duststained

[duststained]

ALANIZ, JAERD.

“ It’s… well. ” Jaerd opens his mouth, closes it again. It’s not often that he’s struck speechless, but this stranger has wrung him out to dry with a breezy question and innocent expression. He seeks brief comfort with a sip from his near-empty cocktail and avoiding eye contact. “ I don’t think about sex that often. It’s not important to me. ” Not wholly a lie – not wholly a truth. Jaerd shrugs and risks bringing his eyes back to the stranger’s, if only for a moment. “ What, like it’s bad? To be a virgin? I have two degrees. ”

“   Did I say it was bad? Uncommon and offputting doesn’t mean bad.   ”   She studies him as if she’s studying a painting, and analytic mind dancing in harmony with a more objective one.   “   You’re good-looking. You think it’s a personality thing?   ”   For once, a statement that’s undeniably mean doesn’t come from a place of malice. Rather, there’s only an edge of bite on the fringes of the genuine curiosity.   “   Do you want to not be a virgin?   ”

[duststained]

When Harry Met Sally… (1989) dir. Rob Reiner

[duststained]

BRIGHT, HENRY.

          “uh,   those  churches  are  wrong.   not  everyone  is  a  sinner.   but  i’m  sure  i’ve  done  something  worth  a  stoning,   so  if  you  want  to  throw  rocks  at  me  i  don’t  really  care.” 

“   You have to throw them back. That’s what makes it fun.   ”

[duststained]

ALANIZ, JAERD.

“   What? Come on, that was funny. You know who’d love that joke? Candice.   ”

[duststained]

BRIGHT, HENRY.

          “they  have  to  sin  first.   do  you  know  any  women  that  have  committed  adultery?   actually,   that’s  sexist.   do  you  know  any  sinners?” 

“   Isn’t EVERYONE supposed to be a sinner? I saw that on one of those Bible commercials on TV when I was in Tennessee. Can I throw rocks at you? And you could throw them back at me. It would be like, a rock fight.   ”

[duststained]

BRIGHT, HENRY.

          “ do  you  want  me  to  throw  rocks  at  you? ”   he  raises  his  eyebrow  and  sighs.   

“   No? Who would WANT to get rocks thrown at them? I want to throw rocks at people.   ”

[duststained]

ALANIZ, JAERD.

Jaerd frowns. Nothing to do with the glossing over of his family trauma, completely to do with the idea of oiling his hair. He reaches up, gently patting the back of his head as though inspecting the texture. “ Wouldn’t it feel wet and gross afterwards? No thank you. —— You don’t think I need to put it in there, right? ” A shake of his head. “ That’s where I draw the line. Coconut is for soaps and scents and sometimes flavored liquors only, never to eat. The texture is like plastic; I feel like I’m chewing it forever. All that work for what? A small endurance boost? Some extra manganese and copper? No thanks. ”

Emma quickly backtracks, worrying she’d offended him.   “   No! No, you don’t need to do anything. Your hair looks great. Just, you know, on the topic of coconut. It can be for that. I do it. It doesn’t really   ...   stay gross, though? You let it sit for a while and then you wash it out. It’s good for you!   ”   Brows furrow, and though she disagrees with his take on coconut cake   ...   “   Coconut liquor, huh? You don’t strike me as a big Bahama Mama kind of guy. Maybe something more literary. You’re not gonna see them talk about a Cosmo in the Hobbit, yeah? Like   ...   mead, or something.   ”   Emma wasn’t sure entirely what mead was, but it felt right in the moment.

[duststained]

PEARCE, MINOO.

     “ No, like, a real date. Why do you think I’m here? I don’t know. ”

“    Gee, MJ, I don’t know, maybe you just wanted to hang out with your good friend Pippa pre rendez-vous.   ”   She opens her closet doors and stares inside for a good moment, before clapping her hands and back to MJ.   “   We can go shopping and find something we both like for you. Or stay here and you give me full creative control.  ”

[duststained]

PETROV, GLEB.

          “we  should  be  friends  then.   you  can  give  me  fun  scoops  and  if  something  comes  in  on  you  i  can  bury  it.”   not  that  he  really  thought  anything  would  come  to  the  paper’s  attention  about  her.   still.   the  offer  still  stood.   “i  wouldn’t  be  surprised  if  the  mayor  was  actually  a  vampire.   there’s  got  to  be  someone  from  over  there  that  will  talk.”   gleb  would  rather  not  talk  about  drama  like  that  though.   while  he  liked  his  job,   it  was  never  his  intention  to  report  on  something  unless  it  was  actually  hurting  people.   “somehow,   i  hate  puff  pieces  even  more.   no  one  really  cares  about  those  sorts  of  things.   people  complain  about  bad  news  stories  but  get  bored  by  the  happy  things  unless  it’s  some  happy  story  about  a  puppy  or  some  queer  rights  thing.”   really  that’s  all  he  cared  about  anyways.  

She laughs, almost as if agreeing with his unspoken comment that she wasn’t really someone to look out for in the paper  —   insignificant by her own admission, and unlikely to appear in the obituaries (fortunately) or wedding announcements (unfortunately) any time soon.   “   Yeah, I mean, good fortune’s clock is running out between me and the IRS, so, I appreciate your discretion.   ”   She nods in sympathy.   “   Nothing rouses the spirits more than cute animals or civil rights wins. At least my spirits personally. If nothing else, you know a gay dog would be a hit. So, what do you like to write about? If not joy or despair.   ”

[duststained]

APOLSKIS, SOFIA.

@duststained​ ( sofia ft SIENNA )

Pushing the door of the Charity Angel Thrift Store, Sofia discovers the unfamiliar place. It feels like she never really goes out shopping, ordering online instead to make it easier with her busy schedule. But after a deep - late - spring cleaning, it was time for her to make good with some of the old clothes that had been staying in closets for far too long. “ Hi, I have a bunch of old clothes, and I thought this was the perfect place to give them to. How do I process with it? ”

“   Right. Well, for an in person drop off, you can put that box there  —   ”   She gestured to an empty spot down the counter.   “   And I can look through it, make sure everything is useable for me to sort and wash and price later. Do you want an estimated value for tax write offs? I can grab you a form. If you’re in a rush, if we take down your contact info we can call you about it later.  ”

[duststained]

ALANIZ, JAERD.

“ – What’s Deez? ”

“   Deez nuts!   ”

[duststained]

ALANIZ, JAERD.

“ You’re not very good at impressions, you know. ” Jaerd rolled his eyes. Why does he always get stuck with the stupid kids? “ And what education is that? How to be a Public Nuisance 101? You’re doing just fine on your own without the help of a library full of books you’ll never read. ”

“   Where’d you get those comebacks? Deez?   ”

[duststained]

CLUMB, SCOTTY.

“ I… don’t know either. How’d he even get on the team to begin with? It’s been so long I can’t remember. Hell, I can’t remember how that kid Henry got involved either. — I think once upon a time it might’ve just been you and me, man, but we picked up all these strays along the way. ”

“   ‘S the way God intended. You, me, a pitcher of beer and a pizza. Not us fucking   ...    babysitting teenagers and retirees.   ”   Of course, there were no teenagers or retirees in the bowling league, but anyone older than Harvey ought to be put in a home, and anyone younger than him might as well have been a child. 

[duststained]

BLUM, BOBBI.

“ I would not — I would never do something that lame. ” Paired with a forced scoff and eye roll? Yeah, Bobbi is totally selling this right now. To be fair to herself, she really hadn’t practiced objecting in the mirror. She’d practiced power posing, and she’d only done it a few times! “ I do things. … But I’m also super busy all the time. ” The black slacks she wears, identical to those in her hands, beg to differ. She stands a little straighter; the fact that Sienna would be wasting her lunch break supervising Bobbi’s clothing search does not weigh lightly. It also makes the back of her neck feel a little sweaty. 

“ It’s not that bad, is it? Like you’ve seen worse? Or is this a total case of ‘elderly substitute teacher under the impression she’s girlbossing it’? ”

“   Oh, worse than that. You look like a Mormom cult escapist that isn’t quite sure whether or not she’s comfortable showing her ankles or wearing non-neutrals yet.   ”   She cracks a smile, before guiding Bobbi over to a small door to the left of a nearby shoe rack. On it reads a little sign: DO NOT ENTER OR YOU WILL BE SHOT ON SIGHT, and a tiny smiley face sticker placed just off center beneath it.   “   Employees only. Don’t mind that.   ”   They enter the back room, which, other than a larger door that lead to the outside and a water cooler, is completely filled with boxes upon boxes of stacked clothing.  “   All this over here I haven’t even look at yet, but you can find adult sized clothing that just hasn’t been tagged and washed thataway.   ”   She gestures to a folding table with three large boxes placed precariously on top of it.   “   Go wild.   ”

[duststained]

APOLSKIS, JULI.

     “ Yeah, you know me — fuck ‘em cats. He’s… I don’t know, Diego ‘n shit. Not to sound pretentious, but y’know, it’s not about the music with that guy. ”

“   No shame in wanting to keep around eye candy, Julian, most guys just manage to get them as groupies instead of members.   ”

[duststained]

KINNEY, SAWYER.

      “ When was Leo gay?”

“   How am I supposed to remember the name? I saw it forever ago. They were, poets, maybe? And the other guy was old.   ”

[duststained]

ALANIZ, JAERD.

Jaerd snorts. She’s not completely wrong; his small friend group isn’t the most girl savvy bunch of guys, for a variety of reasons. Pippa’s only pointing out the obvious! — something Jaerd often gets himself in trouble for. Some might say they’re being mean, but that’s, in his opinion, a bit dramatic. Not mean, just honest. She’s not, however, completely right, either. “ Not gay. Not completely. Not… It’s just not hard to have had more sex than me, if you can believe that. ” Jaerd doesn’t sound all that disappointed. He’s not embarrassed to admit anything about his non-existant sex life; it’s simply the truth. “ But yeah, Mark is absolutely not a virgin by choice. ”

Pippa’s really only half listening to him relay the inner workings of his trivia teammates sex lives, and she considers for a moment based on the little she’s picked up. “   Uh-huh. And you’re a virgin for personal reasons, or lack of interest?   ”   It’s mostly a joke, but it’s also not. If anyone’s an actual forty year old virgin, it’s this guy, which is a little sad in her book. He might be hopeless socially, but he’s not bad looking. Whatever happened to the bookish girls that ate up shit like being too good at trivia night? Guys that thought sweater vests were appropriate bar attire?