Southside Sunshine

Mason was one of those musicians who would only write and record their music, upload onto Spotify or Soundcloud, possibly record a music video and… that was it. The thought of playing to huge crowds and having a thousand eyes staring back at you, was daunting and scary as hell. But as he had becoming close to finishing his next EP, a sense of courage and bravery had washed over him, and he wanted others to hear his songs. How he’d come to be stood in the middle of town was beyond him, and as he looked out to passers by, he started to cave. “Shit…” Mason exhaled, pulling his ukele behind his head. “Come on.. Come on..” He muttered to himself, feeling his heart begin to race faster. Do not have a panic attack right now. “Breath.. It’s fine.. no-one is looking.” Mason told himself, closing his eyes behind his black raybans. Why did he think that he could even do this?

The current case Sage had required tons of paperwork. She knew very little about the surgery, and she knew she needed to brush up before stepping into the OR. Honestly though, she should have known better. She hadn’t driven to work, and she’d grabbed literal armfuls of literature on the subject to take home and study. It was piled into her arms, blocking most of her view, and as a result, she thumped into someone, sending a couple folders flying. Cursing, Sage pinned one with her foot, sighing as she hung her head, peeking it out around the pile of paperwork. “I am so sorry,” she said, voice gently drawling across her vowels. “I wasn’t paying attention and...well. I can’t exactly...see.” She nodded needlessly to the stack of stuff in her arms. “Because I’m a dummy and bit off more than I can chew.” Wrinkling her nose, Sage tried in vain to right her glasses on her face, giving up with a small sigh. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t hurt you, did I?” She took notice of the instrument then, brows furrowing. “Or -- gosh. Interrupt anything?”

“really, but who knows, maybe they stay home and watch the games cause they’re sick of these men” she shook her head looking around “i can’t tell you how many times guys have come up to me trying to explain the game like i have no idea and i’m like please leave” Lakyn said with a little laugh before taking another sip and looking up at her game. “hey at least you have an accent though, i feel like in georgia we don’t really have all that much of one unless you’re in like, deep Georgia, and honestly i think the people in Savannah just made up their own accent, because it truly is the way you see it portrayed in movie and on tv, it’s very extra” she said laughing again “the titans aren’t bad though i mean they use to be a team you didn’t hear much about but they’re climbing their way in i think. if anything nashville has a great hockey team too” she said with a shrug “i’m sorry i didn’t mean for it to come off as though you couldn’t afford it, i just meant some of the prices for certain jerseys are kind of ridiculous that’s all. like i saw one for $250.00, it wasn’t autographed or anything, just $250”

With a snort, Sage looked around, nodding her head as she rolled her eyes. “You’re probably right. Men can be...” She trailed off, unsure where she wanted to go with that statement. “A lot,” she finally decided on, rather lamely. “Mansplaining is always fun,” she agreed with a curl of her lip. “It happens a lot to me at my job too. I’m always so tempted to ask if they went through Stanford Med, but I never do.” Maybe one day, when she was more secure in her position, Sage would bite back how she wanted to. “I hate it,” she admitted, shaking her head, “I’d much rather not have an accent. The drawl just...” She let out a frustrated sigh, clenching her jaw. “It makes me sound stupid.” Her job was hard enough without some halfwit thinking she was dumb because of her accent. “I get that though. It’s so interesting how there’s so many different dialects even within the same state!” Nodding her head, Sage raised one shoulder in a shrug. “I don’t watch hockey, really. I don’t really know much about how all that works.I mostly watch football and -- well. Football is all. I get really into curling when the Olympics is on though.” It made no sense, curling wasn’t anything like football, but Sage watched it whenever it was on. Huffing out a laugh through her nose, Sage raised her hand. “No, it’s alright. I wasn’t trying to make it sound like I thought you were. They are absurdly expensive though. I mean,it’s just...fabric.”

The fact that the woman inside the apartment wasn’t someone Sage was seeing didn’t make the situation any better. If anything, it was just worse. The fact that her kid cousin was randomly hooking up with what ultimately was probably a stranger was throwing her for a massive loop. “Not even. Okay. Alright. That is. Alright. Jesus,” Danica mumbled, biting down at her lip. She most assuredly did not wish to be there in the moment, but it was Sage’s birthday, so she couldn’t really just completely bail on the situation. Much as she would have loved to do just that, family came first, no matter how awkward, “Is she just…going to hang out in there or?” she asked, huffing out a breath. The last thing she wanted was to have to sit there making small talk with Sage’s hook up while Sage herself was in the shower. Danica didn’t mind awkward situations, exactly, but that might be pushing it even for her. “But sure, great.I will happily help you with your make up and. Try my best to burn all of this from my memory somehow.”

“That really didn’t make the situation any better, did it?” Sage groaned, running anxious hands through her hair. “Just -- it’s stupid, it’s a really stupid situation, just trust me on that front, okay?” She’d call it complicated if there were any actual feelings involved, but most of the time the only feeling she felt towards Dimples was mild annoyance. She liked her, sure, but god she was difficult. “I mean, I doubt it,” Sage said with a snort, “It wouldn’t surprise me if she’d snuck out the window already to be honest. But maybe, I don’t know.” She shrugged, surprised to find that she...kind of wanted Dimples to stay, to come out for her birthday with her. She blamed it on the hormones. “I can ask her to go, if you want, but half the time she does the exact opposite of what I want, so you know.” Wincing, Sage nodded her head, standing aside to let Danica into the apartment. “I’m sorry, “ she said again, “There’s a ton of whiskey in my liquor cabinet. Help yourself, I don’t mind driving there. Hey Dani?” She bit her bottom lip, face flushing bright pink. “Can you just...can you maybe...can you not tell Grace or River about this?”

“true, plenty of women do, they just don’t seem to go to the same bars i do to watch the games so i never see them” she said with a little laugh “i’m not trying to say girls don’t like sports, i just hardly ever run into anyone else paying attention is all, or caring enough to pay attention.” Lakyn shrugged taking another drink “there’s a website where you can get pretty cheap NFL jerseys, i forget exactly what it is though, you could probably google it. they’re like manufactured in china and they’re like $30 compared to like $120” she said with a snort, it was ridiculous how expensive a jersey could be, especially when they were asking almost the same to actually attend a game “any team in particular you root for for NFL? Obviously Falcons for me, true Georgia girl over here” she said as she raised her hand slightly, laughing at how silly she must look.

“Gosh, really?” Sage asked, brows furrowing, “I do. Granted, I don’t really get out all that much, I watch games at home a lot of the time, but...you know. When I do go out, like tonight, I see women involved. They’re generally drowned out a lot by the guys though.” Guys just tended to be really loud, so Sage wasn’t surprised that Lakyn didn’t notice. Then again, Sage absolutely knew she could be wrong and had just gotten lucky with the amount of women paying attention when she went. Laughing, Sage shook her head. “Thank you, but I think I’d want to support the NFL. This is going to sound really pretentious, but the money won’t really be an issue if I actually buy it from the shop. I work in a relatively high paying job.” She was a surgeon, Sage made more than enough money for something like that. “But not really, honestly. I’m more into college ball, but I generally root for the Titans over anyone else. I’m from Knoxville, so I know the feeling,” she said, laughing as Lakyn raised her hand. “As if the accent isn’t a true giveaway of that,” she said, wrinkling her nose. She’d never been able to shake the gentle drawl.

↳  INSTAGRAM:  @sagedurandMD uploaded a new photo.

Shoutout to my friends who got me the coolest birthday cake I’ve ever had in my life. Twenty-eight treating me well.

↳ 186 LIKES, 3 COMMENTS

Now that she was back in town and able to be with her family, Danica was doing her best to take advantage of it. So, when someone needed to go pick Sage up to take her off to the rest of the birthday celebrations, she had happily volunteered. Rolling up on Sage’s place in her newly rented Porsche, Danica stepped out, not thinking anything of it when she headed inside. Sage was expecting her, after all, and had told her to come on in when she got there. What she opened the door to, however, brought a sense of both shock and dread that she wasn’t sure she would ever be able to recover from. Aside from bleaching her eyes and then swallowing the rest of the bottle, she didn’t think she would ever unsee it. Immediately, she was back out the front door, pacing back towards the car with her hands pressing into her eyes. “What the fuck, Sage?” she asked, whirling back around with her eyes wide as could be. “So, so not the way I should be finding out you’re seeing someone. I mean, Jesus Christ.” The woman had looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t put a finger on it, and honestly, she wasn’t sure she wanted to after what she had just seen. 

Wincing, Sage rubbed the back of her neck, seriously hoping there weren’t any dark blemishes to be seen. That would just be even more embarrassing. “I’m so sorry,”she groaned, pressing her hand against her eyes. “And I’m not -- this is not -- I’m not seeing anybody!” It probably wasn’t the best thing to say, considering the situation, but Sage couldn’t seem to help it. The mere thought of being involved with Dimples in a substantial way just made her entire being rebel. “This is just...it’s not that. I’m sorry. I just um --” She cut herself off, closing her eyes and heaving a deep sigh. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter.I just...I’m sorry. Please uh...come inside. I need to...get ready.” She needed to take a shower, get her makeup going, all of that, which would make them late. However, considering the awkwardness of the situation, Sage wasn’t sure Danica would mind all that much. “Can you help me with some stuff maybe?” she asked, cheeks flushing. “Normally Grace helps with erm...like...makeup and stuff. I can do okay for normal every day stuff but for going out, I just...” She felt suddenly like a kid again, and she was sure she looked it too. “Let’s maybe just forget this was a thing and you can help me get ready and not look like garbage?” she asked hopefully.

“Other things? Do you want to talk about it?” quirking a brow with a little smirk at the girls comment about her skills. Smiling softly at Sage’s little wrinkle, she was honestly the most adorable little ray of sunshine in her life snd Tati couldn’t fault her.

Tatiana giggled “Sweetie I was joking - you don’t wanna get tangled up in my fucked up.. I literally just want to make sure you’re okay..” she whispered and tucking a strand of hair behind the girls ear and looking at her. “Shall we go back to mine.. We can cuddle if you want- you seem a little tactile tonight.”  Sure she felt close to Sage but she also didn’t want to fuck her friendship up with the blonde. 

“Just alcohol,” Sage laughed, shaking her head. Sure, she had other, more confusing things to talk about, but she definitely wasn’t going to bring all that up. She could just tell people would judge her. Hell, Sage judged herself. “I’m just -- honestly pretty drunk,” she said with a snort.

Lakyn nodded at the other “i feel like i have to buy you a drink, half the time i’m the only girl in the bar actually paying attention to the game, it’s refreshing” As the girl talked about not being drunk enough for a loss Lakyn couldn’t help but chuckle “that’s the problem, some games i do touchdown shots, but then i only get drunk when we win when in reality it’d be nice to be drunk when we lost so i wouldn’t have to remember it so vividly.” “Nice to meet you Sage, and the nice thing about it being this early in the season is that there’s always next week. i know that doesn’t help right now but, all you can do is keep showing up and cheerin ‘em on, no matter how much it pains you” she glanced at the shirt “nice nice, i went to georgia” she said, showing her firetruck red jersey to the other “i mean, Chubb graduated and is in the NFL now but, jersey are expensive and he’s great so i’m going to keep wearing it” she said with a loud laugh as she glanced back to the tvs.

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Sage said with a laugh, shaking her head, “Plenty of women like sports.” It was a generalization, and maybe Lakyn was right, but Sage would defend women to her dying breath. “I only heavily drink when we lose,” Sage grumbled, taking another pointed drink. “Which we’ve been doing a lot of lately. Fucking Stanford.” She knew she shouldn’t be hard on them. It wasn’t like they were an SEC team, but still. They were ranked seventh. “Might be a good time to change that habit,” she said with a snort, “Start drinking when you lose, because yeah. Those days are just. The worst.” She really wasn’t too terribly into sports, but still, Sage supported her team. “Mmph,” Sage huffed, shrugging one shoulder, “I know, but just...” She gestured toward the television screen, “Fuck Notre Dame.” She had no idea who Chubb was, but Sage nodded anyway. “Jerseys are expensive,” she agreed, “I never got a Stanford one during my time there but...I really should buy at least one from the NFL.” Her brow furrowed and she nodded once, decisively, “I’ll do that tonight.”

Tatiana giggled at the woman’s behaviour and tucked the golden strand behind the girls ear. “I don’t think you would be able to fix it sweetie, you seem to have a little bit of a cloudy mind with anger for you team.” booping her nose playfully.

When the girl said fuck me Tari couldn’t help but feel slightly aroused. “If that’s what you want Sagie, I can.” she whispered into the blondes shoulder as she leant into her and rested there, taking the beer and having a small swig. “Whens the game over and we can get you home… I don’t want Grace or River angry at me..” 

“A cloudy mind with anger, among other things,” she sighed, shaking her head. “But I’d still be able to fix it. I’m pretty good like that.” The confidence was a byproduct of the alcohol, but even a sober Sage would think the same thing. She’d just be a little quieter about it. The boop made her nose wrinkle, but Sage didn’t pull away. The contact was comfortable.

It seemed like a rare thing that Sage got genuinely angry, but Lynn didn’t think she would mind it all that much. If this was any indication of what an angry Sage was like, Lynn might even like her more that way than she did normally. Not, of course, that Lynn really even liked her at all. “Everything else is boring? Well, that’s not true at all,” Lynn countered with a wrinkle of her brows. Football was fine, it was violent and messy at times, but still had some strategic elements to it, but Lynn had always grown up as a soccer fan. Having played herself in college, it was her choice of sport if she had to decide what to watch. Lynn held back a bemused laugh as she watched Sage brighten at the sight of more alcohol, the drunken antics almost endearing in a way. “Probably a lost cause. Might want to pick a new team,” she agreed, her eyes trailing up towards the scoreline briefly. It wasn’t pretty at all, that was for certain. “Mm, I guess, though, yeah. I mostly just came for a drink, watch whatever games are on.”

“It’s kind of true,” Sage said with a laugh, shaking her head. “I mean...baseball? I can’t even watch it, golf is the worst, so is tennis. I -- well, okay. Hockey’s kind of fun sometimes. Also I get really into curling when the Olympics comes on? I don’t know why?” She really enjoyed it, and sometimes yelled at the curlers like she yelled at her football team. “What other sports do you like?” It seemed like she liked something if she was correcting Sage. “I can’t,” she groaned. “I mean, I went to Stanford. You have to take the good with the bad. I can’t just give up on them, even if I really want to.” They were testing her patience, that was for sure. She’d had such high hopes this season. “Um,” Sage said, looking around, moving to stand up from her seat. The world spun then, and she slapped a palm down on the bar, blinking rapidly. “Oh good,” she said dryly, “I can’t drive home.” Shaking her head, she furrowed her brows, eyes scanning the screens across the bar. “Uh, Florida/LSU’s over in that corner, Georgia and...someone is over there. Miama/FSU is on the other side of the bar and...there’s probably more but I’m not tall enough to see.” She plopped back down in her seat then, going back to frowning angrily at the tv, fingers wrapped around her beer. 

Jordan’s eyes widened as her beer was taken from her, and she gaped wordlessly at Sage. That was…new. “Yeah,” she said, momentarily struck dumb, “It’s dark beer.” Her eyes slid to the tv screen then, wrinkling her nose at the score. “Right, yeah…this is bad,” she said, not really following. It clicked then, and she let out a bark of laughter. “You went to college at Stanford, didn’t you?” It would make sense, but honestly, Jordan hadn’t pegged Sage to be too into sports. “Fuck Notre Dame though,” she said, amusement slipping across her face. No reason to not stand in solidarity. “I feel like more alcohol wouldn’t be best though,” she sighed, signalling the bartender. “Not yet at least. Try some water instead, Doc.”

“Yes, I did,” Sage groaned, covering her face. “As much as it embarrasses me to admit here, currently. God damn it.” Really, Stanford was more well known for their academics, but...whatever. In Sage’s mind it was still a sports school too. “Right,” Sage repeated, clearly drunk, “Fuck Notre Dame.” Annoyance, sharp and swift lanced through her then, and she had to clench her jaw to stop herself from biting back. It wasn’t fair, Jordan was just trying to help, but Sage hated to feel handled. “I’m fine,” she said, voice slightly snippy before she sighed. “I’m fine,” she repeated more softly, “I used to drink this much in college.”

Lakyn was watching her own game, another Georgia victory in the midst as she heard someone next to her complaining about defensive plays. Taking a glance at the others game before responding “oof, you’re right, you guys are just letting them run all over you” she said, waiving the bartender down “one more for me and then one for this gal over here.” After ordering she continued “hopefully you guys get it together here” she said, being hopeful as their drinks were brought back “I’m Lakyn by the way, did you go to Stanford?”

She didn’t need to be reminded, but Sage didn’t say so. She just sighed instead, raising her hand in a standard ‘what can you do’ motion. The promise of more alcohol brought a smile to her face, and Sage finally glanced over toward the other woman. “Ah, thanks!” she drawled out, “I’m so not drunk enough for this.” In all honesty, not very many other people cared about the game in the bar, they’d all gone to schools in the South, it seemed, but Sage was never happier that the bartenders liked her. “Mm, too late in the fourth for us to get it together, I’m afraid,” she said, groaning as Costello threw an interception. “Lakyn, hi,” Sage responded, distractedly reaching out a hand to shake, “I’m Sage. And I did go to Stanford.” She tugged at her t-shirt, the large red S taking up most of her chest.

“Oh, honey. At least your school has a reputable sports team,” she pointed out, reaching over to pat the girl’s shoulder a bit. Danica had never been one to get emotionally charged when it came to sports, but she could sort of understand how other people might. “Mm, yeah. It makes you wonder how those guys get paid what they do to coach these teams. I could do a better job and I really don’t watch it at all.” Give her a few game tapes to watch and a bird’s eye view of the game and Danica was sure she could break it all down to a science and win any game at any point. Her ego in some regards was incredibly big. Danica’s head glanced back towards Grace with a skeptical look. She at least looked like the game was going better than Sage’s, though that didn’t necessarily mean she’d rather be around Grace. “Louder, maybe. More drunk, possibly? More fun, though? Debatable.” Leaning back a little, Danica nursed her own glass of wine, her attention only vaguely lingering on the game on the screen. “Guess you should have picked a better school.”

“Does it though?” Sage asked dryly, gesturing toward the tv screen. “Looks like a garbage sports team to me.” She was being hard on them and she knew it, but Sage couldn’t seem to help it. This was a good, healthy outlet for her aggression, yelling at people who couldn’t hear it. “I don’t know,” she groaned, covering her eyes and pressing until colors popped behind her closed lids. “Maybe you should contact the school. I’ll give you a glowing recommendation. Just get us winning, maybe.” Sage had no doubt that Danica could get the percentages down to an acceptable rate no matter the play. At this point, she was willing to see if anything worked. “Louder and more drunk definitely,” Sage laughed, eyes going soft around the edges. It wasn’t often that people preferred her over Grace. Not that Danica did, but still. It was nice to hear. “Though I’m getting there,” she said, smiling as the bartender set another beer in front of her. “I shouldn’t drive. I’ll probably take an Uber. ...thanks though. For uh...for hanging out.” Narrowing her eyes, Sage turned in her cousin’s direction. “Excuse me, Stanford has an exemplory medical and undergraduate program, thank you. I picked a perfectly valid school. We just...suck at most sports. Except soccer. We can’t all be fancy MIT grads, Dani,” she grinned.

Tatiana laughed as she walked up behind her friend, having heard that she was in the bar - and she’d been passing so decided to stop it.

Wrapping her arms around the blondes waist she rested her head on her shoulder. “Now Now doc.. I don’t think getting this stressed out over a game is that much of a big deal… I mean.. You look like you’re about to pop a vain.. gross” chuckling before kissing the blondes cheek. “Missed me?”

At the sudden touch, Sage froze, muscles locking hard as she fought the urge to jump. She relaxed immediately though at the sound of Tati’s voice, going back to glaring at the television screen. She looped an arm around her shoulders, leaning over into her. “Mmph. If I do pop a vein, at least I know how to fix it.” She was a little drunk and a lot grumpy with her team right now.

Sighing, she used her free hand to reach over and snag her beer, taking a hefty swig as she let loose a litany of creative curses as Stanford threw an interception. “Fuck me,” she groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Of course I missed you though, even if I’m pissy right now. I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.” Tati’s weight was comfortable against her side, Sage always did tend to be even more comfortable with touch when she’d been drinking.