𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 𝐈𝐍 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐌 彡 [b. hargrove] [✔]

─ 𝐭𝐰𝐨.

The thing was, Lulu certainly was onto something with her observation. She was so, so right. And Magdalena knew it. The young woman looked abysmal. Dark circles were cozying up underneath her eyes and her skin betrayed her in the worst possible way. Magdalena had gotten a heat rash at the base of her neck because of the poor ventilation inside the pet store. Not only that but her work uniform—consisting of jean shorts and a hideous neon blue collared shirt that displayed the Pet Paradise company logo on the back—was hideous. Both clothing items were matched with white tennis shoes...which were no longer white and instead a light shade of gray. That aforementioned collared shirt was stained by cage cleaning products which Magdalena had accidentally spilled onto herself during the start of the day.

"That's exactly what every girl wants to hear after a hard day's work. No offense, Lu, but you are so not cut out for sugarcoating shit. Today has been...it's been interesting. Just do me a favor and make me forget about the rest of my shift for the next twenty minutes. I am this close to losing my fucking mind."

Magdalena—through a serious bout of overdramatizing—emphasized her words as she put her thumb and index finger close together, the two appendages nearly touching. Lulu blew out a breath of pure laziness in order to keep a loose strand of hair out of her eyes without having to do it with her hand. All the while she listened to Magdalena's complaints. As the two girls traversed through the crowded second floor of the mall, they made quick work of expertly maneuvering through clusters of loud, loitering, and wealthy teenagers gossiping about their summer flings.

Magdalena rolled her eyes at the entitled nature of the unemployed youth in Hawkins. They were just fine financially. They were going out of state for college. They would not be stuck in a never-ending loop, constricted to their hometown. Truth be told, Magdalena May was simply envious of her lack of options. The brunette—because of her social status and broken family—would have to work twice as hard to make it in the real world. Her boyfriend was the same. Maybe that was another thing that brought her and Billy closer together.

"You never listen. I told you to apply for the empty cashier position at Jeanie's Shoe Palace instead of that stupid pet store. Anyway, how does some ice cream sound? I cannot return to the food court for at least another week. This guy I hooked up with, well, he works at that Greek place, you know, the one with the really good gyros. Point is, he hasn't stopped calling. I don't want that creep to see me. I can't face him."

Lulu's aimless tangent about the latest guy she slept with managed to thoroughly entertain Magdalena in her state of melancholy and rage. The raven-haired girl managed to choose the most clingy dudes each time and while Magdalena could not for the life of her make sense of it, she also had no room to judge. Before Billy, her taste in men was just as—if not worse than Lulu's. And so, Magdalena only hummed along understandingly as she pushed past a group of three sophomores who were ignorantly blocking the entryway of the escalator.

The younger girls turned to sneer at the brunette, their lips raising in disgust but what erased all of their pompous demeanors was how swiftly Magdalena flipped them off as she and Lulu stepped onto the descending escalator. The May girl impatiently tapped her foot, fanning herself with her hand to hopefully get rid of the perspiration glistening atop her forehead and the redness of her flushed cheeks. As the escalator slowly approached the ground level of Starcourt, Magdalena became hyper-aware of how the synth-pop tunes of Depeche Mode were blasting through the speakers, converging with the sound of ceaseless chatter. Oh, how Magdalena May despised new-wave pop music.

Her gemstone eyes looked around and conjured up a rebuttal for Lulu's explanation—more like shitty excuse—as to why she could not step foot into the food court. Shifting her head to the right, Magdalena captured Lulu's attention with just that single action. The brunette studied her friend sharply all the while Lulu tilted her head to the side, resembling a dog in the midst of bewilderment. She was cute. Scratch that. Lulu Hayashi's childish innocence and cluelessness were both adorable, but that wasn't going to stop Magdalena's detective work.