https://DawsonsDerbyDiaries.pod

Justice nodded when Georgia asked about Jordan, keenly aware that the curiosity in the woman's voice may have been about the fact William hadn't told them himself. He hadn't even really spoken to them at the party after he Fred Jones "let's split up, gang"'d them all - not that they expected him to - and they weren't going to keep pushing (oof - word choice) for his forgiveness. Instead, they'd sit with their discomfort and guilt; it was what they deserved. The blonde cocked her head when Georgia began explaining, giving a nod once in a while to indicate she was listening. She was almost certain he'd never asked Sarah out, maybe didn't even ask her to prom - but that knowledge had little to do with caring about his relationships and more to do with how much she'd dwelled on what went wrong with her and Sarah. Turns out, nothing new. Just Peyton and Amelia rubbing their grubby little hands together, the wreck of Justice's loneliness a sandbox for their shared enjoyment.

in reply to justice's agreement to her request, sarah smiled softly. one night of pretending things were normal, of putting themselves into an alternate reality where amelia wasn't dead, they weren't being stalked by her murderer, where there was no alibi for justice to even be asked to provide. for the night, they would pretend that things were simple, and made sense. they were just two normal people, spending the night together.

After they locked up their bike outside, Justice followed Sarah up the stairs; the exterior was familiar, but even their vague recollection of Sarah's house from their brief visit that week didn't match up to what they saw. It hadn't registered to them, at first, that this apartment building was her childhood home repurposed; not until they'd gotten up the stairs did it dawn on them that the whole place had been gutted. The sadness of the fact resonated. Sarah had lost her mother, and her childhood home, and her best friend... life had been constant mourning for her, hadn't it? The click of her door unlocking brought Justice back to attention, her eyes landing immediately on Ward. A genuine smile broke out on her face - "what a good dog," she murmured, sliding her shoes off before entering and getting on her knees to be at Ward's level. The blonde had considered getting a pet, but the freedom of not having to worry about getting home on time or taking care of a more-or-less fully dependent creature instead of following the night wherever it took them was too good to give up. What would a dog do, Justice reasoned, if she'd been out late with the derby team and didn't come home until the next morning? They'd be no good as a pet owner, not yet at least. Letting Ward sniff them, Justice looked up at Sarah as she offered a slew of things - food, water, clothes. "I'd look very silly in your clothes," they responded, their smile widening at the thought. Sarah's style was feminine, and it was no clearer than when Justice looked around the apartment. Purple curtains, a pink couch, multiple fluffy, patterned rugs - yeah, it matched perfectly with Sarah's lace cami and oversized cardigan with a flowy skirt vibe. Justice, however, was in loose jeans and a flannel over a sweater covered in a jacket. Sure, maybe the jeans were lightwash, but they knew they were dressed like a generic cartoon boy from the 2000s. Ward gave Justice a soft lick on their hands, and their attention returned to him. "You think so, too, buddy?" Cupping the dog's face in their hands and giving him lots of face and ear scratches, Justice began to relax. It wasn't technically their first time at her apartment, but it was the first time they were welcome. As a part of pretending things were fine, they ignored the echoes of the last time they were here, choosing instead to focus on the now. "I was just gonna sleep in my underwear," Justice finally replied, eyes flicking back up to Sarah, "which is what I normally do. But I could borrow some pajamas if you'd prefer?"

Justice nods as Georgia keeps explaining, their self consciousness turning to self awareness in real time. "Sorry," they said, trying to blink away their selfishness (never worked, but always worth a shot). Their face heated as they started reflecting on how they jumped into this conversation; "I've been so wrapped up in my own shit. How's everything been since our wildly successful party? Jordan told me the exciting news," she added, "William finally put two and two together and asked you out?"

"i'll come over after work and hang out with you while you get ready for your early morning shift at the bakery." jordan mused about a future that didn't even exist yet, trying to breath it gently into existence with her words. maybe it would never come to fruition. but, it could. she was, not subtly, trying to give her friend hope about what was to come. what could happen in the near future. things were rough for them right now, jordan knew. but that didn't mean they couldn't rebuild. brick by brick. and jordan would be there to help every step of the way.

Jordan's word vomit over the party tracked easily - it was the kind of mindset they'd also had, even though they'd forgotten momentarily and had a s'more made by Paige. The Paige stuff had to be a coincidence, Justice had been reasoning to themself, or Tag has started getting her involved, too. Shuddering at the thought, they brought their attention back to her friend. "No, it's not at all our fault," Justice says with a shake of her head. "I don't know, dude. Plus the like... coordination of it all? I guess it just wanted to prove a point."

sarah was driving, so her eyes were mostly focused on the road ahead of her. the path back to her apartment. but, she stole the occasional glance. a prolonged gaze or two under the glow of a stop light. she smiled, an unsure and gentle sort of gesture. "i want to be with you, too."

Though the silence in the car was charged with fear and concern, Justice felt like things were finally falling into place in the moments after Sarah saying she wanted to be with them, too. Relief had washed their tense body; caterpillars turn to goo before they become butterflies, the blonde reminded themself. They were in a fucked up cocoon together. (And that cocoon may be in the middle of a spiderweb, if they wanted to keep running with the bit.) They leaned their head back onto the headrest, eyes still on Sarah. Things had to fall in place just so to get the two of them back into each other's lives, but it caused a domino effect that lead them back to the cabin - a now tragic symbol that provided both clarity and confusion in the process of trying to figure out what was going on. No, this wasn't the ideal way to bring Sarah back into her life, but they weren't sure if they had time to dwell on that before The Bad Things rematerialized. They'd only realized Sarah wasn't driving anymore when she spoke again, it clicking into place that of course she wasn't driving anymore, they'd just been looking at each other for an extended period of time. Sarah's pitch for normalcy sounded perfect. The two seemed to work best when there was no one else in the world (they'd analyze that at another time, because if they started now - well, they wouldn't be pretending that nothing was wrong). Justice answered by bringing Sarah's hand to their lips before nodding. "Anything you want," they murmured.

"maybe there could even be a playful food fight, like a scene out of a movie or romance novel where you both end up covered in flour. maybe one of you offers the other some clean clothes to wear home... then you fall in love with the way she looks in your t-shirt." clearly, jordan needed to stop reading the aforementioned romance novels. but hey, she had vowed to avoid romance after the period of devastation that followed her relationship with liza, the least she could do was read about it!

The optimism that Jordan maintained throughout this was unbelievable; like, truly the definition of the word unbelievable. Many times they'd caught her downplaying her own issues or pushing them aside to focus on someone else's, and it made them sad to think that she didn't feel like she could allow a sad reality. What was it, Justice wondered, that made her this way? They knew what they'd endured to make them put up their walls, but Jordan's have been so well-crafted - glass, not shiny at all, clean enough to think it's not even there.

When Musa sat down, Justice couldn't help but to smile. As miserable as everything had been, getting back in touch with Musa was a bright spot in the dark. It felt like lifetimes between their blossoming friendship and his rise to athletic superstardom, where he ended up seeing more of her sister than he would her. But what was there to be mad about? If she'd had the opportunity, she'd have taken it. The desperation, however, emanated from her like a stench everyone else in Wrensted was allergic to. "Allegedly," Justice repeated back to him. "If you believe those weirdos from the class of 2019."

"These dang kids and their technology," Justice imitated back. If she knew, she'd have brought it up by now, right? She'd treat Justice differently, probably, and they were certain she'd be defending her friend instead of making jokes with them. As his friend, was Georgia supposed to know? Was Justice supposed to tell her, get ahead of it? Or was that taking it too far? "Gotta give to take away," Georgia said. Okay, Justice reasoned, if she knew she wouldn't be saying that - Justice hadn't given and she was getting things taken away regardless. But that was the game Tag was playing; fuck someone over one way, or fuck someone else over (or the same person, for all they could assume) another.

liza had spent the better part of her morning behind the counter at soft spin. she's been slowly handing her clients off to other photographers, keeping some portrait sessions here and there, but doing her best to get out of the bigger events— primarily weddings. after her conversation with anthony she thinks it might be the best thing for her right now, at least until she could get her head back on straight. if she ever did. maybe she'd become a nature photographer or something. or switch career fields completely, take over the family business like she suspected her father had always secretly wanted.

The view of Liza was comical. With two big (were those wheeled?) laundry baskets beside her, the brunette looked like she was preparing to costume a local theater production. Despite not knowing much about Liza's life, she did know that her dad and uncle ran Soft Spin; when she'd pass them by it was like a movie - the little wave, smile, and then a cartoonish waft of citrus-sweet detergent that followed if they'd been standing close enough. Liza's friendliness had given Justice hope; even though there were so many people Justice knew that averted their gaze when they walked by like Sarah, it was comforting that Liza would acknowledge her even when she wasn't tagging along with anyone. The little comforts, the warmth that she'd showed to Justice - even as a stranger - was something they'd always wanted to thank her for, but never really found an appropriate time. Instead, they'd thank her by saying if she needed anything, they're right upstairs. They'd thank her by letting her talk - it seemed like the people closest to Amelia needed someone who would listen - even if it was something that they wouldn't normally entertain. "Ugh," Justice said, tipping their head back. "Are any of us ever fully developed, though?"

Yeah, maybe she was busy. Justice gave a small, thankful smile to Anthony - he didn't have to comfort them. "Ball's in her court right now," they said, trying to speak his language. "I left her a note this morning." Thank you, have a good day ♡ J They'd woken up fairly early; even though Sarah had said that she didn't mind if Justice stayed with Ward, they weren't sure exactly how her visit with Wren would go. And if she texted them after, on her way home, that Justice needed to leave - well how would they know, based on the text they woke up to from their stalker, it was actually from Sarah?

Despite everything, Georgia seemed in good spirits. And, Justice realized, why wouldn't she be? No idea why the cabin was so important, a boyfriend (finally, as Jordan had informed them), Wren was out - the only thing to worry about was that stupid fucking text that everyone probably got the night after the party. But there'd been radio silence since, so what was there to worry about! The blonde watched Georgia's face as she spoke, trying to figure out if there was something coming next from her - something that they'd need to brace themself for. She's friends with Ant, she was the person Tag used to lure Nic... The possibilities were endless (they were not). "Are you-" sorry you blackmailed Wren? "how are you doing?" Oh. Justice shrugged and shook her head, ponytail lightly swishing behind them. "A little frazzled - starting the job hunt has me nervous given the whole..." everything. Freddie had officially called to fire Justice not too long after the visit to Wren, just as promised by Tag. So all the work on their resume they'd been doing was finally going to be put to work, and Warm Crust was their first drop-off. "Do you know how many places only take online applications? I thought it'd be better to just do in-person applications so Tag would have a harder time to prevent me from getting hired."