Gwen Archer

“And that is surprising why?” He knew absolutely nothing about plants, and he wasn’t joking when he said it. “I kept a hamster alive for three years. Which is like, pretty awesome considering they usually only live to be two or so.” He laughed, tilting his head as he tested the railing, leaning against it. “A bumble bee, huh? I wanted to be a basketball player.” He smirked. “I could see you being a bee, though. You’re pretty spiky.” He picked at the paint on the railing, eyeing her. “My youngest sister- the one I was talking about- is six. The one after her is fifteen, and then there’s me. My older brother is twenty seven.” Wren looked at her with excitement across his face as he waited for her to turn on the flashlight, but it quickly dissipated when there was no light. “Seriously?” He huffed, looking back down to his phone and turning the flashlight on. “There.” Wren smirked, turning the light back off. They had to preserve what he had of his battery until it got too dark. “We’d better get to exploring before it does get too dark, though.” Turning, he began to walk around the platform, trying to stay as close to the wall as he could. He wasn’t about to fall god knows how far down, and he especially didn’t want Gwen to come tumbling down with him. “Okay, stay against the walls as best as you can.” He walked sideways against the wall, slowly shuffling his feet.

“Plants are difficult. There are some that are simple to take care of but they’re so temperamental.” He laughed with her. “My sister wants to be something different every week. She watches all these YouTube channels so she wants to be a vet, and a youtuber, and live on a farm. Maybe I’ll suggest botanist to her. I think if the only thing I had in my apartment was plants, I’d probably talk to them too as long as, someone else is coming over sometimes to take care of them.” Wren often babysat some of his sister’s plants, and nine out of ten times they would end up dead when she got back. He pulled out his own phone, pressing the button. “Mine’s forty.” He looked back up at her. “Sun’s gonna be setting soon and we’re going to need a source of light if we’re going to explore, of course.”

he merely gave a shrug of his shoulders, gaze that DARED her to try it, “suit yourself. but don’t say i didn’t warn you.” though her reaction was pretty priceless and it has him laughing out loud, shaking his head, “fuck if i know. seems like they weren’t trying to make it taste good. just to make it LOOK good. good news…it’s strong as fuck though.”

"No!” she protested. “I expect drinks made for special occasions with fun names shouldn’t taste like regret, but only make me feel it afterwards. Like a normal drink should!”she waved her finger around. “And I know that sounds really ambitious, but—damnit! It won’t go away!” She quickly grabbed hold of her own drink, a rum and coke, taking a large gulp. “Nope. That made it worse,” she complained as she brought her napkin to her mouth once more.

“men.” she chirped in agreement, nodding her head as she took a sip from the beer in hand, “the bastard cheated on me. so fuck him, honestly.”

"Yeah, fuck him!” she nodded in solidarity. “You do kinda make me wish I did a little something more to my ex after I found him cheating. But I guess leaving him to figure out how to afford the rent for our apartment all on his own is about the same thing,” she shrugged.

       “she asked for two percent because she’s apparently allergic to one percent.” he rolls his eyes, grabbing a cloth to wipe down the counter. “she claimed i put one percent in, which i didn’t but you know- customer have the right to be wrong.” benny thought working restaurants was hard, but dealing with karen’s with ridiculous allergies in the wee early hours of the morning is a whole knew ring of hell in dante’s inferno. “i should’ve spit in it.”

Arms crossed over her chest while she leaned against the counter and gave him a look of disbelief as he relayed his story. “Ugh. What a wench,” she replied in annoyance for the man. “I bet you she doesn’t even really know the difference between one-percent and two-percent anyways. She’s probably just one of those miserable people who get off on making other people’s day shit.” She sighed shaking her head and let her arms drop to her side as she stood up straight once more. She had gotten so distracted with the exchange between the barista and the terrible customer, she never really took notice of the clean up the man was doing.  “Oh shit. I’m sorry, man,” Gwen apologized. “Can I give you a hand?”

me:

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Me: [ sharp inhale of breath ]

“i think his scent has been like…fucked with because his dick is so smelly.” she tried to keep a straight face before breaking into a laughter, “no fuck if i know, i guess he was just lathering and not really thinking about it?”

Gwen made a face of disgust at hearing the initial reason. Her face relaxed into relief once a laugh escaped the other’s lips. “Men,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “So, what did he do to fall victim to your awesome stealth skills?

Wren leaned over slightly to look at the picture on the phone. “Oh yeah. So you’re a plant person? My little sister likes plants. Like a lot. It’s actually kinda weird. She like talks to them, and knows so much about them. Too much about them. And not just normal facts. Weird facts. So, just…” he trailed off with a shake of his head, smiling. “Stella is a cute name.” Walking up the stairs, they creaked the whole way up. He was surprised that it had only taken a couple of minutes to get to the top. “This is totally worth it! See? There’s no boogie men in here.” The setting sun could lead to problems in the near future, and Wren was worried about it. “Your phone is charged, right?” he asked hopefully.

        benny grabs some napkins from behind the counter and starts wiping at his shirt. he had nothing to change into nor the desire to go the last half an hour of his shift shirtless so- drying it out is the best he can do. he momentarily jumps when the other speaks, having lost himself in what he was doing. a simple shake of his head and half smile is given. “it’s fine, throwing water at her might just end up melting her and then you’ll be charged for murder. then i’ll be wracked with guilt when you get put behind bars.”

She took a moment to contemplate the potential outcome of her actions that was offered. “Hmm...I guess you’re right. And I’m too pretty for prison,” she joked. “But damn. What was ‘wrong,’” she air quoted, “with that chick’s drink anyway? Did you, like, use 1-percent instead of 2-percent?” The way the woman had reacted to the barista, Gwen was a thousand-percent sure it just had to be over something stupid.

“Obviously it’s because of my irresistible looks and my amazing personality.” Wren laughed. Pieces of the lighthouse that had crumbled to the ground over the years crunched beneath their feet. “Maybe we’re in the next Blair Witch movie. Just don’t disappear on me. I don’t want to find you facing a corner somewhere in here.” He gave her a faux pout when she snapped at him, before breaking out into laughter, the sound booming as it echoed. “Sorry. It’s just what this made me think of. At least we aren’t waiting in line to get onto a roller coaster. Then you would really hate me.” Wren’s brows furrowed. “Stella?” He slipped his arm out of hers, walking to the bottom of the staircase. He put one foot on the first step, a small creak as he lowered his weight onto it. “Well…” He craned his neck forward, trying to get a better look up the stairs. They were mostly in place, aside from a few that had fallen to the ground. “We will probably be okay. Maybe stay to the side of the railing as you walk up and try not to fall through the spaces.” Wren took another step up to the next, more awful creaking as he did so. “Come on,” he said, motioning her over to him. 

She looked at him surprised, but her expression quickly softened at the realization that he couldn’t possibly have known who she was talking about. “Hold on.” She held up her finger and pulled out her phone. She scrolled through her phone’s gallery until she found a picture of her plant. “This is Stella,” she showed him proudly. Looking at the picture herself, she asked, “Isn’t she gorgeous.” Gwen waited in place as Wren inspected the stairs. “I don’t know if I can promise I won’t fall. Gravity and I have been arch enemies for a while now,” she commented as she walked to him. She held on to a part of the bottom of his shirt as she carefully walked up the stairs, making sure to keep her eyes on the steps underneath their feet. It only took a couple of minutes, but they had finally reached the top. “Wow,” escaped from her lips as she laid her eyes upon the sun setting in the distance. “This is probably the one time I can actually say going through some scary shit was worth it!”

“I’m not talking crazy. I swear I have read that somewhere…. Or at least that’s what I remember that article was about,” Kari reasoned out, though there was no reasoning out that’s happening. “National Doughnut Day is not a holiday, Gwen! That’s different from Christmas, which is a real holiday!”

Lifting her drink to her lips, Gwen looked at Kari skeptically. “How can you be sure you didn’t make that up in your head? I mean, you work so damn much, I wouldn’t be surprised if you started dreaming about reading articles.” Her eyebrows raised upon hearing the correction Kari made. “You take that back! If I can get a coupon in the mail telling me to celebrate National Doughnut Day with some discount, then a holiday it can’t not be! ”

“—huh? What do you mean it’s not yet Christmas?” Kari asked as she held her 6th bottle of beer. “Everyday is Christmas. Christmas lives in us. There have been studies about Christmas being everyday. You can’t contradict that. And no, I’m not drunk.” @wellcliffstarters​

Gwen had only begun to take a sip of her second drink of the night when they got into the debate of Christmas. “Okay, happy,” the brunette replied, eyeing the bottle in the other woman’s hand. “Now you’re just talkin’ crazy. Because it’s not always the ‘most wonderful time of the year’. But you know what holiday we should celebrate everyday? National Doughnut Day!”

“As a tall person, I could help you with that. Imagine: a world where you could reach shelves.” Wren giggled, looking back to her. His body buzzed with excitement, and he bit his lip in an attempt to calm the underlying anxiety. Slowly, he pushed the large wooden door open; it creaked loudly. Stepping inside the lighthouse, Wren pulled Gwen’s arm closer, looking up the rotted winding staircase. “It is beautiful.” There were small beams of light coming in through the cracks of the walls; it smelled like rotting wood and the large structure creaked as the wind blew. “This lighthouse better not go all Final Destination on us.” He laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"Why do you think I keep you around?” she joked right back. The creak of the door echoed in the dim lit space. Gwen’s mouth stood agape as she took in the abandoned scene before her. “I would’ve went with creepy, but sure.  I guess it’s beautiful, in a horror-movie kind of way,” she stated, moving closer to the man as the dilapidated structure made noises. She could feel her nervousness rising the more they walked further into the old tower. Her eyes went wide and her head snapped in his direction. “Why would you put that thought in my head?!” She didn’t mean to sound as scared as she did. She was pretty confident they were fine exploring the long forgotten lighthouse. Why else would there be no permanent lock on its door or signs outside warning them to keep out? “Who’s gonna tell Stella that I loved her if we go out this way?” Stella was her Venus flytrap. It was the first--and only--plant she ever managed to keep alive. So the carnivorous flora was one of few things she held very dear to her. “At least I left the window open for her,” she added, pretended sadness in her voice. Noticing the stairs in the distance and its decaying state, she wondered aloud, “Do you think we should even try going up to the top?”