time's a tickin'

“Not as in horny or anything. Well, unless you try certain strains, then…well…you know what, I’m not gonna get into that. Let’s get stoned.”

“There’s - what? Sex weed is a thing?” Her eyes widened in surprise. “Yeah, I’ll just look that up in my free time,” she laughed.

“I can’t say I’ve tried them but I’m assuming you mean edibles?” Sophia asked with a smile having heard of them before. “Unless it’s something else you picked up.”

“You guessed right,” she laughed, smiling back at the other. “I only ever smoked once, back in high school, which was a bad idea - so I figured why not try it out?”

“Oh, hell yes. Uhhhh…mind if I join? Weed and chocolate get me going in ways I can’t even describe.”

“Get you going?” She laughed, not sure what the other meant. “Sure - you’re probably more seasoned in this than me.”

bash tilted his head. “sounds about right.” he took a look at his feet, not trying to make eye contact for now. “Why do you need to look at hospitals? I thought all of that stuff was, well, pretty much sorted?”

“Because ... they want me to get evaluated for the transplant,” she sighed. She’d always known it was a possibility, just never thought she’d really have to consider it. “I still don’t want to, really, but -” she turned away for a moment “-I know it would make them happy.”

bash leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest as she caught him red handed. or red eared? anyways, he didn’t even flinch when she accused him of eavesdropping, just shrugged. “maybe? how are mother and father dearest?” he asked sarcastically.

She opened her mouth slightly, but she wasn’t terribly surprised at his response. “Annoying,” she answered with a huff. “They’re just worrying like they always do - CF stuff,” she figured if she said that he wouldn’t be too interested.

He allows a chuckle to leave him as well, when she agrees. It took a few reminders but he did know he wasn’t the only one in the world whose life had taken a few unexpected turns; some people simply had darker and more difficult obstacles. Maybe that’s why the two of them clicked, a mutual understanding of sorts. “It’s true,” he tells her, lip twitching into a smirk. Alcohol, he believed, had the power to either solve or destroy; it depended on the person. Sometimes, on the situation. His dad for example, he could ruin anything just by looking in it’s direction and for a while, Ramon had taken after that. Even if he hadn’t intended to. “Supposedly?” He shrugs with a low chuckle, shaking his head. “I think I passed the girly phase when I started dating Autumn,” he admits with a real laugh this time. If there was something he had been reluctant to try, he could count on Autumn to set him right. Even if he’d decided he didn’t like it in the end, the trying was usually worth it, he’d learned. He nods once, pursing his lips as she carries on about being too short; he’d take that as a no then, not willing to fight her on it. “You’re right, might prove hard to reach top shelf. No ladders up front either,” he teases with a chuckle. “Why not?” He asks in total seriousness. “Could be the ‘change you want to see in the world’ or whatever,” he shrugs. At the mention of her hanging out with Soph, he smiles. “Yeah, I’ll let her know then,” he nods once.

The biggest difference between the two of them was in the fact that Maisie’s problems and struggles and baggage were all easily visible, even if you didn’t have the slightest clue who she was when you saw her. Ramon, on the other hand, was still somewhat of a mystery to her, but it was clear he shared some of the same sentiments as her. “It is. It only makes me more talkative,” she chuckled softly to herself. Not that she was incredibly talkative, but, well, in comparison to him ... “Hey, I didn’t want to assume! I just can’t picture you holding a pink, girly drink,” she laughed again as she tried to imagine it. She personally never understood why men didn’t want to drink the girlier drinks - they were clearly the best tasting, although Mais didn’t mind a beer every now and then. Probably a side effect of growing up with three brothers. “Exactly. Y’know, I can’t even reach the top shelf in my apartment. I have one of those stepping stools, like for a kid,” she admitted, shaking her head as she internally laughed at herself. She not-so-secretly loved being short anyways, it made her look all the more adorable, which was good for being sneaky. As Ramon pushed the idea of her acting again, all she could do was shrug. “Because it’s a distraction,” she said honestly. “In acting class, they always taught us that the best actors were the ones that could really lose themselves, make their actions and everything unrecognizable from themselves. I can’t do that,” she explained, giving a half-hearted sigh as she did so. “If I’m being honest, I don’t really want to put this version of myself on display, anyways.” One-on-one, she could express herself in ways that showed she was more than just a sob story - on stage, not so much. “Thank you. Give her my number, or something.”

       ❝  i’ve  never  smoked  before  so  i’m  not  the  most  informed  on  all  the  …  stuff  ??  the  smell  isn’t  really  a  favorite  of  mine.  but  what  did  you  end  up  getting  ??  those  edible  ones  ??  ❞

“I mean, I don’t like the smell either but I tend to avoid anyone smoking anything so I sort of forget what it smells like. Yeah, they’re so many options of them ...”

“I can never remember, is weed an upper or a downer? Never mind. I don’t need any of that right now.” Hunter said with a sad, deep sigh. Still not over his team’s loss of the Stanley Cup. “Enjoy your drugs.”

“I - is it an upper because you get high? It’s not a stimulant, I don’t think ...” she mused. “Uh - I will, but, why so glum?”

“We talking edibles? Because pot brownies are my favorite thing ever. You can add pot to pretty much anything.”

“Yep - well, actually, they’re like weed chocolate bars and you can make different recipes with them? It sounded fun to me.”

“aw, fuck, maisie. i didn’t mean it like that. i just meant… look, you’re a gown ass adult. you should be able to do what you want.” he shrugged, feeling guilty. he always felt guilty, but it was even worse in this moment. “you ready to get out of here?”

“Don’t be, it’s fine,” she shook her head. It wasn’t her intention to guilty-trip him, though it might’ve looked like it. “Yeah, well, nevertheless I can’t.” Do what she wants, she meant. “Yeah. Thanks for showing me them.”

“Italian, perfect! That’s my favourite. We’ll start with that. What about pizza places? I suppose to make sure it caters to Ramon, too.” Autumn rolled her eyes with a chuckle. 

“Me too - well, actually, sushi might win over Italian, but those are two different food vibes,” she shrugged, laughing again. “Doesn’t everywhere have pizza places? There’s a ton where I live.”

“I mean, I wrote up a report about her and she will be turned away the next time I see her.”

“I guess that’s all you can really do ...” She knew customer service jobs could be rough, but getting coffee thrown on you seemed to be extreme. “Do you want a moist towelette ...?”

     At the punch she gave his arm he placed a hand over his heart, while holding his free one up as if to say scouts honor without speaking. He dropped his hand soon after, but stayed quiet so that he could focus on what it is she was saying. Letting her speak uninterrupted as he took in her words. “Well…” he started, once she was finished. “At least it looks like we’re in the relearning business together. I wasn’t always so…— me, either.” He offered with a quick chuckle, that was more like an exhale. “You’re light years ahead of me though. I can’t imagine anyone meeting you and not immediately seeing how bright you are. Or how bright you pretend to be, but if you ask me I think you’re pretending about pretending, and that’s just false advertising for all the pretenders like me in the world.” He teased, giving her a playful nudge. “Well, good or not good I’d like to know about it if you ever want to share it with me. I hear I do a pretty good job at cheering people up, should I give you list of references?”

She rolled her eyes at him placing a hand over his heart, but paired a smile with it. “You weren’t always so you?” She questioned, raising her eyebrows slightly. “Well, what were you like before?” She was curious, unsure if he meant that he used to be more confident or less. Not that it really mattered, because in Maisie’s humble opinion, no matter what, his confidence needed to increase. But she was also a pretty opinionated person, so she had to bite her tongue to keep from getting a little too insistent. “Well - thanks, but, as I said, it’s mostly pretend. Although I’m glad I do it, I don’t think I would’ve met most people in my life without it. Besides, walking around like I’m embarrassed to be myself got pretty old after awhile.” Not that she wanted to be this version of herself, but, well, it was out of her control. “References? Not necessary,” she laughed, he was one of the most cheerful people she knew. “Well, if you must know, my parents are trying to convince me to let a bunch of doctors cut out these nasty lungs-” she coughed, almost as if on cue to make her point “-and put new ones in. But I don’t think it’ll work,” she shrugged, looking away for a moment, “So I’m not sure what to do.”

“Absolutely. Don’t tell him I told you, but he cares about you.” For some people, it would be hard to believe that Ramon cared about anyone, so it was nice that he was able to prove them wrong, especially when it was Maisie he cared about—someone Autumn was able to get along with. “That’s a great idea! Can we order food, too? We’re avid takeout fanatics and it’s really important to get a feel of the delivery options, too.”

“That true?” She’d suspected it, but hearing it from Autumn did bring a smile to her face. “Hm. I’m honored,” she laughed lightly, knowing there weren’t many people he gave a thought about. “Oh, I’m exactly the same. I might not look it but I eat a lot,” she laughed again sheepishly, looking down at her skinny chicken legs for a moment, “-there are plenty of great takeout places. There’s one Italian place I really like?” She suggested.