beer for the road? / jade
She couldn’t help but give him back a glance, brow lifting, a sort of indulgence in the offer rather than annoyance. His words had caught her before she had fully stepped out, the thinning rays of light just barely hitting her face. A couple of minutes wouldn’t hurt… So she stepped back inside a few paces, closing the door, taking the bottle from his hand, and turning it idly between her fingers. This was markedly worse than beer, but the only substitution that could be made in this place. Maybe better than nothing? Maybe…
“In another life, that line might’ve worked,” she let out a measured laugh, clearly amused. “But here?” She gestured vaguely toward the door, or rather, what lay outside of it in the coming darkness. “Aquí no hay un buen camino, Jade. Just an endless loop where the road brings you back to where you started.” She took another quick sip, performative more than an attempt to quench her nonexistent thirst, then handed it back.
“You know, I was supposed to be going to colony house tonight,” she added, glancing toward the door. Already, she could imagine the noise of it all, the closeness of sharing the same, crammed living space. It was nice for some, a good way to build community… She’d been drifting from place to place, exacerbating the idea that even the town didn’t want anything to do with her. “Donna thinks I can help, or at the very least keep my hands busy enough to not begin spiraling.” Carmen leaned her shoulder lightly against the wall instead of moving back toward the door. “But there’s too many people there…too much noise. Everyone telling the same stories as if they repeat them enough, their memory can be written into whatever ‘history’ exists in this place.” A pause, her gaze drifting back to him. “To be frank, I’ve never had the patience for that kind of living.” She sighed, this was a good place as any. Colony house and Donna could wait until tomorrow.