you'll believe god is a woman

“So you do think I was cool? Because I was really scared Alma wouldn’t think that” He said with a chuckle. It wasn’t like he attempted to be a cool dad all the time and lived to make a good impression on his daughter, but he did make an effort to be a close dad, not someone Alma would want to run away from. “This happened last Saturday. He brought her back home in time and even walked her to the door without trying to reach second base. Although kids probably have a different description of bases now, I don’t know”

“It’s not like teenagers ever think most things adults do are cool, though.” Lara chuckled while looking at her glass of wine while listening to Austin. It was hard to think of a teenager who would actually go like ‘wow, my dad is super cool!’, right? “I wouldn’t know much about how kids refer to bases, but I have a younger brother... I could ask him, I guess..” Lara chuckled again. “I’m sure your kid isn’t thinking much about it, so relax.”

Sam jumped to the couch and snuggled against his sister because no matter how much he complained, he would always be a sucker for Lara’s affection. He liked to be able to show this video to Lara, in his opinion, everyone should be more aware of what was going on. They all needed to start taking action. “I don’t think she’s interested in that, like, sure, the way to change the way we live is through our law and government but I feel like she won’t like all the bureaucracy”  But he didn’t know Greta so he wouldn’t know. “Plus, she quit school to do this, so maybe entering college is not her priority” After all, why study for a future that won’t exist? “I want to, I’m going to ask Chris to go with me, it could be our next adventure”

It wasn’t always that Lara could actually sit back and relax with her younger brother, so whenever she had the opportunity, she would definitely take advantage of it and enjoy every single moment in his company. The video wasn’t too long, nor too short--the perfect amount of time for a TED Talk, even though it was a speech at the UN. “She’s very eloquent talking. Definitely entertaining to hear her speak. Sadly, she’s going to need some of the bureaucracy if she wants actual changes. Lobbying in Washington might actually help, so she’s going to need more than good words to make that happen.” Lobbying took a lot of time, a lot of reading and analyzing numbers, but it was a good way regular people could make change happen. “Just don’t get arrested while you’re there, please?” Lara teased, but deep down, it was a serious request. “How’s Chris doing? I haven’t seen him in a while. Keeping your ass out of trouble, I hope?”

“She’s literally my idol. She also has Asperger, which makes her even more amazing because she hates crowds yet look at her, in front of everyone, starting a worldwide social movement” Sam really admired her, and it had been so long since he found someone who was worth admiring. He was tired of being disappointed by the world in general, specially his country and its government, so this was actually giving him hope. “This one she gave at the UN, it gives me chills”

“That is very hard.” Even Lara felt nervous in front of big audiences during important trials, so she could understand. Granted, she would never be able to relate with someone that had Asperger, but she could only imagine how even harder it was. “Come here. Watch it with me.” She waved him over to her couch, moving one arm around him and snuggling up to her little brother, before pressing play. The speech was very powerful indeed and it made her even angrier at commander in chiefs that couldn’t care less about the environment. “This girl is going to make an incredible politician someday. Or even an environmental lawyer! Are you thinking of joining her in New York?”

“You just wanna find reasons not to trust me. When have I ever steered you wrong?” And still, that smirk was on his lips. She could probably come up with a list of things just to spite him but that’s why he, well… enjoyed her company. “I hear ya. But that’s just all the more reason to throw you over my shoulder and drag you out to go do something.” Kyle chuckled, almost jumping when she had poked him in the ribs while passing. “I hate being that person but it’s honestly up to you. I know you said you were drained, so if you wanna crash here, I’m one hundred percent okay with that. Don’t worry about changing.” He probably should try to drag her out of the house if she’d actually been hiding for a few days due to work but hey, Kyle was perfectly content spending time with Lara however she wanted to. He just missed her. And being lazy did sound kind of nice. “If I want something to drink, I’ll help myself. What are you talking about? Manners?” Kyle teased, “I don’t know what those are.”

“All the damn time.” Lara teased him right back, shaking her head as a lazy smirk spread across her lips. It was hard not to fall for Kyle’s charms, even harder when she hadn’t even managed to get over him all those years ago, so yes... try as she might, she didn’t really stand a chance. Hence why she would tease, provoke, poke fun of him, so it would diffuse the tension in the air. “Throw me over your shoulder? What are you? A barbarian?” She chuckled and she took the opportunity to poke his ribs, amused at his reaction at that. “Ian drags me out as much as it is. Would you mind if we stayed, then?” As much as she would love to head out with Kyle, those past few weeks had drained her energies, so staying in sounded like music to her ears. And she missed him. How else would they be able to catch up properly, right? “Of course you don’t. You threatened throwing me over your shoulder just a second ago... I wouldn’t expect you to have manners. But since we’re staying, make yourself comfortable. How’s my Ryan doing? Are you taking good care of him?”

“She started an international movement, students all over the world are demanding their governments to take charge of the environmental crisis, she’s amazing Lara, she’s so fucking cool” Sam sighed, his admiration for Greta had no limits now. “It would cost me more but it would cost our planet much less, really, we need to start worrying about our carbon footprint” He assured her, smiling. “She’s finally voicing all of our concerns, how people deciding for our planet are not the ones who are going to be alive in three decades, how they’re not leaving anything for us and the next generation, you want to see a speech of her on Youtube?”

As Sam went on about this girl he was in full admiration more for, she couldn’t help but smile, because it was always nice to hear him talk about something he was passionate about, especially since she was too, worried about the environment, but sadly, she’d never heard of this teenager his brother was so smitten over. “That’s actually impressive... and you know... these new generations seem to be doing way more for the environment than my generation, so props to her.” She smiled. “Yeah, show me one of her speeches.”

“Stop calling me like that” He whined. He didn’t know how many times he had made the same request but he would never give up. “She’s  a high school student that invented this school strike, she actually skipped school every Friday to go and protest in front of the senate of her country, she started a whole movement and I want to be like herrrrrr” He explained, feeling like his words did not enough justice. “I can take a train to New York, right?”

“A school---strike?” Lara furrowed her brows. “You can take trains--plural--until you get to New York, but I’m sure that would cost you three times more. “What is so special about her anyway? I mean, I’m all for women protesting, but... what is she protesting about?”

“What? What’s not to trust?” At least he didn’t seem to catch her at a bad time. Then again, he wasn’t even sure what that would have consisted of. Kyle kept a smirk on his face as he brushed past her, turning towards her and taking a few steps backwards as he spoke: “Well, I think that just means skydiving’s out of the question then… I didn’t really plan this through, so I don’t know.” Kyle gave a little laugh, running his fingers through his hair. “I feel like I haven’t seen ya in a few days. You hiding on purpose, or should I have come barreling through your door sooner?” Of course, he could blame it on work not being so hectic right now and Ryan wanting to do his own thing, so it left Kyle with more free time. Or he just missed her. Same difference, whatever.

It was hard to say no to Kyle even all this time, even after all they had been through... well, maybe not even, but because of what had happened. He had that easy smirk on his lips and she could swear it would be the death of her. “This face... this smirk. It has ‘do not trust’ written all over it.” The brunette chuckled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I have been hiding, yes.” She teased. “No, not really... I just needed some time off from everyone, you know? Work has been draining my energy, so I decided to hide for a few days. But what do you ask and I don’t comply, hm?” The brunette poked his ribs as she walked past him, telling herself that his words didn’t mean anything and that just because he hadn’t seen her in a while, it didn’t mean that he missed her. Or maybe he did, but they were friends and she was always at the cafe playing around with Ryan, so maybe he missed that. “Do you want something to drink while I change my clothes? Or do you want to order something and drink here?” 

“Why not? We can talk about having fun all day if we want but we actually have to do it eventually, right?” Ian figured they could as well start today, and as he promised, he would make sure Lara would have fun in a safe environment and he would make sure she enjoyed it. “Awesome, we should head to the bar zone then. Are we starting with something soft? A beer? Or do you want to go straight for the strong drinks?”

Lara smiled as she took Ian’s arm and leaned against his shoulder for a moment as she started moving so they could walk away from the stand once she had paid and gotten the earrings. Since she trusted him not to let things carried away, Lara was hopeful that they would both be able to have some fun, because in all honesty, she had been missing that for a while now. Some good, genuine fun. Was it possible to have a mid-life crisis in your thirties? “We could start with a beer and something to eat? I could go for some fries. Wanna join me, Dragan?”

Considering the sea of people surrounding the area, Chris wasn’t expecting to run into Lara. He was casually browsing along until he heard the question, turning to face her with a smile. “Honest answer? I’d go with the less dangle-y ones. Doesn’t that stuff get caught in your hair? Seems annoying.” He offered his hands out to take the earrings before holding them up to his own ears. “Does this help any?” Chris put on a cheesy grin, giving into a laugh.

Despite them not being super close, Lara appreciated every time she got the opportunity to spend some time with her brother’s best friend. Chris was a sweet boy and she could only hope Sam didn’t get him into as much trouble as he found himself in. “Oddly enough, they don’t get tangled up in women’s hair.” Tilting her head to the side, Lara squinted her eyes, trying to picture these earrings on her when Chris held it up to his ears. “Yes, definitely. I’ll take these...” She smiled, pointing to the one on his right hand. “Thanks for this, Chris. How about I buy you a beer to thank you?”