:: 👫 :: { 𝙇𝙖𝙣𝙚﹢𝙕𝙚𝙡𝙙𝙖. } ::
Zezza (his first nickname for her)
Zez (after their first year together, when Zezza became her primary name for him) (this doesn’t have to be exclusively used by Lane, since he started using the nickname before they started dating, other people in his friend group might call her this too) (he probably introduced her as “Zez” to Sid and Nate) (he uses other variations, like Zezzy, Zezzo, Zizzy, Zelzsta... But Zezza is his favorite)
Cherrypop (when she wears his favorite lip gloss) / Cherry Girl (when she wears red or cherry earrings)
Glitterbug (when he sees some of her glitter on himself or any surface in his room the morning after a party)
Angelfish (when she makes a kissy face when they’re in a group together and make eye contact)
Lady Luck (when she hints at any insecurity about not being special or favored enough to be included in the Fawley casino empire, or plays a game with him)
Disco Angel (when she dances with him)
The Greatest Artist Who Ever Lived (when she shows her any sculpture she made, even if it is, to quote the message that made me fall in love with her, “a store-bought flamingo plushy with some lipstick smeared on the beak”)
My Beautiful Natural Redhead (every time she dyes her hair red)
My Showgirl
or simply, My Girl.
Lane didn’t think he would skateboard past his teen years until he met Robin, who introduced him to the concept of skating ironically. He sees it less as a subcultural lifestyle and more as a tongue-in-cheek way of getting from place to place. The tricks come into play when he’s hanging out at dusk with Robin and friends, usually doing some light pregaming for a party in a parking lot between the back exit of the art building and the woods.
It was probably Zelda who asked him to show her how to skate on one of these nights. Likely asked as a joke in a giggly buzz off of hard ciders, in the early days before they started dating. But it meant a lot to Lane that she asked. She may not be able to follow along when he goes on about Derrida, but this is one way that she can fit inside his world. She fell on her ass and narrowly avoided ripping her tights that first night, but he slowly started asking her if she wanted to try again the next few times they met up, and it turned into a cute activity they did once a month or so while dating. She may not be a fast learner, but she’s enthusiastic and puts her whole heart into it. It makes him feel like he should put more of his heart into making the relationship work, too. It helps that he finds her melodramatic shouts and expressions adorable.
This turned into Lane’s go-to way of asking her to get back together with him. Two weeks to two months after a breakup, he’ll send her a text, telling her that he’ll be in the parking lot outside the art building if she wants to pick up her lessons again. She comes every time. He falls right back in love with her every time he watches her cackle after a fall or throw up both fists triumphantly when she turns around a corner without completely eating shit.
He just wishes she would wear more practical clothes for the lessons.
Dia is his primary model and muse, but the photos he takes of her are his Art, very precise and orchestrated. He takes tons of photos with Robin, but it’s usually documenting weird situations he got them into or things Robin re-arranged when nobody was looking, rather than pictures of the man himself. He sneaks some pictures of Molly, looking cozy and elegant (and distracted) while she reads, and has photos of Nate doing tricks or just smoking cigarettes, because the guy always looks like he’s in a grungy coming-of-age film, and Lane likes to memorialize the few special weekends his friend makes it to Washington. And of course, he has his stash of Jack photos, but he hasn’t taken a photo of his brother since the day he left for basic combat training.
But Lane has more photographs of Zelda than anyone else in the world.
She’s always doing something funny, or pretty, or colorful. Whether he’s just shooting her festive outfits, or her wild, goofy dancing, or her expressive faces, or wholehearted laughter, it’s all worth capturing. Every second with her feels like a significant memory that he wants to revisit, especially if he’s not in the right headspace to appreciate it in the moment.
These photographs are the closest thing Lane has to a helm to steer his own emotions. When he needs a little motivation to come crawling back to her, he takes a peek at his pictures before bed, and wakes up the next morning to find himself texting her to ask if she wants to meet him for skate lessons.
IV. ░ ANYWAY HERE’S GRENADINE.
Lane wrote a song about Zelda called “Grenadine.” Or, he’s writing a song. And rewriting it. Constantly. He runs his drafts by his closest friends, but Robin is probably the only one who hears every version. He doesn’t want anyone to tell her about it until it’s done, and makes them promise to keep it a secret. The problem is, he revises it so much, it’s basically an album of entirely different songs at this point, and it may never be finished.
Sometimes it’s about a lover so sweet, she can make battery acid go down easy, and it’s easier for the narrator to deal with tribulations when she’s around. Sometimes it’s about a girl who’s too sickeningly syrupy to drink straight, and the narrator feels like she’s not the type of woman you’re supposed to be monogamous with, because you won’t actually get anything of substance out of it. Sometimes it’s about a girl who’s sugary but tart — cute but daft — and the narrator’s bar buddies all have a hard time taking him seriously when he asks for her in his cocktail instead of drinking a real man’s drink, and the narrator has to decide if he should grow up, or enjoy what he enjoys.
The chorus mostly stays the same. Somehow, in one roundabout way or another, it’s always about how The Grenadine Girl deserves better.
Robin, Nikki, Molly, Dia, Sabrina, and Sid have all heard variations of it, though he’s obviously only shows Nikki and Sabrina the flattering ones.
BONUS. ░ IS LANE IN LOVE WITH ZELDA?
He has more fun with Zelda than any other girl he knows. She makes him laugh without even trying. She’s so cheerful, loyal, understanding, and supportive to a fault. He thought blowjobs were overrated until he met her — an appetizer, or a consolation prize when you don’t have the time or privacy for the real deal — but I imagine Zelda’s passion to please carries over into her sex life, and she really knocks it out of the park when she gets to focus on just satisfying her partner. She changed his life and redeemed oral for him. That takes someone special.
There’s just one problem: Lane thinks he belongs with someone who understands the art, music, and literature he likes. Having deep conversations with a partner is important to him. He doesn’t know if Zelda will ever connect with him on that level.
There’s also that nagging concern in the back of his head, asking, does he like her for her, or does he subconsciously like her because she’s rich and he wants to settle down with someone who can keep him financially secure? He wigs out and breaks up with her every time the thought crosses his mind. Is he lying to himself when he feels like he’s in love with her, or when he falls out of love with her?
But, if it counts for anything, he did spend the majority of his clothing budget for their junior year on a western shirt because it reminded him of her, and her silly pink cowgirl boots, and her fascination with kitschy cowboys, and one of her drunken ramblings about him whisking her away on his trusty steed (robin in a horse costume, probably) and them galloping off into the sunset. He calls it his lucky shirt.
