VIENNA WAITS

Rhett sometimes envied the other teachers. He couldn’t bring himself to forge a teaching license, because he couldn’t deprive kids of actually learning something. (He had looked for nearby drama teacher openings, although the guidance counselor one was closer and better pay, so he stuck with that.) “Nope, never gets old. Even if you’re on the third major breakup of the week between the same two students.” 

“Oh, Jesus Christ, no. Not for all the money in the world,” he’d not even finished high school. But that was information to be kept close to his chest, “I probably wouldn’t even go back to college. My twenties were a trainwreck,” Yeah, Rhett killed a man and did a ton of blow, his twenties could be considered one of the largest trainwrecks in human history. 

“I know. I try to push them towards people their own age. Apparently, there’s a whole twitter community for kids who are in love with their teachers, so that’s definitely not helping,” he didn’t know why kids kept explaining their social media presence to him. It helped him understand what was going on, sure. But did he really need to know? “Just - watch out. If you get love letters my advice is trash them.” 

Daniel smiled, picking up on Rhett’s sarcasm. He felt a sense of camaraderie to other educators, a degree of comfortability to ‘complain’ about the students with the underlying understanding that they cared about them. “It feels cyclical, no? Hell, I didn’t believe in astrology until I started spending all of my time with teenagers.” He said, only half-joking.

Laughing, he nodded, relating to the quickness of Rhett’s ‘no.’ Raising his eyebrows, Daniel took a swig from his water bottle. “Yeah– I definitely feel that. Though, I’m not sure that I’m not a trainwreck even still.” 

arms wrapped tight around her brother, she couldn’t help but laugh. if there was anyone on the entire planet that could make her feel better it was him. while ellie had only been a resident of wade for a mere three months, most of her time outside of work was spent at her brother’s home. she missed her family dearly, but knew that being out in wade with daniel was the right choice. boston had never been her pace. facing a fresh investigation of some horrific scale each week she walked through her precinct’s doors, the young officer was exhausted. when her canine partner had retired, ellie found the perfect escape in her brother’s newest city. 

seeing daniel was the pick-me-up she needed that day. social events made her highly uncomfortable, an overwhelming sense of paranoia enveloping her every second she was inside that community center. and red’s outburst did not help in the slightest. perhaps her anxiety was what caused her to escape the confinements of the building and take refuge on that picnic bench. 

“what did you expect, if i can’t get drunk at a function like this i am clearly not making it through the whole thing riding solo.” ellie couldn’t help but chuckle at his comment, knowing that there was some truth behind it for her. when she had rolled into wade, a cardboard box was nearly too big to hold the contents of her closet. “listen, those little ladies in there will be horrified if you tell them i get all my clothes laundered in the next town over. spill my secret, and you’re dead to me.” she stuck her nose up in fake distaste before breaking character to answer his question. “not much, except i may have bought the last two caramel apple pies from mrs. whittaker. and don’t even think i’m sharing.” 

Daniel laughed, shaking his head at his sister. “Oh, how the tables have turned. You may be independent, but you still need me every now and then, huh?” he teased. He and Ellie had always been close, partially because they were so different. While Ellie was practical, intuitive, and action-oriented, Daniel was more indecisive, a bit (happily) naive, and happy to exist in only the theoretical realm. Ellie, in many ways, grounded him– so naturally, he was thrilled when she’d moved to Wade. 

“You know, I feel like there is a solution... maybe, buying more clothes? I swear, I think I own more shirts than you.” Daniel laughed, nudging his sister to show he was only joking. He mimed zipping his lips as a show of allegiance. “I know your secrets, DePalma, so tread carefully.”

Daniel studied his sister, sitting down on the picnic bench and leaning forward. “Ell, honestly. How are you doing?” He knew she wouldn’t lie to him, but it would be a feat if he could get a straight answer. “I know work is insane.”

where: Wade High School’s faculty lounge when: lunchtime who: @danieldepalma​

The faculty lounge was swimming with the same heavy tension that the rest of Wade had been blanketed in since the events of the Spring Celebration. Sure, all the normal conversations – which kids were dating who, whose pets had been cutest, how many phones had been confiscated that morning – were still happening, but underneath there seemed to be a silent weight that no-one was mentioning but everyone desperately wanted to. Maddie had avoided the pointed questions in the office all morning, not really willing to get sucked into the well-oiled machine that was the PTA gossip-mill, which the other members of the admin team we definitely key players in. There was something very underhand about their conversations, and they tended to leave a sour taste in Maddie’s mouth.

Plus – more importantly – most of the discussing she wanted to do was about those very PTA moms themselves, and their macabre obsession with poor Red’s tragedy. 

So she was very grateful when Daniel DePalma made his way over to her while she was on her lunch break. She lit up with a ready grin, much more spirited than her usual bland-but-welcoming work smile. “Good afternoon,” she greeted him, shuffling her chair across a little to make more room for him to sit. “How’s your morning been? Made any students cry today?”

What a weekend. More like what a few weekends. It seemed like everytime Daniel turned around, something new was unfolding in Wade. He felt both right in the middle of everything and also completely on the outskirts. With his sister leading the brigade for justice, Daniel obsessively checked in on the case. His students had caught wind of Officer DePalma and asked Daniel for the ‘inside scoop,’ too. 

However, Daniel didn’t exactly run in any of the circles in the middle of all of the drama. That was a conscious choice, mostly. Of course, Daniel was a friend to everyone he met, but when it came to all of this Red stuff, he preferred to hang back on the sidelines, offering emotional support. 

Everyone was talking about it, all day. He felt it was his duty to talk to the kids about it, certainly, but if one more English teacher came up to him asking if he’d heard the latest about what so-and-so’s mom said to Red, he wasn’t sure if he could take it. Couldn’t they just give the poor man a break?

Looking for some much-needed solace, Daniel decided to ditch the faculty lounge for lunch today. Instead, he made his way to the front desk where he caught Maddie on her lunch break. “Hey,” he smiled, taking the seat she offered. “Thank you,” he opened his lunch, crinkling the paper loudly. “Not today. Not that I know of,” he raised an eyebrow jokingly, both of them knowing he wasn’t the type to make kids cry. “I am going insane with this obsession with Red. I mean, shit, the man’s grieving.”

     Patch is pretty sure he is pregnant with a food baby. Considering he can’t cook for the life of him, now is the best time to get a week’s worth of meals in his gut because he won’t be eating this good again for a while. He has lost count of how many blueberry muffins he has ingested, he wouldn’t be surprised if someone took his blood and found it was made of mostly blueberry juice by now. Feeling eyes on him mid bite, he turns his gaze to the other and mock glares. “Don’t judge me, growing boys gotta eat too you know.” @danieldepalma​

Raising his hands as if in surrender, Daniel revealed a blueberry muffin in front of him. He chuckled, quirking an eyebrow. “I would never judge you– I completely understand.” He took a bite of the muffin and nodded, his expression morphing into one of sincerity. “This is damn good. I feel guilty, though, this was the last one. Were you going for a record?”

status: closed for @danieldepalma​ time: 5:00pm location: outside the law firm date: april 15th

Jasmine had a long day at work. She was dealing with difficult clients who were asking her if she was able to draw up papers quickly although she already had a list of things she had to do at the office. On top of that, she got a couple texts in her group chat with her brothers about how their mom was crying again over the whole situation with her father. It was hard for Jasmine to concentrate on work when that was on the back of her mind. 

Thank goodness her day was almost over and she went down to her car, ready to get home and hang out with her dog and forget about what’s been going on. As she was about to pull out onto the street, she didn’t notice the car that was driving by and she made a slow right turn, hitting the back of the other’s car. She pulled over, beginning to panic and on the verge of tears. She got out when it was safe to do so and began to shake.

“I’m so sorry,” she instantly spoke. “Are you okay? Is the car okay? Are there any other passengers?” she questioned, hoping that this guy wasn’t going to try to go through insurance. It was her first accident, a minor one, and she wasn’t entirely sure if she should call the police or not.

This morning when he left, it had been raining. Raining was generous, more like... misting. But still, Daniel had elected to drive to work instead of bike, like he usually did. He hated the way his hair frizzed up on the ends when it got wet; Ellie always joked that he looked like he was back in high school. So, even though it turned into a beautiful day, Daniel was stuck behind the wheel of his rusty old Subaru. 

He glanced down to change the song on his phone when he felt a thud. He heard the crash before he saw the other car, and Daniel instinctively slammed on the breaks to avoid any further damage. Putting it into park, he slid out of the driver’s seat. “Are you okay?” he asked, instinctively.

He was slightly taken aback that the woman was asking him the same thing. “Me? Yeah, I’m okay. No, I’m alone.” He glanced from his car to hers and surmised that the damage was minimal. Looking up at the woman, Daniel sensed her uncertainty. “It doesn’t look too bad– I can probably buff it out, to be honest.” 

Her grip tightened around the steering wheel, as she pulled her juul back to her lips for another hit, “Well, of course I called the police. You think I was arguing with a guy named Bruce?” She hadn’t expected her teacher to be as invested in her story, but she sure was loving the attention, “Turns out he was wanted in Tucson for like, aggravated assault or something. Uh-huh.” She’d told that story a million times, but it never got old to her. It’s not like anything exciting ever happened in Wade, anyway. 

She merged into another lane, barely checking for incoming traffic. She knew these streets like the back of her hand. “Oh man. Exam season already, huh?” Albany shook her head, recalling many stressful March months cramming for finals into the wee hours of the night, “You know, I always used to hate you teachers, but now that I’m an adult I must say, teachers don’t get paid nearly as much as they should. It’s bogus, really.”

Daniel chuckled, giving her a semi-proud smile. At least from what he remembered, Daniel was surprised she hadn’t reacted in a more reckless way than to call the police. His eyebrows shot up at her statement, “Wow. That’s a close call.” He sat back in the seat, eyes trained on the road. For the first few years he’d lived in Wade, he felt he’d taken its relative normalcy for granted. Now that everything had gone to shit, it felt like he had to proceed with caution, always. Daniel only hoped that others were doing the same.

A smile cracked through the worry etched onto Daniel’s face at Albany’s admission. “Is that so?” he chuckled. “Well, I appreciate it. Not that I’m assuming you’re talking about me...” 

This was going much better than Mason assumed it would. Not that she’d expected to be turned away or insulted or for the school to implode the moment she walked inside, she just didn’t think it’d be this… easy. She took a seat in the chair he pulled up for her.

“That’s… really nice of you. Thank you,” she said, quite genuinely touched, which was immediately gobbled up by her doing a stupid impression, this one of a member of some bastardized version of Alcoholic’s Anonymous: “My name’s Mason Carpenter… And I’m a high school drop out. Sorry, sorry. That totally wasn’t appropriate.” There she went again, using humor as a defense mechanism. She knew it was transparent as a pane of glass but it was like she couldn’t stop herself. Like she didn’t know how to be any different. “Um, anyway. I pretty much made it all the way through high school. I dropped about four months til graduation. I don’t know if that makes a difference or not. To be fair, it has been some time since I was in school… I’m sure there’s a lot I’ve forgotten.”

She couldn’t believe Daniel was just sitting there with his kind stupid face, actually listening to her ramble. And he was really listening too, she noticed, not just sitting their silent and waiting for her to shut up so he could speak. This whole interaction was doing weird things to Mason, and not the kind she was used to. Had they been sexual things, she would’ve known exactly how to deal with it. But it wasn’t that at all. It was something else entirely. A feeling so utterly foreign, so abnormal, so warm and welcoming, that it almost felt… repulsive, even though she knew it shouldn’t. She just tried to ignore it. She asked, “So, Daniel… What subject do you teach?”

It was instinctive, almost, to help other people. Daniel had always figured that part of it was genetic– his parents were the most loving people he’d ever met. It was like it was in his nature to help like they had. This specific situation seemed different, though. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something about this girl– Mason Carpenter– reminded Daniel of his brother.

He laughed at her theatrical interpretation of AA and waved a hand, dismissing her apology. She still seemed nervous, but Daniel couldn’t figure out about what. He nodded, “Then, this should be relatively easy. I’m gonna recommend that we take some sort of practice test and just see which areas you need to focus on; and don’t worry, whatever isn’t my content area, I can bring in reinforcements.” Daniel chuckled, “I’m not going to touch any math or science.” 

“Just your normal selection of freaks and geeks,” Rhett replies, “Someone’s dumping their girlfriend and is scared of doing it, so I had to call her in. That was rough. Turns out she’s trying to dump him, too. Something about being better as friends. They cried. I was like, ‘please leave my office.’“ He sighs, reaching into his desk to pull out a box of M&M’s. 

He leans back in the chair again, still not entirely comfortable in both his chair and his new life. Daniel’s nice, but… too nice. Rhett hasn’t ever known anyone who’s that nice to be genuine in it. But Daniel sure seems genuine. He can’t shake that the dude is just… actually that nice. 

“I have never heard anything before in my life, and I’m offended that you’d ask,” Rhett says, casually, “Also there’s a twelfth grade girl who’s got a crush on you, just a warning.” That’s not a lie, he’s just being a bit dramatic. Rhett grins before he even looks up to see if Daniel’s horrified, he’s already sure he is, “I’m mostly joking. They do have a crush on you, it’s just not that serious.” 

Daniel chuckled. As much as he loved talking to the kids and hearing about their lives, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to do it day in day out like Rhett does. “The drama of high school.. it just never gets old, huh?” Daniel reached for a few chips.

“Would you go back? To high school, I mean?” Daniel clarified, leaning back and smiling at his friend. He didn’t know much about Rhett, but it didn’t bother him; a lot of people in Wade were pretty secretive. “I definitely wouldn’t. Couldn’t pay me enough.”

God, how could someone be so cheery all the time? Rosalyn didn’t have any personal issues with her neighbor, but she had to admit that the constant friendly smiles and the eagerness to help her out rubbed her the wrong way. She had to remind herself, though, that she felt that way about most people she came in contact with. Getting herself to become less paranoid had certainly been her biggest challenge over the years. “That’s the goal,” the dark-haired woman mumbled, stepping inside and immediately peeling her shoes off with her feet. It was only right that Rosalyn try to maintain cleanliness in other people’s homes.

Lips pressed into a tight line, she gave Daniel a nod once the laundry machine was pointed out to her. “Thanks, I’ll try not to take too long,” she said once again, gingerly opening the lid before placing her whites inside, one by one. At the suggestion, the doctor nearly did a double take, glancing over at her neighbor with an eyebrow raised. “Like, to eat? Here?” Rosalyn question, a bit thrown off by the sentiment. She parted her lips slightly, about to turn him down before her stomach suddenly started rumbling — how long had it been since she’d eaten last? Well, either way, the ‘I’m hungry’ excuse wouldn’t work. 

“I…guess that couldn’t hurt. Depends on what you’re getting,” Rosalyn closed the lid, turning to face the male. “I don’t order out very much. I’m not even sure what places do that around here — I tend to just cook for myself or do microwaved meals between shifts.”

Daniel had noticed, over their time as neighbors, Rosalyn’s observation for cleanliness in everything she does. As a surgeon, he figured it could be the difference between life and death, so he saw it as less a quirk and more of a... job necessity, so to speak. But, now that Rosalyn was inside his house, Daniel was a bit paranoid about how his things would measure up to her standards. As they made their way to the washing machine, Daniel hushed his fear by straightening pictures and picking up clutter.

He shook his head, “No, take whatever time you need.” Daniel had been trying to get to know his neighbors since he moved in, but Rosalyn kept to herself. Smiling, Daniel leaned against the kitchen doorframe, putting more space in between them– he was paranoid about crowding her, though it was a small house. “I’m not a very good cook, so delivery is necessary if I screw something up.”

Daniel pulled a few menus off of his fridge. It was old-fashioned, but growing up, they’d always had physical copies of menus for takeout/delivery, and it felt like a bit of home to him. “There’s always pizza, or that Thai place on Columbus or Italian from Joe’s. Any of those sound good?”

Daniel was leaving the school on time–for once– at 3:06 p.m. exactly. He’d decided to give himself a break from excessive grading and lesson planning today; it had been a long morning and he was exhausted. This was a good thing, Daniel’s way of making space for himself to rest. Self care, or whatever.

Waving at coworkers and students, Daniel descended the sides steps of the school; he tended to avoid the front of the building if he was trying to slip out. Plus, he parked his bike on the side, as it was closest to his classroom. Ducking out of the fluorescent lights, Daniel recognized a young man standing by the sidewalk. He’d seen him here a few times, but didn’t think he was a student.

Based on who this mystery man was hanging out with, Daniel had a few concerns. Tucking his phone into his back pocket, Daniel approached him. “Hey, man. Can I help you find something– or someone?” he smiled, genuinely wanting to help. 

Though he knew it wasn’t exactly a popular opinion, Daniel liked town gatherings. It was a good chance to see people he wouldn't otherwise see, and he thought it was important to build a sense of community– especially after what happened. The Spring Celebration was a chance to bring a sense of normalcy back to Wade, perhaps a chance to see the residents band together and overcome the chaos.

But, is anything ever that easy?

Daniel was running late– unusual for him– and by the time he’d gotten there, chaos had descended. All he saw was Red being pulled away from the Mayor, and he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Red, other than a glimpse of him in the back of the diner.

Scanning the crowd, Daniel’s eyes fell on Daphne. If anyone knew what was going on, it was her. The two had spent hours together at Red’s, and had become good friends through it all. Daniel appreciated Daphne’s kind spirit; even if she was somewhat oblivious at times, neglecting tables for minutes at a time, Daphne was always a good listener and friend to talk to.

“Hey,” he called, jogging up to her. “What’s going on? Is Red okay?”