you're a sunflower.

i don't know what to put here and realistically one (1) person is gonna see this, so i'll fill it in with an aesthetic quote later. written by meredith.

[nightcalles]

AGUILAR, MAX.

“I mean, we did just spend what felt like two years in the woods,” Max pointed out, always matter-of-fact. He didn’t mean to annoy Logan; it was just the truth. He took a bite from his funnel cake, fork foregone and the plate up to his mouth. He chewed, listening thoughtfully to Logan’s misery. “Where would we be able to see it from the city? Could we get a telescope or something?”

Logan looked over, not exactly surprised at the sympathy — it was Max, after all — but surprised he was willing to work to find a solution with her rather than just a little bit of comfort. She thinks for a second.  “   My telescope likely wouldn’t work. Or, definitely wouldn’t. Too much smog and light. A planetarium would. That telescope is powerful enough. But good luck getting one of those to fit in your pocket.   ”

[nightcalles]

TANAKA, CHRISTIAN.

Christian was on his way back to the dunk tank when Claudia so rudely interrupted him. His head barely turned to acknowledge her, but the bored expression on his face turned quickly to mirth when he realized why she’d stopped him. “Just a regular wallet, that happens to look exactly like yours, and have all of your stuff in it?” he asked drily, tone bored, though the smirk on his face betrayed him. “You absolute dumbass, you’re never going to find it here.”

The joking facade has left her, and she steps out in front of him to stop their stride.   “   I know, I know, and that’s why I need your help. I need more braincells than anyone else and I have to rub together. You’re like, the perfect mix of bright enough to help me find it and not so smart I’ll get a lecture on responsibility. No offense.   ”   She frowns, lines etched into her forehead and lip jutted out in a pout.   “   Please, Christian. Please. Mano a mano. Musician to musician. Friend to friend. Person who’s a little too high to be able to locate her wallet to person who hopefully is moderately sober, for once.   ”

[nightcalles]

ROSALES, SABRINA.​

“Do you really think he’d do that?” Sabrina asked, her eyes so wide it was only that much more noticeable when they fell. The light behind them dimmed, and their shape narrowed in on Logan. “Why do you care what I do? If you hate me so much, shouldn’t you just leave me alone? You’re just going to give yourself wrinkles.”

I don’t hate you, is the first thing that pops into her head. The second, of course, is I hate you. And there is nothing Logan resents more than the fact that it’s in that order. She always felt like she was balanced on the edge of something when she talked to Sabrina, though she certainly threw enough emotional punches that she should have been plunged over the edge of said something by now. She’s not sure what it is — because there must be something, beyond jealousy, beyond a sense of betrayal, that keeps her drawn to Sabrina’s orbit no matter how many times she hurls abuse or shame at her. And it scares her, it unnerves her, that she doesn’t know something. That she can’t place how she feels somewhere neatly, and forget about it. It’s constant: not a wave of emotion, every time she sees Sabrina, but a low buzz, always in her peripheral. She can’t shake her. 

“   I regret to inform you of this, Sabrina, but there’s nothing wrong with aging, so if you’re trying to be misogynistic,   ”   Pot, meet kettle.   “   I’m sure there’s some cream or serum you can use to fix that instead to mentally airbrushing me in your head.   ”

[nightcalles]

NAKAMURA, SAM.

The wind off Claudia’s swing brushed against Sam’s neck, and he flinched away before tossing a glare back at her. “Claudia, what the fuck?” he griped, though he shifted to make room for her on the bench. Still, he took the caramel apple from her with a nod of thanks, wordlessly biting into the monster exterior. A bet passed while he chewed the snack, and for once he had a moment to ponder his thoughts before they spilled from his mouth.

“What’d you want to talk to her about?” was his careful question once he finally managed to chew and swallow. 

Claudia wished she had gotten herself something too, considering at this point she was running on churro fumes, and the lack of something to do with her hands caused her to fidget at the topic of Destiny tucking her legs under her before settling in with a glance back over at Sam.   

“   Oh, you know. You. Talking complete trash. How gross caramel apples are, and how Christian and Alex and I are considering kicking you out of the band. Plus that you’re in desperate need of a haircut.   ”   In typical invasive Claudia fashion, she reaches to ruffle his hair.   “   Nothing important.   ”

[nightcalles]

TANAKA, CHRISTIAN.

Christian didn’t know how they’d gotten stuck together, but that didn’t stop him from cursing all their friends’ names as he and Elodie walked aimlessly through the fair. “What makes you say that?” He rolled his eyes when Elodie guessed he liked roller coasters, but didn’t say as much as he could have. It was probably one of the nicest things she’d said to him on the trip, so he kept it civil. For now. “I hate roller coasters.” She didn’t need to know he liked the teacups.

“   Me too,   ”   Elodie echoed, quietly, though that should be obvious based on the fact that she’s with him and not her boyfriend — though not being with John was basically a regular occurrence at this point, which was enough to send Elodie’s stomach into knots without help of a roller coaster. Being with Christian? Sans screaming match? That was not a regular occurrence, though it knotted her stomach more nonetheless.   “   I don’t know. You’re    ...   you. You take risks. You play loud music. You deal...   ”   Her voice lowered to a panicked whisper, like there was a narc next to them at the fair, instead of a balding man buying popcorn for his daughter.   “   Drugs.   ”

[nightcalles]

HOLLY, DESTINY.

The excited anticipation on Destiny’s face blanched into annoyance when Claudia shoved her way to the front of the line. “Hey, Sam and I were going to ride together!” she protested, but everything happened so fast, and the attendant had locked them into the seat together. Usually she managed to suffocate her feelings for Claudia into indifference, but there was no mistaking the irritation furrowed into her brows now.

“Why are you doing this?” was all Destiny asked.

Claudia felt a little twinge of self-consciousness at the clear annoyance Destiny felt at the the fact that the two of them were paired together. The ferris wheel moved backwards, taking them carefully up into the air with no hopes of either of them escaping. Not that Claudia wanted to.

“   I wanted to talk to you,   ”   She sounds almost sheepish, soft, so uncharacteristically Claudia, that you could almost get whiplash when she reverts to bright smile and tone mostly in jest.   “   Plus, Sam totally deserved to get cut off for trying to go on with you. I wanted to go with him earlier, but lost him in my quest to find a hot pretzel. It’s basically treason he tried to hop on here with you.   ”

[nightcalles]

ROSALES, SABRINA.

Unlike Christian, Sabrina had nothing against Elodie. And unlike Elodie when it came to her, if we’re talking about who didn’t like who. But we we’re not, we’re talking about how she actually finds Elodie pleasant. Most of the time. Sabrina wasn’t too dim to miss the way her smile didn’t touch her eyes.

“No, I don’t, I just lost him somehow,” Sabrina lied. She wasn’t too dim to know Elodie probably wouldn’t like knowing she’d sent John to find something for them to smoke either. “He’s probably with Christian or something, you should find them.” And stop looking at me like that, she didn’t add.

“   So you were with him?   ”   Elodie grimaced. She tried her hardest to be polite, but... what kind of girl shamelessly flirted with another girl’s boyfriend like that? Elodie wanted to scream at her that there was a code between women, that Sabrina was totally not following, but Elodie couldn’t, because Elodie hadn’t quite followed that same code when she kissed Sabrina while she was dating John. Oops.

So as far as Elodie was concerned, Sabrina was nothing but a wrench in her relationship with John, from multiple angles.   “   If you know him so well, you could help me look. That way you can go off with Christian and John and I can actually  ...   ”   Her expression faltered a little. John had abandoned her.   “   spend time with my boyfriend.   ”

[nightcalles]

AGUILAR, MAX.

Max perked up when he saw John headed his way, the curve of his back smoothing out and eyes imperceptibly brighter. “Christian was gonna try to get me, then he had to go to the bathroom. Just waiting for him to come back,” Max explained coolly.

“   Let me try?   ”   John asked simply, not noticing that Max had gone all awooga! heart eyes, but subtle, the second he walked up to him. 

[nightcalles]

TANAKA, CHRISTIAN.

It had become a regular pasttime of Christian’s, on this trip at least. He sat in silence, thumb swiping aimlessly over nothing on his screen while he waited for Bianca to finish texting. When she spoke up, he slid his phone back into his pocket and looked up just in time to catch the tail end of her judgmental look.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he shot back.

“   I’ve already been on all the rides I’m interested in. It’s called efficiency.   ”   That, and only being interested in the biggest coasters. Bianca wasn’t much of a fan of anything that didn’t require a liability waiver — including carnival games, and the greasy carnival food that probably should have included one. She couldn’t believe she was saying this, but she maybe preferred the woods. She shuddered at the thought.   “   Being around too many screaming children gives me a migrane.   ”

[nightcalles]

“   What the fuck are you doing in the dunk tank?   ”

[nightcalles]

Her jog up to Christian is quickened with anxiety — only half for the situation at hand. The other half is comprised of the fact that she’s sure judgement is about to occur. Well deserved judgement, but judgement nonetheless that emotionally, Claudia is not prepared for. Then again, Claudia is rarely emotionally prepared for anything.

“  Christian! My beloved, my buddy, my friend,   ”   She shoots him an antsy grin as she swings an arm around his shoulder.  “  You wouldn’t have happened to see a wallet, right? One that has my license and my credit card and my lucky guitar pick and my one punch away from a free sub at Jimmy John’s card in it.   ”   A beat.   “   Unrelated to the status of my wallet being lost or in my pocket, or whatever. Just a... similar wallet.   ”

[nightcalles]

She leaps over the back of the bench with the parkour skills of someone... well, someone very unskilled at parkour, nearly kicking Sam in the head with an ill-placed combat boot. However, landing is a success, and the unscathed treat in her hand is passed to him  —  the carnival snack a favorite of his, which Claudia would consider herself a terrible friend if she didn’t know.

“   Sorry for mowing you over earlier, Sammy. I needed to talk to Destiny in an ‘ I’m cornering you so you can’t make up an excuse about how you have a meeting with the woodland creatures that wake you up in the morning, ma’am! ’ way. I’m sure you understand the struggle.   ”

[nightcalles]

Bianca barely looked up from her phone. Who she was constantly texting was, as many things about Bianca were, unclear. When she finally takes a break from tapping her fingers against the screen, she shoots Christian a long look. An ‘I’m judging you, and not in a hot and vaguely threatening way’ long look. 

“   You’re seriously not going to go on any rides?   ”

[nightcalles]

It wasn’t that Elodie had a vendetta against Sabrina — it was just that Elodie had a vendetta against Sabrina. This, she tells herself, unlike her... feud with Christian, was completely justifiable. It was founded in something other than annoyance and a general inability to get alone. Sabrina was perfectly nice, perfectly likable. Too likable, if you asked Elodie, specifically in the context of her boyfriend. 

“   You and John looked like you were having fun on the Tilt-A-Whirl.   ”   Elodie smiled, but her teeth were gritted.   “   Do you know where he went off to?   ” The rushed thought of   eventhoughyoushouldnotknowandIshouldknowbecauseI’mhisgirlfriend? was, obviously, unspoken. 

[nightcalles]

As the next ferris wheel cart pulled up to collect new passengers, Claudia saw an opportunity that was, in her mind, reasonable to seize. Of course, not many other people would offer a crumbled five dollars into the hand of the family in front of her with a mumbled ‘sorry for skipping!’ as she scrambles to hand her tickets to the ticket taker and get into the cart with Destiny... but Claudia would.

“   Looks like you’re stuck with me, Holly.  ”  A cheeky grin as the bar is pulled down and they’re off into the air.   “   Fancy seeing you here.   ”

[nightcalles]

Logan had been wandering the fair alone, mostly by choice, so she was perturbed to see a familiar figure walking by, equally as isolated  —  not because she didn’t want to see someone else from the group, or even spend time with them, but because that person was Sabrina. Her vendetta was wholly unnecessary,    “   Shouldn’t you be making doe eyes at John to win you the biggest teddy bear?   ”

[nightcalles]

“   I don’t get why we couldn’t have done a national park, or something,  ”   She grumbles, tearing off a little piece of cotton candy. Only Logan Tanaka could look completely and wholly miserable while at a fair and eating pink sugar. She shoots another glare up at the sky.  “  The smog. It makes it difficult to see constellations. There’s an important celestial event tonight.   ”