#i might delete this later idk. i just needed to blather about it for a minute

[athenavine]

Ah, hello delayed anxiety reaction. I’m afraid we didn’t book a hotel space for you, so you’ll have to move along.

[d3ndroica]

Big Apple 3

Part 1    Part 2   (1 + 2 were a slooow start on this one I know ...)

Madge woke to the voices of her neighbors carrying through the apartment wall. Her head hurt. She needed to pee and she was dehydrated. She cracked her eyes open and immediately regretted it. The sunlight through the window seemed obscenely bright. Too much margarita.

She should’ve taken a water bottle last night. Instead she had limited herself to what fit in the tiny cute purse, which was by far the best accessory for the club-worthy dress. The bar had been so crowded she hadn’t gotten enough water. She scrunched her eyes closed and pulled the blanket over her head.

She’d had some water though. She remembered Thom’s friend Gale handing her a glass. Unless he’d roofied it! she thought. Suddenly she was wide awake. But no, that didn’t make sense. He was gay. And she was alone, in her own bed, wearing normal pajamas and not feeling at all abused - except for the hangover. Grumpy, she peered out from the blanket enough to grab her phone from next to the bed. Luckily she’d remembered to plug it in. 

Shit. It was after noon already. She blearily stared at her phone until she could make sense of the icons on the screen.

Her feeds showed a bunch of pictures from the night before, thanks mostly to Thom. She had a couple new friend requests and a few requests accepted. In the accepted category were Rue Jones, Beetee Mortara, and Venia Curlew. In the friend request category were Cashmere Coulson and Gale Hawthorne. Madge didn’t really remember much about Cashmere, but she was “friends” with Thom, Venia, and Beetee. The only mutual “friend” with Gale was Thom. No surprise there. But she wasn’t sure that Thom befriending his exes transferred to her. 

She looked at his public pics. She remembered him being around a lot the night before. She thought back and recalled lots of chatting and laughing with Thom’s friends, including Gale, but was that really reason enough to friend him? She decided to wait until later to deal with the friend requests. She scrolled mindlessly through her news feed for a bit before she switched apps to check her texts.

There were two new notifications: one from Thom and one from an unknown number. Weird. She opened Thom’s first. Just the usual back and forth about making it home safely and some vague messages from him about the night before. At the moment, she really didn’t care. Then she opened the other.  212-867-5309 2:28am thanks for a fun nite did you get home OK? 212-867-5309 2:42am Thom says you texted him so I guess you’re off the hook. Goodnight princess 212-867-5309 11:02am um this is Gale btw Madge stared. Princess? Oh shit. What had she told him? Or had Thom? Almost automatically Madge went about changing the name of the contact to his name instead of the number. But she was distracted thinking about him calling her princess. Thom knew about her 3 misguided years of princess pageant competitions and the state “Little Miss Princess” crown she’d won when she was nine, before the cancer changed things. Thom had heard far more than anyone should have to after her mom’s relapse. But that was years ago, and even though she knew it amused him, she didn’t think he’d have brought it up. Plus, she’d been surrounded by beautiful people in the entertainment industry last night. Pageant stories would have gone over much better than cancer lab stories.

Madge closed her eyes and it came back to her. Someone - it was Cashmere, Madge thought - had been talking about stage moms. And Madge had a few stories about stage moms. So she had divulged that little history. It was not exactly her deepest darkest secret but it wasn’t exactly the first impression she wanted to make on these new people either. But now she remembered. Gale had been there, he’d called her princess then too. An image of him from the night before crystallized in her mind, his face bright with laughter, magnetic eyes that took her breath away. Shit, she blushed just to remember. 

Maybe if she was lucky, they would all have collective amnesia about last night. Or she’d just never talk to him again. Or anyone else who’d been in earshot. Shit.

She put down the phone and decided to finally roll her butt out of bed. After getting cleaned up and eating some cereal, she shlepped a bag of laundry down to the laundry room only to find that of course, all the machines were taken. There was a guy in one of the chairs reading a book, and a basket of filthy looking laundry next to him, so Madge just gave up and went back upstairs. She lazed around for the afternoon and managed to claim an empty laundry machine after dinner. She settled down with her current book - Lab Girl, a book her dad had sent with her. He’d probably picked it based on the title. She’d just rotated the first load and started the second when her phone pinged. Thom 9:40pm What’s happening Madge 9:41pm Laundry Thom 9:42pm Laundromat? Madge 9:42pm In bldg basement Thom 9:44pm Nice! That’s better at least Madge 9:45pm Last night was fun. I’m glad you talked me into it. How r u? Thom 9:45pm <link> It linked to a YouTube clip of Kevin Sorbo, in Hercules, screaming “disappointed!” Madge laughed at the virally-misinterpreted homage to Kevin Kline. If you chose to believe Sorbo’s version of events, which Madge did. 

Madge 9:46pm Teehee Feeling misunderstood? Thom 9:48 pm my lot in life. But woman, the thing about today is that we both went home alone last night and now it’s a miserable day and I had to wake up to the vocal stylings of Annie and Finn going at it next door. Again. And I wouldn’t have even gotten out of bed but I had a stupid matinee which I hate.

Madge 9:48pm Sorry :-/ So how’d it go? Did you get any sleep last night? Thom 9:49pm I got some and I’m home now so crashing soon.  You’re totally missing the point I don’t need sleep a need a fuck I’m such a mess listen to me blathering What did you think of Gale you two talked a lot Madge 9:50pm Yeah he seemed nice Thom 9:51pm He’s hot right Madge 9:53pm Totally hot, last night was like a beautiful person parade I can’t believe you let me tell stage mom stories Thom 9:55pm You know I love those stories  They’re really not as embarrassing as you think  Madge 9:56pm Maybe in your world I have enough trouble as it is fighting pretty blonde girl syndrome at work Thom 9:56pm Lucky for you it was my world last night then RIGHT? Screw them. Leave that work shit at work You do you 

Madge 9:57pm Yeah yeah So ... What about that Cinna guy he seemed into you Thom 9:59pm I thought so but I dunno I need to stop worry about everything so much RIGHT Did I tell you I have 2 casting calls this week my anxiety is through the roof

Madge 10:02pm You told me but I forgot. What are they for again? 

Thom 10:07pm Commercials. It’s stupid but the money is insane. If you can sell.

Madge 10:09pm Totally. I hoep they go well.  If you need any help learning crazy drug names you know where to go ;-)

Thom 10:10pm Haha, that would be awesome. Watch out you might get wrangled into running lines with me again

Madge 10:12pm That was so much fun you know I’d do it again in the heartbeat. Especially if we can stay up late and eat ice cream. :)

Thom 10:14pm I’m so glad you moved here Maddie, we’re gonna have so much fun 

Madge 10:15pm So much :)

Monday came and Madge went back to her weekday routine. She had finished all the paperwork and trainings at the research center, and she was finally being assigned an experiment. She wouldn’t lead it herself, as new as she was, but she was excited to finally get back in a lab, working with a couple of phd researchers who had developed the protocols. She still had at least a week or two of practicing the new methods before she began actual experiments, but it still felt like progress. She also heard from her friend Delly who wanted to know all about her exciting life in NYC - an idea the pictures from Saturday only seemed to confirm. She grilled Madge on all the people she’d met and things she’d done and claimed she had to live vicariously through Madge because grad school was so hard. Madge encouraged Delly to come for a weekend sometime.

Thursday night she joined some women from the lab at a happy hour.  They went to a basement bar close to the research center, and drank cocktails that the others called “cheap” which apparently they applied to anything under ten dollars. On the upside, the coworkers were pretty friendly and she heard about lots of different subcultures in the city. One told her about contra dancing. Another was into board games … she’d even been to a board game convention the year before. One was a runner, was training for a marathon, and loved trivia nights. It was fun, learning a bit about them. By the time she said goodbye, it was almost 8 o’clock.  She looked at her phone to confirm how to get to the subway, and saw a new text notification. Once Madge was on her train heading home, she opened up her phone again and replied.

Gale 6:48pm  hi 

Madge 8:01pm Hi How are you? Gale 8:04pm alright you? Madge 8:05pm Ok Gale 8:07pm going out this wkend? Madge 8:09pm IDK maybe OMW home from happy hour

Gale 8:10pm you should use a safety text Madge 8:15pm What’s that? Gale 8:18pm pick a string of emojis that means you’re home safe. Then you always send it after a night out. Then we know you’re really safe and it’s not some psycho who kidnapped you or stole your phone or something Madge 8:22pm Ohhkay

Madge 8:24pm How worried should I be about these psychos? Gale 8:24pm lol don’t worry too much. But you should delete that conversation just to be safe. 😉 Madge 8:25pm So do you have safety emojis? Gale 8:29pm of course Madge 8:34pm And? What are they? Gale 8:41pm um no comment Madge 8:44pm Come on! How will I know you’re home safe and not kidnapped by psychos  :P  (home btw)

Gale 8:47pm well don’t judge me  but it’s🖕⛄️🐸

Madge 8:48pm Lol Nice one. Is there a story behind that? Gale 8:50pm  it seemed good at the time what about you? Madge 8:56pm I’m looking … TBH I am not that big an emoji user I can’t really believe the options now that I’m looking.  Maybe I should use 🙈🙊 Gale 8:56pm lol that’s terrible

Madge 9:07pm ok 👣🍿🎵

Gale 9:09pm 👍