#convo: rory & macey

[imitheous]

@trashydemigodmess​

Things had been slightly chaotic for Rory since deciding to move out of the apartment.  The last few days had been spent on the floor with Keaton, trying to figure out who would get what from their shared space, and it was draining mentally, physically, and emotionally.  Their lists hadn’t seemed like much at first, but somehow it still ended up with her room now covered in various boxes and bags.  Dropping down onto the bed, Rory groaned before speaking.  “I don’t even remember buying this much stuff, and this isn’t even all of it.  Keaton has a shit ton of boxes too.”  She looked over at Macey, who thank gods had offered to help her drag her belongings back to the Zeus cabin.  Making the trip alone would’ve just been depressing. “Who the fuck let me get this much stuff?”

[imitheous]

i get by with a little help from my friends | chatzy

CHARACTERS: Rory, Macey, Brent ABOUT: Rory comes back to find an empty apartment, and turns to two of her closest friends for comfort.

Rory's emotional state had been a roller coaster since she left the apartment, spiraling around in her stomach only to leave her feeling uncomfortable and nauseous. She had no idea how long she had sat on that bench in the park, turns out she had left her phone at the apartment, but eventually she had found the strength to go back home.  The anger had long left her at that point, and she was only left feeling like complete shit for the argument happening in the first place, and just wanted to try and make things right again.  Instead, she had come home to an empty apartment, and a note, which was now clutched tightly in her hand as she stood outside of Brent and Macey's door.  She had called her friend in a fit of tears, not knowing where else to turn to except her best friend.  She took a few more ragged breaths, before knocking on the door and taking a step back to wait.

Macey had woken up to Rory's phone call, barely able to register what was fully going on through Rory's tears and her own 3am grogginess. But, she knew there was a fight, and that her friend needed somewhere to stay. So she'd gotten to work turning the couch into a makeshift bed with (maybe) too many blankets and pillows, fully awake by the time she heard the knock on the door. She opened it and immediately pulled Rory into a hug, "Oh gods, come here."

Brent had awoken to Macey on what sounded like a frantic phone call. Once she hung up and gave him a short summary of the situation— Rory and Keaton had a fight and there would be a guest on their couch for at least the night— he went to their kitchen to make some tea. Ziggy woke up, too, and was circling his and Macey's legs when Rory arrived. He picked the dog up and leaned in their doorway, smiling at Rory while Macey held her in the embrace. "Hey, Ror."

Rory practically fell into Macey's arms when they wrapped around her, already feeling more tears spring up in her eyes.  She shut them and turned to bury her face into the area where Macey's shoulder met her neck, and tried to keep them away.  The moment seemed to drag on, but Rory couldn't find it in her to care, while they weren't the arms she wanted in the moment, she was too overwhelmed by how much she's needed a hug over the past few hours.    When Brent spoke, she opened her eyes again, lifting her head back up to give him a small smile in return, her voice equally as small when she spoke.  "Hi, I'm so sorry."

"Please, don't be sorry," Macey shook her head, releasing the hug to take her hands and guide Rory inside, "I'm sorry that you had a shitty fight."

Brent waited for the two to pass through the doorway before he closed and locked the door. He let Ziggy back down, who immediately started sniffing at Rory's feet.

Rory followed Macey into the apartment and over to the couch, and immediately dropped heavily onto the cushions.  When Ziggy approached her, she bent down to give him scratches with her free hand, but it did little to balm the ache she felt.  She let out a small, self deprecating laugh at Macey's words.  "Yeah, me too." She looked back up to glance between her two friends, but quickly looked back down again when she saw the worry in their eyes.

Macey followed suit and sat down next to her. She patted her lap a few times and Ziggy jumped up to join them. "Did...you want to talk about it at all?" She offered, "Or, we can just sit and drink—" Macey looked back to the kitchen, "—Whatever Brent made, and just watch a movie and not talk about it."

Brent sat on Rory's other side, putting a gentle hand on her back. "I heated up some water for tea, if you want it. Or I can get you water, make you something, whatever you need."

Reaching up to wipe a tear off of her face, Rory kept her focus on Ziggy as she thought over Macey's question.  "I fucked up Mace.  I fucked up and said shit that I really shouldn't have.” The knot in her stomach twisted at the thought of talking about what had happened, but she knew that not talking was what got her into this mess in the first place.  It left her feeling unsure of what to do, and was almost grateful when Brent spoke.  At his words, she realized how dry and sore her throat was from all the crying she had done over the past 2 hours roughly, so she nodded.  "Yeah, tea would be great." She glanced up at Brent, giving him another small smile.  "Thanks."

"It happens," Macey nodded sympathetically, "We've totally said really bad shit to each other before," She motioned to herself and Brent, "But like, everything always eventually works out. I'm sure you guys can talk it through, right?"

As soon as Rory confirmed, Brent smiled sympathetically at her again and rubbed small circles between her shoulder blades. He nodded when Macey looked at him but then left the rest to her. While they continued to talk, he rose from the couch and walked into the kitchen to start making Rory's drink.

Rory nodded along as Macey spoke, and felt a small pang in her chest at how gentle both of them were being with her. It made her feel like she was the scared little ten year old that got dragged to camp for the first time, but at the same time, it also made her want to sob at how lucky she was to have them. It was a weird combo, really. Her hand tightened its hold on the note at Macey’s question, and this time a little sob did make its way out of her throat. “I hope so, but I don’t know.” She lifted her hand, showing the note to Macey, her chest tight. “He was gone by the time I got back to the apartment.”

Macey frowned and took the note from Rory, reading it over. Her frown only grew deeper. "He only left you a note? A vague fucking note? That's it?" She kept demeanor calm, not wanting to distress Rory more despite how much this development agitated her, "So. He went to California." That was a lot more intense of a reaction than she expected one fight to have, "He didn't say anything about for how long?"

Rory shook her head, wiping away a loose tear with the sleeve of her hoodie.  "That's all I got.  I tried to call him, but I guess it's off or something? It went straight to voicemail."  She wanted to be angry for him running to the opposite side of the country, but there was a pit in her stomach where the anger had previously rested, and she just kicked off her shoes quickly so she could pull her knees into her chest.  "I don't know when he's coming back."

Macey set her jaw at Rory's words. Hearing her discuss his actions got under her skin in a way that agitated her so much. All she wanted to do was bitch about how stupid and wrong that was, but, she knew in the moment Rory was far too sad. The anger would come later. Macey pulled her into another hug, "Gods, sweetie, I'm so sorry. That's so awful and stupid."

Rory leaned into Macey, and rested her head on her friend's shoulder again.  "I wanna be so mad, Mace. But I'm just tired." She closed her eyes, leaning more into the other girl. She'd probably be crying again if she hadn't just cried everything out in the dark.  "I mean, it's my fault and everything, but fuck, I can't believe this is happening."

Macey rubbed her back, "Listen, you can be mad all you want tomorrow. And we can bitch and complain all we want. For now it's okay to be sad." Something about being so adult with all of this felt so right and yet so odd to her, "And I'm sure it's not your fault."

Brent returned, holding a steaming mug between his hands. He took his seat beside Rory once again and handed the drink over to her, then passed Macey a curious glance, trying to glean what he'd missed. She seemed angrier, he assumed at Keaton. Brent's hand pressed against Rory's back again.

Rory cradled the mug between her hands, the warmth of the drinking doing wonders to warm her up after spending hours outside.  She took a small sip, eyes closing as the warmth moved to her throat, soothing the discomfort that had been building up.  "I had a nightmare." Her voice was still small, which she hated, so she paused to take another sip and tried to make it sound stronger.  "Woke up screaming and everything.  Keaton turned it into another conversation about running from everything that happened, and I don't know." She shrugged, her fingers messing with the tea bag that was in the cup.  "We fought, I was awful." Finally, she looked up, meeting Macey's eyes for a second before it spilled out of her.  "I brought up Sean, he brought up Abel, it just wasn't pretty."

Macey pursed her lips and nodded, knowing bringing both of them up in one conversation would've been a sensitive subject even on a normal day. "I'm sorry," She said again, not quite sure if she could say it enough. Her brain felt like it was sleepy and lagging behind, trying to come up with any sort of advice. "I'm gonna be honest, I'm fucking pissed he just like, said yeet and only left a one sentence note. But," Macey shrugged. Ziggy nudged her knee, so she reached down to scratch his head, "It also kinda sounds like...maybe you're both running from things? And, dude, I get it—" She motioned to Brent too, "Fuck, we get it." Macey paused, frowning, "I don't...know where I was going with that thought." She blinked and shook her head, "Sorry, sleepy brain. I think I was trying to say everyone handles their pain in their own way."

Brent's frown deepened as Rory explained what had happened, but he was at a loss on what to say. It didn't seem like the right time for advice, as much as he wanted to give it. She seemed worse for wear, only more haunted than the last time he saw her. His concern for her made him want to push to get through to her, but he knew it wouldn't do anything right now. His eyebrow raised when Macey spoke. He waited for her to finish before he jumped in. "We both definitely get it. This isn't easy." He looked from Rory to Macey. "Where did he go?" he asked.

As Macey spoke, Rory found herself curling into a tighter ball on the couch, her grip on the mug tightening slightly. "Actually, I think we both handle it in the same way, which might be the problem." She fell silent, still unsure of what to do in this situation, gods, she hated talking, but looked over at Brent at his question.  "California, to visit his mom's grave." She swallowed past the lump in her throat, and waved at the note in Macey's hand.  "I went for a walk to calm down, by the time I got back, he was gone.  No idea when he's coming back."

Brent's frown deepened, now matching Macey's anger. "I see," he mumbled.

Macey passed the note over to Brent so he could read it, then rested that hand on Rory's leg, "Well, what do you need right now? We can always talk about this more in the morning after you've rested and can think straight."

Rory moved one of her hands to grab hold of Macey's. She was exhausted, yet unsure if her brain would allow her to go back to sleep after both the nightmare and the fight.  But there was no need to drag Macey and Brent down with her, so she plastered on a small smile, squeezed Macey's hand and let it go again.  "Yeah, we can talk about it tomorrow, I'm just...a wreck right now." She leaned back into the cushions of the sofa, her smile brightening ever so slightly when Ziggy crawled towards her lap.  "Go back to sleep, I'll be fine.  Thanks for letting me stay here tonight, you guys."

Macey frowned, watching Rory carefully. "Ror, if you're a wreck, I don't want you to just be out here all alone." She recognized something familiar in Rory's quick dismissal and assurance. But at the same time didn't want to push anything she wasn't willing to talk about. "Are you sure?"

Macey echoed his own worry. He took a deep breath and moved his hand from her back to her knee, patting it lightly. "Look, I'm usually awake in," he checked the clock on the wall, "like, two hours anyway. We can just watch a movie or some TV, take your mind off of it right now and keep you company."

Rory wrapped her free arm around Ziggy, scratching his head lightly.  I miss Sheep already.  "I won't be alone, I have this good little boy to keep me company, right Zig?" When Brent's hand rested on her knee, she stared at it for a second before following the arm up to his face.  She could honestly feel the worried air that surrounded the two of them, and it made her heart hurt.  Rory hated doing this to people, and it seemed like she couldn't stop tonight.  "You guys don't have to do that, you can go back to sleep if you're still tired.  A few hours alone with Ziggy won't kill me."  She desperately wanted to agree and let them sit with her, to help her get her mind off of all the shit that's been plaguing her, but she had already woken up to her sobs, Rory didn't want to be greedy.

"Nope, I like Brent's idea." Macey agreed, setting her mind to the decision, "You can snuggle with Ziggy and you get to hang out with us." She hopped off the couch to get herself some water, "What do you wanna watch? Actually, don't answer that. Is that witch show on Netflix? We can watch that."

Brent also jumped into action, standing from the couch to grab the remote. Before Rory could offer any more protestations, he turned the TV on and pulled up Netflix. "Witch show?" he asked both of them.

Rory could only sigh as they both immediately protested her offering for them to get more sleep, but gave in, too relieved at not being alone for the rest of the night to think about fighting back.  She tried to relax against the cushions, and watched Brent flip through Netflix's catalog.  "Which one?" She replied to Macey. "There's Sabrina, and then there's Charmed. Not the new one though, it's just not the same." She paused when they reached the competition show section.  "Which one were we binge watching, again? My brain is out of it right now, so the name is just gone."

Macey pointed and nodded as she took a sip from her water, leaning against the kitchen counter, "Charmed. That's the one. But uh, we were binge-watching like, Chopped, I think, the other day? Right?"

Brent found Chopped and pulled up the episode list, then went back to the couch and handed the remote over to Rory. "Play whatever you want," he said to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Rory found herself sinking into Brent's arm to a small degree, letting all the positive emotions that suddenly ran through her take over and drown out the negative for the time being.  Blinking back tears for a totally different reason, she took a minute to scroll through the episodes, finding the one that Macey and herself had left off on, and set the remote down once it started to play on the screen, and took Macey's hand again.  "Thanks, you guys.  I owe you big time for this."

Macey leaned over and wrapped her arms around Rory as well, forming a big group hug, "Shhh, no, you don't."