@graysonmills

The last thing Alice remembered was being at the liquor store. She was wasted and just getting worse. People were beginning to tell her to go home at the bar earlier that night; the bartender was refusing to serve her anymore. That’s why she’d gone to the store. She just wanted to have a good time and forget things awhile. Why were people getting in the way of that?

She was sitting on the sidewalk with a bottle in a brown bag, the last she recalled. What she was missing was the black-out, where she fell backward, hitting her head on the sidewalk. She was also missing the seizure that followed almost immediately after. Alice didn’t remember the clerk running out and shaking Alice when she’d stopped seizing and seeing that she wasn’t waking up. She didn’t remember the ambulance or being admitted to the hospital. 

Gives nose/forehead kisses: Grayson. Mostly because Eleanor’s forehead is just right there, partly because she can’t quite hide the smile when she bitches at him for doing it. 

Gets jealous the most: Eleanor. She knows it borders on irrational and does her best to avoid showing it, but she can’t help but be insecure.

Picks the other up from the bar when they’re too drunk to drive: Either would if the other bothered to call, but more often than not they don’t. There’s a fair amount of Eleanor wandering in at odd hours—slightly drunk and with french fries.

Takes care of on sick days: Grayson. Initially Eleanor hates it and feels like she’s being smothered. As she gets more comfortable with the fact that he’s not going anywhere, she gives in and lets him baby her.

Drags the other person out into the water on beach day: Both. It depends on the day but both of them are equally capable of getting the other in the water. Eleanor tends to rely more on begging, Grayson just goes with brute strength.

Gives unprompted massages: Eleanor. She’s terrible at sitting still, so giving Grayson a massage is a way to satisfy her need to fidget without making a mess.

Drives/rides shotgun: Neither, really. There’s not a ton of driving to be done in Northpoint.

Brings the other lunch at work: Eleanor. Unless Eleanor happens to still be awake when Grayson leaves for work, lunch is the earliest that she’d manage to see him. When she can, she’ll bring him lunch just so that she can go say hello. Sometimes it’s less lunch and more random items from the fridge in a bag.

Has the better parental relationship: Neither. Grayson does at least have some understanding of what a family looks like, where it’s more of an abstract concept for Eleanor.

Tries to start role-playing in bed: Both. At one point or another they’ve both drunkenly tried to initiate it, only to dissolve into fits of laughter and promise to never, ever do that again.

Embarrassingly drunk dancer: Grayson. Eleanor isn’t sure how it’s possible for someone to be quite that bad, but he is. Too many drinks and all of a sudden it’s like she’s watching a collection of oversized limbs that refuse to move with any sort of synchronicity.

Still cries watching Titanic: Eleanor. She’s not sure why, either, because it’s never at any of the appropriate emotional points.

Firmly believes in couples costumes: Neither/both. They both complain about how ridiculous and cheesy couple’s costumes are, but if one of them came up with something that was clever enough that no one else would get it then they’d both be overwhelmingly into it.

Breaks the expensive gift rule during Christmas: Grayson. No matter how much he tries to deny that he’s done it, Eleanor always knows and refuses to give him his gift until she’s been able to go get him a new gift. Usually that new gift is what she wanted to get him in the first place but didn’t because it was out of their agreed upon budget.

Makes the other eat breakfast: Grayson. Mostly Grayson just makes sure that Eleanor eats because she gets so caught up in doing everything at the last minute that she’ll sometimes end up going for days at a time on potato chips, bites of other people’s food, and booze.

Remembers anniversaries: Eleanor. Not that Grayson doesn’t, but rather that Eleanor remembers a bunch of really stupid, ridiculous anniversaries. She doesn’t expect him to remember them or for them to celebrate these things, they’re just things that are stuck in her brain.

Eleanor: i miss your stupid face.

Eleanor: ffffffffff that wasn't for you.

Darby was washing her hands after her day in the gardens. Then she took off her apron and hung it up next to all of the others. Having driven to work that morning, she walked to the parking lot in the dusk, ready to go home and take a shower. Luckily, though, she actually wasn’t covered in dirt like she usually was. Mostly all she’d done that day was catalog the life states of mostly all of the plants around the grounds. It took her whole shift.

Before getting to her car, she saw a familiar face. He was standing in the parking lot and upon approach, Darby smiled shyly.

“Come back to tell me your back hurts?”