. more than this

[colton abernathy]

COLTON

Ignoring, or maybe just forgetting, his own imposed rules, he switches the bedside lamp on. It's enough to cast a small pool of golden light, illuminating the two faces that are most familiar to him in the world-- family included. He'd been worried about lips loosened by drunkenness, but now it feels more like a protective spell, letting them speak freely with an easy excuse to fall back on. "To Dunmere," he echoes, laughing again at Mira's drunken eloquence. "My hair is great," he mutters, taking a long draft from the bottle. It's quiet for a moment, the music drifting between them as he tries to muster up some words-- never his strong suit, not when spoken out loud. So he does something that does come easily to him, pulling up a quote from the many that swam around his head even in the depths of intoxication, letting one come to him as he considered the two girls in front of him. He sits closer to the beds edge, reaching out to clink his bottles with theirs. "Let's not cease from exploration, and at the end of all our exploring we'll arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

[mirren hewitt]

MIRREN

It delights Mirren like no other that they're going along with her antics, something so intrinsic between the trio through years of togetherness. Playing off each other's energies or feelings, understanding when someone needed to be picked up or left alone. For a moment she thought she'd lost that ability, feeling so far away from them with Ruby's icy, distant attitude and Colt's general avoidance, but this was them. Trading barbs and sincerity, the girls twined together and Colt looking on. "It's very fluffy," Mirren continues, stumbling over to ruffle it and getting a strange second dose of Ruby's sweet perfume. Her nose scrunches again until her features melt into annoyance, rolling her eyes at the quote he'd plucked from the deposits of his brain. "Ok, Shakespeare," she groans, having no idea the true author behind the quote as she braces herself on the edge of the couch, eyes trained back on Ruby when she juts her thumb out. "Do you think that actually works on girls?"

[ruby anderson]

RUBY

The pool house had been an escape for them for many years. It was odd but in a good way to see Colt’s stuff scattered across the place. Ruby made certain after their night together not to leave anything behind to incriminate her, but even in this altered mind set, she was searching to make sure it could be a kept a secret. It felt normal for the first time in a while, that they were sat here, the three of them, in such a drunken state. Almost as if their awkwardness from a weeks ago hadn’t even occurred. Ruby watches as Mirren messes up Colt’s hair and lets out an obnoxiously fake snort as he fixes it immediately following her actions. She cocks her eyebrow up at him as if to say, see. The girls let out a groan almost at the same time, if Ruby was deemed dramatic Colton didn’t follow too far behind. Even if he didn’t want to admit it. She takes a sip from the bottle as Mirren questions her, the liquid growing warmer as it started to disappear. “Well it probably worked with the one inside?” Ruby giggles, not daring herself to think of Colt with Jessica. Or how it probably would’ve worked on her. She looks back at the door they’d snuck in to, and tries to see if from the sliver of glass on the door, if the other party goers had caught on to them. “Okay, music time!” She claps her hands together and finishes the last bit of the corona.

[colton abernathy]

COLTON

As soon as Mirren's slim fingers run through his tousled hair a shiver runs down his spine. Even before their clandestine meet ups he and Ruby had been more tactile with each other, led by her easy interactions with all other people-- not just him. Mirren kept herself to herself more, so her touch was less expected and all the more thrilling for it. "Not Shakespeare," he clarifies, though makes no effort to share the correct name, his hand reaching to correct his hair after Mira's fussing. He lies back on the bed, his head swimming with alcohol as the girls make fun of them, their voices distant and distorted through intoxication. "This might be hard to believe for you two, but some people read for the fun of it and not to try and impress anyone else." The room keeps swimming, though he can hear Ruby mention music. "Put whatever you want on, you can sync up."

[mirren hewitt]

MIRREN

"It's giving tortured poet department. Are you featured on Taylor Swift's new album?" Mirren laughs at her own shallow joke, well in tune with Colt's head permanently stuck in books. She almost mentions he would have been a great English major but her tongue falters, expression softening with the harsh reality that they were separated, again. Even if it had been a long while since Colt had deferred going to college it still stung to not look for him across the avenues and historical buildings, bright eyes dying to tell them the latest fact he'd collected or tease them for trying a little too hard. Swallowing her sudden sadness on another large sip, the room tilts just a little further. Better she thinks, watching Ruby falter with her iPhone to connect it and override her original request. Normal, she thinks again. "Is Dua approved?"

[ruby anderson]

RUBY

“Aw sorry Colty if we offended you,” her blue eyes roll as she speaks the ridiculous nickname she loved to throw at him. She looks to Mirren beside her again. Ruby was so envious of how gorgeous her friend was, even well aware that she was equally pretty - it was the total package part that Ruby saw herself as lacking. She nods her head in agreement towards the post society comment. But now her focus is on connecting the Bluetooth speaker, fiddling with it again to make sure she was truly paired. Ruby is scrolling through playlist as Mirren makes the request for Dua. Her smile broadens as Dance The Night had just caught her eye. “Great minds think alike, we’re overruling Colt anyways!” Her manicured fingers press the track and the music softly surrounds them. “Could I have another one? Pleaseee?” Her words more slurred as she gripped the empty bottle and pouted her red full lips towards Colt.

[colton abernathy]

COLTON

He scrunches his nose, his face a familiar picture of disgust. This was as familiar as it got between them, hiding from crowds to drink just the three of them, always tempted by the ideas of parties but becoming weary of other people so quickly that it begged the question why they went in the first place. He takes another swig, contemplating the question. "Yeah. She's insanely hot, so it's allowed." He can barely hear the music anyway, his head swimming with pleasant nostalgia and an undercurrent of fear, seeing how Ruby is starting to fray at the edges. "No," he says, which wasn't unusual - he often took on an older brother role with the two of them, that Mira very seldom needed so really it was more something for Ruby. What's less usual is how easily he reaches out, his hand on hers as he pushes the bottle down. "You need to slow down, you'll end up drowning in the pool if you keep up this pace."

[mirren hewitt]

MIRREN

Mirren would be content to stay in the pool house forever, even if it was the least familiar part of the Dunmere house. She'd memorized every nook, cranny and creaky door inside over the summers - where the best light was, which way to look for a sunset, when to come in when the tide was snapping at their heels. This place sometimes felt like her true home with the two people next to her, drinking languidly and giggling as easily as if they were kids all over again. "Is she your hall pass these days," Mirren questions, tipping her head back over the couch when she hears him chastise Ruby. Her dark eyebrows pull together in annoyance, gaze drifting over to the fridge. "Oh c'mon, we're fineee, we're fineee. You were a lifeguard anyway, you could...I dunno, perform mouth to mouth or something."

[ruby anderson]

RUBY

She closed her eyes briefly to sway to the music, happy that Colt allowed Dua Lipa to be played. As if he was going to have a choice anyways. Her eyes snap open quickly when he begins to berate her, just as he typically did. There’s slight glare in her eyes and she points it in his direction, but she’s not offended by his words. This was Colt and Ruby- they were like fire and ice. Constantly bickering even in the sweetest of moments. “I’m fineeee!” She waves him off, as she quickly begins to stand up from the couch. She may have stumbled a bit upon fully standing, but she was up right now. Happy that Mirren has begun to protest with her, she vigorously nods her head. The last sentence that her friend spoke causes another burst of laughter. “See. Exactly. You could perform mouth to mouth on me.” Ruby starts to move in the direction of the fridge, giving Mirren a sneaky grin.

[colton abernathy]

COLTON

"Don't need a hall pass, who am I supposed to be being loyal to?" The alcohol is getting to him, the sharpness of his mind dulled to the point of him putting up little resistance. He lays back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling he knew so well, light reflecting from the pool's surface to create large streaks of white. It was soothing. He can hear Ruby stumbling towards the fridge and he gives up caring about it. "I'll let you drown." Reaching over to the bedside table without getting up, he blindly pats across it, finally finding what he wanted: a battered little tin, inside it a grinder, papers and a little pouch of green heaven. "I'm also not sharing. Remember when you both greened out last summer and I had to tell your moms you had heatstroke?"

[mirren hewitt]

MIRREN

"I mean celeb crush duhhh," Mirren can hear the alcohol starting to muddle her speech patterns, loose and stumbling and elongated as her ears ring and her eyes blur slightly. The bass from the house trails in and out, sometimes accompanied by a shriek when someone dares to step outside and face the bitter chill. Warnings of a freeze had blared earlier but here they all were, out by the bone-chilling ocean and cutting wind, and yet she felt so, so warm. Excitement elicited further at Colt's non-offering. "Good thing they're not heree," Mirren confronts immediately, tripping on her way up and catching herself on the couch's edge before tumbling onto Colt's bed. Ruby's perfume engulfs her again, unable to remember if she'd already sat in this place before as she cups her hand in a prayer offer. "Share, or I'm saying this was your idea. Orr...orrr...Ruby and I will go back inside, get some coke, and thennn you'll have to take care of us."

[ruby anderson]

RUBY

She ignores Colt's words, not caring that he'd insulted her, again. She wants to argue that if it were his precious Mirren that he'd save her in a heartbeat, but more alcohol trumped an argument. The blonde girl reaches the fridge handle, steading herself against the counter as she pulls it open. She only grabs two Coronas on purpose, and a smirk tugs at her mouth as she closes the refrigerator. The drinks are cold in her hand as she makes her way back to the pair. "For you, my dear," Ruby offers the second corona to Mirren, who was now on the bed beside Colt. "Sorry, was worried I'd drop one," she speaks to Colt with a fake smile as he looked up from the tin that was in his palms. Another Dua songs plays through the speaker as she joins Mirren on the bed with a pleading look on her face. "C'mon, we will be better this time. You have zero faith in us." She mimics Mirren's praying hands. "We promised to go all out anyways, we never get the house to ourselves! So you must share." Though the second option was tempting too.

[colton abernathy]

COLTON

Colton is waiting for a barbed reply that never comes, making a small pang of guilt spread through his chest. Had he taken it too far? Ah, there it is, taking the form of two beers. Colton visibly rolls his eyes. "Freeloaders." He turns over onto his stomach and in doing so closes the gap between himself and Mirren, his body nestled against hers as he starts to lay out the various components of the joint. Even drunk it's a task he can complete at an expert level, his fingers making deft work of grinding, placing, tightly rolling. Before long the pristine joint is dangling between his fingers, being lit by a Dupont lighter he stole from his father years ago. He rolls back onto his back to take a drag, purposefully holding it in the hand that's on the other side to the two girls. "If you each give me a sincere compliment I'll think about it."

[mirren hewitt]

MIRREN

Mirren rolls her eyes at Colton's snipe, trying to take a sip of her new drink before realizing Ruby left the lids on. "Rubyy, help," she sighs, gesturing toward the lid and giving it back before twisting back, tucking herself closer to Colt as he effortlessly assembled the joint. There's a brief flicker of realization there, seeing the definition in his arm and the buzzed but present clarity in his eyes, that he'd grown up even more now. It's a strange feeling, something that swims in her chest and causes her to tip her forehead into his elbow until he's drifting away again, Mirren curled softly in the same place. "You're the best at protecting us from rogue seagulls on the beach," she mumbles, trying to shake her reverie as her head pops back up to look at him, arm lifting into the air in request. "Now gimme."

[ruby anderson]

RUBY

Ruby settles herself on the bed just as Mirren asks for her assistance. The bottle is pushed into her hand as Mirren snuggles up to Colt on the bed. “Oops, sorry!” Realizing her mistake, she stands up quickly and stumbles for the bottle opener on the coffee table. She turns back to the two of them and smiles. Ruby hands the bottle back to her friend. “Okay scoot over, Colt. I’m snuggling too, otherwise it seems like you’re playing favorites,” she requests as she nudges his shoulder. She notices that he begrudgingly moves over and she tucks herself into his side. His cologne engulfs her, it almost seemed like second nature to her now. Mirren seems to be winning him over, convincing him to share the goodies he was working on. “Mirren first, then I’m next!” Her eyes close as she finishes nestling into Colt.