all along the waterfall with you

Koemi rolled her eyes, but she couldn't argue with her friend's diagnosis of unhinged — it was what most peoples' first opinion of her was, after all, and she couldn't find a bone in her body to care about it. "Okay, but I feel like I've earned that right, you know? Unhinged or not, do you know how many soccer balls I took to the face in high school? Too many, Rory, too many." A sigh left her lips as she watched the other pick up her ball from the course, wondering if she should follow and grab hers as well since they had to finish the game at some point, before she became too enwrapped in what the woman started saying about her ex.

"You know what? You definitely earned that right. I'll give you a pass because I love you so much," Rory admitted with a smile, even if she still didn't feel the need to see anyone get whacked in the head with anything. Unless it was deserved, and she wasn't under the impression that it usually was. Still, she knew she'd probably always end up going with Koemi if she was ever going to watch such a thing happen. They balanced each other out well. "Not wistful over her, really, just like.. wistful over what could've been if she decided to stick around?" Rory shrugged her shoulders as she watched her friend, her lips quirking into a content smile at the incredibly smart but incredibly cheesy nickname. "Like I always had these plans for my future, right? That whole thing, and she just fit in so well with them. Until she started giving me the idea that maybe she didn't want that." It all seemed like so long ago, but it was a burden she knew she'd probably always carry.

Emily had been, in short, spiraling, since her brief text exchange with Rory. She'd meant to be productive as soon as she moved - unpacking boxes in her overpriced apartment, handling things for work, being a functioning human, but instead, she'd spent too many hours pacing back and forth amid aforementioned boxes, wondering if texted her ex had been the wrong move. After too many hours, she'd concluded that no, texting Rory hadn't been the wrong thing to do. Even if they hadn't spoken for years, letting Rory know was warranted, and it was a courtesy that Emily would've wanted to receive too. It might've been easier to let Rory live in obliviousness until they actually ran into each other, but Emily couldn't imagine the horror of that abrupt, unexpected reunion.

If the current circumstances weren't based on the incredibly painful experience of losing the love of her life, then Rory might've felt her ego grow at the understanding that she could still make Emily Clarke stutter. And that would be before all of the eye contact they apparently couldn't stop partaking in, which only made Rory finally avert her eyes down the court to where she had just been standing minutes ago and had no idea Emily was within yards of her. "Okay, good." She could only nod at the next part, not that it really mattered who Emily was there with or why she was. She was there to play tennis and clearly ruin Rory's Sunday and maybe her entire summer. "I'm sure he's happy you're back."

By no means would Ferah ever consider herself a hiker, but she did enjoy long nature walks. It was a way to clear her head. Sometimes inspiration struck and she was flooded with an idea or multiple. The whole walk would be filled up with designs or layouts taking shape in her head . So if she especially felt stuck at any time then Ferah took to the trails. Which wasn't the case today. Plenty of work and ideas were already in play but she had been feeling a bit overwhelmed as of late and a stretch of the legs and a clearing of her head seemed to be in order.

"Is it?" She pressed a few fingers to her nose, and finding it warm to the touch, was suddenly even more grateful she'd run into Ferah. "Then you're literally my savoir today." Rory gently applied some to her nose, her cheeks for good measure, and then her arms (she'd gone with long pants for that reason) before she handed over the bottle. Sunscreen was sunscreen, and was immensely better than how she'd be feeling by tomorrow night if she wasn't able to get ahold of any sun protection while out. "Thank you for being prepared today on the one day that I'm clearly not," She rolled her eyes at herself, although there wasn't too much self-depreciation there. "And I've been told I'm like, too prepared for things." She took a moment to take a few chugs from her water bottle before she put the cap back on and shoved it back into her bag. "Hope I didn't interrupt any serious inner monologues or thoughts?" At least that's what Rory did on hikes. The lack of usual noise was fine at first, but then one thing led to another and she was always thinking about something.

Setting: In front of the local high school. Time: Early morning. For: @campbellrory

It used to always secretly please Rory whenever she played in college and a guy struggled his way through the repetitive motions, but this was quite different. "Oh yeah." She smiles at the thought, "Either by herself or with her doubles partner," Rory explains, her eyes widening as she watches him continue to push through, and finally lets herself relax as he stops. She puts her own racquet down, grabs his water bottle from where it's perched next to hers, and hands it over, taking a sip of hers as well that she doesn't really need.

Koemi couldn't help but scoff at the idea of turning thirty-five, much less being a spinster. "Please, my plan is to stay young forever. Thirty-five who? Not me, babe." She jokingly flipped her hair with a laugh, finally popping herself off of the edge of the table they were leaning against to finish pushing her golf ball into the whole, the goal of the game tinted by the amount of the beer in her hand she consumed. One the ball was pushed passed the windmill, she turned back toward Rory with a grin curving on her lips, "Does it make me a horrible person if I'd kind of find that amusing?" It wasn't like she hadn't taken soccer balls to the face regularly when she was younger, so she could laugh about it, right?

Rory stayed perched where she was for a few extra moments to finish up her bottle, and throw it away in a trashcan that was supposed to resemble a shrimp. She looked it up and down curiously and then walked back over to her friend. Someone had to drive them home. "Nah, just a little unhinged." She smirked as she picked up her own club again and went and found her ball. She was just about to line up her shot when she heard Koemi's stern choice of words, her obvious passion, and she turned towards her. She'd been watching Koemi get fired up about things she was passionate about for years, and it was never something that had annoyed her. Alcohol being added to the mix was it's own thing, but she'd witnessed her fair share of that, too. "I definitely would've, thank you thank you." She bowed once, giving a flourish with the club in her hand. She was entirely aware of that, she practically had the qualifications for it. Or at least how to understand their brains. "I'm over her, I promise. Or I'm more than I used to be." She tilted her head as spoke. "Just get a little wistful sometimes."

Jessica had her shoulders covered, with her pale red-headed complexion the less sun that touched her skin the better. Everything that wasn't covered was getting plenty of sunscreen, and she was already on her third application of it across her cheeks, the bottle between her knees as she sat on the tree stump.

"See, It's too hot for a shirt," Rory admitted, having gone with a tank top for her hike for that sole reason. Sure, it was absolutely burning her shoulders, but at least she didn't feel so hot it felt like her insides were going to explode. "I was gonna go up the hill." She explained, taking a moment to pull her water bottle out of her bag and take a grateful sip. "I'm like, a little too obsessed with the view at the top." She smiled happily, pointing to the familiar path she took to get there, "If you wanna come with me? Don't know what your normal route is, but you can see the ocean from the top," She'd taken way too many pictures of the view, she could practically describe it perfectly. "Besides, why haven't we hiked together before? You're my neighbor. I know where you live. You're like, the safest person to hike with." @jessica-nichols