everyone deserves love

Georgia watched as the black cat purred happily in the young blonde’s arms. “He’s not I’m afraid.” She replied looking up from her cigarette. “He hangs around the club and we feed him whenever the boss isn’t looking. I think he’s realised it’s a heavan for cuddles and tuna fish.”

“Gosh, he’s so cute. Kudos to y’all for taking care of him. But it’s a little cold out for him to be living outside, don’t you think?”

Jordan nodded, taking a minute to get his phone in his pocket and his bass in it’s case, even though it wasn’t quite tuned yet. He could handle that later. Casually, Jordan shouldered the case and smiled. “Yeah, it’s super pretty,” he confirmed, looking out at the sky and looking back at Riley just in time to see her hand moving. “Did I drop something?” he asked her, feeling his head tilt.

“No, sorry. It was nothing” She turned quickly on her heel, inclining her head as if to motion him forward. “You know, I still owe you a hockey lesson - don’t think I’ve forgotten.”

Jordan felt himself blink as he looked up from his tuner app on his phone. Oh. “Uh, yeah, Five Guys is good,” he replied with a smile, since now that he was thinking about it, he was actually kind of hungry, and he still hadn’t outgrown eating way too much. “Nah, trust me, I’m never busy,” Jordan chuckled, choosing to ignore the fact that Riley was blushing. Or something. He wasn’t about to overthink burgers.

“Cool, um, it’s not too far of a walk.” She got up from her seat before turning back to him. It was really stupid how stupid she was acting. They were just doing a normal friend thing and the fact that she was stuttering did not work for her and definitely wasn’t for the theory that she only like Jordan as a friend. Which was true. No matter what her body or her sisters had to say. “Plus it’s pretty nice out today.” Riley had reached out her hand toward him without even realized it and she quickly retracted it, running her fingers through her short hair instead. Holding hands while on a walk - not on the list of friendly gestures.

“I could really go for a burger right now. Do you maybe wanna go grab Five Guys with me.” It’s not a date... not really - even though Joy will act like it is later. Regardless, it’s unlikely he’ll even think of it like that. They’re friends. Friends grab burgers. But as soon as she asks, Riley feels her face flush slightly as if she’s done something wrong, which makes her think that maybe she wants it to be a date. “I mean, if you’re not busy... or whatever.” That definitely made it worse, Riley. Great job.

“It’s only been a few hours but so far it’s been pretty good.” he chuckled. “And I know, I don’t want to smoke, I just want to buy them. Or something. It’s not like 21 where i can go buy a beer, there’s not as much that I can do with this.”

“Ooohh, fun. I had a friend who bought a box of cigarettes and framed it.”

“I think my brother would just be annoyed if I named a fish after him,” Nemo said. “They’re good fish for beginners. They’re not hard to keep at all.”

“I think my sister would be mad if I didn’t name a fish after her. And my other siblings would be mad if I named a fish after her and not all of them,” she shot him a wide smile. “Sounds perfect! I guess I’ll get five of them then, can you show me what else I need for them?”

“Okay, you know what, we can do that. Eighteen is a fine age to die at, I think. Die as a man instead of a boy.” It was a joke, but…god, hockey with Riley was intimidating. She was good.

“Wait, really, you’ll play hockey with me? Oh my God, best day ever! Although I think you’re technically an adult in the eyes of the law, I will try to keep you alive.”

Nemo’s attention was caught by a small, young woman. “Oh, this little guy here. That’s a blue Glofish Tetra. They come in all sorts of colors.” He glanced down at her. “I wouldn’t say any fish are annoying really. They’re just fish. They don’t do much. If you get that kind I recommend getting at least four or five. They don’t thrive in solitary aquariums.”

“Five? Dang. I could just name them all after my siblings. Actually, they’d probably like that.” She tilted her head, looking back at him. “Okay so how hard would they be for a first time fish owner?”

“I need it to stay summer vacation all the time, but colder. I’ve been having a lot of fun with sleeping in until like…two in the afternoon but I really miss hockey. Is that weird?” It was Jordan’s Classic Conundrum: more time to practice bass at weird hours against no hockey to watch. It was a struggle.

“Solution: we hit up a hockey rink that’s still open and you watch me play. Or, even better, you finally let me teach you.”

“Excuse me, sir!” Riley waved at the guy a few feet away from her. He was wearing a name tag, so she assumed that meant that he worked here. “Can you tell me what kind of fish this is?” She pointed to a blue fish whose name didn’t seem to be listed. “And is it... annoying? Can fish be annoying? I want to get a pet, but my sister requested that it not be annoying.”

an encounter with @rileysandersen

Robin’s knowledge of sports started with archery and ended with football, or soccer if you were in the colonies, which he now was. But one of his kids from class seemed so excited to talk about hockey with Robin, and he had promised that next week he would know enough to hold a conversation. And so here he was, sitting in a cafe up to his ears in a Wikipedia article about a sport that made even less sense than baseball. 

With a groan, Robin tipped his chair back, palms scrubbing over his eyes in an attempt to save them from the words that had started swimming in front of them. “You know what I need,” he mumbled. Or, attempted to mumble. Robin lacked a volume control, and so it came out just loud enough to attract the attention of anyone around him. “I need someone who knows just what the bloody hell is up with hockey.”

Riley was sitting in the cafe studying before practice, like she usually did, lest Joy get on her about grades or something. She was lightly sipping her hot chocolate (with peppermint, obviously) when she heard the boy’s loud proclamation. She whipped around to see a dark haired boy looking miserable and leaning over a laptop. She quickly got up, hot chocolate in hand to sit across from the boy. “I’m sorry, did I hear hockey?”

for @rileysandersen

He hadn’t meant to see the hockey game. Really, he hadn’t. The ticket had been laying in the street, half-covered by newspaper and the other unmentionables of a New York City sidewalk, and, lacking anything better to do, he pulled out his phone, found the location, and watched a hockey game.

Did he know what was happening? No. Did he particularly care about one side or another winning this bizarre sport? Absolutely not. Did Varian manage to remain unaffected by the energy of the crowd and the passion of the players? Nope. Even as he couldn’t understand every boo or cheer the people around him let out, it was impossible to let himself not get swept up in it.

Perhaps the most passionate of all was the girl, sitting a few rows down. She knew what was happening, Varian decided, and during the 17-minute break between periods, he walked over to the girl. “Hi, I’m Varian,” he began, knowing full-well that people like to know who they’re talking to. “You seem to know a great deal about all this. Any chance for a crash course? Just a brief one. Enough so I know when something bad happens.”

Riley turned her head to greet the boy approaching her. She was visibly excited, her hair stuck to her face and the red and blue stripes she’d painted on her cheeks were starting to smear. Typically, she dragged Joy or one of her other siblings to games with her, but they were all busy and she wasn’t about to miss a game, so she was here alone. She smiled, patting the seat next to her, as Varian asked for some Hockey 101. “Riley,” she replied, thrusting her hand out to shake his. She appreciated someone who wanted to learn, and someone who could admit they were lost.

“Alright, so those guys in red and blue, as I’m sure you know, are the Rangers, that’s who we cheer for. Black and gold are the Bruins, we cheer for them to lose. Each team can have six players on the ice at a time, two defenders, a right wing, a left wing, a center, and a defender - but don’t worry, a first timer doesn’t need to keep those straight.” She gave him a wink. “If you look, you can see the lines on the ice, the big red one in the middle is the center line and then the two blue ones divide the rink into three sections. The middle section is the neutral zone, and the circle in the middle is where the game starts. The outer two sections are attacking/defending zones. Basically, all they have to do is get the puck into the goal and they score a point. Three periods, twenty minutes each, whoever has the most points by the end wins.”

“I am eighteen, I am an official adult!” he said feeling so much more like a child. “I can’t believe it. I almost wanna go buy a pack of cigarettes just because I can. I won’t smoke them, though. Just… I wanna do adult things.”

“Ooooh, eighteen was like my favourite year ever. I had so much fun. But smoking is lame and you should not do that.”

“Ohh, I really hope we do!” He replied with a big smile. “I haven’t seen it yet, but I hope we make time for it. Which is your Hogwarts house?”

“I’ve heard it’s amazing. I’m in Gryffindor.”