to the wolves;

[ ... ]

Max: pretty sure you're exhausting yourself trying to do this :/

Max: and i think kat misses you

Tegan: im fine

Riss: I'll come with. :)

Riss: I'm bringing something to snack on, too.

Tegan: mkay. i'll probably have a burger at the bar

Riss: Yep! If that's chill.

Tegan: course it is. you can come by whenever you want

Riss: Exactly. Just.. I get a little protective and worried. I'd do the same if Kat were being weird, too. Threaten her on your behalf I mean.

Tegan: sokay id do the same thing too. if someone were coming into my family all of a sudden

Riss: That's fine, I just want to make sure I'm covering my bases, you know.

Riss: The Garcettis are my family. So I'm being cautious. I trust you, I do, I just want to make sure.

Tegan: covering your bases... by making sure i'm not lying?

Riss: Mind if I come with you to work?

Riss: Right. Okay.

Riss: If that's all it is, that's all it is.

Riss: But I'm serious.

Tegan: if i hurt kat, then emily can do whatever she wants to me and i will take it all

Riss: I'm upset, yeah. Because it's weird. And the excuse doesn't hold up that well since you were working normal hours and /not/ sneaking around a month ago.

Riss: If you hurt Kat, Emily will kill you. And I won't hold her back.

Tegan: oh im.. im sorry i didn't know. i just.. it's just me trying to make more money. bc i can. and now selene can have some nights off too

Riss: Okay, why haven't you /talked/ to us about it, then?

Tegan: oh i.. idk ig i didn't think i needed to but that makes sense

Riss: You tell me. What's going on?

Riss: As in- before you go off about nothing happening - why the extra hours and sneaking around?

Tegan: i-

Riss: Hey, we gotta talk.

Max: tegan...you know the entirety of new eden isnt your responsibility, right? you can't protect people from themselves. if they dont get street v from me, theyll get it from somewhere else.

Max: :/ extra hours isnt good.

Tegan: but its still less street v out there. i know its dumb but at least this is something i can do

Max: uh

Max: damn you were serious about this

Max: yeah, ig same time and place but are you /sure/?

Tegan: dead serious

Tegan: im sure. been picking up extra hours at the bar too

PRIVATE: I wish other people could share that sentiment. While all this…I don’t know, fighting has been pretty fucking exhilarating, I wish there hadn’t been a need for it in the first place. It’s chill, Tegan. And you don’t really have to thank me. Not for that, not for being your friend. It comes easy. 

PRIVATE: I like that people are happier. That Kat is happier. I think this has been really good for both of you but yeah, I understand. I don’t get why it couldn’t have always been this way. I’ve never really had friends though, so it’s just nice, you know? So I wanna say thanks.

Aw, come on Teegs that’s straight up not fair. As my friend, you should be pouring one out and doing shots with me, right? 

Is this negotiable? Because I would like to negotiate on these terms and conditions because they kinda suck.

I think that is straight up fair. And you know I don’t drink, Harper. We’ve talked about this. 

To tell you a secret? I don’t really feel super smart myself. I mean, I did high school and all that, but by then I already knew I was going to be home sub so I only paid attention to that. I — well, speaking from experience, I think there’s merits to relationships that are born out of a partnership. Maybe you can’t go very far without love, but other things are important too.

Well, someone was telling me about a different school. School of hard kicks or something like that. Where life is our school, not a classroom. Maybe you and I went there. Oh I think a lot of stuff is important for a relationship but I don’t think you can have one at all without love.