─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
once stasie, flynn and carlos had finished up stasie's PB&J sandwiches, stasie had decided to take herself home, but she was stopped by julie.
"where are you taking me?" stasie quizzed as she was dragged out of the house, against her free will.
"carrie's house." julie sighed, "and the boys are angry."
"carrie's house?" stasie's face fell, "you know she strongly dislikes me."
"she dislikes all of us." julie shrugged.
"and besides, she gave you a flyer." flynn reminded her, "she seems to be warming up."
"really?"
"no, probably not. i'm just trying to make you feel better." flynn told her.
julie had made the two girls run all the way to the large house above the beach in malibu. once they reached the wilson residence, they began sprinting down the stairs leading to the house.
"ow!" flynn tripped over her feet, "jeez!"
"come on." julie ushered them.
"we're coming!" stasie panted, "when did you get so fast?"
"just now."
"okay, ow." flynn groaned.
"don't stop." julie reassured them, "go, keep on going." she and stasie picked up flynn when she was near to face-planting, "just go. go, go, go!"
when they reached the front door, julie and stasie peeked in while flynn rang the doorbell. carrie was surprisingly quick to open the door.
"hey!" the girls greeted in unison.
"what are you three doing here?" carrie quizzed sceptically, "how'd you get over the security gate?"
"teamwork!" julie nervously chuckled, "do you have a band-aid? the barbed wire's new."
"right, my hands feel like they're on fire." stasie showed carrie her red, stinging hands.
"what do you want?" carrie crossed her hands.
"uh... just thought you should know that julie's band is playing at the dance tonight." flynn explained.
"now you know."
"you're very welcome." stasie gave her a thumbs up.
"you guys are acting weirder than usual." carrie frowned.
"probably because we're thirsty." julie suggested.
"yeah."
"very."
"can we come in for a glass of water?" julie questioned.
"ugh!" the strawberry blonde groaned, "fine, if it'll make you leave faster." she let the trio in, "don't break anything."
"we won't." stasie reassured her.
the three quietly made their way through the house.
"careful." julie warned them while scanning the room, "where are you?"
"i'm... i'm right here." a voice spoke.
they all turned around to see nick lying on the couch with a perplexed expression on his face. julie and flynn awkwardly chuckled and nudged stasie.
"nick! look, stasie, it's nick." julie rambled.
"nick! hi, didn't think you'd be here." she told him.
"stasie! hi, i didn't think you'd be here." nick shrugged.
"you know, small world." stasie laughed.
"nickster, nicky-poo, nick-a-licious." julie continued, making stasie poke her. she turned to the girls and whispered: "make it stop."
"hey! glad you're here, nicky-poo." flynn voiced, "we wanted to tell you that julie's band is playing at the dance."
"oh yeah." he nodded while sitting up, "no. i-i saw your post... and stasie's story."
"well, nothing's better than a one-on-one personal invitation." stasie hummed, "or, uh.. one-on-three."
"these girls bothering you, babe?" carrie slowly walked over with three glasses balanced in her hands.
"no, just telling us about the dance tonight."
"right." carrie chuckled while individually passing them their drinks, "julie and her hologram band are playing. how'd you learn how to do all that hologram stuff anyways?"
"the internet." julie admitted, "it's not just full of makeup tips."
carrie glared at her and sat down beside her boyfriend.
"uh... what do-what do you say, babe?" nick asked her while putting his arms her her shoulder.
"sure." carrie smiled, "let's check out the hologram show."
"great." nick nodded, "um... i'll make sure all my buddies are there."
"ooh! how exciting." carrie said, "that's a lot of people staring at you."
julie cleared her throat awkwardly.
"you girls remember where the door is, right?" carrie challenged.
"yeah." julie chuckled, casually spilling her drink in the process, "oh my gosh." she gasped.
"such a fumbler." stasie patted her back while carrie went to stand up.
"i am so sorry!" julie apologised, "no, no, no, no. i know where the towels are. i'll get it."
"she knows." flynn mumbled while taking her water, allowing her to walk away empty-handed.
julie nudged flynn as she went, making the girl spill some of the liquid too, "here i go." flynn laughed, "oh my gosh. can you imagine if this was cranberry juice?"
"i don't even want to imagine." stasie shook her head, "the effort it would take to get it out of these lovely carpets."
"right?!" flynn agreed.
"thank gosh we were only thirsty for water."
"i don't know about you, but i've been a klutz my entire life." flynn explained.
"not me though, i'm as sturdy as a tree." stasie added.
"but what if the tree was blown away by a storm." flynn queried.
"well, if i was the tree - i'd still be standing." stasie laughed to herself, "you know me."
"you've always liked nature." flynn nodded.
"yes! that's why i used it in my metaphor." stasie nodded, "was that a metaphor or an analogy?"
"i think it was a metaphor." nick responded.
trevor wilson abruptly trotted down the stairs and past the couch, "i'm gonna see my therapist, okay?" he said to his daughter, "okay."
carrie groaned and turned back to the girls, "oh God."
"you know, i love english." stasie chimed while sitting down on the couch comfortably.
"yeah, you are very good with words and... facts." flynn nudged her as she relaxed beside her.
"did you guys know that racoons have five fingers too?" stasie asked the couple.
"oh my gosh, stas, do you remember when-when i saw that racoon in my bins?" she asked her.
"that was crazy."
flynn turned back to nick and carrie, "it was so weird, it began running to the back of my house and i had to ask myself: what is a raccoon doing in my backyard?"
stasie spotted julie walking down the stairs and notified the girl. they watched as julie mouthed to them that she was going outside and that they should stay there.
flynn began pulling out her phone, "you guys want to..." she squeezed herself in between them, "see a photo of that? cmon stas."
"oh!"
the jackson girl laughed before moving between flynn and nick.
"it's just so cute." flynn explained, "look at it."
"awh!" stasie stared at the photo, "that is just adorable."
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
after she had unlocked the door to her home, she was greeted by her mother rushing around with her phone in between her shoulder and ear.
"hola, mamá." stasie approached her mum timidly.
"hola." michelle called out, "how are you?"
"i'm okay." stasie nodded as she made her way to the living room and dropped to the couch.
she detected a poofing sound from behind her, startling her: "hey stasie!" reggie greeted the girl.
stasie let out a shriek of astonishment, making her mum glance over and give her a weird look.
"sorry, thought i saw a spider." she laughed nervously before turning to whisper to the boy, "reggie... what are you doing here?"
"i thought when's a better time to help you with science than now?" reggie shrugged, "is that okay with you?"
stasie closed her eyes sharply and took a long breath, "ye-yeah, it's fine."
"perfect." he grinned before plopping onto the loveseat, "comfy chair you have here."
"mija!" her mother yelled out, "i have an overnight shift today, so you can either stay here alone before the dance or ray said you can stay over at his."
"erm, i'll stay here thanks."
"okay, don't do anything stupid," michelle warned.
"i won't." stasie watched as her mother picked up her handbag and jogged over to the door.
"all right. i love you, goodnight." michelle told her quickly before slamming the door closed.
"yeah, love you too," stasie whispered, sadly.
"are you okay?" reggie hummed noticing the unreadable expression on her face.
"i was just... thinking about how peanuts aren't actually nuts."
"oh, really?" he asked and she nodded, "i'll make sure to make a mental note of that."
"great." stasie avoided eye contact with him, "you just reminded me." she stood up and went over to one of the shelves near the television.
"what about?" reggie asked and he threw his legs onto the couch.
"feet off the couch." she quickly said as an instinct.
"whoops." he grinned, "well, i'm not really on the couch, am i?"
she turned to him and laughed, "hmm, i'll let you off for now."
"what are you up to?"
"i'm looking for something... found it!" she plucked out a cd from the shelf, "my mum and julie's were fans of country music when they were younger." stasie revealed, "and you like it too, so i thought i could play you some."
"you know, that's a great idea." he nodded in approval.
"thank-thank you." she flushed rouge as she moved over to the dvd player, "this one is from 95' and it's called... XXX's and OOO's by trisha yearwood."
"i don't think i've heard that one." reggie explained.
"my mum would play this for julie and i when we were children." stasie chortled to herself as she cranked up the volume, "i think you'll love it."
while the introduction played, stasie could see reggie slowly swaying to the drum's instrumental.
"this is very nice." he spoke out over the loud music, "and loud."
"what was that?" stasie asked him.
"i said, this is nice and loud!" he shouted.
"yeah, i think the loudness makes it better." stasie agreed, not understanding what he was talking about.
reggie gleamed at her and shook his head. with stasie's back turned, he made his way over to the collection of photos on the shelves.
"these pictures are lovely." he grinned while attempting to pick one up.
stasie quickly turned around to see what he was talking about - reggie was looking at her old school picture day photos.
"oh, no." she groaned while standing up and strolling over to him, "these are from years ago."
"they're cute." he shrugged.
"you know what else is cute?" stasie quickly spoke.
"me?" reggie dazzled her a bold smile.
"sea otters: they hold hands while they sleep." she told him completely missing the hint he was giving her, "i am so sorry."
"they do?" he quizzed while jumping back down on the couch, "why's that?"
"so they don't float away from each other," stasie muttered.
"you're right, that is adorable." reggie nodded, "you're like a human encyclopaedia, aren't ya?"
"you could say that."
"so... physics?"
"physics." stasie approved while pulling her backpack from beside the coffee table.
"i actually have to be gone before eight, if that's okay with you." reggie told her, "gives us about an hour."
"that's fine, the dance is at nine but you'll be there, right?" she asked him.
"right."
⎯ ❃ neens speaks!
stasie and flynn waffling is so cute to me. also i've been listening to country music from the 90s for my bae reggie
gif is of my two baes xo