endless puzzles

Typically he would find a way to contain what he was experiencing but right now everything he felt was far too raw for that. Listening to the list of suggestions as she made them he considered what would help the most, “how about we order pizza, play some video games and then maybe invent something?” He just hoped some normalcy back in his life might help shift his mood some.

Sia gave a short nod in consideration. “What kind of pizza?” That was the important question. “Oh and do you mind if we take this back to my place, because not to brag, but I probably have a better collection of video games than the school or yourself.” Besides then they could get loud without disturbing students or getting strange looks considering recent events and all.

His mind of late had been preoccupied with worry for Lilah, who still couldn’t stand the sight of him without trying to kill him or giving him a look of pure disgusted murder. She was convinced he’d killed her parents, and it pained every fibre of his being knowing that the best thing that had happened in a long time had been ripped away despite everything he tried to fix it. Raising a hand to rub absently at the fresh scar on his temple from Lilah’s last outburst at him he swallowed thickly. Pulling himself away from dwelling on those thoughts which only brought him more pain, he tried instead to focus on Sia and her suggestion of doing something. “Fun?” he echoed “uh- Sure, I guess” he agreed getting up from his chair, his characterising good humour thoroughly lacking but he attempted a faint smile, even if it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Yep,” she chimed back, popping the ‘p’ for exaggeration. Clearly he was in a substantial amount of mental anguish. The look in his eyes told the story well enough. But Sia did not know how to process those emotions. Instead she locked them behind a wall. “Great! We could go...” she pursed her lips in contemplation. Normally fun ideas came right to mind, but there was a delay. “How about swimming, or video games and drinking, or maybe inventing.” After the list of suggestions, she gave a shrug, waiting his input.

“Well, good news...”

“Umm, congrats, I guess...have you been keeping up with Dr. Osbourne...making sure it doesn’t get any worse?”

His jaw worked for a few moments, tightening then relaxing repeatedly as his mind took some time to process what was being told to him until he finally let out a defeated sigh realising just what he’d been doing. “What the hell was I thinking?” he muttered dropping the redvine to the desk and sitting back, “thanks, I guess I can’t focus on anything.”

A weak smile formed on her lips as he dropped the redvine. Dealing with emotions wasn’t her thing. After the whole kidnapping incident, she had avoided any deep conversations and got heavily back into drinking. “I mean a redvine kind of looks like a USB,” she offered with a shrug. But then she started shaking her head. “No, no, I’m not even going to lie about that. Why don’t you take a break? We could go do something fun!” Fun was always her ‘go to’ thing. It distracted from emotions.

Huh? Sorry, yeah I’ve got this it’s not dangerous… I think. I was just distracted. I’m fine… Why wouldn’t I be fine?

“...” Sia stared at Zach trying to keep a straight face. “Well you are trying to plug a red vine into your usb port, so....” with that she shrugged her shoulders. “You sure you don’t need some help with that mate.” As she asked this, she tried her hardest to not laugh.

what would you do? | Kat, Tobias, and Sia

Tobias was actually so calm for a moment. He felt in total control of his emotions and his actions at the bonfire. He honestly felt.. happiness. 

Everything was going great. The bonfire was a blast - Sia was socializing with anyone at the party that didn’t bore her and challenging others to silly things. Just as she was getting ready to go for a swim in the lake, the whole feeling of the party changed. For a brief moment, the woman could tell something very wrong was about to happen.

“Ooh, yes, sex on the beach is the best,” Andrew grinned happily. “Please, do teach me your ways though, I can never get any drinks to taste nice. Generally I just mix a bunch of things together until it’s enough to get me drunk, y’know. Classy.”

“Certainly,” Sia smiled as she pulled out the other drinks. “I mean most portions are learned by trial and error. I took a mixology class for shits and giggles once, so I picked up a few things.” With that she gave a slight shrug, remembering her own days of just drinking anything to get drunk. Then she mixed together her own recipe of sex on the beach. “The most important thing to keep in mind is the potency of each ingredient. Here, try this.”

“Could be a good explanation.”

“It’s possible,” she shrugged lightly as she pulled her cooler over. “Well, I do have OJ and cranberry juice. If we find some grenadine we could make a sex on the beach? I just discovered the perfect portions to make the best version of the drink.”

“Of course.” Victoria laughed lightly, accepting the drink. “Well, it sounds great, so I think I’m gonna try it.”

“Let me know how you like it,” she smiled as Victoria took the drink. “I can make you up your own if you really like it. Then we can go do something fun?”

“Alright, like what?” he inquired, pushing up off the sand to stand in front of her. After taking a quick look around, he stretched his hand out to her to help her up.

In thought, Sia tapped her finger to her lips. What could they do? “We could tell ghost stories to some of those drunk kids, or go build an awesome sand castle, or find a volleyball and go play some sand volleyball. Any of those sound good?” She questioned as she took Tobias’ hand and pulled herself up.

“Yeah, see?” Andrew chuckled. “God bless you, even I can’t drink that, and I thought I was pretty strong for these things.”

“I guess it’s the Russian part of me,” she joked.

“Okay, well yes, I am alive. Please don’t bury me,” he pleaded sarcastically, leaning up to wipe the dirt off of his pants. “I suppose I can’t blame you.”

Sia put her hands up. “I guess I won’t for now,” she sighed dropping the clumps of dirt still in her hands. “You’d figure more people would be doing something exciting since finals are over. But everyone is just dancing or talking about finals. We should do something fun!”