Who: Elodie and Dahlia When: Morning/Afternoon-ish, Sunday, July 22 Where: Home Status: complete
Elodie wasn’t entirely sure what time it was when she got home. Jasper had picked her up from Overlook the night before, and she had slept in his bed rather than having him drive her home. She may have fucked Clint, but Jasper was comfortable and familiar to her, so she kind of got the best of both worlds. And now she was home, eyes still bleary from a long night, Mila’s bouquet still gripped in her hand. She had told Jasper how she got it, but thankfully he didn’t demand she give it back to Roxy or anything. Finders keepers and all that.
Stifling a yawn, Elodie let herself inside the apartment as Jasper drove off and she could immediately smell coffee. She didn’t drink that stuff a whole lot, but it sounded really good right then and Elodie toed her shoes off before padding toward the kitchen to see if there was any left.
It had been another night of not knowing where Elodie was, for Dahlia. She worried, of course, but she knew that fighting Elodie’s tendency to roam would only make things worse between them. She wasn’t her mother, after all, and Dahlia at least knew she had some safe places to stay. Dahlia was just grateful that the girl checked in every once in a while to confirm she was alive and well. And when she didn’t, Charlie was wonderful about letting Dahlia know when Elodie was at their house.
Dahlia was slowly sipping on said coffee at the kitchen table when her wayward teenager came in, and she felt that usual sense of relief, hearing the front door open and close. She looked up as Elodie’s footsteps approached, keeping her expression mild as she took in the outfit and the bouquet. Interesting. “Good morning,” she greeted.
Elodie managed a sleepy smile in Dahlia's direction and she set the bouquet on the table in front of her aunt before heading for the coffee. "That's for you. I took it so you can marry the Sheriff. I guess that's how those things go." Elodie rummaged through the cabinet for a cup, glancing at Dahlia briefly. "Don't take his last name, though. I heard it's a big pain in the ass to get your real name back if you ever get divorced."
Surprise crossed Dahlia’s face. The flowers were beautiful, if a little wilty from sitting out all night. Elodie’s words made her realize it was a bridal bouquet, and she looked around at her niece again. “That’s ... thoughtful, thank you,” she said, a hint of amusement in her voice. “They’re beautiful. So you went to a wedding?” Elodie didn’t tell her much about her life or what she was up to, and Charlie hadn’t mentioned it in text either. “Who got married?” It was easier to ask than really entertain the idea of marrying Grady, it was still far too soon for those kinds of plans.
Elodie rubbed her tired eyes with one hand before grabbing the coffee pot to pour some into her coffee cup. "Jasper's uncle, Aaron. He married his girlfriend, who's pregnant by the way. They call those shotgun weddings, don't they? Or is that when someone elopes. I can't remember." Replacing the pot, Elodie walked over to sit down at the table. "Anyway, the flowers were pretty so I took them. Didn't have anywhere to put them when I went out after so they've had a rough night. But they still look okay, I think. What'd you do last night?"
“I believe that’s a shotgun wedding, yes,” Dahlia answered with a laugh. Then she scrunched her nose a bit at Elodie. “Wait, you caught it, or you took it? The bouquet?” They were traditionally meant to be thrown to the single ladies in the crowd, but who knew at what point in the wedding Elodie grabbed the flowers. Dahlia hoped she didn’t leave the bride flustered and upset that she lost her bouquet before the toss. Not that the Lucases seemed terribly set on tradition, but still, it would’ve been rude. “I just had a quiet night in, took a bath, painted a bit, nothing exciting. I’ll get these in some water.” She didn’t really have a good vase here, but she did have a few mason jars that would be big enough and maybe perk the blooms up a bit. Dahlia stood up to go find one.
Elodie yawned, already looking forward to crawling into her bed to pass out for a few more hours. "Well, I didn't catch it. Someone left them on a table. Seemed silly to let them go to waste." She paused and watched her aunt fill up a glass with water. A bath and painting sounded kind of dull for a Saturday night. But she guessed Dahlia's boyfriend was pretty busy every day of the week. "You should go out more. Do something fun. Jasper has like... three or four aunts... I can't remember. But I can set up a play date if you want." She hid her blossoming smirk behind another sip of coffee.
Dahlia had the feeling that the bouquet wasn’t permanently abandoned, probably just sitting there waiting for the lucky lady -- or not so lucky, honestly -- to come back to it. She didn’t think it was a huge deal, and the mental picture of some drunk bridesmaid wandering around looking for the flowers was a little funny. Plus it was oddly nice that Elodie didn’t consider it a waste to give the bouquet to Dahlia. Nice in an Elodie way. She glanced over as she unwrapped the stems of the flowers to put them in the water, letting out a chuckle. “An old lady play date, huh? Do you know any of them well enough to think we’d get along?” she asked, her tone light. She probably wasn’t wrong that Dahlia needed more friends in town to keep her occupied. She was getting very close to Grady, but he was understandably busy a lot of the time.
"I mean... not really," Elodie said truthfully. "The one Jasper's uncle just married is pregnant and probably a little crazy since she tried to kill him and all. The other new one is a stripper his uncle Caden married during a bender in Atlantic City. She's probably crazy on a whole other level. But maybe Charlie. She's normal enough." Plus, she was nice and let Elodie come and go as she pleased and never seemed annoyed whenever Elodie was there. "She's a teacher, so I guess that means she's smart. And she can put up with Jasper and Mr. Lucas under her roof, so that means she's probably patient too. So... let me know and I'll set it up." Elodie grinned.
Talking to Eldoie was always an adventure, especially when she dropped in crazy tidbits like the uncle’s new wife had tried to kill him. Dahlia’s eyes widened slightly as she arranged the flowers in the mason jar, but she didn’t cut in since there were more juicy facts to listen to. One brother married to a pregnant attempted murderer, another married to a stripper. The Lucases were almost on par with their own family for crazy dysfunction, it sounded like. They probably weren’t the best influence on Elodie, but she was right that Charlie and Gavin were very nice about letting her stay there and hang out so often, so maybe they were the little oasis of sanity in that family. “I do have her number already,” Dahlia answered. “Charlie’s. She lets me know you’re still alive sometimes so I can sleep at night.” Her tone was casual and breezy, and she brought the bouquet back to the table to place it as a centerpiece, then sat back down again. “I do need some more local friends, don’t I?” she asked as she reached for her coffee.
"You definitely need some friends. Can't revolve your whole life around a guy who's always working," Elodie said, resting her cheek in her palm. Her eyelids felt heavy again and she regretted not sleeping longer at Jasper's. But Dahlia's words started to seep through the drowsiness a bit belatedly, and she eyed the flowers on the table before glancing at her aunt. It hadn't really occurred to her that Dahlia ever worried or wondered where she was. Her mom never had, after all, so Elodie wasn't exactly used to having to check in or anything like that. "I can always text you if I'm not gonna be here," she said finally. The words felt weird on her tongue and Elodie braced herself internally for Dahlia to laugh and dismiss the offer. "But I'm usually at Jasper's if it's late or whatever. He always picks me up if I need him to."
Since Dahlia wasn’t Elodie’s mom, she had thought long and hard about trying to lay down hard rules about curfews and communication ... being too heavy handed had seemed like a bad, counterproductive idea. That didn’t mean she didn’t wonder and worry often about her half-feral niece, of course she did. But Elodie was almost an adult, and she’d already survived something Dahlia would likely never understand. As soon as Elodie made the offer, Dahlia knew she’d made the right choice, because that was so much better than trying to force a bond that wasn’t there yet. The last thing she wanted to do was dismiss it. Instead she nodded a bit and gave a soft smile. “That’s a good friend, I’m glad you have him,” Dahlia said. “If he ever can’t do it, I would come pick you up anywhere, anytime. No questions or lectures, I promise. And I would love it if you would text me, yeah. Just so I know you’re okay.”
It was just as foreign to her to hear an adult say they would pick her up as it was for Elodie to offer to text one if she wasn't going to be home. Elodie was used to coming and going as she pleased without having to answer to anyone and that was pretty much how she liked it. But Dahlia wasn't being pushy or aggressive and trying to treat Elodie like a child, so there wasn't really any reason to get defensive or angry about it. "Okay," Elodie said finally, still watching Dahlia as though she was some new, mythical creature that had manifested itself at the kitchen table. How could it be that Dahlia was related to her dad? They were so different. "Maybe I should try and get my license," Elodie said, straightening up after a brief moment and picking up her coffee again. "This guy I've decided to sleep with now lives in Overlook and that's a far walk from here, especially in the dark."
Dahlia wasn’t trying to be nosy, but she could sense the incredulity from Elodie as the girl stared at her like she was an alien. It broke her heart a little -- she obviously wasn't used to being cared for by an adult figure in her life. It made Dahlia want to smack the hell out of her useless brother. She didn’t outwardly react to the phrase ‘the guy I’ve decided to sleep with,’ but part of her winced internally. Young girls could be so reckless with their sex lives, she knew that from experience. Dahlia just prayed Elodie wouldn’t end up pregnant by some stupid asshole. “I think you should,” she agreed about the license. “And like I said a while ago, I’ll help you get a car. ... you still have to ask for rides if you’re intoxicated, though. Driving drunk is a very stupid way to die or kill someone else, that’s all I’ll say.” Dahlia paused briefly and then arched a brow. “Now I’m curious about this guy ... just a friend with benefits? Or are you dating?”
She had totally forgotten that Dahlia had offered to help her get a car. That was more incentive to get her license, wasn't it? Only she had never driven anything, even for fun, which meant she would have to learn. Maybe Jasper would teach her, though she doubted he would ever let her get behind the wheel of his car. Eh, she would figure something out. "I won't drive drunk," she promised, since Elodie knew she did a lot of stupid things, but that seemed super stupid. Hopefully she wouldn't change her mind when she was actually drunk or high and had keys in her hand. That was something to think about later when she actually had to think about it. Setting her coffee down, Elodie stretched her arms out over the table, amused at both the mention of friends with benefits and dating. "Just benefits," she said, resting her head down on her arms. "He's an Overlook brat. I don't date and he'd never date someone like me, so it works out. He's a mess and he doesn't even know it. I like it."
Dahlia didn’t know all the connotations of ‘Overlook brat,’ but she’d been in the neighborhood enough to piece together what it likely meant. She could sense the dark glee in Elodie as she spoke, so she wasn’t really concerned that the guy was taking advantage of her ... maybe it was the other way around. “A mess, huh?” Dahlia echoed with an amused little grin. “Sometimes those guys can be fun. Just be safe about it, I don’t have a lot of spare abortion money lying around.” She sipped on her coffee again. A good mom probably would’ve been freaking out, but Dahlia knew teenagers were going to have sex no matter what any parental figure said about it, she just hoped Elodie was smart enough to protect herself. “You’re not interested in dating anyone, though? What about Jasper? ... not trying to push anything, just curious. You never talk about this kind of stuff.” She didn’t really talk to Dahlia about much of anything, but that would sound accusatory to say out loud, and Dahlia wanted to avoid that.
Elodie snorted softly at the mention of an abortion. Maybe that meant she ought to get birth control or something. It honestly never really occurred to her that she could actually get pregnant. It seemed like something that happened to other people. Like the universe knew better than to try and stick her with a kid. Dahlia's question about dating prompted Elodie to raise a brow, though she didn't move from her position. "Nah, dating seems like a pain in the ass. Like... how would I even do that. People get weird about, like... monogamy and shit. And I don't wanna date Jasper. He's back with Jules, anyway... I think. They were broken up and she slept with Clint... the Overlook brat. Then they got back together. But now he knows about Clint. So maybe they're broken up again, I don't know. We didn't talk a lot last night." He'd picked her up and drove her back to his house and then they both fell asleep in his bed without much communication. It was probably weird that she could only sleep that soundly when Jasper was there, but that probably had to do with the fact that he'd been her only real companion when they'd been in the fog hell. "Plus, he's got the hots for his guy best friend, so I think he's got enough dating going on in his life. He's kinda more like a brother to me now, anyway. Is that what you and the Sheriff are doing? Dating? You go out and hold hands and shit like that?"
She felt like she needed a flow chart to keep all that straight, but that was teenagehood, wasn’t it? Dahlia had been a part of some tangled social webs herself, back in the day, before she’d grown out of enjoying all of that drama. It could get incredibly draining to deal with as an empath. “We don’t actually get to go out a whole lot ... but there’s some hand holding, yeah,” Dahlia answered with a soft laugh. “Among other things. It’s hard to date someone who doesn’t have a lot of free time, but I really like him when we do spend time together, so it feels worth it. Dating is always about trying to find someone you get along with who can enhance your life, at any age. But it’s fine if you don’t want to, nothing wrong with staying single. Or being in multiple relationships, if everybody is honest and on the same page ... not everyone is monogamous.” Considering how ‘online’ kids were these days, Dahlia thought Elodie probably already knew that, but who knew. Nobody had told her that was an option when she’d been that age.
"I don't want to be in one relationship, let alone a bunch at the same time." Elodie saw what attachments did to people and while she enjoyed watching drama, she didn't want to be a part of it. Sure, she felt attached to one, maybe two people in her life, but it was different from a romantic attachment. Feelings and love made people act like fucking idiots and Elodie wanted no part of that. Speaking of love... Elodie studied her aunt, her lips twitching into a small, sly smile. "You love him yet? The Sheriff? Or is it still in the 'like' phase." She was still getting to know Dahlia, but Elodie liked her well enough. She was cooler than Elodie's mom had been and she sort of hoped her aunt would stick around, even after Elodie turned eighteen. If she was in a serious thing with Barrett, that would probably help some.
The first part made Dahlia chuckle softly -- that was fair enough. She didn’t have the energy for multiple relationships either, at least not at this point in her life. It was good that Elodie knew herself well enough to know not to bite off more than she could chew. The question and Elodie’s expression brought another smile to her face, but Dahlia’s nose wrinkled a little. “That word is so ... big,” she said. “It’s too soon to say, really. I definitely like him a lot, I love what he’s shown me. But we still barely know each other, and real love takes time to build.” Talking to a teenager about love -- who seemed to have never been in it herself -- felt strange, like they were so far apart in understanding of what that meant, they might as well be speaking different languages. Grady gave Dahlia all of the heart flutters and rushes of happy emotion when she saw him that might pass for love for some people, she just knew that the deeper stuff took more time. “We haven’t even been in a fight yet ... I’m infatuated, I’ll say that.”
Elodie didn't think she had the patience for that kind of stuff. She tended to instantly glomp onto people who intrigued her and then would detach once she got bored or they did something to piss her off. "You haven't fought yet?" Elodie wrinkled her nose. God, was it all just rainbows and unicorn farts so far? Fighting is when you really got to know someone, in her opinion. "Have you ever been married before or anything?" Elodie asked, not quite waiting for an answer on the first question since Dahlia had already said they hadn't. But she couldn't remember if she had asked Dahlia about her past or not. Her brain was too tired and fuzzy to recall much of anything beyond the past week.
Dahlia wouldn’t have agreed it had all been unicorn farts, she and Grady were mature adults after all -- which probably factored into their lack of real arguments so far -- and they were grounded people, so they knew not everything was sunny. The memory of Grady waking up from that awful nightmare with scratches on his chest flashed through her mind ... no, it wasn’t all sparkly and happy all the time. But Dahlia didn’t feel the need to explain her relationship to Elodie. “Yes, I was married twice, actually,” she answered with a slight nod, sure her niece would have something snarky to say about it. “So I’m hopeful that I’m a little smarter this time around. Do you ever want to get married? My guess is no.” She smiled faintly.
Elodie's brows rose to hear Dahlia had been married twice. Her curiosity was piqued now and her sleepiness was momentarily forgotten. Dahlia was talented and pretty and seemed like a pretty decent person, so it was hard for Elodie to imagine her aunt failing at anything. It made her seem more human to Elodie, though, so she wasn't going to make fun. "Hell no, I don't want to get married. Who were you married to before? Why'd you get divorced?" They were questions Dahlia might not want to answer but that didn't necessarily cross Elodie's mind. She didn't know a ton about her aunt's past and now she wanted to.
Dahlia didn’t expect Elodie to be curious about her at all, much less her relationship history, and at first she was inclined not to share ... but Dahlia could sense the genuine interest coming from her niece. And maybe if she relayed some of what she’d been through, it would help Elodie avoid some of the same pitfalls. That was probably arrogant, but she was trying to be a semi-parent to the girl. She was quiet for a beat, idly rubbing the pad of her thumb against her hot coffee mug. “My first husband’s name was John, and we were both nineteen when we got married. It wasn’t a good relationship from the jump. We fought all the time, he got violent ... I basically ran away about two years in, got some financial help getting a divorce. My second husband came around about a year later, Sean. He was a whole different breed of asshole, the kind that’s harder to sniff out. I left him when he started cheating on me.”
There were certainly times Elodie was curious, and times where she couldn't find the energy to really care. But right now, she was curious, because certain people could be mysteries and Dahlia was certainly a mystery, despite their familial connection. Elodie listened, wrinkling her nose a little at the idea of Dahlia marrying someone at nineteen. Elodie herself was almost eighteen and she could barely imagine being in a monogamous relationship, let alone married. "Jesus, men really suck," Elodie said after a moment of contemplation. "So both of your marriages were when you were super young. You were still, like... a kid. Not legally, but you know. Do you wanna do it again, though? Get married? Pop out a kid or three?"
Knowing what she knew now, Dahlia knew she’d been too young to have a proper marriage, even with her empathetic advantages. But maybe she was a little overly gun shy about it now -- she wouldn’t recommend anybody get married until well into their thirties. Not that anyone was asking for her recommendations. “I was twenty seven on my second divorce, that one took a while longer to crash and burn, but ... yes. I was too young to really know what I wanted and needed, and to see the red flags,” she agreed, then gave a small shrug. “I don’t really want children of my own at this point in my life, but if the right man came along, I would get married again. I would just take my time with it this time, be smarter about it. Talk to him about important issues earlier on. A lot of men do suck, yeah, but not all of them, and there are plenty of reasons to want a long term partner.” She smiled faintly. “If I marry Grady, are you going to put on a hideous pink taffeta bridesmaid’s dress for me and stand up front with me?” Dahlia teased.
Just the phrase "long term partner" made Elodie shudder slightly. That didn't mean she didn't want it for Dahlia, if it was something that would make her happy. Hopefully with a guy who wasn't a complete dick, if such guys really existed. Elodie wondered if she would see the red flags...probably, since every now and then she felt like she was a red flag. But if someone knew they were a red flag were they really a red flag? The thought made her brain hurt so she pushed it away and smirked softly at her aunt. "If you marry Grady and decide to have some prissy wedding, I'll go, but I'm not wearing anything with taffeta. If you do want to get married, you should fly to Vegas and have fun instead of an expensive party where you've got to entertain everyone."
Dahlia laughed, since a “prissy” wedding with all the frills and lace really wasn’t her style anyway, and she highly doubted Grady would want some big fancy wedding, especially with the price tag attached. “You’re a wise young woman, El,” she said with a grin, lifting her coffee again. “Eloping somewhere fun sounds much better to me now. I already did the fru-fru wedding the second time around, and it was more of a pain in the ass than the best day of my life.” She would never really try to force Elodie into a pink dress, but Dahlia felt a tiny bit sad thinking she wouldn’t be there if and when she married Grady. Maybe they could have a tiny hometown ceremony with Elodie and Jen, and then take off somewhere fun ... she was getting ahead of herself though. “Not that we’re anywhere close to that,” Dahlia said and waved a hand. “I just ... would hope you’d be a part of it, even if it’s just a small party here. You’re the only family I like, more or less.”
It was hard for Elodie to think beyond the day she was already living in. So much shit could happen between now and tomorrow that it felt kind of pointless to make plans. She had some fog monster nearly kill her, then ended up in some piece of shit hell dimension, and that was all while she had been just trying to get through high school. If Dahlia ended up getting married to the Sheriff, Elodie would be there if Dahlia wanted her to be there, but she wasn't going to give it too much thought until it actually happened. Elodie grinned at her aunt and pushed herself up a bit to stretch in the chair. "Yeah, I am pretty cool. I like you too, if that helps anything. I mean, not that you really have to do much to be better than my parents, but you know what I mean." She was thinking it might be time to go back to bed for a few hours and Elodie started to stand before she paused and eyed Dahlia. "By the way, can you like... I need like, birth control or whatever. How do I do that?"
It made Dahlia happy to hear that Elodie liked her -- that definitely wasn’t a guarantee, even being very different from her parents. She could tell that Elodie meant it too, and it made her smile back as her niece started to get up. Dahlia’s expression turned questioning, then understanding as she smothered the worry that suddenly fluttered in her chest. Was Elodie using any protection at all? She’d just said she was casually sleeping with a guy ... were they using condoms? Something else? Did she need STI testing too? She knew asking all of that in a rush wouldn’t be very productive, especially not so early in the morning, so she tried to push it back for the moment. “Well you’ll need to have a doctor prescribe it ... I’ll make an appointment for you,” Dahlia offered. If Elodie admitted to being sexually active, they would probably do some testing on her too, which was a small relief. “Until then, I know they suck, but you should be using condoms at least.”
Elodie had never been on the pill, or anything like that. Her mom had never taken her anywhere and Elodie had never asked. But she'd been pretty lucky at not getting pregnant, but with all the bullshit happening lately, Elodie was sure her luck would eventually run out. And she sure as shit didn't want to get knocked up by any asshole in this town. Or anywhere, really. She grinned at Dahlia's suggestion. "Yeah, I know. I am." It was easy enough to lie. She did make the dudes wear condoms. But sometimes she didn't. "Thanks," Elodie added belatedly. At least Dahlia didn't dive into a rage about sin and shit like that. Not that Elodie expected her to. Dahlia seemed... what was the word? Progressive. "I'm gonna go to bed for a bit. Weddings are exhausting."
She’d quit believing in sin a long time ago, and she definitely had progressive ideas about freedom when it came to young womens’ sex lives, so none of this was shocking or distressing to hear. Dahlia wasn’t quite sure she believed that Elodie was being safe one hundred percent of the time, but what teenager was? She was just similarly grateful that the girl hadn’t come down pregnant yet. It was a lot easier to prevent than it was to get rid of, and gods knew Elodie wasn’t ready to have a baby. “Especially when the celebration goes all night,” Dahlia quipped with a little grin. Then she waved Elodie away as she stood up to clear the table. “Go go, get some sleep. I’ll check in on you before dinnertime.”