Who: Brynn and Liam Where: School When: Lunchtime, Monday, December 4th Status: Status
Because the mornings were usually hectic and Brynn didn’t want to wait until her afternoon class with Liam to actually talk to him, she set off to track him down after fourth period when she would originally head to lunch. She knew he had lunch at the same time, since she had seen him in the cafeteria with his friends on more than one occasion. Brynn just wanted to try and grab him before he actually got to the cafeteria, because she didn’t want Victoria or any of her friends to see them talking. Not that she thought Liam was some kind of loser or whatever, but her friends would start asking questions and teasing her. And Victoria was persistent when she wanted to know information, or potential gossip.
So she kind of hovered near the hall leading into the cafeteria where she knew Liam would be coming. Brynn wasn’t sure if he had been trying to find her all morning or not, but this seemed like their best bet. Honestly, she had no idea what she was going to say, or what he would say, but after what happened with her mask, she knew they had to talk about it somehow. Nibbling her bottom lip a bit nervously, she finally saw him coming down the hallway. Brynn wasn’t a shy person at all, but she did feel some apprehension about this. Nothing like this had ever happened before, so she was kind of eager to hear his thoughts on it. If he even had any.
Rather than ambush him, Brynn held up her hand in a small gesture of a wave, hoping he wouldn’t mind potentially spending his lunch hour talking to her somewhere else.
Liam had thought about tracking down Brynn, but the thought of approaching her when she was with her friends seemed daunting. He didn’t consider himself a total nerd or anything, but she was definitely in the popular crowd, whereas he was not. Stopping by to chat would draw attention to both of them. So he thought maybe he’d catch her in class and they could arrange a time to chat later or something. When he caught sight of her on his way to lunch however, he realized now would be even better. The real question was what would they talk about?
Chances were high that this was her first real brush with the supernatural and Liam wasn’t sure how much he should really reveal. Everyone that knew him knew he believed in all the crazy shit that was out there, but only a select few knew he was a witch on top of that. There was a big difference in believing in ghosts and proving that magic was real, and he knew that the later could be used against him personally. But then Brynn had just seen his room through the eyes of a mask, so was it really a stretch to believe in witches? Liam decided he’d just have to play it by ear. His own powers might have nothing to do with this and there might be no real reason to out himself.
Breaking away from his friends, he let them continue on to the cafeteria as he strolled over to meet her. “Hey,” he said, nerves flaring up. “I wasn’t sure when we should talk. I mean, I knew we should, but I didn’t think I should just wander over and start blabbing about a mask ‘cause your friends would think I’m crazy, you know? So— so did you want to go eat or something? somewhere?” He was rambling and he knew it, but it always got worse when he was nervous.
Brynn's brows raised at Liam's ramble but it didn't bother her. Better him than her, so she was glad he got to the point, more or less. "Um, we can eat in the back hallway near the weight rooms? There's almost nobody back there during lunch periods. If you want." She supposed she could have suggested driving somewhere, but that might be a bit much and she could only imagine what it would look like if it got back to her friends that she took off with Liam Wolfe. "At least back there no one will hear us talking about masks and stuff," she added with a small smile. "We'll hold off being called crazy for a while at least."
“You’re never called crazy?” Liam asked with a little smile of his own. It was something he heard on a semi-regular basis, though it didn’t really bother him. He believed what he believed and those close to him had just accepted it as a personality quirk. Though, he had to admit, a mask that allowed him to see through another person’s eyes was definitely a stretch, as well as something other people would want to try, if just for proof. He absolutely abhorred the thought of letting anyone else wear his mask though, so that was reason enough not to tell anyone else. “I’ve seen a lot of crazy things, but this kind of tops the list,” he told her as they started back towards the weight room.
"No," Brynn said, shooting Liam an odd, but amused sort of look. "I mean, not in the literal sense or anything. There's been like, stories and rumors and all that stuff that goes around this place, but... that was the first time I experienced something like that myself? And maybe if I hadn't heard all the weird stuff it would have been harder for me to believe it wasn't a trick." She looked at Liam again as they walked side by side. "It's not a trick, is it?" Brynn couldn't imagine a way Liam could have worked it out that she could see into his room unless he planted a camera in the mask, and even then how? It wasn't entirely impossible, but it was improbable. Brynn was just looking for any possibility that what happened hadn't actually happened by supernatural means.
Liam shook his head, glad that she wasn’t trying to find a logical explanation for what they’d experienced. He knew it was hard to accept, but it was even harder for him to understand how someone could deny what they’d seen with their own eyes. Pulling off a stunt like they’d experienced would have taken an intense amount of setup, so much that something supernatural made more sense. “It felt like… like magic,” he said, hesitant to admit that much, even if he was convinced that was what it was. He hadn’t been able to feel it in the mask, hadn’t had a clue until he’d been transported to her room, and that in itself seemed weird. He might not be the most experienced witch, but he felt like he should have gotten an inkling of something. “Was that the first time anything weird happened with the mask?” he asked her. “It was for me, but… You haven’t seen anyone else’s room, have you?”
If it was real, then it had to have been some kind of magic, right? Brynn didn't really know what magic looked like, but she was willing to use that word to explain what had happened, even if it was so weird. She shook her head quickly. "No. I could look in it and just see... well, whatever was in front of me. It just looked really cool in the store, so I bought it. It didn't even cost that much. Where did you find yours? What does it look like?" Since she had been seeing his room through his eyes - right? - she had no clue what the mask looked like. Neither of them had gone to a mirror, which would have probably been helpful at the time, but Brynn was pretty sure the shock of what was happening had overwhelmed logical thinking. "Has it done anything weird since you bought it?"
“It’s a black leather wolf mask with gold detail and a sun emblem in the center of the forehead. I got it at this antique shop on Main Street. The owner said something weird about having sold it’s twin, but I didn’t really know what that meant,” Liam said. “What’s yours look like?” Based on the comment, he was thinking something similar and tried to picture Brynn in a mask similar to his own. For some reason that didn’t seem to fit, though he couldn’t say why. “It just seemed like a cool mask. No weird properties or effects when I put it on. And mine didn’t cost that much either. Like, it felt like a steal.” Now he wondered if that was on purpose, though most of the time, when someone was selling something magical, they marked it up, not down. At least in his experience.
"It doesn't look like that," Brynn pointed out, thinking the mask's twin must be like his. Then again, not all twins looked alike? So maybe her mask was the twin of Liam's mask. Maybe. She supposed they could go to that shop and ask, but the owner sort of freaked Brynn out the last time, so she wasn't super eager to go back. "It's white, with antlers and like, pink and gold markings around it. Yours sounds pretty cool though. Mine, I've looked through it a few times, but never saw anything like what happened the other night. Maybe we both have to be using it at the same time? Maybe we should experiment with them, see what happens." Obviously they couldn't in school, but it was an idea, at least. "I mean, what's the point of it, right?"
It didn’t sound like a twin to Liam. In fact, it sounded like the exact opposite. But they were obviously tied together in some way, so it had to be the other mask the shopkeeper had been referring to. He just couldn’t imagine that there were more masks out there connected to theirs. “We could do that,” Liam nodded. “It’d be easier if we could talk though. We could, like, get together or something. Or at least exchange phone numbers.” That way they wouldn’t have to scribble any more messages to each other. “They seem pretty harmless, but yeah, I don’t really get why they’d even exist. Like… these sort of things… they usually have a purpose, right?” He imagined that creating them had to have been complicated, but she was right— what was the point? There had to be more to them. Maybe if they got together, they could figure them out.
Brynn nodded. "I can give you my number. I have no clue why they work the way they do, or what would happen if we used them at the same time in the same place? This is so weird." She managed a small laugh and found a place to sit in the hallway, near the back wall. "I can't say if they have a real purpose. I've never dealt with anything like this before. I mean, I've seen movies and stuff, but they're usually horror movies." Brynn wrinkled her nose. "I would really rather not find myself haunted by some crazy mask, you know? I've heard so many creepy stories about like, the history of this town and I don't want to become a creepy story either. Do you know anyone who might know more about this stuff?"
Liam was pretty sure that the only way to really avoid being a part of some creepy Point Pleasant story was to leave Point Pleasant, but he didn’t think that saying so would help. He’d already had a run in of his own and that had been more than enough for him. Being on the receiving end of a haunted mask didn’t appeal to him in the least. But it didn’t feel haunted. There hadn’t been a ghost. In fact, while weird, it was pretty tame as far as supernatural shit went. “Um… yeah, maybe,” he answered as he thought through who they could ask about the masks. His mother should have been top of the list, but he knew for certain that she’d take the mask away from him, so he found himself thinking through other options. “The girl who owns the spice shop might know. She collects that kind of stuff. We could drop by there after school one day, see what she thinks. But we might need to take the masks with us.” It didn’t really appeal to him, but he didn’t think Zania would take it from him.
"Do you trust her?" Brynn asked. She so didn't want any of this getting back to her parents. They would definitely take the mask from her and destroy it and just thinking about that happening made her feel a little uncomfortable and antsy. The mask was hers now, and it didn't seem dangerous. Just... weird. It was possible it was totally safe, and all it could do was show her whatever Liam could see when he wore his. And how often would that actually happen, really. Low odds for sure. "I mean, she won't tell our parents or try to take them from us?" And god, she would have to leave the mask in her car because she couldn't exactly put it in her book bag!
Liam thought about it for a second before nodding. He definitely trusted Zania and was pretty sure she would keep their parents out of it, so long as they didn’t seem to be in danger. He knew she had some rules about what she would sell to him, but he thought those were more so she wouldn’t get in trouble with his parents, rather than her really worrying about what kind of magic he was up to. “Yeah, I trust her. And I’m pretty sure she’ll keep it a secret, so long as she doesn’t think we’re in danger. So… we should be fine. It’s not like the masks have done anything to hurt us.” And he couldn’t really see how they would, based on what they did. “Do you know anyone?” he asked, just in case she had someone else in mind.
Oh, she so hoped they weren't in danger. But what could a mask do? It wasn't like it was possessed or anything, neither were they. It was definitely magic or something, but it would be kind of cool to find out if it could do anything else. "I don't know anyone. I mean, I've heard like, rumors about people? But I don't know them well enough myself to ask them. I'd be too afraid people would think I was crazy." Brynn dug around in her bag for her lunch, though she found she wasn't overly hungry at the moment. "That was kind of weird though... I can't remember the last time a boy saw my room," she admitted with a small laugh. "It figures it would be through some kind of magical deer mask. Or wolf mask."
“Really?” Liam asked with a grin as he opened his sandwich. “No boyfriends or— or guy friends even? Not that my mom lets me have girls in my room, so yeah, I could see that. It’s a nice room, though.” It seemed very her, from what he could tell so far. He kind of wanted to see it again, this time knowing it was hers from the beginning. “Not everyone would’ve thought you were crazy, you know. i wouldn’t’ve,” Liam said with a little smile. He knew what she meant though. People started to look at you weird if you brought up monsters in the forest and haunted houses like they were real things. Which they were. Liam had never quite understood the point of pretending that those dangers weren’t out there. All it did was ensure that more people fell victim.
Brynn laughed but could feel herself blushing a little, which was super embarrassing. "Well, I mean, okay, Scotty saw my room like, twice... but that was during the summer. So... I guess I do remember. Ugh, you know what I mean though." She opened the small baggy with grapes before leaning back against the wall for support. Popping one into her mouth, she eyed Liam curiously before looking away, just to make sure they were still alone. "So you totally believe in all this weird stuff then? I mean, if you wouldn't call me crazy, that would mean you'd know I was telling the truth?"
Liam couldn’t remember the last time he’d managed to make a girl blush and smiled back as she admitted that maybe she had had a boy in her room recently. She was super cute, even if completely out of his league. Girls like Brynn dated guys like Scotty, certified jocks and part of the popular crowd, not weird semi-nerds whose only impressive skill was being able to run faster than the jocks. “Oh yeah, I’ve always believed in this stuff,” he said with a small laugh. “Just look at the town’s history. Not just the witches, but everything. The Cooperdale Tunnel, the animal carcasses in Blackwater Woods, the Zinneman house— those are just some of the weird places around town. It doesn’t even touch on things like what happened on Halloween. I really don’t understand why more people don’t believe, you know? I guess they want proof, but most of that stuff isn’t the kind of thing you really want to see for yourself.” He’d learned that first hand at the Zinneman house. Seeing was believing, but that was something he’d have rather not seen.
Brynn knew how a lot of people viewed her, simply because she was Victoria's cousin and friend. And yeah, she did date boys she hung out with, but she wasn't as interested in being seen the way her friends were. She had begun to think Scotty had just been dating her because they were in the same social group and Victoria was dating Todd. Not that it mattered now, since they had broken up and Brynn was kind of liking not having to worry about entertaining a boyfriend. She ate another grape and thought about what Liam said. She had grown up in Point Pleasant so of course she had heard those stories. And it was just fact that people died, or were murdered in those places, but she had never really attributed any of it to some dark, supernatural power. Sometimes bad things happened to people. "I always just figured people started exaggerating some of that stuff... like Zinneman's house being haunted by the daughter now, or the Noble mausoleum sucking kids in on Halloween night." Brynn shrugged a little, wishing she could keep on believing that they were just local urban legends. "I guess maybe I want proof too? But also, not, because it sounds fucking scary. I really don't want these masks to turn us into crazy, raving lunatics."
“Something’s in Zinneman’s house,” Liam told her. “I’ve been there. I didn’t see a ghost, but… but there’s something there.” It was the only real experience with the supernatural that he had, outside witchcraft, and it had made him a little bit hesitant about looking for it again. It was all fun and exciting until it was real and then it was terrifying. The masks weren’t scary though. If they were, Liam liked to think he’d be taking a different approach. “Okay, if one of us becomes a raving lunatic, we need to tell the other. Or, like, get help,” he told her. That wouldn’t do any good if they both did, but otherwise they could hold each other accountable. “What kind of proof would you want?” he asked curiously. “It kind of opens a can of worms.”
He sounded so sure that Brynn had a hard time scoffing at him. Could she scoff at anything right now, considering what her mask could do? She had gone to a few 'haunted' places in town with her friends, usually in the summer if they were bored or during Halloween, but Brynn had never really experienced anything out of the ordinary. It was just an excuse for the boys to scare her. Or try to. She ate another grape and shrugged one shoulder as she thought about his question. "I don't know. Just... seeing something myself, you know? Like, I know things can exist without me literally seeing it there, but this is stuff that's like, impossible almost. There's no believable explanation for it, so yeah, I'd want to see it first."
“I always wanted to see things. Like, I’d go looking for it. Even though I believed. Because it can’t all be true, right? I don’t know where the line is. Maybe there’s something in the tunnels, or maybe they’ve just been hexed and people get bad ideas when they’re around them. It’s hard to weigh the risks.” Liam had a hard time figuring out which situations were truly dangerous. There were only a few that he knew better than to seek out, like wandering around outside under a full moon, but that was because he was pretty sure he’d just get himself killed. He could believe in werewolves without seeing one, as exciting as that might be. But this just seemed like a really cool spell, even if it wasn’t a very useful one.
"Well, I mean, it's fun to go looking for it in that, let's creep ourselves out sort of way," Brynn said. "But I don't know what I would do if I ever saw something. In your brain, it's exciting because it could be true and it triggers adrenaline and all that. But you still sort of know it's not possible, so you still feel safe? If that makes sense." She and her friends had tried going into the Zinneman house before but nothing had really happened and it was all in good fun at the time. It sounded like Liam had a different kind of experience. Brynn offered him a faint, teasing smile. "I'm not exactly Buffy, you know? I'm not equipped to fight the evil of Point Pleasant."
“You mean they don’t issue stakes with the pompoms?” Liam teased lightly. “Luckily, I don’t think vampires are real. That’s where I draw the line.” At least, he hoped they weren’t. If they were, they were like Nosferatu, not Blade— a real monster. “I know what you mean though. It’s like the high you get from scary movies and haunted houses. The adrenaline rush is fun because it’s not real.” Being stuck in a real haunted house hadn’t been near as much fun. It made him rethink this ghost hunting business. “I think the first step is believing. Then you can learn what you need to do to be safe.” A part of Liam wanted to teach her, but that would mean telling her about himself and he still wasn’t sure about that yet.
"I could try to make my pom pom into a stake." Brynn laughed. "I really hope they're not real though, vampires. I don't want anyone biting and sucking my blood, not even hotties." Brynn ate another grape and then sighed. "I kind of believe right now? Only because of our masks. I don't know what to believe beyond that, and I don't want to just assume everything else is real just because this weird thing is happening to us. I'll keep an open mind, I just don't want to be gullible, you know? And then have people selling me like, protective crystals and juju bags or whatever they're called!"
“Hex bags,” Liam answered, then laughed, embarrassed. Brynn probably wasn’t asking in that instance and it made him look like one of those gullible people that she was talking about. Nevermind that he could make a real hex bag, since she didn’t know that. “Most of that stuff’s junk, but, like, there are real ones. If you know where to find them.” Liam scrunched his face up, looking down for a second before looking back at Brynn. “I’m really not crazy. Or super gullible. I swear it.” He just didn’t know how to prove it to her without outing himself as a witch. Even some of his closest friends didn’t know, though in terms of reasons to tell someone, this one seemed valid.
Hex bags sounded ominous. Weren't hexes bad things? "I probably wouldn't have believed you if we didn't have matching magic masks," Brynn pointed out. Then again, they probably wouldn't be talking at all right now if that were the case. "So you mean there are real places in Point Pleasant to find things like that? Hex bags and stuff? How can you tell what's real from what's fake?" She sometimes saw supernatural books at the bookstore, but it was always mass produced crap she could find on Amazon with author names like Raven Silverwolf. Books she knew had to be just for fun otherwise everyone would know this shit was real.
Liam doubted he’d have been blabbing about this kind of thing to a girl like Brynn if they didn’t have magical matching masks. Sometimes he couldn’t stop himself from talking, but he usually knew when not to get started in the first place. But she believed him now and that was cool. She was cool, a lot more than he expected her to be. “I’d say, buy it from a witch that can prove they’re a witch. I guess they could still lie to you, but if they’re making money off that kind of thing, then reputation is important, especially when their business is all word of mouth.” He didn’t think any of the witches that he knew advertised themselves publicly, even when they had enough customers that it felt like everyone must know.
"So they would be willing to prove to me they're a real witch?" Brynn asked, her blonde brows lifting in surprise. "I mean, wouldn't they be afraid of it getting out to everyone and like... triggering some new modern witch trials like Salem?" Brynn eyed Liam closely, only slightly amused by this whole conversation. "If witches are real, then can you name one person in town who's really a witch? Like, if I went to them tonight and asked them, they would be able to prove it to me? This is all hypothetical," she added quickly, "since I don't actually plan on doing that, but now I'm super curious."
Liam’s stomach knotted up as he realized he’d talked himself into a corner. He could give the name of half a dozen witches easily, but that didn’t mean they wanted their name out there. The exceptions were Zan Castell and Reagan Kelley, both of which he knew made a living off their abilities. To the people that believed, they were the easiest names to drop without giving his own. “I could,” he admitted a touch hesitantly. “But yeah, I think that’s what they worry about, that they’ll tell the wrong person and suddenly they’ll be hanging witches down at the tree again.” Or burning them, he thought, though they couldn’t burn him. It was that image that helped Liam keep his mouth shut, people standing around screaming when he didn’t burn. If they wanted to kill a witch, there were plenty of other methods that would work just fine and he didn’t want to find out how creative they might get. “The girl— woman, I mean— that might know about the masks. She is. That’s why I think she’d know something.”
Right, the owner of the spice shop. God, Brynn couldn't even remember her name. She didn't shop there all that often and admittedly, Brynn was kind of always focused on shit going on in her life to pay much attention to strangers. And now Liam was telling her that girl, woman, was a witch. For some reason that made Brynn a bit more excited to talk to her. Like she told Liam, if she was going to believe in this stuff, she wanted to see it with her own eyes. "Then we definitely need to talk to her," Brynn said with a smile. "And I promise I won't ask like, overly personal questions or anything. I know it's probably easier said than done, but you can trust me. I would rather keep this between us, you know? If my friends found out they would probably think I've gone off the deep end finally."
“I know what you mean,” Liam said with a little laugh. “It’s one thing to say you believe in them and another to act on it. If I told anyone about the masks, they’d want to see it for themselves and I’d rather not.” It felt too personal, not only for him, but for her as well. Activating the mask let the wearer see the world from her eyes, not his. It already felt so personal that he didn’t want to invite anyone else into the picture. If he’d had to pick someone to share this with, it might not have been Brynn, but she was turning out to be a lot nicer and open-minded than he’d expected Unzipping his backpack, Liam fished out his phone and opened it to a blank contact. “Let me get your number and we can figure out a good day to go by the spice shop.”
Brynn wasn't entirely sure she would have chosen Liam to 'share' this with either, but he seemed nice and obviously knew more than she did about these things. It could have been worse. It could have been someone who completely freaked out, or made this a big joke or something. Liam seemed eager to find out what their masks could really do, and so was she. Amused, Brynn tried not to sigh over the fact that the first boy she was giving her number to in months was to set up a time to go to a spice shop and talk about masks. She rattled off her number and pulled out her own phone. "Send me a text so I can add you into my contacts too. Then we can text each other if something weird happens before we go talk to your friend."
Liam input Brynn’s number into his phone, only marveling afterwards at how easy it was to get a girl’s number when he wasn’t trying. He suspected that if he’d been attempting to flirt with Brynn, there was no way in hell she’d have given it to him. He fired off a quick ‘This is Liam’ text, followed by a smiley face, then tucked his phone away. “Done,” he smiled. “I guess we have a plan.” He’d never come across a magical object and it was kind of exciting to figure out how it worked. Liam thought he might try it out again, try and see if anything changed if he altered the situation, but he suspected that Brynn needed to be wearing hers for anything to happen. Hopefully they’d know more soon.
As soon as the text came through Brynn entered a new contact for Liam and then slipped her phone back into her bag. "I guess we do," she agreed. "Hopefully we can find out more about what they do. I mean, it kind of sucks that we can't even like, communicate through them. Unless there's a secret word to use to do that or something. Who knows. As long as this doesn't turn into a horror movie and we're the stars, it's all kind of cool," Brynn admitted with a small smile. "And honestly I'm kind of glad you were the one to buy the other mask because it could have been... anyone, really. Like, a creeper or something.”
“I like the idea that we can communicate through them and we just don’t know how yet,” Liam smiled. Why make something so cool, but so useless? They had to do something more than they’d figured out. The problem with a magic word was that they had no possible way to know it. “I’m glad it was you, too,” he admitted. Not just because it could have been some random creeper, but because Brynn seemed extremely accepting of the whole thing and really a lot nicer than he ever thought someone on the cheerleading squad could be. Maybe she was just being nice to him because of the whole mask thing, but he’d have to wait and see. If she went and told all her friends how weird he was, it wouldn’t be long before he found out. “It would’ve been really weird if you were, like, some old dude. I might’ve just put the mask away and tried to forget about it,” he laughed lightly.
He had a point there. There might be a lot they didn't know about the masks. They had only both worn them once together, and they didn't seem to work if she just wore it alone. But they would just have to wait until they talked to Liam's friend, or contact, or whoever she was, to find out what the masks actually did. Brynn grinned at him. "I would have totally put the mask away too. I don't need some old dude seeing all my dirty clothes. Well, I mean, I doubt you wanted to see them too, but... you know what I mean." She felt her face heat up but she laughed anyway and focused on the grapes in her baggie. "Anyway! Yeah, I guess we got lucky with who bought the other mask, I think. But you know, I won't tell if you won't. I guess it's just smart to keep this quiet until we know what it is. And hopefully there aren't any other masks out there. I didn't even know there was a second. I only saw the one I bought when I was shopping." It wasn't that Brynn was embarrassed to be hanging out with Liam or anything, but like they had talked about, she didn't need her friends knowing why she was talking to him. They would all think she was nuts and probably shun her.
Okay, she was definitely cute. It was hard for Liam to believe a girl like Brynn would have anything to blush about around him, but that was definitely happening as she worried about him seeing her laundry. It hadn’t even occurred to Liam that she’d likely seen his own; he’d been more concerned about the masks than the opportunity to overshare. “I won’t tell anyone,” he promised her, despite the fact that he was itching to tell Jen and Ophelia. Jen would’ve thought it was interesting and Ophelia was the only other witch his age that he could talk to about these things. She might not have known anything about a magical mask, but at least she wouldn’t doubt his sanity for saying he had one. He could keep the secret from them, though. “I hope there’s not more or this could get really complicated.” Figuring them out with one other person was fine, but Liam didn’t even like group projects. There was always a lot of standing around talking and not a lot of doing and he saw the same thing happening if there were, like, six masks out there. They’d never figure them out. Liam took another bite of his sandwich and realized he had nothing else to say about the masks for the time being, at least until they tried them again or learned something new. And yet they still had the rest of lunch period to waste, so he picked another topic to talk about. “What do you like to do when you’re not playing with magical masks and cheerleading?”
Brynn really didn't have anyone she could tell who she felt could keep it a secret. There was Victoria, but her cousin could be unpredictable at times and Brynn didn't want to risk Liam getting caught up in that kind of drama. Or potential drama. She was happy not to talk about the masks anymore, mainly because they couldn't do much more than speculate. Why bother when they had someone who might be able to just tell them? Still, she wasn't really sure how to answer his question, because she had a feeling he might think all of the things she enjoyed were shallow or stupid. "Oh, you know..." She shrugged. "I like to read and draw. Hang out with my friends. Typical stuff, I guess. What about you?" Brynn didn't pay a lot of attention to everyone in school, but she was pretty sure she had seen him hanging out with Ophelia McCarthy before. And that new girl, Jen Something.
“I play video games, xbox, playstation, nintendo, I like ‘em all. And I work on my computer. Or I watch horror movies. I mean, I like other movies too, but those are my favorite. I read some, also mostly horror, but also some fantasy and comic books. It just depends on what it is. If it catches my attention, I, like, fly through it, otherwise it’ll take me so long I’ll probably never finish it,” Liam said, pausing to take a sip of his drink. Most of his friends played video games too, so that worked out well for him, and he’d drag whomever he could to see the newest horror movie. Girls were usually a bit squeamish about them, except for Jen. He also liked to hang out with his friends, but he didn’t explicitly say so, kind of assuming she’d know that. “What do you like to read?”
"I like video games," Brynn said with a small grin. "Well, like mostly the arcade games? Old school Nintendo too. The new stuff is fun but like, the very first Mario Bros.? I never get sick of playing it. I'll read pretty much anything that looks interesting. Same with movies. Horror is good when it's the psychological kind. I've never been into the slasher flicks where it's just two hours of killing people in new and inventive ways." She stretched out her legs in front of her. "I wish I had like, one specific genre I was into? But I like what I like, I guess. Sometimes it's cheesy and whatever, but..." She shrugged and her smile widened. "Variety is the spice of life! Is that the saying? I can't really remember."
“That sounds right,” Liam smiled. “I’ll try anything, but I’m pretty sure I’ll always choose Stephen King over Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice is killing me.” Maybe it was because they had to read it, but it felt like such a chore to get through. He could barely go ten minutes without feeling like he needed a nap. “How’d you get into video games? I don’t know a lot of people who’ve played the original Mario Bros., even though it’s a classic. Like, those consoles are hard to get your hands on these days. I had to hunt one down on eBay.” It would’ve been easier just to play it on his computer using an emulator, but when it came to video games Liam wanted to experience it old school. Besides, it was far more exciting to finally find a game cartridge he was looking for, rather than find a file he needed to download.
"Well, sometimes feeling obligated to read makes it feel boring," she said with another smile. "Some books we've read in school have been pretty good but I really hate being put on a deadline, you know? Like, if I'm told I have to read something, I don't want to read it and I put it off. It's probably stupid but it's like this mental wall goes up." Brynn felt a little embarrassed that she had admitted to liking video games. She knew she was probably supposed to be into clothes and shoes and all that, and some part of her was because it was the best way to spend time with her friends, but still. She didn't need them ragging on her for liking Nintendo. "My dad got me a console a couple of years ago for my birthday. I have no idea where he bought it from." And her mom bought her a Louis Vuitton purse, which pretty much summed up their family. "When he goes out of town for work, he'll sometimes look for those used video game stores and bring me back games if he can find any. I was pretty excited when they opened the arcade, though it's usually just me going. I think my cousin would think I've been possessed or something if I asked her to go play Pac Man with me."
“Yeah, I can’t see her stepping foot in the arcade,” Liam said, rolling his eyes. Victoria was the kind of girl he liked to steer clear of, the sort who’d probably tear him to pieces if given the chance. He was willing to bet she didn’t even need a reason. She might just do it for fun. He could understand why Brynn might not want her around, though it still surprised him that she was into video games herself. Which just told him how wrong appearances could be. “I’d go with you,” he offered with a little smile. “I mean, PacMan’s single player, but there’s a lot of other fun games that are way better with two. Like the driving ones, or the dancing ones. Depends on if you mind making a fool of yourself. Not that you would,” he laughed, suddenly realizing how he must sound. “I’m sure you’re a good dancer, but I usually look like an idiot on those things, even when I win.”
Victoria might not like the arcade but she was fun for other things. Brynn might not always get along with her cousin, but they were still friends and she didn't think Victoria was as bad as some of their classmates thought. She glanced at Liam and wondered if he actually meant that he would go with her, or if it was just something polite to say while they were finishing up their lunch. She could never tell with boys what their real motivations were for anything. She chuckled and shook her head. "I like the dancing games. I think part of the fun is making a fool of yourself. We should do it sometime, though. Go to the arcade," she added quickly, since 'do it' probably sounded dirty. or suggestive. "If you want to, anyway. That way I can look like a fool with someone else instead of just by myself."
“We should,” Liam smiled. “It’s always more fun with a partner.” Or a date, but Liam was fairly certain she didn’t intend for it to be one. She was probably talking theoretical anyways and if he tried to put a date and time on it she’d back out fast. He hated when that happened, but knew it was easy for people to suggest something if they didn’t think it would really happen. He’d have to wait and see. Maybe, if the trip to the spice shop went well, they could stop by the arcade afterwards. When the lunch bell rang, Liam realized they’d spent so much time talking that he’d barely eaten his lunch, but he didn’t really care. It had actually been fun and he kind of hoped they got to do it again sometime, though he really doubted it. They wouldn’t need to meet up at school after this. “Sooooo, let me know when you wanna go up to the shop. Sound good?”
Brynn wasn't really thinking about dating. It was silly for her to assume any guy who wanted to hang out was interested in her. But again, she didn't always know what their motives really were. But Liam was pretty cool and he wasn't acting obnoxious to try and impress her, and that was a really nice change, given who she had dated in the past. But again, she wasn't going to assume anything. For all she knew Liam had a girlfriend. And dating was probably the very last thing she needed to be thinking about right now. Ugh, her stupid brain. Since the bell rang, Brynn began to gather her things, giving him a smile as she did so. "Yeah, totally. Um. Soon. Really soon. Like, if you want to talk to the lady at the shop and see when she has time to talk to us? We'll probably have to bring the masks, right?"
“Yeah, I’ll check with her. I know she’s at the shop most days, but sometimes her brother is there instead, and I know her better, so I’ll let you know,” Liam said, stopping himself before he rambled even further. He’d known Zania forever, she’d even babysat him at one point, but he’d always thought of her brother as kind of scary. He’d make sure they found a day that they were both available and they could meet with Zania, not Nic. When he finished packing his stuff back up, Liam climbed to his feet and hoisted his backpack onto one shoulder. “We’ll definitely need to take the masks. I don’t really want to bring it into school, so I’ll need to run home and grab it first.” He’d totally leave it in the car, if he had a car. He’d been hoping for one for his birthday, but alas, he hadn’t been so lucky.
Brynn got to her feet and smoothed her shirt down a bit before adjusting her bag on her shoulder. "If you're comfortable leaving it in my car, you can bring it to school and I can lock them up in my trunk. Or I can just... give you a ride to school the day we decide to go?" Maybe that was weird to offer, she didn't know. But it just seemed like efficient or whatever than having to wait while Liam ran home to pick up his mask. "I don't know, we can figure it out," she added quickly, with a smile. "I mean, whatever is easiest for you and stuff." She felt like she was rambling, or being stupid so Brynn shut her mouth, ready to get to class and finish the day without making an idiot of herself. If only Victoria could see her now.
“Whichever. I won’t turn down a ride, but I don’t want you to have to go too far out of your way,” Liam said with a little smile and a shrug. He appreciated the offer and both options were better than him having to go all the way home, get the mask, and then meet back up with her. It wasn’t something they had to decide on now, so they could figure it out later, like she said. “Talk soon?” he asked as people started to head down the hallway towards them. He knew his friends would have questions about where he’d been and so would hers, so it was probably time to split. They’d see each other soon enough.
"Yeah, for sure," Brynn said, giving him a small wave of her fingers before she hurried off towards her friends at the end of the hall. They might have seen her with Liam, and they might start asking questions, but with any luck, they were too involved in their conversation to have noticed. She hadn't even thought of a decent lie if they did ask, so Brynn was hoping there just wasn't enough time between classes to really talk about it.