Editors Note: Everything above the '-=-' is mostly just fluff and filler, and you won't miss much by skimming it. Just got a bit carried away.
"$60 ice cream 20 mins"
"60?!?!"
"u wanna party or not?"
"...cu there"
"<3 u liz"
James smiled, sliding his phone into the pocket of his dark blue skinny jeans. He leaned back, reaching into the back seat of his car where a backpack laid, brimming with papers and notebooks. Pushing past the crumpled papers, James fumbled around the inside of the bag with shaky fingers, before finding the treasure for which he searched. A white paper bag came out, along with a few loose papers caught on James' obnoxiously large red watch. A sigh hissed from James' lips as he shook the papers loose, and removed a pill bottle labelled morphine that very clearly did not contain morphine.
Slipping a few of the colorful tablets from the bottle to a small plastic baggie, chuckling as he sealed it. He always was a sucker for the cheesy shit like these little baggies. He wondered for a moment if they were even still relevant before pushing the thought away -he was still going to use them for the novelty whether or not people still used them. Chuckling a bit more, he stuffed the ziploc into the same pocket as his phone, and exited his car, breathing in the relatively fresh air. He took in a deep whiff, before looking back to his car, and reaching back inside the backpack as he remembered something. Once he was satisfied he had everything he needed, he locked up his car and looked out at the playful blue and pink sign that marked the ice cream store, by which he was parked.
"Lovely day to be up to no good." He thought to himself, hands propped up at his hips in a somewhat unimpressive imitation of the classic Superman pose. He looked down at the massive face of his bright red watch, gauging how much time he had until Lizzie showed up. Giving himself a reassuring nod, he strutted away from his car, a short beep punctuating his exit. He gave a bright smile as he walked up to the small locally owned ice cream shop.
"Hey there! What can I do for you?" Came a peppy young voice from behind the counter. A pair of dim green eyes perked up when they recognized James' face, pearly white smile doubling in size. "The usual?" The young girl asked, already stuffing two scoops of butterscotch into a cone.
"Absolutely. That's why you're my favorite, H." James said, idly resting a hand on his wallet chain -a trend he adamantly swore he would bring back. He slid a five across the counter, along with a small baggie of almost oddly green grass, giving the girl behind the counter a quick wink as he took his ice cream. The two chatted about nothing for a good while, until James heard the low rumble of an engine pulling up to the small store. He looked out the window, recognizing the vehicle that pulled up. He gave a sly smile to no one in particular, before looking back down to his quickly shrinking pile of ice cream.
A short blonde walked into the shop, dressed in gaudy amounts of pink. James gave her a sideways glance, before looking back to the girl behind the counter and rolling his eyes. From a sparkly pink wallet money flowed -20, 40, 60, James counted before the bills hit the counter. He raised his eyebrows, sliding the twenties into his hand before counting them once more. He nodded solemnly, fishing his wallet from his back pocket. He gently placed the money into place, scrubbing creases away before storing them. After the $60 were safely away, he pulled out a surprisingly crisp ten, which he handed to Liz alongside the small baggie of pills.
Liz's eyebrows raised, seemingly questioning the money. James gave her a wide grin, raising his arms. "No lie, I didn't think you'd have the cash. Mad props, sweet cheeks." He chuckled, pushing the bill closer to her. Liz giggled, softly punching James in the shoulder.
"Asshole." She muttered, putting away her new goodies. "Bee tee dub, Harry said he was gonna see if he can get a 'teenth while you're out and about?" She said illiciting a cringe from James with her 2009-style texting slang. She pulled out her phone and gave James an expectant look. He sighed, looking down at his watch. He tilted his head side to side, rolling thoughts around in his head like a child might with candy in his mouth.
"Fuck it. I'm walking down to the beach in 10, tell him I'll hook him up if he can catch me before I get there." He sighed, not looking forward to speaking with Harry. James honestly couldn't think of any word better to describe Harry other than 'asshole'. After finishing his butterscotch ice cream, James left the girls with a quick adieu, heading to his car where he picked up the drop for Harry. He began walking down to the Cliffside Cafe, whipping out his phone as he walked.
-=-
He frowned as he looked down at his phone screen, which was tinted a strange tone of red. He tapped the screen confusedly for a moment, before realizing it was a reflection, and looked up. The strange lights splayed across the sky unnerved James for some strange reason he couldn't quite put his finger on. Even stranger was a flash of white that caught his attention from the corner of his eye. He slid his large plastic shades from his head, staring awestruck up at the sky.
"I was having a good goddamn day, don't you fall down on me yet." James scolded, pointing an accusatory finger up at the sky. Though he turned back to his route, seemingly unnerved, he picked up his pace from a leisurely stroll to a power walk. Through rapidly shifting eyes, James spied Harry walking towards him on the sidewalk, eyes deep in his phone. Just as James opened his mouth to call out to Harry, his phone buzzed.
"bro where u at?" Came the text from Harry. James rolled his eyes as he closed in on Harry.
"Eyes up here, asshole." He said, his tone joking in spite of his intentions. Harry didn't so much as flinch, looking down intently at his phone. James raised an eyebrow, walking backwards alongside Harry. "Buddy. Right here, you can put the phone down." James said, more serious this time. Harry continued to ignore him, eyes glued staring at his glowing screen. A frown crossed James' face as he lashed out, grabbing a hold of Harry's wrist and shoving it downwards so his eyesight was forced away from the phone. Harry started, looking James in the eye.
"Holy shi- Hey, James! There you are my man. Yo bro, you scared me, haha." Harry said nervously. "So you got the shit?" He asked expectantly, his bright sparkly puppy dog eyes opening wide. James returned the grin with a very unamused frown.
"Don't waste my time, and maybe I'll hook you up next time, asshole." James said forcefully, shoving Harry to the side. He grumbled as he continued on his way, ignoring the disgruntled murmuring of Harry. "I need some caffeine. Today's getting to me." He thought, futeily attempting to rub the red glare from his vision. Turning on his heel, he made a route towards the Cliffside Cafe, picking up the pace even more as he looked back over his shoulder and saw a bright white light arcing through the sky over the beach.
James entered the cafe, his wide smile shaking slightly at the side -he was still rather perturbed by the events of just the last few minutes. Why the fuck would Harry ask for a hookup, then ignore him? Were those lights in the sky the same shit he heard about happening so many years ago? Did he forget to pick up his change from the ice cream shop? He tried his best to shrug these questions off, as he entered the cafe. He noticed a small group forming up by the register -not quite as organized as a line of people waiting to pay, so he figured they were mostly chatting. He certainly recognized a few of the faces from around town, but none he knew extremely well. As he approached, he overheard the last bit of conversation -something about the bright lights.
"Did you see where it went after that?"
"You mean that bright-ass white light? Last I saw it's still buzzing around out there -anyone know what's up with that?" James piped up, to a choir of crickets. No one so much as looked up at his comment, seemingly ignoring him. "Really? Why the f-" He muttered, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "Gah, that is just so frustrating." He said in a low voice. He reached out to the nearest person -Audrey, and put his hand on her shoulder in what he assumed would be a futile attempt to get her attention. "Hey, what gives? Is everybody in this town deaf now, or is 'Ignore James' the new hit game?" He asked in a voice just short of a shout. He was admittedly overreacting just a bit -but it usually wasn't this difficult for him to center a spotlight on himself, and he wasn't a fan of it.
@Gisk
