Maggie had found herself inside an open convertible in the parking lot, a man that was clearly its owner leaned against the hood and chatting animatedly to his friend about the vehicle like it was his absolute pride and joy, a child that had just won a football championship. She’d just met him today, in fact, only twenty minutes prior and she’d already grown bored of him. Legs hanging out over the door, she noticed a passerby and quickly shouted out. “Hey!” she said. “May I ask what you’re doing in our swamp? You see those white lines!” Maggie said, pointing at the parking spot drawn out on the pavement. “You’re inside and therefore in lava. This vehicle is Steven’s most prized position,” she said. “Steve-O,” he corrected and she rolled her eyes. “Steven. You’re never going to make it into a Jack-Ass movie Steve, just face the facts,” she said before turning to the other again. “Help me,” she mouthed to them, a quiet plea for any shred of entertainment they might have to offer.
Barely existing within this physical plane of existence as Regina Spektor blasted through the speakers of her headphones and acted as a pilot that promptly escorted her head into the clouds, Maddie hummed to herself as she made her trek back to Antebellum. Distracted as she was, it was really no surprise that she practically jumped back when she casually turned her head to notice someone attempting to communicate with her. Quickly pressing pause on her music and withdrawing an earbud, Maddie’s hazel eyes brightened with recognition as she found that it was Maggie Lawrence. “Huh? Swamp? I don’t think there’s any swamps around here, Maggie. The canal’s water’s a little brown though. If you use your imagination, it could double as a swamp, maybe,” she suggested, glancing down at her feet as the other directed her gaze to the pavement. A small smile settled on her mouth as memories of a childhood colored by the merging of the Aldens and the Lawrences flooded her mind. “Like when we were kids and would jump from couch to couch because the floor was lava?” Hazel eyes flitting between Maggie and the man who’d been referred to as too many names for her to decide which one was actually his as they exchanged words, she awkwardly alternated her weight between the ball of her foot and her heel, not really sure what to make of the situation. That is, until Maggie’s eyes practically begged for an escape. Clearing her throat, she did her best to come up with a believable enough lie to excuse the other’s leaving. “Excuse me, um, sir, but my friend and I have to uh, go to a child’s birthday party. A child that’s related to us, actually. A cousin. So, um, she must come with me immediately,” Maddie sputtered out with a tight smile, already mentally slapping herself for her inability to lie under pressure.
