yada - yada

Caslon had found the willpower to bike to work this morning instead of taking the train like usual, as he preferred almost any type of transportation over driving his own car through city traffic. However, by the time five o’clock had come around, he found himself dreading the eventual trek back to his house. For now, he only had to go several blocks before he found himself outside of his regular gym. Caslon bent over and chained up his bike. “This is my cardio for the day. I don’t even want to look at a treadmill. I don’t want to know they exist. Today will be… shoulder day,” he said, rolling his shoulders a couple of times. His eyes flicked to the right, at the small shop next door. “Today might be ice cream day.”

“I will seriously never understand your obsession with biking.” ‘Obsession’ was probably a strong word, but the idea of having to bike anywhere in the city was so outlandish that Isaac wouldn’t even entertain the thought for himself. He would’ve rather sat in traffic and raged than take the subway, too. “Shoulder day,” Isaac echoed, stepping away from Calson’s bike as he chained it up. “Not ice cream day. We can work out first and then you can decide if you want to ruin all your hard work afterwards.” He cracked a smile, taking a few backwards steps in the direction of the gym’s entrance.

“Temporary?” Issa echoed, one eyebrow arching ever so slightly. “I mean, sure, but I was there for seven fucking years. I think that counts as a bit more than just a temporary transplant,” she pointed out, her arms crossing. “It’s a joint housewarming/birthday party, because if I’m gonna turn twenty-five, I’m gonna do it as a raging drunk. June 16th, in other words.”

“Since neither of us are in New York right now, I’m counting it as temporary.” Just like how Isaac really hoped his own living situation in Boston didn’t last forever -- he had plans to go home eventually. His eyebrows raised with a slight look of surprise when Issa revealed the date of her party. “Oh, cool. Does that make you a Gemini, too?” He asked. “That’s just a couple days after my birthday. -- But being totally drunk sounds like a pretty perfect way to celebrate any birthday after your twenty-first.”

Liam: so work gave out a bunch of tickets to the science museum and I managed to snag some. Do you want to come with me?

Liam: they have a new exhibit on viruses and and ENTIRE ROOM OF SEASHELLS

Isaac: Out of everything they've got going on at the museum of science, you lead with a room full of seashells???

Isaac: I'd rather do a Duck Tour or see their butterfly hall.

He nodded, his mind going on Fiji after comparing it to Nantucket. It would be much better to go to an island with his son and have fun, being phoneless and for the whole entire trip-no one to talk to, no one calling him to fly back home, nothing. Tristan’s mind then turned to his girlfriend to have a mind to ask here before Issac’s question broke his train of thought. “A week,” Tristan answered. “Then I’ll come back and enjoy the rest of summer.”

“Oh, that’s not long at all.” He shook his head, surprised to hear that Tristan wasn’t planning to go on vacation for long. To Isaac, any sort of trip was only worth it if you were away from home for at least two weeks. “Then you should definitely go for it. It’d be a nice way to kick off the summer at least.”

“Hmm, well. That little belief is gonna change when I hunt the fuck out of you and make you realize just how real ghosts are,” Marlene said, tipping up her nose ever so slightly. She was a big dealer in facts - as a reporter, she had to be. Horoscopes? She scoffed at. Superstitions? Completely ridiculous. Religion? Fake. But ghosts, for some reason, she would maintain were real. “Fuck off. Being a fake sommelier to impress girls does not count as being an actual sommelier,” she said with a laugh, rolling her eyes at him. “And yeah, of course I do. It’s free food, how could I not?” 

“We’ll just have to wait and see,” he returned, still shaking his head in doubt. Isaac was open-minded -- very open-minded -- but ghosts and ghouls were definitely not on his long list of possible beliefs. Even the existence of an afterlife was a questionable thought process he never ventured too near. “Fake?” Isaac scoffed, rolling his eyes as well. “You don’t know what I do in my free time. How can you just immediately say that I didn’t get the sommelier... training?” The fact that he wasn’t sure if there were actual courses to become a wine steward was a dead giveaway that Isaac didn’t quite know what he was talking about, but he pressed on anyway. “Free food is never acceptable. It’s hard to ever say why it’s really being given away and food poisoning is very real threat.”

“Wait, no! I don’t wanna be left out of cocktail parties,” Marlene said, her mouth popping open as Isaac replied, reaching over and swatting at his arm. “You live me out of parties, and there will be hell to pay, Winston. I will die just to haunt you,” she said, always one for over-dramatics. “Yeah, that is how professionals do it, but unless I missed something, you’re not a professional somm, are you?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. “Literally no, because it’s free. Therefore any standards you have should just….fade away.” 

Isaac cocked out his elbow, knocking back into Marlene’s hand after she’d slapped at his arm. “I don’t believe in ghosts,” he warned, “so, I don’t think you’ll get very far with that revenge plan.” Despite only giving the review a so-so review, Isaac lifted his glass again to take another sip, listening to the brunette while she continued to question his methods. “Maybe I am. -- Didn’t I tell you? It’s another one of my amazing skills that I’ve added to my résumé: sommelier. It comes in handy at those cocktail parties, too.” His smile wrinkled into a thoughtful grimace before asking, “You don’t accept free food from strangers, do you? Because that’s just dangerous.”

The engagement had been a shock, Owen was well aware of that detail. However, the initial shock seemed to have passed with time and now, it was clear that the wedding, and impending marriage, was going to happen. That didn’t mean that Owen hadn’t felt a bit nervous about the whole thing. Marriage itself was a scary concept and even scarier if the true implications were found out. That wasn’t Isaac’s deal though, which was a relief to the man. “Nah, not cold feet. Just the jitters. Like wow this is actually happening.” Owen was too far deep to back out now. He wanted to be a good friend to Gwen and that meant going through with it all. It was Isaac’s question that threw him off, almost making him spit out his drink. “Oh no. No, no, no,” he repeated, shaking his head as if the words were not enough to make his point. “Definitely not pregnant.” Unless she was the Virgin Mary and Owen had no clue about it. “I know it’s happening fast, but it ain’t a shotgun wedding.” 

Owen’s initial surprise and instant denial had Isaac cracking a grin, slowly starting to shake his head as the other spun out to reassure him that no one was pregnant. “Okay, okay,” he chuckled. Isaac flicked the stem of the cherry back into his glass, his hand lifting in a placating gesture. “I believe you, but you can’t blame me for asking.” Getting married quick always led people to talk and he couldn’t help the fact that he was curious. Personally, Isaac didn’t know Gwen at all, either, so it turned this whole June wedding into even more of a confusing production. “I’m happy for you,” he started again, shifting in his seat to face Owen. With a smile, Isaac leaned against the edge of the bartop, another loose shrug lifting and dropping his shoulders. “As long as you’re happy, then go for it and all will work out. Keep up faith and all that, y’know? -- You guys already plan everything?”

“It is in fact code for that, and if you’re not a complete dick, you might just score yourself an invitation,” Issa replied with a wry grin, letting her head fall towards one side as she considered for a moment. “You don’t have better taste than me. Besides, I’ve lived in New York more recently than you, I’m more qualified to compare here.” 

Isaac made a valiant attempt at holding back a smile, pouting while he lifted a hand to cover his heart as if he’d been wounded. “I’ll reign my dickish behavior back in, promise. When’s this Issa sponsored bash going down?” His hand fell back to the table, snagging a stray napkin. “Okay, but I was born in New York. I think that should count for more than being a temporary transplant.”

“Oh hell yeah I’m going-it’s beautiful, sunny, and I might be able to get a nice tan-and I won’t be able to think about Boston or my job or anything,” Tristan answered with a sigh. “And I won’t have any electronic devices, so no one can call or text me twenty four seven,” but he did nod when Issac talked about California and asked about the beach house. “Nantucket-my family owns a little small beach house in Nantucket, get to go there sometimes when I get a break.”

“Oh, well, if the beach house is just over in Nantucket, then I’d definitely go with the Fiji option.” The idea of being totally phone-free was both enticing and terrifying from Isaac’s point of view. He loved the luxury and freedom of being unreachable, but having no way of instantly communicating with people? Talk about stressful. “How long is your trip going to be for? I’m not sure I could handle being without my phone for more than a weekend.”

“Europe, wow. My family went when I was younger. Something about getting in touch with our roots but any family we had in Italy had already passed away by that time. So actually it was kinda sad from what I remembered.” Stella was only 5 when her family had gone back to Italy, but she could still vividly remember it all. “Are they travelling all around or staying in one spot?”

“Oh, I love Italy,” Isaac enthused in reply. “It’s a beautiful country, especially if you go right before fall starts -- if you’re lucky enough, you miss all the crowds.” The idea of ‘reconnecting with your roots’ and not even having anyone on the other end of the trip to visit with did sound a little depressing, leading Isaac just to nod. Most of his own family’s trips were spur of the moment and purely for fun. “They’ll probably travel around a little,” he answered with a shrug. “My dad likes to do that thing where he never follows the itinerary and just plays it by ear the whole time.”

“How is the bathroom key going to help?” he asked, though he figured the man couldn’t tell him. He clearly wasn’t good at this. 

“Hey, you stuck?” the barista asked in an almost incomprehensible Boston accent.

“Uh, yeah,” said Jamie. 

“Alright, this happens a lot, I’m gonna go get maintenance, be right back.” 

Great, Jamie thought. More people to watch him endure peak levels of embarrassment. “Does she look reliable?” Jamie asked the man on the other side of the door.

‘Happens a lot’ seemed like both a good and bad thing to hear. Isaac made the mental note to never use the restroom at this particular Starbucks, forcing a smile to the barista as she lazily loped away, apparently going to get the magical fix. “She looks... kind of reliable,” he answered through the door, definitely not sounding the most convincing. “Do you want me to stick around to distract you? And to make sure they don’t just leave you to die?” That probably wasn’t the most helpful image to put into the other’s mind, but Isaac continued right along, “Deep breaths and zen thoughts -- she’ll probably be back in a few minutes.”

“You know, you almost had it for a minute there,” Issa said, stretching her leg over and kicking Isaac lightly in the thigh before shaking her head. “Then you had to go and ruin it by talking about New York that way. And um, yeah. I am. I don’t need someone else to throw me a party, I am the party.” 

He clicked his tongue, giving a dramatic roll of his eyes in reply to the bump to his leg. “I can’t help it if I just happen to have better taste than you.” Isaac smiled before he shook his head, looking back to his muffin to rip off a decent chunk, popping it in his mouth. He hummed as he chewed, his smile only growing as he listened to Issa. “Is that really just code for you throwing a party for yourself?”

“Quick,” Issa said, slumping down next to the other, a goofy smile on her face. Moving back to the city that was pretty much the one true love of your life (besides dogs, F. Scott Fitzgerald and the perfect margarita) would make you loopy too. “Name something better than Boston in the spring.” It was a rhetorical question, obviously - nothing was better than Boston in the spring. 

Isaac glanced up from the muffin that he was currently deconstructing, his eyebrows lifting quickly, as if prompting Issa to continue. It was a little underwhelming to hear where she was going with it all, a huff of a chuckle escaping Isaac a second later. “Hm, let me think...” His lips pursed, chin tipping upwards in a momentary look of serious thought. “Boston in the fall? Or New York always?” A grin cut over his features as he continued, “Looks like you’re happy to be home, though. Anyone throwing you a ‘welcome back’ party?”

“Fuck, I’m getting married in a month,” the realization hitting Owen as he sat at the bar, nursing a beer. June 23rd was approaching rapidly and there wasn’t anything he could do to stop it, not without getting Gwen in trouble. “I never thought I was gonna get married. Am I supposed to feel kinda nervous about it?”

Like the greater population of Owen’s friend circle, Isaac had found out about his engagement via Instagram. It’d been a shock, of course, but if there was anyone that could go with the flow, it was Isaac. He sat alongside Owen with his own drink, free of judgement and relaxed as he plucked out the maraschino cherry that was floating amongst the ice in his glass. “Finally starting to get cold feet?” He asked, his tone half curious and half teasing -- because Isaac could never be one hundred percent serious about something. He bit the cherry from the stem, shrugging while he chewed. “I think being nervous is totally normal. I think I would’ve changed my mind already if I were you -- backed out and everything.” There was a congratulations on the tip of his tongue, but Isaac couldn’t figure out if it’d be well received. Pausing, he stared at Owen for a few delaying seconds before asking, “She’s not pregnant, is she? The Gwen girl?”

“You certainly can, no complaints from me,” Alex nodded, satisfied that his plan was actually working. He had to admit that he liked the idea of annoying people enough to get them to donate, saved him lots of time. “You know, I really figured more people would appreciate the coupon, but I guess not.”

“You should’ve gone with Domino’s,” Isaac started to suggest, adjusting his hold on his coffee mug. “I’m not sure if they have crazy bread... or even what that is, honestly, but I still think people are more into Domino’s as a whole.” He shrugged before making a slight gesture for the other to step forward if he wanted. “I’ve gotta grab my wallet. What are the donations for -- the clinic or some kind of program?” Isaac definitely didn’t need to see a slideshow of sad puppies, but he figured it’d be best to know where his money was going.

“No, I think I’m done running for now. I don’t wanna be lost all day.” She smiled at him and they walked in to the coffee shop, the warm scent of the bean filled her nostrils and she felt awake again. Stella ordered them each an iced coffee and let him order his pick for food. “So, is there a special reason you’re up this early? Besides letting strangers use your phone.”

“Good plan. Very logical.” He returned her smile, heading into the coffee shop with the brunette. Isaac stood aside as she took the reigns for ordering their drinks, quickly tagging on a toasted bagel for himself when he was given the option. “Oh, that’s just what I do every morning,” he started to answer with faux seriousness. Making a vague gesture back to the street, he continued, “I wander around Boston and give really bad directions to tourists. It’s pretty entertaining, especially when you see the same person twice in one day.” A smile had started to give Isaac away and he let out a quick chuckle. “No, but, ah, my parents are on vacation somewhere in Europe and called me, so I was up early. Figured I’d just start my day.”