Solana stomps down the stairs groaning, "This lighter isn't... lightering!"
Looking up from their phones Jayden and Esme see the brunette holding a lighter and tied up sage. Solana plops onto the sofa in between the two friends, "Jayden. Esme, do you have a lighter?"
"No." Jayden answers while Esme is left in thought if she knew the whereabouts of her lighter "I had a terrible incident at Bonnaroo, and the incident was that I went to Bonnaroo. Also, I lost my lighter that day"
Solana tries the lighter once more only for no flame to appear, making her groan and set the sage and lighter on the coffee table. Worried Jayden and Esme share a concerned look before fully putting their phones down, "Okay, what is happening? You look like a white guy who's been asked to think about his privilege"
"You know how I was dating Ezra for a while?" Solana asks wanting them to have a clear timeline
"From your yoga class"
"And then I dated Marley"
"From the herbal remedy shop"
"And then I dated River."
"From the river." Jayden and Esme both say with a slight shiver, that guy never gave them a good feeling "Yeah, so?"
"So all of the guys I dated are serene, centered, spiritually enlightened, but..." Solana trails off curling her fists
"They're not good at banging your brains out," Jayden simply puts it not being the first time they'd talked about sexual encounters
"Exactly!" Solana groans glad she was able to finally talk about the subject "I haven't had a non-self-induced orgasm since that Mayan spirit visit me in a dream"
"You poor thing," Esme sincerely reaches out knowing that even though she was single and in love with one of her roommates she hasn't had to rely on herself to destress
"Ugh! I keep waiting for Bhabajeet to visit me," Jayden pouts jealous of Solana's dream
"The passion just isn't there with these dudes." Solana explains standing up to grab a drink from the fridge "it's like they've zen'd all of the fight out of their being. I told Marley he was a little bitch, you know, flirting to get things going"
"I-interesting tactic" Jayden gulps slightly afraid of the woman now
"That's definitely a kink..." Esme blinks knowing it wasn't her cup of tea
"But instead of jabbing back and jumping my bones, he embraced me for ten minutes, made us meditate together, and then fell asleep mid-Om." Solana finishes her very unhappy story and walks back to her spot on the couch "Let's just say I had to DJ at my own party"
Jayden pats her knee before moving on the couch to face her, "Okay, so you need a little confrontation to light your sage on fire"
"Perfectly normal may I add," Esme chimes in even if it wasn't for her. She didn't want confrontation in life much less in the bedroom
"You're a lawyer. I'm sure you know where to snag a meaty guy who likes a fight," Jayden winks before picking his phone back up
"A meaty guy who likes a fight." Solana mumbles letting the realization sink in before exclaiming "Yes. Yes, I do. Yes! Yes!"
"Easy, tiger. I don't wanna have to hose down the sofa," Jayden tries to calm her down
"Oh! I do have a lighter!" Esme exclaims suddenly realizing she left a lighter in the key bowl by the door
–«̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶ ̶«̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶
–«̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶ ̶«̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶
Jayden and Grant had spent their day organizing the mess of the Tupperware that never had the right lid on it or near it. So with each lid being snapped close on their proper container giving the two satisfaction, they were done
"That's it, Jayden, we're done," Grant smiles looking over at Jayden from their mountain of tupperware inbetween them
"We're not done," Jayden shakes his head the last container snap bringing him no joy. The source of his sorrow was a green triangle lid which he holds up "We still haven't found a bottom for this sad, green, triangle lid"
Grant looks around his eyes grazing the stacks of Tupperware but finds nothing making Jayden keep spiraling, "What's it made for? Food doesn't even come in triangles. Is it a guitar pick for a giant? Are we living in the dollhouse of a giant? Okay, we've got to stop because I'm going crazy"
"No, Jay. We can't quit." Grant stands his ground not ready to give up on what the task they'd been doing to keep busy symbolized "Clearly, the lid wants to be with the container. The only question is, does the container wanna be with the lid? We have to find that out before lid and container can live out their destinies"
Jayden touches his chest right over where his heart would be, "Thank you. I really needed to hear that. Okay, I'm gonna go check the neighbor's sandbox. I never trusted little Ricky and not just because he's a better dancer than me"
Jayden walks out to the backyard leaving Grant to look inconspicuous as Claire and Chelsea walk into the home. He'd been waiting all day to hear from Chelsea if Claire liked him back but all the older sister could say is that Claire was finally ready for love which gave Grant hope
Only for the hope to evaporate when Claire makes it clear she was glad they agreed to stay friends after their breakup and she wouldn't change a thing about how their relationship is now. With having to accept how things were going to be Grant walks into the kitchen to find Jayden looking through cabinets
"I don't know what to do." Jayden sadly says standing up from under the sink "I looked everywhere. I even checked the closet where Solana keeps her kombucha mother, and we do not go in there"
"Not every lid has a perfect match, Jay." Grant sadly picks up the green triangle lid "I have to accept that"
Jayden opens his arms wide and hugs Grant before saying, "I know, sweetie. This Tupperware mission took a lot out of me too"
Jayden dramatically walks away with tears in his eyes just as the front door opens.
Esme walks into the house face and body still shining with glitter. Like always when she enters the house she looks around to see if anyone was home as it was rare for one of them not to be in the living room.
Esme walks into the house face and body still filled with glitter. Like always when she enters the house she looks around to see if anyone was home as it was rare for one of them not to be in the living room.
The only person around was Grant making her greet him, "Hey Grant"
"Hi Ez," Grant sadly greets her as he walks over to the trashcan green triangle lid in hand
"Woah, what are you doing with that lid?" Esme asks wondering why he looked so sad but decided to focus on the lid first
"Throwing it away, it doesn't have its partner"
"Maybe because I have it," Esme says, taking out a freshly washed triangular Tupperware from her purse which she had stored leftover pizza as her lunch. It not having a lid made the girl just wrap tin foil on the top
It may have been that his romantic feelings for Claire had been quickly rejected, or that Jayden explained the relationship between the cap and tubs so beautifully but at that moment Grant started to see Esme in a different light
Grant wearing an expression Esme couldn't read made her worry and ask with a hand on his shoulder, "Are you alright Grant? Are you- Are you going through a crisis?"
Grant only keeps looking at the woman but doesn't speak, "Grant?"
"Hu?"
"Are you okay?" Esme worriedly asks wondering what got him so stunned as she hasn't caught up on his life in a while and wonders if something drastic had happened that she didn't know
"Yeah, just this day has been... a day"
"Want to talk about it? That is after I get this glitter off of me," Esme offers with a smile wanting to still be able to talk about their worst days
Grant did want to talk about it, he wanted to understand his feelings. Why Esme was suddenly glowing, and it wasnt because of all the glitter on her body. Only how does he talk about his feeling about her to her knowing she already has feelings for him.
Seeing how she wanted to talk to him and he didnt want to hurt her he says, "I'll grab us some beers?"
"Give me five minutes!"
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and the shift in emotions happened