𝘚𝘖𝘕𝘋𝘌𝘙 ⁽ʲ ᵐᵒˡⁱⁿᵃ⁾

𝘍𝘖𝘜𝘙

When Elise's eyes flew open again, Julie's warm presence was no longer with her.

She sat up, hands immediately moving to her temples where she attempted to soothe her pounding head. That didn't work, obviously. She needed some water.

She patted the couch down for her phone, and it took an embarrassingly long time to finally locate it lodged between two couch cushions. The light of her lockscreen burned her eyes and she immediately cranked down the brightness. It was nearly 8:30, she hadn't been there too long. That was good at least, she hated to be a bother.

Her longboard had rolled to the other side of the room, she spotted it after another moment of frantic searching. That was all she brought, wasn't it?

From where she sat up now on the couch, she could make out a piece of notebook paper taped to the door. She stood, ignoring the pins and needles that made their way up her right leg, and walked closer so she could better read the words scribbled out in graphite.

"We're all inside, join us if you want!!" With a smiley face doodled sloppily beside it.

She debated the offer for a moment. Option A: she could go back home now, potentially to face the wrath of a still-angry Carrie and the nonchalance of an emotionally unavailable father. Or B: she could stay here and ignore her problems – or at least wait until said problems each took a chill pill and got over their pettiness.

What was she even thinking about this still for? The one she'd pick was obvious.

As she walked the path leading to the front of the Molina household, she ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to make it look like she HADN'T just had a breakdown in someone else's garage. It was most likely a lost cause, her eyes were still puffy and her face splotchy red. She assumed Julie had told the boys at least something of what had happened, because as she entered they didn't look at all shocked that she was there or that she looked a hot mess.

"There she is," Luke announced as she entered. He clapped her into the kitchen, she rolled her eyes and mockingly took a bow. "How was your beauty rest?"

She sighed, "Just magical."

"I bet your eyeliner looked amazing. Before – you know – that." She didn't know whether to roll her eyes or laugh at Reggie's comment. "Y'know, I've always wanted to try it."

She settled for laughing and shrugged her shoulders. "Hey, I'll teach you. Why not." He celebrated a moment.

The boys and Julie were all sat at the kitchen island, the latter swiping quickly through her phone with her eyes squinted in scrutiny. Elise took a seat at the head of the table, immediately across from her, and spoke.

"Whatcha' looking for?"

"A movie. To show the guys. They've already requested no Star Wars, for Reggie's sake." She somewhat mouthed the last part and Elise laughed. They'd missed a lot, where did they even start?

"What about an MCU movie?"

"Their minds would break." She had to agree there.

"You're right. Start simple." She pressed her lips together as she thought. "Original Spiderman?"

Reggie and Luke both ran to the love seat when the movie choice was made official, practically crawling overtop each other so the victor could lay down. It ended with Luke sprawled out over the leather seats, his legs draped over Reggie who just sighed and crossed his arms as he accepted defeat. Elise took a seat beside Alex on the couch, Julie stayed in a kitchen a moment longer to make the two girls popcorn.

Alex laughed as he witnessed the other boy's dumb brawl, outstretching his arms over the back of the couch.

The intro played, Elise slouched further into the cushions as the minutes passed to make herself comfortable. Spiderman raised her; any movie with Peter Parker in it she'd seen at least twenty times. And the number of times she'd watched Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse was almost shameful. But who could blame her?