#barrett.

"ahh look at that, you're late," coraline greeted at the door before allowing barrett to follow them inside. it didn't take long for cat (the cat) to snuggle up against his leg and coraline frowned at the feline in response. rotten traitor. "just because i said we were doing an all-nighter horror movie marathon, didn't mean that you should show up near midnight. maybe i wanted to start early! there are a lot of good franchises to get through."

coraline had just finished their shift and all they could think about was getting stoned out of their mind and sleeping for however long they could. people were back, that was great, but coraline couldn't help but have a sick feeling in their gut about it all. what if they weren't the people who went missing? what if they were the other versions of them? it was too much so they were doing what they did best; act like the burnt out fuck-up they were and pretend the problem wasn't there. it might not even be there.

stepping out into the cool air they paused at the sight of a familiar face. "what's a degenerate like you out over here for? i'm afraid the last movie has already started."

coraline didn't go out to drink much. they weren't necessarily abundant with friends who would try to make them go out and even if they were they would probably give up pretty fast with them once they learned they would rather hide in their apartment than get shitfaced. in all truth, coraline had a hard time with running into people because they just never knew if they were from that other world. it felt like more and more people from the other evermore were bleeding into town every week and coraline didn't know what to do. the monsters that lurked were getting harder and harder to unsee when they closed their eyes so they thought if they could drink it off, maybe they could get one good nights sleep. it was clear they had too much to drink when they turned into their seat and saw barrett. cor paused for a second, as if they had seen one of those doppelgängers in barrett, but once they leaned forward to poke at his cheek and saw nothing change they relaxed. "oh hey. didn't expect to run into you here. almost thought you weren't real. spooky."

The sight of Barrett feels like a mirage in a desert — or, more accurately, in a crowded and sweaty beach — to Thea, and the blonde quickly makes her way over to the woman the second she spots her. Somehow, despite her sister and her dramatics, her friendship with Barrett has been like a lifeline for Thea over the last few years, and the woman always manages to bring a sense of peace to her. Barrett has always treated her as just Thea, and she appreciates that more than she could ever truly express. So she settles for simply doing her best at being a good friend right back to the other woman — which includes bringing her some lemonade (freshly squeezed! so said the lemonade stand) while Barrett’s apparently hard at work. “Hey you,” Thea’s quick to settle in beside her friend as she offers up the drink, sinking back into the crowd by force of habit in an effort to not be perceived. “I can’t believe they’ve got you working this thing. Are you having some fun, at least? And don’t tell me you aren’t even allowed to have a lemonade at the very least — because that’d just be cruel.”