meet me at midnight.

24.

With the cameras up, Lionel's appearances dropped and I thought that maybe he was scared now and would keep away. The following Wednesday, I went into college for about an hour to help set up the college gallery. Louise had given us Wednesdays as an extra day off to prepare. Tomorrow, would be the day Josh and I went to the studio. I was anxious but had some idea of what I wanted to do. Louise had mentioned The Fallen Angel painting so I decided I wanted to try something akin to that.

Before I left she gave us our invites to the gallery. I had requested 4 invites to hand to my friends. I'd give Desiree hers next Monday. I couldn't wait for her and Theo to see my work. My mixed media painting of the strawberries was ready as was my second piece. It was a close up of a plant's leaf, something that took a while for me to do.

I left college with the plan of dropping the invites to everyone. I decided the easiest way to do this was to travel to Sadie and Johnny first. Their apartment was a few blocks away. I knew they were both home after aligning their shifts.

I got to theirs and pressed the buzzer, waiting for an answer and hoping I wasn't disturbing them. Someone picked up.

"This is Sadie." Sadie said.

"And Johnny." I giggled when Johnny said that.

"Fuck off weirdo," Sadie laughed. "Sorry, how can I help?"

"It's Daisy." I said.

"Hang tight, Dais, we'll buzz you in." Sadie replied.

The buzzer sounded and I opened the door, taking the elevator to their apartment. Sadie threw open the door when she saw me, hugging me tightly.

"Hey sweetie." She smiled.

"Hey," I said. "Sorry to bother you both."

"Did Daisy bring food?" Johnny called.

"She ain't Doordash or Ubereats so no." Sadie called back.

"This is for you both." I said, handing her the invite.

She took it and ripped open the envelope, smiling when she saw the invite. Johnny appeared behind her, wrapping an arm around her middle.

"Aw, Dais," She said. "Thank you bunches."

"Will you be able to come?" I asked.

"We've traded our Friday shifts for Sundays so yeah we'll be able to attend." Sadie said.

"Oh shit," Johnny laughed. "Is this the gallery showin' with the drawing of Josh?"

"Y-yeah." I said, blushing.

"Girl, get fuckin' steamy in that studio tomorrow." Sadie smirked.

"S-stop," I giggled. "We're there for super serious reasons."

"Super serious." Sadie laughed, winking at me.

I left them to enjoy their day off and traveled to Kenny's place next. When I got there, Aubrey opened the door, grinning.

"Babe,don't open the fuckin' door," Kenny said. "Could be a murderer."

"The murderer is Daisy shaped." Aubrey said.

Kenny appeared behind her and they dragged me inside. There were pillows on the floor along with a few games. The PS5 was on and Gotham Knights was paused on the screen.

"Brownie?" Aubrey said, offering me one.

"Not pot ones this time." Kenny said.

"And also not burnt in that signature Kenny way." Aubrey smiled.