* becca thompson *

SAOIRSE RONAN & LILY COLLINS

If they hadn’t been carrying coffee in every available hand, Annie would have linked their arms together. “And yes, Meg is the best friend. She’s blonde in the movie, so maybe that’s why they gave me that role?” She said, not being seriously but sometimes Annie did wonder about it.

“But yeah, I can definitely I will definitely let you know,” she added with a wink, before giggling.

“Okay, okay, cool, cool. So, hey, that’s awesome, still, though, right? I mean, yeah, it’s not the lead, but you definitely got the next best female role! I like have seen the movie twice or whatever and she’s the only other female I can even think of, ha. I mean, for some reason, I feel like there’s like an old lady stage manager or instructor or something who is kinda mean, but I don’t know if that’s right or not. But yeah that’s awesome and amazing, Annie, and I’m for sure going to be there.” 

do you that maybe they met through ginny sometime??? also how long has cece been in va beach, do you think???? I feel like their age gap is kinda significant for them to have been friends as kids??? unless cece was friends w/ becca’s older sister (i feel like becca is def a youngest child haha so i gave her an older sister who is like cece’s age but she lives in like california or something now haha) 

so for that, i think steve and becca having a thing and seth seeing it would be GREAT for seth. and it would definitely give him the opportunity to realize that he does have feelings for her.

okay so i’ll probably text you about this later and we can plot out all the seth/steve/becca pieces. but what if steve and becca start ~kind of dating? and steve lives in seth’s building so that would be double awkward. but idk how you feel about becca potentially moving in with seth but that could be TRIPLE AWKWARD. (basically someone just open a hole in the ground to swallow seth bc he’s gonna need it).

but i think at some point in there, steve might have a little crisis. because he likes becca and this feels right but he also doesn’t want it to ruin their friendship??? AND he also still has feelings for leslie and wants to explore that/wants to make sure that if he does actually start things with becca he’s going to be all in and not still hung up on leslie (and i think that works vice versa too. if he starts something with leslie, he wants to make sure he doesn’t still have feelings for becca.)

so honestly i think they should either be at a bar or a party and end up accidentally making out and then start ~kind of dating???

oh also. i did rethink steve a little bit and i think he’s been in town for about two months. and maybe he’s seen becca once or twice in that time or maybe they haven’t seen each other yet?? maybe their schedules haven’t really aligned yet? but he’s also friends with gabby and i think he might be ~slowly coming back to his old self and maybe has moments where he’s not as serious???

okay so we did text about a lot of this so I’m gonna skip down a bit, haha but the bullet points, as I recall, was basically that: 

becca would move in with seth

steve and becca would start dating

becca starts to slowly move into steve’s place and their relationship gets more serious

steve ends up kissing leslie or pippa or someone at a party and he’s juggling feelings

eventually becca finds out and leaves steve

somewhere in here seth realizes he wants to be with becca and tries to get with her, but becca is like “nah” at this point b/c she’s been hurt one too many times and yeah

anyway i love that they kinda end up making out at a party or a bar and then just start dating, especially since it sounds like it happens quickly/before steve has really figured out his feelings re: leslie/becca?? 

And that’s when the bartender decided it really was time to leave. Seth heaved himself up, grabbing Becca’s waist for support as he started to stumble. When he was sure he would remain upright, his hands moved to her shoulders and he squeezed gently as she settled their tab.

“You’re not disgusting, Bex. I’M DISGUSTING. I think I poured most of those shots in my hair.” As if to prove his point, Seth pulled one hand from her shoulder and ran it through his brown spikes. When his hand came away soaked, he progressed to shaking his head like a dog… and spraying everyone within a two foot range with drops of tequila.

“OH WHOOPS. SORRY. I DIDN’T MEAN– SORRY.”

That was probably his cue to get out of this bar. And with that, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the door. Once they were out in the cool night air (where Seth could finally both think and hear a little more better), he answered her question. “If you don’t want to wake your parents, we could just go to my place? I don’t have parents to wake. And I think Val said I don’t work tomorrow? Tomorrow’s Thursday, right? I don’t work Thursdays.”

He stopped to consider this, even going so far as to count on his fingers, trying to assess the day. When he still couldn’t quite figure it, he simply dropped his hand back to his side. “Anyway, I think you left some shampoo at my place last time? Or maybe Val did? I don’t know. Someone left something lavender in my shower and it’s all yours.”

He turned to grin at her, swinging their linked hands between them as his drunken brain continually reminded him just how much he LIKED this girl. How much they’d been through together and how much he enjoyed being with her. And how appealing her face was, especially on hangover mornings.

But there was that same small voice in the back of his head that said “But Rachel would be better.” And then Seth looked away. And wondered, for possibly the thousandth time, how he could possibly get Rachel to go out with him. She would have fun with him. Bex did. And he would definitely have fun with her. After all, she’s a GODDESS.

Seth was just on the verge of voicing these opinions and asking if he could invite Rachel the next night when Becca dropped a bomb. Seth stopped short, pulling Becca to a stop beside him as he clasped her hand a little tighter. “Bex, are you crazy?? We can’t just give up. What will people say? That we’re quitters! C’mon. We can make this thing! It’s only, what, six more days?” He paused, attempting to do some quick mental math. “Or eight? Something like that?”

With a sigh, he dropped her hand and stared at her sadly, his eyes boring into hers. “We can’t stop now. Don’t you like doing this with me? It’s your present.”

He trailed off, sadly, as he ran a hand through his hair again. It had dried a little in the night air but it was still sticky. He’d definitely need a shower when he got home. If he got home. It wasn’t that he was particuarly attached to their bar hopping pact. Actually, Seth could’ve quit there and then too and probably would’ve been far happier.

But what he was attached to was the principle of the thing. In some weird, twisted way Seth felt like finishing what they’d started would truly make them adults. This was their first truly adult decision. And if they backed out of this one, what would that mean for the rest of their lives?

He needed this. They both needed this.

“Look,” he said with a sigh, moving to grab both her hands. “Tomorrow we’ll go to Uncle John’s place. We’ll have him watch us. Not let us drink so much. We’ll cut back. No more rip-roaring drunk nights like tonight. And no more bathing in our shots. Okay?”

With a small, half smile, he squeezed both her hands before dropping the right. Pulling on the left he started walking again. “C’mon, I believe we’re headed to my place? We might even take a refreshing dunk in the lake before we get there? That’s better than a shower, after all.”

He laughed, lightly, as he slowly nudged her shoulder with his.

She did stupid things when she was drunk (she did stupid things when she was sober, too, but alcohol just made it worse). Somehow she’d managed not to hook up with Seth (or you know, try to hook up with Seth ... because there were only two ways that that would go: 1) he’d reject her or 2) he’d be so drunk he’d think she was Rachel). 

She wasn’t sure which would be worse. 

There wasn’t anything as sobering as knowing your parents were asleep in the next room. But somehow Seth had managed to address all of her concerns and she tried to think of a better excuse as to why they should go back to her place instead of his, but her brain was muddled and the only thing she could think of was: but my Spongebob pillow is at home! And even drunk, that sounded stupid. 

“Okay, your place.” She said, nonchalantly, hoping that the open air would sober her up before she got there. She kinda doubted it. 

Becca stopped when Seth did. He was trying to convince her that they had to finish this out to the end. She hated that all it took was for him to say one word against it for her to start reconsidering everything she’d just said. “I think they will think that we are smart for quitting before we kill ourselves,” She said, crossing her arms. 

Her heart melted when he asked if her she liked doing this with him. It’s your present. 

Before she knew what she was doing, she took his face between her hands. “You. are. so. frustrating, Seth!!” She said. Or yelled. She hadn’t meant to yell. I just came out that way. “I hate you so much.” She didn’t realize how close she’d gotten to him and she just still there, inches away, not sure if she wanted to yell at him some more or take his stupid face and kiss it. 

Instead, she did neither, and dropping her arms, she crossed them again. “Fine. You win.” She sighed. 

“Sorry, I’m not -- I’m not upset. I’m not. This is fun. Really. They’ve been some of the best nights I’ve ever had. Just you know, wildly irresponsible,” She added, winking. “And I had a moment where I was trying to adult. It’s not a good look for me, Seth.” 

This is all going to end in disaster. 

“But yeah, if we tone it down a little, at least during weekend nights ... that’d be cool.” If she didn’t let herself get too drunk, if she kept a handle on herself, then maybe she’d make it through the last leg of this and she and Seth would still be friends on the other side. It just felt like a matter of time before she did something really stupid. 

But talking about books was second only to actually reading them. And on slow, rainy days, Sasha loved nothing more than curling up in one of the store’s many cozy arm chairs or sitting on the counter while she chatted with Becca.

On this particular slow day, Sasha had collected a stack of old Hemingways and was flipping through them, finding her favorite passages and reading them aloud. This seemed fun only for her as Becca was, yet again, torturing herself on Facebook.

She started at Becca’s first outburst. At her second, Sasha hopped off the counter, marking her place in A Farewell to Arms with a rumpled business card.

Patting Becca on the shoulder, Sasha looped an arm around her as she relieved her of her phone. “Why do you do this to yourself, Bex? Why do you torture yourself like this? If social media had been around in Jane Austen’s day, do you think Marianne Dashwood would’ve stalked Mr. Willoughby on Facebook?” She paused, realizing Marianne probably would’ve, before quickly adding, “That’s probably a bad example. But still.”

She sighed, looking through Becca’s photos. “You know what I see here? A cute, adorable, confident women who is better than Rachel Lloyd any day.”

Dropping her phone back into Becca’s hand, she squeezed her shoulder and hopping back onto the counter. “He’ll come around, Bex. He will. Just give him time. After all, Edmund Bertram wasn’t moved in a day. And Seth Connors likely won’t be either.”

She looked at Sasha when she asked if she thought Marianne would have gone through Willoughby’s facebook, “That’s a horrible example. Marianne would be all over his facebook. Although this is more like Marianne going through that rich chick that willoughby ending up marrying’s facebook and you know damn well that she would have done that obsessively.” 

She grinned, “Well, I mean obviously." Although she said it teasingly, Becca did believe that she was better than Rachel. Rachel was horrible; she was a total bitch. But the thing was, not everyone thought that. Seth didn’t think that. 

“Okay, my nerd references only go about as far as Sense and Sensibility, so I have no idea what you are talking about but ... c’mon, this is Seth we are talking about. He’s an idiot. Like, have you met him. He’s the dumbest person. Why do I even like him?” She closed out the facebook app and plopped her one on the counter. 

She exhaled, wishing she’d just stop liking Seth like that. Everything would be so much easier if she did. If she was being honest, she was the real idiot here. 

“Babe, what have I told you about coming here for a non-alcoholic drink?” Birdie asks her simply.

She waits briefly and then answers, “Not allowed!” She’s teasing her though because soon enough Birdie is whipping up a virgin long island ice tea. “Here, don’t say Birdie didn’t ever give you something,” she teases with a wink.

With that, Birdie moves away and gets another drink for another person before she returns to Becca. “Here’s some nuts,” she says and puts a little bowl with peanuts in front of her.

She took a sip of the drink: it was cool and refreshing and it didn’t make her head hurt. 

“I have no idea. Because we’re idiots. Clearly.” The first thing she had thought of when Seth had suggested it wasn’t the toll it was gonna take on her bank account or her health or her general ability to function: it was that he was actually proposing spending the next twenty-one nights with her. That wasn’t something she was going to say no to, although now she really, really wished she had.