#blackrockstarter

Of course, Peyton Murray-Jones isn’t a camel, but at this point, perhaps she’d be better off as one -- perhaps then her life story wouldn’t be filled with moms who snoop through her stuff, who yell at her for applying to med schools she hasn’t even applied to yet, who buy her unicorn charms for her hearing aids as a birthday present despite the fact that she hasn’t been into unicorns since she was seven (and barely wears her hearing aids anymore, unless she’s at work), and who start questioning her the second she walks in the door because she’s an hour later than normal and somehow that means they thought she’d died.

Perhaps, if she was any one besides herself, Peyton wouldn’t even have gotten sick in the first place, or maybe, if she had, she would’ve gotten completely better, and could’ve been the daughter her moms wanted, instead of their failed first try.

At least, when she’s gone, they’ll have Reagan -- prodigal Reagan, genius Reaga, hearing Reagan. Reagan will be there to make it better, just like she always has.

But with her Uber driver Santiago a few miles away, Peyton’s so close to getting out of this town for good.

It’s the newly cast shadow over her person that forces Peyton out of her inner monologue, eyes squinting as she attempts to make out the figure above her in spite of the glare.

“If my sister or my moms sent you to try to convince me to stay, you’ve got about five minutes before Santiago and I are heading somewhere far far away,” she quips, hands move along out of habit, even if she doesn’t want them to.

Instead of the lyrics, she let out a surprised squeak as she nearly tripped, but somehow managed to steady her balance. The headband she was wearing that had two little antenna hearts springing from the top went askew on her head and her bag dropped to the ground. “Oh god! I’m so sorry!” She immediately apologized, cheeks tinging pink and nearly matching her ridiculous ‘love’ themed outfit. “Are you okay? I wasn’t paying attention.” 

Eli had spent the day inside the local coffee shop, working her ass off for some money in which to help pay the bills for her student accomodation. Her eyes were heavy and she’d been yawning all day. Eli was used to the lack of sleep, college life at its finest. She had just finished the first four hours of her shift, and decided to take her break now before she collapsed while serving a customer. Pouring herself a cup of coffee and moving to sit on one of the armchairs that were scattered around a big table. The shop always reminded her of ‘Central Perks’ in friends, and she let her head fall back on the seat, letting out a deep sigh before sipping her coffee. That was when someone approached, sitting down in the armchair beside her. “How may I help you?” She asked without looking up. She presumed they thought she was still on shift because of the apron around her waist. She wasn’t going to waste a customer though, especially if they gave a tip for good service. “I’ll be--” she was about to say she’d be with them momentarily, that was before she looked up, finally noticing who was standing there.