#20rf

Noah took deliberately slow steps towards the back of the bar, his fingers forcing back a mess of blonde hair. He almost made the decision to just go right, but that meant going home without a buzz. He'd find a way to get a drink out of her. "How was it?" He leaned the guitar against the bar, and pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "It meaning the show." His smile he had before was wiped off, a sly smirk as its replacement.

Lips pursed with scarlet red lipstick, hair primped and heels tightly fastened across her ankles. One zip of her dress and she was all ready to go. Astrid didn’t reason to get dressed up very often lately, so the night was one that she was more than ready for. These days, she even kept her make up fairly natural but this was a night in which she was more than ready to be daring. Shortly after Amy had agreed to the outing, Astrid had found the perfect party that was being thrown at the house of a guy she had once slept with in High School. She wasn’t even sure if he had even graduated secondary education, but he did know how to throw a good party and that was all she was currently concerned about. It wasn’t like she was trying to get Amy to do something she wasn’t comfortable with, however. It didn’t happen often but for some reason she respected the girl and how she chose to live her life. The only thing she didn’t agree with was that she rarely let loose and just have a spontaneous adventure. She was tightly wound and that was something that Astrid felt compelled to try to minimalize. A party was a first step in just having downright fun. As soon as she was ready, Astrid grabbed her keys from her front hall and went to her car, starting the engine. There was a sense of calmness as she drove through the nearly empty sense, but in an eerie way rather than a serene one. Bennington was a small town so naturally things got fairly quiet at night, which was something that Astrid still hadn’t gotten used to again since she’d gotten back. She’d grown to love the hustle and bustle of the big cities and still found a sort of certain emptiness being so secluded, but not necessarily in a bad way. Turning onto Amy’s street, Astrid squinted to look for the numbers until she found the right one. Too lazy to get out of her car, Astrid simply honked her horn a couple times and hoped that Amy would hear – that probably wasn’t the best of ideas considering the time of night it was, but she had never been good at thinking about consequences; she did what she wanted to and that was that.

His mind wandered as he waited, listing off things he needed to get done between now and his next shift at the bar that he didn't even remember to make himself scarce when a certain blonde walked through the door. Gotta love small towns. 

"He's asleep," Finn whispered, reaching over the little boy who slept peacefully between himself and Jordan. He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, letting fingers linger against soft skin as they trailed down the side of her face and down her shoulder. It had been hours since he'd knocked on the door and was greeted with an excited hug from CJ and laughter from his mother. Truly, it was the best kind of greeting he could have asked for. Even the smallest sign that CJ enjoyed his company was something worth celebrating. And Finn, being who he was, was keen on rewarding that. One sticky lollipop and a couple episodes of Dora the Explorer later he found himself in Jordan's bed with CJ nuzzled between them. Initially he had been curled up against his mom while Finn spun a bedtime story from the depths of his wild imagination about a beautiful princess, her long awaited prince and the little knight destined to unite them. By the time actual sleep came about he had tucked his feet across Finn's torso and reached out to clench a little fist around the fabric at the front of his t-shirt. This was an arrangement Finn wasn't used to at all. Normally when he found himself in someone else's bed there were a lot less clothing and certainly no sleeping children wedged between them. But somehow this felt more intimate, more desirable. Relationships, connections with people, it didn't all have to be about sex. Though Jordan had tempted him earlier with text messages he figured he probably should have held out on replying to. But everyone has their weaknesses. Still, though, he found himself preferring this. It was supposed to be temporary. The plan was to get CJ to sleep and then sneak back out to the couch so not to disturb the little boy. But now that Finn was tangled up in his grasp he figured that might be harder to do than he first imagined. His fingers found their way down Jordan's arm until he met her hand, tangling his with hers and giving a soft squeeze. "How do you not die at how cute this is every night?"

To say that Marty wasn't excited to hang out with Steph for a few hours would be a lie because the last time he saw her in person, the situation he landed himself in at the festival wasn't the greatest as usual. Steph and her mom had managed to swoop in and save the day with her mother's booth set up selling clothing that Daphne could get something from, but Marty had yet to do something to thank the girl. He thought about offering taking her to lunch or something, but that just sounded like a sad attempt at trying to weasel in some kind of date when he just wanted to hang out and be the friends that they actually were. Marty had taken the time to tidy the Travers' basement enough that they could situate themselves in front of the old Super Nintendo that was just waiting to be played. Once everything looked presentable, Marty sent a text to Steph as he waited on his front porch. If he could get her away from work for a little bit, Marty had a feeling that would be an immense relief for her.

What if it had been him? What if the camera held securely in his hands at that very moment, focusing in and out on a tuft of wildflowers growing in the grass, hadn't been enough? What if he hadn't chosen to rise above the taunting and the abuse and been himself no matter what? Finn had never thought about that before. About taking his own life. There had always been a struggle to see around what people insisted he was. Between what his parents said about him to what his peers said, it was a wonder Finn still didn't believe half of that. Hell, maybe sometimes he did. But it wasn't the sadness, the misery, the overwhelming sense of being lost that he connected with. It was the impact. All Finn wanted was to leave an impact behind. Had it been him would he have done that? It made him sick to his stomach thinking about it but in truth he knew the answer. No. If it had been him there would be no hole left behind to fill with growth and change from his friends. Then or now.

Whoever said girls didn't sweat, only glowed - obviously was a stranger to Saunas. On her way to work, she often made a little excursion for a quick dip, and a release in the steam. Connie paid more money than she could really afford for the gym membership, and scrambled for all its value. In a small bikini, blood red, she making a trail to the Finnish Sauna section with small wet footprints. "Well, isn’t this quaint." Connie laughed, noticing the face already in the cramped room. The scent was inviting, little breaths steaming at the door as she let the air go in the entrance. She lay her towel opposite the figure, noticing they were the only two in the room. Her smile, perfect and perfectly false, dripped off into the steam.

Ding. That's the sound that rang each time someone opened a door at the boutique Mrs. Mendoza owned. Farah had walked in that afternoon when business was especially slow. She came here to find Steph. The last time she had seen her had been a couple days ago in that weird interaction in the alleyway, and she felt bad leaving that as their last interaction. Farah hopped up to sit on the counter, noticing no one was at the register. She knew someone would eventually tell her to get down, but she still did it every time she came into the shop and business was like this. "Steeeeph," Farah called out in a sing-song voice. "It's me, your admirer, here to see you."