warm glow

@jvnimo​

gabe was finishing closing up the shop contemplating what he should do with his free time now that thalia had been taken care of for the night. he often didn’t know what to do with himself without thalia. he had decided to go for a walk around town to just get his legs moving since most of the day had been putting arrangements together which was a lot of sitting down. he had ended his walk at the saloon, deciding to treat himself to a burger and a beer. he had looked around the saloon and smiled at the people playing pool and games in the corner before turning around again and taking his phone out to text to see how thalia was doing. 

Jemma’s friendly! She’s cool! Hip! Likable! She’s pretty chill gal, if she says so herself. But her patience is like the attention span of a goldfish, and Art is not making it easy for her to be the hip, cool, chill woman she so obviously is!

Her eyes narrow, mouth setting into a straight line, her hand still stretched out. Her gaze travels to his hand, then up to him, and it takes everything within her to stretch her lips into a smile once more. “You can do it.” She insists, stretching her arm out more, head tilting expectantly, “I believe in you, buddy.”

It’s not the response that Lizzie had been expecting — though, of course, she hadn’t been expecting much. Maybe a door slammed in her face, though there was still plenty of time left for that. She shifts nervously, hands fiddling with nothing in particular, and her eyes focused down on the ground. She can’t even look at him.

“  I was   …   just thinking about the Valley, and had nowhere else I was planning on going. I’ve missed it.   ”   She’s missed him too, but she doesn’t know how well that’ll be received, all things considered. 

“There wasn’t! I mean, there–” They pause, sigh, run a hand down their face. “– Look, there was… It’s complicated.” They aren’t going to get into the dumb intricacies of their (former) relationship with Jillian, especially with Sasha.

But then Sasha suggests that everyone thinks she’s a homewrecker and Finley’s brows furrow, half in confusion and half in thinly veiled irritation. “I– Sasha, I’m pretty sure literally no one thinks you’re a homewrecker. They’re all probably too busy thinking I’m an asshole–” which isn’t wrong, “– so you’re fine.” A few seconds pass, and then: “Plus, no one even knew Jillian and I were… together or whatever, so that makes it kinda hard for you to be a homewrecker.”

“Something,” Henry replies gently, because he really does care why Art’s upset, but also because he doesn’t really want to talk about how he’s doing himself. At the moment, the answer is always the same, and he doesn’t have the energy to keep lying. He brushes the question aside. “If you want to tell someone about whatever it is, I’ll listen.”