“Have you met me? I can’t just go with my gut, my gut’s having a fucking mid-life crisis as we speak” Dani rambled away but took Ren’s advice despite her own words. Ren had always been so easy-going that Dani couldn’t help but want to be around her in hopes that it’d rub off at least a little. So far, she’d say she had been doing a lot better than the nervous wreck she was when they first met, which gave her hope that change was possible. “There’s always a wrong answer and just because there’s beauty in it doesn’t mean everyone is capable of seeing that beauty. You risk the chance of looking stupid” She grumbled and continued with her painting. Clearly Dani wasn’t a risk taker, but perhaps Ren was. After all, Dani wouldn’t have been herself if she wasn’t at least a little pessimistic. “It’s fine, it’s working. I’m making it work…” She added, now deciding that the red on her canvas would make for a nice rose or heart. Valentine’s day was coming up and surely Scott would appreciate something sentimental, even if she’d veto hanging it up in their apartment for how bad it looked.
Dani’s attention went over to Ren momentarily as she watched her light up a smoke, “So how’s Flo been doing? She seems… happier lately” To which Dani could only guess was because there was an improvement in her love life. “Did you get that stuff from Benji?” she asked. Dani didn’t mind the smell or the act itself, however, it did make her a bit curious and Benji had been saying he’d find something suitable to help her with the insomnia. “And you do the making out and the heavy petting right there at the bar? With everyone looking?” She repeated with a grin since it sounded ridiculous to her. Perhaps she was a little more self conscious than most people since something like that would make her feel embarrassed and insecure more than anything else. “I mean obviously I would be terrified to ask Scott if we could have a threesome with someone, but it’s also because I just don’t have any real interest. I can’t help that I’m a boring monogamous person, okay?” It certainly made her wonder how Scott would take a suggestion like that though. “I just like the idea of having your person, you know? You can do weird crazy shit with them and there’s no judgement or second guessing because they’re only into you and no one else. Plus, I don’t want Scott looking at some other guy or girl, I would probably cry and that’s a total boner killer.” Dani was really only speaking from a committed relationship standpoint, if Ren had asked her when she was single then perhaps she’d have a less concrete answer, “Okay then speaking of –– dream threesome with the people around here, go” she asked, pointing her paint brush in Ren’s direction with a grin to match since at the very least it’d be a fun game to play.
“Risk looking stupid in front of who? Me? My dying houseplants?” Ren gathered her limbs and rose from her perch beside Dani. Instead, she grabbed her own brush, swirled it through emerald green, and then attacked her blank canvas with wild slashes and thick slats of paint. When that didn’t suffice, she got her hands on black next and flat out poured it on. Steady drips fled south to ruin the carpet below. Despite that, she looked back over with untamed amusement in her wide, brown eyes. “Nobody’s here, babe! Nobody cares if you paint like shit or create the next god damn Mona Lisa.” Her sticky fingers clenched onto her shoulders next, and Ren unleashed a laugh. “This isn’t for them. It’s for you. Let loose!” Swirling bare fingertips through Dani’s chosen red she playfully streaked both their cheeks with abstract lines, then trotted off through the living room. “You wanna do the walls?” Fuck the security deposit - the messy carnage of their day would only improve the ancient place. “Or strip naked, paint ourselves, and roll around the floor? I’m down!” Really, it didn’t matter what they did so long as Dani found a way to slam through those mental walls tensed around her like a vice. “I just wanna help you find whatever it is you do want. You're my best friend." Her and Flo both.
Settling down, Ren took another hit off the now crimson flecked blunt until velvety plumes of smoke drifted over their heads. "She's been tangled up in Clay for the last couple of weeks and honestly? I think it's the best thing that could've happened to her. Sex is like... the ultimate release. And all that dopamine firin' off in your brain after an orgasm? Ten times better than any shit on the streets." She'd be the one know. With a new grin slinking across her lips, she mused, "Maybe all you really need is to go home and pounce on Scott. Or, at the very least, take a hit of this. Benji’s a genius.” Her offer standing, whether Dani accepted or not, Ren plunged ahead. “Personally, if I needed extra hands to help me relax, I’d pick you and Flo, but apparently ‘ruining the friendship’ is a thing. So, excluding you guys? Lonely guy I met at the bar and--- Ivy. Or the cute firefighter who keeps rescuing Flo from our homicidal elevator.” Sounded like a fun night, either way. “That’s me, though. I’m not bothered by that sort of thing. If it’s not for you it’s not for you, Dani. I never said it made you boring.” She paused, mulling over the words weighing on her tongue. “It’s just... sometimes you remind me of younger me. And back then I wish someone told that girl that living the life you think you should want, but don’t, isn’t really living at all. Neither is pretending you don’t want things ‘cause your scared of what might happen if you ask."
