Fly by attitude

“Dude, you’re like the hype woman of my dreams. How do you feel about brunch? The Atlantean has the best mimosa bar. Yes. Mimosa. Bar.” Richie laughed at the comment before feeling like an ass; though Viv was more than right on her call, he also had a reputation following him around that he wasn’t quite fond of… not like he didn’t singlehandedly bring it on himself, though. “As long as other things are rubbing on me, I’ll take the risk.” He sucked his teeth and smirked, placing his hand upon his heart. “Unbeknownst to everyone, I do have a code of honor.” He shrugged, giving Viv a cheeky look. “You would quite literally be taking life by the merry balls. It doesn’t get any more badass than leaving them hanging if you get bored or ripping them off if they disappoint you. I’m like a guru with this shit, trust me.” Rich shrugged, looking up in thought. “Call me a romantic, but I’ve got a soft spot for the classics. If it ain’t broke…”

“Well that’s a little to Gossip Girl-y for me, but sure. i mean, can’t very well get beer right now without getting annoying looks, but mimosas are such a perfect rule-but-not-really-breaker.” Viv agreed with an emphatic nod. She snickered at his remark. “Gross, I like it.” She said, patting his back encouragingly as if he was her protégé. “Oh, really? And what is that? Is not joining the lizard people in there? Because it should be.” She wasn’t quite sure what to reply, so she just let herself listen, only getting mildly distracted when she saw a kid stumble and fall across the street and she couldn’t help but bark out a laugh. “That’s more like a typical college mentality, though, isn’t it?” She finally questioned. “Are you here to try the normal post-teen life and try and be a fuckboi with the masses?” She teased. “Right... Because everyone wants to see people pay for pepperoni pizza by handling a different kind of sausage.” A smirk lit up her face. 

“Does that give me a free pass to whack anyone that tries to steal your spotlight?” She wiggled her eyebrows and laughed. “I will spike a drink. But I won’t let you get a hold of it until the whole thing’s over, deal? It hurts me to say this, but I’ll behave and wait out until I can share it with you.” Bella perked up at that description of the competition; she was already on board with it only being a fairy beauty pageant, she was thrilled it could also be a chance for Viv to further establish how much of a gorgeous badass she was. “What kind of challenges? Ring of fire kind of thing? Cause let me tell you… mark me down as scared and horny.” Bella bit her lip as she carefully wrapped herself around Viv; it wasn’t certainly the first time they done this, but the takeoff always made her stomach fall to the ground in a mixture of joy and hey, we’re actually flying off a window here. “I just love this.” She sighed out as she admired the scenery, her chin finding its usual spot on Viv’s collarbone. “We should have a picnic just off the side of a cliff or something.”

“As if you needed the free pass. But yes, it does.” Viv replied with a smirk. The girl leaned back, appraising her and letting her eyes linger as she studied Bella. “I’m not sure I believe, but deal. Even so, if you want to misbehave a little while I’m competing I’m not going to call you out on it. We love fun.” It was such a casual, common knowledge to Viv, that she hadn’t even stopped to think these competitions, and really anything about the fairy community, could be so surprising to someone else. Bella’s excitement filled her up with bubbling happiness and she grinned at the girl. “No rings of fire, no one wants to risk their wings like that. I’m competing in the fast flying short length competition, and making all the others bite the dust, obviously.” She explained. “And I’m also doing an obstacle course where you have to fly through and around different things. I’m not so great at that one.” She admitted. She dragged in a shaky breath, the added weight was still surprising to her, even if Bella was so small. But she loved flying with her. She looked down at her, her hair flying around her face, and smiled. “Sure. We can do that tomorrow.” She assured her as she carefully lowered them into the park. “There’s, erm, another thing...” The idea had popped into her head as they flew, but now that she was about to ask, her stomach was curled into a tiny ball. “My family will obviously be there and I wanted to tell you something about that, but don’t freak out.” 

“Two-way street. I’ve gotten my sweet, sweet cake and ate it too.” Richie snickered, immediately taking a liking to the girl’s vibe. “I fucked up with that but, I did manage to screw up enough takes so that we had to redo the scene a couple times…” His voice dropped its cheery tone, speaking in a longingly old voice. “I told him time and time again that we had to practice yet, no one would listen to little old me.” After shaking his head dramatically, Richie gave Viv a look. “You should change that. With that face, I bet my ass you won’t need nothing more than to show up at his doorstep– change the whole game and lie about fixing the plumbing or delivering a pizza.”

“What a nice way to manage it.” Viv approved with a thumbs-up. “Besides, he’s the perfect white bro to make out with for a while and then forget about, before his sub mentality rubs off on you. Noise.” She added, quoting one of the shows she was currently watching. She snickered at the added dramatics, glaring at the old lady that seemed to be judging them. “Poor you, the victim. You did try to warn them.” The girl pulled her curls back and considered the implications. “What an innovative way of feminism.” She joked. “By the way, how old is the porn you watch? Just curious.”

Scout chuckled, glancing over his shoulder at her. “It’s the best.” He pulled his chair closer to hers. “How long have you been enduring this?”

“With a lot of drinks and, until recent development, silent criticism.” She replied with a smirk, taking a sip of her beer. She hand’t really been drinking that much, she was nursing her second. But beer always helped mellow her out. “How about you, how have you been enduring this?” 

“All I got from that is to punch them if needed and spike your drink when you ask me to. I won’t fail you.” She grinned at Viv, there was a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach that she shrugged off; Bella was just happy she’d get to cheer on Viv kicking ass. “Well, who am I to argue with a hot genius?” She added dramatically, holding on for Viv’s response. “Yes, now!” Bella jumped up, automatically extending her hand towards Viv. “I’m ready for my world to fly out the window– heh.” Her giggle was short-lived, followed by a small cover. “Come fly with me, let’s fly, let’s fly away.”

“It certainly sounds like something I’d say. But please do not spike my drink, even if I do ask you to. Which will probably happen. Viv admitted. “I need to keep my wits about me, there’s a lot of impromptu challenges and competitions there and I need to be able to show them who’s boss.” The brunette added confidently. “Okay, let me take the jacket off to loose some weight.” She said, taking off her heavy bomber jacker and placing Bella’s hands around her neck. “Here, I’ll carry you, it’s easier to fly that way.” She said happily, listening to her song. “Let’s fly on!” She screamed out as she carefully manoeuvred them out of the window. The Moon shone through the clouds, clouding them in a soft grey light as they headed for the park. The streets where luckily empty. 

Kiara felt relieved that the girl believed her. “Trust me, I’ve had people take my drinks in the past so that they wouldn’t have to pay for their own, so I totally get it.” She felt awkward being caught in the act. She didn’t like feeling like a hero, especially not when other people acknowledged it. “Anyway, let me get you a new one.” She smiled.

“I’ve done that myself... Once or twice. Not proud of it, but back then I was still a falsely poor college student with no income of her own, living off my parents basic-needs money.” Viv admitted, shrugging her shoulders. “It is so lame, though, I did it once or twice and never again. You don’t even know what you’re stealing until you taste it. Gross.” She waved her hand at her. “Nonsense, you just saved my ass. I’ll get myself a new one and get you one too!” 

“Well…” Kiara started, feeling very awkward after having been caught. “I know it looks like I was taking your drink while you were away, but that’s not all!” She scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. “I saw a crowd around the table and was worried somebody may have slipped something in your drink, so I was going to get a new one for you just in case.”

The brunette stared at the other, taking in her words. Sometimes she forgot these town actually had some good, pure people. Like, not just neutral good, but good good. “Oh cool. Thanks, sorry I freaked out a little.” She replied a little sheepishly. “I didn’t gather that from, you know, the distance.” 

“Indeed I am, Richie Shepard at your beck and call.” Richie bowed and smirked. “Girl, let me tell you, the moment the script touched my hands I wanted to run for the hills… I didn’t think I’d get to cross off an item off from the old bucket list.” He finished his ramble and then understood what was going on. “Fuck. Sorry, all! You won’t regret the wait, coffee’s so good you’ll feel like it’s going down on you.” Rich made a display of finger guns as he moved, making an effort to ditch the fact that they were not anywhere near the coffee shop. “Oh, hey! I didn’t catch your name.”

“At my beck and call, huh?” Viv replied with a grin. “You shouldn’t say that, there’s probably some crazy fans out there who might take advantage of it.” The girl’s eyes widened against her will, but she couldn’t help being a little amazed. “Girl, let me tell you, I would have demanded to do that scene first and foremost.” She replied breezily as they moved out of the way. “Vivienne Flieger. Not a Zac Efron kisser, unfortunately.” 

“Nope. They were too intimidated by my future talents they decided to point me in another direction.” Bella wiggled her eyebrows at Viv. “Just saying, I’ll be your pocket-sized personal hype-girl and will gladly tell all of the other girls to suck it and don’t even try to one-up you.” She said solemnly, breaking into a chuckle not long after. “You’re just saying that cause you’re looking at me though cookie-colored glasses.” She pinched Viv’s cheek with affection and smiled just the same. “You wanna show me how you’re gonna leave all of the peeps in the dust with your moves?” Bella was more than intrigued to learn what the competition was all about.

Viv stared at her for a long moment. She hadn’t even thought of asking her to come because she’d guessed it would be boring for her. Now she was just realizing how much she wanted her to come. “Awesome. You can throw some alcohol free punch in their faces too, for good measure.” She replied with a smirk. “Nah, I look at you a lot and I’m pretty sure of what I said.” The brunette replied. “Like, right now?” She asked, regretfully moving away from her hand to be able to look at her face. “Sure, we can go to that little park by the sea, it must be empty at this hour.” 

“Okay I guess I wasn’t going to say it out loud,” Scout said, turning towards her. “But since you are,” he balled up his napkin an tossed it onto the stage, “You’re shit!”

“You really are shit, dude!” Viv agreed. “Your mom lied when she told you you could sing!” She sniggered and turned to Scout. “Gotta love constructive criticism, right?” She asked with a grin, grabbing a pint of beer.