oh baby, you're a classic

Text -> Billie

Dakota furrowed her brows and shook her head. "No of course not. I came to that conclusion on the way back from Rhode Island." It was the drive home from Rhode Island that really set that in place for her. While she did have some good times, Dakota had a lot of regret about her time in Rhode Island. Mainly hurting Billie. She loved her. They had plans, great plans and she fucked them all up for a stupid decision.

"When'd you get back anyway?" Billie knew Dakota was around since she returned to Cider Point herself in the summer of 2021. She just never bothered to get the full story until now. She figured she might as well at this point.

closed  starter  for  billie  @fxdedmoon setting:  the  taproom

“Hey there!” she greeted, pouring the Long Island Iced Tea she had been shaking into a glass and handing it over to the patron who ordered it. “Kinda? My main hustle is promotion. I market different events and specials for a bunch of different clubs and bars in the area. I bartend at my brother’s club about once or twice a week. And at The Taproom, I’m what is known as the ‘Emergency Bartender,’ aka the one who gets called when too many of the regular bartenders call out.”

"Billie...I..." she trailed off not knowing what to say and what could she even say? Billie was completely right. Dakota's stupid decision almost cost her the best family she ever had. She was lucky that her dads and siblings welcomed her back with open arms, though they were shaky. What would she have done if they didn't want her to come back after what she put them through? "You're completely right. I was selfish, immature and wasn't considering anyone else around me when I left."

A lot of thoughts were racing through Billie's brain. 'I hate you,' 'you're a selfish bitch,' 'why do I still find you attractive after all of this,' 'leave me the hell alone.' The only one that actually managed to leave her lips was, "I really hope it didn't take you nine years to figure that part out." It really had been nine years, huh? She felt like she lived an entire lifetime since their relationship fell apart, but talking to Dakota now felt exactly the same as it did nearly a decade earlier.

"Ugh adult responsibility sucks." she groaned as she grabbed her pepsi and took a sip. "How is your apprenticeship going by the way. Are you still enjoying it?" Dakota sat up and crossed her legs in a crisscross pattern.

"You can say that again." Bellamy sat up so he could continue eating. Through a mouthful of burrito, they said, "I like it, but I wanna start tattooing people already!" They swallowed, grabbing their own soda can. "Speaking of tattooing, I wanna get a chest piece. El told me I have to wait at least another year though. Gotta make sure my top surgery scars are all healed up."

Dakota nods. "Good weed then." She chewed on her quesadilla for a few bites before letting out an excited gasp. "We should go on a road trip sometime this summer. Let's get out of town and go somewhere we've never been before. We don't have to go far, we can stay in New England but it could be a lot of fun getting out and exploring someplace new."

"I don't know if I can with this apprenticeship. Between that and actual money work, I don't really have any days off." Bellamy sighed dramatically, flopping onto their back on the couch. "Having an adult job sucks. Having adult money, on the other hand, is great."

"I'll find it, I need to be able to see it." Tabby said, a glint in her eye. She'd be like a detective on the case. "Hey, Grease 2 might have a worse plot than the first but the music is great! Where else can you watch Michelle Pfeiffer ride a ladder and sing about motorcycles? That's classic American cinema!" Another group walked on stage and Tabby gripped Billie's arm with excitement.

"Listen, I'm just as attracted to Michelle Pfeiffer as the next person, but the fucking pollen stem song is going to haunt me for the rest of my life! Not to mention the plot of both of those movies!" She sighed before noticing who she thought was Margot in the corner of her eye. "I think I found her! I'll be back. How about we meet here and we'll all go to an afterparty together?" Before giving Tabby a chance to respond, she wandered off.

"So you get it. I never intended for things to go down the way they did. I'm truly sorry that I broke your trust and our plans when I left. It was reckless and impulsive and so wasn't worth it." Dakota bit her lip and debated whether or not to voice her outward thoughts or not but decided to just go for it. "Though I will earn your trust back one day Billie."

"No, I don't actually! Would I want to meet my bio parents? Sure! But I wouldn't uproot my fucking life for them. Especially if I had adoptive parents who actually fucking loved me like yours do!" Billie never admitted it to herself, but she was jealous of the relationship Dakota had with her dads. Right after she moved back to Cider Point, her adoptive parents sold their house and took off to Martha's Vineyard, never to return. These days, she was lucky if she got so much as a phone call from her parents on holidays or her birthday.

Dakota tossed them their burrito then grabbed her quesadilla, climbing back onto the couch to tear into it. "Hmm you're probably right. What if a bot flags my account or something. So not worth it." She bites into the quesadilla and groans. "Either this is the best quesadilla ever or the weed is hitting just right."

"Well, this is Mexican food in Massachusetts... so I'd say probably the weed." Not that Bellamy had any travel experience other than bopping around different places in the state, but based on the minimal Mexican people who lived in this area, they assumed that the restaurant they DoorDashed wasn't the most authentic. Still, that first bite really hit the spot.

"Yeah, I could see that. But at least they were having fun. That's the most important part here. Like open mics are meant to be a spot for people to try being brave, and try stuff out, it's okay if it's not always a masterpiece. I'm sorry I missed it though, I'll have to find a video so I can check if they matched the choreography well enough. You know how much I love Grease."

“Oh I’m sure someone took a video.” Was that a good thing? Probably not. But that also wasn’t her business. “Yeah, that's where I have to disagree with you. I still haven’t forgiven you for making me watch Grease 2.”