helpful advice || wren and juniper
𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍: band room // early winter 2021.
𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: wren x juniper2.
𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒: none.
𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐒: wren and june talk about stevie, and also what’s really on his mind ... chanel hampton.
Wren had gotten to band practice early, he seemed to always have too much time on his hands. Soon a text came from Rose that something had come up, and it seemed like everyone was cancelling. Wren heard someone came in and saw the girl standing in front of him, "She's not here, sadly" said the boy, knowing she had come here for Stevie. He had met June a few times, he liked her. She was really sweet, and having another athlete around was always nice. Any friend of Stevie's was a friend of his.
June had stopped by Brain Freeze to grab a couple milkshakes so she could meet up with Stevie before her band practice. She didn’t like to intrude on practices very often, but they hadn’t gotten to see each other for a few days. Once she walked into the performing arts center and saw Wren, she smiled. “Oh, damn, she’s not?” she asked, looking around. She was sure the girl had told her to meet around now. She shrugged. “Is she on her way, or...?” She could have texted Stevie herself, but her hands were full, and maybe Wren knew.
"She'll probably be coming around if she was meeting up with you, I just didn't know about it. Practice is cancelled" said the boy as he stepped away from his drums. "How are you doing, June?" he asked, hoping she was having a good semester. He was very happy to see that Stevie was getting back into the groove of things, someone more stable was always better. He knew that was something that they both sought after, whether or not they would admit it. Stability in others.
Eyebrows knitting together in confusion, June replied, "Oh, really? I didn't know. We were just going to hang out for a little bit before your practice. Everything okay?" She would need to check her messages to see if Stevie had mentioned that practice turned out to be canceled, unless she was going to surprise her with the extra free time. Shaking the thoughts, she turned her attention back to the boy in front of her. She smiled. "I'm doing really great, actually. Thank you for asking, Wren. How about you?" Though she hadn't talked to Wren much, she always enjoyed it. He was a sweet guy.
"Yeah yeah everything is fine, people were just busy and I got here early" said the boy, he didn't know if Stevie had something planned or just hadn't seen that practice was cancelled. "I am doing pretty okay, it's been a weird few weeks ... but I think I'm back on my groove" said Wren honestly. He really appreciated when people actually answered the question, how are you doing.
She nodded in understanding. She was relieved to know that nothing bad had happened. Life happened, and sometimes schedules got changed. “A weird few weeks, huh? Do you want to talk about it? You don’t have to, obviously. Glad to hear you’re bouncing back, though,” she said, nudging him with her elbow. She took a drink of her chocolate milkshake and held out the other one. “Do you want Stevie’s? I can share mine with her if she shows up or take her to buy another one since practice is apparently not happening.”
Wren smiled, "I'd actually love a girl's advice. I was going to bother Stevie about it anyways" said the boy. "Oh, uh sure" Wren took the milkshake from the other girl, "I can totally venmo you also". He didn't want to put her out for anything, he was sure to drink it slowly so Stevie could have the majority of it anyways. "So yeah, my ex and I have been texting and she keeps sending these obscure horny texts to see when I'll break. She loves playing games, they're a good time for her. But the thing is: I can't tell if she's being serious or not" he explained.
“Well, I am a girl, and I can definitely try to give advice,” she said with a laugh. She waved him off when he offered to pay her back. The milkshakes had been a surprise anyway, so it wasn’t like Stevie was expecting one. Taking a long drink, Juniper hummed and nodded thoughtfully as Wren explained the situation. When he was finished, she took a few moments to consider her response. “Well,” she finally said, a pensive look still on her face, “I can understand why you’ve had a weird few weeks, for one. Has she ever not been serious about something like that?”
"Just to clarify, I don't really mean it like that. I more so mean that my best friend is MIA and the rest of my guy friends are idiots" he disclaimed, it was important to him that she know his intention. "You see, she is usually serious about things like that. But we've never been broken up before, and a week ago she was hanging out with me. She kissed me, and then ran off. So I'm getting my fair share of mixed signals." Honestly the whole thing was confusing, she was a lot more confident over texts than she was in person. He knew it was a communication problem, and if they both just said what they wanted then there would be no issue. But if they didn't say the same thing? Then it was over over, and he was going to look like an idiot because he doesn't just want to fool around. He wants more.
She waved a hand at his clarification and laughed. “Don’t worry about it, dude. I was joking. No offense, but guys are typically idiots about this stuff, so I understand why you’d want the female perspective,” she responded. There were certainly exceptions to that rule, though. There always were. She nodded and listened as he explained. When he mentioned the kiss and ditch, her eyes widened. “Yikes. Yeah, I get where you’re coming from.” Humming, she took a drink of her milkshake as she considered his predicament. She had dealt with her fair share of mixed signals, so she hoped she could find something vaguely helpful to say to the boy. “Well, I think that if she’s usually serious about it, she’s not going to suddenly start joking, you know? Plus, it’s a lot easier to be behind a screen and say what you actually want than it is to do it in person. Like... I’m thinking she wanted to kiss you, so she did, but maybe she didn’t think you would want her to? Have you hinted back that you’d want it? Well, wait. Do you want it?”
Wren wasn't really sure what he wanted. Yes, deep down he wanted to be back with Chanel. But at what cost? Could he ever trust her again, he wasn't sure. He wanted to, but he just didn't know if he could. "I feel like I have hinted enough, and it's complicated. She really hurt my trust, and I think I hurt hers too. So on some level I think we both want to be back together in that way but I don't think she wants to be together together" said Wren with a shrug. It was hard to imagine them doing anything but not dating, painful really. "I mean, exes are a weird thing. This is my first time having a proper ex" he added for context. He really hadn't dated anyone but Chanel, Valerie was an afterthought.