the double r

For some reason, Mickey just knew that Ruby would be at Second Chances. That quick text back of her claiming she wouldn't tell him where, tipped him off, to turn the opposite direction. Speeding through Carroll, hunched forward on his bike, and without the helmet on. Being reckless with himself.

Up in his feels.

Gus Reynolds really did have a way of making a wave, that's for sure. Aspen had been devastated by the freeze out, with everything she cared about being taken away, all because her father found out she liked to sneak around. All because of him. It was him, his family, everything he was and represented. None of it was good enough, for that man's precious baby girl. Would stain their family's reputation. Normally, Mickey simply leaned into this shitty image and edge it out, happy to be the bad guy and flip everyone off. Fuck them, right? Fuck Gus.

Who's to say it wasn't their family not good enough for his? They were a staple in this town as any other. Unsightly reputation or not.

That wasn't the problem, though. Aspen was. The fact he believed what they thought of him, was. Where was the lie? He'd coasted through life, playing up this asshole image of himself, careless and angry. They voted him THING 2 in high school. Nobody gave him a second look because he wasn't his twin, he wasn't one of the other brothers. He was just Mickey, and who the fuck was Mickey if not the spare parts of all the junk nobody wanted?

This whole mess caused the man to look in at himself and he didn't like what he was seeing anymore. He hated that he understood why Gus wanted Aspen to aim better, for more. That he cultivated this bed himself and laid in it.

"this is employee only!" she shouted, the big sheet of paper that said EMPLOYEE ONLY (and nathan) swinging in front of his face before he could walk through, just to make the point extra clear before he ignored it again. she threw her hands over her ears, as though that would be enough to stem his words from reaching her. it wasn't, she heard what he said loud and clear.

she wasn't sure what she'd expected his announcement to be, but it wasn't that. she lowered her hands for a second, trying to see what this was really all about. "you're not sorry." she kicked the wheel of the clothing rack. the sincerity of his expression was enough to convince her that this couldn't possibly be true. mickey never apologized, and she was supposed to know better than to expect him to. she'd only wanted to have a date like the rest of her friends. "you're not sorry! you don't have to say it just because."

with that, she shrugged, moving on from the topic. she was about to say something else about the color of the party when he caught her off guard and asked her something first,

"like a few days." maybe more. she responded when she felt like it, which wasn't very often. there'd been some other stuff going on that had sort of taken priority. and, it wasn't like the other person had really been wanting to have a conversation. they hadn't even acknowledged the mortal kombat track that she'd sent. that had been a pretty fun one. "was this supposed to happen in high school?"

He choked a bit on his drink, half a laugh, half surprise, at her next words. Because that was funny, but also, Mickey didn't want to appear like he thought so. "Who the hell said that?" he asked, the amusement dying down into some annoyance after it settled in. It was much the same kind of response he would have if anyone said something about his brothers, about someone he cared about... It was only okay if he teased them, not when anyone else did. "Rubes, you'd know if you had taken drugs before," he said, coming in closer. "To fry a brain the way you're talking, would have you stuck in a continue junkie loop of needing your next fix.. it'd be all you're thinking about, so trust me, you would know about it."

she pulled her phone out of her bag, the fringe swaying as she tried to find it, holding up the bright unlocked screen which read UNKNOWN NUMBER. "they seem really concerned about me." she didn't really know how else to phrase what to say about the messages. she'd sent the red flag and the texts kept coming, so the person (who was probably not aspen reynolds) had to have something else in mind. "and i'm not a doctor."

But, whatever.

"Free food and booze, that's the important part," saying this with a wink in Ruby's direction, as he plucked two champagne glasses off a passing waiter. "So, Rubes," Mickey approached her with a grin, a flute held out for her, "what are the chances of you and I... finding out just how big this place is?" His brows wiggled in that mischievous way that told her he was up to no good, but then was he ever? Especially with the short brunette. She was too cute for her own good, honestly. And somehow still giving him the time of day.

"they have like a lot of security." ruby was many things, but she wasn't much of a rule breaker. at least, not on purpose. she didn't break and enter, she didn't think that it was very fun to try. and she didn't do acid. or maybe she did, that one was really throwing her for a loop. she'd lost track of nathan and emily among the crowd, which made sense considering they were vips here, and she and mickey were just....ps.

she took a bubbly drink, before turning back to the topic at phone buzz. "do you think my brain is fried?"

As he walked through town, Leo kept looking around at the damage from the hurricane. Holy shit, he thought. That storm had really fucked things up around here. There was damage everywhere, and Leo felt a little guilty as he looked around and sipped his boba tea; maybe he should help. But Leo didn’t know these people, so that was his excuse…until he saw someone he knew. Leo had just been hoping for that, but now it meant he might have to help clean up. 

Second Hand Thrift had seen better days, Leo knew that despite never having seen it before the storm. Ruby though seemed perky as ever - he wondered if she had her own secret flask today. Lowering his sunglasses as he walked inside, Leo glanced around at everything, all the clothes in disarray. “I guess it could have been worse,” Leo said. “It doesn’t seem like you have too much exterior damage at least.” At Ruby’s mention of a party, Leo laughed. “This is the first I’m hearing of that, so I guess I’m not invited,” he remarked, though he wasn’t offended; Leo didn’t know many people here yet. Looking around again, Leo felt that vague sense of guilt again, so he sighed and asked, “Do you want some help cleaning everything up?”

"you should double check your mail box. it's for everyone." it wasn't a problem, he could be her plus one if it was the kind of party that leo wanted to go to. but, the invites were literally on every door step. maybe he really didn't want to go, "open bar, free food, and it's baby blue." she divulged all she knew about the event. sort of a telephone from three phones away and a mutual inability to text clearly. "you know, a real shindig." one of those things had to be interesting, though they hadn't really played enough get to know you games for her to pick which one.

Jumpscare. "Yeah, I'm sure he'll really love it." In fact, Aggie was utterly terrified of telling Teddy, worried that her brother would just outright disown her at this rate. How could she make him understand that Fitz was a good man that had been stuck in a bad situation. That sure he had dealt with it in not the best way but was committed to making up for every bit of it? No one could ever chance Teddy's mind about anything once it had been made up.

"fitzwilliam duncan! ha!" obviously if they'd had such a big fight about who aggie was spending time with, she would have listened right. family had to mean something, like a lot of something. "jump scare, you'll get him really good." no— wrong, it wasn't april fools. she smacked her forehead. no jump scares here, only the truth which got better and better. was that her fault again, was she supposed to introduce her sister to nice guys? she didn't know any. shoot. that one was her fault.

“Well,” Leo said, looking at the woman, “do you want to sit? You look like you’re loving being stuck here just as much as me.” He gestured to the spot on the floor next to him, handing the flask to the woman again. “My name is Leo,” he told her. “And no, I don’t think we’ve met. I have only had the pleasure of living in Carroll County for about a month. Lucky me to move here right before a hurricane.”

she dropped heavily, as though the world was coming down with her. maybe it was it probably wasn't. "i'm ruby." she responded, thinking about "nice to meet you leo." she gave a small salute, agreeing with the fact that she didn't know him at all, just yet. "that's a pretty good star sign, really powerful." or animal, something else. "the hurricanes are um, well you know, i don't know the last time that happened."

Well this was basically Leo's worst nightmare. Not only was he stuck here in...well, basically a hut, but he was stuck here with strangers. There were only two rooms in this fucking thing, and by Leo's count, there were five other people stuck here too. Well this is just fucking perfect, Leo thought, sighing. He was in the smaller of the two rooms, sitting in the corner and trying to avoid notice...what if one of these people actually wanted to talk? Unfortunately, in a place this small, it was pretty hard to stay hidden.

Leo reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a small flask. Thank fuck he'd filled it before leaving the house; somehow Leo had known he would need it. Twisting the cap off of the flask, Leo was about to take a sip before a shadow passed over him, obscuring what little light was in the room - Leo had been found. "Fuck," he muttered under his breath, looking up to see an unfamiliar woman. He'd been caught redhanded with his flask, so there was no avoiding the topic now. "Do you want some?" Leo asked because, despite his general disdain for socialization, his parents had raised him to be polite once upon a time.

"You know how Teddy freaked out after I told him at his birthday that Fitz and I were officially together? Well... that all sorta of happened after I got my cast off, like that next day basically. And-... And it was really unexpected when we-... You know, and I hadn't you know since high school, and so I wasn't on... Anything. And now... I'm pregnant." The last two words felt like a sack potatoes hitting the ground after the anxious rush that of rest had come before then.

“ohhhhhh.” so no april fools', no joking, all serious, no brakes. planning parenthood was out, along with anything else. was she going to have to take aggie and a baby to doctors’ appointments? after they were almost so close to a real normal life? the kind where she could figure out something that she wanted to do? the resounding answer was: no. that was fine, she could be used to that.