Wherever

“Did you see the fight between the priest and the flamingo? Honestly, I swear there’s some kind of rude joke in there somewhere but I’m way too fucked to think of one.” Everett gestured to where the flamingo head lay dented and abandoned on the floor where the scuffle had happened. 

“So what are you supposed to be again? I’m 90% sure I recognise it but I have been in prison for 7 years so jog my memory, would ya?”

⁂

“Hm?” Rosemarie has to wrack her brain to find his meaning, physically feeling the answers like puzzle pieces click together when she remembers the costumes. “That fight must have happened while I wasn’t looking.” She frowns, hoping what the man says isn’t true. “This priest, describe the priests eyebrows,” she requests casually, eyes narrowed with familiarity.

“And I’m an angel, can’t you tell?” She brushes her fingers across the home-made hallow above her head, turning her back to him a moment to flash elegant, blush pink wings. Though regarding the rest of the costume, it’s essentially frilly lingerie, and Rose wears it with pride. “Seven years, you’re not a murderer are you?” She asks with mirth, inching back for affect. 

“Don’t see no law folks about,” Dallas counters, not that he endorses littering, but he figures there’s bigger offenders than his discard bottle cap. He shrugs at her, but holds his hand out in case she feels the need to return it to him. While she lays out extended terms, he takes a swig of beer, admiring what she was wearing more than focusing on the words. 

“Haven’t a clue who red beryl is when she’s at home, so don’t think that’d be the smartest bet for me to make.” 

His gaze drifts to the house again, something in him was always waiting for things to go South, even when for all intents and purposes it was shaping up to be a seemingly innocuous party. 

“Wouldn’t hold my breath if I was you. Building’s ain’t haunted, the people in ‘em usually are.” 

⁂

She does hand the bottle cap back to him when she notices he’s holding his hand out, dropping it off to him with less judgement than her words had before. “Here I thought you were at least related to the ‘law folks’.” The term ‘folks’ sounds strange on her lips, but she mimics him all the same. He has a funny way of talking, distinctly all American, but she won’t make fun of someone else’s accent when hers is still so thick. 

“Red beryl, she is a crystal so rare I would consider you a god should you find a raw one for me.” And she still doesn’t expect him to know what she’s talking about, continuing on, “Keep your bet then, I never liked playing with you.” She jests, looking away and around them. “Are you haunted? Are you the reason this town has been having it’s fair share of cryptid sightings? Drawing in the supernatural are you? I thought you might be hear for something valid, but now I know you’re hear to plant the ghosts.”

“Well, at least I am living alone… I’ll be playing horror games this month, so maybe it will be Resident Evil or some cursed one from deep web. Why?”

⁂

“Oh, just curious, I’d love to watch along if you want the company. I’ve never heard of the Resident Evil but I do know the SCP game. That one is scary too, no?”

“Oh you really don’t know me at all..” Callan remarked with a smirk. “The guy I’m with now.. He was straight before I showed him how good dick can be, now.. he can’t get enough of it.” His mind trailed off in thought as Nathan entered into his mind. Their relationship was but wasn’t exclusive.. It was complicated. They both enjoyed sleeping around but also enjoyed each other’s company. “Alright, you sit on my shoulders.. but I thought you also wanted my stomach? I’ve gotta tell you though, my appetite is non-existent. I smoke so much dope..” He laughed, before cocking a brow as Rosemarie spoke of herself having a word with the manager at Paco’s. Would that even work? “Alright there, Karen.” Callan mocked, though continued to laugh. “I hear there’s this Halloween event coming up? Could always cause havoc in that haunted house?”

⁂

“Well I am very happy for you and your dick.” The final word forces it’s way from her mouth and she has to giggle at the crass language, like some child whispering curses behind their mother’s back. She doesn’t mind hearing the details too much when Callan seems so proud after all. Though she’s thankful to move on lest things become a little... awkward. She doesn’t talk sex with many. “Karen...?” She asks quietly, confusion written on her face at being called the wrong name. She narrows her gaze at him, though there’s a playful twinkle in her eye at the mention of a haunted house. “Will there be food?” And on second thought, “will there be real ghouls? I don’t care to go unless I’ll be peeing my pants from fear, you know? And if it’s a halloween party, oh, I’ll have to wear something nice. I expect to meet your boy, if you come.” She practically sings, full of nosey intrigue.

Lana quirked her brow a little higher this time she wondered what Rosemarie had on her mind, and it was intriguing her - the woman was intelligent and Lana valued her opinion more than most. She scoffed. “Little Lana..” But she couldn’t help but feel a little… smug. “Okay.. I’m in like.. but sure sure. Little Lana is in like…”

She listened and sighed. “It’s not.. That I haven’t fallen. I probably have.. May more than I care to admit. It’s just.. Weird?” She shrugged, pausing to sip her wine and then take a cucumber stick and dip it in some hummus she’d laid out earlier. “I have made up my mind. I have.. But usually when it comes to affairs of the heart - it’s where my mind tends to fail me.. And.. I just… I don’t know.. What if I’m not a girlfriend? What if I’m not … wired to be a girlfriend? And just a bit of fun.” She’d been told that in the past by a couple of .. suitors. Too ambitious, to headstrong. But as usual she shrugged it off, but now. Now she didn’t want to. “No you’re right. I’m being negative I need to stop that.” Shaking her head firmly so that brunette waves shook like a sea crashing against a rock. “I don’t want to do that. I want this. I’ve wanted it for about two years..”

The blonde made amazing points, hence why she’d began coming to her with problems like this “I guess..” She nodded at the woman’s point before waving her hand, needing to get the conversation off of her before she got swept up in emotion. “Please.. Tell me about you.. This isn’t all about me tonight.. We can come back to me later.. I promise.”

⁂

In like, Rosemarie chuckles at the correction, though liking the sound of it more than the ever so cliche ‘falling in love’. She takes what Lana gives her, nodding silently  with a subtle smirk at all of her friends voiced thoughts. She’s no relationship coach, just a woman who’s been in her fair share of loves and loves lost, but she thinks up her best ways to quell Lana’s fears if she can. “If you allow yourself to be negative you have to allow yourself some positive too. Balance,” she says like she is some old, wise sage and Lana plays her pupil. “If you’ve wanted it so long then you fight for it, you don’t let these fears over... being a girlfriend... keep you from something that can turn so lovely. You want to be able to say that you tried. Not that this man isn’t special, but if it does fail, Lana you are beautiful and smart and have a career of your own. There will be others.” And she doesn’t mean to sound like she’s making the situation small or unworthy of finality, just reminding her friend that life will go on and she will be okay.

And then she rolls her head in a sigh at being asked about herself, bracing her nerves for whatever thoughts might follow. “Good and bad, about me.” She starts, wondering just how much she should say. Well, everything. “I’ve been gathering crystals and herbs and been pretty lost in that and yet, I have, a suitor.” She says mysteriously, giving Lana a demure look. “I’m not so busy as you, so maybe this man found me so easily because I’ve been more idle these days. I’ve also taken up baking so that I may make a good housewife someday,” she half-jokes, wondering if Lana will pick up that she’s partly serious. “I’ll be flying back to Ukraine soon to take advantage of America’s Thanksgiving days off. I don’t celebrate but I take any chance to see my family again. Even if my brothers are, well. My brothers still.”

She had, of course, been joking when she suggested a pancake related accident, so her eyes couldn’t help but widen at her story. “Jesus, your brother sounds like a dick. My brother is twelve years younger than me, so he’d be the one getting force fed in that situation. He really wasn’t all that monstrous. Maybe just annoying. My older sister on the other hand…” Nell took a sip of her coffee and gave Rose a knowing look, as if that simple statement alone carried all the weight of the fragile relationship she had with her. She wasn’t too ashamed to talk about it — complain, mostly. “Honestly, I have no idea. I just kind of assumed they are, but I’m a terrible cook and never tried to make them myself,” she answered with a nonchalant shrug.

⁂

Rosemarie’s eyes widen when Nell states her brother sounds like the male genitals, like speaking poorly of the man would suddenly send him flights over and right here into the cafe. “Oh your sister? Tell me of her, how I wish I had one. Maybe then I would not have had to suffer so much in my youth.” She says carefully, treading lightly when the other woman’s sister might turn out to be some fiend. “You, can’t cook?” She asks like the idea alone is blasphemy. “Come to me, we begin cooking lessons with haste, you’ll be a chef in no time at all. Though I only know foreign recipes, I hope that will suffice.” She takes a few gentle bites of her food, feeling the warmth bubble up inside her when endorphins rush and cry for more. “My kitchen can handle a little mess no problem.”

the moment he’s torn his gaze away from the commotion long enough to fix it on the young woman standing, shaken, in the middle of his parking lot, his expression softens from rather sharp and piercing to something more sympathetic, almost akin to guilt. theo is well aware that the location he’d chosen for his storefront isn’t perhaps the nicest that silver lake has to offer, but it was also the only thing he’d been able to afford ten years ago and even so, he shouldn’t have to worry about anybody getting accosted or assaulted less than a dozen feet from his own front door. and then, of all things, to find out she was a potential customer and that she’d nearly been robbed right in front of him? this shit? this was why he’d found himself in silver lake to begin with, why he’d left new york. 

because theo, as much as he tries to convince himself otherwise with his quiet life and his simple hobbies and his skilled attempts at feigning peace, is instinctively impulsive and instinctively violent. and he wants nothing more than to chase down the man in question once he discovers what has transpired, to teach him a lesson with concrete and bone. that’s not his life anymore. instead, he has to actively persuade himself to turn his focus wholly onto her instead, to shift his engagement from assault to apology.  ❝ look, this is my shop, and i apologize. if there’s anything i can do — ❞ and he means that, genuinely, whether that be offering her a safer space to collect herself after that or chasing down the man that just tried to rob her.  ❝ i try to run a nice place here, but that’s always gonna be a little bit harder in certain parts of town. i do what i can to make sure that shit doesn’t happen around here, but hell, i guess even i only see so much. i’m sorry you had to be a part of it, though. are you alright? ❞

⁂

The man’s gaze softens when it lands on her and Rosemarie is thankful for it when she suddenly feels so lost and assualted. It isn’t often that this happens, in fact, it must have been some freak incident that Rose happened to be here for, but she still grips the pepper spray in her bag like she might have to go spraying at anyone who comes near. Her fingers and shoulders are still shaking, tears welling in her eyes that she wills not to fall because she’s okay, she’s okay. And she can still see a little bit of that rage in the man’s eyes too, under the softness, wondering that he might go after the man too after give him second beating. But both people are long gone when the man starts talking again, and Rosemarie looks away abruptly at the apology. She blinks and runs a few locks of hair behind he ear, deciding not to play the spoiled princess right now.

“I will be fine.” She lies, visibly shaken. “I’ve had my fair share of frights like this before where I come from,” and in her big Ukrainian hometown the streets were rife with little boys looking to rob little girls of their toys. “I’m sorry I insulted your place of business, but you ought to get some more cameras. And a bat. And a dog.” She says, thinking this isn’t going overboard. “Now that I have the owner here,” she pats herself off one final time, “are you taking walk-ins? I’d like something small. I could use some wine too.”

“An abandoned house, drunk folks, fire, fireworks and a party on Halloween have historically always been a great combination,” Dallas bemoans, stood where he could usually be found – by the fire. He pries off the cap of a beer bottle with the end of his lighter, flicking it in the grass as he looked towards the abandoned house from where he stood in the backyard. 

“I’d bet ten dollars easy that Thanksgiving’ll come early when the Flamingo ends up face first one of these fire pits and gets cooked.” 

⁂

“I thought litter was against the law.” Rose says announcing her presence in the backyard, bending down to pick up the bottle cap that lands in the grass. “I double your bet and say that if this house goes down in flames or vomit then you owe me,” she taps her lips, looking to the sky a moment as she thinks, “red beryl.” She says smirking, wondering if the man would know it. “You don’t think throwing a soiree here is a good idea? It seems to be the talk of the town.”

“Me, I’ve come to find out if the place is truly haunted, otherwise I won’t be partying here with the public.” 

❝ — oi, hey! break it up! get that shit outta here! ❞ the shouts echo so loudly through the parking lot that the tinkling chime above the door he’s just shoved open is almost entirely drowned out. and just as quickly as the door swings open, there’s theo, snatching the snug, black vinyl gloves from his hands and shoving them into a pocket as he fixes the source of the sudden discord with a sharp, piercing gaze. all at once ( and whether they were actually intimidated by him enough to come to their senses or they simply thought he was an old narc of a man bound to call the cops or something, theo didn’t actually know ) the scuffle and all parties belonging to it seemed to scatter into the bustle of a busy afternoon downtown. good, he thinks. he’s had to break up more fights, more drug deals and altercations lately than he’s comfortable with, but he’s certainly not afraid to roll his sleeves up if needs be.

 a pause as his gait finally slows and theo huffs an exhale that sounds more like an exasperated sigh than anything else as he looks to the next nearest person.  ❝ christ on a cracker, what do they think this is? gta: five or something? bunch of reckless sons a’ — did you happen to see what was going on? ❞

⁂

It was a calm and cool afternoon when Rosemarie decided to finally go out and procure her newest tattoo. Something small, something fun, something cute, she has a little sketch of it in her purse that she goes to dig into until  someone’s abruptly trying to grab it from her. She struggles to grapple her purse free, shifting here and there until it’s pulled off of her and she yelps. Thankfully, someone comes to her rescue, fighting the assailant and getting her purse back in time for the owner of the shop to come out spitting and barking. 

Shaken but will all her things intact as the two brawlers separate, she looks to the man who seeks to know what’s going on and gives him a frustrated scoff. “I nearly had my purse stolen.” She looks at him like he can do something about that, chase the would-be burglar down and finish beating him to a pulp. “I heard this place was worth the money but it isn’t worth all my money! What kind of place is this!?” She asks incredulously, just as angry as he is at all the commotion. 

Holland shook her head back and forth, flinging her arm around Rosemarie’s shoulders. “Rosie, baby, you gotta think positive,” she said, trying her best not to laugh. “You’re not going to choke. And if you do –” Holland shrugged, turning her face forward again. “Then you die happy … and I will finish your nachos for you. It’s all part of the plan. I’d only hope you’d do the same for me,” Holland announced, looking back at her friend with a smirk.   

⁂

Hollands words have Rosemarie laughing with genuine ease, the idea of her dying to a nacho themed feast bringing a big bright smile out of her. “Oh, you think my ghost would not rise from my body and finish those nachos?” After her death, every food establishment would soon get an uptick in haunted guests. “I would not do the same for you because I will wait for your ghost to finish off the meal. I would keep the paranormals from sucking you into their vacuum.” She says, thinking of the ghostbusters but not remembering their name. “Now come, we have much planning to do.”

⚘

Really, when Mere said that it was just a joke but Rose played along, which did drag a light-hearted chuckle out of her. “I’ll tell you when we’re done here.”

The more they spoke, the clearer it became that Mere had stumbled across an odd fish of a person…or maybe, that odd fish stumbled upon her. It was interesting at least, and wasn’t this why she’d packed up and moved to a new city? For new experiences, new people? In any case, it was a hell of a lot more fun to indulge this little distraction than it would be to immediately turn tail and get back to the problems in her reality.

But…just her luck, Rose picked a guessing game. The worst. Mere’s habit of second-guessing every decision she made would work against her here but she tried not to let that anxiety show as she considered the options Rose gave her. At first, it felt a little too easy. But then, why play at all if you were going to be lazy? Mere took her time thinking in silence, looking Rose over as if trying to reason out exactly what kind of person she was just from the few minutes since they’d met.

“Hm…I’m gonna say…you’re not blind.”

⁂

She happy when the other decides to play along, taking her game for a serious gesture without much question; her favorite type of player. This person is new in town that much is clear to her when she tends to keep mental note of everyone she sees, though she’s sure there are new and newer comers coming to Silver Lake just about every day. It piques her interest when the other is so willing to roll with her and it makes Rose wonder if she might have stumbled upon a new friend, though it’s more like she was sitting around waiting for a new friend to come along. 

“I’m going to say you’ve guessed incorrectly.” Is all she gives for a moment, twisting and turning herself in the wind like she might leave it at this and walk away. “Partially blind, I am in this eye,” she taps her left cheek. “I have brothers who liked to play too rough.”

“I would like to think we are, especially I am spending half of my paycheck on his tacos.” If there was such a thing as a VIP customer, Macky would be it. “I will probably win that.” She shrugged, chuckling. “When it comes to Mexican food, my stomach is basically a bottomless pit.”

⁂

“You will probably win that? But I will be entering!” Rosemarie teases, though she isn’t entirely joking with the woman. “I thought I was the town’s bottomless pit but I don’t want to step on your toes. Why do not we join forces? You chew and I feed you and steal some nachos for myself there and here. I can tend to your tummy ache in the morning. ”

She smiled at Rosemarie, she listened, she cared and It was nice. She could see the woman lost in thought and she wondered what she could possibly concocting in that mind of hers. “You’re smiling? Why are you smiling?”

She paused, turning pink and rolled her eyes. “Oh god.” She licked her lip. “I haven’t fallen. I just.. I .. Feel like we’ve kind of skipped past most of the getting to know each other nerves.. The .. Parts of him I don’t know.. I already do. We’re best friends.. You know.. I already have.. Some kind of love for him.” She admitted. “But.. Romantic.. I… Need to wait.  I don’t want to say I’m… in love with him. When.. When I don’t know.”  She nodded as she said the things about feelings. Beautifully terrifying. It was the perfect way to describe everything she was feeling.

“Exactly!” She squealed. “It’s like laying down in bed in new sheets when I’ve shaved my legs.. after a stressful week of work.” She laughed. Sipping her wine as Rosemarie did.  “I think.. I’m scared about.. Losing him? I’m already thinking things…  That I don’t want to be thinking but.. I’ve just never done the relationship thing and it work out? I’m scared. What.. What if.. I’m not good enough?”

⁂

“Smiling? Me?” She asks innocently with big eyes like she’s up to nothing at all. “Perhaps I’m only smiling because my Little Lana is in love.” She says ever so sweetly, even if it may not be something like love yet she’s sure that if they are as good friends, were as good friends, then heavier phases of the relationship are quickly coming up. 

“Okay, you haven’t fallen, sure. I will take your word,” but she knows better, she can see it in Lana’s eyes as she watches the woman and listens all the same. “What is there  not to know? It sounds to me like you have made up your mind.” But she relents in her attack that Lana must be in love, letting the woman figure that at least out for herself if she wants it. “I believe,” she brings a hand to her lips, thinking carefully, “maybe if you’re so afraid to lose him in this, maybe now isn’t yet the time? I hate to say to stop yourself, I don’t want to mean for you not to pursue this relationship. However, thinking too much about losing him, and you will lose him, you know?” She finishes off her cup of wine and sets the glass back on the table, sitting up now.

“Otherwise, you have to hold on to the feeling that he cares for you, that he wants to be with you no matter your schedule no matter what. Let that feeling lift you out of this slump or it will consume you, Lana. More than anything, you should talk to him, about this. The best person to quell your relationship fears is the person in which you’re in the relationship with.” And she’s emoting now, moving her hands passionately with her words. “Best friends can speak to each other honestly like that, no?”