Kitchen Sink

Blue didn’t move right away, then nodded and rounded the back of the cabin. A minute later, she had joined him on the roof. “Here,” she said, making a show of very calmly handing him the lighter. “See? You can trust me. I’m not trying to kill people all the time.” Once he took the lighter, she sat down, leaning back on her hands and angling her face toward the sky. “So what’s up? You sit on this roof a lot?”

Chase watched her, then turned and moved towards the center of the roof so it’d be easier to get pushed off. He took the lighter and pressed his lips together, then offered what could be interpreted as almost a smile. “Yeah, well.” He exhaled a laugh and shrugged, looking down at her. “Uh, yeah, I guess. Almost all the time, actually, when the weather’s nice.”

She gave a grin that was filled with teeth. “Haven’t decided.” Then she paused, and put her hands on her hips. “Why don’t I come up there and hand it to you? Zero risk of getting a lighter in your eye, though you’ll have to trust that I won’t shove you off the roof.”

If the teeth set him on edge, the words practically gave him goosebumps. Did he appease her to avoid death or deny her to do so? Did he care? “Zero risk? You sure you’re not going to just shove it in once you’re up here?” He almost laughed. Now he was giving her ideas. “There’s a ladder in the back if you want, and stairs inside if you don’t.” Maybe if he let it happen this way it wouldn’t hurt as much as if he gave her time.

Blue initially thought the lighter was being tossed at her, and her nostrils flared in annoyance. But when she heard Chase’s voice, her expression became more guarded as she looked up at him. “I can’t promise this won’t accidentally hit you in the eye” she said, tossing the lighter up and catching it in her hands again. “Is it worth the risk?”

Chase almost crouched and hid when he realized who he’d just called out to, but pressed his lips together and just stood, looking down at her. He shrugged. “Uhh, how big’s the risk? Like how accidental is this going to be?”

Cyrus laughed too. “Um, both, actually,” He confirmed Chase’s suspicions. “My mind’s a gutter but, I’m only high off of some pills I swiped from someone’s bag in the Arena,” He widened his eyes, realizing he made a mistake in their little card game. “Oh, okay… So, do you have any sixes, my good sir?” He smiled and re-situated how he was sitting so he was more comfortable.

He continued to laugh. “Wait, so you don’t even know what you’re on? You could be high off of fuckin’ anything from caffeine pills to Viagra.” He nodded and handed over a card before reaching out to take from the pile, then pulled his hand back. “Wait, shit, no. Okay, wait. You ask, then if the person has it, you take, and if they don’t you draw,” he said this mostly to himself, then nodded. “Got any Jacks?”

“Sort of, not really, I’m sort of just writing,” Ashton replied and a slight shrug. Ashton took out her other earbud, pausing her music, and putting her headphones around her neck. “What are you doing out here?”

He gave a bit of a shrug. “Writing’s cool, even if you’re only sort of doing it.” He paused his music when she did but didn’t pull out his other earbud. “Uh,” In reality, he was planning on texting Maverick to come out to the fields with him so that they could smoke together, but for some reason, since he’s alone, he feels weird about voicing that to Ashton. “Just walking. My brother takes walks out here all the time, and I realized I hadn’t in a while. Wanted to remember what it was like.”

“That’s digusting, Chase,” she replied. 

He laughed again, pressing a hand to his chest. “It is.”

“Not really? So it tastes like it a little?”

Chase laughed a bit and shrugged, then squinted. “Whoa, doesn’t... Doesn’t everything taste like vomit, actually? But, like, pre-vomit? Because vomit is just the stuff you already ate.”

 “Sounds like someone threw up in your popcorn,” Keaton replied. 

Chase laughed, a bit unevenly. “Doesn’t taste like it. Not really.”

Caspar was happy and eager to read about astrology and having his brother there to hear it and be interested in it too only made it that much better. He grinned too and nodded as well as he began to flip through the book he held to the correct page. After a moment, Cas found the page and cleared his throat and then begin reading. “…A Taurus born on April 23rd has a brilliant and original mind. They are joyous, irrepressible individuals who have the gift of making other people happy. Variety, not constancy, is what makes their lives worth living. Because they have singular likes and dislikes, April 23rd people are particular about their relationships. They have a wide variety of friends, but few really know them. In love, they gravitate to someone who shares their love of fun and spontaneity,” He said and then looked over at Chase. “Does that sound like you?” Caspar asked.

Chase nodded slowly as he listened to Caspar describe how he should be, or how he was, he wasn’t sure. He squinted a bit, and then nodded again. “I’d say so, I think. I mean, I hate when things are the same all the time, and all my friends are pretty different, but I only ever have one or two best friends.” He nodded again. “Yeah. Do you know any of this stuff by heart? Yours, probably, right?”

She snorts, immediately understanding. Brushing past him in the hallway, she heads towards the stairs up to the loft. “C’mon then, I’ll grab some chips or something for you.”

Chase perks up at the mention of chips and nods, following Rosie up the stairs, again much too slowly.

chase: lmaoo why don’t you ask jesse