little rage monster

Cathryn: cookie dough!!

Noelle: you're both weird.

Cathryn: and you literally cannot go wrong with ice cream.

Noelle: the most important question i'll ever ask, probably: what flavor?

Cathryn: you're not /for/ anything. you're our friend. we just want to be around you and talk to you and go demogorgon hunting with you.

Cathryn: friendship stuffs, you know?

Noelle: even when i show up at your window in the middle of the night to go exploring in the woods? or with a carton of ice cream in my bag.

Noelle: ...it really depends on the day.

Cathryn: always happy to help.

Cathryn: now i kind of want to check them out, mostly because you said not to.

Noelle: oh. so what am i for?

Liam: you're [ unsent ]

Liam: how do i explain this [ unsent ]

Cathryn: love you right back. and obviously you could've told us. but most of the magic was in the mystery, you know?

Cathryn: yeah, no, i think the same thing. i told katie i wouldn't go back. it feels wrong now.

Noelle: no offense but if i hated someone i wouldn't be anywhere near them, and yet

Noelle: ...it's okay. we can find a new place.

Liam: Ugh. [ unsent ]

Liam: brett is like [ unsent ]

Liam: he's one of u [ unsent ]

Liam: you know those times when you want to be around someone who understands what you're dealing with, but you don't like them enough to care what they think of you?

Liam: or when you're having a fucked up time and you need someone to knock sense into you, without being nice or gentle about it?

Liam: that's what brett and cathryn are for.

Liam: if you're looking for an abandoned place, they're everywhere.

Cathryn: i want to give brett a title, but i don't know exactly what he is. either way, he's rich and he is somehow always awake to put up with liam's bs at insane hours

Cathryn: they hate each other but also seem to love each other???? in some weird way??? idek

[ a few minutes later ]

Cathryn: yeah, i heard. i ran into katie when i went back the other night. that was her family's house.

Noelle: when did this happen? what about sandy??? i'm confused now.

Noelle: wait. 🙊 forget i said that.

Noelle: ...oh. :/ i like it a lot even with the whole step thing, but...it might not be right to go back there now. it doesn't belong to us. not really. we can't take it away.

Liam: RYN YOU FUCKING LIAR, I HATE YOU

Liam: brett is an asshole i roomed with back at devenford. he plays lacrosse, and i hate him, so i make him play with us in the mornings.

Liam: wait, you guys went to the hale house?

Cathryn: jane's right, that bill would be a bitch to deal with.

Cathryn: we are not burning down brett's house, liam, stop

Noelle: who's brett and why are we burning down his house

Noelle: wait, no burning down houses. bad choice of words. ryn...something bad happened at our place.

Noelle: well i guess it's not our place, which is the point.

Liam: brett is the worst person i've ever had the displeasure of rooming with

Cathryn: you already knew you were going to get sucked in, stop lying

Cathryn: and honestly, we can try all three, for variety sake, if nothing else

Noelle: well i'm not gonna be living here for much longer so we can pass on mine. plus i don't want lo to have to pay for property damage.

Liam: we could probably pay for it bu [ unsent ]

Liam: i vote that we use brett's house

Cathryn: anyway?

Cathryn: oh, demogorgon hunting!

Cathryn: i live in an apartment, but since liam lives in a house, i say we experiment over at his

Noelle: i live in a hotel so 9/10 chance that place is already haunted anyway tbh. i don't wanna think about the fact that i'm probably gonna get attacked in my sleep but here we are

Liam: you're more at risk than we are, so it'd probably be best to hit your place first

Cathryn: alas 'tis true

Cathryn: you're stuck with us now, babe

Cathryn: oh, is it okay if i call you babe? sorry, i didn't think before i typed. i hate me.

Noelle: 😳 yeah that's fine

Liam: ....oh my god [ unsent ]

Cathryn: lmao that moment when he brings out the receipts

Noelle: i'm leaving both of you forever bye

Liam: it's too late, you're stuck

Cathryn: Every party needs a pooper, that's why they invited you (Liam), party pooperrr....

Liam: Excuse the fuck out of me for wanting to live.

Liam: Do I look like I can survive the Demogorgon?

Noelle: Actually yes.

Noelle: If Steve's fuckin annoying ass can do it, you can too.

Noelle: ...You're a bad influence. I need to stop cussing.

Liam: "Guess I'm strange, if you count me bein able to string sentences together made almost completely out of cuss words."

Noelle: At least one of you loves me.

Cathryn: Every party needs a pooper, that's why they invited you (Liam), party pooperrr....

Liam: Excuse the fuck out of me for wanting to live.

Noelle: Guyssssssss.

Noelle: If it's 2AM can I show up at one of your houses and see if demogorgons are real?

Cathryn: Yes!

AN AESTHETIC JOURNAL: ENTRY TITLE: us against the world.

so, it kinda happens like this:

you don’t say a word to each other in class, or at lunch, or in the halls, or around town, or at all. you make homes out of two different universes, and that’s fine. it’s fine. then you meet at a bad time, and somehow what was nothing becomes a good thing.

in someone else’s life,  it’s like this:

a new town, a new hope. a family put back together again, broken pieces stuck together with glue and plastic smiles slowly becoming real. you never lose that sense of adventure, and it brings you to what used to be a home in the heart of the woods. a broken step, a bit of pain, some fiery red hair, and the stars aren’t the only beautiful thing you see that night.

or maybe it’s just:

“lacrosse? i swear i’ve never heard of that — are you sure you aren’t making this up?”

or, maybe, it’s all three. maybe there are three beginnings, and maybe that’s okay. friendship isn’t easy, not for who you are or what you are, but you’ve got this. you’ve got this, the jumbled, nonsensical, stupid, headache inducing mess that it is, that they are, and you’re—

Noelle: For future reference, locks aren't an issue. 😉

Liam: ....That's definitely going to come in handy.