new haynes, ma.

"i could be open to some experimentation, but not today. then all that hubaloo about the free popcorn might not have been worth it. i wasn't really allowed to watch popular movies when i was younger anyway, so... probably missing out on some of those."

" well, i'll be honest and say that i don't think i can conjure a single memory that was an act of teenage rebellion, so i can't judge you too much for keeping to that. but had i not been allowed to watch pg-13 movies i might as well have started off on my journey as one of the girls from thirteen. which... definitely not having you watch. i mean, how sheltered were you? homeschooled? because that's how they really deprive you. i mean, even the laziest public schools will put on amelie to push along a lazy french class. are we talking just G rated? have you never even seen jaws?! "

"'be good anyway'." he shrugs, sheepish. "simple, but... always a good reminder."

" you know what? i can respect it. i think assuming everyone else is good makes you, well, delusional. but there's something admirable in taking the onus upon yourself. do unto others even if you know they won't do unto- however it goes. i don't think that's half-bad for someone who hasn't cracked open a bible since they were nine. "

"Were you? That's great! College wasn't in the cards for me but I'd love to get a degree eventually. And business makes sense considering what I do." He enthuses, though he does feel a bit old to be a student whenever college-aged kids come to grab their strawberry oat matchas and flat whites. "Oh, well I'm not. I do my best, but I wouldn't say I'm doing anything radical. Well, if I were a secret police mole, I'd surely give you a free pass!"

" go to night school, or something. but not business. waste of money. at least for me. mean, i'm working in the same place i did in high school, i just run this shit now. i've got loans, and my parents dropped a fat stack of cash on it anyway. so there's that soul-crushing guilt. " punctuated, of course, by the fact it's kind of hard to reap the benefits of your investment into your child's education when you're dead before she graduates. " do they have... barista school, or something? learn a non-starbucks macchiato like they teach the cosmetology kids balayage? "

it's a union most can't make sense of, and while oliver's never sought outside validation, this is a decision which she finds the need to defend. if not her choice of partner then the marriage itself. sienna didn't know him as she did, although it might've been more detrimental if she had. despite the change in topic, something oliver would've otherwise been grateful for, she remains unmoved. obstinate in her frustration, like a pot on the stove brewing.   〝 what if i do wanna talk it? is all you've got to say divorce, divorce, divorce? 〞

" yeah. it is. i'm not gonna lie to you, so, i can either shut up or tell you i think your type is no good bums. " a shrug, more matter of fact than a form of obstinate behavior herself. while she acknowledged sometimes situations were better serviced by a good lie, mostly, sienna tried to be truthful with those she cared about, in manners of both life & death and if their shirt was a flattering color. sometimes she got a thrill out of how sharp the barbs could be, even as she dipped into meanness, and sometimes even the slightest edge to truth made her want to recoil as she relayed it. this truth, she has no problems with. " i'm just saying. there's nothing wrong with boring. safe. the kind of person that doesn't mind being DD because it means everyone gets home safe. has a 401k. wants kids and will actually be good at raising them. that kind of thing. "

it doesn't take much for sawyer kinney to feel guilt, and teddy certainly isn't making it easy on her. his mood always dictating hers in a way only a best friend's would. had her plans with lou not been set in stone, she might've even been persuaded to make a change.   〝 and what's wrong with just brunch? 〞  attempting to lighten the mood, she gives his shoulder a poke. 〝 what about when you find someone? you're telling me you wouldn't do the whole romantic weekend getaway thing with him? that's what couples do. we could even do it together again. like a double date. 〞

teddy wonders if sawyer knew saying this to someone who's never even been in proximity of a relationship should be considered a form of cruel and unusual punishment, and also wonders if he'll be hearing deliberation on if he counts as a bridesmaid for sawyer's wedding before he's ever laid eyes on a potential plus one. he decides on an attempt at being more nuanced, which really just comes across as a moody, albeit silent, shrug. " i-if you already have valentines' p-penciled off for the next decade, sure. " he grumbles, though now his frustrations are really more toward himself than sawyer. he thinks about how most everyone at this age has valentine's plans, or is at least capable of making them. he could always watch romantic comedies with his mom. god, he hopes his mom doesn't have plans.

 〝 four hours? wow. i think i've only been once, and that was for some low budget, end of the year field trip in middle school… well, actually, twice if you count using their bathroom. 〞

" a lot of smaller museums have people who are deeply passionate about whatever weird thing they're displaying instead of someone paid to, well, guard the bathroom. it's on my bucket list to do one of those cross country road trips with all those things like the largest collection of salt and pepper shakers and sites of alleged alien activities. i could spend four hours doing that. or listening to any one of those passionate people. like, i don't know that much about the history of candlemaking. and maybe there's a candlemaking museum out there waiting for me with someone who could write a book on it but never would. " preferably one of those interactive ones, where she could go home with a candle.

  〝 i have not. it would feel kinda, i don't know, disrespectful. like, i know my crowd totally killed and tortured your crowd but i love myself some true crime podcasts and a candied apple? i'd be asking to get haunted. 〞

" trust me, i stay pretty far away from anything with mattress brand sponsorships and themed cocktails. people there just get a little too into halloween. like, there's only so many black cat motifs you can see before you start thinking about how terribly people treat them due to the superstition, especially around the holiday. if you keep it museum-adjacent oriented, it feels a little less like going to some kind of demented theme park. and, no offense to us, but new haynes' museum is a real snoozer. and i'll read about anything. one time spent at four hours at a stamp museum. just postage ones. fascinating stuff. " said without a shred of irony.

"That's great, I'm getting really into capitalism too. Oops! Anti-capitalism. My roommate's boyfriend had to keep correcting me on that one. Do you know Marx? Really fascinating stuff. Good question. I think I would! As long as I wasn't working that day."

" i was a business student back in school, so, marx'd probably want me hung. or sent to the gulag, or whatever. you don't exactly look like a guy who hangs with free-thinking political fringers. even with the whole environmental activist thing. i'd think you were the police mole sent to doom us, if i was like, throwing molotovs at banks and stuff. very straight-laced. "

"how about you pick another movie for me to see, i'll buy my ticket AND your ticket and you just have to tell me all the fun facts about that movie ? it'll be an educational experience for me."

" i do get off my shift soon. and i am always happy to help a fellow cinephile out. or in this instance, cinephile in training. are you interested in building up a resistance to some more... controversial thematic elements? or are you really committed to only watch g-rated stuff? you're limiting yourself pretty severely. art is meant to provoke. "

"see, that's why people might think you're cruel."

" yeah? what's your philosophy? faith, trust and pixie dust? "

  〝 yeah, but i was jacked - up on all the drugs. someone had to make sure i wasn't damning you to a lifetime of noogies. 〞  an opportunity seized to mend that bridge burned, playing the diplomat to the best of her abilities. 〝 of what, gremlin culture? 〞  

" maybe i am a gremlin. faith says i can't drink mountain dew after midnight because i stay up too late being loud and annoying. which, frankly, she should take up with the woman who raised me. " a quick pivot away from the spot she doesn't want to press on, to a much more pleasantly regarded mutual connection.

〝   i don't gossip. i perform a public service.   〞

" if you want to put telling me so-and-so's having an affair with you-know-who's-it is on par with the fire department and well-paved roads, i'm sure you can find plenty of other blabbermouths who agree with you. "

〝   are you calling me poor ?   〞

" i'm saying either you're poorer than i thought, or you don't have the confidence to back up a ten dollar bet. which. hey. you need a hype man, and you just call, okay? we all get low on ourselves sometimes. "

  “  that's — i wouldn't use coworker that does coke in his car as your baseline for safe decisions. and he probably has enough energy for twice that. and that's not saying anything about the fact that you could STILL break a hip.  ” 

" you're lucky we'd know if i was the female tony hawk by now. because otherwise you could be really discouraging me from a very lucrative career. "