say try

– “DAMN, WELL CALL ME THE WIZARD OF OZ,” she laughs, “’cause maybe i’ll help you find some courage. you’re at spy school for christ’s sake. that takes a little bit of balls, doesn’t it?” she leans back against the wall, deciding that he’s probably not so cowardly if he’s down to take her up on her offer. “i’m claire, by the way,” she holds out her hand. “self-proclaimed badass.” 

“nai pithanós,” she said. “backpacks were made for a reason.” 

     “ You got me there.  I try not to do puns if I could HELP it. “   Caden found them annoying at best.  But it was only Lucius, so he’d give him the benefit of the doubt.  His lips pulled into a smile at the other guy’s words.   “ I guess who can’t love a face like this ? “  he grinned, reaching out and pinching the guy’s cheek, before taking a few books from the top of the stack to help him.   “ What are all these for, anyway ?  And if you say pun books, I will drop them now. “ 

Lucius scowled slightly, though he was laughing, as Caden pinched his cheek, elbowing him in the side to the best of his ability considering his was holding at least eight books, “I don’t know, maybe we should take a survey- is this face lovable? Yes or no?” He joked, “Oh, of course not, they’re all books on how to pick up women, clearly- no, they’re language books. Because I actually study or whatever.” 

      “   sure  ,   a good pun is a good pun  -  even if it’s not  funny  ,  ”   she’ll tease  ,   twirling a curl of golden hair around her finger  .     “  perhaps allowing you boys in this year isn’t the  worst  thing to happen from this school .  ”     well  ,   some of them were awful  .   she’d rather barf on sight than talk to them  ,   but  .   he doesn’t seem half bad  .     “  i heard arabic is one of the harder languages to learn -  ”    thank you  ,   first year intro to linguistics of most used languages in the world  .      “  do you know it ?  ”  

“ most people are wrong — don’t let them dissuade you. “ caleb supported puns, no matter how cheesy, he simply loved them. “ yeah, no worries, man. ” he nodded, trying to get an even half of the pile to carry himself. “ what’s on the study agenda today ? do you mind if i join ? i need to look up some recipes for class; i promise i’ll be quiet. ” caleb asked, always finding his concentration helped when he had a study buddy of sorts. 

“you know what? i think it’s pretty sexy and bold of me to let my therapist know what’s up since everyone else in her life is a coward. her husband ain’t shit and i should be given a medal of honor for being self-aware and selfless enough to tell her.” once again, she’d chosen the inappropriate time to make a joke out of a serious topic. 

“i know i’m right,” she said. “if you get this many books on a regular basis at once, invest in a tote… you still have to make it across campus. more room to make errors.” ariel raised a brow slightly. “i would hope so.” 

an  onslew  of  insults  almost  tumbled  out  of  her  mouth  until  she  noticed  how  much  he  was  struggling.  with  that  ,  his  sincerity  &  the  amount  of  books  he  appeared  to  be  heaving  ,  she  almost  felt  bad  for  him.  ❛  whatever  ,  it’s  fine  ,  ❜  she  shrugged.  there  was  a  hint  of  a  smile  on  her  lips  ,  which  quickly  formed  into  a  grimace  at  his  pun.  she  shook  her  head  &  let  out  an   awkward  chuckle  ,  readjusting  her  bag  a  little ,  ❛  i’ll  help  with  with  a  few  of  the  books  if  you  promise  to  never  make  a  joke  like  that  again.  ❜ 

he hadn’t been the first person she’d left behind without bothering to check for the damage she’d been undoubtedly been responsible for, nor would he have been the last person she would’ve consumed for her own selfish pleasure and benefit. after all, at the end of the day, sex, love and romantic relationships were all transactional exchanges for the latina, at least that’s what she told herself to placate the overcoming catholic guilt that came from aborting their child. “let me guess, tesouro,” maitê enunciated the pet name reserved solely for him in a desperate ploy to repress whatever semblance of remorse she still held for him, or rather what she’d done to him, their whirlwind of a relationship and what could have been their family, “you’re here for closure. aren’t you three years too late?” 

– SHE LETS OUT A LAUGH AT HOW JUMPY HE GETS AT HER REQUEST, relieved to finally hear that he’s not just saying no because she’s a girl. he’s saying no because he’s a wimp. “alright, you’re probably right,” she says, “i can see that now.” one look at how nervous he is and she can see that he doesn’t present much of a challenge. “i can show you a few things, if you want? it’s good to know how to defend yourself. not everyone backs off as quickly as i do.” 

as glamorous as she purported her life to be before gallagher, more specifically her time at nyu, there had been one chapter of the new york book she hadn’t been proud of; it was the painful excerpt she tried to not give much thought to. between the three years she’d spent at the spy academy, bright flashes of shared memories with lucius slowly dissipated along with the guilt that came with leaving him without an explanation, let alone a goodbye. that was, until she’d heard his familiar and booming voice like it’d been yesterday. somehow, he’d left her speechless in spite of her usual confidence but not before she turned around to confirm her mind hadn’t been playing tricks on her. 

       and if she were a bird  ,   her feathers would be  ruffled  .   alas  :   amelia is a  SPY  ,   which means she only lets out a low  chuckle  as she’s forced to take a few steps to catch her balance  .     “  nice one  .  ”    and if her smile is feigned  ,   she’s good enough to make it look natural  .     “  where are you such in a hurry to ?  the librarians here aren’t  that  strict with their return policy  .  ”  

     Caden mustered the chilliest stare he could at Lucius, dusting off the coat of his uniform from one particularly dusty book that had hit him.   “ That might just be the WORST pun I’ve ever heard, man, “  he finally spoke, shaking his head slowly.  “ Honestly. How do you expect to get girls with that shit ? “ 

Lucius frowned slightly, “Bet you couldn’t think of a better pun.” He teased, lowering the stack slightly so that he could see Caden better, “And, for the record, I never expect to get girls. It’s honestly a marvel- a fluke- that I’ve had a girlfriend at all.” He replied, “I’m about as smooth as gravel, so, I just spew puns and hope that some girl takes pity on me, I guess.” 

there was almost a collision — caleb swerved to prevent it, arms extended to try and catch any books from falling or the person holding them, luckily neither did. caleb perched himself up on his tip toes to see the other, a loud, unapologetic laugh leaving his lips at the other’s pun. “ wow, did you just think of that ?! ” caleb wondered, easily impressed and even more easily amused. “ do you need a hand ? ” he asked, though he was already reaching to take a few books from the top. 

“the other day i convinced my forty-four-year-old therapist to confront her husband about not liking her instagram posts. i left the session feeling so empowered by the realization that while she can’t make me better, i can make us both worse.”

“Was anyone going to tell me that Driver’s Ed was not in fact about learning to drive, or was I just supposed to find that out today as I watched all my classmates Tokyo Drift it up?”