Muses:

Hinata Ito

"What's your favorite thing here?" James didn't want to be that annoying customer, but he was staring at the menu for far too long without having a single decision in mind. "I'm not picky, there's just too many options for my brain today."

"Hey, sorry to bother you," James walked up to the man as he held a chihuahua in his arms. "but, uh, you have any idea whose dog this is?" He knew it was strange but he'd found the little guy all by itself in an alleyway. "I can't imagine a dog like this being a stray, so she has to belong to someone. I felt bad just leaving her, but I don't even know where to begin to look."

Hinata felt an immense guilt that he let how busy he was completely overshadow what was going on in his friends' lives. He cared so much about Stella, and to hear that her band broke up made his heart ache a little. He knew how important the group was to her, and he couldn't imagine how upset she may have been. He felt like a bad friend, too, but he knew he would make it up to her. For starters, he invited her out so they could talk and maybe just have fun and catch up. Surely she needed a fun night with a friend, and he knew he could use a night like that as well.

So, despite his sunburn awful sunburn, he showed up and was going to be there for her. "Stella!" He called to her with a smile as he spotted her, and he held his arms out for a hug.

Summer was always insane for Hinata working at the boat rentals. Tourists loved to visit and rent boats and even go on dolphin tours. Not to mention that Hinata was a scuba diving instructor on the side, as well as enjoying his own hobbies like deep sea fishing and surfing. He enjoyed being outside and his busy summers, but even he could get too much sun. As Hinata slowly walked into the room, he winced at the feeling of his shirt just brushing against his sunburnt skin.

"You got any tips on treating sunburns?"

It felt good to be back in Palmview-- which is something James never thought he'd say since Velvet Moon's breakup. It wasn't that he disliked his hometown, it was that after touring with his old band, life just wasn't the same. He lost Holly to her addiction for a while, the band split, and things were just... different. But James had experienced an extraordinary summer so far! He reunited with Holly and his old band, he'd played shows at bars around town, he'd even had a bit of romance that summer. Out of all these, what was making him feel on cloud nine currently, was his own little tour that started several weeks back. He and his current band had traveled to different cities and states to play small venues, and he had the opportunity to meet people that loved his music. Some were following him through their love for Velvet Moon, but others had come because they discovered his very own music. It was still wild to think about everything. Life couldn't possibly be this amazing, right? It almost felt too good to be true. No matter the case, however, James was eating it up.

Now, one of the most important things to happen upon arriving back in town was meeting up with Holly once more. He couldn't lose her-- not again. He hoped that things would continue to look up for both of them.

"I knew you'd miss me!" James teased as he led the way into the building, and he playfully nudged her side with his elbow as he did so.

where: mango bay restaurant

Anyone who knew James knew he had his moments and made a fool of himself, and drunkenly convincing himself he was the father of Savannah's child was certainly one of them. Sure, it could make sense timeline wise, but she told him he wasn't, so he was going to choose to believe that. However, the damage had been done, but he wanted to make it up to Sav and take her somewhere nice, as a proper date. He felt nervous but he knew they'd hit it off before so surely it would be fine.

James arrived at Sav's front door and knocked gently. He smiled when she answered the door. "Hey."

where: their apartment

Hinata walked into the kitchen and pulled open the fridge door to grab a water. "Hey, maybe we could go to the drive-in or like, rent a movie tonight, or something." Hinata suggested as he ran his fingers through his hair, still wet from having showered off his day at the beach.

where: pelican place mini golf

"I have a date tonight." Hinata's excitement pulled a grin onto his lips as he spoke to his friend. He and Sydney had been friends since he was young, and it wasn't out of the ordinary for them to spend a lot of time together.

"With Stella."

where: outside the amusement park

It wasn't like Hinata hadn't hung out with Stella since they'd broken up. In fact, he spent time with her and Xio, and tagged along with the rest of Tarot Deck often, but he couldn't remember the last time they were one on one, much less an actual date.

Hinata felt nervous and his palms were sweating, and he vaguely hoped it was the thought of going on the rollercoasters, but no. He knew it was because he didn't wanna make anything weird or mess anything up with Stella.

"Stella, hi." He smiled.