S1 E12: Wrongly Coupled

Kenzie Tartaglione:

Hello everybody! It’s Kenzie here. Thank you all so much for listening to our show! We are very excited to announce a little update… our first pieces of merch! If you head over to our website, queerpg.com, you can check out all our new stuff! We have queeRPG logo stickers and pins, AND something fun for season one. We have Wildmoore High Wyverns notebooks. They come in three different designs so head on over there to check it out! We are selling these through Society6 so if you go to our website, under the shop tab, you’ll see the notebook. Clicking on it will redirect you so that you can purchase! Again, thank you guys so much for your support and enjoy the episode!

The content warning for this episode includes drinking blood, underage drinking, and discussions of sexual assault.

Kenzie (MC):

Ivy, the two weeks spent gallivanting around Italy with Gabriel, ingratiated him to you again. At least so far as to understand him a little bit more. His home. His language. His personality. Gabriel was different there and not in the sense that it felt like the way he spoke was once again a lie but the fact that the way he carries himself, the cadence of the way he speaks is seamless there, unlike it is in Wildmoore, where he stands out. It’s the first glimpse into a life that your father held before you, granted, ages before you, but still.

It's been probably about a week, on and off being posted up outside of your house. You’ve lived in this house long enough to know when something is different. So, even when she is pretty good at hiding her presence, there’s just something a little bit different and you kinda know she’s there. This night though, it’s a little after eleven and she’s not outside anymore. She’s inside. Inside your room, has you pressed up against the wall. And you are just completely, just not really paying attention to anything outside of what Kai is doing currently. When there is a knock at your door, and she completely stills as if she becomes a statue.

April Consalo:

Ivy also just stays still and she like glances at the door, sees that its locked, lets out a tiny breath. Says,

April (Ivy Dunacn):

Uh… yeah?

Kenzie (Gabriel Duncan):

Bamb - Ivy? Um, I know that you have a friends over right now but I have a conversation that I think we need to have. Can I possibly ask to intrude for like five minutes?

April:

Ivy looks up at Kai and kinda makes a face, like, “I’m sorry.” And just gently removes her hand from wherever it was.

Kenzie (MC):

Kai acquiesces and says,

Kenzie (Kai):

Honestly, this is probably for the best.

Kenzie (MC):

And then slinks backward out the window.

April (Ivy):

Five minutes. Ten tops.

Kenzie (Kai):

Yeah, we’ll see.

Kenzie (MC):

And climbs down as you watch.

April:

Ivy like looks down at herself, maybe buttons a button. Covers her face and just like (groans). And then goes and unlocks her door and lets her dad in.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

I’m really sorry. This is like actually just time consequential.

April (Ivy):

No, um, yea, I’m sorry, I… yeah.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

Wait… there’s no – I’m not listening but I heard some things.

April:

Ivy is bright red.

April (Ivy):

Um, yeah, uh, she uh left so.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

I’m very sorry.

April (Ivy):

Nope – don’t – please don’t – we’re - ya know? Let’s not talk about it actually.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

I wanted to talk to you about our trip.

April (Ivy):

Right.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

I know that we had originally talked about it because I wanted to show you my home and to show that your dad and I’s favorite places when we were younger but, um, well, I don’t know if that is something you want anymore. But, I still think that you should go, if that’s the case. Because I think maybe sometime - even if its just a week - but some space would help you. So, I’m going to leave it up to you. WE can go as planned, together, just the two of us. Or Eleanor has offered to host you. So it would be France instead of Italy, but I can switch the tickets if that is what you want. I just felt like this wasn’t something I should assume anymore and I should ask you first.

Kenzie (MC):

He's almost not looking at you and since the conversation you had with both of them, they have almost completely left you alone as if they were waiting for you to initiate something. And so it feels like he’s almost ashamed to break the ice, in a way.

April:

Ivy watches Gabriel and talking with Sawyer, listening to him say that he loves her and seeing Gabriel so anxious but obviously with so much love for her, just like breaks her heart and she says,

April (Ivy):

Um, if you still want to go with me, I think we could go together.

Kenzie (MC):

The biggest smile you’ve seen in so long breaks across his face. And he says,

Kenzie (Gabriel):

I would love that because I’ve always wanted to show you were I grew up and I wanted to show you where I met your dad. And I know that there’s a lot that we haven’t necessarily discussed or figured out, but I still think that time away from this place and maybe from him might do both of us good.

April (Ivy):

Yeah, I agree.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

I think that we should still go visit Eleanor.

April (Ivy):

Yeah, of course, I love Aunt Eleanor.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

We will spend most of our time where we planned to spend it then.

April (Ivy):

Uh…I love you.

Kenzie (MC):

He takes a deep breath, taking that in. And says,

Kenzie (Gabriel):

I love you too, bambolina.

Kenzie (MC):

And he hesitates at the doorstep. But then grabs the doorknob and says,

Kenzie (Gabriel):

In a week, we’ll be in the greatest place on Earth.

April:

Ivy smiles to herself when she hears her nickname.

April (Ivy):

I’m not sure I’m ready for all the pastas you’re going to make me eat.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

It’s going to be amazing.

April (Ivy):

I’m excited. I really am. You can tell dad I love him too. If you want.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

I’ll pass it on. I think that one of these days he would like to hear it from you, but take your time.

April:

Ivy like screws up her mouth.

April (Ivy):

Yeah, I am trying to.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

And I will leave you alone so your friend can come back.

April (Ivy):

Thanks, Papa!

April:

Ivy like closes her eyes.

April (Ivy):

You know – you guys are still in the house tonight, right? You guys are gonna be here all night.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

Oh I suppose that its not fun to live with fathers who can hear everything.

April (Ivy):

Yeah.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

But we celebrate it. It’s okay!

April (Ivy):

You celebrate it?

Kenzie (Gabriel):

Like we’re happy that you do the things you need to do.

April (Ivy):

Okay, um, (clears throat). Um, Papa, yeah if you could actually just leave now because I think I need space for a bit.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

I love you, bambolina. I will see you in the morning.

April (Ivy):

Yeah, I love you too.

Kenzie (MC):

And he shuts the door behind him.

April:

For a second, Ivy like really hesitates and then she does look out the window.

Kenzie (MC):

So, you don’t necessarily now how or why, but she’s one hundred percent heard that conversation.

April:

Ivy pops out the screen of her window and with like a running start off her roof, jumps down and lands in the grass. And the grass is like cool and damp under her feet and she says,

April (Ivy):

You want to go for a walk?

Kenzie (Kai):

Yeah, but, uh, for future reference, dads don’t scare me.

April (Ivy):

They’re not your dads. You don’t have to look at them the next day.

Kenzie (Kai):

Yeah, let’s go for a walk.

Kenzie (MC):

Eleanor arrived for a couple days during that trip. You saw art. You saw Gabriel’s likeness in art since he deemed it necessary to point it out every single time. You stayed in a villa you didn’t even know he owned. There wasn’t a place he wasn’t welcome and it didn’t even seem like he ever used his glamor on everyone. You met Antonio, apparently an old lover of your father and by that, I mean before either of them had been turned. There was one place off limits, a name that darkened Gabriel’s features anytime it was mentioned. The only thing Eleanor ever said about it was with a hint of surprise in her voice.

Kenzie (Eleanor):

Oh, our little one knows now.

Kenzie (MC):

Gabriel kept his word, not keeping secrets. The Coterie resided there or was headquartered there. He didn’t really know anymore. The Cognatio Coterie it was called. The one that both of your father’s belonged to, grew up in, came to be amongst. It didn’t even exist in Italy, but everyone there talked about things like they were so much smaller than you were used to. Three countries away was right next door. For all of his boisterousness in your traveling, there was a certain sense of quiet he assumed, only loud in the right places. A subtle nod here and there. A quick jerk down a different street for seemingly no reason.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

I don’t want you not to be able to live your life, bambolina. I just need to take greater care while we’re here. You have nothing to fear when you are with me. You never have and you never will.

Kenzie (MC):

There was one night your father left you. Only one. Near the end of your trip and it was late. You only knew because you woke up in the middle of the night and had an odd feeling. Searching through this large house that sat atop the mountainside, you found it to be empty. Eleanor returned to France to do whatever it was that Eleanor did. Antonio never spent the night. There seemed to be an upspoken rule between them that whatever happened in their human life, didn’t happen now. He didn’t answer his phone, because when you called, it rang, left on the kitchen counter. You knew it was on purpose and you sat up the rest of the night, waiting for him to come home. It was still dark, nearing five am when he came back in. He looked exhausted but not intoxicated. Not over-blooded. He met your eyes in the dark, both of you seeing one another fine. There was a heavy silence between you too.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

Whatever you feel about him, bambolina, we have to call your father.

Kenzie (MC):

And you sat in the kitchen with Bast on speaker phone as Gabriel detailed his findings.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

I will never forgive myself. We brought someone into our home who was not safe. Who feigned caring for us.

Kenzie (MC):

And you hear Bast’s voice on the other end of the line,

Kenzie (Bast Duncan):

What has come of it?

Kenzie (Gabriel):

Nothing so far. The rumor is simply that a damphir exists. There’s been no names mentioned explicitly.

Kenzie (Bast):

Surely Ivy cannot be the only one.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

Does it matter?

Kenzie (Bast):

No. Are you coming home early?

Kenzie (Gabriel):

I fear leaving in a hurry would only draw attention. We shall the rest of our trip.

Kenzie (MC):

And you did. And then you returned to Wildmoore. A whirlwind of a place. How much could have changed in a week and a half? Alina, in your absence, had managed to split the cheer squad into sides. She already has her own entourage and has taken the initiative to switch seats in homeroom and now you’re sitting next to the kid, still dubbed the new kid, Farrow, who somehow has become friendly with Sawyer and Caleb even though you’d never seen any of them speak to one another before.

Sawyer, Caleb and Sam are now an inseparable trio. Heads bent together. Always planning something. Something that sounds so incredibly nerdy and boring to you that you tune them out whenever they get together.

Ever since Crush and Egg came out, you three, Caleb, Sawyer and Sam have been spending every, waking moment together playing it. The dark bags under Adam’s eyes have deepened but in exchange his eyes seem clearer. He can easily write it off as lack of sleep, seeing as the hockey season is only two weeks out, but you know better. And so does Naia, whom after your conversation, you began to recognize watches him closely. And actually has been watching him closely all year. You were too focused on both of them separately before, to see any sort of connection.

And even though you pushed it to happen, there’s a little bit of surprise that it actually came to fruition. Natalie and Sawyer going to Homecoming together.

It has just breeched October, the weather is getting less insufferable. The ups and downs of the hot days and cool days are starting to turn into regular cool days. And, you are looking at your phone because you just got a text, none other than Natalie and it says,

Kenzie (Natalie Samuels):

Hey, do you want to come over?

Brennan Hershock:

Sawyer will respond with,

Brennan (Sawyer Hook):

For activities?

Kenzie (MC):

You see the dot, dot, dot bubble as someone’s typing like for a long time and then it goes away.

Brennan:

(Sawyer):

Wait, uh, sure. What’s the addy?

Kenzie (MC):

She says,

Kenzie (Natalie):

Okay! I’m sure we could find an activity, but I was just thinking of hanging out.

Kenzie (MC):

And then she sends her location.

Brennan:

(Sawyer):

Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.

Brennan:

I’ll send that but all one mashed together word.

Brennan:

(Sawyer):

Be there soon. Should I bring anything?

Kenzie (Natalie):

Yourself.

Kenzie (MC):

Smiley face emoji.

Brennan:

(Sawyer):

Okay but not like my longboard or like I don’t know a GameBoy. Idk. Idk. Something?

Kenzie (Natalie):

I don’t think longboard is my particular talent. I don’t have a GameBoy so that might be weird. I guess if you want to bring a snack?

Brennan:

I’ll just send “omw.”

Kenzie (MC):

As you come down the stairs of the house, your mom goes,

Kenzie (Ely Hook):

Sawyer, where are you going?

Brennan (Sawyer):

I’m going to a friends house!

Kenzie (Ely):

Okay. Cool.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Okay.

Kenzie (Ely):

Just like –

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah.

Kenzie (Ely):

-it’s a school night so be home by eleven?

Brennan (Sawyer):

I will be home by eleven. Probably earlier than that.

Kenzie (Ely):

Okay that’s fine. Just, curfew so…

Brennan (Sawyer):

Okay, well, bye!

Kenzie (Ely):

Bye!

Brennan:

I’ll go get my bike. I would think about my longboard but I would think that now that’s weird because I asked if I should bring my longboard but then it was like well she doesn’t – that’s not really her forte so I maybe I shoudn’t bring it because then I’d want to longboard so fuck it, I’ll just take my bike.

Kenzie (MC):

Natalie’s house is about an eight minute bike ride from yours. You pull up to a two-story, white picket, suburban home. Nothin’ crazy out of place about it. Pretty average. There is a garage off to the side, its attached but its facing the side and it looks like the garage door is open and there is a car parked in the driveway.

Brennan:

Just drop my bike on the front lawn. Oh wait no I – hell no, I’ll kickstand that thing. That’s a prized possession. And I’ll make my way to the front steps and I’ll reach my finger out to go ring the doorbell and then I turn around and walked off the front steps.

Brennan (Sawyer):

(deep breath) Okay.

Brennan:

And then I’ll turn back around and I’ll reach out my hand and I’ll poke the doorbell. I’ll stay one step back off of the initial porch platform and stand kinda in the yard.

Kenzie (MC):

You can hear the ding of the bell sound through the house. It takes like half a minute and then the door opens and Natalie appears and she says,

Kenzie (Natalie):

Hey!

Brennan (Sawyer):

Hey!

Brennan:

I’m like probably ten feet from the door.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Do you wanna come in?

Kenzie (MC):

And she kinda steps to the side.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Uh, Sydney’s home but there’s an Athletic Association meeting tonight at school so my mom’s not in.

Brennan:

Sawyer, his stomach drops. His hands get freezing cold.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah, sure, let’s hang out inside.

Brennan:

I’ll walk inside.

Kenzie (MC):

She shuts the door behind you and something about this seems kinda familiar.

Brennan (Sawyer):

So um should we like go to the – should I get a tour? Do you want to give me a tour? Getting like made déjà vu.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Yeah. Do you not remember when you were here?

Brennan (Sawyer):

Uh…uh.

Kenzie (Natalie):

I mean it was like a while ago but it was like not that long ago.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Shit. I don’t? Maybe I do?

Kenzie (Natalie):

Ivy brought you to my tenth birthday party.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Oh. I don’t know. I try to block out a lot of memories from my youth.

Kenzie (Natalie):

I mean it wasn’t like an important big thing –

Brennan (Sawyer):

What did we do? Was there like a – ‘cause I remember my second birthday party. It was a pirate themed birthday party and I remember that we had a pinata at a pirate themed birthday party, which was weird because it wasn’t even pirate themed. Also I think they had like a pirate hate at the store but I don’t think my parents got it. But I got hit in the head with one of the bats and then I didn’t get any candy ‘cause I had a nosebleed. Um… yeah… and then, and then! Like we were going to get all these towels ‘cause we were going to go in the pool and then I got whipped with the towels people would dip the towels and they whipped me. That was my second birthday party… or not, maybe that was my fifth?

Kenzie (Natalie):

I’m not – I don’t mean to be rude when I say this just like I had like a bunch of my girl friends that I had invited over and then Ivy just like showed up with you.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Oh.

Kenzie (Natalie):

So it was fine! I thought we had fun I mean you were just kinda there. I guess it was a while ago and you were only here once and so you don’t like – I can give you a tour if you want then.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah! Um, yeah sorry, I don’t really –

Kenzie (Natalie):

It’s fine.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Maybe if you show me a tour my memory will like jog. You sure it wasn’t like a them – there wasn’t like a themed party? Like we didn’t all bring guinea pigs, did we? I went to a party like that once.

Kenzie (Natalie):

No, no, that definitely would not have happened in this house. My mom is not a rodent fan.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Oh, that’s a shame.

Kenzie (MC):

And she’s like kinda guiding you through – like down the hall, the kitchen. Around the corner and into the living room.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Just kinda like played games in here that day, I think.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Was it Red Rover? It was a Red Rover party?

Kenzie (Natalie):

It wasn’t like themed Red Rover.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Mmmm. Yeah, no, that was another one I went to.

Kenzie (Natalie):

We also didn’t have a pinata. I think there was like – it wasn’t like a theme theme, I think I was just like really into blue at the time so it was like blue themed. So, everything was blue.

Brennan (Sawyer):

We’re narrowing it down.

Kenzie (Natalie):

You’ve been to other blue-themed parties?

Brennan (Sawyer):

Like Blue’s Clue’s themed.

Kenzie (Natalie):

I was really into that when I was a kid.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah. It’s alright.

Kenzie (Natalie):

I kinda like the whole mystery thing. Like solvin’ the puzzle.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah, mysteries are okay. I kinda prefer, um, like rom-coms. And horror movies.

Kenzie (Natalie):

I’m with you on the first one, not so much on the second one. Alina made Ivy and I watch one with her one time and it was just terrible. I wish I hadn’t watched it.

Brennan (Sawyer):

What? Horror movies are – being scared is like the best.

Kenzie (Natalie):

I don’t necessarily enjoy like scaring myself.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah, but like when it’s in a movie, right, its like an isolated fear. So, like all the other fear that you feel during the day, that can be – that’s just put towards the movie.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Doesn’t that kinda happen in a way when you watch any kind of movie?

Brennan (Sawyer):

We wore blue sunglasses.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Yeah!

Brennan (Sawyer):

But I didn’t have one. Yeah, Ivy and I would just trade it back and forth.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Yeah because we only bought enough for the people who were invited to the party. You were a party crashing ten-year-old.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah, I think I’m kinda still a party crasher. Do you have any games? Unless you had like some plans or something…

Kenzie (Natalie):

No, I just thought we could hang out.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Well what do you normally do like when you’re just like hanging around the house by yourself?

Kenzie (Natalie):

I can show you.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Sure.

Kenzie (MC):

And she moves like she’s going to reach out and grab your hand but then doesn’t and then just turns to climb up the stairs.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Alright.

Kenzie (MC):

You get to the top and its like one hallway with like doors leading off and it looks like it curves at the end. And you can hear music coming from behind a closed door. She says,

Kenzie (Natalie):

That’s just – that’s Sydney’s room. I’m over here.

Kenzie (MC):

Her room isn’t small but tis smaller than yours. It’s also not messy but its not perfect. Uh, the comforter is wrinkled, not pulled taught. Her desk is strewn with supplies. A pair of shoes discarded in the middle of the room. The walls are painted a lavender and just covered in tacked up poster and poloroids but as you walk in I think there’s something else that catches your eye. It looks to be a discarded poster board that was haphazardly shoved behind a dresser. What you can see of it, its covered in glitter and colors, but you can only kinda see half of it so you can see three words – or parts of words. And the top one says, “Go”, the middle one says, “coming”, and the third says, “Ivy” with a question mark.

Brennan (Sawyer):

(sighs)

Kenzie (MC):

When you look back to Natalie her face has kinda reddened as she sees what you’re looking at.

Brennan (Sawyer):

It’s cool. I mean – yeah –

Kenzie (Natalie):

That was kinda a first pass at an idea I had um, I don’t – I don’t really think that’s her style. Um, and besides I think we’ve – I’ve gotten the impression that maybe I shouldn’t ask her so that’s just – I just have to throw that out.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Like you think she’d say no? Well, Ivy, she’s like really hard to read.

Kenzie (Natalie):

This wasn’t really a reading her thing. She kinda just flat out told me so…

Brennan (Sawyer):

Oh she was just straight up honest with you?

Kenzie (Natalie):

Yeah.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Like there wasn’t any like weird side comment and then like a couple weeks of not talking and then she looks at you dirty for a couple of days but then one day she’s like, “Hey, bestie!”

Kenzie (Natalie):

No. It was like sad.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Mmm. Well, I’m sorry.

Kenzie (Natalie):

I didn’t bring you up here to talk about, um, Ivy –

Brennan (Sawyer):

Your room is like super cool.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Oh, uh, thanks. I don’t know. It’s kinda been this way for a while. I don’t know… I never know what to do with it so…

Brennan (Sawyer):

I don’t know I think you’re doing a good job like is lavender your favorite color?

Kenzie (Natalie):

I don’t know I think it’s just like a nice wall color.

Brennan (Sawyer):

It is a nice wall color. It’s like calming.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Oh, but I said I was going to show you what I do.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Oh yeah!

Kenzie (MC):

She hesitates in the middle of her room and like is thinking where to go in her room and then she’s like,

Kenzie (Natalie):

Okay I’ll do this one first.

Kenzie (MC):

And she goes over to a drawer in her desk and she pulls out this large sketchbook like type of thing.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Oh I thought you were going to dance or something.

Kenzie (Natalie):

(Laughs) That would be really weird.

Brennan (Sawyer):

I – yeah that’s what I – I was getting a little worried.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Alina once when we were young made me – Ivy and I – learn or make up these dances and the new had to like perform them for her parents and our parents. It was weird. And I like still remember how to do it – I’m not gonna, I’m not gonna do that though that would be –

Brennan (Sawyer):

If you like busted down break dancing. Pulled out like a cardboard piece or whatever, that would be honestly – that’s actually pretty cool.

Kenzie (Natalie):

We were like, you know, nine or eight or something and uh, it was really bad. They were just really bad choreographed dances to songs that she liked.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Is there a video tape of this?

Kenzie (Natalie):

Uh, I hope to god not (laughs).

Brennan (Sawyer):

God, I hope there is. That would be so good.

Kenzie (Natalie):

I would hope that no one would ever see that ever.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Wait, so, you – is it drawing?

Kenzie (Natalie):

Sorry I keep getting distracted.

Kenzie (MC):

She sits down on the floor.

Brennan:

I’ll sit. Across from her.

Kenzie (Natalie):

These are like rough and I’m not doing the thing that people do where like they don’t think they’re good at something, I’m just like these are literally rough sketches. But, yeah, here.

Kenzie (MC):

She kinda just pushes the whole sketchbook into your hand.

Brennan:

Start flipping through from the beginning.

Kenzie (MC):

And you see – it’s not even charcoal, it’s just pencil – drawing, really rough sketches. Looks like outlines of people mostly. There’s a couple, more detailed ones of like Alina and Ivy. You see that there is – it looks to be a sketch of a sports game almost, with like people who look like they have jerseys on and they’re in poses of movement but it’s not really cohesive. It looks to be mostly school related tings in this, or people from school related things in this.

Brennan (Sawyer):

This is like really good.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Oh, um, yeah I just – I don’t know, um, it’s just like doodling type of thing.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Do you have ADHD?

Kenzie (Natalie):

Not that I’m aware.

Brennan (Sawyer):

I think my mom has ADHD. She doodled a lot. But these are way better.

Kenzie (Natalie):

What did your mom doodle?

Brennan (Sawyer):

Just like random stuff. A lot of times it was just like random shapes, or geometric stuff. In like the top corners of pages. Or she’d just do like – she’d fill a whole page with lines and overlap the lines and they become a whole different thing, but these are like actually like the proportions are really good and like you actually know what you’re doing. Did you watch YouTube tutorials?

Kenzie (Natalie):

No, um, I mean – when I do more in-depth things sometimes, I do ‘cause I can’t get fucking ears right. I don’t know how to draw ears. So oftentimes I make hair – I put hair in front of the ears or like people where hats. My YouTube search history is – and my recommended stuff is weird because of the ear sketch searches that I’ve looked up.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah, my YouTube search history is probably pretty weird too.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Probably its all about lizards, yeah?

Brennan (Sawyer):

(scoffs) (laughs) No.

Kenzie (Natalie):

You like that stuff right?

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah it’s – yeah it’s about lizards. It’s mostly lizards. And like, like Discovery snippets.

Kenzie (Natalie):

I mostly ever drawn people, but I bet I could draw a lizard.

Brennan (Sawyer):

I bet you could draw a liz – (gasps) You should come over and draw my lizards.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Well, I don’t know where else I would see a lizard so that would be perfect.

Brennan (Sawyer):

My room is way different. But it’s got a lot of lizards.

Kenzie (Natalie):

You don’t have lavender walls and like hangy, stringy lights?

Brennan (Sawyer):

No, but I think I might add the stringy lights because damn. It’s cozy.

Kenzie (Natalie):

There’s an ambiance to it. There really is.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah. Its nice. Should we like – okay, like I draw and then like five minutes go by and then I pass it to you and you draw and then we just keep going back and forth.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Well should we have things that we have to – like what subject are we drawing?

Brennan (Sawyer):

Like prompts? I don’t know like first things – yeah, I guess just like – I guess the whole thing I first thing that comes to your head, right?

Kenzie (Natalie):

Well so am I drawing what you draw?

Brennan (Sawyer):

No, you can draw whatever. Like I’ll draw whatever’s in my head at that time and then I pass it to you and then you not knowing anything about what’s in my head, you draw whats in your head and then it makes something different.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can do that.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Alright cool.

Kenzie (Natalie):

You go –

Brennan (Sawyer):

You got first. Alright, I’ll go first.

Kenzie (Natalie):

You came up with the game, you go first.

Brennan:

I will start drawing like the river, the creek.. Just the bed of it. Um with like - Its really bad. It’s not like four-year-old bad but its pretty bad. Its like rocks are - there’s no depth to it, its all two-dimensional. But its like rocks and then like barely water on top. And then I’ll pass it over.

Kenzie (MC):

She like kinda keep it from you and does her sketching of it and when she hands it back it looks like she has turned your creek into like a candy bar and a person’s face with their mouth open, trying to eat the candy bar.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Oh, man. This is a – I’m sorry. I’m gonna change that candy bar into a dick.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Sawyer, come on!

Brennan (Sawyer):

That’s my whole five minutes, I’m going to change this into a dick. A really – like I’m gonna add shading and everything.

Kenzie (MC):

You hand it back to her and she goes,

Kenzie (Natalie):

Okay, I should’ve been anticipating that.

Brennan (Sawyer):

I mean you really set this one up.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Yeah, yeah, that’s one me. That definitely on me. I think we’re going to scrap this try.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Okay (laughs).

Kenzie (Natalie):

Okay?

Kenzie (MC):

And she like balls it up and just tosses it to the side.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Oh, you don’t want to keep that?

Kenzie (Natalie):

I think there could be question that were asked if I kept this so –

Brennan (Sawyer):

You don’t want to hang it right next to the polaroid’s?

Kenzie (Natalie):

You know what actually?

Kenzie (MC):

She leans over, picks it up and she reaches into a drawer and pulls out a tack and tacks it in the wall.

Brennan:

I’m gonna walk over and sign it on the balls.

Kenzie (MC):

She’s like,

Kenzie (Natalie):

Okay I’ll go first this time.

Kenzie (MC):

She draws out a geometric style cat.

Brennan:

I will look at the Homecoming card in the corner that’s folded up and while I’m just drawing,

Brennan (Sawyer):

So, who do you think you’re going to go with instead?

Kenzie (Natalie):

Oh, um, I don’t know, uh, Ivy kinda said some things that made me think of somebody else to go with but I just don’t know… yet. Did you ask somebody already?

Brennan (Sawyer):

Not yet.

Brennan:

And I’ll pass it back and it’s a bunch of lightning bolts in a line.

Kenzie (MC):

She looks at it and her brows kinda furrow a little bit.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Yeah, um, I mean I don’t know. Homecoming was a lot of fun last year but I was like with friends. But it don’t it’s a bit different this year I think. ‘Cause my two best friends aren’t talking to one another anymore and the whole Ivy thing is just really confusing and strange right now. She knows that I know by the way.

Brennan (Sawyer):

That’s good. The last part of what you said.

Kenzie (Natalie):

I realize that telling you or asking you about it was kinda a lot so I just wanted to let you know that she knows and its okay.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Okay… alright. Interesting.

Kenzie (MC):

She passes the notebook back to you. She’s kinda drawn underneath your lighting bolt what looks to be a sketch of the quarry and people at the party.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Homecoming’s weird. Its like a lot of pressure on like everyone and I think its better just to like – I don’t know maybe go with someone who’s cool. Take the pressure off and have fun.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Isn’t the point of that night just to have fun? And everybody’s not been having such a fun time lately so it’d be nice to – is it bad it I say forget about it?

Brennan:

And I’ll hand her the drawing back. There is someone at the party who has a little bit more detail. There’s a magnifying glass. This person is like accentuated in the magnifying glass.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah, I mean I don’t know about forget about it. Like this is like – Homecoming is like a big deal and everything but it shouldn’t, I don’t know, we shouldn’t treat it like a big deal because then it makes it suck. But if we just like, I think think in a fun way about it, of like no – nothing attached, nothing weird, just going ‘cause it should be fun then the whole like, prep prior is way easier. And then I feel like you wouldn’t be – it all wouldn’t be so doom and gloom.

Brennan:

I’ll grab the sketchbook and then overlap on a bunch of images and put a big arrow and shade it in.

Brennan (Sawyer):

If you can solve this riddle.

Brennan:

And staring at it for a while, the lightning bolts spelling out “will” and the girl in the drawing, the person that’s accentuated in the magnifying glass is a very shitty depiction of her and then there’s an arrow that then I flip it around back to me once I think she’s kinda getting it figured.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Oh! Uh… (laughs).

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah, hold on.

Brennan:

And then I draw a bunch of balloons around.

Brennan (Sawyer):

I guess that means – I didn’t know how to articulate – draw like Homecoming.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Yeah! Uh, yeah!

Brennan (Sawyer):

Just as like a –

Kenzie (Natalie):

We’re cool people

Brennan (Sawyer):

It’s just for – yeah.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Yeah.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Exactly. We’re just gonna go have a good time. And we don’t have to be so nervous about it, you know?

Kenzie (Natalie):

I often feel nervous when we talk.

Brennan (Sawyer):

I feel nervous talking to almost everyone. Ugh, god, sorry, like silence is also just so rough.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Okay, um, sorry.

Brennan (Sawyer):

No, no, I’m not blaming you. I like – that’s usually – I just didn’t have anything to say so like normally I’d try to just like say anything ‘casue then like – you know what I mean?

Kenzie (Natalie):

Yeah.

Brennan (Sawyer):

We know we’re going with like a cool friend and we can like go to Homecoming, have a great time and we don’t have to be nervous, we can just – it’ll just be fun.

Kenzie (Natalie):

You know when I said Ivy mentioned somebody to me and I didn’t know about it? That as kinda you. She told me –

Brennan (Sawyer):

She told me to go – to ask me?

Kenzie (Natalie):

She didn’t specifically say, “Hey, go ask Sawyer to Homecoming.” She said something else.

Brennan (Sawyer):

She probably thinks – goddamit. She probably thinks no one was going to ask me. Or that I wasn’t going to go with anybody. So, I don’t know, Ivy’s always like scheming.

Kenzie (Natalie):

I was kinda like thinking of asking you anyway though ‘cause it just feel like we’ve been talking a little bit more and –

Brennan (Sawyer):

Well, I’m – I mean I’m glad like we –

Kenzie (Natalie):

To be honest I’m a little bit surprised you did this seeing that you saw that.

Kenzie (MC):

And she’s pointing at the other Homecoming ask.

Kenzie (Natalie):

But that was like – you know, I did that a while ago and then I just – it was never – I’m not gonna – I was never gonna use it so…

Brennan (Sawyer):

Well, we have fun and your room’s like really cool so I’m just glad that you invited me over I guess. And then I was like, well, there’s nothing better than like in the moment, doing something on a whim. Sometimes its really bad but sometimes its kinda cool and I thought that his would be one of those kinda cool times ‘cause we’re like – I don’t know I think we’re kind a similar.

Kenzie (Natalie):

I think that too. Except for the longboarding debacle. I don’t think that’s – I’m ever going to pick that up.

Brennan (Sawyer):

But that was fun.

Kenzie (Natalie):

It was fun! I just don’t think – I don’t think I’m going to be riding a longboard to school anytime soon.

Brennan (Sawyer):

That’s okay. I feel like nobody really talks about it but isn’t like now when we’re supposed to figure out that kinda stuff.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Like the things that we like?

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah, I guess. I feel like everyone’s always just like – and I do this a lot too – where its like, oh my gosh, I just have to like like everything ‘cause if I don’t like something then like someone’s going to think that that’s cool and I’m gonna think its uncool and then they’re going to think I’m uncool.

Kenzie (Natalie):

But I don’t think this is the only time. I think forever we’re going to be figuring out the things that we like and don’t like. but I think its less cool to pretend you like something for somebody else.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah, it is pretty uncool.

Kenzie (MC):

You hear a door in the hall opening and you hear a voice go,

Kenzie (Sydney Samuels):

Nat! Uh, mom said we can order pizza. Oh, hi.

Kenzie (MC):

And you see somebody who looks really similar to Natalie but like a year or two older.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Hello.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Are we going to do pizza ‘cause I don’t think mom’s going to be home.

Kenzie (MC):

And Natalie looks at you and says,

Kenzie (Natalie):

Do you want to stay for pizza?

Brennan (Sawyer):

Sure, I like pizza.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Okay, yeah, we can do pizza.

Kenzie (Sydney):

Cool, I’ll order two I guess.

Brennan (Sawyer):

What are you up to? You jammin’ out?

Kenzie (Sydney):

Uh, doin’ homework.

Brennan (Sawyer):

What were you listening to?

Kenzie (Sydney):

Uh, I don’t actually even know. I just kinda put a random playlist on shuffle to do my homework to so it just drowns it out.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Oh my god, let me put you on to some fucking amazing shit.

Brennan:

And Sawyer’s getting up and standing up next to her.

Brennan (Sawyer):

I don’t want to go in your rom without like – that’d be weird.

Kenzie (Sydney):

You wanna just tell me what it is you want me to listen to?

Brennan (Sawyer):

Oh I was thinking like that would be the cue to like, oh let’s both go, and then like Natalie should come. We would jam out. This was like me leading into like, you know, like a hang out thing. ‘Cause who wants to just do homework and – but I guess I’ll just tell you.

Kenzie (Sydney):

Do you mind if I like do homework and we can have this jam session when we eat pizza?

Brennan (Sawyer):

Sure!

Kenzie (Sydney):

Hold onto your music tastes. I’ll be back. But I’m gonna go order pizza and do more homework til it gets here.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Okay, sweet.

Brennan:

And I’ll sit back down.

Kenzie (MC):

Before she leaves the room she goes,

Kenzie (Sydney):

Also, Natalie, why do you have a dick on your wall?

Kenzie (Natalie):

We were just playing a game and –

Brennan (Sawyer):

Dickin’ around.

Kenzie (Sydney):

Okay, uh, Sawyer, yeah that’s…? Do you like pepperoni?

Brennan (Sawyer):

I like literally anything on pizza.

Kenzie (Sydney):

I’ll let you guys know when it gets here. Or you guys let me know when it gets here. Answer the door if it rings, okay?

Brennan:

Put a thumbs up.

Kenzie (MC):

And she goes back in her room.

Brennan (Sawyer):

She seems cool.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Uh, yeah, she’s actually pretty chill.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Do you guys get along?

Kenzie (Natalie):

For the most part. We kinda have to ‘cause you know –

Brennan (Sawyer):

Oh yeah?

Kenzie (Natalie):

-we’re both on the cheerleading squad and my mom is out coach so.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Oh yeah.

Kenzie (Natalie):

It would be a little hard if we didn’t.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah, that would throw a wrench in the dynamics there.

Kenzie (Natalie):

A lot of times we just keep to ourselves though because we’re like – we’re not a lot alike.

Brennan (Sawyer):

But that’s kinda sometimes makes the best friends. Like I kinda hope that my sister grows up and she’s like really different from. But like different in all the like good stuff and then I’m hoping that we can be really good friends.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Sydney’s only like a little less than two years older than me. But you and Annabelle, that’s like a lot of years.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah. But I think it’s kinda cool ‘cause I get to take like the brunt end of everything and then I can look back and be like wisdom and then like flick her with a magic finger of wisdom.

Kenzie (Natalie):

I bet by the time she’s our age though she’s gonna not want to listen to a single word you say (laughs).

Brennan (Sawyer):

That’s not true. She’ll think I’m really cool.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Mm-hmm.

Brennan (Sawyer):

‘Cause I will be.

Kenzie (Natalie):

I don’t think that you’re not going to be cool when you’re twenty-eight, I just think, um, she’s not gonna think you’re cool.

Brennan (Sawyer):

But what if I’m – what if I discovered a new species of, I don’t know, like a new turtle and then everyone knows me as the guy that discovered the turtle. The new one though. Like the turtle that changed all turtles and then she’s gonna like – I’m gonna come back home and she’s gonna be like, dang, that’s my brother who discovered the new turtle. That’s awesome. And then she’ll think I’m really cool.

Kenzie (MC):

There’s a soft smile on her face as you say all this.

Kenzie (Natalie):

I think that would – I mean you’d be pretty famous discovering a new turtle.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Wouldn’t I?

Kenzie (Natalie):

She couldn’t do anything but think you’re cool.

Brennan (Sawyer):

What do you want to be or do?

Kenzie (Natalie):

I was thinking of going to art school but I don’t really know what to do after?

Brennan (Sawyer):

What do you mean? You’re a shoo in.

Kenzie (Natalie):

But like what would I do for work with that?

Brennan (Sawyer):

Well, do you like cartoons?

Kenzie (Natalie):

I’ve thought about it but I feel like my style is a little bit more – it’s not like cartoony.

Brennan (Sawyer):

I might be making a video game with some friends!

Kenzie (Natalie):

Really?

Brennan (Sawyer):

You could like maybe help out with some illustrations or something. Maybe that could – you could do like concept art.

Kenzie (Natalie):

That would be really cool.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Well I ask them and like yeah, I’m sure that they’d be down.

Kenzie (Natalie):

That sounds like a lot of fun.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Well, maybe that’ll be your thing.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Concept art sounds kinda cool. I don’t know a lot about that world so I just have to look more into it.

Brennan (Sawyer):

I don’t have any idea what the games about right now so.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Oh, that’s okay. It’s just kinda cool that you’re doing that. Speaking of – sorry I’m going back to this turtle thing, I just want to make sure that before Homecoming I can come over and draw your lizards.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Oh, yeah, lets actually – that’d be way more fun. Let’s – instead of like the whole meet-up at like seven and do the whole – what is it corsage –

Kenzie (Natalie):

I didn’t necessarily mean like on Homecoming just like before –

Brennan (Sawyer):

Oh. Sure we can do it before Homecoming. I was just also thinking then on Homecoming day, we hang out like earlier so that there’s no like that – we break that weird ceremony of parents watching us like pin a flower.

Kenzie (Natalie):

I unfortunately think my mom is definitely going to want pictures of the pinning of the flower.

Brennan (Sawyer):

So is my mom. I was trying to avoid that.

Kenzie (Natalie):

We could still like hang out before that and then we’ll just have to be subjected to that for like a minute.

Brennan (Sawyer):

That’s alright. Sometimes as much as its kind a lame, tradition can be a little bit cool.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Who did you go to Homecoming with last year?

Brennan (Sawyer):

Uh, I went stag.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Okay, I just didn’t know.

Brennan (Sawyer):

That’s a lie. I didn’t go. I skipped out. Ivy was like, you should go and then –

Kenzie (Natalie):

I guess if you had been there we would’ve hung out because we were with Ivy and Adam.

Brennan (Sawyer):

I didn’t – yeah, I didn’t go. I watched a pay-per-view fight with my dad at home.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Do you do that a lot?

Brennan (Sawyer):

Sometimes, yeah. He likes that stuff. He likes, you know, motorcycles, NASCAR, MMA.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Sounds like a dad dad.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah, he is… I’m excited to show some jams.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Yeah, actually why don’t we go set up the living room into like a comfy, not a like a blnkaet fort but you know, like just –

Brennan (Sawyer):

No, a blanket fort. No, hundred percent a blanket fort.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Okay.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah, that’s a great idea.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Awesome, yeah!

Brennan (Sawyer):

Hell yeah!

Kenzie (Natalie):

Actually can you go in that box?

Kenzie (MC):

And she points to the end of her bed and there’s a little box.

Kenzie (Natalie):

And just grab the blankets out of there.

Brennan:

I go and scoop all the blankets.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Come on!

Kenzie (MC):

Sawyer and Caleb, you have from the start been privy to Sam’s outrageous plan. Vic a hopeless romantic, theatre kid agreed immediately. The ball began rolling and there was no stopping it. You just had to sit on the sidelines and watching and be as supportive as you possibly could be which meant showing up early and clearing a space in The Commons because Sam decided it had to be done at the beginning of the day because they could not possibly sit through another homeroom with Ivy and keep the secret without combusting.

Caleb you get a text from Sam. It’s just after school one day. They text reads,

Kenzie (Sam Marshall):

Hey… I’m thinking of doing something impulsive…

Mads McDonough:

I open it up.

Mads (Caleb Moore):

Gonna need more than that.

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah that was a bit empty of a text, I know.

Mads (Caleb):

Very.

Mads:

I send a really crunchy, distorted picture of Jasper where its like really up close to his face and his mouth is pulled back in a weird way where you can just see his little teeth pinching out but his eyes are squinted.

Kenzie (MC):

And he goes,

Kenzie (Sam):

Oh my goodness I love Jasper! Why the fuck did you not send me more pictures of Jasper? Send me a picture of Jasper every day.

Mads:

I’m laying on my bed so I kinda sit up a little bit and take a picture and it just looks like a heap of gray that’s like squashed into the side of my bed and say,

Mads (Caleb):

Because he usually looks like this.

Kenzie (Sam):

Well that is still adorable.

Mads:

I send another picture but this time you can like in the corner of the picture, I’m holding up like a bag of chips so that the crinkle of it – its just the same blob but the head is twisted around and the eyes flash.

Kenzie (Sam):

Okay, fine, I get the point. But I have a thing, can I call you? Are you home? Can I FaceTime?

Mads (Caleb):

Yeah.

Kenzie (MC):

You don’t get a text back but you get a FaceTime call.

Mads:

I answer it.

Mads (Caleb):

What?

Kenzie (MC):

And you get Sam in a hoodie, hood up, laying on their bed. Just like face scrunched up as much as it possibly can from being shoved into their chest and shoved into the bed behind them. But their hood is up and the phone is really close to their face. Its just not a great angle at all.

Mads:

I’m a similar angle but I go ahead and sit up the whole way no and I go,

Mads (Caleb):

Hot. What did you want?

Kenzie (Sam):

Okay so I just like had an intrusive thought.

Mads:

I roll my eyes.

Kenzie (Sam):

But like it wasn’t like an intrusive thought where like sometimes like what if I drop my keys down the drain? Or the other one is like what if my mother turned the wheel into this barricade? It wasn’t like that type of intrusive thought. It was like an active social intrusive thought, which I’ve never had before in my life.

Mads (Caleb):

Never? You’ve never had an active social intrusive thought?

Kenzie (Sam):

Not until this moment.

Mads (Caleb):

Well, is it good?

Kenzie (Sam):

I think its probably really bad actually.

Mads (Caleb):

Bad! Okay. Tell me what it is.

Kenzie (Sam):

So, you know that like the thing at the end of the month is coming?

Kenzie (MC):

And their face is scrunched up and they’re trying not to look at you through the camera on the phone.

Mads (Caleb):

Thing at the end of the month? The thing at the –

Kenzie (Sam):

It’s like October. It’s gonna be October and like the thing at the end of the month.

Mads (Caleb):

October… at the – Oh! The da – Homecoming?

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah, that thing. That thing.

Mads (Caleb):

(groans) I forgot that was a thing here.

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah, like it’s actually a pretty fuckin’ big thing here like we have full on fuckin’ ballot for Homecoming Court and then a second round of ballots at the dance for Homecoming queen and king and its really heteronormative. Anyways, that’s not what my thought as about. But my thought was about Homecoming! But not about that part of Homecoming.

Mads (Caleb):

Sam, if you’re going to ask me to go to Homecoming with you then I’m going to expect something more than this.

Kenzie (MC):

They burst out laughing so hard. Almost offensively hard actually.

Mads:

Yeah my face twists up a little bit because it was a joke but at the same time I kinda like squawk a little bit like I make this terrible voice crack.

Mads (Caleb):

(voice cracks) I’m a catch!

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah like but for someone else.

Mads (Caleb):

Shut up!

Kenzie (Sam):

No, no, Caleb, if you were my intrusive thought –

Mads (Caleb):

I’m hanging up unless you tell me what you’re thinking.

Kenzie (Sam):

No, stop! Stop, stop, stop, okay, okay. So, I’ve created some recent new friendships.

Mads (Caleb):

Like?

Kenzie (Sam):

The reason this is an intrusive thought Caleb is because I don’t think it’s going to go down well, but, it crossed my mind that if would be fun – just as friends, just as friends by the way. Just gonna throw that out because there’s not fucking way that would ever happen for me. But I have been thinking that like I have kinda like a big plan for it ‘cause like this person deserves a big plan. I think I have a shot too.

Mads:

I set my phone down on my nightstand so that you can get like all of me in the frame and I pull my legs up so that they’re crisscross applesauce on the bed and then cross my arms over top of my chest and kinda like hunch my head forward a little bit and then kinda like raise my shoulders up high and raise my eyebrows at the same time as if to say, get on with it.

Kenzie (Sam):

Okay! Okay! You’ve pushed me enough! Okay, I can tell you now! I think that like - I think that if I ask – I think that I’m gonna ask Ivy.

Mads:

Caleb bites his bottom lip, raises his eyebrows, and again, his voice cracks when he goes,

Mads (Caleb):

Mm-hmm, yeah?

Kenzie (Sam):

Sorry, you broke up a little bit there I couldn’t hear you.

Mads (Caleb):

(clears throat) Yeah?

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah!

Mads (Caleb):

You want to ask Ivy?

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah because here’s the thought, here’s the thought.

Mads (Caleb):

Okay…

Kenzie (Sam):

This is why I said that it was like an intrusive social thought because like its fucked up like in a million years would I ever do this? No, absolutely fucking not. But, I’ve said fuck so many times in this conversation with you that obviously this is an intrusive thought. So, um, anyways I think – so here’s the thing, she’s really nice to me and like at the party she was like, really like, we can be friends type of thing. And then Sawyer also wanted to be friends with me. And you’re my friend. So, it feels like I kinda got an in here. Which is why I said originally that I could just ask her as a friend even though she already knows that I think she’s really hot ‘cause I said it out loud to her, to her face. But I think I could ask because here’s the thing. Worst comes to worst, she says no. Which she’s probably going to. I’m aware. But for someone like me, that doesn’t mean anything because no one would care. So, I could pull off like an elaborate Homecoming proposal and Ivy, hottest popular girl in school, could turn me down and still no one would care about me so why wouldn’t I do it?

Mads (Caleb):

Sam…

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah?

Mads (Caleb):

Okay like really terrible like self-deprecation aside, I would care if you got turned down in front of the entire school.

Kenzie (Sam):

I just assume everybody’s gonna know ‘cause she’s involved.

Mads (Caleb):

Yeah, like immediately as soon as it happens. Like people probably be recording it.

Kenzie (Sam):

It’s probably gonna be on the TikTok thing when I already got my face smashed in on that so… What’s another like social annihilation thing?

Mads (Caleb):

Sam its Ivy Duncan.

Kenzie (Sam):

Is she going with anybody, Caleb? Do you know?

Mads:

I squeeze my eyes together.

Mads (Caleb):

I think she’s going with…

Mads:

I wrack my brain for like the twenty fucking people that Ivy has kissed in the last month and I just random like relay shuffle land on one of them.

Mads (Caleb):

I think she’s going with Naia.

Kenzie (Sam):

Oh.

Mads (Caleb):

But I don’t know. It’s not official. I mean you saw tthem the other day –

Kenzie (Sam):

What do you mean?

Mads (Caleb):

In the art room? How they were talking?

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah before everybody saw her making out with Adam?

Mads (Caleb):

That’s an entirely – that’s – you know what, there are layers here.

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah, it just feels like it doesn’t really matter – like I’m not looking to go make out with Ivy at Homecoming.

Mads (Caleb):

You’re not?

Kenzie (Sam):

No.

Mads (Caleb):

Sam, you’re not?

Kenzie (Sam):

No.

Mads (Caleb):

Can you say that again?

Kenzie (Sam):

I am not looking to make out with Ivy – okay, maybe like a little bit. Maybe like a little kiss at the end of the night wouldn’t hurt my sensibilities.

Mads (Caleb):

Like a pity kiss? A pity kiss Sam? Is that what you want?

Kenzie (Sam):

Oh, well I don’t want a pity kiss. Wait…

Kenzie (MC):

Their eyebrows furrow together and they kinda stare off out of the camera.

Kenzie (Sam):

Is that why they hung out with me at the party?

Mads:

My eyes get like – like blow wide.

Mads (Caleb):

No, no, Sam, no. Its just Ivy is – she’s, ugh. I don’t know every time that I think I start to understand her it’s just – she does something so fucking stupid that none of it makes sense anymore, okay? She’s making out with people left and right, she’s trying to get back with my imbecile of a brother. I don’t know where that’s going.

Kenzie (Sam):

Oh, like actively?

Mads (Caleb):

Like with my brother?

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah.

Mads (Caleb):

I assume so!

Kenzie (Sam):

Cool, okay, that’s like a pretty good way to stop this from happening because I again, didn’t necessarily think that I would be dating Ivy Duncan but I also like would be really afraid of coming in the way of Adam dating Ivy Duncan. That is scarier than anything else I’ve ever thought about in my life.

Mads:

I grab my phone and I like shove it up close to my face so you like see my eyes staring down at you.

Mads (Caleb):

You never need to be intimidated by my brother.

Kenzie (Sam):

Caleb, you’re sending me like a lot of opposite singles this evening and I don’t really know what the fuck I’m supposed to do with them!

Mads:

I pull the phone back and like smack my palm against my forehead and go,

Mads (Caleb):

I don’t know! Oh my god – this is stupid. It’s a stupid dance –

Kenzie (Sam):

Well, who are you asking to Homecoming, Caleb?

Mads (Caleb):

I’m gonna –

Mads:

The phone falls a little bit. You get like a really awkward like low angle shot of Caleb just like staring off into a corner of his room like glassy, nothingness eyes.

Mads (Caleb):

I guess I’m gonna ask no one.

Kenzie (Sam):

Okay, what if, I ask Ivy just to see what happens! And then she’s gonna say no and then we go as eligible bachelors?

Mads:

He nods, slowly and goes,

Mads (Caleb):

Also, just saying, when – if – Ivy turns your down as just friends –

Kenzie (Sam):

She’s gonna turn me down. It’s okay. We all know.

Mads (Caleb):

I’m sorry, Sam. I’m sorry.

Kenzie (Sam):

I feel like I gotta do somethin’ at some point even if I know its not gonna end well. Like I gotta do something. She’ll still be my friend, so that’s okay.

Mads (Caleb):

Yeah, just friends. Just asking people as just friends because then they can’t like, they can’t like use that against you or something if its just friends.

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah, ‘cause we’re gonna go as just friends when I get turned down by the most popular girl -

Mads (Caleb):

Right, we’re gonna go as just friends.

Kenzie (Sam):

in school… what?

Mads (Caleb):

What were - ?

Kenzie (Sam):

Caleb (laughs) what are you talking about?

Mads (Caleb):

What are you – what are you talking about?

Kenzie (Sam):

I thought we were talking about us going as friends.

Mads (Caleb):

We were totally talking about us going as just friends, Sam. You’re my best friends.

Kenzie (Sam):

That is possibly one of the worst lies you’ve ever told me, what the hell are you talking about?

Mads (Caleb):

I don’t know, Sam.

Kenzie (Sam):

Caleb.

Mads (Caleb):

Hey.

Kenzie (Sam):

I am not one to push, but I know when I am being lied too.

Mads (Caleb):

Why would you say that you’re being lied to right now, Sam?

Kenzie (Sam):

Because usually when you get your high voice in there, you get really self-conscious and you make sure to immediately change it to your low voice and you didn’t.

Mads (Caleb):

(with a high voice) My voice (clears throat) (with a low voice) I don’t have a low voice. Its just my voice. I sound like this all the time.

Kenzie (Sam):

Keep tellin’ yourself that Caleb because we both have a high voice and we both hate it.

Mads (Caleb):

I know. It’s the head voice, its really up there. Its like super – I can’t –

Kenzie (Sam):

So, what do you mean by asking a friend as a friend because that’s obviously not me!?

Mads:

Caleb like stares into this zoomed in picture of Sam and looks directly up to the sky like he’s waiting for the ceiling to drop open on top of him and be smothered by the rubble and ruffage of his own home because that would be a less terrible experience than this.

Mads (Caleb):

If we’re asking people as just friends then I should probably ask someone too so that whenever they turn me down then we can both rebound with each other as just friends.

Kenzie (Sam):

Okay, well I don’t think that I’m like asking – I see where I might have led you astray. I don’t think that I am asking Ivy as just friends but if she said, “As friends,” I would say yes. Immediately. Um, so, what I’m more interested in is who you were going to ask ‘cause we have to have the idea that like, in some wild world, she’s going to say yes to me, okay? We have to at least assume that in some universe, that could happen, okay? So, we’re going to assume. We’re going to assume that I am going to come up with the best Homecoming proposal to Ivy that she’s not gonna be able to say no to it. So, if that happens, who are you asking as a friend? ‘Cause I’m out of the picture and I would’ve been the one you would ask.

Mads (Caleb):

Well, like hypothetically.

Kenzie (Sam):

Is that not what this entire conversation has been?

Mads (Caleb):

(with high voice) Totally a hypothetical con – (with low voice) totally a hypothetical conversation, Sam. If –

Kenzie (Sam):

Uh-huh.

Mads (Caleb):

I was going to ask someone in this scenario –

Kenzie (Sam):

Correct. That’s what I’m asking.

Mads (Caleb):

Then I sure would ask someone that I have spoken to recently, that is not you.

Kenzie (Sam):

Damian?

Mads (Caleb):

Yes! I would ask Damian to go with me –

Kenzie (Sam):

Oh, I actually kinda assumed that Damian was going to go with Farrow. Or Damian was going to go by himself. Or maybe Damian and Naia? That would be interesting.

Mads (Caleb):

No, that would be so weird, no.

Kenzie (Sam):

I truly can’t imagine Naia going with anybody. Maybe she won’t even go.

Mads (Caleb):

I think it would take a lot of convincing to get her to go.

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah that seems like not her thing.

Mads (Caleb):

She seems like the person to initiate, you know?

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah, okay, so she would have to ask somebody and I would have to say Damian would be the last person on her list to ask but she might be the first person on his list to ask. There are like a lot of social politics that go into this. This is kinda stupid. Why are we doing it?

Mads (Caleb):

Yeah like this dance is so, so, so, so bad.

Kenzie (Sam):

Okay, do you want to hear my plan though? ‘Cause I do have an elaborate plan.

Mads:

I put the phone back on the nightstand and I hold my hands up like shrugging.

Mads (Caleb):

We might as well as this point.

Kenzie (Sam):

Awesome, cool, so, I have gathered from about the fifteen minutes total time I have spent in Ivy’s presence and just, you know, the culmination of things I’ve learned about her from just her being her that her favorite genre of music is pop.

Mads (Caleb):

She likes classical too. Like sometimes.

Kenzie (Sam):

I’m gonna pretend you didn’t tell me that ‘cause that doesn’t go with my plans.

Mads (Caleb):

She likes R&B too. Sometimes. But go on, go on!

Kenzie (Sam):

Okay, okay, okay! Vic likes me so I was going to go ask Vic if he could get some of his friends and I was going to have them make a flash mob to like some pop song that I haven’t chosen yet because I don’t really know a lot of pop music, but I’ll get there. And then like in the cafeteria at lunch time, do the flash mob and then at the end of it, they would all hold up sign with different letters on it that said, “Will you go to Homecoming” and then I would come out – I would do that slide down the middle of the cafeteria tables on my knees holding up the sign that says, “with me?” But, here’s the thing, I also know that that’s kinda cheesy but I think that like if you, if you don’t like Homecoming propose or Promposal somebody with something that’s kinda cheesy, that doesn’t really make sense. Because we all know the whole thing is cheesy. So you gotta like give in to that. But I’ve got something else up my sleeve.

Mads (Caleb):

There’s something else?

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah, yeah, yeah, hold on a second.

Kenzie (MC):

And you see like this video is kinda like by their leg as they’re walking across their room. And they go into a draw. They like scrabble around, you just hear movement, and then they go,

Kenzie (Sam):

Okay, so, ‘cause I got another thing.

Mads (Caleb):

Uh-huh.

Kenzie (Sam):

Because I found this – okay, do you agree with me like no one in their right mind wouldn’t have a crush on Ivy Duncan? Like at the – no, no, Caleb, I like know you’re friends with her so that’s fine. But at the base of it all. Like we’re all aware that she is, in the realm of the world, an attractive individual.

Mads (Caleb):

Yes. Yeah. Objectively.

Kenzie (Sam):

That’s what I mean. I saw this thing the other day and it just for some reason, I was like, you know what? Ivy should have this anyway. So, I bought it.

Mads (Caleb):

Sam, what’d you do?

Kenzie (Sam):

And I think what would be like really cool is if I do the slide thing, and I had the sign that said, “Will you go to Homecoming with me?” and in the other hand I have this other thing.

Mads (Caleb):

Sam, what’d you buy?

Kenzie (MC):

They bring out this box that looks like a necklace box. And they open it like you would open a necklace box. And its long and rectangular. And on inside, it does look like there’s a necklace in there. It’s like a gold chain and there’s something at the end of it. Facetime is weird, you can’t really see it that well.

Kenzie (Sam):

I think that she would like this. And I think I should give this to her.

Mads (Caleb):

What is it? It’s like a necklace with a pendant?

Kenzie (Sam):

It felt like something she would already have had so like why wouldn’t she just own it? Like I’ll just give it to her. Even if she says, no, she should have it.

Mads (Caleb):

Okay. I mean, she could be persuaded with gifts. That could work. That could be something. Do we really think the flash mob… we want to settle on that though?

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah how else am I going to begin the whole thing?

Mads (Caleb):

By like walking up to her and saying, “Hey Ivy can you talk for a second?” And then she’ll do that one thing where she like twirls her hair a little bit and looks over to the side like she’s about to talk to someone else actually, but then like turns back to you and goes, “Yeah!”

Kenzie (Sam):

No, I need to avoid that because then I wouldn’t ask the question.

Mads (Caleb):

Well, Sam… the cafeteria? A flash mob?

Kenzie (MC):

They bring the object closer to the camera and they’re like,

Kenzie (Sam):

No, but hold on. This is the – this is the clincher, okay? This is really it.

Mads (Caleb):

It’s just a necklace. It’s just a –

Mads:

And I like squint at the image.

Kenzie (MC):

And attached at the bottom – I don’t think Caleb would know what this was if he didn’t know Ivy. It’s a complete circle of a bauble at the bottom. And it looks like maybe there’s like an image of the moon behind. As it moves you can see like inside of it is a liquid that moves and the liquid is definitely red. And you don’t know exactly what it is. And it’s weird that Sam says this is meant for Ivy.

Mads (Caleb):

Where did you find that, Sam?

Kenzie (Sam):

It was at a store.

Mads (Caleb):

What store?

Kenzie (Sam):

Well, you know in like the, um –

Kenzie (MC):

And they just like stop for a second and there’s a hesitation and there’s a pause

Kenzie (Sam):

I got it at the store!

Mads (Caleb):

What store, Sam? Do you remember what it was next to? Did you say it was at the mall?

Kenzie (Sam):

Maybe.

Mads (Caleb):

What else was in it?

Kenzie (Sam):

What else was in the store?

Mads (Caleb):

Yeah, what did it look like?

Kenzie (Sam):

I don’t know I like saw this through the doors and I was like, I gotta get that.

Mads (Caleb):

Okay, well, I mean it looks nice. Like she’d probably like it. She likes sparkly things. She likes shiny things. Is it that new place that opened up next to the tea shop or is like –

Kenzie (Sam):

I don’t think I –

Mads (Caleb):

Did you steal if from someone, Sam?

Kenzie (Sam):

I haven’t done that since I was in seventh grade, Caleb, please.

Mads (Caleb):

I know and it haunts me. I wasn’t even there.

Kenzie (Sam):

Wait a second, where the hell did I buy this?

Mads:

Caleb like squints.

Mads (Caleb):

Sam, you’re freakin’ me out.

Kenzie (Sam):

Well you asked a question and I don’t know the answer to it! What the f –

Mads (Caleb):

Yeah like wait –

Kenzie (Sam):

Oh! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. You know the pawn shop right next to the pharmacy?

Mads (Caleb):

The pharmacy on eighth? That one?

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah the one that Alina’s parent’s own.

Mads (Caleb):

Has there been a pawn shop next to there?

Kenzie (Sam):

The glass front to it and you go in and there’s just like some trinkets and that was one I saw and the guy in there was like, “Hey, you seem interested in this.” And I was like, “Yeah, I am.” And he was like, “Yeah, here it is. Do you want to buy it?” And I was like, “Yeah.” And then I bought it.

Mads (Caleb):

Okay, well, I don’t remember it. Do they have other cool stuff in there? Like stuff that was kind like that.

Kenzie (Sam):

I didn’t really look around.

Mads (Caleb):

I don’t remember there being a pawn shop there.

Kenzie (Sam):

Why would you go look I got the thing that we need to ask Ivy to Homecoming?

Mads (Caleb):

I don’t know I might want to find something else for someone else.

Kenzie (Sam):

What are you gonna buy it for Caleb?

Mads (Caleb):

You don’t know – I can make my own decisions with my allowance, Sam.

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah, but I thought you would tell me about it and now I feel like you’re keeping secrets.

Mads (Caleb):

Well, maybe I want to give it to Damian whenever I ask him out to Homecoming

Kenzie (Sam):

That would be so cute. You guys would be so cute. You would hate each other but you guys would be so cute still. Like that’s the whole thing. Like the aesthetic is cute. You would absolutely hate every moment of being around him, I think.

Mads:

Caleb like actually thinks about it right now. Because there’s no fucking chance in hell – before this conversation – that he even considered asking Damian. Because Damian is a know it all and Caleb is also a know it all and two know it alls do not do well together. And he like actually thinks about it. Like could I be attracted to Damian? And like really thinks about it. And then there like this doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, like trails off for a moment to this one time, they were in homeroom, and Caleb was getting up to throw something away in the trash can and then he heard like laughter – just like a weird noise or something like that and like turned around as he was walking back and he like got a look of Damian laughing very openly about something Naia had whispered to him and he was kinda leaning over his desk in a weird way that his shirt was starting to lift up a little bit. And Caleb’s eyes just like fixated on his hipbone and then almost walked smack into his desk again before like readjusting himself.

Mads (Caleb):

You think we’d look cute together?

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah.

Mads (Caleb):

Really? Like you’re not just – you’re not just saying that?

Kenzie (Sam):

Caleb, I think you would look cute together. I think you would hate being with him. He literally is the noisiest person on the face of the planet and that’s coming from me. You’ve seen his videos! He makes the fucking conspiracy videos!

Mads (Caleb):

Yeah, but it’s like artsy. Like it’s kinda like –

Kenzie (Sam):

Oh my god I created a monster.

Mads (Caleb):

What? What? I’m just saying –

Kenzie (Sam):

I was just trying to call you and runover my Homecoming proposal that I was doing and now I’ve somehow, unfortunately created an absolute menace to society –

Mads (Caleb):

Oh shut up.

Kenzie (Sam):

-in my best friend who’s going to ask a guy that is just not the guy they should ask.

Mads (Caleb):

Well who should I ask then?

Kenzie (Sam):

Well, I don’t know Caleb!

Mads (Caleb):

‘Cause you know so much.

Kenzie (Sam):

I don’t know anything.

Mads (Caleb):

You know a lot Sam.

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah like I know that me, you, and Sawyer are going to make this video game that is going to be fuckin’ dope!

Mads (Caleb):

Are you, um, are you excited about the release about Crush & Egg. I mean, its coming up, like its –

Kenzie (Sam):

It’s in a week and a half, Caleb. It’s so close.

Mads (Caleb):

Sawyer’s going to come with us still. I mean, we could talk about the game then.

Kenzie (Sam):

Yeah! Yeah, like please that would be so fucking cool. Oh my god that would be so fucking cool! Oh – (whispering) that would be so fucking cool. My mom just yelled at me because apparently I’ve said the f-word too many times today.

Mads:

Caleb visibly puts his hand over his mouth and you can just see him grinning so wide and trying to hide it and look down. And he looks back up and slowly lowers his hand and goes,

Mads (Caleb):

Oooooh.

Kenzie (Sam):

Shut up, Caleb. I’m gonna hang up on you.

Mads (Caleb):

You’re in trouble.

Kenzie (Sam):

I’m gonna hang up! I’m gonna hang up!

Mads (Caleb):

You said the f-word.

Kenzie (MC):

Sam hangs up.

Mads:

I hold my phone in my hand for a minute and kind a just laugh to myself, the absurdity of my best friend. And then like lock the phone, hold it in my lap for a minute, and kinda just think about this – Homecoming. And it really is so stupid and so dumb you have to ask people to go to Homecoming. It’s humiliating. It’s just dumb, high school stuff that I’m like super above. But like would we look cute together actually like if I did ask Damian? I’ve never thought of him like that before. I mean, I see people. I’m not blind. I’m not – I’m around. But I’m not pursuing. I’ve got a lot going on. It just hasn’t come up, you know? And the last time I tried to go along with that – I got kicked out of school so I don’t really wanna - Puts his phone down and stretches out on his bed so that his stomach is on the bed and his arms are stretched out over where his feet would usually go and his feet are where his head usually is. And he just smushes his head into the comforter. Groans. And then twists his head to the side and sees Jasper looking at him, a little peeved, because I did definitely tempt him with a crinkly plastic bag and then totally ignored him to get on this call with Sam. And I reach out and I just smush in the side of Jasper’s fuzzy, little cheek. And I pinch it a little bit until he beeps.

Mads (Caleb):

Do you think we’d make a cute couple, Jazz? Like really? (Jasper meows) Well, when you put it like that, I might as well ask.

Kenzie (MC):

Everyone was on high alert that morning, waiting for the moment that Ivy pulled up to the front of the school. And you Ivy, none the wiser, walked into a strange sight and barely had a moment to take it in before music started blaring loudly through two speakers set up just to the side. All of a sudden, Vic jumped over one of the couches, slid across the floor and spun upward. Being joined by four other people they began dancing, making it very clear that they were dancing for you. Innocent bystanders stopped to watch, some clapped, some whooped. It goes on for far too long and as its nearing the end, the dancers part and through the middle walks Sam. They’ve got on a dark green sweater, tucked into black pants, over which is a suit jacket that is much too large and much too vibrant. They seem to have tried to style their hair but it still looks like they just stood in a wind tunnel. And as they near you they twirl around and pull out a small sign as well as lavender roses and the sign reads, “I might not be able to dance like them, but will you go to Homecoming with me.

Sawyer, as much as you and Natalie wanted to avoid the ridiculous amount of photos that you knew your parents wanted to take. Natalie’s mother drove her over to your house, got out, and your parents hit it off too well. So, you find yourself standing on the stairs and Natalie goes,

Kenzie (Natalie):

Okay. Okay. I think that’s enough photos, Mom.

Kenzie (MC):

You have been subjected to photo after photo in about three different places in your home. Your dad has found the whole thing amusing and your little sister is just overly enamored with Natalie’s dress. And your mom goes,

Kenzie (Ely):

Oh, you both look so good.

Brennan:

Sawyer scratches his head and runs his fingers through his fresh new, permed hairstyle that he had also re-dyed his frosted tips beforehand and then permed it. He is wearing an all-white suit except for the jacket is this like 18th century Rococo style jacket which he had also kinda sown on and attempted to cut up a tailcoat addition which the white is not the same white as the initial jacket that also has this like gold trim on the front. There is no tie, its just lace that’s puffing out at the front here. And then I think he’s most excited about – well one, he has these off-white socks that have golden skulls on them and then accented with teal dress shoes. And that’s what he's wearing.

Kenzie (MC):

Natalie’s dress is thigh-length, almost velvet. It has long sleeves and the fabric crosses across her chest with splits that are open on the side and it is a kinda maybe like a muted red. And Natalie’s not a short girl and her heels make her just a smidge taller than you. Her dress definitely clashes with your shoes but she was unaware that you were going to put that pop of color there originally so that was a last minute addition to the whole outfit. And she responds to your mother complimenting your looks and says,

Kenzie (Natalie):

Thank you, Mrs. Hook.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Oh, jeez… how many more photos do we have?

Kenzie (Natalie):

I think we should be done, Sawyer. I think we should put an end to this right now. We’ve been doing this for like half an hour.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Cool, hey, we should get the heck out of here.

Kenzie (MC):

And your mom smiles and claps her hands and she’s like,

Kenzie (Ely):

Alright, well, we better be off! Can’t show up late for chaperoning duties now, can I?

Brennan (Sawyer):

Oh, god.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Oh, you’re chaperoning, Mrs. Hook?

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah of course she is.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Great, um, I didn’t – Sawyer, you didn’t tell me.

Brennan (Sawyer):

You know, we just should have expected this honestly.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Okay.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Yeah, um, -

Brennan (Sawyer):

But don’t worry, I’ve got a good Mama Hook radar. We’ll just opposite ends. Opposite ends. Right, Mom? Opposite ends like we talked about. Space.

Kenzie (Ely):

Sawyer, I am not trying to embarrass you at your dance.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Mm-hmm.

Kenzie (Ely):

But they needed extra people and I feel like I haven’t been as involved in the school as I should be. So, I signed up. And it’s going to be a lovely time and I’m so excited to see everybody in their best.

Brennan (Sawyer):

If you take photos of us without me knowing, I’m going to be so mad at you. Avert your eyes when you see me.

Kenzie (Ely):

Okay, okay, Sawyer.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Just tonight.

Kenzie (Ely):

Okay.

Brennan:

I’ll just kinda side-eye Natalie.

Kenzie (Natalie):

She has this smile on her face that’s just like trying to polite. Just like mm-hmm, mm-hmm, I’m not going to get in the middle of this mom and song little debate going on. Mrs. Samuels says,

Kenzie (Mrs. Samuels):

Well, that sounds wonderful and I would’ve driven you but it seems like you have a ride now. Natalie, come here, give me a hug.

Kenzie (MC):

Natalie makes her way down the stairs and gives her mom a hug and her mom says,

Brennan (Sawyer):

Be good. And remember, eleven o’clock curfew.

Kenzie (MC):

Your mom goes,

Kenzie (Ely):

Yes, yes, yes, I will get them home in plenty of time. Don’t worry.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Stop touching my hair!

Kenzie (Ely):

It was just a little out of place though I just needed to –

Kenzie (MC):

And Natalie’s mom hugs her. Leaves. Your dad puts his hand on your shoulder and says,

Kenzie (William Hook):

Sawyer, you never go with the outfit that I would think that you are going to go with. But, you always pull it off.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Thanks.

Kenzie (William):

It was a compliment. It was.

Brennan (Sawyer):

That – yeah, cool, thanks. Hey, you couldn’t have just like gotten mom to stay home?

Kenzie (William):

Bud, when have I ever been able to stop your mom from doing what she wants to do?

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah this is true. Wish me luck.

Kenzie (MC):

All of a sudden, something hard hits your leg and wraps around it like a koala. And you look down and you just see Annabelle looking up at you.

Brennan (Sawyer):

What’s up little, dude?

Kenzie (Annabelle Hook):

I want to go to the dance.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Shoot! I wish I could take you. It’s only gonna be only half as fun ‘cause you’re not there. But that’s cool, I’ll save you a dance when I get home. Or maybe if you’re asleep, then we can – I’ll put on the suit –

Kenzie (Annabelle):

No, no, no! Wake me up I can dance in my pajamas.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Okay, cool.

Kenzie (Annabelle):

Bye!

Brennan (Sawyer):

See ya!

Brennan:

And I’ll just like fast walk with like shoulders tense over to Natalie and like grab her hand.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Okay, let’s get this ride over with.

Kenzie (Natalie):

Can you like not leave me in the backseat by myself?

Brennan (Sawyer):

Oh, I – we – yeah, I don’t think that as really gonna be a choice. I think my mom was gonna be like, “I’m your chauffeur, get in the back seat.” Yeah, it‘s gonna be awful. Let’s just get through it together.

Kenzie (MC):

You mom leads you both outside, she opens the front door of the car, you guys climb in the back and she turns down the music all the way. And as she begins to drive out of the garage, down the winding driveway, she says, I am so glad you ended up going together because Natalie, I know that I don’t know you very well but you guys just make a great pair. You look so good together and you look just beautiful in your dress and I’m so ecstatic that Sawyer is going to the dance with somebody this year and I’m glad that that person could be you.

Brennan:

Just beat red.

Brennan (Sawyer):

Yeah, um, what if we play – I came prepared – this, uh, playlist I had made specifically for Homecoming here I sent it to your Spotify, Mom.

Kenzie (MC):

And she puts it on to the playlist that you wanted. But right before she turns it back up Natalie goes,

Kenzie (Natalie):

I’m – I’m really happy to be going. Sawyer’s cool so we’ll have a fun time, I think.

Kenzie (MC):

And then your mom turns the music back up.

Brennan:

Sawyer just kinda sits like shoulder to shoulder with Natalie and looks at her, looks at his mom and spend most of the car ride looking out the window.

Kenzie (MC):

We are going to go to Ivy’s house. Your dads are waiting in the sitting room as you walk down the stairs. And Gabriel stands up upon your entrance, arms out, and says,

Kenzie (Gabriel):

Bambolina, you look gorgeous.

April:

Ivy is wearing a floor length, skin tight, backless, like spaghetti strap dress and the entire thing is covered in this like purple sequins but they’re so dark they almost look like oil slick black in certain lights. And its so simple but so dramatic and it just makes Ivy look stunning. Her only jewelry are a small pair of earrings with sapphires that are so dark they look purple and she knows they’re from Bast. They appeared on her dresser than morning, the perfect match to her dress and she decided to wear them after a little hesitation. Her hair is up and curled in a messy hot way, never trying to hard. And her eyelids are covered in purple glitter and of course, sharp, sharp, black eyeliner.

Kenzie (MC):

Bast pulls you in and kisses you on the top of the head and says,

Kenzie (Bast):

Lovely as always, Ivy. And when is it that we’re expecting your date?

April (Ivy):

Oh, um, you know, I actually, I’m gonna go by myself this year.

Kenzie (Bast):

Ah.

April (Ivy):

Yeah. Didn’t want to limit my options.

Kenzie (MC):

I think its probably just breached October. The weather has cooled down a bit. It’s not oppressively hot. You are in Blackthorn Manor, doing homework. Its not too late, the sun hasn’t even set yet and you get a text from Adam.

April:

Adam has a specific like ringtone still, or vibration tone, so when it goes off, she immediately goes still and then like runs across her room to her phone and checks it.

Kenzie (MC):

You can see the text just on the front part of your phone and it says,

Kenzie (Adam Moore):

I’m outside.

April:

Ivy just moves the curtain enough to see where he is and sees him standing there in like this warm light and she can’t help it but her heart is beating so fast and she like glances in the mirror and kinda fixes herself and then she goes down the steps and out the door.

Kenzie (MC):

You see him leaning against the fence at the front of your house and his hands are just shoved casually into his pockets. He’s just leaning up against it and before he sees you, you can see that he does look high, but not to the same extent as you’ve seen him recently. This looks a lot more like how high you and Sawyer would sometimes get together. Less of a total obliteration of self.

And as the door opens, he kinda turns his head to the side, looking at you through the fence and just watches as you walk around the outside to the sidewalk, almost the exact spot that you guys last kissed.

April:

As Ivy walks through that space its almost like there’s an energy field there. She like feels it wash over her and she picks up her pace just a little bit.

April (Ivy):

Um, hey.

Kenzie (MC):

He stares at you for a minute like an actual minute, minute of just silence and just looking at you.

Kenzie (Adam):

So, are you still going?

April (Ivy):

You’ll have to be a bit more specific.

Kenzie (Adam):

I mean, we were together. We might’ve broken up but that didn’t mean I forgot everything. Are you leaving next week? Are you still going with Gabriel?

April (Ivy):

Yeah, yeah. He was really excited about it. I thought some space might be good. Is that what you came here to ask me?

Kenzie (MC):

He looks away from you, just out at the street, where nothing is happening. And he shakes his head. The back of his head kinda hitting against the iron fence.

Kenzie (Adam):

One of the things.

April:

As he looks away Ivy just like notices the muscles and tendons in his neck and both the human and vampire in her just like fixate on that.

Kenzie (MC):

He turns back to you, a playful smile on his face. One you recognize, not one that’s scary.

Kenzie (Adam):

I’ve been thinking.

Kenzie (MC):

And he kinda pushes himself off the fence and comes closer to you.

April (Ivy):

There’s a first time for everything.

Kenzie (MC):

He laughs. And he says,

Kenzie (Adam):

Oww. You know if I hadn’t – if I didn’t know better I think that maybe we would’ve broken up and you were making fun of me and that was how this was supposed to go.

April (Ivy):

Is that how you want this to go?

Kenzie (Adam):

No, I came here for the opposite.

April (Ivy):

So you want me to be really nice to you?

Kenzie (Adam):

No, I don’t think I’ve ever wanted you to be nice to me. I want you to answer me honestly though, when I ask you something.

April:

He is so tall. Ivy’s just looking up at him and the setting sun like puts this golden halo around his hair and he looks just like the golden boy that she fell for. And he is hot. And she says,

April (Ivy):

Okay, I can do that.

Kenzie (MC):

He is definitely leaning into you. But not in like a way that you’re worried that he’s just gonna like surprise kiss you. Just in a way to be closer to you. And he has a hand holding onto the iron fence as he does this. And he says,

Kenzie (Adam):

I’ve fucked up in about a hundred ways recently and there’s a lot of those ways that I can’t take back. But Ivy, I shouldn’t have ended this. We were so good together. And we still can be. And I’m not asking you in this moment to say yeah, let’s do this again. I wouldn’t. I’m not that crazy yet. But I want you to know that I’d try again.

April:

This is all super overwhelming for Ivy. His proximity. His smell. The muscles in his arm so close to her face and she just misses him so bad. Ivy says,

April (Ivy):

That’s good ‘cause I don’t really have an answer for you.

Kenzie (Adam):

I’ve been thinking, for about the last thirty seconds, uh, since you told me that you were still going… what if I came with you? What if I get out of this place? What if I’m not here anymore? What if this all ends if I leave? If you say no I won’t. I’m not gonna follow you to fucking Italy if you turn me down but Ivy, what if leaving this place is the answer? What if I leave here and this thing gets out of my fucking head?

April:

Ivy puts one hand on his cheek and just like takes her thumb and feels his cheekbone.

April (Ivy):

Adam I don’t – I don’t know if that would work. Its not that I don’t want you to come, I do, and you know Gabriel loves you.

Kenzie (Adam):

Well I don’t know if he does now.

April (Ivy):

I’m sure he’d come around. I’ve been a pretty shit daughter recently and he’s still so good to me. I just don’t know – I mean, what if we get there and you get worse?

Kenzie (Adam):

Honestly that’s what I thought you would say ‘cause that’s my worry too. You’re not wrong, I just needed somebody else to say it.

April:

He looks so sad and she just says,

April (Ivy):

I just want to take care of you. I just want you to be safe. I don’t even feel good about going because like what if something happens to you and I’m not here to keep you safe. To help you.

Kenzie (MC):

He chuckles.

Kenzie (Adam):

Isn’t this wild? You sound like I did before I knew that I wasn’t going to be anything special.

April (Ivy):

Adam… you are special.

April:

She like stops him from shaking his head by putting her other hand on his face.

Kenzie (Adam):

Ivy I’m not and I think the point of all of this is to be okay with that. And I’m definitely not yet. I think that maybe the only time I was ever okay, was with you. And ever since I fucked that up so badly – I didn’t even do it for a reason, Ivy. I didn’t even have a reason. It was selfish and mean and I should never have done it. And so honestly, you should slap me in the face right now and send me home. That’s what you should do. But I just have this vision in my head of what it would look like to everybody if we walked in those double doors at the end of this month. They would not expect it.

April:

She kinda laughs.

April (Ivy):

Yeah I don’t know, uh, who’s face I would want to see more. Caleb and Sawyer’s or Alina’s.

April:

She kinda flashes her eyes up at him.

April (Ivy):

Yeah that’s still, uh, something I haven’t really hit you for.

Kenzie (Adam):

I’m not gonna lie to you, I almost forgot I had said that because I didn’t really say it.

April (Ivy):

Yeah, well I got to hear all about it. She’s my best friend, Adam. After you told me, she gave me some details.

Kenzie (Adam):

Oh, well, I can’t imagine she did that without some persuasion. You were always good at that. I don’t think I did that of my own accord.

April:

Ivy’s eyes just go wide.

April (Ivy):

Oh my god, wait, really?

Kenzie (Adam):

This thing?

Kenzie (MC):

And he pokes at his temple.

Kenzie (Adam):

Has told me to do a lot of things and I haven’t really had a way of turning him down. And I don’t know – I don’t think I would’ve done that but that doesn’t mean I didn’t do it.

April (Ivy):

I’m sorry. That’s fucking awful.

Kenzie (Adam):

I can’t imagine how she feels.

April (Ivy):

She’s fine.

Kenzie (Adam):

But she doesn’t know that I didn’t want it. Which means that both of us didn’t want it and there’s a lot of implications about that so, I think we’re both pretty fucked in this situation. Because it wasn’t her fault either. She was just an unfortunate consequence to something else.

April:

Ivy like drops her hands from his face and puts them on Adam’s chest. And just puts her forehead against his collarbone.

Kenzie (MC):

You feel his head dip and his lips kiss the top of your head.

April:

Ivy, when she’s not looking at him, she kinda has the courage to say,

April (Ivy):

I really miss you. Are you sure we’re good for each other?

Kenzie (MC):

You can hear his heart start to thump faster in his chest and he kisses you on the top of the head again and he says,

Kenzie (Adam):

How about you go to Italy and we can save this conversation for when you get back.

April:

Ivy lifts her head and looks at him.

Kenzie (MC):

His eyes are watering. He looks regretful, probably about the conversation about Alina, but looks steadfast in the sense of that he does think that maybe its best if you go.

April (Ivy):

Feel weird to ask you this… can I kiss you?

Kenzie (MC):

He lets out a deep breath and he says,

Kenzie (Adam):

It was the question on the tip of my tongue that I thought shouldn’t ask, but can it be simple. Can we do that? Can it just be a kiss for now and the rest of it can come later when we have more time.

April (Ivy):

Yeah, of course. I just missed you.

Kenzie (MC):

And as he kinda wraps his hands around the back of your head and your neck and pulls you in, he says,

Kenzie (Adam):

I’ve missed you too.

Kenzie (MC):

And then kisses you, deep but chaste and soft and so familiar to everything you rmember it being with no – it doesn’t feel lik there’s any want for anything else than what it is in that moment.

April:

Ivy’s just overwhelming with this feeling of warmth and the sun and there’s like a little breeze that brings the smell of him closer. And everything from his breath, his nose – the way it touches her face – exactly where his hands go on her neck is all so beautifully familiar and dear to her and she knows that she would do anything, anything to keep this.

Kenzie (MC):

Gabriel goes back to lounging - there’s a glass of champagne in his hand – on the sofa.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

Well, I am happy for you. You seem glowing and excited for the night, despite. Good for you, Ivy.

April:

Ivy looks down for just a second and then smiles widely at Gabriel.

April (Ivy):

I am. I have a lot of plans for tonight. Its going to be a good time, no matter what.

Kenzie (MC):

Bast looks at the glass in his own hand. Looks at you and says,

Kenzie (Bast):

Well, do you have time for one with us before you leave?

April:

She nods slowly.

April (Ivy):

Sure. That would be wonderful.

Kenzie (MC):

And he pours you a glass of champagne and hands it to you. And he doesn’t sit. He has been, since you returned, keeping as much distance as you want from him. And has not been pushing and has not brought up anything else aside from the conversation that you all had together before you left. And he seems always a little on edge around you as if he understands that at any moment, he could lose you again. And so he is standing, Gabriel is lounging and Gabriel says,

Kenzie (Gabriel):

I’ve always wondered about the culture around Homecoming in general. It seems…

April (Ivy):

Intense?

Kenzie (Gabriel):

Superfluous?

April (Ivy):

Hmmm.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

Its intense for no reason is what it seems like to me.

April (Ivy):

It kinda seems that way to me to but its also really fun to be intense for no reason.

Kenzie (Gabriel):

I have attended many a ball. And most of them were also for no reason. So, I suppose I’m being a little hypocritical but it just seems… Prom seems important. Homecoming seems like nothing.

April (Ivy):

It’s good to come home. And who knows? Maybe I’ll win tonight!

Kenzie (Gabriel):

Of course you were nominated.

April:

Ivy’s grinning hugely. She says,

April (Ivy):

Well, what do you expect? My dads are basically kings so…

Kenzie (Bast):

I will remind you that I literally was of sorts, once. You would not be wrong.

April (Ivy):

I have to keep up the tradition of royalty in the family.

Kenzie (MC):

Bast reaches out and like puts a hand on your cheek and studies you and says,

Kenzie (Bast):

You really do look well, Ivy.

April (Ivy):

Thank you. I’ve been trying.

Kenzie (MC):

He whisks the empty champagne glass away from you and says,

Kenzie (Bast):

Well, I appreciate you spending an extra minute with us but I don’t want to make you late.

April (Ivy):

Is it too much for me to take the car again?

Kenzie (Bast):

I am concerned about you driving it to the school and being seen by everyone.

April (Ivy):

Right, right, right. What if I park a block away?

Kenzie (Bast):

Then you may.

April (Ivy):

Sick. I mean, thank you.

April:

Ivy gets in the car, takes her heels off and throws them in the backseat.

Kenzie (MC):

You get in the car and there’s a little knock on the window. Kai is standing there.

April:

Ivy rolls down the window.

Kenzie (MC):

She doesn’t say anything. She just looks at you.

April (Ivy):

Well? What do you think?

Kenzie (Kai):

It’s nice.

April:

Ivy’s a little taken aback. She covers it well. She just raises one eyebrow and says,

April (Ivy):

Nice? That’s definitely what I was going for.

Kenzie (Kai):

I just like you less done up.

Kenzie (MC):

Ivy just kinda studies Kai.

April (Ivy):

What are you doing tonight anyway? Are you coming to the dance?

Kenzie (Kai):

Mm-mm. that would be strange. I don’t go there.

April (Ivy):

That’s just where I will be so I assumed you might be there too.

Kenzie (Kai):

I don’t want to go there. That place seems like a mess.

April (Ivy):

Oh, it is.

April:

Ivy reaches into her purse and pulls out a flask of blood and takes a sip.

Kenzie (MC):

She’s by the passenger side and she leans her arms on the rolled down window, head kinda halfway in and says,

Kenzie (Kai):

Well, then, I guess I’ll see you later, maybe.

April (Ivy):

Later, maybe.

Kenzie (MC):

And then she just pushes off the door and walks.

April:

Ivy rolls up the window and like puts her hands on the steering wheel and kinda like presses her forehead against her fists and then just like (groans) and turns the car on and heads to the Moore’s house.

Kenzie:

And now it’s time for queer call. Queer call is the point in the show where we give a special shoutout to those listeners who have helped us out a little extra by becoming patrons.

Let’s give it up for a new patron! Zack T!!!!!! Thank you all for your support.

We hope you enjoyed the episode! If you want to support our show, you can become a patron at patreon.com/queerpg. Becoming a patron allows you access to our exclusive after show, where the cast talks about character insights and their own reactions to the episode, as well as a plethora of other perks. If you like the show, remember to rate and review. And to keep up with queeRPG, make sure you’re following us on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @queerpgpod and on Tumblr at tumbr.com/queerpg. Until next time!