@ My Worst

Randy Fluggerbutter // 23 // Gamer // Non-Magical

How much time? She thought to herself, unsure if giving herself time would actually help her feel any better. She’s been in love with Dewey for years, maybe longer than she even realized and by the point she finally had, it was way too late for Candy to want and love someone else. And it wasn’t as if she hadn’t tried to, it only proven to be difficult for her. Very difficult.

But if anyone who understood the best on where Candy was coming from, it was Randy. And he does seem to be doing better for himself now, in spite of everything that he himself had to go through. Things he was still going through. However, didn’t he also have someone else to fall back onto back when he and Tinsley broke up? Candy didn’t know the full story between Randy and the other girl, it wasn’t something she felt the need to pay much attention to until, well, Dewey and Tinsley began to date. But at the same time, Randy wasn’t with that other girl anymore. She thinks. Or were they? Did any of that had actually help?

“Do you…..” She started to say, hesitantly. “…..Do you think you could help me?” Candy questioned, keeping her gaze still focused at the ground. If she were to try and move on by doing so by herself, than Candy knows it would be very difficult for her. It may never happen. But if she had someone there to help her do so than maybe…… maybe she would be able to. “….As a friend, I mean.” She clarified, finally choosing to shift her gaze back at Randy. There was vulnerability within her eyes. “Can you help me so I would be able to stop thinking about him like that anymore?” 

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What Candy asked him next came as a huge surprise to Randy. No one ever asked him for help with anything — no one trusted him to follow through with his word, or to even contribute to anything positively. He was seen as a ticking time-bomb, “sober” but ready to crack at any moment. They weren’t wrong, though, as Randy didn’t trust himself, either.

Helping Candy, though, was something that Randy would probably be good at. At least, somewhat. She didn’t say his help had to be good, right? He breathed out a small chuckle, shrugging his shoulders. “I ... I don’t know if it’s smart to ask for my help,” he admitted, meeting Candy’s gaze. Seeing her so fragile, though, so heartbroken like he had made Tinsley all those months ago, it did make him feel guilty. Maybe this was his way of making up for his wrongdoings.

Jane had never been confused for anyone since she arrived, she wondered who he might have been mistaking her for. Jane thought they never really looked like everyone else and stuck out like a sore thumb. They were just strange. “Randy?” It sounded familiar, maybe they had met before or she’d heard the name in passing. “I’m Jane, it’s nice to meet you.” They took in another deep inhale of their cigarette as the thought started to settle in. “Go right ahead.” She motioned for him to sit beside her. “Maybe we met in passing at the ball? Did you go?”

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Randy nodded as they repeated his name, wondering if hearing it had made them recognize him. That didn’t seem to be the case, though, which was actually surprising to him. He was easily recognized in public, for more things than just his streaming platform. “You too,” he replied simply, the name not sounding familiar at all to him. It was nice, though, to meet a fresh face that wasn’t going to judge him for his past actions that others always held over his head. Sitting beside her, there was a moment of silence until Jane had mentioned the ball. “Oh yeah, I was there. I went with a .... a friend,” Randy admitted with a small shrug. It was a little sad, how he never got to fully be in a relationship with Wendy, and now that they were simply friends .. he felt sort of lost. He used to always have Tinsley to fall back on, but with her being happily in a relationship now, it was like he was finally trying to find himself for the first time. “So you were there, too? Maybe I did see you.”

     She returned his smirk, leaning back to stretch her limbs after playing tensely and letting out a gleeful laugh. “Yes, that felt sooo good,” she answered, dropping her controller on the couch. Maybe it was her competitive streak, but it was so much more rewarding to win a close game than one where she wasn’t being challenged. It felt like she actually earned something. And seeing Randy get all worked up over a video game was a nice change of pace too; sometimes she wondered whether he had lost his passion for the activity as a whole. Somewhere along the line, his dedication to streaming had waned and it was more like getting a kid to do chores to have him maintain his activity among the racers. It was just nice to see that this was still something Randy could enjoy on its own. “Now what?” she asked. “Do you want to play another round or do something else?”

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For the first time in a long time, Randy had actually put Tinsley in a good mood, in the form of her beating him in a round of video games. Even though he lost, making her smile again was a win in itself. It was true that he’d been treating her like shit for a long time, even before the break up and the fight, but now he was finding small ways to make up for all those shitty things he did. In a way, them now being just friends had done wonders so far to mending their toxic relationship. It felt like forever since they’d last played video games together like this, and it was clear that Tinsley still held an intense passion for the hobby, while Randy had slowly fallen out of that headspace. He loved gaming, sure, and loved streaming too, but .. more important things had been on his mind lately than his gaming skills and how many followers he had.

“School. Building my empire. Pageants. You know, typical me things,” she said with a shrug before nodding her head. If there was one thing Randy knew it was expensive taste with booze which she appreciated because she had expensive taste in general. “Don’t try to give me anything too strong, I would like to not feel like hell tomorrow.” She followed him to the kitchen and leaned against the counter a little bit. “How has life been for you? Still breaking hearts? Still with Tinsley?”

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“So not much has changed with you either?” Randy teased, leading her to the kitchen. “I haven’t been drinking anything strong lately, to be honest. I actually stopped drinking for awhile,” he admitted, going to the fridge and pulling out an open bottle of his mom’s wine. He wasn’t ashamed that he broke his sobriety at this point, unless he was telling it to someone who actually believed he was gonna keep up with it. Most people didn’t have that much faith in him, though. As he grabbed two glasses for them, a chuckle escaped his lips, shaking his head. “Something like that.. Uh, Tinsley and I split months ago. You didn’t hear about all the drama?” He asked, pouring the wine into both glasses. “Yeah, she’s .. She’s been with some other guy for awhile now.” He let out a small sigh, handing one glass to Mina. “I am no longer Tinsley’s problem.” He clinked his glass against hers, taking a sip. Wine was never his go to, but he had been changing things up since he started indulging in alcohol again, avoiding hard liquor unless he was actually going out with friends or something. “I’ve been okay though. Just trying to stay out of trouble.”

Anna covered her mouth with her hand in shock at Randy’s information–she thought that the two were for sure going to be together forever back in high school. Now that they were adults, she supposed plans changed. “Oh, I’m–I’m so sorry to bring that up, then. I had no idea,” she admitted, letting out a laugh. “The problem is, my sister and my friends also aren’t big social media people, so we’re kind of a hopeless bunch. I would love a few lessons from an expert, though, if you have time. I can offer candy in exchange for Internet lessons.” With a shrug, Anna picked up a bag of her favorite chocolate, then reluctantly reached for another, as if she were offering to him. “Yeah, I guess. It’s not like I have anything else to do, you know? I mean, Elsa’s always busy with her important stuff, so it gets a little lonely at home.”

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The shocked reaction he received from Anna was confirmation that she truly was out of the loop. This was both a surprise and not a surprise at the same time — he knew she was always oblivious, but he also genuinely thought everyone knew what happened with him these past few months. It was a reminder that the world didn’t revolve around Randy Fluggerbutter which, was sort of a relief. “It’s alright, it’s not a big deal,” he chuckled, shrugging it off, hoping she wouldn’t ask what happened. It wasn’t fun getting into the whole background of his downward spiral, after all. “Yeah, for sure, you could come over sometime and I could show you the ropes. As long as they’re Reese’s Cups, I’m in.”

@fluggerbutterr​

Romeo wasn’t quite sure how he ended up at this party. One moment he was on a casual date with some guy and then his date suggested a party. Before he knew it Roo was a few beers in and a line down in the bathroom. He’d long since lost his ‘date’ who knows how long ago and was now making his way through the unfamiliar house trying to find a bathroom. Every door he looked in was wrong and he felt like he had gone in circles and opened every door except the bathrooms at least twice. Maybe he was just fucked up though. He wasn’t sure. Anxiety started kicking in when he realized he didn’t recognize anyone there to ask either. When he finally opened one last door he came face to face with none other than Randy. His eyes went wide for a moment and he took a step back. “Oh, uh, hey. Didn’t expect to see you here. This wouldn’t happen to be the bathroom would it?”

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Randy was more fucked up than he had been in awhile. He’d only taken a few shots, had a few beers, but when he’d been sober for awhile and strictly smoking, the booze seemed to hit much quicker. He’d been making some new friends that night and feeling like himself again for the first time in awhile, but it was only a matter of time before he needed to get out of the crowd of people and find a bathroom. Under the bathroom lights, looking at himself in the mirror as he washed his hands, he realized he was struggling to fully focus. “Fuck,” he mumbled, deciding to splash some water on his face. He didn’t want to be like this tonight — he told himself he could keep it under control, but .. now he wasn’t so sure. After drying off his face, he left the bathroom but was immediately met with a familiar face he hadn’t seen in awhile. “Oh shit,” he said in surprise, but a smile surprisingly formed. “Uh.. Yeah, it is,” he said, stepping out of the way for Roo to go in if he needed to. “Yeah, uh .. It’s been awhile. I’ve been kinda out of the party scene lately,” he chuckled awkwardly. “It’s good to see you though. How’ve you been?”

     It honestly didn’t matter that Randy had no plans to do anything with Candy—neither had Dewey, and that ended up being a problem in itself since she had fallen hard for the guy. After having her heart broken, she was especially vulnerable and the last thing she needed was to spend any time around a violent, alcoholic fuckboy, whether there was anything beyond ‘friendship’ to their recent interactions or not. Everyone knew what kind of person Randy Fluggerbutter was, and Grenda didn’t need to hear anything more than that he was hanging around their best friend in any aspect to be concerned about his influence on her.

     “You didn’t understand, so let me spell it out for you.” They scowled. “I’m not making her choice for her, I’m making yours.” Grenda loved Candy Chiu more than anything in the fucking universe, and the girl needed somebody looking after her right now—which was her soulmates, not some douche-bag who didn’t care either way. “If you don’t wanna stay away from her, you’re gonna have to get through me. You decide.”

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Jesus Christ, Randy thought to himself, not expecting to be bombarded by an obviously overprotective friend of Candy’s. It should have been obvious that if he did have plans to mess with Candy’s heart or try to get in her pants, he certainly would have done so by now. After all, he had zero things going on in his life right now, and his boredom was always what lead to his stupid actions.

He held his hands up defensively, taking another step back. “Alright, Jesus fucking Christ, I’ll leave her alone.” He dropped his hands down as he added, “I’m pretty sure she was just using me to get back at Dewey, anyway. At least, at first. But seriously, I’m the last person trying to cause problems right now.”

@fluggerbutterr

Mina hadn’t been to Randy’s in a long time. She wasn’t even sure if he was going to respond to her impulsive text with how long it felt like, but when he did she couldn’t help but light up a little bit. Randy was….a nice escape. He was someone who understood her and didn’t need to question her or what she wanted and she liked that. It was easy and it was simple and she still probably had some unresolved feelings, sure, but she could play them off well enough to the point where she was convinced they didn’t exist. So as she stood in front of the door to his giant home she smoothed out her outfit, checked her compact to make sure she was looking amazing as always, and grinned brightly at him when the door did happen. “Hey stranger,” she greeted, stepping inside and giving a brief side hug. “I see not much has changed.”

.

Getting a text from Mina of all people was definitely unexpected, but Randy wasn’t going to question it. In fact, he text her back almost immediately, letting her know that he was home alone and wouldn’t mind the extra company. Anyone he hadn’t heard from awhile, he grew to assume that they’d become tired of his antics and moved on to better, more important people. Lucky for him, though, there were somehow still people that wanted him around.

“If I wanted to kill ya, we both know you would be dead already,” was all Van added before rolling their eyes. “And it’s not that I don’t think you can’t act cool, I just don’t know if you will…never mind.” She started walking up the trail, making sure he was close behind her. After a few minutes of walking she stopped. “Alright, here is where we make a detour.” She started venturing off the path, walking upwards until she finally got to it. Her perfect resting spot on the top of the hill that just…seemed to have the best view of Walt Grove from a distance. She had a blanket out already from the last time she was there and thank god it hadn’t rained or anything like that because it still looked pretty fine. Then again, she had only been away from it for twenty-four hours. 

“This is my…I guess it’s my thinking spot. Or something. I dunno. I go here when I don’t want to be down there,” she says, gesturing to the town below them. “Thought you would appreciate it or whatever.”

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“You’re right,” Randy chuckled, knowing damn well she would’ve just killed him the car ride there instead of luring him to the woods. “What?” He asked, eyebrows still narrowed, but Vanya seemed dead set on leaving the conversation at that and leading him wherever the hell they were going. As they mentioned a detour, his quizzical look remained, but he didn’t argue as he continued to follow.

As soon as Vanya stopped, Randy noticed right away the view that was in front of them. It was .... actually amazing, stopping in his tracks just to take in the sight. “Damn,” he finally broke the silence, looking from the town to Vanya. “This is fuckin’ sick,” he admitted, sitting down on the blanket that was already laid out for them. “How’d you even find this place?”

The soft touch pulled Cami from her thoughts. I’d seemed like forever since she had any sort of physical comfort. She went from having Noah all the time, to nothing when she needed it the most. Reaching over she lightly took his hand in hers to just have a little support in it all. If anyone understood to some degree it was Randy. And of all people, that was just some sort of messy luck. Biting her lip she shrugged her shoulders softly. “It .. added, but end of the day I just know he deserves so much better. It’s less tension or whatever between two of the most important people to me, and yeah. It’s… it happened.” Was all she really could say. Cami was the only one to blame here for how much she was hurting. She knew the boys would stick it out and either get over it, and not like each other in silence.  

Catching the way he smiled she just rolled her eyes. Unsure of what sort of trouble she was going to be finding herself in when it came to Randy. “Mmm.. are you sure you have all that under control? I don’t want to feel responsible if you spiral or something, Randy. And you’ve come so far. If you trust yourself, then okay.. because that would be nice. You will also just have to babysit my phone because the second I get a few in me I am going to be calling and texting Noah and he will see that I am very unwell.” She pointed out with a small laugh. “You have a lot to lose, don’t even.  Look how far you’ve come. And if you don’t see anything to lose you should be thinking you have so much to gain.” 

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Randy was never really the comforting, affectionate type, so this was pretty unusual for him. He always had a soft spot for Cami, though, as she was always there for him in his darkest moments. “I don’t think that’s true,” Randy admitted, narrowing his eyebrows. “Just because our group of friends has tension or whatever, doesn’t mean he deserves better. You’re pretty great, Cami, you should be less hard on yourself.” It was true that out of all the racers, Cami was probably one of the kindest.

He shrugged his shoulders at her question. “I don’t know. Haven’t fucked anything up too badly recently, have I?” He asked, his smile still present. “You’re not responsible for my fuck ups, Cami, I promise. And I can also promise that neither of us will be near our phones,” he replied, already snatching her phone from her and putting them somewhere safe. After drunk texting Wendy when going out with Swizz a few nights before, it only made sense to hide both of their phones. “Besides, we don’t even have to go anywhere. You know my dad always has shit hidden somewhere. Come on,” he motioned for her to follow him downstairs. “Alright, alright, I hear ya. I’ll stop talking down on myself now, if that’s really what you want.”

Even if he had ensured Wendy he was fine and that she didn’t need to stop by, he knew her well enough to know that she would worry, anyway. Besides, it would be nice to see her again. The two hadn’t crossed paths since the ball, as Randy was giving her the space she needed and giving himself time to attempt to be better. Obviously, the space was only making him worse, but it was probably good for her. Honestly, he was surprised she hadn’t completely given up on him yet.

     Carrying around some basic first-aid wasn’t something Prilla would consider impressive, so much as just being well-prepared. She had been baby-sitting small kids for years, so it was an absolute necessity to keep band-aids on hand. But besides that, it came in handy plenty of other times; some of her friends needed extra attention as well, and she wasn’t the least-clumsy among them herself…“Well, I like gymnastics, but I don’t always stick the landing,” she replied as her half-joking excuse, smiling as the stranger patched himself up and clapping when it looked like he was all taken care of. “There you go. Now you can run another ten miles if you want!”

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Swizz shrugged at his friend’s question, honestly not really sure what was the issue with himself. Ever since seeing Oliver at the dance and being stood up by Fawn, it felt like he’d been hit in too many directions by people. “I don’t know, dude. I’m just in a shitty mood about everything right now. People suck, man,” he complained, taking a swig from the flask in his pocket, not bothering to offer any to Randy, who was supposed to be getting sober. “So, does all of this mean you’re officially done with Wendy? She doesn’t seem like the type of girl who would be cool with you going out to try and get laid while you’re still talking.”

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Randy knew everything had been back and forth for both of them, but he didn’t think that would discourage Swizz from wanting to let loose and have fun. Although, the entire plan in itself was pretty selfish on Randy’s part — he was just desperate for a distraction, wanting to feel like his old self again even if he knew that was toxic. He needed something, anything. “Yeah, people do suck, that’s why we might as well hang around people we don’t know,” he countered nonchalantly with a shrug. Watching Swizz drink from his flask was almost torture, wanting to bug him for a drink but knowing his friend was trying to be a good influence on him. “Yeah, I don’t know,” he answered at the mention of Wendy. “I’ve been giving her space and I think we’re just .. doing our own thing. After the fight, things just haven’t been the same between us.” He could only blame himself for that, of course. “But enough about me, dude. Let’s just have some fun and see where the night takes us, yeah?”

Randy’s simplistic answer left Anna wanting more information out of him, and she found herself trying to be as vague as possible when asking for just that. “That’s good, you know, I’m probably the same. How’s, um, Tinsley doing? If you know, that is. I don’t really do the whole social media thing, so sorry if I’m asking the obvious,” she admitted with a shaky laugh. “Like, I’d love to and all, but I’m honestly not really sure how. I probably sound dumb, talking about this to someone who, like, does all of that for a living. Anyway, besides that, I’m good! I decided to go to school, so…that’s a bit of an adjustment, but at least it’s keeping me busy.”

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Randy had forgotten how out of the loop Anna always was; she was obviously very sheltered and had zero idea about anything that had happened between him and Tinsley. In fact, it was almost kind of funny that she’d even ask about her to him, as if Randy truly knew how Tinsley was doing. Of course, he knew she was happy and in love with Dewey, but at the end of the day, the two racers weren’t as close nowadays as they once were. “Right, Tinsley,” he chuckled awkwardly, looking down at his feet for a second as he thought of what to say. “No, it’s cool, uh ... I think she’s doing good. Probably great, actually. We .. We broke up awhile ago.” He nodded his head, meeting her gaze again as a smile formed at her words. Truthfully, Anna hadn’t changed much at all since he’d last spoken to her. “Honestly, if you want some help getting into it, I really have nothing going on lately.” It was true, and staying sober meant he had a lot more free time on his hands, constantly searching for a distraction to keep him from slipping up again. “Oh, nice. It’s good to stay busy.”

Hearing him suddenly laugh didn’t do well in calming her, if anything, Candy’s arms had tightened even more around the pillow as she didn’t know if Randy laughing was meant to be a good thing or not. It wasn’t until he clarified that he found what she had finished explaining as funny was when the girl loosened her grip a little. 

“…..He claimed that what you said was the stupidest thing he’s ever heard while bringing up how you are a drop out.” Candy added, her face still very much buried into the pillow. Because of that, she hadn’t noticed yet that he sat back down next to her when he had asked her that question. “Which…..in retrospect, you not attending college anymore doesn’t negate how knowledgeable you are nor does that mean you couldn’t have still been right…… Dewey didn’t even deny it being true either.” She sighed, not thinking about how that response she had received from Dewey could’ve been taken positively. He was really pissed off by her even talking to Randy, but then again, that was only because he was angry that she spoke to the same guy who had injured him. “……The mere mention of your name didn’t please him at all.”

Would Dewey get over it? Candy was unsure and as of now, she couldn’t see him getting over all of this anytime soon and why would he? So much had been revealed during their fight, she imagined it would take months before Dewey got over it— years even, and that is if he doesn’t choose to forget it all instead. Forget her. Candy didn’t want that to happen, but instead of voicing her opinion to what Randy had said, she shook her head and stayed silent instead. She only reacted again when she felt his arm around her shoulder, the girl instinctively leaning against him in return. “…..I don’t know.” She replied in a broken whisper. “I want to be……I do, but……I love him yet he doesn’t love me. And now he doesn’t want me around either….. how?” 

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Randy knew his laughter would have come off as shitty at first, which was why he immediately apologized. Candy was obviously still upset, but honestly .... Randy didn’t think it was all that bad. He didn’t fully understand how close Candy and Dewey really were before though, or how strong her feelings were toward him.

He rolled his eyes as Candy admitted what Dewey said. “Fuckin’ douchebag,” he mumbled, deep down still hating the guy after all the shit the two had been through together. He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s whatever. I don’t really give a shit what he thinks anymore.” And he meant that. If Tinsley truly was happy with Dewey, Randy was no longer in the mindset of getting in the way of that. Now, Randy wanted to find his own happiness like Tinsley did, but he wasn’t sure if that were even possible.