Come As You Are

dumb

the journey to the park is quick and sweet. with gene and constance only stopping at the nearby diner for their order of milkshakes to take away, it almost went smoothly. it's wasn't until constance asked if she could have a coffee instead did the two of them start bickering over the price and who was going to pay. in the end, she settled on a coconut shake, and is sipping from the reusable straw that gene kept tossed away in the dashboard of his van.
drinking from the straw was stupid, she knew that much. but she was pretty sure gene didn't have herpes, so it wasn't the end of the world. plus, it looked clean.

as her back presses against the cold stone of the bridge they were sat beneath, constance would allow herself to look at the river that flowed by them. If it could even be called such a thing. The lack of a current leaves the river looking more like a stream, but she had already has this argument with sasha and didn't want to go back into that.
speaking of which, sasha is quietly sat besides her, her painted fingernails delicately playing with blades of dead grass and flowers. it takes constance a few moments to understand that she's trying to wind them up,
"what uh, what are you doing?" constance asks after a moment, shuffling closer to sasha so they were now both sitting on the the jacket on the ground. the jacket had only been placed there so sasha didn't stain her black and white skirt, and after some bullying zenix had agreed that his jacket was the ugliest so it wouldn't hurt to be put on the ground. of course, constance's jacket was a close second.

"trying to weave flowers," sasha giggles in response, holding up the dead weeds. her voice was so feathery, so ethereal that constance felt an obligation to take each word she spoke as seriously as the word of lady irene herself. there was something about the femininity that sasha had, the air around her, that commanded the room - it was an ability which constance equally loathed and adored. "i think they might look pretty on zenix," she adds, holding her attempt of a chain up into the air.
at the mention of their name, zenix looks up. chocolate decorating the corner of their pale lips. from how quick they move their head, fluffy brown hair covers their eyes completely, leaving only their grin and tanned skin exposed to the world. "sorry, what?" they ask, voice raucous and playful. for just a moment, the glint of a piercing catches constance's eye but it soon vanishes from sight.
"flowers. for you," sasha mumbles out, reaching over to zenix and placing one of the weeds into their hair. the plant, if it could be called that, soon got lost in amongst zenix's chocolate curls. constance honestly thought the plant looked more like a tumble-weed, but she wasn't about to say anything. not when the mood was so nice.

though, leaning over was sasha's fatal mistake. with her milkshake now long neglected, zenix lunges for the drink, clutching it in their inked hands. constance, in a panic, places her milkshake down and also lunges for the drink - the strawberry milkshake now firmly placed between both of their greedy, eager hands.
"you should let go, sinclair," zenix snarls with a grin. as their head tilts up, constance can faintly make out coffee-coloured eyes from beneath his thick locks.
"never," constance challenges. at the realisation the two of them are at a standstill, she's quick to dip her head down, teeth threatening to dig into zenix's skin.

"you wouldn't dare!" zenix threatens in jest, despite the scowl on zenix's face there is an air of good-will and jest that hangs between them all. from the corner of her eye, constance can see gene drinking away at his milkshake, with a paper straw.
of course, zenix's challenge spurs her on, and teeth dig into skin. a yelp, fused with a disgusted groan fill the air and his hands pull back, leaving constance holding onto the milkshake. ah, victory! how nice it was!
yet her gaze remains on gene, whom in shock had began to burst out laughing - the sight of milkshake pouring out of his nose and hitting the stone wall near to them results in a chorus of guffawing. "holy shit, that fucking flew!" zenix cackles, going back to their own drink and sipping away at it.