inhale, kevin day.

viii. new normal

chapter eight
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A sigh escaped her lips. She was tired, genuinely tired. Maeve frowned at the fishbowl sitting before her, looking at Betsy's distorted image through it. "What, exactly, are you hoping to teach me by giving me a fish?"

"Just go with it." She tried (and failed) for casual,"Name him, take care of him."

     "Do I have a choice?"

     "There's always a choice, Maeve."

     Maeve shook her head, sitting up,"You know I ride a motorcycle, right? How am I supposed to get this thing home without killing it?"

"Figure it out." The woman smiled, which only further irritated her.

This was how Maeve ended up perched on top her motorcycle some odd minutes later, staring into the fishbowl and debating whether to just drop it inside her helmet or if she should just walk back. She groaned and made her way over to the sidewalk, sitting before reaching for the cursed object in her pocket and clicking through the few available numbers. She'd already used her favor with Wymack and Abby was surely busy doing something or another, which left calling Nicky or Andrew...

She sighed again,"Fuck."

And hit dial.

"What?"

"Come pick me up at Betsy's, and before you say "your debt to me is growing" and blah blah blah, I know and I don't give a shit at this point, and hurry up, it's hot as hell out here."

It was. So much so that she was actually wearing shorts... and a long sleeve, but in her defense, it was cropped. And so she sat there, still staring into the bowl when Andrew pulled up beside her and honked unnecessarily. She looked up and glared at him as she carefully opened the door for herself and got in, she forced herself not to say anything over the fact that he'd brought the others along.

"Betsy's testing me." She scowled as soon as the door was shut,"So drive fucking slow and avoid fucking speed bumps."

Nicky butted in, of course,"How exactly is Betsy testing you by giving you a fish?"

"So I've yet to actually figure that part out, but there's no way I'm gonna kill this thing, hence I couldn't take my bike." She scoffed,"She probably thinks I will— oh wait! Andrew, head to the pet store, I need to buy food for him."

Maeve could see Andrew roll his eyes in the rearview mirror, but he changed his blinker from right to left anyway and they were off while Nicky asked what she'd be naming her fish. She thought about it for a few seconds until finally deciding on a name,"Echo."

"Echo?" Aaron did exactly that as he turned to her with his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah." She nodded as she looked at it once more,"Ever since Bee brought him out he's been doin' that thing with his mouth that fish do when they need more oxygen, so first things first he needs more water, but he looks like he's mimicking shit that I say, hence Echo."

He shrugged in a fair-enough kind of way and returned his gaze forward.

They arrived quickly and all in one piece, but Maeve was still the first one out as she hugged the fishbowl close and led the way through the store, reading off the headers that hung from the ceiling to find her way.