𝙨𝙢𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣𝙨 ‚

                She frowned a bit as his response, the word ‘miserable’ concerning her. Hadley didn’t know too much about Mrs. Fischer personally. She remembered some bits here and there from their childhood, aware that Lars didn’t have the most ideal upbringing. Then again, who did? She sighs, knowing if she were on the outside looking in, anyone would say that Hadley did. However, she remains quiet, more so reading into his behavior than the actual words coming out of his mouth. Although the two hardly had any ‘heart to hearts’, the brunette was quite aware how uncomfortable Lars became when it comes anything relating to him. He was sarcastic, using his charm and quick thinking to get him out of anything. Hadley knows though, better than most, he was holding a lot more back than he lets on. “It does matter, dummy. It matters to me,” she slouches a bit, turning to him with an eased smile. “I’m doing fine, I never intended on leaving… my relationship with the church is practically nonexistent… but most importantly, I’m way more interested in why you left for LA in the first place. And I ain’t moving till you spill.”

A surprise to hear she wasn’t as involved with the church, but he had a feeling he might know why. Didn’t take a genius. Still, it was weird to see her in this light. Her relentless compassion was ever present, at least, and he reacted to it typically: by rolling his eyes and looking away. As an annoyed sibling would to a concerned one. His head bowed and he lifted his hand to scratch the back of his neck, debating to lie... even if there was no point to. But he instead answered (first) with a small shrug of his shoulders. Lars always tried to make it out like there were many reasons he’d left, but there was really only one. It involved his group of friends. And confessing it was a lot harder than it should it be. “Why wouldn’t I leave for LA?” He said sarcastically—the bitterness in his tone evident. “It’s big, there’s a load of people, it’s the opposite of here.”

Uneasiness set in as Greer eyed the interaction before her. It wasn’t as if she felt the man before her seemed violent and dangerous, but rather that she couldn’t quite get a read on him at all. Greer prided herself on her keen ability to get a read on those she met. This man, however, gave her pause. Unable to give a natural, nonchalant response to his retort, her lips drew together into a thin, forced smile. 

“Guess I should start looking into what the latest raccoon repellants are?” she questioned, eyebrows pulling upwards with a quizzical smile. If the debacle she had just witnessed had in fact been a large misunderstanding, the last thing she wanted was to make an enemy for no reason. However, if he was the window smasher in question, she figured it would still be wise not to step on his toes, unless she was willing to go through more remodeling of her home. “I always forget raccoons can be trouble makers with all those cute videos of them floating around the internet.”

What a nice surprise! Someone he didn’t know. But more importantly, didn’t know him... to his knowledge, at least. That had to add some believability points to his raccoon story. Turning to face the voice completely, Lars cleared his throat. “Nah, don’t let those cutesy videos fool you.” He waved off dismissively, shaking his head. “They’re cold-blooded criminals.” He’d more encounters with raccoons in LA than here, but his notion stood—and he started off on a tangent. “I got chased out of my own apartment by a raccoon once. Guy climbed in through the window and barked at me until I was backed up against the only exit. Then he destroyed my roommate’s couch and raided the cupboards. Evil little shits. Don’t give ‘em a second thought.”

me: lemme show you a trick or two

middle schoolers: *hand me a board*

me: this one's called stealing

L.A. became lonely: first Cohen, then Lars, then Arya. It seemed slowly but surely all of the people she felt grounded her and understood her were leaving. Some of them came to reside in Mystic, which ultimately felt like a good option fo her. Small town life wasn’t something she had for a very long time, since she was 18. It was never a conscience decision to move to the biggest city, but L.A. was ultimately where she ended up. Maybe it was time to switch things up, and slow things down. As she walked down the street on her way to go pick up a new lap for her apartment, she heard the familiar voice.·

A small yelp escaped her lips when she saw who it was. The tiny woman jumped slightly, before running towards him grabbing his by both arms.·“Lars.” She cheered shaking him softly. Soon her arms were wrapped around him squeezing me tight.·“Well, everyone left me so, I decided to switch it up.” She said pulling away.·“Oh my god, how much did you miss me?”·

Lars hinged bushy brows, having slowed to a stop upon catching up to her and watched as she jumped. He wasn’t really sure why he didn’t expect it–this was Aubrey, after all–but when she ran at him, his eyes widened like he was about to get hit by a car. Dark browns followed her as she grabbed his arms and shook him, working his hair into his eyes. And all he could really do was stare forward, dumbstruck when she then hugged him. He hadn’t expected any of this, but that didn’t necessarily mean he disliked it. A smirk began tugging at the corner of his mouth and he glanced down to the top of her head with a slow-growing smile. He idly blew some of her flyaways out of his face before she pulled away and he found her eyes again.

                  This was just what he needed. Lounging and nearly hot boxing Lars’ entire room hit right at home, and although Lip was far from wanting to go back to his own, this was just nostalgic enough to not hurt. With Lars’ pillow snugged tightly in his arms, Lip looks up when he speaks, eyes slowly opening. His eyes drift to the joint between his fingers, eying it. “—Wait, we didn’t finish it?” he moves forward, taking it as he slowly slouches back into his seat. Settling it between his lips, Lip inhales slowly, eyes narrowing as the embers at the end light up. He holds his breath for a moment, turning his head upwards to form lousy ‘O’ shapes in the air, chuckling as it disappears as it rises. “What the fuck kind of weed is this?” he shakes his head, handing it back. “I swear to fuck I feel like the Cheshire Cat right now.”

Lip’s question had Lars’ reality warping for a moment. His brows slowly knit as he tried to remember if they actually did finish it—and just what it was he was pinching between his fingers. He was reassured when Lip took the joint. Still, he’d lost track of just how much they’d smoked... which was usually a sign they should stop here pretty soon. He was on the verge of a severe case of the munchies anyways, and had been silently berating himself for having focused so hard on what music they’d listen to rather than grabbing a few snacks before getting comfortable.

Lars kept leaned forward, limp arms resting on his knees as he watched the other take another hit. Looking at him with a pillow in his lap though, he could recall a similar scenario, and was taken right back to their Freshman year. He frequently matched Lip with a lost bear cub when he was baked. They just looked too similar (and watching way too much Animal Planet in his spare time back then couldn’t have helped). He’d teased him about it once, but with each toke session, Lars began to subconsciously take on the role of mama bear. Acquiring and sharing bags and bottles of fun with their group was important to him, but so was making sure everyone was having a good time while they went on these wacky, wild rides. Lip was the one that Lars tended to focus on the most during them for some reason. He usually didn’t have to worry all that much, but he was always ready to wrap a metaphorical blanket around him–or someone–if things went south.

A slow, hearty laugh began to emit from Lars’ overdone lungs in turn, and he closed his eyes as it billowed for a beat. “Sounds about right,” he finally managed, bringing his hand up to rub his glassy eyes. “...This strain became my favorite back in LA. I think it’s called, uh... Green Crack. Yeah.” Bloodshot eyes reopened to find his friend again, and he smiled. “You doin’ good over there, Chesh?”

Juli smiled, biting her cheek to stop herself from smiling widely like a crazy person. When Lars took a step back, Juli’s smile fell and felt her heart sink a tiny bit. “Right, I’m just helping him find vegetables, it’s doesn’t mean anything.” A minute or two passed since they last spoke a word to each other. She glanced at her watch impatiently a couple of times when she thought he wasn’t looking, hoping no one else would approach her before her shift is over. 

When her shift was finally over, she took her time leaving the playpen in hopes that she didn’t come off as overeager. She grabbed her purse behind the booth table and waved over at her co-workers before heading over to Lars. “Ready?” She asked him while she placed her crossbody bag comfortably on her shoulder. “What do you have on your list?” She asked, waiting for an answer before suggesting their first stop. “We can stop by Everly’s Family Farm first. I hear they always have the best in-season produce.” 

Lars waited patiently at the base of a tree nearby, having wandered over and leaned himself against it before pulling out his phone to entertain him. Standing at the playpen certainly would’ve deterred a customer or two, he thought, so he figured he’d create some distance. Dark browns stayed down on the cracked screen until he heard the playpen’s gate open—and he looked up, slipped his phone back into his pocket, and moved off the tree with a slow smirk on his face as she approached him.

“Always,” he returned in a whip, smiling down at her. He straightened and brought up the list–now crumbled beyond belief out of carelessness–after she’d mentioned it and haphazardly tried to smooth it out to read. “Uh…” he started, briefly scanning it over again. “Well, at the top of the list is ‘ORGANIC VEGETABLES’ in all caps. See?” He turned the paper over to show her before looking at it again and bugged his eyes. “…Uh,” he subtly shook his head, still irritated at his mom for that. “…Carrots, tomatoes, uh… beetroots, and some basil.”

He shrugged, annoyed, shoving his hand into his pocket before looking off. The name ‘Everly’ rang a bell and he squinted his eyes slightly in recognition, but didn’t comment on it. “Uh, yeah. Sounds good.” He nodded, looking back at her. He’d stored little to no knowledge about his hometown after leaving it, so Juli really was his saving grace here. He may as well be a fucking tourist. Dark browns went up to look around… but he appeared a bit lost after a heartbeat and awkwardly looked at her again. “Uh… you wanna be my map?”

balancing personality flaws