dusk & dawn

cordy: if that isn’t a whole mood

cordy: mmm okay so i have stuff to make cheesy potato casserole but it’d be half tater tot half hash brown and vegan cheese

cordy: or... my famous cordelia’s confetti casserole

cordy: basically i need to go to target asap

cordy: does this mean i don’t even get to light any real candles??? smh maybe i’ll go to austin’s after all :/

michal: how could i pass up the opportunity to eat your f a m o u s confetti casserole? if u need help making it, ur welcome to any of the ingredients in my kitchen

penny stepped inside, toeing her shoes off of her feet. at michal’s instructions, her brain seemed to lag, rainbow wheel spinning in empty space as she blinked big eyes at the other girl before inhaling, holding it, and then exhaling. she was going to ask michal to repeat it but she was already moving to do whatever it was she was going to do. she decided to suck it up, wandering into the bathroom first to fill patrick with water before going into michal’s room. she stared around blankly for about five solid seconds before wandering over to the jewelry box, flipping open the top and rummaging until she found a key. once it was in her hand she turned to the bed, crawling under to get into the safe. jesus, this was a lot of work to hide weed. penny just shoved it into a container that said travel savings and called it a day. she grabbed everything from the safe and got to work cracking the jar open and grinding it. “you know this shit is legal for you in like, a few weeks, right?” what were they going to do, put michal in jail for a month? 

michal lit the few scented candles that were scattered around the apartment, flitting from place to place easily before going back in a second loop to light incense. her anxiety had gotten the better of her for a while now, and it was just a routine at this point, something she was used to and just sort of did without thinking. “i know,” she yelled back, placing the last incense in its holder, “but we’re on campus technically and so if they were to find it i could get in a shit load of trouble. better safe than sorry,” she said, finally ending up in her room and closing the door before grabbing a lighter from her jacket pocket and sitting down on the bed.

                        HE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER than to doubt michal’s memory. in his entire twenty-one years of life, there had seldom been a better constant in his life than michal glickman. she was hemlock, born and raised, just as he was; forced to dress up for parties and galas, just as he was. they’d understood each other from the very beginning: silent understanding across banquet halls blossomed into a stronger friendship when she started dating his brother. even after their relationship’s end, he still found himself coming to her for advice—especially when him and dick’s terms were fractured and vulnerable. “ i knew i could count on you. ”

he motions over for her to bring him the m&ms so that he can expertly toss them into the gloriously buttered popcorn. his mouth is salivating, craving the sweet and salty snack as FERVENTLY as his mind craves solitude. “ yeah … i guess if there’s one person i know who can take care of herself, it’s her, ” he admits. “ this shit … it’s fucking crazy. ” his tone is downcast, his eyes averted.  it seems like yesterday that the group of them had been hanging out on the balcony of the braxton mansion, downing bottles of liquor they’d stolen from their parents, pointing out constellations in the sky as they laughed the night away. things were simpler then. “ you pick. something not … too sad, though? maybe something stupid or nostalgic? ” 

his words of appreciation made her smile, heat easily traveling to her cheeks as they developed a pinker pigment. compliments and acknowledgements were things she was not often subject to, and thus was not the best at accepting. and so, instead of responding to his words, she responded in her own way, by handing him the bag of m&ms with a dutiful smile.

cordy: hi how are you holding up champ

cordy: want a casserole?? or some bananas?? i don’t have manh groceries sry :/

cordy: also if we’re still on lockdown when chanukah starts lmk if you want to do smth :-))

michal: i'm okay, things are weird, life is weird, i'm tired of it

michal: what type of casserole 👀

it    was    a    welcome    distraction    to    everything    else    going    on    around    campus    .    she    knew    that    she    needed    to    get    out    and    about    ,    even    if    it    was    just    to    the    conservatory    ,    and    try    to    keep    being    a    human    .    “    of    course    ,    “    a    genuine    smile    on    her    lips    ,    “    they    kind    of    remind    of    home    .    “    she    gestured    to    the    plants    all    around    them    .    how    could    they    not    ?    her    family    surely    knew    what    they    were    doing    with    their    four    flower    filled    girls    .    “    thank    you    for    letting    me    crash    your    plant    concert    ,    “    she    laughed    .    maybe    michal    was    her    saving    grace    in    all    of    this    mess    .    “  what  can  you  play  ?  “  she  asked  .  the  last  musician  in  her  life  had  left  her  weary  of  people  playing  music  for  her  .  maybe  michal  would  remedy  that  too  .  

𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 @ofreligion​

michal   &   lot   ended   on   better   terms   than   some   couples   -   potentially   even   most   couples   .   the   boy   felt   no   disdain   for   her   &   never   would   .   she   was   &   is   such   an   interesting   person   ,   but   when   they   were   together   ,   there   was   this   constant   nagging   feeling   that   something   was   OFF   .   luckily   ,   both   of   them   realized   it   sooner   rather   than   later   &   broke   it   off   ,   knowing   it   was   better   for   the   both   of   them   .   even   though   he   &   michal   didn’t   work   out   romantically   ,   lot   still   cared   for   her   .   so   ,   when   the   whole   case   surrounded   melanie   began   ,   the   boy’s   mind   immediately   went   to   the   victim’s   roommate   .   he   knew   how   worried   &   distressed   michal   must   be   .   so   ,   as   soon   as   he   could   ,   lot   made   his   way   to   michal’s   place   .   he   frequented   the   place   pretty   often   ,   due   to   his   friendship   with   griffin   .   but   ,   this   time   he   came   for   a   different   reason   .   his   knuckles   tapped   HESITANTLY   on   the   wood   ,   his   lip   tucked   between   his   front   teeth   .   "   michal   ,   it’s   lot   .   i   was   coming   to   see   if   you   were   doing   okay   ,   "   he   began   speaking   ,   without   much   thought   .   hell   ,   she   might   not   even   be   home   .   she’s   probably   not   .   the   whole   place   probably   reminds   her   of   -   and   suddenly   the   door   was   opening   .

“oh I know” slender digits gently wrap around louis’ belly to support him as she takes the dog back but the intent behind her motion isn’t quite as kind when she pulls him to her chest. “and you know you can’t just run away from mommy like that baby. it scares her very much.” eden coos at the pup in a much higher and baby like tone than her natural way of speech. a moment of discomfort settled into the blonde as she wasn’t sure whether it was best to shoo michal away or engage in conversation. they both seemed fixated on the pomeranian so the blonde decided she wanted to take the upper hand in whatever was to come next. “what are you doing here michal?” and there it is, the rather rough butchering of a name she only ever pronounced correctly a few times in her youth.  

and there it was, almost immediately, the ice queen decided to continue with her cold persona, and it made michal’s blood curdle. first there was the innate distrust with the dog and the act of violently snatching him back, then there was the tone of her voice when she asked the question, and then there was the mispronunciation of her name. she furrowed her eyebrows. “well, evan, thanks so much for asking. i’m here because my roommate and one of my closest friends has disappeared, what about you, evelyn? what are you doing here? last i checked you hated her guts, or do they think that you’re responsible for her disappearance?” she looked around at her surroundings and lowered her voice, speaking in a mocking tone. “did you eat her?”

   difficult was an easy way of putting it, when you looked back through peyton’s history growing up. she had felt so much of her own life was spent trying to be like cordelia, admiring her from the wings — michal had been such an influence in her life, but since coming to covington, the two girls had began to drift. most of it was on peyton’s end. she was determined to become in her own right, and as such, had broke off from a lot of what she had before. 

   sometimes it was in the midst of bad things that you realized what you’d been missing. the distance in their friendship was something that now felt… emphasized. “probably because of some rumor, or something,” peyton answered, eyes lowering to her food. “the police, like, talked to me and a bunch of other people. you know. i just didn’t think you’d be here still.” 

michal aimlessly poked at her salad for a moment, the reality of the situation settling on top of her shoulders. they thought the people who were still on campus had something to do with melanie’s disappearance, so that meant that any one of them could know something, even the girl sitting across from her, even the person she lived with, even her best friend, they could all be hiding something.

she wiped her sweaty palms off on the side of her jeans, shrugging. “i guess they think i’ve got something worth telling them. i don’t know exactly, but i told them everything i knew.” she picked up her fork again, spinning some spinach around on her plate. “i hope they find her soon, i miss her,” she said, giving the other girl a small smile, her eyes threatening to spill over. “anyway, it’s nice to see you, i feel like it’s been a while.”

truthfully,  griffin  didn’t  buy  into  the  whole ‘she’s  just  missing!  she’ll  come  back’  bullshit.  her  cult  past  had  taught  her  that  once  someone  was  gone,  they  were  really  gone.  yeah,  the  mindset  was  a  real  mood  ruiner,  but  it’s  not  like  griffin  was  going  to  explain  that  to  anybody  unless  they  agreed.  if  michal  ever  asked,  griffin  would  simply  agree  that  melanie  would  be  back  one  day  and  that  would  be  it. “lizzo?  always,”  griffin  responded  with  a  nod,  smile  now  cracking  enough  to  show  teeth. “i  was  really  craving  guacamole.  i  sent  out  a  postmates  request  for  two  avocados  and  an  onion.  the  delivery  man  thought  i  was  a  little  crazy,”  she  added,  placing  the  avocados  on  the  cutting  board.

michal started peeling the onion, a smile on her face matching the one on the face of her roommate. “i’ve postmated some pretty weird stuff before, so i’m right there with you,” she said with a laugh as she dragged the trashcan over to where she was standing with her foot. “like this one time i ordered five baja blasts and that was it. the dude looked at me like i was the most dehydrated motherfucker he had ever seen.” as she said that, she laughed, and tears began to fall from her eyes. “oof, when these onions hit ya, they hit ya.”

it was easy for donatella to get carried away when she was feeling… anything. it was almost like she transformed into a hurricane, with no control over her own actions and looking to cause destruction whenever she went. when she came down from it, however, and saw the state she left things, came the feeling of helplessness. this time, she came down from it before it actually really happened and when she found herself standing in front of michal, she didn’t really know what her real intentions were.

of course she wouldn’t really let her ex-friend see just how out of sorts she was. so she acted like she knew exactly what she was doing there. ❝ i just feel like we need to talk about what happened at the party. ❞ she started, as if she even had any right to ask michal anything. ❝ not that i need to explain myself to you or anything but… i feel like it’s the right thing. even more so because we are all stuck here for the foreseeable future and i don’t want to walk around eggshells with anyone. ❞

michal finished washing her hands, wiping the extra moisture off on her apron, before taking off her apron and hanging it on one of the hooks near the gate. this was a conversation she didn’t want to have, especially without cordelia. what happened at the party didn’t effect her specifically, it was more about donny and cordy, and the problems they had to deal with. michal didn’t want to be a messenger for her best friend.

“i don’t think i’m the one you’ve got to talk to,” she said, finally turning around to look at donatella face to face. “i mean, we can talk, sure, but i don’t have any beef with you. we’re chill, it’s cordelia you should probably seek out sooner rather than later.”

“most people make fun of me when i tell them that this actually helps the plants grow, so thanks for coming here with me,” she said, her guitar haphazardly swung across her back. most people had accepted that talking to plants helped them grow, but few were behind singing to them. however, it was the same thing, the same carbon dioxide and oxygen transfer was happening. technically, you could just breathe near plants and it would help them grow. but that wasn’t fun, and what could was science if it couldn’t be fun?

she smiled, swinging the guitar around to the front of her body. “any requests?”

“oh  awesome.  those  are  the  best,”  she  added  with  another  nod,  smile  slightly  growing.  when  michal  ducked  into  her  room  to  get  the  chips,  griffin  set  the  rest  of  the  needed  supplies  out  on  the  counter.  there  was  no  way  in  hell  that  griffin  wanted  to  go  talk  about  everything  that  went  wrong.  truly,  sometimes  the  best  thing  to  do  was  to  just  avoid  everything  until  the  situation  patched  itself  up.  maybe  the  guacamole  could  help  mend  everything  too.  hell  knew  that  they  both  needed  a  break  from  roommate  drama  and  fights. “music?”  griffin  simply  questioned  when  michal  returned,  passing  the  bluetooth  speaker  in  her  direction.  maybe  it  could  help  break  any  silence.

michal found the bag on her bedside table easily, snagging it, taking a deep breath, and heading back outside to the kitchen. she wanted, so desperately, to talk to griffin about what had happen with melanie, about how it affected her, about what it meant for her future and her relationship and about how she was feeling now that melanie was gone (temporarily, michal was convinced she would come back). however, she didn’t want to impose a conversation on someone who didn’t want to have it, and so she just nodded, grabbing the largest of their cutting boards and a knife and beginning to cut the onions. “lizzo?” she requested.