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Norah shut the bathroom door carefully. It creaked on its hinges, the only clear sound in a house of thumping music, now muffled. Breathing carefully she went to the sink and stared down into it for a moment before reaching for the tap and dashing her face under the cool water. She needed a haircut. And an aspirin. 

Backing up a step or two she caught sight of herself again and pushed a sigh back. As far as she knew the bathroom was deserted but it smelt like cheap alcohol and soap even in here. Lifting a hand she semi-consciously brushed her finger beneath her cheekbones and tilted her head a little, before turning to one side and trying to suck her stomach in. 

The tell-tale creak came again and she dropped back into her usually appalling posture quickly. “Who is that?”

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mxxnjaehyun:

Jaehyun raised his head up sharply, a bit surprised after being caught staring so fast.”I would help you out, but I don’t think I can.” Explained the Korean boy as his eyes wandered back to the car. He’s never seen one of those before, and the curiosity got the best of him, making him stop so he could take a better look at it. “I don’t know a thing about cars.” He replied reluctantly, but it was the truth. He half turned around, ready to keep going, but spoke once more before leaving, “I’m sorry. Should I, call someone for you or something like that?” That was the most he could offer, along with a kind of awkward smile that was gone as soon as it came.

Norah leaned back and tapped her fingers impatiently against the side mirror whilst the boy looked over her car. It was a burning hot day and she could feel a bead of sweat sliding along the back of her head. On days like this she had little patience to spare, espcially for some wide eyed ghost of a kid.

Pausing to take out her gum ,Norah re-evaluated and thought on second glance, the guy didn’t look too far off her own age at all. This caught her long enough for there to be a pause before she said “...yeah. Can you call the AA? or whatever its called here...”

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― Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale

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Shotgun // {Norah Self-Para}

1940′s Urban Fantasy AU. Norah is factory girl in St Asaph caring for her sister alone through WWII. Giants, ancient and unknown, walk through Wales. 

The Giants' head rested against the side of the Quarry. A single light hung from a wire which crossed from the outhouse roof to a telegraph pole, lit its brow and soft cheeks, its curved nose. Its lips were partly open in sleep and its breath disturbed piles of lose rubble. It was dark. The noise that reached the deserted quarry from the city was blanketed and only an approaching motor reached out of the night. 

A car rolled into the wide circle from its one dirt road. Its make was new, and the polished hood caught the yellowed light. Slowing to a stop, the car's occupant swung out haphazardly. Slamming the door, Norah turned and stared at the sleeping giant. She tilted her head back as far as she could, her hands in the pockets of gray overalls. A stained wife beater underneath clung to her torso and her arms to the elbows were lined with coal dust. You only got so far at the factory before you stopped trying to wash it off.

The passenger door of the car opened more tentatively. Norah looked back and shook her head, but the little girl stepped into the light anyway. Unlike her sister, she was clean and dressed in a crumpled school uniform. She’d pulled her tie over her head and changed her polished shoes for Norah’s old boots which were still too big. She looked at the giant with the clear, wide face of new wariness. 

“Go Back” Norah mouthed at her and fixed her with a stare which had Ashleigh climbing back into the car. Norah’s gut twisted. She still wished there’d been another way she could have done this. The deal had been that Ashleigh wouldn’t leave the car if she let her come. Their father had left for the war in 1942, and their mother long before that. There was no one to watch her at home, but still, the knowledge hung in the air; she should not have brought her. 

The quarry had been evacuated early yesterday when the giant had been sighted. Reports came in all day of how the giant had, as believed, made its way into the quarry hills and searched for food, then laid down and not moved again. Panic had moved through the city. This was the closest a giant had come to St Asaph since the beginning of the war. 

They had used to be hills. Some of the largest were even mountains once, their bodies broke apart from the rock. They towered over human cities and ate what they found, their senses vacant beyond the most primitive. It was thought the sirens of war had sung them out of their sleep. All attempts at communication had failed, or so the radio had said. 

Norah smiled manically at the sleeping creature. She didn’t know why she’d wanted to see one. Wanted to get this close. The roads to the Quarry had been closed off since yesterday, but nobody had tried to stop her breaking in. Nobody paid attention to a bulky streak of a factory girl. People paid more attention to Ashleigh, but it wasn’t difficult to keep her out of sight. 

Norah rolled her shoulders slowly back, cracking joints, and started to make her way upwards over the lose slopes towards the giants face. 

Its head alone was the height of three of her. It was a woman. the face was narrow and yellowed and drifts of short blonde curls fell over the rocks by its crown, and she dreamt peacefully. She was almost beautiful. Norah stopped a foot from her closed eye. If the giant were to wake now, Norah would be the first thing she’d see. Norah wouldn’t have time to run before she died. 

Norah new if she died here, Ashleigh would die too. It was this thought that kept her from placing her hand on the giant's broad cheek, from crouching before her mouth so see her closely. Even now, the giant still smelled of the earth. Dark, deep earth that had never before seen the sun. Giants were peaceful and without the capacity for understanding orders. They would be useless against the Germans. Norah reflected that was what both her and the Giants were. Useless in the war. Unable to move without causing damage. 

With a sigh, Norah turned back around to see if Ashleigh was still in the car. The young girl had almost silently managed to climb halfway to where Norah was now standing. With the blind panic of responsibility, Norah had silently waved her arm back, stumbled on her footing. A cascade of light rumble fell into the circle.

 Both Norah and Ashleigh froze. Behind her, Norah heard the Giants breathing continue as it had before. 

“I want to see,” Ashleigh said quietly, looking up at Norah. Her thick curls had fallen over her eyes. 

“Don't speak. Don't breathe. Get back” Norah mouthed loudly at her, gesticulating towards the car. Every inch of her had gone cold. Ashleigh was still clinging to rock below, looking up at her blankly. Norah turned around and found herself staring at her reflection. The glassy wide eye of the giant, now open, was fixed on her. 

Norah turned and flung herself over Ashleigh. 

The earth heaved. The mountain of rubble caved and swallowed them both. Norah, with Ashleigh, pressed tightly against her, closed her mouth and eyes. The hill of turned earth had become a roaring wave. An unfightable sound of four thousand tons of lose earth engulfed her. Her skin was slit again and again by shards of rock and Norah told herself, in that endless falling. That she couldn't cry out. Even knowing Ashleigh had already been hurt. 

The ground stilled beneath them. Realizing they had reached solid ground Norah shook Ashleigh frantically and when the girl stirred, she pulled them both upwards. Norah burst gasping out of the rock, dragging a small girl to her feet behind her. The Giant, who had destroyed the Quarry Hill, now knelt. Norah looked fearfully upwards into the face she could no longer see. Only the bright eyes shone out of the dark, watching them. 

Dropping Ashleigh, Norah ran to the car. “Don't move!” she yelled, “Ashleigh stay there!” Her sister was in shock. She couldn’t help her if she couldn't get the car... Battling with the car door Norah, at last, managed to wrench it open. 

She turned back to where Ashleigh had been moments before. She saw nothing. 

Assuming the worst Norah leaned on the car's frame. She suddenly felt as though she couldn’t use her legs. Slowly, nauseously she turned her head towards the pool of light wondering if her rising feeling was more close to nausea or feverish anxiety. Her stomach coiled. There, under the pool of light Ashleigh stood, her clothes and face stained with dirt, her face drained of color. The Giant had leaned down and put its face above hers. Ashleigh looked up into the giant's eyes, her hand slowly reaching towards its open mouth. 

Norah was running. Her mouth was open and she was screaming thing she couldn’t hear. She couldn’t hear anything. First slowly, then all at once, sound came back to her as Ashleigh turned to look. The giant had not turned. 

Norah ran straight towards the giant, reaching down to grab a rock as she went. “OI. YOU. FUCKER.” Now standing she saw it to be maybe three hundred times her size. As large as the statue of liberty. The hurled the rock, her shoulders thrown back. It sailed high and hit the Giants cheek “GET AWAY FROM HER.”

There were sirens in the distance. the police were coming, but they wouldn’t get here in time. Norah reached Ashleigh, and Ashleigh was shouting for her to stop. She grabbed her arm and flung her other arm around her, half scooping the girl up. The Giant now focused on her leaned back, distanced by the dark stretch of air between them. Norah curled over, head turned towards the sky defiantly, certain that she hadn’t done enough. There was nothing she could do now. She would die. Ashleigh would die in her arms. At least part of that was her fault. She grinned wickedly, daringly, her eyes shining. 

The giant stared. The silence hung out as the sirens drew closer. Norah panted, waiting, unable to think. The giant stared. Its eyes glinted. Norah began to wonder what it was waiting for. 

Underneath her, Ashleigh squirmed and Norah closed her eyes, praying for a miracle. For this to be over. “Don't hurt my friend.” 

Ashleigh pushed her head up from under Norah's arms “Norah don't hurt my friend” she said again. 

Norah's eyes opened. The giant had not moved. Norah supposed now that she couldn’t have moved if she wanted to. She bit back a sob. The giant simply stared. She wanted to scream at it again, to tell it to stop. The police were here. Norah could hear their shouting, the screech of tires. Distantly, she felt herself pull Norah closer. She lifted the girl up, stumbled, fell back away from the giant and tumbled into the rocks. Pushing upwards, jogging a crying Ashleigh over her shoulder, Norah climbed the uneven drifts of stone, throwing herself into the shadows, behind the nearest rock heap. 

They would kill the giant now if they could. The giant had not killed them. Norah couldn’t make herself look back, although Ashleigh screamed at her to stop. She couldn’t make herself think about anything besides keeping them both safe. She couldn’t help but remember what the radio had said, about all communications have failed. 

She couldn’t help but realized that she didn’t believe that. She hadn’t believed it even then. And she didn’t believe it now. 

[norah-highson-blog]

Brianna Hildebrand for Interview Magazine PHOTOS: DANI BRUBAKER. STYLING: LEAH ADICOFF. MAKEUP: SILVER BRAMHAM FOR MAKEUP FOREVER AT ART DEPARTMENT.

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I wish I were a girl again, half-savage and hardy, and free.

Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (via theanglicist)

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julianlowell:

Julian didn’t take her words in for a moment or two, but when they sunk in, he started, dropping his grip on the girl awkwardly. “Sorry,” He mumbled, following her in suit as she got to her feet. The rain was still beating down and from their perch on the cliff they’d climbed up to, he could see that only a few students still lingered on the beach, sat around the dying flames of the fire. Soon, the rainwater would reduce the giant flames to smoldering ash, but until then, he supposed that the few people that didn’t scatter when the precipitation started to fall would continue drinking. Why cut the festivities short because of a little rain, right? 

He remembered when he’d been like that. The various injuries he’d receive in his once constant state of nearly on the brink of blacking out had never halted his partying, and a little bit of rain sure as hell wouldn’t have. He stared down at the faint glow of the fire and the little silhouettes around it, and even though he wasn’t near enough to see what they were drinking, he felt the numbing burn of liquor pour down his throat as if he’d actually been drinking. He snapped to attention once more when she spoke and he found her a couple feet below him. “I can get down,” He responded quickly, almost defensively. And he could, although it’d be tricky. 

Slowly and carefully, he maneuvered his way back down onto the sand and clapped his hands together to rid them of as much dirt and salty spray as he could. The September rain had brought his wild, brown curls to stick at the sides of his face and his swim trunks and t-shirt were wet with a mix of ocean water and the violent rain. 

“Julian,” He countered back. “Julian Lowell,” And as he said his name, he couldn’t help but think of how little he introduced himself. It was almost refreshing, having someone ask for his name, when he was so widely known on campus. It felt like a clean start. “You need a ride home, Norah?” 

Norah followed the boys gaze over the beach below. It was becomming hard to see in the dark, but the dying fire illuminated the last few stragglers waiting out the rest of the storm. “Julian “ she nodded. 

The freezing wind was pushing against her back and she fought the urge to cup her hands over her exposed ears. Looking Julian over, he didn’t seem much better. Whilst waiting for him to get down Norah had stomped some life back into her feet and was set to make her way back. Walking at night had never scared her. She’d even faced heathland storms worse than this, but she couldnt help picking up at the mention of a lift. 

She made herself stop and consider. There was no warning feeling. Staring coldly at a soaking, earnest boy on the foot of a cliff, the last thing she expected to feel was trust. And she didn’t trust him. But, she knew she could take him. And...

She was a little surprised that he’d asked. One one level, of course Clark Kent bloody asked. But nobody had ever asked before. Maybe it was just the chill, but... it almost felt like a fresh start. If she said she’d never wanted one she’d be lying but... it felt different.

She glanced back and quickly nodded. “...yeah. ...Your cars not far is it?” 

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ajaymoto:

AJ went into Seacrest with low expectations. She figured that the students would be obnoxious, stupid, and privileged. In her first two years, she hadn’t found anyone to disprove her hypothesis – not that she gave them a chance. AJ judged quickly and stuck steadfast to her gut. It was no surprise that even now, two months into her third year, she hadn’t made a single friend. There were acquaintances, sure, a few people she could stand, but no one that she would willingly spend time with outside of class. Accordingly, that meant that she avoided almost all gatherings that required her to socialize with her peers.

The 4A Halloween party was no different. Who would want to stand in a crowded room and make small talk with drunk college students whose only conversational topics were how much beer they could shotgun before puking? Who would subject themselves to that?

Of course, if AJ knew anything by now about her peers, it was that they were careless enough to throw around booze and drugs like it grew on trees. Being someone who liked to relax with the occasional beer, she had developed a routine; a simple recon mission: She waited until an hour after the party had started and was in full swing, made way through the rooms, collected all the alcohol and drugs she needed for a week or two, and made her way out.

She was standing in the elevator, wearing sweatpants and a hoodie in place of a costume, and holding a grocery bag filled with beers. She hadn’t paid much attention to who was beside her when she had pressed the down button, nor the shaking of the elevator.

Then they plummeted. AJ dropped the bag and grabbed for the railing, not managing to grasp it in time before she fell to the floor. She was met with a scream that made her stomach lurch. When the emergency lights came on in what felt like fifty years, AJ remained on the floor, too light-headed to stand.

“Somethin’ alright,” AJ agreed slowly, regaining her senses and registering who was speaking. “Not sure if it’s some technological bullshit going wrong or just an awful Halloween prank. But when shit like this happens, almost makes me thinks there is a god. A real spiteful bitch who wants to get back at me for abandoning you on the street.” She shrugged. “You’re still alive though, it seems. Well–” She motioned to the makeup. “Undead, at least.”

Norah shifted her weight slowly, feeling her way around a bruise beginning to form on the back of her thigh. The throbbing in her head had noticably worsened and she grimmaced. She wished that the pulsing lights would turn off, but at same time dreaded the dark. A headache always found her in the worst moments. The words which came next were accordingly muttered. “Nah... None of those pricks would have the skill set for this. Or imagination.” she smiled weakly “unless you’ve got any mortal enemies. I think its bust.”

A memory crossed her mind softly, silently, before she could stop it.

 ‘Dad, help.’

“Shit...” Norah leaned to the side to take the weight from her leg and grabbed a beer can that had fallen from annemic girls bag. Still ice cold. Pushing the beer under her thigh, she eyed the lift’s second occupant carefully. “Mind yourself. Your vindictive God’s could be listening.” The sarcasm was veil thin. Norah had spent that first night in the rented garage under back seat of her car. There were no stars in that darkness, but no resentment either. The girl had started to rise slowly with the half-awake look of shock “Don’t worry about it” she said quickly. She raised a hand to steady herself.

‘Dad I think my leg’s broken. Help! Dad!’ 

“They’ll send someone along fairly quick... hey, dont move. This things probably not the most stable.” She grinned. “Best tell us your name then, seeing as we’ll be here a while. I’ll think about not eating your brains.”

Part of her was scared. Really scared. Another part was telling her the facts of the situation. Another was telling her to laugh, like she’d always wanted this. Maybe they’d die. She’d planned to call home tonight, then sit up late and fix the car, maybe have another beer, pack for work like any other day. 

‘I don’t know what to do...’

‘Dad please’ 

Norah grabbed another beer. She’d raised it halfway to her mouth before she paused and looked the other girl over thoughtfully. There was a pause. “Don’t worry” she said quietly, frowning.

‘please...’

“It’s going to be alright..... I’m right here” 

It can be a Bad Dream if you want it to be // {Norah & AJ}

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Bruuuuhhhhh

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julianlowell:

Julian was confused. Really, genuinely, super fucking confused. But he took her hand, regardless, listening intently to the instructions that she gave her, although he would’ve done anything at that moment to drag her back down the cliff side. Something told him, however, that trying to get her down the mount again would probably end up with them both going over–or maybe just him, depending on how much it would piss the girl off. 

So he listened, eyeing her quizzically still, waiting until the exact moment that she told him to turn to do so. And when he did, he kind of understood why they were risking their lives in the middle of a storm to lay on an uncomfortable cliffs edge on the beach. The lightening cut the sky in an awesome, awe-inspiring way. It was the kind of sight that turned non-believers into people of faith and reminded people just how small they were in this great, big universe. 

“Wow.” 

That was all her said for a moment or two, letting the light dusting of rainwater brush his face and hair, dampening his clothes. 

“That was…honestly pretty cool.”

“Yeah...” Norah gazed softly at the sky for a moment. She’d forgotten where she was. For just a minute, it had felt like lying on the slate roof at home with nobody looking for her, nobody knowing where she was...

Turning back to the boy and the cliff and the sea air, reality came back in like the crashing waves. The glower that followed was near insinct. “You can let go of me now”

She rolled forward onto her feet and felt the last few flames of feeling fade in the freezing air. 

Glaring the boy down, she hopped off the rock onto a lower boulder. “Unless you want help I suppose. Seeing as I got you up here.” The storm was still raging, but the moment had gone. Furthermore there a bitter taste in her mouth she was fairly certain only alcohol could rid her of, though she doubted Clark Kent could be persuaded to buy her a drink. And yet... 

“I’m Norah.” She paused, slowly turning back “mr...?”

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gabe-wallace:

“Ah Legume! It’s you.” Gabe said, shaking his head as he peered past his fuzzy alcohol addled vision and the skull make up she was wearing. “I both admire and resent your flagrant disregard for “KEEP OUT” signs. You’re a rebel without a cause, unless that cause is ignoring signs. That’s Elvis, he’s my second oldest child, and I guess we can jam so long as you promise to treat him like a lady.”

Reaching into Elvis’ open case, he grabbed a pick, seizing it between his teeth as he reached for his flying v with the dragon decal and slung it over his shoulder. “Love Nirvana. My dad used to play it all the time. Which song? Don’t say Smells Like Teen Spirit or I’ll judge, that’s the most overplayed one.”

“...right” Norah smiled sardonically “Am I allowed to ask how this child was conceived, or do I not want to know?”

The few shots she’d taken were starting to creating a buzz in the back of her mind and she swayed slightly in the direction of the guitars. Still, the reem of Nirvana songs she’d learnt over the years appeared without to much difficulty. “your dad sounds cool... she murmered without quite meaning to. “...or cooler than mine.”

Considering Gabe a moment she reached for a pick on the floor “...Heart shaped box?” Kicking the door step with the toe of her boot, Norah slumped back onto Gabes bed and balanced the fender. “You can do the base if you want”

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ajaymoto:

“A tow truck company?” AJ might not have known much about cars, but if her one experience with tow trucks was accurate, then it would be at least another hour and a half before it showed up. Even then, getting a ride back to campus wouldn’t be guaranteed. If they did get a ride, she’d have to make small talk with a driver, and after her day, she was in no mood for that bullshit. To top it off, the girl was now telling her that she needed help finding her own damn dormitory. All of that totaled up to one final answer:

“Well, good luck with that, then. I’m just gonna…” She nodded towards campus. “Be on my way. Have important shit to get done, you know the deal.” It was no lie, if one considered sleeping to be important shit. “But, uh, go up to the front office. They can help you find Kettering Hall. Y’know. Probably. Worst case scenario, spend your first night sleeping on a bench.” AJ chuckled, shifting her satchel to sit more comfortably on her hip. She gave one last nod to the girl before turning around and continuing her journey back to campus.

“Oh,” she called over her shoulder. “And welcome to Seacrest.”

Norah nodded, her phone still pressed to her ear. A small part of her considered asking the girl if she at least wanted to wait in the shade of the car for a while. A shadow crossed her face, but in a moment it had gone. “A’right”

The automated voice of the AA hold line expressed clipped nonsense over music. She weighed up her options. Plan B was to try a motel if she’d the money left after getting her car to the garage. Then there was the actual garage... It wouldn’t be the first time Norah had slept in her car if it came to that, but she could still get lucky.

Watching the retreating figure she considered that maybe, she already had.

“Thanks... Later”

~ fin ~

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OOC: Norah is off to visit her family (Ashleigh let's be honest with ourselves here) and so this blog is on hiatus until the beginning off July. Pls do leave replies, starters, whatever else you like and we'll get back to you then. Thank you xo (This is about me sitting my A Levels this month in case anyone was wondering 👌)

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gabe-wallace:

“Yikes. Tow truck isn’t going to be cheap.” He said sympathetically, shoving his hands in his pockets. "That’s very helpful, I know. But yike.” Truth was, one of his old foster brothers worked with a garage that would probably haul it for cheap if not free. But it wasn’t like Gabe called in favors like that for anyone, and thus far the girl had done little to endear herself. Something told Gabe endearing herself wasn’t exactly in her skill set, but that was irrelevant. 

He cringed back nearly violently as Norah punched his arm. He had been on sports teams, had plenty of sophomoric guy friends who considered punching a form of affection, but having been the victim of physical violence both from some of his former foster parents and some foster siblings, playful punching never sat well with him. “Hahahaha, yeah sure don’t hit me ever again, ever. Please. Not chill, wee small bean. Not chill at all. But sure, what’s your given name or whatever? Maybe I’ll draw inspiration for a similarly annoying nickname. Oh! I’m Gabe Wallace.” 

“Yeah, astounding” Norah crossed her arms and shifted her weight onto the other foot. She raised a considering eyebrow and tried to meet the Gabes gaze. When she couldn’t she simply stared at him. Growing up in North Wales taught you to pay attention to a shift in tone; it could be the difference at times between a lot of trouble and fight, a friend or an enemy. A life.

The Veruca Salts sang through the battered car speakers. A bird had started up a sharp call somewhere in the trees to the side of the road over the roaring traffic. With a shrug, Norah crossed to the opposite side of the car and put her shoulder under the open door frame to steer. “..Norah” she didn’t look at him “Norah Highson, for what it matters. And don’t you fucking dare call me anything but that” she almost said or I’ll kick your ass but she reconsidered. She glanced at him again, and considered the blunt truth; she’d fight those that deserved it and those that didn’t. But she thought not if that don’t need it.

“...Are you going to push then Gabe or what?”

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stellabelmonte:

As soon as she felt her balance start to give, she knew it was over. Stella Belmonte had always been a person with a bigger bark than her bite, but ever since the passing of her parents, she’s found that physical altercations are necessary at times. It’s a matter of flashing your…not superiority, but…power over others. The power to defend yourself and put others that need a not-so-gentle reminder that they’re fucking with the wrong people back in the place they belong. As much as she’d been trying not to start an actual fight with the irritating rugrat in front of her while she was in no shape to fight at all, Stella had always fallen prey to her viscous pride and rampant temper. 

“Fu–” Stella’s drink tipped out of her hand as she lost her balance and she listened to the plastic clatter against the concrete that she found herself on for a few dazed seconds before she shot up again–slowly, but with a fiery determination that put much more pep to her step. Her fist went out before her mind wrapped around what she was doing, and she aimed for anything that looked like face, more pissed off about the loss of  her drink than the little punk’s continued fuckery. God, she did not want to deal with this shit today. 

Norah took the punch squarely to the jaw but snapped her head back around again. Doubling back she ducked and threw all her weight under the woman's ribcage, knocking her back onto the fender. Norah grabbed the woman's wrist as she felt the breath go out of her, wary now of her somewhat errant fists. “Oh, it's like that is it?” The welsh song in her voice came more clearly when she was out of breath, her nails digging into the woman's palm and a bead of sweat running along the back of her head. The smile she offered was as bright and gruesome as forest fire. 

She back off a step and paused, shoulders pressed defensively forward and a grayish bruise forming on her chin. Norah managed sometimes to look startlingly like a boy. There was something about the simple language of a fight, better than a first language, better than Welsh, than English. There was something to be understood in pain and wild action when words rarely had meaning at all. 

The tingling shock of enengy began to fade. Norah slowly sighed, still backing up. She felt all the effort leave her in one motion, the desire to keep remembering or insisting a point. In the same moment she grabbed her water bottle off the ground and pausing, offered it to the woman still on her fender. 

Words could be beautiful. But they were useless for fight addicts and drunks.

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ivazotrova:

“Well you’re speaking, so I suppose anything is possible.” Iva cooed in a voice sweet as poison, batting her eyelashes and smiling her sweetest ‘there’s a camera pointed my way’ smile. “ ‘Society germs’, moy bog. I’m not society, I’m new politician money.” Not necessarily true, at least not on her mother’s side, but that was irrelevant. “If you’re going to insult me, do it correctly, with something you know. I could make several accusations about your butch hairstyle, piece of shit muscle car, and general aesthetic. Did daddy want a boy? Or maybe you’re a deeply sensitive soul who got picked on too much as a child and is trying to keep everyone at arms distance. Or you’re a slave to the aesthetic, which is honestly more sad than anything else I could imagine and while I’m sure at least one of those things is true…” She trailed off meaningfully and shrugged, passive aggressively batting her eyes again.

Iva’s eyebrows shot up as she heard the other language and identified it- one didn’t grow up surrounded by diplomats without learning to at least identify languages. She was also entirely sure she’d made some sort of rude comment about her, but that was irrelevant. “Oh God you’re Welsh, it all makes sense. Listen sweets, I’m Russian not English, direct that giant chip on your shoulder elsewhere. Like Kettering Hall, which is right down the street and too the left. Come talk to me again when you’ve learned at least three more languages to insult me in, because I’m fluent in five.”

Iva spun away, intending to stalk off, but she paused. “Oh, and here’s some advice, direct from me to you;” She congratulated herself for the Chicago reference “If you’re going to have an old muscle car, learn how to fix it, and if you’re not going to do that, get some goddamn insurance with roadside assistance, and-” she held up a finger to keep her from talking in case she thought to interupt, not perhaps the finger she wanted to hold up, but she felt that the feeling with which she did it, and the killer smile she’d kept in place, conveyed her feelings perfectly. “-if you’re not going to do that, don’t you dare pull people off the goddamn street to help you, because lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine. And believe it or not, I’m not the meanest person you’ll meet on the streets of Seacrest Cove.”

Norah stood in stunned silence for a moment, her arms crossed over her chest. Then she rolled backward on the heel of her foot onto the hood. That was excellently played, she’d give the girl that. Nobody had ever spoken like that to her in her life, or, at least, not as articulately. Considering for a moment she shrugged nonchalantly and reached for her water bottle. She’d need all her breath for this.

Letting out a slow breath she dropped her head. “...Well, considering… Maybe you have a point. I was an ass, and I’m fairly good at that but maybe you’re right. That’s Not your problem.” Norah took another swig of water and narrowed her eyes. “Or, Maybe you’re a judgmental little ast with the bone structure of that pointy faced devil on the side of the red hots candy box. Maybe your egotistical lectures are better suited for a voter that gives a shit, or potentially, your botox doctor seeing as neither you or your daddy could pay for anyone else to listen to you for more than five fucking minutes. Including mummy; who, maybe, is a little tired of her daughter's anti-climatic claims to be the very face of modern youth politics.

Maybe what is truly beyond anyone's imagination here is your ability to look like a munchkin, that with freshly bleached asshole in hand appears at the sidelines of a Tupperware party it wasn’t fucking invited to.” Norah held up a finger and took a long sip of water. Flicking the woman’s extended finger, she continued “Or. Maybe it’s little too fucking hot today for your bone dry attitude which could, ostensibly, shrivel up that pretty mouth in a few short years faster than a Percocet or maybe I have a car to fix and not enough time today to handle your millionth desperate vie for attention from what I’m sure is securely but atypically a cruel and insensitive world.”

The world was horrible. Resisting the urge to run a hand over her scalp Norah flipped her phone from out her back jean pocket and dialed AA, getting up to head back into her car where at least there’d be shade. “Or maybe you shouldn't fucking stare at peasants” she shrugged “I don't know man. I mean, anything's possible.”