#mhnning

“forget it, you’re a fucking asshole.”

“very much alive,” manny reassures with a smile, scooting over in the booth she’s occupying to make room for him next to her. saturday afternoon and the dot is filled with all her peers. craig’s arrival makes her day, despite how tired he looks. she presses a hand to his forehead, pushes his hair back a bit. “you look totally exhausted. long night writing?”

she snorts, looks over him doubtfully. “raw animal magnetism?” it has to be repeated, the sheer lunacy of it. ellie laughs more openly now, crossing her arms over her chest and tilting her head at him, appraising. “like an ostrich,” she decides, nodding. trying to poke fun. “a big, tall ostrich is definitely your animal.”

“didn’t say that, but might wanna tone down the disdain there, boss, living in that glass house and all,” jay starts, ever smug as he sips on his pop. “memory serves, you aren’t exactly sitting on a high horse of innocence either. want, take, have. you know what i’m talking about.” he glances over at the shiny guitar sitting in his trunk, snickers. “can give you a good price for it.”

paige pulls her knees up to her chest as she looks at craig. she tries to smile at him, but it doesn’t come out right – she can’t fake it any more, she’s been doing that all day. ‘ craig ? ’ she ventures, ‘ can i ask you something ? you have to be brutally honest, i can take it. ’ if anything, over these past few months paige has learned that she can take quite a lot. 

" craig, stop ! it's not a big deal, it's FINE ! " seeing his reaction elicited an immediate deflection response. the last thing ellie wanted was for this day to get any more dramatic, & watching two guys fight because she couldn't hold back her tears would just add to the weight on her shoulders. so she stops him, pleading him with both her eyes & her hands, gently pushing against his chest to keep him where he is. " i promise, it's fine, i'm just overreacting. " it’s true. or what she deems to be the truth anyways. whether or not anyone else would justify her having this response to being belittled by the guy she's been seeing didn't matter. to her, this was out of line. she didn't want to be that girl. the one who gets upset at any kind of criticism & CRIES to her friends. to craig. because at the end of the day she knew what he'd say. she knows what he’ll probably do. & deep down as much as she wants somebody to show her that they care about her, she doesn't need someone to fight her battles for her. she wants to prove that she’s better than that, better than all of this. " just let it go, for now. please. "

Ellie patted him on the shoulder gently. “Well, at least self-awareness is a good sign,” she teased giving him a sad smile. “Look, it’s totally natural that you would feel hurt by Ash running off to England. I’m upset too. It’s alright to complain about it. Remember how we’re always talking about validation in group? This is valid,” she insisted. 

Paige rested her elbow on the counter of The Dot and turned to Craig. She tapped her pen on the books she had spread in front of her. “Hun, I know exactly what you mean. It’s been a rough week with exams coming up,” she replied. Waving a hand at Spin, she smiled. “My honey bee hasn’t even cracked a book. What class are you so nervous about then?”