( starlight. )

It’s not the proposition itself that caught Blake off-guard. No, she’d had that challenge tossed her way more times than once with the latter never coming to fruition. She was used to putting the effort in for women she wanted to get to know better but that effort was doubled (if not more) with Mack as her competition. So Blake hesitated slightly, allowing the bitter taste of the liquor to settle in her mouth before swallowing and returning a smirk to match Mack’s. She was never one to turn down a challenge, after all.

“Sounds like a win-win to me,” Blake said in a sure tone, shrugging with her smile still firmly in place. Downing the rest of her drink, she pulled Mack closer and planted a kiss on her cheek with a laugh. Feeling the heat of Mack’s skin made her recognize the own blush emerging on her face from the drinks she’d drank so enthusiastically. “You’re hot, Darling,” Blake declared, releasing Mack from her embrace. “But not as hot as me. Let’s fucking do this.” 

“that’s my girl,” mack smirked easily, leaning into blake’s affection and even placing a kiss on her cheek proudly. if she was being honest, she didn’t entirely thing blake would be 100% down for a three-way, but mack was blunt and she it seemed like a good idea to her. besides, she was confident enough in their friendship that even suggesting it wouldn’t fuck them up. that was just how they worked. 

mack downed the rest of her drink quickly, but kept casual as she grabbed blake’s hand and led her through the crowd. she only dropped her best friend’s hand when they were about halfway, not wanting their girl to feel bombarded with the two of them coming up to her at once. 

“watch and learn.” mack mouthed to her friend, sending her a wink before making her way to the girl. she spoke briefly into the brunette’s ear, but her eyes were trained on blake a few feet away. soon enough, mack had her hands on the girl’s hips and they were dancing. her eyes met blake’s again and she quirked an eyebrow, basically inviting her best friend to join in. 

she nods, before realizing that this was probably kind of a verbal only reply. “no, yeah, i’m good.” she manages a smile. “things have just felt weird lately, but i’m sure it’s just the rain.”

“did i tell you viv reached out to me a little while ago? wanted to do a video, or something.” 

“weird how?” mack leaned her head back a little bit, turning to look briefly at her sister. 

                                  it’s a rush of nerves, to put yourself out there. lydia could turn on a faucet and EASILY fill herself with anxiety. the thought of putting yourself out there in any dating form induced such feelings. it was all uncontrollable, and embarrassingly awkward. - and she HATED feeling so out of her element. uncontrolled. the cafe owner couldn’t even digest the others faux reassurance. there was zero confidence boosting happening, and it wouldn’t even be believable. it was apparent how incredibly, PAINFULLY awkward she could be. 

                “   this is why i smoke.   ”   - to chill my self fucking down. - she didn’t want to spiral in hyperventilation. running out of town, and changing her identity may have sounded extravagant and dramatic to the situation, but in some twisted sense it seemed like the only move to make.  “  - or maybe i’ll just stay in the back for a solid week… and then maybe she will have such an interesting life that she’ll forget my face… or … you know.. if i lost her as a customer that doesn’t seem like the worst thing either right now… please, i know im awful at this.. but can you just please sedate me… or maybe feed me with some confidence … or wine. WINE is always good.   ” 

carson wanted to roll her eyes for no reason other than the fact that the woman was totally freaking out about what seemed like nothing, but she knew it wasn’t actually nothing to lydia. “okay, okay, you know what?” carson stood up, putting her hands out in front of her.

“then we’ll smoke. and drink. getting crossfaded is always the right answer to me.” she didn’t see any issue with that, though it might not have been the right answer at the moment for lydia, the girl definitely needed to chill the fuck out. “just. listen. you’re fine. everything’s fine. i don’t wanna say she’ll forget your face ‘cause it’s a pretty amazing face--” with a pretty fantastic embarrassing moment to go with it, “--but we will forget her face and forget this ever happened, okay? that’s why weed and alcohol exists, i promise. i fully believe we are about to let this shit fulfill its true purpose - to forget all this shit. good?”

“Feeling overwhelmed with emotions…” Jack grumbled, grabbing her motorcycle keys and her leather jacket. “Alright, c’mon. Where are we going? I’ll take ya on Lyla. Unless you don’t trust my baby.” She patted her motorcycle seat and smirked, crossing her arms. “You’ll have to hold onto me tight. A fair price for me going to get the shit scared out of me.”

“seriously?” carson’s eyes lit up at the mention of taking jack’s motorcycle. “not to be dramatic but i would give my life to lyla and trust her completely with it.” she told the other girl seriously, already moving to get on the back. carson gave jack an impatient look. “what’re you waiting for? c’mon, lemme squeeze ya.” patting the empty space in front of her as if it was her motorcycle, carson quickly pulled her hair into a ponytail and waited for jack to join her. 

quinn, laughs hard enough to want to cover her mouth. “if that isn’t the truest thing that’s ever been said.”

“well, i was planning on tackling a few books. but i’ve obviously gotten a little sidetracked by a pretty girl.” she rests her chin on her propped up hand. “tell me about your podcast. new one. i’ve listened to the others.” 

“mm, wonder who you could be referring to,” carson smiled softly, running her fingers through her hair. “the one i just put up yesterday was about the vampire of sacramento. richard chase. he was one scary ass looking motherfucker, let me tell you.” she made a grossed out face. “called a vampire ‘cause he drank his victims’ blood. not sure why i haven’t done him before - i did richard ramirez awhile back, which was a fucked up dude, too.”

“that sounds fun.” mia said, shifting so her legs were under her, feeling a slight buzz in her head that probably had more to do with her coughing than the weed. 

“macky?” mia says after a second, reaching out to take her sister’s hand. “you know i love you, right?” she did this — a lot. she was the last person who would forget to say i love you, but it was still important. to mia, at least. especially now that it was just them. and maybe it had a little bit to do with the slight ache that’d started to form in her chest as of late. 

“it was not fun,” mack mumbled, thinking back to it. “you try being high as fuck in a forest thinking there are like, twenty-three other people out to kill you.”

“You have got to be kidding me.” Siofra was a notorious scary cat. Every halloween she was known to hide in her house away from any events no matter how many friends tried to drag her out. Catching the phone she gave it a brief glance over. “You have asked the wrong lady,”

carson pouted a bit. “i know but it’s kinda last minute and you’re here and this isn’t one of the ones i can do by myself ‘cause i gotta haul all my equipment.” she tried to reason with her, but ultimately knew siofra wouldn’t give. the younger girl was stubborn, though. “it’s not that bad. and i’ll buy you... i don’t know, something you like. frozen yogurt? ice cream? vodka?”

“I’m the one with the black belt! And even then, I don’t think you’d die. You’d be back in the sequel. To haunt me.” Jack pouted a little when Carson called her a pussy, sighing deeply. “Fine!” She wanted to open her mouth and tell her ‘just last week’ but she knew that the younger girl was feisty and would probably still get a good one or two hits in. Fuck. “Okay okay okay. We’ll go. But the second I see any shit start to float near me, I’m out.”

“you think having a black belt protects you against ghosts? i mean, maybe serial killers, but ghosts? nah.” carson smiled sweetly when she got what she wanted. as much as jack usually put up a little bit of a fight, she knew she count on her to be her partner in crime for the most part. “chill, okay? i’ve read about this place and it kinda just seems like it’s mostly hearing things and feeling overwhelmed with emotions. just don’t fucking cry on me, okay? you know i dunno how to handle people crying.” 

“as much as i understand his reaction, that’s pretty funny.”

“you have much else to do today other than being ogled?” there’s a kidding smile on her lips, as she pulls her hair up into a ponytail. “even though i’m sure it’s a full time job.”

“it’s more flattering when girls stare, ‘cause like, who really needs guys? guys will get a boner staring a shrub.”

if litely could recognise anything, it was a stoner when she saw one. after all, she’d spent the last almost decade consistently in at least that state herself. the girl in front of her was lucky, really - being ignored wasn’t something she dealt particularly well with, so she was just about to snap her fingers in front of the vacant looking face in front of her to get some sort of response, when the girl spoke up all by herself. “it’s okay, i’m sure you’ll learn.” fake smile, obviously so, in place, she even went so far as to crinkle her nose at the other. 

“uh, no. i’m not five, so i don’t usually make it a habit to carry a sharpie around with me.” litely saw that the other girl had given her an opening to go around her, no matter how small. but she wasn’t going to take it; not yet, when this idiot was insulting her. backing down from a fight, no matter the kind, wasn’t something she did. “i’m gonna really go out on a limb here and assume you know how to spell - just make sure you make the ’b’ in bitch a capital.”

one thing was for sure - if she wasn’t already a little mellowed out because of her high, she probably would have already punched this chick in the face. she smiles a little at the thought, knowing it would be satisfactory but not wanting to bust her high just because. 

“you sure do lack a lot of manners for someone who’s sayin’ they’re not five years old.” honestly, mack was having a blast, and she found the situation hilarious. especially given it started because this girl was too impatient to walk behind her or too incompetent to move around her. “actually, i think capital letters are for something or someone important, no?” she shrugged casually. "i guess you could be important, considering you’re entitled enough to think you own the sidewalk. but i’m gonna go out on a limb here and assume you’re just a self-centered asshole. or i’ll just be nice and climb the whole damn tree to make room for your big ass ego to walk past me.”