𝒮ℴ𝒹𝒶𝓅ℴ𝓅.

“Oh, perfect!” Contrary to what might be assumed, her voice lacked its usual sarcasm; hands reached out hastily to grab the baby wipes, and she was quickly clearing her face of Dior concealer and a mud mask that was sure to make her break out. “Thank you for actually being useful in this town full of standing props.”

Sam let out a GRUNT, which could have easily turned into a SHRIEK if she didn’t try any harder to control herself. Allowing anyone to see her in a state of weakness– especially those she feared the judgment of– was unacceptable. Jaw tense, she slowly nodded.

“I would very much appreciate that, if you would allow. Assuming you live within a convenient area. I can pay for a ride– and whatever interior cleaning costs there might be as a result.”

Accidents happened -- though Sophie had to admit, she felt a little lucky for not being in the other’s shoes. Baby wipes were surprisingly handy these days, even if she wasn’t carrying around an eight month old. “Are you okay? You didn’t get any in your mouth, right?” Hopefully not because that would be hard to wash off. 

“No, it’s fine, my car’s parked right around the corner.” the brunette let out, smiling warmly at Sam. She wouldn’t dare leave her out here in this state, and despite not knowing her that well, Sophie knew how Jude and her were friends. “Don’t worry about it. Seriously. I’ll just nag Jude to clean it.” She half joked, motioning her head toward the direction of her car, “It can be our secret.” 

Aspen laughed. “I don’t think I want to imagine.  I am not ready for that kinda lifestyle yet..” she admitted shaking her head. She didn’t think she’d be ready for a while - just because she was actually terrified she’d be a terrible parent. Aspen paused, listening to Sophie’s.. dilemma?  I mean if Jude says it was okay? Wasn’t it? She didn’t really know the ins and outs of the relationship. “ Why do you think things are weird? Is there anything like..? I mean..” she paused opening her water bottle to take a sip. “Is there any signs that things are weird? Weird how? like he’s unhappy?”

Sophie smiled and nodded her head. Not everyone was, and that was alright. People had different priorities in life. Talking about it out loud made the whole conversation more awkward than the brunette had intended, and with a shrug of her shoulders, she let out a sigh. “Can we talk about anything else, please? I’m not in the mood to get all grumpy again. Besides, we’re here to have fun, right?” she said softly, reaching for the small picnic basket. “I hope you are hungry.” 

Sophie would be a good teacher. Holland could see it. The woman had a gentle, welcoming disposition that would’ve calmed Holland’s wildly active brain. The thought made her smile. Holland had caused so many teachers so much strife in her day. “I can see that,” Holland said, nodding her head. “You’d be pretty fucking good at it. Like, you’d be kind, but you’d take nobody’s shit. That’s probably what you need working with kids, right?” Holland had spent ten minutes with school-aged kids in the last five years. Tops. If that. 

“Well, I hope it goes well. I fucking hate job interviews. I nearly miss them every time. I just start like – shaking life a leaf,” Holland admits, chuckling at her own ravenous anxiety. “So hopefully you do better than me, at the very least.” 

The thought had rooted in the back of her mind for some time now and it felt right. She would love to work with kids, help them, mentor them, be a positive figure in their life. Finding a new job wouldn’t be easy but she didn’t mind because Sophie knew this was exactly what she wanted. “You really think so?” The words made her smile, “I hope so. I love kids, you know? I just want to be there, be that one teacher they can always count on. I thought that I could combine my two great loves, kids and history -- so if it happens, I’ll be pretty happy.” she exclaimed.

“Thank you. I hate them. I always get so nervous when it comes to talking about myself or why I want this.” Making a face, the brunette smiled. “Same. But I try to not let it get to me.” 

orla: yassss.

orla: i'll bring tequila and you can tell me what he did.

orla: or you come here, leave baby duty to daddy.

sophie: you have a deal.

She’d handed him something. That much registered in his mind. Taking the brown paper bags, he took them over and placed them on the table, pushing aside a couple of empty whiteclaw cans to go rattling on the floor. “Interesting question…” he began, and already her tone, her presence, had begun sobering him up. Yes he was drunk to the gills, but he could tell she didn’t have time for games, or patience for any of his bullshit right now. 

“I would tell you…but I don’t want ya to divorce me…” he said, turning around to face her. He had a smile on his face, a weird, crooked one, that felt like he was up to no good. “But maybe when I tell ya what I almost did you’ll be so relieved I didn’t do the alternative you’ll be ready to forgive me.” He hiccuped, swayed where he stood, then looked her in the eye. Truly could have been a Jack Sparrow impression if for the fact that he wasn’t trying to be like this, it was just happening. “After all, no one’s suffered a broken heart from ‘I almost cheated’, right?”

There was nothing really interesting about her question but in Jude’s drunk mind... she sighed. He had really done it this time, messed her mood. Keeping her worried for hours, wondering what he was going through -- if everything was okay. Everything looked more than okay, he could have had a party in here. It certainly looked that way, from random things being thrown on he floor and the smell of alcohol in the room. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Sophie tried to make her way through the trash and stood by the window for fresh air. She was more than physically and emotionally tired. 

“I think you’re forgetting we’re not married.” The brunette said softly, crossing her arms over her chest. She was uncomfortable in there, and there was no way in hell she’d clean that room.  Once Jude began talking, she looked at him. What the fuck did he mean by that? What was it now? Pushing her tongue against her cheek, Sophie frowned. “I don’t now. Sometimes, a broken heart is much more than you cheating.” It wasn’t funny --- he wasn’t funny. “What is it? Tell me already.” 

“I do have wine,” Holland confirmed, finally letting herself relax. “And you can bet your ass I’ll return the favour … If I ever have a working car again.”  She huffed a little and leaned back into her seat. “It’s not looking good at this point.” 

Holland turned to take one last look at her sad old truck as she and Sophie drove off. She felt guilty leaving it there all alone, which was silly. Holland knew it was just a car. But it was the only car she’d ever had. It hurt to let it go. She sighed and turned back to face forward, ready for that glass of wine whether or not Sophie decided to join.  Holland cleared her throat, remembering just then what Sophie said she’d been doing. “You were job hunting?” She asked, quirking an eyebrow. “Are you looking for anything specific?” 

She smiled right away at Holland’s words, without going into detail about desperately needing a glass of wine to calm her nerves. “You know what, maybe you should scrap it? I’ll help you find a new one.” There were cheap, working cars out there for sure. They only had to look. 

This was her first car, and Sophie couldn’t imagine how she’d feel if it broke down more than once. Still, she knew how some good things came to an end -- so as far as it was good to go, she wouldn’t worry about it. There must have been something to do for Holland though. If she needed a car, the brunette was more than happy to give her hers for sometime. 

“Yeah... I quit two days ago. I’m looking for something else right now, we’ll see if it works.” Sophie admitted, half smiling. “I’m looking for teaching positions... or perhaps, becoming a school counsellor? I don’t know. I have this interview next week, so I’ll see how it goes.” 

“Oh god. Is it that bad?” she laughed and licked her lip. She’d never really had dogs or kids in her house before - maybe her dads dogs for a couple hours but never for extended periods of time.  She squeaked, clapping her hands together again, Sophie was going to be such a good mom when the time came. Sooner or later it would happen. It had too.  “Wait? So you’ve stopped taking the pill but you don’t know what Jude wants? Why not just.. Talk to him about it?” she asked just a little confused about it all “Isn’t it worse not knowing and “accidentally” getting pregnant?” she wasn’t judging she just wondered why they’d not spoken about it if Sophie clearly wanted something.

He laughs, a good raise out of him matched with the tiredness that had taken over. Pepper Pig, that was definitely something that hadn’t made it onto his drunken radar. “Hmm—” he hums thoughtfully, it was a long time since being drunk had ended in anything other than him passed out between his sheets, or in someone else’s sheets for a few hours. “Watched some questionable movies, have you seen the Troll Hunter? You need to watch the English dubbed version, its—” he trails off, chuckling to himself. “Probably, it’s been one of those days though—” he hums, a shrug rolling off of his shoulders. “Cant switch off.” Not that he’d tried. “Ha, what’re you saying about your cooking Soph? Yeah, I think Major might be adopting you at this point…” 

orla: 😈😈

orla: omg soph, you HAVE to let me see that.

orla: he will never live it down.

sophie: well

sophie: come over later? i'm angry at him, i'll probably deny him sex for the rest of the week so this is a good excuse.

“Hi,” Holland said, voice unusually sweet. “Hi. Thanks for coming.”  She shoved her backpack into the car first, and her little body followed close behind. Holland pulled the door closed, only halting to settle in her seat before jumping into a long-winded monologue.

“I don’t usually do shit like this. God. I would’ve called a tow truck, but – thank you for coming. I’m so fucking sorry,” Holland said, unable to settle on just one sentiment. She rambled consistently, without taking a breath, like she didn’t remember how to stop. It wasn’t often that she asked for any kind of help, especially not in the middle of the night. Her anxiety was high, her desire to placate the person beside her even higher. “I’m sure you had better shit to do tonight than haul my ass across town.” 

She huffed out a nervous breath of air and pulled the seatbelt taught across her chest. “I can like, pay you back. For the gas, or whatever. Get you a drink. Whatever you want. I’ve got like, red wine at my house, I think. And cash. I’ve got some cash on me here, actually.” 

Once the car jerked into motion, Holland reached for her bag and began digging for her wallet, quite literally searching for gold. “That stupid old truck,” she said, still rambling as though her life depended on it. “Jesus fuck. I swear, I’m just going to leave it right there on the road. Finally let it die.” 

@slchat​

“Hey. It’s no problem.” 

It really wasn’t. Sophie couldn’t sit home, knowing her car had broken down -- in this kind of weather. She wouldn’t feel necessarily good knowing Holland gotten a sunstroke in the middle of nowhere. 

“Okay, I need you to breathe. I was home, job hunting. It’s not a big deal, I promise you.” Smiling warmly at her, the brunette started the car and soon they were both on their way. She needed this; getting out of the house. It felt exceptionally nice for once. 

“I don’t need you to pay me back, don’t be silly. When my car breaks down, then maybe you can rush to help my sorry ass.” She joked, throwing a look her way, then quickly focusing on the road ahead of them. “I don’t need anything. But if you do have wine....” her voice trailed off, before a grin appeared on her face. 

“Seriously. It’s cool, we’re cool. If you only knew how many times my old car broke down.. It happens. I’m just glad it happened now, and not in the middle of the night. Things are kinda scary then. Everything is.” 

Caleb stood behind the bar of the Dungeon serving drink after drink for the time being. It had been a relatively slow night, one of the ones Caleb hated because it often caused his mind to wander and completely threw his off his ‘work mojo’. Of course, these nights tended to happen during the beginning of the week and the middle of the week. The only bright side to his situation at the moment was that the energetic guy only had an hour left of his shift, and then he could become a regular guest and finally tap into the liquor that had been calling his name all night. Not to mention, he could begin to make his way back to his place, finally. At the end of the day, he always enjoyed crashing on his bed and watching a good movie.

One hour turned to thirty minutes, which also marked the moment another guest walked through the doors this evening. From the moment the person entered, Caleb was intrigued. He casually watched to see where they would sit, delighted when the person had chosen to sit at the bar. “Well, well, well. Nice of you to join us.” He lightly teased, drying an empty glass and making his way to stand in front of the person who had just sat down. “Welcome to Dungeon. I’m Caleb,  and I’ll be your bartender for the next..” he glanced back at the clock on the wall for a brief second, “.. twenty-eight minutes.” He softly chuckled, turning back to look at the new arrival. “What can I get for you this evening?”

@slchat​

The final bit of tension that had been clinging to her bones is eliminated as Sophie pulls her in for a hug. “Ugh you and Jude are never ever ever allowed to be states away from me again. You ever move again and we’re finding me a place on the same street, got it?” She’d thought her home was with Malcolm, had tried to build it with him, carve out a space in his heart and put up shelves and pictures and soft safe places. But this was her forever home, Sophie and Jude and their constant unending support. “Oh my god yes pleaaaaase. We need to duet something obnoxiously entertaining too. Maybe some Abba.”

“In that case, prepare to follow us all around because I refuse to be separated from you ever again.” Sophie declared, before giggling lightly. The love she had for this girl could never be measured or described with words. “I swear. It’s going to be a thing now.” she grinned, pressing a kiss on Hannah’s cheek. “How could I ever survive without my best friend? It’s impossible. I need to see you at least once a day to keep my sanity.” She had been through so much already and didn’t deserve any of it. Sophie wanted to be there, help her move on from something that she had experienced herself. Heartbreak was shitty, messy but not impossible to overcome. She knew. “If we’re doing this... we gotta do it properly. Dress up, do our hair and makeup....” 

Though it was still technically 10 days away, autumn was Sam’s favorite season. The best collections walked, the weather permitted her favorite combinations of mini skirts and thigh-highs, and fur was never more appropriate. She anticipated, though, that Los Angeles’ dryness would prevent the threat of road splatter that was omnipresent in NYC.

She would be mistaken. Somehow, amid forest fires and dry seasons, mud still existed, and one foul drive-by of a bus left her and a grey wool halter dress caked in mistakes. Eyes searched, frantic, for a witness–

“Might you have a napkin? Or something similarly useful? Before I figure out what steps to take to sue the city?”

@slchat​

It all happened so fast that Sophie couldn’t help but stare, thinking how this could easily be a scene from a movie. Had the Heavens cursed her this fine day, or was bad luck following everyone around? She couldn’t tell for sure, though as soon as the blonde spoke, she was already reaching inside her bag. 

“Yeah, um, pretty sure I have some baby wipes in here...” 

There. Thank you Val, the woman wanted to say before handing the small pack to Sam. 

“Are you okay? We can go at my place, so you can wash your face.” 

Aspen watched her friend as she spoke. She could tell Sophie was tired, something about her lacked the little sparkle she normally had - the way she walked into the room and shone like the sun but today she was missing that a little and it worried her.  “You seem tired, was it getting to you.. the baby sitting.. the pets… the..” she trailed off realising what Sophie had just said and clapped with a long squeal. “You are in love… with.. Val? Or babies? Are you going to have a baby ?!” 

He’d all but forgotten about the knock on his door when it came. Oh, right. Sophie. In the interval it had taken for her to get here, Jude had convinced himself that drinking some more Peach schnapps had been a good idea, just to help his drunkenness along (though what logic that was, he was unsure), but he was now regretting that decision, too. He stumbled to the door and after some fumbling, managed to unlock it. 

“Oh, would you look at that, room service. Hello, beauty. The room’s clean but I might need a cleaning.” 

The room was not, in fact, clean. Inside, strewn all over the small desk in the generic motel room, and the table, and also on the floor, were bottles of alcohol and empty glasses. A tequila bottle, a vodka bottle, Peach schnapps, an unopened six-pack of White Claw, beer bottles strewn around, and an overflowing ashtray. If someone didn’t know any better, they’t think the Rolling Stones in the 60′s had blown through the room — all was missing was the piles of cocaine. But surprisingly, the room was drug free. Only alcohol, enough to probably have someone drink themselves to death, was scattered all about wherever you might set foot. 

This must have been the right room. The lady was clear -- don’t kill him in the room, blood was a pain to clean. It made her wonder if she looked angry at all; and after a quick look on the hallway’s mirror Sophie could tell she didn’t. No, screaming would come later because she had no idea why Jude would end up in a place like this for no apparent reason. There were some sounds, and finally the door opened, brown hues staring at her boyfriend. He looked like shit. Great. At least he didn’t lose his sense of humour, did he? 

“It stinks.” 

She wouldn’t be so kind with her words, though Sophie did come all the way here with food and all the essentials he asked, right? Handing him the small paper bags, the brunette stepped inside and quickly moved to open one of the windows, just to let some fresh air inside the room. What a mess. How could he trash a room in only a couple of hours? The scent of alcohol was everywhere and the brunette didn’t want to step any closer to the bathroom. There could be  a murder scene in there for all she knew. “What are you doing here?”