she tosses her worn-out backpack onto the back seat of her brand new car— a tricky statement, considering it’s sort of an upgrade from her last vehicle and a staggering downgrade from the last bed she slept in; definitely the type of car that will NEVER be missed from the streets of las vegas. a win, all in all, and she has to cherish those meaningless victories from wherever she finds them.

even in a town she dared call home for three years, micah feels lost; like she’s adrift, bobbing in the waves in the middle of nowhere under the blistering sun. she takes a look around and sees NOTHING of value, yet EVERYTHING’S exactly the same and it offers a sense of familiarity that’s oddly comforting. she meanders downtown without an exact destination ( more like, avoiding to the one place her feet would drag her too if they had free will ), hears a dog bark somewhere and in a blink of a second, a three-legged, tail-wagging shiba inu circles her excitedly, with more barks to spare before he lays down, belly-up and tongue out.  ‘ hi, baby! ’  the words resist against her tongue as she scratches his tummy, and micah, despite the joy that seeing carl brings, feels uneasy. carl is never out alone, and it means juli must be around too, so she tenses up when shortly after she notices another presence within proximity, anxiety bubbling underneath her skin.

micah’s mathed out the scenarios, the different outcomes that the first interaction with julian after ditching jericho would result in, calculated probability versus the unmeasurable factor that love’s supposed to be and she NEVER wins ( it’s not really what she’s after, anyway ). she had picked out the words, with caution & care, and designed a speech, a confession of love that would award her with something akin to absolution. she forgets all of it as she looks up, a tentative smile spread on her lips, bracing herself from the first blow.