itsjustashadow (itsjustashadow) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2020-01-02 18:59:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | #january 2018, brynn, brynn x liam, liam |
Who: Liam and Brynn
Where: The High School
When: Monday afternoon, January 8
Status: Complete
It felt surreal to be back at school again with everyone acting like they’d just been away on winter break. Even with the fog a week behind them, people were still feeling the effects: funerals had been taking place all week and people were still missing and unlikely to be found. Liam knew that he and Brynn had been lucky, that they could have easily been among the missing or the dead with their trek from the antique shop to the coffee shop, and tried not to think much about the fog after that. New Year’s Eve had been smacked down in the middle of it all, an excuse to party and forget how bad things in Point Pleasant could truly be, and some seemed to come out on the other side acting like nothing had happened. He’d partied it up with the guys, feeling a little closer to normal by the time the weekend hit, then ended up sitting through a ritual that still left him reeling and all he’d had to do was watch.
Things weren’t normal in Point Pleasant, even if they appeared so today. They were never going to be normal. That’s what he was starting to realize. A part of him thrived on it, waiting for the next catastrophe like some kind of high, while the rest of him wondered if they were all doomed. He’d always thought he was somewhat prepared for what the town could throw at him, but the last two weeks had proved that he wasn’t. Nor were his friends. It made him sick to his stomach to think about and he tried to focus on school instead, glad when the day was done and he could head home. The last bell rang and he started towards his locker, gathering up his books and finding himself ready earlier than normal. Rather than head towards the bus, he found himself wandering over towards Brynn’s locker, hoping to catch her before she left.
Going back to school after holiday break was always difficult, but it felt somehow harder this year than in the past. Probably because she hadn't really been able to have any real fun over the past couple of weeks since Point Pleasant was just a beacon for horribleness. But Brynn was determined to get back into a routine, and hopefully find some normalcy around her. Cheer practice would start up again in a couple of days, so there was that. And the winter formal was coming up, which would be a lot of fun. It was just a matter of focusing on things that weren't weird and scary.
She was slipping into her coat when she spotted Liam walking toward her and Brynn gave him a smile. "Hey. You survived day one too, huh?" At least they were past the Christmas hump and summer was only five months away. It felt like ages, but Brynn had a feeling time would fly.
“Ugh, yeah, I was kind of looking forward to it, but at the same time I could’ve gone a while longer without the homework. I really kind of wanted to go home and veg on the couch for a little while, but apparently I need to be reading The Scarlet Letter, which is just blech,” he said, making a face before smiling at her. “How was your day?” He could have asked that over text, or even over the phone, but it was nice to actually see her and talk in person. He wasn’t much of a phone talker anyways.
Brynn wrinkled her nose. "I'm not going to enjoy that book at all, I can already tell. I mean, there has to be other books that are more interesting and easier to read that they can teach us, right? Maybe you and me can just rent the movie and try to skate by on that." She zipped up her coat and grabbed her bag to slip onto her shoulder. "Other than that, my day was all right. Kind of boring, really, which isn't like, a bad thing." Brynn shut her locked and turned back toward him. "Do you want a ride home?" She knew he generally took the bus, but she didn't mind driving him, and they could take for a bit longer if he wanted to. She did, anyway.
“I’d be down with that,” Liam smiled, now thinking that maybe some good was coming out of The Scarlet Letter. He was slowly discovering that he’d take just about any excuse to hang out with Brynn. It wouldn’t matter if the movie was horrible if he got to watch it with her. “Boring can be good. If the holidays were exciting, I’ll take a little bit of boring for a while,” he said, turning to walk beside her. He thought they were all feeling that way, some more than others. He and Brynn had only realized how lucky they’d been after the fact. “If you don’t mind,” he smiled. “I’ll never pass up a ride.”
Brynn found she was more than willing to watch a boring movie about a boring book if she got to hang out with Liam while she did it. They had fun together, even without the masks, and he was a nice change of pace from her usual friends. "I don't mind." Brynn grinned and tugged her hat down over her ears. "So are you going to go see the play this weekend?" Brynn found she kind of wanted to go, but she didn't know if any of her friends would want to spend their Friday or Saturday night at school watching a school play.
“The Shakespeare one?” Liam asked. “I’d thought about it, but don’t really know anything about it. You want to go?” It hadn’t sounded like something his friends would really be into, but going with Brynn was different. Only after asking did he think it kind of sounded like a date and was glad he hadn’t thought of that before casually asking or he’d have probably fumbled it. She would probably say no, they didn’t do much in public together, but at least he could say he’d asked. And even if she said yes, it could always be as friends. Which was fine. Really. He needed to not make it into something it wasn’t.
"I don't know that you had to know a ton about it to enjoy it. It's Shakespeare." Brynn smiled, thinking she might have actually auditioned for the play if she hadn't had cheer practice, and she could act. Which she totally couldn't. But she still liked going to the plays when she could. "But yeah, I would totally go, if you want to go. It might be fun." She had no idea if he meant as a date or not, because he sounded super casual about it, which was totally fine too, if they just went as friends. Brynn was pretty sure that's what they were, even if she sometimes felt like asking. But she didn't want to freak him out or chase him off. Boys could be fidgety things sometimes.
“I’ll get us tickets,” Liam offered with a smile. “Do you want to go on Friday or Saturday?” Maybe they could even get something to eat before hand. The more he thought about it, the more it sounded like maybe a date, which it didn’t have to be, but he wondered how long he could really successfully put off figuring that part out. When they were alone it didn’t matter as much, but he’d seen the posters that had gone up today. If he didn’t figure it out soon, someone else would take the decision out of his hands. He took a deep breath, his heart speeding up as his hands started to sweat. “Actually, um, I was wondering… And it’s totally cool if you say no, but… Would you maybe like to go to the dance?”
"Oh, Saturday night be better. I have cheer practice after school Friday, and if we go Saturday we could get something to eat at Moxie's or something." Which might actually sound like a date, but friends got food together all the time, didn't they? Like Liam, Brynn was just trying to figure things out, though she knew she could clear up any confusion about their friendship if she would just ask them if they were just friends. And if it had been anyone else, Brynn would have. But she felt kind of weird about it with Liam for some reason, like if she said the wrong thing he might freak out and not even want to be friends anymore. It was silly, she knew, but insecurities weren't always rational. And so she was somewhat surprised when he asked about the winter formal. No one had asked her yet, but the posters had only just gone up today. She looked over at him, looking surprised, but pleasantly so. "The winter formal? Yeah, I would love to go." As friends? Should she ask? That might put him in a weird spot if he did only mean as friends. Ugh, when did all of this stuff get so complicated?
It was probably a mistake to ask about one event right before the other because it confused things in a way Liam hadn’t intended. In his head, you could go to the play as just friends without saying so, but he would’ve explicitly stated “as friends” when it came to the dance if he meant it that way. Dances were date things, required dressing up and corsages. They were also pretty public, so if Brynn wanted to avoid being seen with him then she’d have had to say no. Liam smiled, hoping they were on the same page and that he wasn’t setting himself up for disappointment. It wouldn’t be the first time, but he really liked Brynn and the thought that she might like him to made him feel all giddy. “Great! That’s all great,” he smiled, trying not to sound like an idiot. “Moxie’s is good. Before the play, I mean. Maybe somewhere else before the dance? Whatever you think sounds good.”
"For sure. I mean, we have a little bit of time, so we can figure out where we want to go." Brynn was feeling pleasant tingles of excitement and anticipation rushing through her body, which made her feel a bit warm in her heavy coat and hat and everything, but it was worth it. It would be fun to know she had a date when she went dress shopping with Vic. Brynn definitely wasn't ashamed to be seen in public with Liam. She knew some of her friends might be like who?, but if Jules Cooper could date Jasper Lucas, then Brynn could certainly go to a dance with Liam Wolfe. Brynn dug her keys out of her pocket to unlock her car. "Did you end up going to the Sadie Hawkins dance?" she asked, not really sure if she had seen him there or not. But they hadn't really known one another then, so Brynn really hadn't been looking.
“No, I heard about it though,” Liam said, too excited about this upcoming dance to be down about the last one. He’d still been pining over Jen then, even though she’d said she only wanted to be friends. He was so used to getting friend-zoned that he almost expected it, but he really thought that maybe there was something there with Brynn. Accepting his invite to the dance seemed like a confirmation, though he knew he should ask, just to be sure. It all just felt so awkward and he wondered how other guys managed to be so smooth. “Did you go? I heard someone spiked the punch and people got all friendly and started over-sharing. Or something like that.” He thought it was a lot more than liquor, but had no proof that it was a hex of some sort.
"I went with friends," Brynn confirmed. "And yeah, it got really weird towards the end of the dance. People were being, like, way too honest. I don't know what got put into the punch, but it was definitely awkward for a lot of people at school that Monday. I didn't actually drink any of the punch, so I was pretty safe." She huffed a small laugh. "I can't even imagine what I might have said, and to who." She put her bag into the back seat of her car before climbing into the driver's seat to start the engine. Hopefully it wouldn't take long to warm up. "I guess we'll have to watch what we drink at the winter formal. Hopefully all future dances will have sealed bottles."
“I’m always saying stupid,” Liam said as he climbed into her car and shut the door, his bag resting on the floor between his knees. “With my luck I’d end up telling the whole school I’m a witch, so it’s probably a good thing I wasn’t there.” He couldn’t even imagine telling his mom about that kind of a blunder, or what they’d have to do to fix it. Probably just hope that people thought he was joking or a little bit crazy, like he wasn’t awkward enough already without that label on him. Liam got by, he wasn’t a super nerd, but he wasn’t really in the popular crowd either. Something like that would’ve made him stand out in the worst way. “Do you party around dances?” he asked curiously.
"That would have been bad," Brynn agreed. "Though it probably would have got lost in the whole coming out thing that Sebastian did. Or everyone who said something they probably didn't want to say would have been so ready to forget the whole night that your being a witch might have never come up again at all. Who knows with this place." Brynn offered Liam a small smile. "I... kind of do whatever my friends do, to be honest. Or Scotty, when we were going out. That makes me sound boring." She wrinkled her nose as she pulled out of the parking lot onto the street. "I just mean, I'm not someone who needs to party. It's fun, but it also depends on who I'm with, you know?"
“That’s true,” Liam laughed softly. “He kinda upstaged everyone else’s truth with his own. Though, looking back, I wonder if he meant to.” He remembered the time he’d run into Sebastian at Hunter’s and how uncomfortable he’d been, how he’d asked Liam not to tell anyone. Liam hadn’t gotten the impression that Sebastian was anywhere close to coming out that night. “At least in my case people probably just would’ve thought I was high or something.” Unless he’d tried to prove it. Thank the gods no one had asked him to that dance! “It doesn’t make you sound boring,” Liam told her with a little smile. “You want to be around your friends and that’s what your friends want to do, so you go along with it. A lot of people do it. I do it all the time. I guess I was just trying to figure out what you want to do ‘cause I just want to be with you.” Oh gods. He could feel himself turning red. “I mean, I would party if you wanted to party, but we could also do something else, you know?”
Brynn doubted anyone minded being upstaged. That had been a weird night and not many people wanted to talk about it anymore. She was sure it had been stressful for Bash, but it wasn't like the entire town was homophobic. Nearly everyone she knew had stopped talking about it now, and it was what it was, like so many other things. Brynn wasn't really thinking about Bash anymore anyway, because Liam's words definitely pulled back her attention, and she looked over at him, noticing how pink his cheeks were. Her insides were kind of squirmy, but in a good way and she couldn't really help the smile that had curved at her lips. "That's good, because I want to be with you too. I think I would be happy doing just about anything." It felt good to say, and she hoped that he took it the way she meant it. It was so easy to get lines crossed when talking to boys.
“We’ll figure it out then,” Liam smiled, feeling hopeful and happy in a way that blotted out all the bad of the past week. He wasn’t of the mind that they should forget about what had happened with the fog, because forgetting was what got you killed around here, but they could move on and focus on happier things, like dates and the upcoming dance. He was so excited about it all that it quieted him for a moment, but then he remembered something he’d been wanting to tell Brynn. “So, not related to dances at all, but my mom let me look through her grimoire the other day and I found a spell that might let us hear each other with the masks on. Or, really it just makes the ears on the masks like walkie-talkies. Not sure we need to do it, but I thought it’d be cool. I think the spell itself pre-dates the use of working phones.”
It took Brynn a moment to remember that a grimoire was a witch's spellbook... basically. She glanced over at Liam with a smile and raised brows. "Really? That would be awesome." They called each other now, when they did the mask thing, just so they could talk to each other, but it would be great not to have to do that. Weird, but great. Brynn was still super curious about magic, but she was slowly learning as Liam opened up to her about it all. "Is that something you can do on your own? Or would your mom have to do it?"
“I think I can do it,” Liam grinned. “I want to try, at least. If I can’t, then… then I can ask her, but I’d really like to expand my abilities and it’s a chance to do something I’ve never done before.” He wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to do anything remotely like what he’d seen the coven do, but he wanted to take opportunities to learn where he could. Magic could be dangerous to experiment with, but this particular spell seemed safe enough. It was more of a charm than anything else. He figured the backlash wouldn’t give him more than a headache if he screwed it up. “You should be there when I do it, since I’d need your mask.” He didn’t know about Brynn, but he wouldn’t have been comfortable handing his off to anyone.
Brynn could understand wanting her there, because like Liam, she would feel weird handing it over to him, even if he had its twin. But, the idea of getting to see him do real magic was really cool and Brynn wanted to be there. "I definitely want to see you do it," Brynn told him. "I mean, I'm never going to say no to watching you do actual magic. So yeah, anytime you want to do that, we can." She smiled a little. "I wish I had something cool like that to show you. I mean, the most I can do is the splits, and that's not anywhere near the level of magic."
“I’ll take a look at the spell and see what I need. Then we can do it after school when we’re both free,” Liam smiled. He liked that he could share this with her. It was one thing to do magic with an audience, but this was for her as much as for him. It felt like a team thing, even if she was just observing. “Um, I disagree,” he laughed. “Doing the splits is, like, next level magic.” That level of flexibility was not something his boy brain needed to latch onto, but it was so hard not to. Ugh. At least she wasn’t in her cheer uniform right now.
Brynn nodded, finding herself excited to see Liam perform real magic, especially if it meant they could talk to each other through their masks... when they weren't hanging out, at least. She laughed a little at his comment about the splits, and her cheeks warmed a bit. "Yeah, it's not easy to do, but I'm sure in a few years I won't be able to do it anymore. I'll have to find some other source of magic to brag about." Brynn glanced at him, amused. "Magic can't be taught, can it? It's like... hereditary or something?"
“I’m sure you’ll find something,” Liam smiled. He kind of thought Brynn had her own form of magic, the kind all girls seemed to have, but he knew it wasn’t the same. “Yeah, it’s hereditary. In my case, it’s on my mom’s side. I don’t think it’s a gene or something like that or science would’ve found it by now. I’ve heard of other kinds of magic, like hoodoo, that can be taught, but I don’t know as much about it. I think it’s kind of spiritual? And there are people with psychic abilities that just seem random. I’m sure there’s some history there on where everything originated from, but no one knows it, so we don’t know how to replicate it.”
Brynn gave that some thought as she turned down Liam's street. "Well, maybe science has found it. Or maybe people do know where all that stuff originates from, it's just... a secret. You know, secret government organizations, like in the movies." She raised a brow and shot Liam a glance. She was mostly joking. But magic existed, so she found it hard to believe that people in positions of authority didn't know. Or at least have some clue. Maybe every witch in the world was just really good at hiding it. Or they could do memory wipes or something. “It's probably good that it can't be replicated though, assuming no one can do it. It'd become like, a weapon or something."
“Now I’m picturing something like the X-men, but with magic,” Liam snickered. “Though, I think if the government knew about it, we’d end up with things like that movie The Firestarter. With Drew Barrymore?” He doubted she’d heard of it, most people didn’t work their way through the horror movie archives, but anything based on a Stephen King story was a maybe in his mind. “They’d hunt us all down, want to use us for their own means. Or maybe we’d fight back and we’d end up with something like the Point Pleasant Six all over again.” But in mass. People didn’t like the idea of others that had that much more power than them. They tended to be scared of what they didn’t understand.
Brynn knew who Drew Barrymore was, but she had never heard of The Firestarter. She had heard of X-Men though, and liked the movies, so she understood what Liam was saying. "It's hard to imagine even a government organization being able to capture or hurt witches. I mean, you guys can do magic. But... maybe that's why no one has ever come for you. Maybe the town is like, protected." Brynn paused and then huffed out a soft laugh. "I never thought I'd be having these kind of conversations. It's not a bad thing," she was quick to assure him. "But... magic and protections and all that stuff. Like, it's real, you know? But it feels surreal sometimes, when we're talking. Like I'm dreaming."
“As far as I know, magic can’t stop bullets,” Liam told her. “Or, like, a SWAT team. Most of it is ritualistic. I can set fire on a whim, but I don’t really want to see the world burn. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, the threats around here are a little easier for us to deal with.” It was better for them than government intervention, of course, but he couldn’t really wish things like the fog on anyone. “I know it’s weird,” he smiled over at her. “Sometimes it feels like I’m living a double life. There’s the people that know that I’m a witch and about everything that’s out there, and there’s the people that don’t. I hate not telling people, but I can’t tell everyone. I’m glad you know.”
Brynn had no idea how magic worked beyond what Liam had known her. But she had to assume witches could protect themselves somehow. Obviously. But she didn't really want to think about a SWAT team coming into Point Pleasant, or anything like that. "A double life sounds frustrating," she said, definitely sympathizing with him there. "But it could also be exciting, you know? You know more about this place than so many other people. You could do things in school no one else would know about... I mean, not bad things, obviously. I don't know what fun things you could do... but I'm sure there has to be a few. I'm rambling," Brynn said with a wrinkle of her nose. "Sorry. But I'm glad I know too. Especially with finding those masks, you know? I think it might feel a bit scarier if I didn't have you to help figure it out with me."
“It’s okay,” Liam smiled. “I’m usually the one rambling.” She had to know that by now, plus it was cute coming from her. He thought he just sounded like an idiot. “It might be a lot more fun if there were more of us. But I can have fun with people that aren’t witches, like you.” He thought he might need to learn more in order for them to get up to much, but that was something he planned to work on this year. “I’m glad it was you that had the other mask and not, like, an adult. That would’ve been creepy. Plus, I wouldn’t have gotten to know you.” That was the best part of all of this. He’d have never had a chance with her without the masks bringing them together.
Brynn had never noticed it when Liam rambled. To her, he was just talking, and she liked hearing him talk. She knew she sometimes got on a tangent and didn't know when to just shut up. Sometimes she had a lot to say. Sometimes silence bothered her and she was desperate to fill it. But Liam didn't seem to mind it, so she didn't feel as silly as she might have with someone else. Brynn laughed a little and pulled up to his driveway. "Hanging out with a super vanilla human like me is probably a nice palate cleanser from all the witchy people you know." Brynn teased. She put the car in park and smiled at him. "I'm glad I found the other mask too. It's weird, we've been going to school together forever and we share some classes but have never talked to each other. I'm glad we are now though."
“There’s only three of us our age, that I know of,” Liam told her. “All the others are older, like the Castells. But nothing about you is super vanilla.” She didn’t have to have super powers to feel special to Liam. She was the kind of girl that he tended to admire from afar, so it was hard to believe that she was even talking to him, let alone willing to go to the dance with him. Liam looked up at his house, then back at her. He really hated to go, but at the same time knew he couldn’t just chill in her car. “Talk to you later?” he asked as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and opened the door. For just a second he thought maybe he could lean in and kiss her, but that seemed like too big a jump and even thinking about it made his heart race. There would be other opportunities. They had a dance in their future.
Brynn was curious as to who else was a witch in town, other than the ones Liam told her about, of course. But she knew it wasn't his place to tell her all that stuff, and she wasn't upset about that. She could tell immediately from the heat in her face that she was blushing, and Brynn tried to remember the last time a boy made her blush this much. It had been a while for sure, but it was nice. She imagined Vic teasing her about it, but oh well. Her cousin would find out about Liam eventually, given that Brynn planned on going to winter formal with him. "Yeah, for sure," Brynn told him with a smile. "I'll text you tonight, if you want."
Liam loved that he could make her blush. He didn’t do it on purpose, but it was cute and a good sign that she really did like him. Maybe things were finally going his way for once. “Sounds good,” he smiled back at her, then gave her a little wave. “Later then.” When they’d first started talking, he’d always thought that each conversation might be their last, that she’d be bored and ready to move on. It was nice to know that wasn’t the case, that she wanted to talk to him as much as he wanted to talk to her, even if they had nothing specific to talk about.
"Bye." Brynn waved back and smiled when he shut the door and began to walk up to his house. She wouldn't text right away because that was silly, but once she was at home and settled for the night she would shoot him something funny or whatever. It was kind of nice chatting and flirting a bit with Liam before she fell asleep, and he always seemed to enjoy it too. And now they were going to a dance together. Which was awesome and exciting and she hoped she didn't too silly about it just in case it was a "just as friends" type deal. Whatever. She could think about that part later. Right now she was just ready to go home and text Vic about the dance.