lostlake | D A Y 0 8

[she doesn't wait for people, so she shows up a few minutes after the designated time after sophie's had enough time to do her will she won't she dance just long enough to maybe think she wasn't going to show up and she touches the back of her elbow to announce herself, ignoring whatever she has to say in response to nod over her head at the waitress in charge of seating.]

I'm glad you came. [pls. as if she was going to say no. ps ur ass looks fine in those leggings. she herself is not sporting such a wintry lesbian look and is done up in her usual slacks over pointy heels and blazer look. it's smart. just because she's in blackwell doesn't mean she should dress stupid.]

[ excuse u this is prime redneck hipster couture. you can eat your pradas. she jerks a little when she gets the nudge and frowns, still a little jumpy but nevertheless doesn't say anything in return. well, she does, but it's a mumbled out noise of the "whatever" variety before ducking her chin against the scarf around her like an awkward turtle. ]

Yeah, I did. [ rolls her eyes a little ] You left me hanging. [ about that answer

she wants to fix this, man. help a sister out. for childhood times. or whatever. ]

No I didn't, I'm here. [knows that's not what she meant but she's not going to address it just to aggravate her further. whatever she's cute when she's huffy and it's like a sport to see how fast she can make a girl shriek and break glass apparently]

[nods for her to take a seat first and drops into booth across from her before casting a judgy look out over the array of tables]

Must have changed ownership. [well, it has been five years. it certainly isn't the high quality establishment she recalls.]

[ rolls her eyes at that, with that little glitchy eye thing. why does she bother? unfortunately for noah she's not a shrieky, glass-breaking type and more of a mopy one so there's that. she's moody but she isn't aggressive. generally speaking.

pulls her scarf off her and shakes off her denim, dropping them next to her seat and her satchel. ]

I think so, yeah. [ distractedly but not judging like miss bitchy over there. sets her elbows on the table and props her face up on her hands, staring at noah like she wants to read her mind. it'd be nice to develop that skill. a lot could be avoided if she did. ] So? [ are you going to tell me now. ]

I just got back into town. [begins her story as she arranges the condiments in the middle of the table to her satisfaction, straightening them idly so as to have something else to dictate the events to other than sophie's waiting face]

I went to Black Lodge to meet up with an old friend. Isabella just so happened to be there as well. It wasn't as though I sought her out. So I asked her to join us, naturally.

[because she's a pal. she shrugs like this is not a big deal. she's the victim here ok]

[ her eyes wander over to her hands arranging the condiments for a while before looking back at her, chewing on the inside of her lower lip. it's not an unlikely story. she scratches over her left eyebrow and pushes her glasses up her nose bridge, staying silent for a while ]

Okay. [ drawled out; she believes her, for now, at least. although the whole asked her to join her thing? she can see the reaction izzy must have had. she doesn't know what happened between the two and izzy never seemed too keen on telling her so she always backed off, but she knows it wasn't a Nice thing at all ] Then what?

[ please, the last time she was a victim she was stuck in a pipe. ]

[LMAO DON'T EVER BRING THAT UP]

[flicks a look up to her in the middle of swapping the salt for the pepper. it is now arranged in order of highest to lowest market value, based on wholesale prices.]

Then she asked me why I was here, I told her I missed her, and she attempted to murder me with broken glass. I guess the feeling wasn't mutual. [is this highly embellished story helping you at all]

[ you're a freaky type of ocder, did you know that. ]

[ she turns her head slightly with that wtf face and drops her hands over to her arms, pulling her back a little straighter. first, she definitely said that to rile her up, didn't she? that's sophie's mind working it out, but she will take izzy's side any day. secondly, she knows her best friend is tempestous but from there to murderous? please ]

Why would you say that to her? [ you know, besides to be a bitch ]

I thought it was what she wanted to hear.

[with a callously frank shrug of one shoulder. well, it's true. she's usually good at anticipating what people need and want, it's a talent. you have to be decent at it to be able to sell them a bill of goods. in hindsight, it was probably too much of a good thing for isabella. if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.]

Is that what you want to hear? [would it have been such a terrible thing if she had missed her]

[ sighing through her nose, sophie picks at her shirt's cuff for a moment before going to tip the arranged salt shaker (or whatever nearest to her is) back and forth with her finger. she wishes things weren't the way they are and that noah hadn't turned out the way she did, but she knows it's something out of her control. it doesn't make her frown any less

she stops toying with it and looks up at her with an annoyed expression ]

What I want to hear is the truth, Noah, not what best fits the story. [ she goes back to the salt shaker ] I never got what happened between the two of you.

[ which is her way of saying "tell me" without saying it so she doesn't have guilty feelings about asking later on. ]

[quirks eyebrows at her in offense. ho she ain't lyin. their server chooses an inopportune moment to make their delayed presence known and she takes the liberty of ordering for sophie, by way of pointing to the menu impatiently and promptly shooing them away. they looked too incompetent to get her order right if she had done anything but point at it, like teaching a kindergartner how to read]

For best best buddies, you two don't share a lot. [first that she was in town, now that she doesn't even know why they broke up. what do you guys tell each other]

[ she doesn't care she asks for the food. she's paying, whatever, she's not going to complain. she stops playing with the shaker and watches the server, giving him a pleasant and apologetic smile to the server due to her rudeness.

uh. there's a parallel in here somewhere...

then she's back to noah and frowns. ]

You'd know about that, wouldn't you? [ in an accusatory tone. what do you know about best friends. ]

[nada and she gon keep it that way. taps a finger against the table that belies her impatience, otherwise smiling calmly. she caters to assholes that have to be told what to think, she can hide irritation when she wants to. she just doesn't usually bother.]

I'm just saying. [jus sayin] You're having dinner with your best friend's ex girlfriend. Asking questions you could have the answer to from her- [takes the drinks when their harried server arrives with them and passes one across the table to sophie instead of allowing them to do their job. gives them a smile that says they should fuck off right now thanks. bye.] -and all with the flimsy excuse that it's for her benefit. Or shouldn't I call you out? Are you more comfortable pretending it's not what you want?

[she doesn't get it but okay. she's a does what she wants and fuck everyone else anyway kind of person, but realizes not everyone is. i mean, it's good that they aren't, it makes them easier to manipulate when they feel all guilty and shit.]

[ there are a lot of things she could say to her, excuses ranging from "she won't tell me" to "she's not talking to me", but she doesn't. sophie takes the drink between her hands and scrapes her thumbs over the glass. yeah, it's true, she wants too fix it all up by being here, both with izzy and, part of her, maybe with noah; she clings to nostalgia. her bad choices are stitched together with good intentions.

her eyes remain focused on the drink and she tries to keep it together because what she says hurts. but she can take it. it crawls under her skin and crushes her already low self-esteem, but she can take it. she swallows dryly and sets her jaw. she's not going to give her the satisfaction of an answer ]

You said you'd tell me anything I wanted. [ she purses her lips and frowns her eyebrows, looking up at her ] I didn't say nothing about telling you anything.

You don't have to say anything.

[actions speak louder blah blah. turns her straw in circles in her drink and smiles at her in a way that she's sure is supposed to be placating but just looks arrogant and like more of a grimace.]

It wasn't because I stepped out on her, if that's what you're thinking.

[ no, she supposes she doesn't. she looks outside the window, watching people trying not to have their hats blown off by the wind, giving herself an excuse to not to look at noah. what she said wasn't entirely off and it leaves heavy guilt on her chest.

what she says next makes her look back at her, though. ]

You didn't? [ of course she thought it was something of the kind; her mind has long decided this had been noah's fault and it had gone something along those lines, but she's biased. ] Then what?

I was with her for a long time. People change. It just took Isabella a little longer to realize she didn't want the same things I did.

[i think she's probably still trying to realize it but they won't go there. gives her a pointed look across the table when she graces her with her attention again, as if to challenge the idea that it had been something scandalous and messy and entirely her fault. it was, in some ways, but honestly the boring truth of it is they just weren't a good fit for each other]

[ people change.

sophie looks at noah for a while at the irony of it all (could you even call it irony?) and then makes a non-committal noise in the back of her throat, pushing her glasses up her head before leaning her cheek on her hand. ]

Only her? [ they were together for four years. wouldn't noah have broken it off if she had realized sooner as well? ]

Are you asking what I want now?

[hm? mirrors her gesture, blinking at her with the persistent air of overt teasing she's maintained with her since she got back. of course she hasn't changed, she's wanted the same things since she was like, 18. she is nothing if not dependable]

[ she squints and tightens her lips in an awkward line, but doesn't move from her position. her free hand drums her fingers against the table. then she sighs with an eyeroll, shaking her head just a little. that's not what she meant at all but walking around in circles with noah can be very exhausting. she has no idea how izzy managed that for four years. ]

Sure. What do you want now, Noah? [ in the flattest, most uninterested tone, because she has the feeling that bullshit is coming. ]

[purses her lips at her in answer, and if she had any intention of giving her a serious one it's interrupted by her phone jingling in her purse. she holds up a finger]

Hold that thought. [shakes her hair to her other shoulder to bring the phone up to her ear, automatically looking irate. it's her default phone face. especially after seeing who was calling-] Jenny. What do you want? I'm in the middle of something. [smiles at sophie and holds up a hand to make the talk talk gesture. one of those active phone talkers that still tries to engage the other person even though she's not paying attention to them. it's a multitasker thing] Well you should be sorry, it was important. What do you want? [repeating herself already it's not a good sign for jenny. which is further illustrated when she waits quietly for .5 seconds before interrupting her impatiently-] Get to the point. [another .5 seconds] I said get to the point. [jesus christ] You interrupted my evening for that? When I get back you're fired. [smiles apologetically at sophie again. like she's not chewing someone out in front of her] No, I'm not joking. [pause] E-mail it to me. [pause] Jenny, figure it out. I don't have time to hold your hand. I'm hanging up now.

[she does and shakes her head to flip her hair back into its original position. it was flawless and jenny disturbed it. looks around for another employee to chew out now that she's irritable, especially seeing as there's still no food in front of her]

What were you saying? You know, I should buy this place just to fire all of these waiters. [holds her hand up to try and flag one down. don't fucking ignore me or i'll light you on fire]

[ apparently she wants to fire people. sits so uncomfortably during this phone call. and though sophie isn't exactly a reactionary person, she's very expressive and her face throughout the phone conversation ranges from "holy shit" to "jesus christ" and also a bit of "oh my god you are satan" because that was ruthless. you just don't... fire... people like that. she would die if she got fired. because then she wouldn't have money to buy a dirty sock either but that's beyond the point.

when she hangs up she's both appalled and wordless ] Jesus. [ christ. ] Please don't. I like this place.

[ they're nice. they're fine. they have families to feed. please remember when you were young. ]

I was joking, I wouldn't make that investment. Do you know how difficult it would be to flip?

[do u have enough money to buy a clue. anyway, where were we. oh yes she was attempting to get. that waiter's. WAVES HAND IMPATIENTLY. yes you. yes she was trying to get your attention. if you make her get out of this chair so Help Me. it doesn't matter that it's only been like ten minutes she has already decided she hates this place. yelp here she comes]

Anyway, why so interested? You're here for Isabella, remember? [don't forget your lie i think u dropped it. it's a little dusty now but five second rule. when the waiter finally heeds her flappy hand call she proceeds to berate him publicly and loudly until he promises the meal will be free and apologizes for his fucking incompetence (what incompetence i don't know he doesn't know either but he's sorry for it)]

[ it's not a lie! she makes her frowny upset face and rolls her eyes. understanding noah would also be part of the whole caring process; don't ask her why she tries, she's just hopeless like that but sorry she cares because she hasn't sold her soul yet. and she would answer if she wasn't going her whole asshole act.

which is around the same time she thinks she sees something in the shadows, remains of the previous day encounters. noah sounds like she's whoop whooping in the far background. sophie shakes her head and presses her fingers to her eyes. when she opens them again, there's nothing there but she's getting anxious again. back to reality, noah is still berating the poor guy. ]

Noah! [ she pushes the guy away slightly. u can go. be free. ] Jeez! Leave him alone.

[ also her nose feels wet. is it dripping? it's dripping a little. she raises her hand to it. oh look. blood. ]

[um lmao excuse you don't tell me what to do wait are you bleeding all over this table right now. very gross.]

You have a little- [sophie's already dabbing at it so she doesn't bother to continue, but leans over to pull a few napkins free from the dispenser and passes them to her]

Winter nosebleeds? [it happens. don't worry about. should probably go clean up though. raises eyebrows toward the bathroom]

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