ice cream, ice queen

          “Your insurance is taking care of the damage, you don’t owe me anything.” He said taking a second to think about it. “But if you want to go for a drink sure. I don’t know why you’d want to go with a grump like me, but… sure.” Honestly after all of this he could go for a drink too, not particularly fond of drinking the problems of his day away, but this one deserved it. “Follow me to the bar. Try not to crash into me again.” 

Savannah pursed her lips with an eye roll, but smiled up at him and nodded. “I will do my very best not to cause your car anymore damage,” she teased with a shrug. “And grumpy company is better than no company. Trust me, I’ve got enough cheer for both of us,” she called back, walking to her car. She was sure he could tell based only on this interaction that she was more positive than he. It was possible he was dreading this experience, but Savannah didn’t particularly mind. She just wanted an excuse to not go home. She go in the front seat, closing her car door, and waited for Grayson to do the same. 

Charlie raised an eyebrow, glancing at her for a short moment before beginning to put away his belongings. He had thrown them around during his workout, too focused on boxing to be neat. “Are  you okay?” he asked, looking at her for a moment and then back to his bag. “If you wanted the room, you might want to go tell the secretary that you do. They go quickly.” 

Savannah nodded her head, all trace of water works gone aside from some messy mascara. “I’m fine,” she said, with a slight chuckle. She tried to be good at pretending, but it was quite obvious she was lying. Embarrassment was a great motivator however, so she shrugged her shoulders and pointing towards the door with her thumb. “I actually just stumbled in here, so there’s really no need to clean up your things.” She looked him up and down. “You looked busy anyways.” 

“Oh, so that’s why we can’t sleep together.  Because I’m a complete dick,” he said, nodding and smirking mostly to himself.  He finished off his own drink, running his free hand through his hair.  The room was fuzzy, starting to be unclear and…warped.  But he was used to this part of the night, it was normal for him.  This was just what happened to him, on a near-nightly basis.  

Savannah bit her lip thinking to herself for a moment, her eyes toward the ceiling. She eventually shrugged and look back at him, tilting her head a bit to the side. “I mean, I wouldn’t say you’re a complete dick,” she offered. Savannah was willing to try most anything sexually so long as someone called her pretty during the ordeal. Emerson was just another mouth to do so. 

“ can anyone really have enough of shitty dance routines? they’re timeless, as far as I’m concerned. ” shae argued, playfully. and although he knew she wasn’t serious about her new dream, there was a genuine moment of impressive skill as he watched her spin the hoop around her hips as if they weren’t currently holding a conversation. “ this weekend? uh, nothing, actually. why? got something in mind? ” hearing her idea, it took him a few moments to figure out whether it was a genuine offer or not. did they have hula hooping competitions? he still wasn’t sure. “ alright, now I’m disappointed. I thought, for a second, there was a genuine hula hoop competition coming up and I was so ready to road trip to it. ” he laughed, although he was sort of curious about the actual competitions happening out there. “ I think it makes you human. ” he argued. “ however, if you are a bit egotistical because of it, you don’t need to worry because I guess I’m just as egotistical. so, no judgement. ”

Savannah waved her arms around her body, still spinning the hoop, thinking to herself. “What makes you egotistical, Shae?” She asked, with a small smirk. “That’s a good conversation starter come to think of it,” she said, with pursed lips. Savannah shrugged. “Or maybe not, people might think I’m weird if I start with that, but I would know them well afterwards. We should look into hula hooping competitions, see if they’re actually a thing. Now I’ve got myself curious.” 

Sienna lifted her gaze at the call of her name, a smile starting to form on her lips at the sight of Savannah. “It is and can you believe I’m getting paid for judging people over their movie taste? That is the dream,” she said with a chuckle before rolling her eyes at her friend’s suggestion. “Do I really?” she asked, before writing down the film’s name. “You made me watch that movie so many times that I don’t see the appeal of it anymore.”

“It’s a classic,” Savannah exclaimed. “All the moms will force their husbands to go, and all the boys will take their dates. It’ll be a hit, I swear.” She put her arms out imitating Baby in the ending sequence and grinned. “I mean haven’t you seen that movie, Crazy, Stupid, Love. It’s his move,” she said with an eyebrow wiggle, while putting her hands down. “It would work on me, but that might just be because I love Ryan Gosling.”

Jackson sighed and nodded his head. Jackson didn’t like his brother’s decision but there was nothing Jackson could do. Now all he could do is try to be strong for his younger sisters. He grabbed his sister and pulled her into a tight hug, knowing she needed to let it all out. 

        “Putting into consideration how much of a small dent it is, i’d say you’re safe.” Gray said dryly, crossing his arms and looking back at her. Maybe this was a distraction from what was going on in her life which was pretty fucked when he thought about, he guessed Daisy and Lulu could wait a little longer for their dad to get  home. “You’ll be fine.” He assured her. 

Savannah nodded slowly, using the time to come up with something else irrelevant to talk about. She just couldn’t stand to see her father yet, especially knowing he didn’t know yet. She was a terrible liar, and even worse at hiding her emotions. The later she got home, the more likely it was that he would be in bed, which would be optimal. “You know,” She put her fingers in her hair, and licked her bottom like. “You know, I probably owe you, like a drink or something, for the trouble. It would really— I’d feel better about this I think.” She stumbled her way through the idea, not knowing what she was going to say until half way done speaking. 

         He watched her start t walk back to her car as he started walking back to his. Grayson was going to open the door when she called out to him and he sighed. “It’s Grayson.” He said looking back at her. “Any more questions?” He asked, shutting his door and leaning against the car. It was like she didn’t want to leave.

Savannah could tell he was catching on and a small smile graced her lips, before she crossed her arms. “Hmmm,” she said, trying to think of something she could possibly need to know in the case of a car accident. She looked at him, then her car, then back at him. “Do you think my car is safe to drive in? I mean, what if you drove away, and I started it, and the whole thing caught on fire.” She knew she was pushing it, but she didn’t have much to lose. 

   Grayson nodded slowly, the loss of his dad being hard on him to talk about. “Thank you,” He said softly as she spoke. “Can’t say it’s been nice ti meet you, but hi, Savannah.” He replied and smirked a little, this was his attempt to joke with her. Maybe it was too little too late. He shook her hand and smiled gently at her Sure he had been harsh on her, but he wasn’t a walking on daisies type of guy, so maybe it was her bad luck that caused them to crash. Especially into him. 

Savannah rolled her eyes at her joke, but the smile was still planted on her face. She started to walk back to her own car, but turned around after a few steps pointing her thumb at him. “Wait, grumpy stranger, you never told me your name,” she pointed out, crossing her legs one over the other. It sounded strange, but a car crash had been a welcome distraction for her brain. She wasn’t quite ready to get back in the car. 

Jackson looked at his younger sister with a sign of worry. He could tell something was wrong. “Hey…what’s wrong? You okay?” Jackson asked as he walked over to her.

“I shut my phone off so I could sleep. I’ve been working a lot lately. What’s going on?” 

Savannah knew she was supposed to hold it together to support Beckett, but upon the sight of her other brother, she lost it. She wasn’t even sure if Jackson knew what was going on, so instead of telling him, she fanned away her tears after crying for a few moments, and breathed deeply. “Hey.” It sounded more like a squeak than a word. 

      Grayson nodded and smiled weakly at her. “You’re welcome.” He said softly and shook his head. “No I don’t think your address is necessary.” He said simply, “My insurance has your policy number so when I got to get it fixed they’ll just send it to your insurance, I guess? I don’t know. like I said, i’ve never been in an accident before.” He sighed, noticing her trying to joke with him, but, he just wasn’t in the mood, and now that he’s talked about his father, even less. “I think we’re free to go, but if you have any questions here’s my number.” 

Savannah took down his number with a nod and looked up at him offering a small smile. “I’m sorry about your dad,” she said, sincerely. “Oh,” she perked up slightly. “I know you probably don’t care, but I’m Savannah,” she said, holding out her hand for him to shake. It was possible she had heard her use her name before on the phone, but she figured a proper introduction was in order, especially after damaging his car. After hearing about his father, she was hesitant to judge him so quickly to be a terrible person. Maybe he was just sad. 

      Sutton suddenly felt awkward. The other girl said that she didn’t mean it offensively, but it still made her feel weird. “Yeah I do,” she said nodding, biting her lip. 

“Oh,” Savannah exclaimed, having realized she made the other uncomfortable.  “Well, that’s like really cool,” she said, with a nod. “Probably makes other people super jealous, that you’re so smart, you know?” She offered. 

Jaw clenching slightly at her response, squinting his eyes at her. “Then just say it,” he briefly scoffed, knocking down the rest of his whiskey. He obviously wasn’t the type to pick up on stuff like that easily, mostly because he didn’t care enough to focus on someone’s behaviour or gestures but also because his mind was clouded with the substance he had smoked earlier. He inhaled sharply, nodding at her. “You know what, princess – you’re fucking lucky you’re this good looking,” he commented, tipping his head towards the exit. “ I don’t live too far from here, you coming ? ”

Savannah smirked at his admission and hopped down from the bar stool, throwing her jean jacket around her shoulders. “Princess?” She asked, following behind him. “You call everyone that?” She teased, knowing he would be the type. She pushed out the door to exit and upon getting outside put her hands against her cheeks, it being rather cold outside. She huffed to see her breath, prepared to follow Xavier whatever direction in which he was headed. "After you, Sir,” she said, going along with the princess theme.