the past few weeks had been more than rough for daniel. heâd lost his dignity, his purpose, and of course, his baby sister. but she had never been much of a baby. he had always been less mature than her, so it was only right that she was the first to die. it didnât feel right, though. it felt like he was lacking something quintessential, his other half. the person he was literally born to protect. out like a light. sure, they hadnât always been the nicest to each other, and she had plenty of dirt on him, but they had an unbreakable bond by blood. and he had loved her more than he was willing to admit. daniel had always dreamed of being a spoiled only child. but he was beginning to realize that it wasnât what he actually wanted.
what he wanted, was his sister back.
he had been drifting in and out of conversations all day. feeling lost, even in his own damn bed. he hadnât had sex in a week. people were beginning to notice something was wrong, that there were major cracks in his facade. he couldnât pretend to be unbothered by losing such a big piece of his life any longer.Â
â can you just â shut up, please? â he exhaled sharply, finally turning to face the other person. he hadnât paid much attention to them. â it should have been fucking me. â he muttered, words collected firmly below his breath.Â
amelia hadnât really known where else to go; just the idea of facing her roommates flooded her with embarrassment but the thought of being alone freaked her out too much to actually go home. she knew she would probably end up having to move back home anyway, given her meeting with the dean the very next day. amelia honestly had no idea what the hell she was going to say. she almost just wanted to walk in there, confess to them that she should really just pack up her things and go and never show her face on campus again. she should just leave, period. her parents, merciless as they were, yelled at her through the phone for three hours before saying they would be back to speak with her after their conference - next week. amelia would rather never see them again.Â
so sheâd ended up at danielâs, at a loss of anywhere else to go. putting any of this on him wasnât fair in any capacity and amelia knew that, but she didnât know if being by herself was a good idea. everything good to her was gone, and amelia wasnât sure of how to cope with that yet. daniel was the closest she could get, even if she could hardly form sentences with more than five words around him. sheâd been rambling to him uselessly for maybe five minutes, trying to explain why and how sheâd ended up at his door and talking herself in circles, when he interrupted her. âi-iâm sorry maybe i should just leave.â she turned to exit and never come back ever, but then she heard his muttering. she stopped in her tracks, shaking her head vigorously. âdaniel, no... come on.â she was not a good person for this; sheâs not sure if sheâs ever had someone comfort her while she was crying even once, and daisey would frequently yell at her for never having the right thing to say on the rare occasion that she broke in front of her. âit shouldnât have been anyone. no oneâs trying to trade you, okay?âÂ
mossy hues light up in appreciation of his reciprocated joke. itâs not a part of their usual conversations. no matter how much he may have tried to bump a few jokes in here or there, it never quite felt right in the arts building or the music rooms. there was an air of sophistication he felt that needed to be upheld and respected. this wasnât the music room though and thereâs only potential for art on the screen depending on how good or bad the movie is. âwhat?!â he exclaimed, a touch louder than acceptable for the environment. âpoor thing. what are the other workers doing all day? it is honestly so lucky you came along.âÂ
iâve kinda uh-⊠been ditching work. a soft hum and nod are given as understanding. the scope of everything and daiseyâs grip was so far beyond them but it still affected everyone. some more so than others. itâs a crazy thought that passes along in his mind sometimes. how hadnât he seen this coming? his smile grows faint when her question is presented to him. âIââ how should he put this? he lived with rutherfords, heâs known them intimately for a year now, and with the news of her death everything has been flipped on itâs head. his entire world, as he knows it, is different moving forward, but he canât focus on that now. worse things were happening to other people. an awkward shift in his seat adds to the pause before answering. âI do no knowâŠit is weird, yes. everything is different now andâŠI donât know.â tense lips skew to the side of his expression. âhow about you?â
a small smile tugged at the corners of ameliaâs lips. it felt good to be lighthearted about something, even if it was something as silly as feeding the seats. âprobably avoiding really working. eating all of the snacks for themselves. they truly get neglected when iâm not here, like a pet your parents donât want.â amelia guessed it was a little bit hard for her not to revert to being a little morbid, even if itâs the last thing she wanted to be. she was comfortable enough to be a little more open with him, even if it really only was a little bit.Â
she turned to look at him, waiting as he seemed to contemplate. amelia couldnât imagine going home anymore, because with her parents always away and daisey now gone there was no reason to go. she felt like she was floating in a weird nebulous place. he seemed lost on how to feel about it, and amelia wondered if they were in similar places. it was easy for her to tell that the question had made him uncomfortable, so she didnât pry. âuhm...â she picked at the popcorn in the bucket, eyebrows pulling together in thought. âitâs weird, feeling like one of the only people who are just-... mourning, with nothing else going on.â well, not nothing else, but she was definitely more consumed with mourning daisey than the godforsaken blackmail list. âso... i donât know either. everythingâs just crap, i guess.âÂ
He was a hard read. Amelia neednât feel bed. Emoting wasnât Suttonâs strong suit. He looked at her for a moment, with that straight-faced expression he always wore. Making it a task for anyone, even Sydney on infrequent occasions, to decipher what he was thinking. Then let it go. He didnât want to stress Amelia out any more than she already seemed to be. ââŠOnly if you insist.â Heâd hold it for her, in case, for whatever reason, she didnât have the money to pay for a session.Â
He clicked his tongue, âDaisey and I⊠Weâre â Or we were â just acquaintances, you know?â He didnât know if Amelia knew about his side hustle (or full-time job, really). On the one hand, she must know. Sutton was everyoneâs dealer, a contact in the phones of a great percentage of the St. E student body. On the other, she didnât⊠exactly seem like the type to concern herself with more than her music. ââ But we were cool.â He half-lied. They had been cool at the beginning. Taking a thoughtful sip from his drink, âI guess itâs just⊠harrowing. Someone is there one day and then not there the next.â He snapped his fingers, âLike that.â His eyes slipped closed for a moment, taking a breath, ââŠIâve lost some people in equally as sudden and⊠distressing ways. Guess all thisâs just closer to home than I was expecting to be all the way up here.â
He offered a small smile, a corner of his lips pulling up, just so, âBeing present is good.â He might have been a little bit of a hippie, falling into mysticism with the guidance of his uncle. He held up his palm, âOh, these?â for the first time, his smile brightened. It wasnât big, still his casual little smirk, but one that reached his eyes, âTheyâre my younger siblingsâ initials. Nile, Jazz, Jonah, R.J., and Lindsay. But we all call her Lala. Like from the teletubbies. Sheâs the baby. Theyâre one of the few things I miss about back home.â
amelia chewed idly at her lip, fidgeting with the fray of her jeans. she didnât know much about suttonâs relationship with daisey; she knew they saw each other sometimes - sometimes daisey would offer her drugs because it would âget the stick out of her assâ after meeting with him, but amelia had never found it any of her business. she didnât care to engage in all of that - she wouldnât have time to get anything done if she did. âyeah...â sheâd remembered seeing daisey at the party, having been left behind at the drink table alone, people watching because even though sheâd been four drinks deep she still wasnât drunk enough to gather up the courage to actually join the party. sheâd seen daisey disappear outside with someone, and amelia had thought to follow her... but she hadnât, not wanting to cockblock or interrupt anything. was that the last time sheâd ever seen her...? âr-really?â how did you comfort someone thatâd lost someone the way amelia had lost daisey? she didnât even know how to comfort herself, yet. âiâm sorry. thatâs really rough...â she wouldnât wish this pain on anyone, not even an enemy. definitely not sutton, whoâd been nothing but patient and kind to her.
she listened attentively when he started naming off all of his siblings. he had so many, plus sydney? amelia couldnât imagine having that many other kids in her house - being an only child made things lonely, but when she told people that she was one they always had that âthat explains a lotâ look on their face. âthatâs sweet. do they like it? i feel like i wouldnât have realized the gravity of a tattoo when i was younger.â she guessed maybe she still didnât quite get it; she only had one. she rolled up the sleeve of her sweatshirt to show the tiny smiley face on the side of her wrist. âdaisey gave me this one. itâs stick and poke.â itâd hurt like hell but itâd been worth it. lately she hadnât been able to stop looking at it, even though sheâd forgotten it was there for a while.
zar pumped his eyebrows up. ânot their own couches.â he knew a handful of people who tended to leave zarâs couch a fucking disaster zone, and they were all people who didnât have to clean it themselves. heâd considered fucking banning food from the upholstered furniture, but he had enough self-awareness to know that would be too much. he managed a chuckle at her tone. âi mean, i donât know how often you need your earphones, exactly, but iâd presume thereâs some aspect of, like, music appreciation, or compositions you have to write? i donât know what music majors do.â it was weird; heâd spent fucking hours locked in a room with amelia, and yet he didnât know about a big part of her life. music students didnât have, like, labs right? was it tutorials? seminars? or were they supposed to practice by themselves? he had no fucking clue.Â
âyes, please,â zar insisted, holding his palms out for the hand sanitizer. those seats were fucking sticky. he looked away, shrugging in acknowledgment. âyep, i did.â he slid his earbuds into his pocket, along with his hands, feeling thoroughly awkward. âyeah, thatâs⊠kinda what i meant by âfine as i can beâ.â zar had a boyfriend he loved, and friends he cared about, but it was hard to ignore that an actual murderer could take that all away from him in an instant. and the worst part? heâd fucking deserve it. it seemed the perfect plot beat in the tragedy that was balthazar rosâs life. âif⊠if itâs any consolation, amelia, at least youâre not alone.â that was the only thing that kept zar going; there were twenty-nine (or, twenty-eight, he supposed) people in the exact same boat with him. still, heâd always preferred to carry his burdens on his own, to make sure none of the people he loved got hurt. he hadnât always had people to care for, after all, so he knew how precious people like zayn and zola and honey and thalia and kiki were, what heâd do to keep them safe and happy. âand when this is all over, weâll make sure theyâre put away for a long, long time.âÂ
amelia chewed at her lip, trying to readily accept the excuse he was giving her. she supposed he was right; she usually was listening to the music she had to learn and practice, going over the piece in her head on her walks to and from her classes. âuhm. iâm a performance major. composition isnât really my thing...â there was one piece she wrote for the guild, but amelia hadnât looked at it in years and didnât know if she wanted to. it wasnât the worst thing anyone had ever written, but amelia just-... she couldnât sit down to revise it for more than five minutes at a time, too infuriated with herself to focus. âitâs lots of music theory and practice and memorization and recitals.â hence why her grades had always been down the toilet; practicing for as long as she did on both her violin and the piano didnât leave much time for anything else, and she was always sacrificing one or the other. âiâm supposed to be accompanying next week and i just got the music so - thatâs what iâll be doing, i guess.â why was she doing this to herself? she clearly didnât know anything about his major, even on a fundamental level.Â
she dropped some sanitizer into his hands before putting it away, scratching the back of her neck sheepishly. she swallowed thickly, not exactly comforted by the fact that she wasnât alone in this. it really only put her on edge - what would someone do to keep their secret safe? how serious was everything the people on that list were keeping? âi think iâd just rather none of us be going through it, honestly.â she stated honestly. being lumped in with thirty people that may or may not be criminals - or hiding from criminals - was cold comfort. amelia guessed sheâd already talked to these people and knew them alright, but clearly, they all had skeletons in their closets. was this a result of the way they grew up or were they all just bad people? amelia didnât know if there was a difference. âyeah, if weâre not all locked away and shamed into isolation first.â she should probably cool it with the skepticism; zar was only trying to make her feel better. âsorry... youâre right. maybe optimism is better.â Â
rosalia really didnât know what she was doing. while protecting her friends came as a second nature to her, she had to admit she was more than stumped about how to make anything better for amelia. she knew her ties to daisey were practically ancient; it was only natural that she was hurting. so, for as long as sheâd been locked away, rosa had been lurking around their place far more than usual. keeping an eye on her door, an ear on the wall, and cold water in the hall were all fine options for someone trying to give a friend their space, but the moment she realized amelia wasnât home after a mock trial meeting⊠the search was on.
she tried most of the places she knew her roommate frequented, first. she checked in with the music hall, the band room, even the bubble tea place near campus sheâd seen amelia buy from the most over their years together. needless to say, she felt pretty stupid by the time it (finally) hit her: the spot she had to spend much of her time in, even unwillingly, was the theater. once sheâd formed the idea, she couldnât let it go. work wasnât the first place she would go to avoid life. and that, in theory, made it the perfect hiding spot. if it turned out to be another dead end, rosa wasnât sure where else she could go. but that boosted the feeling of her accomplishment even more when one of the less recognizable workers confirmed her roommate had just moped her way into the showing room for none other than once upon a time in hollywood.
to be frank, rosa couldnât stand the fact that she was buying a ticket to a movie like this one. her stomach rolled as she accepted the ticket, but on in she went. thankfully, no one else in ashmont seemed to care about the latest installment of quentin tarantinoâs misogynistic dumpster fire movies, leaving the two of them the sole occupants of the movie. to save her the trouble, rosa made a point to take the seat on the opposite side of her friendâs⊠collection of assorted candy. âyouâre hard to find when you want to get lost, mel. i just want you to know that.â she delivered the statement jovially, her smile trying more for amused than concerned. âyou, um⊠you are aware of what this movie is about, right? i wouldnât think this would be your first pick. all things⊠considered?â
amelia felt bad - it was clear that her roommate had been looking for her and here she was, blatantly avoiding any and every social interaction she could. it wasnât like rosa didnât know her tendency to isolate herself, but clearly if she was here this case was more serious than amelia was letting herself see. had she locked herself in her room for that long? at least it wasnât someone that amelia didnât know that had walked in, or maybe she should be upset that it wasnât? âi know.â that was the point; amelia didnât want to be found. if she werenât afraid of being too alone rosa probably wouldnât have been able to find her, but amelia wasnât too keen on locking herself away somewhere someone could... get her. âsorry.â she wasnât sorry about hiding, but she was sorry about freaking her roommate out enough that she would come and look for her.Â
amelia idly picked up a few kernels of popcorn, slowly putting them in her mouth as she shrugged her shoulders. âi mostly just came to eat.â truth be told, she probably wouldnât be watching the movie much in the first place, but she had seen the previews. still, she just wanted to be somewhere everyone wasnât, and that was this movie after the week that everyone had had. âyeah, i know. did you really buy a ticket just to follow me in here?â sheâd have to teach rosa about the secret entrance, so she could sneak in to see movies for free and so that if amelia has another melt-down she doesnât have to pay for it. âthis movie doesnât seem like your type...â she offered a weak smile.
amelia was in rehearsals when the notification popped up on her phone, her eyes dropped from the sheet music to her phone as it lit up on her music stand. anxiety gripped her chest in response, but she couldnât do anything about it. she continued playing, looking back to the sheet music and trying hard to contain her composure. god, what was going on now?Â
was it another voting poll? daiseyâs funeral was the very next day; was it a declaration of war? a warning? she lost her place on the page, eyes frantically searching the page until her stand partner flipped the page, amelia jumping at the opportunity to hop back in. she both dreaded and couldnât wait to read it, terrified and eager to see what was next for the thirty people doomed and trapped in this situation. the rest of the piece was a blur, and amelia set her violin down when the conductor began to talk to the cellos, turning the brightness down on her screen before opening the notification.Â
she hurriedly read, eyes scanning the post in a rush, leg bouncing in her seat. her stand partner kept glancing at her out of the corner of her eye, expression twisted into irritation. but amelia paid her no mind, scrolling and scrolling through all of the things sheâd really take the time to read later.Â
and then she saw her name.Â
âoh fuck.â she whispered, but not quiet enough where the three chairs around her didnât turn to look at her incredulously. she quickly locked her phone so they would stop paying attention to her, going back to the place sheâd gotten lost in the sheet music to distract herself. thirty minutes; she had thirty minutes left of rehearsal and then she could see how much damage had been done. maybe it didnât mean anything. maybe she had some sort of task. she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, trying to quell her panic. sheâs pretty sure her soul left her body for the rest of the rehearsal, quickly packing up her violin and putting her chair away before running out of the music room, out to the parking lot to her car and slamming the door shut behind her. she opened up her phone and went back to the blog to read. her heart was lodged in her throat the entire time, feeling everything crashing in around her the farther she went down the page.Â
âfuck. fuck.â she dropped her phone and gripped her steering wheel, tears welling up in her eyes. she was fucked. she was so utterly fucked.Â
she jumped as her phone began to ring - a call from her mom. did the news break already? was the blog going to rat her out to the school? was someone else going to rat her out? amelia hoped she never ran into anyone ever again. a knock on her window made her jump yet again, and she looked up to see one of the french horn players waving at her with a shy smile on his face. she hastily wiped her tears with the rough denim of her jacket, ignoring her motherâs phone call as she rolled the window down.Â
âhey, amelia...â he tried to make eye contact with her but she wouldnât let him, giving him a hesitant wave as she tucked her hair behind her ear. âis everything okay...?â his tone was filled with concern, but amelia couldnât bring herself to look at him. coward.Â
âyeah. yeah iâm fine. sorry.âÂ
âwhat are you apologizing for? itâs cool. i just wanted to check up on you...â
âwell, thanks.âÂ
âyeah...â he let out a deep sigh, tapping the side of her car. âwell, iâll let you go. feel better, okay?âÂ
âiâm fine.â she insisted, but he was already walking away, joining the friend that had been waiting for him. amelia hoped this didnât spread, dear god. sheâd hardly even graduated high school, what made her think sheâd fit in in college? what made her think she even deserved to be here? she didnât, was the answer. maybe, if daisey hadnât blackmailed her into staying in ashmont in the first place this wouldnât have happened. no... no, this was her fault. she didnât have to accept daiseyâs offer for help, she couldâve gotten a G.E.D. or something. maybe. fuck. when her parents found out-... sheâd been trying so hard not to be a huge disappointment; to be so good at music that her parents wouldnât regret letting her study it, wouldnât regret funding every single competition and plane ticket and symphony membership. theyâd wanted her to go to medical school but she wasnât even smart enough for that. she was really going to lose everything.Â
Lara Jean Covey + Fashion
âEarly on I made the producers and director mood boards of Lara Jeanâs style. I wanted them to understand that even though To All the Boys Iâve Loved Before is a contemporary realistic story and not Harry Potter or Hunger Games, her style is crucial to understanding the character. In my notes, I wrote, âIt might not be what a teenaged guy would find sexy, but itâs what she feels pretty in, and for an introverted girl, itâs a way for her to express herself. Just like her bedroom.â Itâs 60s meets 90s meets Asian streetwear. She is a girl that looks at Korean fashion blogs, goes to vintage shops, scours the internet for the perfect thing.â Jenny Han
âsome employees donât clean? god, that sounds so annoying.â yeah, that was probably why zar didnât work at the cinema, besides the fact that heâd be too tempted to slip into the theater and watch movies during his shifts, he was weirdly anal about keeping the places he spent time in clean. his roommates-slash-coworkers definitely knew that, and honey was all too aware after zar passive-aggressively bought him a laundry hamper. thankfully, though, people didnât typically have popcorn and soda in fitzgeraldâs, so zar coming into work the next morning only to find the place half-trashed? that would be endlessly frustrating.Â
zar nodded in agreement, trying his best to seem⊠chill. friendly. âyeah, leo dicaprio is usually worth it.â if the movie was boring, he was at least something to look it. zar supposed he was also a decent actor, as well. he got on his knees to check under the seats, allowing, âwell, you are a music major.â she probably needed her earphones to do schoolwork. he raised an eyebrow, looking up to take in her smorgasbord again; yep, that⊠that looked like everything. he wondered how such a small woman could pack away so much fucking food; just looking at it made zar a little ill. he was about to tell her what, exactly, was in the hot dog she was about to eat, when she unearthed a tangle of cords. he perked up, pushing himself to standing. âshit, yeah, those are it!â he got them into his hands as soon as he could, gently undoing the knots, checking to make sure they werenât damaged. âthank you so much, amelia. i owe you one.â he shrugged, a little taken aback at the question. âi mean, fine as i can be. iâm- iâm sure you saw my name on that list, though.â might as well get it out there; it was already kind of the elephant in the room. âare⊠are you okay?âÂ
ânot thoroughly. look.â she scooped some popcorn out of a crease in the cushions onto the floor, pursing her lips in disgust. amelia was probably the only one that was that particular about cleaning, but theyâd been getting good facility reviews since sheâd gotten hired and sheâs pretty sure itâs the only reason her boss kept her around when amelia was otherwise useless. âitâs gross. do people leave their couches like that?â ameliaâs house had always been pristine growing up, but then again it wasnât like her parents were ever home. a huge, big house all to herself save her nanny and their hires. the house was hardly lived in; moving in with her roommates had been like a culture shock.Â
amelia nodded in agreement. âi think so, too.â but sheâd already said that. she resisted the urge to smack her palm to her forehead, hand going up instead to fidget with the clip that was in her hair. âi-i guess so, huh?â it was also so that she had an excuse to avoid talking to people, an excuse to look like she was in a rush to no one would talk to her, an excuse to keep her head down and seem invisible. being a music major was a good excuse, too. she took a mental vacation for a moment, imagining she was in new york instead of here in ashmont, riding the L somewhere she really wanted to be instead of here at a stupid movie theater. she snapped back into reality at his excitement. âno, itâs okay. itâs not a big deal.â she flushed. when he grabbed the earbuds she reached for the hand sanitizer hooked onto her purse and squirted some into her hands. âwant some?â she offered. they had just dug around seats that probably hadnât been cleaned all weekend. him blatantly mentioning the list caught her off guard, and her eyes went the size of saucers in response. he was right though, she had seen his name, but, âyou saw mine, too.â they were two sides of the same coin or something like that. âno.â she blurted, a little too honestly. but she really, truly wasnât. she felt like her life was hanging over her head in more ways than one. âbut i donât know how anyone can be in this situation.â that much was true; they were all being threatened by some anonymous bully.Â
There were few places Alice could find sanctuary. Her parents house, her villa, the fly loft of St. Etienneâs Main Stage, the abandoned gazebo, a corner table at Beans and Leaves, and in the darkness of a Theatre. Stage or screen, watching other people perform gave Alice comfort-it made her feel at home. She had always loved the movies, the spectacle of it all. The way different pieces of a puzzle came together to tell a story. The way a good film could make the audience laugh and cry and leave thinking, about not only the movie, but their own lives. Ever since she was a little girl, she had wanted to make people feel something. She had watched The Wizard of Oz, The Princess Bride and Tuck Everlasting, she had been enchanted. She had loved those movies, but it was more than that. She wanted to be in them. She had become successful on stage, about as successful as a student could hope to be. And in May, when she graduated, she had decided to forego pursuing stage acting in New York, but instead move to Los Angeles and pursue a career in film. That had always been the ultimate goal. Now she wasnât sure it was possible.
So on a day like this, when the sun was shining bright but all the light inside Alice had dimmed, she needed to go somewhere where she could be blanketed in complete darkness. Somewhere where she could feel alive. It was kind of perfect that the movie showing was one about Hollywood. The fact that it starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie, some of the biggest heartthrobs ever, didnât hurt. The fact that it was a Tarantino film about the Manson family was something Alice chose to think wouldnât bother her. She wasnât always great at decision making. There was one problem about Regentâs, though. The staff. It wasnât that they werenât good at their jobs. It was just that Alice didnât have the best history with them. She really liked Libby, but she never quite knew how to act around someone she was friends with as a child and yet hardly knew anymore. And then there was Amelia. Amelia who was just so talented. Amelia whose family was just so rich. Amelia who had known Daisey their whole lives. Amelia who was the only other person in the theatre. Alice sighed. She could sit in the back, pretending to not have seen her. But if Amelia got up, she would see Alice avoiding her. And Alice wasnât going to be scared of Amelia Dangtran. She certainly wasnât going to let her get in the way of having a good seat.Â
So Alice walked towards her, a knot in her stomach that she chose to ignore. She could barely see Ameliaâs face in the flashing lights of the pre-show, and yet she still seemed flustered. âNo, you donât have to move your stuff,â Alice said, inspecting the seat one over from Amelia for sticky residue. It was fine. So she sat down, a seat in between them, carefully resting her purse on the seat on her other side before turning to Amelia. âI wasnât about to sit in an empty theatre with one other person and ignore you for two hours and forty one minutes,â she explained. âYou donât have to talk to me. I can just sit here, drinking my cherry coke, and minding my own business.â
here was ameliaâs thing with alice kibler; when people saw her up on stage they saw her acting ability to be amazing, but if they knew alice the way amelia saw her, theyâd know her playing pretend wasnât anything new. that the feats she was performing on stage were everyday routine for her. it was really only amelia that alice wasnât fake with, and amelia had no idea why; she guessed her hatred was just that intense, that she couldnât even put on a face. that was fine with amelia; she knew who alice was and decidedly didnât like her, and they could just leave it at that. recognize that they couldnât stand each other and move on, hopefully. but things were already ruined and amelia didnât think they could ever be friends, and if somehow the tables turned that way amelia wouldnât understand it. maybe amelia just felt jealous; she felt like a fake and a fraud most of the time anyway and wished she could handle it the same way alice could.Â
when alice sat down amelia hardly even moved, looking at her in her peripheral vision and unsure of how to deal with this situation. she knew alice was right, that ignoring each other would be a whole different level of petty, but truth was amelia was that petty. alice was a bigger person than her, she guessed. she wouldâve happily sat here pretending alice hadnât walked in. âitâs fine. i donât mind.â okay, a blatant lie, but amelia didnât have the energy to express her distaste, not really emotionally ready for a fight. âcherry coke is um, a good choice.â she raised up her own cup, somehow gathering the courage to look at alice. it would be mean to ignore her; maybe daisey and alice hadnât been friends in the end but they had been once. âuhm... how are you doing?â maybe a dumb question, but it was more of an olive branch than anything else. an invitation for a truce, even if just for the duration of the movie.Â
zar squeezed his lips together, looking away in embarrassment. he, uh, he hadnât considered the lost and found, honestly. sue him if his mind was all over the place lately. âno, i havenât, but it was just last night, i didnât think you guys had any shows until now.â he got his phone out to have the flashlight there at the ready, already inspecting the seats as amelia started to look. he supposed this was their thing; doing unpleasant tasks in stressful situations. it was the only thing that kept them awkwardly close. âit was at ten thirty,â zar reported, checking in the cracks of the plush seats. fuck, he hoped they didnât fall into the footrest mechanism or anything like that. he usually took better care of them, but it seemed daiseyâs death and the resulting pandemonium had left him a little more scatterbrained than usual.
âregular earbuds,â he specified; zar wouldnât be caught dead wearing fucking airpods. they were the ugliest fucking things heâd ever seen. and that probably served them a little better in their search, too. it was far easier to find a tangle of cords than two tiny devices. it was around that point zar nearly stepped on her, and realized he had forgotten his manners. âthank you, by the way. i know youâd probably rather be watching your movie right now.â even if it was once upon a time in hollywood. zar wasnât a huge tarantino fan, honestly, but it had served as a decent enough distraction. he cringed at her question, poking around in the seat a little closer. âyep,â he admitted, feeling a little silly. âitâs⊠itâs a nice pair of earbuds. didnât want to lose them.â he figured it would be less painful to tell the employee he was looking for something as opposed to sneaking into a movie. wait, amelia was an employee, right? âslow day?â zar asked, trying to make conversation that didnât revolve around his lost headphones.Â
amelia gave a sheepish smile, feeling bad for embarrassing him. âsomeone shouldâve cleaned up in here yesterday. whether they did or not, well...â it was debatable. a lot of people just cleaned up halfway because youâre supposed to sweep the auditoriums before opening anyway. amelia was pretty sure she was the only person that did a thorough job when cleaning after showings, but that was neither here nor there. âoh, okay. theyâre probably here, then.â she pushed another button to lift the legs of a seat, digging a hand into the cushions to feel around for any earbuds. she knew from the schedule who was set to clean and knew for a fact that they wouldnât have done a thorough job. maybe it was for the best then that zar hadnât gone through lost and found - it wasnât like they would be there anyway when no one had found them yet.Â
âthatâll make things easier.â she smiled weakly, shaking her head. âitâs not like i donât work here. i can watch it whenever. i really only came for leonardo dicaprio anyway. â sheâd decided on the movie more just so that she could consume food, the movie was only an incentive to stay and eat it and not go and hide in her favorite abandoned reel room. âiâd probably cry if i lost my favorite headphones, so. i understand.â you couldnât catch amelia out without headphones or earbuds, but she preferred headphones; noise-canceling ones that rattled your senses and filled your brain with every single nuance in the music you were listening to. âoh. uh. iâm actually off today. i was just craving uh-. everything, clearly.â she flushed bright red at the spread that was by her seat. pretzel, hot dog, a huge bucket of popcorn, the biggest soda money could buy, and cookie dough bites and milk duds. âoh!â finally, her hand found a jumble of cords. âare these yours?â she tugged them free to hold them out to him; a pair of earbuds. âare you doing okay?â it was one thing to stress zar out during a tutoring session, but seeing him kind of stressed outside of it? not exactly common, not for amelia, anyway.
truth be told..samuel had absolutely no idea what this movie is about. heâd seen at least one trailer and heard plenty about it, but wouldnât be the right person to give any kind of pre-viewing synopsis. true story or not, crime flick or otherwise, he had no clue. and thatâs what interested him. american movies carry a lot of potential for him. he used to watch a lot growing up. especially old western classics. some of his favorite story lines involved criminal cowboys and the law. one constantly on the run as the other chased them down. the good guys always won. itâs uplifting. when he was younger, on his first trip to america itâs all he expected. cowboys and sheriffs. saloons galore. disappointed is an understatement. but now theyâre constantly faced with something with the potential to be far worse.Â
he spotted her the moment he rounded the corner. naturally he set his sights on the seat just beside her. though at the incline he canât quite tell itâs occupied by her things. he took to the steps two at a time, as per usual with his long gait, with this latest obsession in hand: a blue raspberry slurpee. âno I am sure that seat is very hungry.â a poor attempt at joke, but it humors him enough. slender shoulders rise and fall in a shrug as he shakes his head. âif you want to. you donât have to. I can sit across.â he nods towards the third seat in. he makes his way towards it without hesitation, shuffling past her seat. âhave you gotten to see this one yet? is it good?â
amelia flushed at his joke, unsure of whether to feel offended or not. but sam wasnât the type to deliberately be mean to her, at least she didnât think so. she was glad it was him that she had run into and not anyone else; someone that got her on a level that no one else really knew her. piano duets felt like that to amelia - learning how to know someone and figure them out. âitâs starving. no oneâs fed it all day.â she tried to joke back, but amelia was hardly any good at jokes, or holding a good, substantial conversation. and there was no instrument to save her this time, and no artwork on the walls that she could point at to get him to carry the conversation alone. before she can even make a move to collect all of the her things that sheâd sprawled out he was moving passed her so he could take a seat on the other side of her.Â
she set the huge bucket of popcorn sheâd bought between them, giving him a thin smile. âno, not yet. iâve kinda uh-... been ditching work.â hence why she was here as a guest and not as an attendant anywhere, but oh well. she was back to work the next day, and then sheâd have to face the music of every single film sheâd have to sit through too many times. âuhm-, but. howâve you been? since, uh, you know...â she felt bad about not checking up on anyone she considered a friend, but she hadnât really been in the best headspace to do so. âare things weird? like...â she had yet to go home since daiseyâs passing, but she never really went anyways unless daisey went with her.Â
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