Brightside

16 | after hours

"Have y'all ever tried swamp water before?" Moxie asked.

"Like, when you mix a bunch of tonic together and drink it?" Axel asked. "Yeah."

"Well... no," Moxie said. "But how much tonic are you drinking, dude?"

"I think he means pop," Cruella said.

"Oh." Moxie looked like she wanted to get up and leave. Or make Axel get up and leave.

"... What's your version of swamp water?" Axel asked.

"Well, Stevie's version is a... Midori Sour, basically," Moxie said.

"Oh, you mean Shrek's Piss," Axel said.

Eddie should have known better than to take a sip of her drink anytime that Axel was part of a conversation. She choked on her drink. "What?"

"... Swamp water," Axel corrected, "Like she said. That's swamp water."

"That's not what you said," Cruella said.

"Think it is," Axel said. He waved his finger around. "Music's loud in here."

"Sounds fine to me," Moxie said. Unimpressed with the man at their table.

"Don't think so! Might have to yell!"

Their server walked over and Eddie wanted the floor to swallow them. "Everything alright over here?"

"We're fine," Eddie said. "Thank you, sorry. Unless you want to order a Shrek's—"

"We're fine!" Axel said. "Thank you!"

Their server walked away. Eddie made a mental note to leave a nice couple bills on the table as a tip for their trouble. And for putting up with Axel literally yelling in the middle of a restaurant to avoid admitting he said something stupid—Eddie didn't know if she had the heart to tell him how often it happened.

"So, Eddie, how is it?" Cruella was masterful at changing the subject. Smooth as silk. "Being back in the ring?"

Eddie smiled. "Kind of like waking up Christmas morning as a kid."

"My... my dad used to bring Ursula and I to fights when we were younger," Cruella said. A storm cloud forming around her head, shadowing her halo. "He had a friend that used to work at this venue who helped sneak us in. Made us wear earmuffs but, god, it was the coolest thing. I used to want to become a fighter."

"What stopped you?"

"Dad... moved away," Cruella said. Eddie regretted asking the question. "We stopped going. Kind of got sucked into the whole theatre kid thing and never left. And then, well, my mom discovered that putting her kids into show business was kind of fun so... here we are."

"For whatever it's worth, For The Kill and Bones And All are fantastic. They're on my workout playlist." That was, whenever she got the AUX from Rush. But it wasn't a word of a lie.

Cruella laughed a little hollowly. "Thanks. Definitely some good release-your-anger kind of albums."

"Pop perfection." To say that felt cheap to how good they were. They were some of the greatest I hate the world and here are all the reasons why songs ever written, and Cruella sung them effortlessly. Anger hidden behind pop music was still showing an open wound to the world and begging them not to twist the knife anymore.