a woman, for all women.

and use your privilege to benefit the cause.

keep fighting and keep marching on, we'll get through it and come out better than ever.

we always seem to.

#hewillnotdivideus

Updated: Sunday, Jan 22.