“ i’m down for either. ” the words fled from chloe’s mouth as soon as kota’s sentenced ended. she needed a distraction & a pretty damn good one at that. home life was nothing good for her at the moment & she just wanted to be away from it for a very long time. not like it mattered to her family how long she was away from; they never really went looking for her even when she was away for more than a few days or even a week. “ do you think i could sleep in a mcdonald’s bathroom ? ”

       soon the talk about star had melted from the boy’s thoughts. something about meg stealing & then the two of them getting drunk in her room didn’t sound all that safe to marco. the male’s eyes had to have grown a slight bit in side as the brunette in front of him spoke. soon enough though, he was shaking his head with a light nervous chuckle. “ that doesn’t sound like a good idea, meg. what if something happens ? ”

       “ i think she would like glow in the dark stuff a lot ? she would claim that it’s a different kind of magic or something like that. ” marco’s smile was huge. he felt so blissful & easy when it came to talking about these ‘ innocent ’ topics. it was a lot easier than talking about the unknown anyways. “ uh - i can’t get alcohol officially until i’m twenty-one, meg. how in the world would i even get anything ? ”

       “ oh ---- that’s cool i guess. ” the brunette said, nodding her head slowly to what little information dakota was telling her. there was nothing she could do though, to get him to actually talk to her. “ if you’re bored we could always find something to do ? like go out to eat or watch movies or something ? totally up to you though. ”

       “ that’s only sometimes, she’s still kinda new around here. you should’ve seen her in the beginning - honestly though. ” there was a short chortle that followed marco’s sentence before he shook his head. “ i won’t tell her. but i will tell you that the only book star reads is her magic-spells book. ” it was in a short moment that marco ran through all the ways he could prove it, but none of them were allowed since he was only twenty. “ i could prove you wrong...  in like a month if that’s okay with you ? ”

       the moment that chloe got the okay to go ahead & move into dakota’s backyard she did. her walk was fast as she thought about how she was able to spend time with the male. “ hey. ” she replied in a soft breath, her eyes trailing from the other’s feet to his head. “ nothing really, ” what a lie, “ i just wanted to drop by & say hi. see how you were doing you know ? ”

      “ star wasn’t there making the pancakes - when i told her to put flour in the batter she put in flowers. like... from the GARDEN. she’s not allowed to cook with me anymore. there goes like-- four matching aprons. ” the last little bit of his sentence was a sort of mumble ‘ i’m going to talk to myself now ’ kind of spiel. “ how do YOU know i wouldn’t like drinking ? ”

       dark hazel eyes glanced over the window & the attractive boy leaning out of it; chloe was definitely not in the mood for climbing. “ i’m not really in the best of moods right now, koda - so i wouldn’t mind meeting you in the backyard ? ” even though chloe was confident in what she said, she couldn’t stop herself from ending in a question; only to make sure it was okay with dakota himself. 

       with a single glance at the window, chloe had to keep her snarky remark to herself or she knew a little too well that dakota would show some retaliation. “ it’s, uh, chloe, ” the words she spoke were softer than her usual tone as she took her bottom lip between her teeth, biting lightly. “ do you have a minute to hang out or are you like... busy ? ”

       “ i need you to understand that i was grilling a potato pancakes on like foil - otherwise the batter would ruin star’s & i’s grill. ” yeah, marco was definitely having a weird kind of flow day. it was nice to not feel nervous around meg though. “ ripped teenaged boy ? i’m like... nearly twenty-legal-drinking-age & boy am i pumped ! i completely ready for my first taste of alcohol. ”

       with recent events of family arguments, chloe was not wanting to be anywhere close to home. so maybe she was grounded ( for like four months ) - but that didn’t stop chloe from wandering to a familiar house only to throw an assortment of stones & pebbles at the window. “ answer please. don’t be asleep. ” the brunette was whispering to herself, but for the past few days she’d been doing that a lot.

          “ so MEG - you will never guess what happened to me. i was outside making grilled pancakes & it was really weird because star & i got new neighbors ---- but this one guy was looking into our yard & all i hear him say is ‘ damn, i wish i had someone that gorgeous cooking me pancakes. ’ i thought he was talking about star but like.. i was the only out there. super weird. super not my type. ”