just the two of us

diana gates

clementine couldn’t help but laugh at the other’s comment. “honestly, felt, if i don’t go to bed at four in the morning, there’s something wrong with me.” she admitted, her own thoughts always tended to keep her up at night, especially since she wasn’t the best kind of person. “you could say that, although i don’t wanna bore you with my entire life story so also no.”

“you think so?” not to have a super-duper power trip or anything, but aviva’s always kind of wanted to have employees. having people do her dirty work. things she doesn’t want to. is that bad? it feels bad. “do you even know where i’d go to find one? seems like indeed isn’t exactly the best at attracting good employees these days.” and it seems complicated.

despite the --- other’s words of reassurance, berry continues to hold back her laugh. “its still quite rude to laugh.” she told the other. berry pulled a small rag out from her back pocket, handing it to the other. “it was quite funny, but concerning. sand isn’t the softest.” the blonde handed the rag toward the other. “make sure its not in your eyes.”

“not quite sure, to be honest,” sloane shrugs, though she’s fighting a smile at the corner of her lips, bitting down like she’ll be able to hold her amusement in place here, between her canines. “don’t come looking to me for any more wish granting. i’m like a genie. i’m charitable more than three times and i’ll fade away.” she shoves at max with her leg, knocking over a coffee that sat on the ground between their feet in the process and yanking her board of out it’s reach but saying nothing. “not a big phone call fan. don’t have that much to say. unless i’m in a fight.” it’s a little pathetic to admit, but sloane takes pride in it. her spirit. “i’m dandy. see?” offering a toothish grin, more like a wolf to a sheep than anything else. “are you projecting?”

Giving a small nod in thought as she looked over to the blonde beside her. Of course she knew her body was exhausted, but she had too much to do or worry about to get rest. “Oh, yeah. I had to work the night shift so I just got off work, but I have things to do, so I’m hoping the coffee wakes me up,” she gave a small smile to the blonde. “Hopefully it works, anyway. I can’t run my errands when most things close by the time I would be waking up.”

“ i’m not gonna judge you for it , honest ! i just wanna know your go to boba order. “

There were times where Penny wondered if there was a full moon or something crazy going on where the ER was just unusually busy. It wasn’t any special day where they could put blame on it, but with the fact she didn’t even have time to fully eat a meal made her wonder if it was just bad luck all around. As she stood silently in the coffee shop, the redhead felt her eyes closing as she heard someone behind her. “Oh, sorry. Am I in your way? I really am zoned out right now,” she gave a small smile as her accent felt thicker than it normally did.

“ a million percent , i sure fucking did . “ laughter chimes through him in boisterous volumes , head tilted back . hands finally come up too wave as if shooing off the mere sounds , then he approaches her . “ don’t worry baby girl , we’ve all bit the dust a time or two . or like , in my case , a trillion times but i’m usually lit as hell . “ without hesitation , a hand extends toward her and a few extra grains are flicked off her shoulder . “ absolutely not . own it . at least it was just soft sand ; could’ve been wet mud or your ex y’ swore never to text again . trust me , y’ don’t wanna fall face first into that one either . take it from me . “

lukas continued --- to offer the money in her direction. “it’s the least i can do to make up for it.” he was too kind of a person. it was a part of him. his guilty conscious was suffering from the broken eggs. “to get you some more eggs. or whatever you want with it.

if he were at all familiar with the concept of snow angels, he might take a gander at one in the sand, but unfailingly boring, he just lies there — weighted like a waterlogged corpse, the slight twitch of his fingers the only sign of life. when she falls with a muted thud, his heels instinctively dig further into the sand, enough to propel him to sit up, look over. any bewilderment from the scare is muted by heavy lids, it’s not that he can’t sleep, it’s just that he won’t. he didn’t, see it. but he laughs anyways, a stilted, clipped note of it just so he can pretend he did see. that way, he was never taken by surprise to begin with. ‘ sure. do you have any money you can spare ? ’ chase has gotten into the habit of asking strangers for change, an idea stolen from the man who sits at the intersection of willard and bone, but his timing’s off-putting, unaware that it wears the vague air of amateur blackmail. not that he’d be resistant to the idea, if he’d thought of it to begin with.

her favorite --- activity had to be beaches at night. they were peaceful and beautiful. yeah, you’d occasionally stumble upon something you really didn’t want to see. but, that could happen anywhere, right? berry kept her shoes in hand as she dug her toes into the sand with every step. yet, the other’s crash caught her attention. the blonde was quick to make an effort to run over to the other. “oh goodness ..... are you okay?” she asked, finally reaching the other as she got off the ground. “i’ll pretend i did not.” she tried her best not to laugh. “your secret is safe with me.”

clementine didn’t frequent the beach often, it had always been too full of people for her taste, but since coming back from california, she’d be lying if she had said she didn’t miss the small town beach. walking around the beach, enjoying the view, she spotted the other fall and couldn’t help but laugh. “don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.” she admitted, letting out a small laugh.

Dark green Dr. Martens trekked the sand, entirely inappropriate footwear for the beach. Nyla could feel granules getting between their toes but it didn’t particularly register, despite that, thought fleeting as a speeding car. They had a yellow torch and they swirled the sand with it, every so often pausing to dwell on a patch of nothing. Stopping on a glint of emerald, for a change, they’d just been about to crouch down and pick up a shard of a broken beer bottle with no regard for their fingers when Max went toppling. Nyla let out a squeal like a baby piglet then immediately fell silent once they were noticed, shocked to be acknowledged at all, almost as if they thought they were lurking behind the veil of another realm without detection. “Sure,” they agreed easily, directly pointing the beam of their torch at Max’s face. They didn’t consider this would hurt her eyes. “You have a guitar.” More statement than question, airy as a helium balloon -- like the words weren’t their own as soon as they’d said them, floating up in space. Nyla chased circles of light around Max, an endless, disorientating loop. “Can y’play somethin’ for me?”

* BLAKE LIVELY, CIS FEMALE + SHE/HER | you know DIANA GATES, right? they’re thirty-two, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, TWO YEARS? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to GROW BY FRANCES like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole THIRD CUP OF COFFEE IN AN HOUR,BLONDE HAIR IN A TIGHT PONYTAIL,LONG WALKS ON THE BEACH thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is SEPTEMBER 18TH, so they’re a VIRGO, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( lis, 19, gmt, she/her  )

alcohol tw

a sigh --- of relief came over lukas as he realized she was okay. “i should’ve been paying more attention.” he tried to laugh off the comment. the male’s eyes drifted down to the ground. “poor little chickies....” he mumbled off. a hand slipped into his pocket, pulling out his wallet. “here --- for the eggs.” a crip five dollar bill in his hand.

“ HEY , ” SLOANE SIGHED bumping max gently with her shoulder. “ sorry i sent you those freaky shrek texts. i was off a pill. thought i was god for a minute. ” sitting down, sloane slumped over, head in her hands, trying her best to look apologetic. it was all wrong though, like a junkyard dog bowing its head for scraps. “ i kind of do that a lot, so i wouldn’t be offended if you blocked me. just so we’re clear. i have gone by so many names, all of them feared on the whispers of time.”