CONNOR STORRIE For Cultured Magazine (2025)

"oh!" was all summer could get out before charlie was out of her reach and running towards the other young girl a distance away. she couldn't help but laugh at how quickly her daughter moved, nor at the way the two girls clung to each other as if they'd been apart for a decade- no dna test was needed for charlie, that was absolutely her kid. her eyes shifted then to spencer, and her face broke out into a grin. "oh, you're an angel," summer said, eyeing the drinks. her eyes shifted to the girls once more, and she let out a small, amused hum. "they do know they saw each other a week ago, right?"

a  laugh  is  drawn  out  of  him,  watches  as  sami  instinctively  pulls  charlie  towards  the  water,  her  dyed  dark  red  curls  briefly  brightening  under  the  sunlight,  going  on  about  how  they  should  totally  play  mermaids  now  that  she  looks  like  one.  “  couldn't  come  empty  handed,  ”  he  says  with  a  shrug,  sitting  down  next  to  summer  and  pulling  his  drink  out  of  the  carrier  before  taking  a  quick  sip.  “  you  know  how  they  are.  they're  like  magnets,  can't  stay  away  from  each  other  even  if  they  tried,  ”  he  remarks.

“  that's  valid,  i  don't  wanna  be  the  center  of  drama,  either.  ”  although  he  does  sometimes  like  the  attention  that  comes  from  it  (typical  leo  behavior).  he  ponders  on  the  question  for  a  moment,  takes  a  drag  from  his  cigaratte  before  he  finally  finds  his  answer.  “  dr.  marquez,  from  surgery.  tall,  fit,  helped  with  my  truck  accident  patient  the  other  day?  ”  he  settles  on  saying,  smirk  tugging  on  his  lips.  of  course,  he'd  never  actually  sleep  with  anyone  at  the  hospital,  but  he  has  eyes  and  can  tell  when  someone's  good  looking  enough  to  consider  it.  “  too  bad  he's  straight,  though.  at  least  that's  what  the  nurses  tell  me,  ”  he  adds  with  a  shrug.  “  you  already  know  everything  about  my  life,  ”  spencer  reminds.  probably  too  much,  though  he  supposes  that's  how  best  friends  work.  “  i'd  rather  it  be  painfully boring  than  needlessly  dramatic.  ”

"...earth to spencer, hello, hello!" kajsa rolls her eyes, waving one of her hands in front of her roommate's face. she has just been pacing around the living room, telling him about her encounter with one of her ex-hookups at the market earlier in the morning. it was awkward, having to abruptly end whatever it was that transpired between them, and here she was, rambling about just how of all places, they bump into each other there. "okay, pause. what the fuck is going on and why are you like in a different dimension right now?"

he  was  paying  attention  to  whatever  it  was  kajsa  was  sharing,  for  the  most  part.  his  mind  just  …  wandered  off,  exhaustion  trying  to  catch  up  with  him  despite  the  two  mugs  of  coffee  he  had  earlier  that  morning.  he  blinks  once,  twice,  then  looks  up  at  his  roommate  from  where  he  sat  on  the  couch.  “  sorry,  sorry,  ”  he  apologizes,  shaking  his  head  in  an  attempt  to  force  himself  awake.  “  i  got,  like,  three  hours  of  sleep  today,  ”  he  explains,  fighting  back  an  aptly-timed  yawn.  “  anyway,  you  were  saying?  ”

spencer  squares  his  shoulders  at  the  sound  of  his  name,  in  an  attempt  to  look  alert  and  present  and  not  like  his  mind  is  elsewhere.  there  had  been  a  lot  on  it,  lately,  thoughts  swirling  in  his  brain  that  he'd  rather  not  think  about,  but  push  through  the  barriers  he  tries  to  put  up  in  his  head  anyway.  but  he  pushes  them  away  again.  clearly,  school  supply  shopping  is  the  priority  right  now.  “  sorry,  ”  he  mumbles  sheepishly,  pushing  the  cart  to  the  side  of  aisle  to  stare  at  the  shelf  of  materials  too.  “  what  are  we  looking  for  again?  ”

phoenix let out a sigh of relief when he saw the other's phone was okay, though he had the money, he didn't want the other upset. that's the last thing he'd want, for anyone. "oh yeah, spencer! hey man, yeah i'm phoenix!" he smiled, his tone energetic. remembering how he had mentioned his split ends, during their last meeting. "oh i got that trim by the way, how have you been doing?" he asked, his tone sweet like honey.

the  mention  of  their  last  conversation  gets  a  laugh  out  of  him,  mostly  because  he  remembers  how  much  he  sounded  like  his  mother,  bringing  up  split  ends  and  all.  he's  the  son  of  a  hairdresser,  what  can  you  do?  “  been  in  the  trenches  at  work,  but  i've  been  doing  alright,  ”  his  tone  is  mostly  joking,  but  there's  some  sincerity  in  his  words.  “  how  about  you?  ”

cameron could tell that spencer had been low on sleep. he seemed absolutely exhausted. a feeling that cameron had also knew too well whenever it came to him having to work late. " no worries. you look tired, man. " he'd say. pouring a cup of coffee for himself and then pouring some for spencer, if he wanted it. " i was just going to ask you if you wanted coffee or something. you just seemed like you needed it. " he slid the mug over towards him anyway, taking a sip from his own. " did you have a long day yesterday ? or did you just not sleep well ? "

“  that  obvious?  ”  spencer  asks,  drawing  out  an  awkward  laugh.  he'd  tried  his  best  not  to  seem  too  tired  in  front  of  cameron  out  of  politeness,  but  that  obviously  didn't  go  according  to  plan.  he  graciously  accepts  the  mug  wordlessly,  taking  a  sip  and  allowing  the  bitter  taste  to  try  to  wake  him  up.  “  both,  i  guess,  ”  he  answers.  “  worked  overtime  and  then  a  couple  co-workers  wanted  to  go  out,  and  i  couldn't  really  say  no.  ”

⋆.°    ᝰ.ᐟ     when astrid doesn’t hear a response from the person next to her,  she finally glances up.  the look of someone running on very limited sleep is one she’s able to identify right away.  and she really doesn’t miss her residency days.  “  i asked if you wanted coffee,  ”  she holds up the cup of coffee towards spencer.  “  or a redbull,  monster,  celsius  ?  ”

lips  purse  into  a  thin  line.  he  wasn't  exactly  the  biggest  fan  of  the  hospital's  coffee,  and  he's  made  that  clear  a  few  times.  “  a  red  bull  would  be  perfect,  ”  he  settles  on  saying.  he  wasn't  big  on  energy  drinks  either,  but  he  really  needed  the  boost  to  get  through  the  day.  “  i  really  shouldn't  have  done  that  overtime  yesterday.  ”

he  chews  on  the  inside  of  his  cheek.  he  really  hopes  he  hadn't  been  accidentally  ignoring  something  important,  but  by  the  looks  of  it  he  seems  to  be  in  the  clear.  still,  he  feels  bad  for  giving  clemence  a  lack  of  attention.  at  the  offer  of  coffee,  spencer  nods.  was  his  sleep  deprivation  really  that  obvious?  “  that'd  be  nice,  yeah.  ”  after  all,  wine  did  make  him  sleepy.  best  not  to  make  his  exhaustion  worse.

Cece slips into the chair opposite Spencer, an iced latte securely gripped in her hand as wide blue eyes bore into his own vacant ones. "I was just asking if I could perch beside you. Everybody and their grandma is out for coffee today and I need some time to, like, decompress before I try to walk back to my place. And you seemed like you weren't a killer who's going to kidnap me as soon as I let my guard down. But I guess every killer looks like that or else they wouldn't have very many targets. Isn't that what they said about...what's-his-face? Bundy?" Cece finishes her small tangent with a sip through the glass straw she'd brought from home, completely oblivious to the fast-paced monologue she'd just subjected a complete stranger to.

“  oh,  yeah,  sure.  go  ahead,  ”  spencer  says,  absentmindedly  swirling  his  straw  around  his  iced  coffee.  when  he  looks  up  to  get  a  good  look  at  cece,  his  eyes  narrow.  she  looks  familiar,  like  someone  he  might've  seen  before,  but  he  can't  quite  put  a  finger  on  it.  maybe  she  just  has  one  of  those  faces.  “  not  a  serial  killer,  i  can  promise  you  that,  ”  he  assures  with  a  short  laugh.

“  nothing!  ”  spencer  exclaims,  raising  his  hands  up  in  defense,  his  cigarette  dangling  from  the  smile  on  his  lips.  “  she  just  asked  about  you  and  me  and  i  told  them  it  was  none  of  her  business,  ”  which,  to  be  fair,  it  really  wasn't,  but  the  cageyness  of  his  response  would've  definitely  raised  a  few  eyebrows  and  make  things  a  lot  worse  for  them.  “  oh,  god  no,  ”  he  cringes.  if  anyone  was  hooking  up  in  the  supply  closet  it  was  probably  those  senior  residents  who  can't  keep  their  hands  off  each  other.  “  she  hated  tomatoes  for  a  while.  couldn't  eat  them  no  matter  how  they  were  served.  thank  god  she  likes  them  now,  ‘cause  i  don’t  know  how  else  to  hide  them  in  her  food.  ”