𝙫𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙮

“   i would love to have a chat with 9-year-old sabrina’s,   ”   she says,   furrowing her brow.   “   because they had her looking a little rough.   the same hand-me-down aerospostale sweatshirt everyday and a clashing hair - scarf moment just was not the look she thought it was.  ”   she shudders at the thought.   “   i know it sounds out of character,   for someone who’s so obsessed with making sure their name is known,   but what are the odds we’d be able to heist that clippling ?   i feel like i just need to erase all pre-ninth grade images of myself.   i mean,  six and under can stay,   that’s cute baby territory,   but the awkward years ?  let them be lost to time.   ”

“Pre-ninth grade Sabrina would be critical to your narrative, though. How else are you gonna prove to people you’ve had like... seven different glow ups before twenty-one? Conflict builds character and all that shit.” The tiny bell placed haphazardly above The Roast’s door signals the entrance of several young customers. By far, Vera can’t decide whether or not she misses the Starbucks sitting right outside her apartment in New York. “If you really wanna Ocean’s Eight the picture though, it’s gonna take some serious planning. Just this morning, I woke up to the mother screaming at her intern for touching her desk. For context, she’s been away for a week and the intern borrowed a pen. What kind of psycho has her desk memorized down to the pen?”

“god, you had a stylist back then? that makes so much sense.” oliver blows out a low whistle, rolling his shoulders beneath his standard flannel. “i’m pretty if 9-year-old ollie was in a clean t-shirt and jeans with minimal tears, it was a good day.” he pointedly doesn’t mention his barefoot phase, because he unfortunately did not have a stylist to tell his tiny tom-sawyer-wannabe past self that that wasn’t the awesome look he thought it was.

“Oh? I thought you’ve been going for the whole rugged pretty boy look since Day 1.” Elmridge buildings are dwarfed in comparison to New York’s skyscrapers. As they walk down Main Street, Vera realizes why it is that a lot of them feel like they’re larger than life. In this iteration of their lives, she’s got her head screwed on the right way around. The big city does wonders to your pride that way. “Steve Irwin still owns that title, of course, but how’s it feel to come at a close second?”