Who: Mak and Sabrina When: Thursday, Sept 14th, after school Where: School and Moxie’s Status: Complete
It was a rainy day from the moment Sabrina woke up, to the moment the last bell rang at school. She generally liked the rain, when it was storming and she was home, or at someone’s house, and didn’t have to actually go out in it. It made her miss summer, even though she supposed technically it still was summer. Just gray and rainy and colder. And it would keep on getting colder, which sucked hardcore. Soon Sabrina would be forced to wear, ugh, jeans and sweatshirts and crap. It was too cold in Point Pleasant for much else.
Since she hadn’t had much time to talk to Mak over the past few days, Sabrina tracked her down at her locker after school, a smile on her face as she leaned her shoulder against the closed locker beside Mak. “Please tell me you have nothing to do after school,” Sabrina said. “Because I want a milkshake and I don’t want to walk to Moxie’s alone. Come with?” They hadn’t really talked about what happened at the bridge last Saturday, and Sabrina was hoping Mak wasn’t pissed about it, or like, weird. Sabrina had been kind of avoid-y and she felt bad about it, but she wasn’t usually very good with Talking, especially about Feelings and all that weird stuff. It was just easier to pretend things didn’t happen than to deal with the fact that they did.
Mak had been going about her business at school and trying not to overthink the fact that Sabrina had barely talked to her all week. She’d been doing what she needed to do at home and trying not to overthink. And when she was trying to go to sleep. And in the shower. And pretty much every other waking second. She’d talked to Hunter about it, and he’d told her not to worry, Sabrina was just ... Sabrina. It was fine, she would come around. The SAFE meeting had gone well, and they’d talked about that enough while they were setting up, but that wasn’t talking. She was starting to think Sabrina just wanted to forget the whole thing, and Mak ought to let her and not be a clingy, needy little B. What would a girl like that really want with a girl like her anyway?
So Mak was downright startled when the other girl was suddenly there right next to her locker. Her eyes went wide and she twitched, her heart lurching. Mak let out a nervous laugh and facepalmed at herself briefly before she shut her locker. “Uh, yeah, no plans,” she said, giving Sabrina an unsure little smile. “I’m down for a milkshake. Is it still raining?”
Sabrina's smile widened once Mak agreed to go with her. So maybe she wasn't upset! Hopefully. It was way too weird not being able to talk to Mak all the time, either in person or over text. Sabrina knew that had been more or less her fault, but maybe she could make it better now. "It's raining a little," Sabrina said before she wrinkled her nose. "But not terrible. We can go to the office and tell Ms. Ryan I lost my umbrella. If there's one in the lost and found, I'll just say it's mine and take it. Unless you brought one this morning and you're willing to share the space." Sabrina's dad had begrudgingly dropped Sabrina off at school, since it had been pouring when Sabrina needed to leave. Walking to school in what was essentially a hurricane - okay, slight exaggeration - wasn't her ideal way to start the day. Walking to Moxie's for a milkshake while it sprinkled was more tolerable.
Mak almost said she hadn’t brought one, even though there was an umbrella in her backpack, because sharing the space under it with Sabrina sounded like sweet torture, and maybe she shouldn’t do that to herself if they were going to pretend they’d never kissed, but that was kind of stupid, and she didn’t actually want to get wet. “No theft necessary, I’ve got one,” she said. Mak pulled one arm out of the strap and brought her pack around to pull the umbrella out. It wasn’t huge, but neither were they, so it ought to work. She turned to start walking with Sabrina toward the school exit, already mentally flailing for something to talk about. “So ... how was your day?” she asked, then winced internally. What an uber lame mom thing to start with, ugh.
"There's nothing wrong with theft if it keeps us warm," she teased. "Then again, I should probably buy my own umbrella. I have no idea why I don't owe one." The question prompted a grin from Sabrina. "My day as just fabulous, thanks. Well, that's not true. It was kind of boring. Same as nearly every other day. That's why I want a milkshake. What about you? How was yours?" She hadn't seen Mak much that day at all, at least not long enough to stand around and talk. And she missed hanging out with her friend, especially when there was so much weird shit going on.
“About the same,” Mak said with a shrug. It had been a decent day, she’d just been kind of down and fretty about Sabrina. But here Sabrina was, chatting just like she always did with Mak. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, but she was trying not to act like she was unsure. Better to just stay confused than be the one acting awkward. “Good call on the milkshake though, it’s that kind of day.” Really it was more of a day outside for hot cocoa or something, but a milkshake was a close second. As they walked out of the doors, Mak opened up the umbrella and held it where she and Sabrina could both get at least some benefit from it.
Sabrina wasn't feeling fretty at all, although she might have been if she knew Mak was. She waited for Mak to open up her umbrella then stepped underneath it, careful not to jostle Mak's arm too much as they began to walk. It wasn't raining too hard, thankfully, so she didn't mind much if her shoulder got a little wet. "Thanks for helping me out yesterday too," Sabrina said. "I like the group we got. Hopefully everyone will come back next week. Or bring more people too, I don't know. I like smaller groups, but I think it makes more of an impact with more." She felt like she was sort of rambling, but at least she wasn't saying stupid shit.
Mak could feel the warmth from Sabrina’s body so close to hers, and she could smell her so well, and ugh. She should’ve just let her steal an umbrella, but then they would still be in this sharing predicament. “Hey, no problem, it kinda feels like my group too,” she said with a little smile. “I bet they will. I talked to the really new kid, Ben? He seems nice. I think it’ll draw more people in, the longer we go.” She had enjoyed helping with the meeting and having all those kids in the same place with them, networking and talking about plans and stuff. It had been nice and distracting. But now there was nothing distracting going on, just walking with Sabrina’s arm brushing against her shoulder. Mak started nibbling on her bottom lip, coming up blank for things to talk about.
"It's totally your group too," Sabrina said with a nod. Mak had been helping Sabrina get organized and everything since the beginning of the school year. She sort of thought of Mak as her co-leader. "Oh, yeah, Ben. I found him in a locker before the meeting yesterday," she said with a laugh. "Nice guy, though." Sabrina was generally cool with newbies, at least until they wandered off to another group of friends, or turned out to be total dicks. The only asshole she'd remained friends with was Jasper Lucas, but he generally wasn't an asshole to her, so it was okay. Sabrina glanced at Mak, arching a brow. "So, like, are things super weird now?"
She gave a small laugh and made a ‘what?’ face when Sabrina said she found Ben in a locker, and was about to ask what happened when Sabrina was moving on. Ugh! She was being weird, dammit! But how did you not be weird around the girl you really really liked who you actually got to kiss once and it was amazing but then she started to kind of dodge you all week and pretended like it didn’t happen and ugh! A bit of all that flashed through Mak’s expression very quickly before she caught herself and tried to get her Aloof back. “What, like ... with us?” she asked, sounding incredulous. “Pft, no way. Not weird and definitely not super weird, everything’s totally fine and there is zero weird going on ...” Mak glanced over at Sabrina to see if she was buying that, then sighed. “Sorry, it’s just ... I mean, do you like ... regret it?” she asked, giving an apologetic little wince.
Oh yes, there was definitely weird going on, and Sabrina watched Mak stumble through it with a confused expression until Mak finally landed on the real reason for the weird. It didn't even take Sabrina a few moments to realize the 'it' was the kiss at the bridge. Sabrina supposed it would come up eventually. She just felt sort of bad that this was something Mak had obviously been thinking about. "I don't regret it at all," she said quickly, with a small smile. "I just wasn't sure how to like, talk to you about it? I know we were high and stuff, so like... I don't know." She trailed off with a sigh. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have dodged it all week. And you. That was probably shitty of me."
Mak felt hella-anxious, just bringing it up, but Sabrina’s answer soothed that a little bit. Mak didn’t think she was lying by her tone, and if she said she didn’t regret it, then maybe things were going to be okay between them. Mak realized a bit belatedly that she had been worried that she had wrecked their whole friendship. “It’s okay,” she murmured after a moment, watching Sabrina’s face as much as she could while they walked. “I just ... I dunno, wasn’t sure if you just ... wanted to forget it, or what. ‘Cause like ... high or not, I really ... y’know, wanted to.” Mak had to restrain her hand from coming up to smack her own face in exasperation at herself. She sounded like such an idiot, but she didn’t really know how to talk about this either, obviously.
Sabrina couldn't help but smile at that, despite the awkwardness of the conversation. Mak had wanted to kiss her. It made her feel stupid warm inside, even if she didn't really know how to articulate it. "I didn't want to forget it," Sabrina said before wincing slightly. "I just didn't really know how to like, talk to you about it? I mean, what do we say, right? Like, oh hey, remember when we got high and made out a little? That was totally fun, right?" She shook her head and snorted. "I mean, yeah, I could say that, but then it's like, what does it mean, and all that and I'm so... bad at that stuff. Obviously." Because she had been rambling again and none of it really made any sense as it came out of her mouth. Sabrina sighed. "I'm sorry I was dodgy, though. I guess I wasn't sure how to talk about it. I wanted to too, for whatever that's worth. Kiss you, I mean."
It was a ridiculous relief to hear that she wasn’t the only one who had been thinking about it. Over-thinking, whatever. She gave Sabrina a more genuine smile, feeling a little flutter in her gut at the last part. During all her stressing out about it, she’d more or less convinced herself that Sabrina had just been going along with what she wanted, or had just wanted to do it ‘cause she was high or whatever. Something that meant she wasn’t really into Mak at all. But maybe that wasn’t the case. Mak shrugged, trying to shift her thinking gears. “It’s okay, I mean, I appreciate you saying so. I didn’t wanna like ... chase you down or whatever. I know like ... I’ve had a crush on you for forever, and that doesn’t mean ...” she trailed off and gestured between them, then gave a little laugh. Ugh, idiot. “It was though, totally fun. And I’d love to like ... do it again sometime. If you want. It can only mean whatever we want, you know?” She hoped that made sense.
Sabrina couldn't help the look of surprise on her face. She blinked rapidly, her brows shooting up behind her bangs. "Wait, what? You've had a crush on me?" How had she not known that? Had she known that? She and Mak hung out tons and tons of times, and Sabrina supposed they had flirted, but plenty of people flirted with Sabrina without it going anywhere. "Why didn't you say something?" she asked with a small smile, knowing exactly why Mak wouldn't tell her. Sabrina almost never said shit to people she crushed on, mostly because her crushes shifted so rapidly, depending on the day. "We can totally do it again sometime too, you know. I just... I'm so weird at these things. I don't want things to get more weird because of me." Sabrina realized that probably didn't make much sense. "Maybe we can just... see what happens?" It was the best way she knew how to say she liked Mak without promising shit that she knew she might eventually fuck up.
The look on Sabrina’s face made Mak laugh again and roll her eyes. Like, duh. Who wouldn’t have a crush on that girl? “Uh yeah, look at you,” she said first, giving Sabrina a pointed look up and down. Then Mak grinned a little and shrugged. “I mean, even besides that ... we always have fun together. So. Crush.” There was also the factor that girls who liked other girls were few and far between around there, but Mak didn’t want to cite that as a reason, that was kind of insulting. She genuinely liked Sabrina, even if there’d been girls falling all over her. She knew that Sabrina knew why she hadn’t said something -- who even did that? -- so she shrugged that part off, then smiled again. “It doesn’t have to be weird though, we can just hang out and see what happens,” she agreed. She wasn’t positive that she knew what that meant, but Mak felt like she could figure it out along the way. “Just ... tell me if you don’t want something, you know? Or, whatever. Don’t try to spare my feelings or something. I don’t wanna be that creepy girl you can’t get rid of.”
Sabrina didn't really get it. She wasn't one of those girls who disparaged her looks just to get attention or compliments. Sabrina knew she was pretty enough, but she usually wore the same shit every day, and it wasn't like her clothes were remotely fashionable. Then again, she also knew Mak wasn't shallow like most of the people who went to school with them. She could actually feel herself blushing, and Sabrina smiled at Mak. "Have you ever known me not to tell you what I want?" she asked, nudging her playfully. It felt nice to be wanted, even if she didn't get why. Sabrina could be a fuck up of extra proportions, and a part of her wanted to just keep things as friends, if only to protect Mak from the shitty side she knew existed inside of her. At the same time, she had liked kissing Mak and she definitely wanted to do it again. "And you couldn't be a creeper even if you like, tried super hard. You're funny and sweet and stupid smart. And a really good kisser," she added with a grin. "But I figured you would be."
It was Mak’s turn to blush a bit, and she couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot. She didn’t care what Sabrina wore -- though she was a fan of all the skirts and fishnets, honestly -- she was gorgeous to Mak all the time. Mak gave a helpless shrug at the rhetorical question. Under normal friend circumstances, Mak knew that Sabrina wouldn’t bullshit her. It was one of her most attractive qualities. But people got Weird around romance and relationships and stuff. They’d already been doing it, to some extent. So she’d wanted Sabrina to know that she could be honest. It was goddamn important, in fact. Impulsively, Mak slipped her arm through Sabrina’s to hug it close to her side, laughing a little. “Shut up, you never even thought about it,” she accused playfully. God, now that they were talking about it openly, she really wanted to kiss Sabrina again. “I could totally be a creeper. One of those locked-in-my-room hackers, sending people like ... gross boob pics or something. ... Is that even possible? Gross boob pics?” She frowned thoughtfully.
"I did think about," Sabrina protested, and that much was true. She sometimes day dreamed about people that way, Mak included. It was probably weird, but whatever. Was it her fault almost all her friends were beautiful people? Who wouldn't want to kiss all of them, Mak especially? She let Mak take her arm, happy enough to walk the whole way to Moxie's that way, rain or not. "No such thing as gross boob pics," Sabrina said with a laugh. "Like, boobs are so much nicer to look at than dicks, right? I mean, sending nudes without someone asking is probably kind of creepy? But that's totally not you, so whatever." Sabrina paused and arched a brow, eying Mak with a teasing grin. "Have you sent boob pics before?"
Thankfully no one had ever sent Mak a dick pic, so she didn’t have much of a frame of reference. She’d seen a couple of dicks before, of course -- it was impossible to spend time on the internet as a teenager and not see them -- but nobody had thrown theirs at her face, so to speak. “Dude, dicks are weird, I dunno how you guys like them,” she said with a wrinkled nose, only half joking. ‘You guys’ covered everyone who was into dicks, of course, no matter their orientation. To each their own, but she saw nothing appealing about them. “Boobs are way better to look at.” She stalled on answering the question, feeling her cheeks get hot all over again, and that stupid grin came back. “Maybe,” she said, giving Sabrina a side-eye. “Like ... okay, once. She was my girlfriend at the time though, and it was like ... artistic boobs.” Mak didn’t think her boobs were much to write home about, honestly, but that was okay. She would rather have a flatter chest. “Have you?”
Sabrina couldn't help but laugh, because Mak was right. Dicks were weird. And guys were weirdly obsessed with them. At least with their own. "Boobs are definitely better to look at. Dicks are kind of gross, but they feel really good. So it's not like girls have to look at them the whole time?" What a ridiculous conversation to have. Sabrina snorted and shook her head. It was better than awkward talking about kissing, at least. She would much rather kiss than talk about it. She looked over at Mak in surprise, probably exaggerating her shock a little, but feeling it nonetheless. "You did? What? What are artistic boobs, anyway? Did you paint all over them like Van Gogh before you took a picture?" She was smiling though and Sabrina couldn't help but glance down at Mak's chest for like, a half a second. "I've never sent nude pictures to anyone, no. I don't judge anyone who does, but, like, I guess I'm too paranoid that it'll end up online or whoever I sent it to would show people? It seems like perfect blackmail fodder. I never trusted anyone enough to ever do it."
Mak laughed loudly at the mental image of boobs with Van Gogh painted on them. Now that would be artistic. “No! I mean like ... a black and white filter and good lighting and good angles and lots of deleted pictures,” she explained, still laughing a little. It was kind of embarrassing, but honestly it had turned out to be one of her favorite pictures of herself. A tasteful nude. She’d kept it. Sabrina sounded scandalized, but Mak didn’t take that seriously. Maybe she would end up showing her someday, if she wanted to see. “I get that though, it’s kinda nerve-wracking. I trust that she didn’t like, throw it up on the internet or anything. We didn’t break up that bad. And I kept most of my face out of it. ... everything’s much more fun to see in person anyway,” she added, shooting Sabrina a little smirk. It made her heart pound a little harder to say, but she couldn’t resist the opportunity to flirt.
Sabrina wasn't usually one to take pictures of herself. Her 'selfies' were usually her making silly faces and sending them to her friends. She wondered if she would ever like someone that much to want to send artsy boob pics to. "Oh yeah, you'd totally have to trust them to do something like that. And you're right, they're definitely more fun to see in person. And touch and stuff, but that might make me sound like a perv. But... you already know I am, so..." She trailed off and grinned. They really shouldn't be talking about boobs right them, because it would make it harder for Sabrina to think about anything else. "How long were you guys together, anyway?" She was being nosy, but she was curious.
Mak wasn’t a huge selfie-taker either, unless it was just stupid faces or if there was something interesting behind her. Her smile widened as Sabrina briefly mused on touching boobs. Mak hadn’t done a lot of that either, unfortunately, but enough to know she liked it. “Pretty sure that juuuust makes you bi, not a perv,” she told Sabrina, nudging her with an elbow. Then she shrugged about her ex. “Just like ... a few weeks. A little over a month.” The breakup had kind of sucked, but it had been a while back, so Mak had some better perspective on it. It had just been a high school thing ... that had stung worse because girls who liked girls were few and far between in their town. But now she had another one on her arm, one she’d liked from afar for a long time, and that felt good. They arrived at Moxie’s, and Mak closed her umbrella once they were under the awning, shaking it a little before she reached to open the door for them.
In Sabrina's mind, a month was a long time to date someone. Eternity, almost. Logically she knew that wasn't true, but still. She walked into Moxie's when Mak opened the door and found an empty booth near the middle of the row. Sliding into her seat, she took her bag off and set it beside her. She grabbed a menu, just in case she wanted something to go with her milkshake. Fries, maybe. "God, I love the smell of this place," Sabrina said, dramatically breathing in through her nose. "Greasy food and pie." She began to skim the menu choices. "Have you talked to Hunter a lot, by the way? I was wondering how school is like, going for him and his sister but I haven't really been able to talk to him much so far."
Mak sat across from her, setting her own messenger bag aside and pulling one of the laminated menus in front of her to peruse. She wasn’t even really hungry, it was just something to do with her hands and eyes. Besides staring at Sabrina like a dork. “Ugh me too, favorite place,” she declared, then smiled at the mention of Hunter. “Yeah, I talk to him like, almost every day.” She and Hunter had been part-time besties for ages, and now that he lived in Point Pleasant all the time, they’d gotten even closer. “They’re doing okay. Jen is like, totally weirding their dad out with all her bugs and stuff, but other than that seems like they’re adjusting well. Hunter lost his mind over one of the hot teachers.” She grinned and rolled her eyes. “We all need to do something soon!”
"Can't blame him. Bugs would freak me out too," Sabrina said with a grin. "Let's totally do something please! I hate working at the restaurant... feels like I'm almost always working weekends. I need to find something new." She set the menu aside. "Which hot teacher did he lose his mind over?" There were a couple good looking teachers at school, but they were also like teachers so it was super weird for her to think of them as hot hot! In any case, she was all on board with hanging out with Mak and Hunter, and dragging Jade along. Sabrina didn't care if they went to hang out at the Fallow, or someone's house, as long as it wasn't hers, although it might not be so bad if her dad was working or at the bar.
“You totally should,” Mak agreed, because Sabrina having more time off benefitted her too. Especially if they might be doing a Thing, whatever that ended up being like. She was determined not to think about it too much yet. Just to let it all unfold and see what happened, like they said. It was going to be tough, since she liked things to be clear, but Mak would deal. “Mr. Moore,” she said with a bit of a laugh, then wrinkled her nose. “He always kinda looked like a guy in a boy band to me, but whatever. No accounting for taste, especially with Hunter.” She could give him shit like that when he wasn’t around by virtue of being his best friend. That was how it worked.
"Oh." Sabrina looked mildly disappointed. "Mr. Moore is cool, but like, he looks our age so it's hard to take him seriously sometimes? But hey, everyone's got different tastes, right? Mr. Dawson is hotter, anyway." She shrugged and then smiled as the waitress approached to take their orders. Sabrina got a chocolate milkshake and a side of fries, thinking that would hold her over until she made a frozen pizza at home later. "You know, Jade has a crush on someone at school, but he wouldn't tell me who it was. I hope it's not a teacher, because ew."
Mak laughed a little at Sabrina’s assessment of Mr. Moore -- he did look pretty young, for an adult. She didn’t really have an opinion on who the hottest male teachers were, but Mr. Dawson was pretty objectively handsome, so Mak gave an amiable shrug and a smile. She thought Ms. Gaines was the best looking teacher at school, but she didn’t often tell people that. When their waitress showed up, Mak ordered a milkshake for herself too, content that Sabrina would probably let her have a few fries once they arrived. She wasn’t too hungry yet. “Oh yeah?” she asked with raised eyebrows, grinning a bit. “We’re gonna have to get it out of him. Because now I have to know. He’s so quiet! Who do you think it could be?”
“I have no clue,” Sabrina said with a shrug. “All he said was they weren’t an asshole? So there’s that. He’ll tell me eventually, I hope. I don’t know why he’d want to keep it a secret, unless it’s someone who really is an asshole. Or someone he knows I don’t like. I tried not to nag him too much about it.” It was weird not knowing everything about Jade, but they had been friends long enough that she knew he would open up to her eventually. “He needs someone hot, and sweet and super chatty, since he’s so not chatty.”
“Well that narrows it down,” Mak said, snickering slightly and rolling her eyes. There weren’t many people at their school who she considered non-assholes, and probably even fewer who Jade would consider not an asshole. He seemed much more sensitive and thin-skinned than she was. Adorable boy. “Yeah he really does though, so ... best of luck figuring it out, ‘cause you know he probably won’t ever make a move on his own.” Her tone was affectionate though, of course. That was just Jade. Honestly, she couldn’t blame him much. It wasn’t like she put the moves on people every time she had a crush. She probably would’ve been punched or ostracized by now if she did.
Sabrina shrugged with a small smile. "Maybe he will! Or... maybe not. I guess it just depends on who it is and if he's got a shot? Though he's cute, so he probably doesn't realize he probably has a shot with anyone he wants. Except you," she added, her smile growing. Their milkshakes were set down in front of them and Sabrina began to unwrap the straw she was given. "It's super weird to think about crushes sometimes, because like, it's not like there's a ton of new kids in town, you know? So it's people who we've all known for like, forever. Maybe that's why people go out for a long time, it's not like there's a whole lot of options around here."
Mak shot her a grin at the comment, giving a little shrug. Only a very few people had a shot with her, just because of her sexuality alone. She’d had a few guys express having crushes on her in the past, and it never failed to be awkward for her, so Mak was glad that she had a reputation for being a giant lesbo now. She didn’t get harassed about it much anymore, so things weren’t too bad. It just got lonely, that was all. Until very recently, anyway. “Yeah, it’s pretty much been the same people for years,” she agreed, pulling her milkshake closer to her to take the first sip. “But everybody’s changed a lot, so ...” She shrugged. She’d definitely felt more and less attracted to different people throughout the years. College was going to be a whole different ballgame, but Mak wasn’t ready to think about all that just yet. “You’re lucky, at least you’re not like ... bound by gender, y’know?”
"I don't know if that's luck," Sabrina said with a shrug. "I mean, I am who I am and you are who you are. It's not like I've been super lucky with boys around here. All my favorite ones are friends, or gay. Or I'm not really attracted to them like that. Besides I'm not really into any boys at the moment, so..." She took a long sip from her milkshake and arched a brow at Mak across the table, trying to non-verbalize what she felt silly actually verbalizing. It felt so sixth grade so say stuff like I like like you.
Luckily, Mak got the message loud and clear, and it showed in her grin. She at least hoped that was the right message. It made her stomach all fluttery and stupid, it was a ridiculously good feeling. “Well y’know ... you’re into who you’re into,” she answered, trying to sound casual about it but mostly failing. It was hard to pass it off when she couldn’t control her expression. But how could she? “Makes me the lucky one then,” Mak answered, dimpling at Sabrina all over again. She made herself look away and sip on her milkshake.
"Oh, I don't know about that," Sabrina said with a soft laugh. She couldn't really say anyone she liked was lucky. Doomed, maybe, but that was probably a bit too harsh on her end. Sabrina swirled her straw around in her milkshake. She felt those funny little butterflies in her stomach, which was sort of strange, because Sabrina rarely got nervous about things. Maybe nervous wasn't the right word for it, because it wasn't necessarily a bad feeling. "So I think we should like, all hang out this weekend? Or soon. You and me and Hunter and Jade and stuff. I bought this really cool Ouija board from that gift shop on Main St.? It's old and antique-y looking, but I don't want to fuck around with it by myself."
Mak felt pretty lucky, so she felt like she knew about that. But Sabrina wasn’t one of those girls who seemed to love soaking up attention, so she wasn’t going to push the compliment. “Hell yeah we should!” she agreed with enthusiasm instead. She was more intrigued by the Ouija board than everybody hanging out, though. “No shit? How much was it?” she asked, her eyebrows raising. Mak wasn’t sure why that was the first question out of her mouth, but something antique-y had to be expensive, right? “Like, how old? Doesn’t say Mattel on it anywhere?” Because she was herself, she was fascinated with the idea of Ouija boards, but she’d only screwed around with lame ones with lame girls at sleepovers. Definitely not like the friends she had now.
Sabrina's brows raised as she took another sip of her milkshake. She licked her lips quickly to answer. "Well, he said it was on sale, and he only charged me like, sixteen bucks, which was awesome since that's all I had on me at the time. The planchette is real wood too." Some of the department store boards Sabrina had seen before had the shitty plastic planchettes. Sabrina paused because the waitress was approaching with her plate of fries. Sabrina thanked her and reached for the ketchup on the table before continuing. "So the guy says its from like 1885, but I don't know if I believe that 'cause it was so cheap? But it looks the part at least. And no, there's no Mattel on it, or anything like that. It didn't even have a box. He had to give me one for it. I can't wait until you see it, though. Even if it's not the real thing, it looks badass."
“Ohmygod, that’s amazing,” Mak declared, her own eyes widening a bit. She kind of wanted to go look at it right then, but it made more sense to enjoy their milkshake first. No need to let her weirdness really show out at the moment. At least Sabrina knew how she was, that was one thing. “Even if it doesn’t work, you should like, totally put it up on your wall or something.” She could already predict that it would make Hunter nervous, but he would still play around with it with them, if she glared at him enough. It sounded like a thing that would be right up Jen’s alley though, so maybe they would have even more fingers to go on it. Mak sucked at her milkshake straw. “Hey maybe we can all get together after Night of the Living Dead? Could be fun, already in the mood and all.” She grinned.
"Totally," Sabrina said with a nod. "I'm still bummed I have to work, but if we all meet up after, I guess that wouldn't be so bad. But I reserve the right to kick out anyone who makes fun of my board! No skeptics allowed." She was skeptic sometimes, but the whole point of Ouija boards was to have some freaky fun. "I bet Jackson would dig it too. I didn't tell you but he and I went into Blackwater Woods last Friday night. He wanted to get some footage for his Youtube channel or whatever. We ended up getting scared and running out like a couple of chicken shits. It was pretty funny, actually." Now, at least. It was only sort of funny then. But it had also been freaky.
“Ugh, I know, stupid work,” Mak agreed and rolled her eyes. She was always grateful that her job at the library was so flexible. She pretty much got off whenever she wanted, since Mr. Honeycutt liked her. Neil did too, even though he would never admit it, she was pretty sure. Her brows raised again as Sabrina mentioned going out with Jackson. She wasn’t sure if the little pop of jealousy was because of it being a boy, or because they hadn’t invited her along for weird shit. She was pretty much the polar opposite of a skeptic, though she did try to do her actual research when she really got into something. “Really? Did you get anything on tape? And um, hello, where was my invitation?” Mak grinned to show she was only teasing. Mostly teasing, anyway.
"Well, I'll be done around ten thirty, so it shouldn't be too late to meet up with you guys," Sabrina pointed out. If she hadn't needed the cash so bad, Sabrina might have just called off, but she was pretty broke and her parents were no good for money. "I don't think he got anything good on tape, though. I mean, some creepy shots of the trees, and some of the noises... we both sort of felt like something was watching us, because everything got really quiet." Sabrina doused a fry in ketchup and popped it into her mouth. "So we beat it. And to be honest, I didn't even know what we were doing until I met up with him outside of school that night. He suggested going to Blackwater, so I said okay. He might have planned it, but it was kind of spur of the moment for me. He mentioned wanting to go back though, so you can come with us then if you want?"
Even though they hadn’t seen anything, that sounded pretty exciting to Mak. She never got the guts up to go exploring places like that by herself, and was only recently making the kinds of friends who did that shit for fun. “Yeah, I totally want to go,” she said eagerly. Hopefully Jackson wouldn’t mind. If he was genuinely interested in investigating, he probably wouldn’t. If he was more into Sabrina, then ... well, they would cross that bridge if it popped into existence, Mak supposed. She didn’t know what the rules were, if there were any at all, with ‘seeing how things went,’ so she was just going to be rolling with the punches. She sucked down some more of her milkshake. “Is he coming to the movie? I don’t even remember.” Mak pulled her phone out to try and find the message thread again. “But anybody crazy enough to wander around Blackwater will probably totally fuck around with a Ouija board.”
Sabrina wasn't terribly concerned about Jackson being interested in her beyond friendship. They hung out a lot, and he had a girlfriend. It was just fun to have someone willing to do weird shit with her, although Sabrina was figuring Mak would be just as down to get into trouble as Jackson. Especially if the weird shit was included. "I think so," Sabrina said with a shrug. "I kind of lost track of that thread once it was determined that I wouldn't be able to make it. I couldn't stand all the jealousy I was feeling at how much fun you guys would have without me. He'd probably love the movie, though. And I bet he'd totally be down with the Oujia board. I'll have to ask him. We'll just have to find a place devoid of hovering parents to actually do it. Hunter's dad is always working, right? Think he'd let us use his place?"
Mak made a sympathetic noise to Sabrina’s mention of jealousy, but it was still halfway teasing. It did suck that Sabrina had to work, and Mak knew she would be antsy through the whole movie for it to be over so they could hurry up and hang out. But at least the second part was definitely happening! “We’ll try not to have too much fun, we’ll pout some in your honor,” she assured her with a grin. “But yeah, probably! I can ask him! His dad is pretty much working constantly. I bet Jen would love to fuck around on a Ouija board too.” Since she had her phone right in front of her, Mak shot off a text of inquiry to Hunter. She already knew he wouldn’t say no, and if he tried, she would harass him into saying yes. “We totally can’t do it at my place, or I would offer. Mom gets weirded out by stuff like that.”
Sabrina didn't know Jen very well, but if Hunter could vouch for her, Sabrina was totally fine with her hanging out with everyone. She ate another French fry, dancing a little in her seat as Mak texted Hunter. "I'd rather do it somewhere with no parents. My dad's almost never home, but our apartment is super small and if he does come home, it'll be a pain in the ass." Probably because he'd probably be drunk, and he wasn't fond of Sabrina having boys in the house. Little did he know she had more than just a preference for dick. Sabrina wondered if she should invite Jasper. She wasn't sure he'd have fun, or even like her other friends, but he could bring pot, at least. Maybe. She decided to subtly mention it to him over text soon. "If all houses are off limits, we'll go somewhere else. The Fallow or something."
Mak didn’t know a lot about Sabrina’s home life, but she knew enough to know it wasn’t great. So avoiding her dad sounded like a great idea. Hunter didn’t respond right away -- how dare he! -- so she turned her full attention back to the girl in front of her. She didn’t much like the idea of going to the Fallow, that place was creepy as fuck, but she wasn’t going to say so. Mak sneakily moved a hand over to steal one of Sabrina’s fries instead. “We’ll figure it out,” she said with confidence. “Where there’s a will for creepiness, there’s a way.” Mak flashed her a grin. Teenagers were nothing if not resourceful, there was always a place to get into something their parents would disapprove of, whether that was making out or smoking pot or trying to communicate with the dead.
Sabrina didn't mind sharing her fries, and she pushed the plate a little bit closer to the middle of the table so Mak had easier access to them. "Yeah, I don't see it being a problem. There's always some place to sneak off to. It's not like this place isn't full of weird places to hang. I wonder if Rost would let us do it in the cemetery sometime, like after dark when we're not supposed to be there. He's cool and super weird... he might be into it, I bet." Maybe. He was the caretaker, and he probably wouldn't want a bunch of teenagers playing with a Oujia board in there after dark. But then again, maybe he wouldn't care. Or they could be stealthy and do it where he wouldn't hear them.
Mak had picked off of plenty of friend’s plates before, but it felt kind of special with Sabrina for some stupid reason. Girlfriendly-special. But that was probably just her projecting. She raised her eyebrows at the mention of the cemetery -- she’d been there, of course, all of the high school kids had -- but it hadn’t occurred to her. If they were going to talk to dead people, why not be surrounded by them? “I bet he would,” she agreed with a grin. She didn’t know Rost as well as some of the teenagers around, but he’d always seemed like a cool adult to her. “Maybe he’d even like, have some pointers for us or something. Some insider gypsy magic, I dunno. Ooh, what if we can like ... talk to the angel statues somehow? They move around on their own, y’know.”
Sabrina arched a brow and shot Mak a skeptical look. "I've never seen those things move around on their own. Have you?" There were a lot of things in town that Sabrina believed, and a lot of things she didn't. She knew about the rumors surrounding the stone angels in the cemetery, but she'd never seen it herself. And she visited the cemetery a lot, not only to just get pot from Rost. "Besides, Ouija boards talk to the dead. I don't think stone angels were ever living. They're stone." It was freaky to think about an inanimate object watching her in any capacity. Especially in a place she went to grieve sometimes.
Mak wasn’t thinking about Sabrina being there a lot because of her brother, just all of the things she’d heard about the graveyard. “Well I mean ... no,” she answered, pursing her lips a bit. “Not like, personally. But some of them have totally seemed to be in different positions, you know? Have you ever asked Rost about it? Maybe they’re like, possessed or something.” She didn’t know, but she didn’t think anybody else really knew either. Point Pleasant was just a hub of weird shit. “But even if not, there’s gotta be tons of ghosts there to chat with.” Mak stole another fry and washed it down with some milkshake.
"I've never actually noticed that," Sabrina admitted. That wasn't to say Mak was wrong. Sabrina had just never memorized one of the statue's positions to compare it later on. Maybe she would next time she went. "Maybe if I go by to see if he'd let us trespass after dark, I'll ask him about the statues. But yeah, I bet there's tons of ghosts we could try to talk to. That's definitely an option if Hunter isn't comfortable with us doing it in his house. You and I should go by the cemetery together no matter what. We can find Rost and see what he knows. I bet he's got a ton of cool cemetery stories."
At the mention of Hunter, Mak checked her phone again, but he still hadn’t answered. She was going to get offended and give him shit if he didn’t follow up soon. “Yes!” she said to Sabrina with enthusiasm. “I’ve never really hung around and talked to him. So we have to. Really soon. Like I would say today if it wasn’t raining, but.” She gestured out the big picture window. The rain was gentle, but it was definitely still coming down. She wondered a bit if anybody at all went to the graveyard in the rain. Did he get lonely out there? Though there were a bunch of ghosts to keep him company, she supposed. Mak grinned at Sabrina and gave a little bounce in her seat. “I’m excited now. Like Halloween is coming early.”
"Totally," Sabrina said, grinning at Mak's enthusiasm. It felt good to have things to do. Have things planned. Spooky shit that they all seemed to get into pretty hardcore. It was hard not to, when you lived in a place like Point Pleasant. "We'll go soon," she promised. "Maybe tomorrow if it's not raining anymore. If it is, we'll find something else to do if you want." She wasn't sure what, but she and Mak could usually find something to occupy their time, even if it was just hanging out at one of their homes, which was just fine by her.
No matter what they ended up doing, Mak was stoked that Sabrina wanted to hang out with her some more. For the second day in a row. “For sure,” she said, smiling probably too much. She couldn’t help it though. Even though they were just ‘seeing how things went,’ that was a good sign. Like, the best sign. She told herself to slow her roll though, and just let things happen. “I’m not working, so ... whatever you wanna do.” Her mom probably wouldn’t like the idea of her hanging out in a cemetery after school, but what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt Mak. She was seventeen, for crying out loud, she could do what she wanted now. Mak finished off her milkshake and pulled one more fry free of the plate to pop into her mouth. “What are you doin’ after this?”
Sabrina worked on her milkshake and arched a brow before shrugging. She licked her lips of the lingering chocolate taste. "Probably go home and do whatever. I wasn't really thinking about it beyond this. Why? You want to do something?" Mak could have just been making small talk or whatever, and maybe she already had plans, but Sabrina wasn't too proud to invite herself to tag along. It beat going home to hang out alone, at least. Plus, there was the added bonus of being with Mak.
Was there even a way to casually invite a girl you really liked over to your house? Mak wasn’t sure that was possible. It was an impulsive decision, but now that they’d more or less talked about what happened, she really wanted to spend more time with Sabrina. “You wanna come over? Play some Mario Kart or something?” she offered, trying to sound blase about it, like she didn’t mind either way. She wouldn’t hold it against Sabrina if she didn’t want to, of course, but she knew her home life wasn’t the best, and it was all gross and rainy out, so if she wanted to postpone going home, Mak would happily enable her.
Sabrina grinned. "Yeah. I won't even tell you that I suck at Mario Kart." She still had fun with video games, even if she was generally crap at playing them. "Your mom won't care, will she?" Some parents were weird about friends over on a 'school night' and all that shit. Mak's mom seemed pretty cool, though, and she hadn't seemed to mind Sabrina much when she'd stayed for dinner last week. Sabrina would probably push her luck and stay as late as she could before she'd have to walk home. She doubted Mak would mind unless Sabrina started to overstay her welcome or something.
Mak laughed softly at the confession, wrinkling her nose up at Sabrina a bit. “I’ll go easy on you,” she promised. “But nah, she won’t care.” She didn’t know that, but Mak was pretty damn sure. Hunter came over a lot, after all. Her mom liked being mom-like and taking care of Mak’s friends, and she’d already met Sabrina a few times now and everything. Maybe Mak could even talk her into borrowing the car to take Sabrina home once it was time to go. Especially if it was still raining by then. “You can keep me company while I struggle through my damn anatomy homework,” she added with a chuckle.
"You really don't want me trying to keep you entertained over your anatomy homework because you won't get any of it done. I mean, I could point out all the body parts for you, but that's about as much as I can help you with that." She took another drink of her milkshake and reached into her bag to find her wallet. "I promise not to stay so late that you don't get your homework done, though. I should probably do mine too. I've been pushing it the last couple of days, trying to finish everything like, right before class starts."
“You can totally do it at my place if you want,” Mak offered, dipping her own hand into her bag to find her wallet too. “After I kick your ass at Mario Kart, that is.” She flashed the other girl a grin. Honestly, she wasn’t sure she could keep her lips to herself if Sabrina was going to be hanging out in her room with her all evening, not enough to actually do homework, but she could try. She didn’t really need help with anatomy -- not in a serious sense, anyway -- but she would still enjoy the company. If Sabrina wanted to hang around that long.
"I have no idea if I'll feel like doing homework at all, but we'll see." She pulled out enough cash to cover both milkshakes and the fries, and tip, since she was the one who invited Mak to Moxie's, it felt right. "But we'll see what kind of mood I'm in after a competitive round of video games. We should probably go now though, since it doesn't look like it's raining too hard." Seriously, one of them needed to get a car and soon. Winter was going to blow otherwise.
Mak made a noise of protest as Sabrina put too much money down, but she decided not to insist, tucking her wallet away again. Maybe she could get it next time. She got her bag strap settled on her shoulder and slid out of the booth to stand up, grinning some more at Sabrina. “I’ll do my best to console you after your horrific defeat,” she teased. Really, part of her hoped that neither of them would feel like doing homework and would want to make out for a couple of hours instead, but that might not be realistic, she didn’t know. Mak was definitely game to find out though. No matter what they did, it would be fun.