"—mostly just a vlog about cars, working on them, horsepower and all that. But some pictures yeah." Lindsay, the blonde in front of me says while adding a pearly white smile on at the end of it.
"You said you were on Instagram?" I follow up.
"Yeah." She answers before making a grabbing motion. "Gimme your phone, the handle is kind of difficult."
Surely not.
"Isn't that a problem if you work on there?" I ask, unlocking my phone and handing it over.
Lindsay doesn't immediately respond, navigating her way to the app. Only when she begins typing she speaks again. "The algorithm can work for you. I had to post a couple of modeling photos at first to get a bunch of likes. But after you game it, you can really just do whatever. The ads and sponcon will come, invitations to stuff…"
"Spon-what?"
"Sponcon." She breathlessly replies. "Sponsored content. You kind of have to dress up for those pictures too. Maybe something a little revealing. My next door neighbor does sponcon for a cologne, aftershave thing. Always has to have his shirt off for it."
And I'm sure you just know that.
Lindsay glances up from my phone to give me a smile. "Don't worry, I only take pictures when his setup doesn't work."
"Do all influencers live near each other?"
This time she laughs. "There's thousands of influencers Ezra. My neighbor just happens to be one. There I am. Click!" She speaks her actions.
"Huh." I say, leaning closer to her and see that she's stretching the truth a bit.
Yeah there's cars. But also crop tops, tight leather pants, low cut shirts showing off her…yeah.
Dressed just like she is right now.
Lindsay, who is in a black cutoff long sleeve shirt and shorts smiles. "Go thru it when you get home. You'll see what I mean. And when it doesn't work out anymore I'll go back to school."
"Don't." I joke with her then sip my beer. "It sucks."
"I know…" She complains, then sips her own drink. "And like I told you, I don't know what the hell I want to be when I grow up. I don't even want to grow up."
Yeah. When you 'job' is being an internet model talking about cars…
"You said you go to USC right?"
"Right." I nod.
"One of the guys from the track went there for film school before dropping out. Who needs a degree when you can learn what you need then leave?"
"No point anymore."
"Exactly!" She says loudly, then sips her drink again as the light buzzing in my head resumes.
Dammit Cayle.
Once she's stopped talking I smile again then fill by saying "School's not for everybody though. Last semester was my first and I was so bored half the time…"
"Same." Lindsay reveals a pouty little frown. "I just ended up at the beach half the time anyway."
Half the time huh?
"Well hey, I gotta go rescue Britt from your friend. They went inside a while ago." She tucks her hair back behind her ear while smiling at me.
"Sorry about him. He's…him." I joke, getting her to laugh.
He isolated us and took her inside for a "drink". Little does she know.
"It's fine. He didn't straight up hit on me, which is good. I'll have to have you over to my gym, work out some time. Make you work on something other than arms." She teasingly pokes my bicep.
"I have leg day too." I laugh.
"I know. Text me."
Oh.
"Will do. Nice meeting you Lindsay." I smile at her before she returns the smile and saunters away.
Leaving me to do nothing but watch her go.
…
She is hot.
I can see why her job is Instagram.
Even though I didn't know that could be a job. It's not really a job though.
Just getting free stuff and taking a thousand pictures. Running on coffee and tiny sandwiches.
Algorithm has shown me a few girls like her on my search page. I don't really get the appeal though.
They're unattainable, most are clearly narcissists and don't live where people are.
But I'm in LA, home of the Instagram models.
Crazy that we talked for so long though. She seemed to kind of like me.
…
Surely she didn't actually want me to text her. Probably DM her on IG.
Probably gets plenty of guys sliding into her DMs every day.
She didn't really like me though.
Easy to look at though. As bad as it was to say.
I had to force myself to move my eyes, otherwise I would have gotten caught staring.
Very pretty.
Move Ezra.
You're just standing here. Weirdo.
Blankly, I maneuver away from where Lindsay left me, over towards an area of the spacious backyard where four people are playing horseshoes.
Not very well, but they're playing.
I wonder how Cayle heard about this party.
Leaning up against the tree, I take another sip of my beer and notice that I'm almost out.
Good.
I might have one more, then get a ride home.
Wish he hadn't iced me with the first drink I had, something somebody just handed me. Plus it was super sweet.
No surprise he just wanted to get me out of the Temple. Still doesn't—
Out of nowhere, a pair of arms softly wrap their way around my waist before I'm gently squeezed from behind.
What the hell?
In surprise, I turn back and—
Oh no.
"Heard you were here." She says gently, taking advantage of my turning around to pull me fully into a hug. "How are you?"
Sabine.
"How are you here? It's like January 6th. And why are you here?" I ask while giving her a half-hearted hug back. "Shouldn't you be home?"
WHY ARE YOU HERE?!
"I flew in today." She explains while separating herself and smiling up at me.
She's wearing the damn necklace.
"Why? Classes don't start for what, another two weeks?" I ask.
I think its two weeks.
I also think I don't need that next drink.
"Something like that. Here, got this for you." She answers, picking up a drink identical to the one I have up off the ground and extending it to me.
"I don't need that. I'm already good." I laugh.
"No you're not." Is her reply before sticking it into my hand. "Humor me."
I have. Many times. Look where that got me.
All break I wanted to see her. Talk to her.
And now she just shows the hell up. And…I'm pissed about it!
Stupid Sabine.
"How'd you hear about this party?" I ask while opening up the drink and taking a gulp.
Stupid Sabine.
"Matt invited me. How'd you hear about it?"
I know that this is the celebratory party for USC winning the Rose Bowl. Matt actually got to play and played pretty damn well.
He's…somewhere. Haven't seen him yet. Saw some football guys, validated that to Cayle.
Which will help the Council.
"Cayle heard about it somehow. I don't know. I wanted to get out." I lie.
"I know how he knew about it. I told him."
"No he didn't." I call out the obvious lie, then sip my drink.
Sabine freezes up, then turns to me. "Yeah…I did. I called and you were in the middle of some fight—"
HE WHAT?!
"—sounded like it wasn't going well, then something else happened and he said you lost then added on that you wouldn't want to talk. Which I totally get and understand, I mean I don't like losing either—"
Blah blah blah. Always turning it back to her.
"—I mean you saw me after we lost in the conference championship. I was pissed. But anyway, yeah. I told him about the party and that I was gonna be here. I think that's why he brought you here."
He would do that.
"I thought you two hatred each other anyway." I ask, then take a large gulp.
When I lower my container, Sabine is glancing suspiciously at me. "You're…how long have you been here? Has he been plying you with drinks?"
"Plying?" I laugh. "No. I've just been drinking socially. Not plying."
Maybe five or six drinks. I don't know.
I'll be fine. I just can't drive.
I'll go home, crash and be up by 9 to drive to the Temple by 10 to fight at 11.
"You sure?" She asks.
"No." I say sarcastically.
I'm not getting into this right now.
She's been here for what, five minutes? Already on my nerves.
Sabine doesn't immediately respond, giving me more time to drink and watch the groups play horseshoes. "Hold our spot. If they leave, jump in."
Huh?
I turn back to ask her what on earth she means, only for Sabine to be starting back towards the house.
Fine.
I really should start doing what Matt and Trey advised me to do. Find the best looking girl here and start talking to her.
Make her realize that I'm not her toy to be yanked around and discarded when convenient.
Like she did last semester.
I'm there when she needs me. For class, to rescue her from parties, whatever. But when she doesn't?
Cue up the Gila Valley Football Team and working out her problems.
…
Breathe.
Don't let the alcohol and your anger get the best of you Ezra.
I haven't heard from Vader in over a month. I don't want to start now.
I should have a few more peaceful weeks before I have to let him out again.
If I can make it to Spring Break that'd be awesome.
In an attempt to distract myself I finish the rest of the drink Sabine gave me, only for her to reappear when I move to crush the can. "I'm back."
Another one. Two actually.
She's holding four damn drinks.
Christ Sabine.
"You trying to get hammered?"
"No, but since you seem to be on your way…" She comments, setting my two by my feet and cracking open one of her own. "Cheers."
Yeah.
"Cheers." I add, then open my own and down a portion of it.
The group ahead of us starts converging before Sabine breaks our tense silence. "What happened to your hand?"
"Fell back on it doing a handspring." I explain simply while playing with my drink. "Same day you and Cayle talked."
"I thought he talked to you about it afterward."
Fury spikes inside me and I squelch it by taking another drink. "Nope." I say with a pop.
"He said that he'd talk to you."
"He can kind of do whatever it is that he wants." I counter. "And he likes it. But I can't counter cause I do the same thing."
"No you don't." Sabine rebukes. "You're very disciplined and honest and…nice."
"Implying that he's not."
He is. He can just be hard to handle sometimes.
Tough to take.
That's partly why Ahsoka ended up as his Master. Cayle caused a fair bit of trouble as a younger Initiate.
"You're mad at me." Sabine finally speaks up as one of the groups starts off towards the house.
I ignore her and focus in on our opponent to-be. "Got next?"
"Sure!" A guy in cargo shorts and a light blue polo answers while his buddy is digging into an ice chest.
Without another look to Sabine I stride over to our side of the designated area, worn down by people's footsteps along with a steel spike protruding from the ground.
Should be fun. And give me something to focus on.
"Ezra." Sabine says, sounding slightly insistent.
No. Don't just cave.
"Let the game start at least." I answer her before bending down and picking up my horseshoes. "Have you ever played before?"
Sabine replies with a dirty look while scooping up her own horseshoes. "Of course I have."
"Well hey, I don't know." I defend myself.
Don't give me that look.
I sip my drink to give myself something to do before our friends on the opposite side indicate that we can go first.
"All you." I tell Sabine.
Instead of replying, Sabine sets her drink down, rears back…
And misses left by a foot.
Our opponents call out some words of encouragement, which Sabine smiles at before I probe with the Force and have my suspicions verified.
She's pissed.
A moment later, a silver streak comes our way before landing heavily and coming to a stop about a foot short.
Nope.
"My turn." I smile to myself, then set my drink down.
…
I rear back, let go an underhand throw which starts out online before landing close, taking a funny hop and going past and to the right.
Damn.
"Good try." Sabine smiles at me.
"Thanks."
Our opponents lean in to chat with each other before Sabine asks. "Can we drop the awkwardness? Please?"
"It's not awkward." I counter.
I'm not giving her this one.
"Ezra."
"Sabine."
The next horseshoe nearly collides with my foot, only missing by a couple of feet before I turn to Sabine and nod.
Her turn.
With a heavy breath, she straightens her shoulders…and—
Throws her horseshoe right off the post, only for it to clink off and settle.
"Nice." I smile, sipping my drink.
She returns the smile. "I understand if you're mad at me."
"If you did, this wouldn't be so awkward."
"What do you mean?" She asks, eyebrows dropping.
"If you understood why I was mad, this wouldn't be awkward."
And if you understood, you wouldn't have to ask!
"You're mad because of how I left you. Which…is fair. I overreacted."
"No you didn't." I dismiss the comment as another horseshoe comes closer to our stake. "I went too far."
"No you didn't." She starts before I set my drink down, silencing her.
My turn.
Taking a settling breath, I step back before in one motion come forward, throw my horseshoe towards the other stake, landing just it front before wrapping it around.
Three points.
"Nice!" Our opponent calls out to us, and I thank them by tipping my drink their way.
Appreciate that.
"You didn't go too far Ezra. I overreacted. And I put you in a horrible situation. I'm sorry I did that."
Right.
The final horseshoe comes in, not closer than the others before I start scooping up the ones closer to me.
Time to trade.
"If that was true, you could have sent it in a text." I say as I rise to my full height and start off to trade.
"Ez—" She starts before letting out a groan of frustration.
Nope. Don't care.
"3-1. Nice start." The blue polo clad guy smiles.
"Thanks. Here ya go."
"Appreciate it."
Completing the trade, I take my horseshoes and start back to my spot as Sabine walks over to trade for hers.
I think I might need a water or something—Oh hey!
Spotting Jaicey, I wave in her direction only for her to immediately return it and start my direction.
"So that's what this is—" Sabine starts as she gets close enough to talk again, only for me to cut her off.
"Not now. Jaicey's coming."
"EZ—!" She responds, face quickly turning to fury just as Jaicey arrives and pulls me into a hug.
"Ezra! You're here! We didn't see you arrive!"
"Snuck in." I smile then gesture to Sabine. "Go ahead."
Sabine rolls her eyes but does indeed step forward to take her shot. "Ignore her. She was really hoping you'd be here."
Sure she was.
"How was your Christmas?" I divert Jaicey gently.
"Good, relaxing. You?"
"Pretty good." I smile as Sabine misses short. "Close."
"Humpf."
Jaicey eyes Sabine for a moment, then takes a look at me. "You guys look like you need more drinks."
"Sure. I'll take water."
"Water and drinks." Jaicey smiles.
"No, I—"
Jaicey beams at me while retreating back to the house. "Be right back!"
"Not fun, getting cut off as you're trying to say something. Is it?"
That's cheap.
"Better to get a response than to get left on read for over two weeks." I strike back as our opponents miss their first throw.
Sabine's face twitches, before she glances over. "You've been talking to Matt and Trey."
"I have? How so?"
"They say that. 'Got let on read', all the time. Don't be like them. You're way better than that." She chastises me.
"I'm not being like anyone. I'm just stating facts." I say before dropping back into my stance.
…
I guess that'll do. Short.
"You could have texted me."
"I did. Twice. You left me hanging."
Over a cliff.
"I…I didn't quite know how to respond."
"Then say that." I point out.
"That would have sounded even worse."
Our opponents miss left before it's Sabine's turn.
Right on line.
"Good angle."
"Ezra." She snaps shortly.
"I can't apologize for what I did if you don't talk to me. I'm not going to be blowing up your phone over the break." I counter, hotter than I intend. "You deserve a break from me."
Which you got. Congratulations.
"I wanted to hear from you, I missed you Ezra. I did."
I can't hold back a derisive laugh before our opponent scores a point.
Oh I can't let that stand.
Channeling my frustrations, I step forward and release my horseshoe, wrapping it around the stake and getting our opponents to groan in agony again.
HAH!
When I return to my drink, Sabine looks rather helpless.
Stupid girl. Time to trade.
Grabbing my foe's horseshoes, I complete the trade and return to my spot just as Sabine trades for her horseshoes.
"You should know, drunk you can be really mean."
"Am I being mean?" I ask. "Or am I just not giving you anything easy?"
Sabine seems to genuinely consider this before motioning for our opponents to go first. "Both."
"For someone who is always going on about me trusting you, you clearly don't trust me." I snap. "I mean, I gave you a key to my damn apartment Sabine!"
"I…" She gulps anxiously before the Force around her rattles in fright.
"I need that back by the way." I cut her off before she can bury herself further. "Gotta turn it in."
"Am…am I not welcome anymore?"
"Not that." I shake my head, then move to throw my horseshoe.
Sailed it.
"I moved over the break. Have to turn in the keys." I finish explaining then return to my drink.
"Oh." She replies meekly. "Do you like the new place?"
I nod once. "Yeah. Got a balcony, looking for a washer and dryer."
"I can help with that." I hear a quip behind me. "Only if you lay off the gym bro."
Matt.
"Hey." I laugh, smile before Matt pulls me into a hug.
"Good to see you dude."
"You too." I smile again. "Congrats on the win. I couldn't catch much, have had a bit going on."
"All good. Sounds like it." Matt smiles at me before extending a drink to me.
I take it, then finish off my old one. "You moved?" Jaicey asks.
"Yup. Bit further off campus, but not too far."
I was driving basically every day as it was.
"You like it?" Matt asks.
"Haven't been there long enough yet to know." I confess. "More space though which is nice."
Sabine turns to JJ, who is walking up and hands over her horseshoes to him. "Help. Save me." Before she drifts over to me.
And…puts her arms around me before squeezing me as softly as she can.
"Can do. I love horseshoes." Matt smiles. Before waving to me. "What up Ezra?"
"Hanging out."
"bwah—bwah— bwah—bwah— bwah—bwah—"
TOO LOUD.
"bwah—bwah— bwah— bwah—BWAH— BWAH—BWAH— BWAH—BWAH—"
"Shut it offff…" A voice complains behind me as I blindly fumble for my phone as it continues bleating my alarm.
Must be 9—
"BWAH— BWAH—BWAH— BWAH—BWAH—"
Finally I find my phone on my nightstand and slap it silent, hitting the snooze and causing the screen to reveal that it's 9 AM.
Gotta get up and get going so that I can get out of here.
Heavily, I use my shoulder to push myself out of bed and sit up before the sleepy voice returns. "No. Stay."
How'd…
I turn back to see Sabine, buried in my comforter while peering up at me. "It's too early."
"Gotta work." I reply, turning my back.
How she managed to slip into bed with me again, and again get my shirt off I don't understand…
But then again…now that I think about it I don't totally remember when Sabine found me.
"Work?"
"Yup." I get to my feet and stretch.
Sabine shifting on my bed reaches my ears before she asks "Can you tell me about it?"
"Not really. I'm helping a dueling tournament."
"Cayle said you were fighting in one too." She adds.
Cayle…
"Not today." I lie. "Just working it today."
Probably two fights today, trying to ice and manage my hand in between the two.
I'm not used to actually having to manage an injury before. Anything that was bad enough I can usually get bacta to help heal.
But bacta can't really help with this. Just ice, time and patience.
"Hey, maybe you told me but I forget. Where are you staying? The dorms?" I ask casually while walking over to my closet.
I remember something about her having a long day yesterday.
"No, I'm at JJ's. I thought the dorms would be open, but they're not for another week and a half. So I think I'm couch surfing." She explains.
"Why are you back so soon?"
"Soccer. I want to start training and conditioning." Sabine explains before shifting again. "I'm on my last chance here, and I don't want to waste it."
She won't.
"You won't. I believe in you." I smile while flitting thru my closet.
Wait…Sabine's homeless for a week and a half.
I can help with that a little bit.
"Hey." I try to say causally as I pick out a gray t-shirt. "If you need a place to stay, my spare key is where it always is underneath the welcome mat. You can—"
Before I finish Sabine's leapt out of my bed and crashes into me for a hug.
She stole one of my shirts. And her legs…
NO Ezra. No.
"Thank you…" She says heavily, before I pull her close.
It's okay. She's wearing shorts. My shirt is just bigger than her shorts.
We're fine.
I open my mouth to tell Sabine that she's welcome but she cuts me off. "You know, I'm really sorry for how Christmas Break went. You're right, it's all my fault and—"
"Hey hey hey." I smile as Sabine starts to cry. "It's fine, you don't have to tell me. I'm sorry I pushed the wrong buttons."
"You didn't. I—it's…a long story." She finishes lamely, then buries her head in my chest.
Giving Sabine a squeeze, I smile and try reassuring her. "You can tell me if you want to someday. It's fine."
"I will."
I smile, then let Sabine go. "I gotta get ready."
"Right." She leaps away from me, then sniffles and wipes her eyes. "Sorry."
"You're fine." I laugh, then start off towards my bathroom.
…
"Ezra?"
"Yeah?" I call back to her as I set my stuff down onto the vanity.
"Were you being serious about the key? You said you needed the other one back, right?"
"Yeah, otherwise she'll send another RA after me like I'm a criminal."
Relentless. Twice in a week's time.
No wonder I moved as fast as I could.
"Thank you!" Sabine calls back to me. "I like your new place! Do you want some coffee?"
No.
"I'm okay, thanks! Go back to sleep."
"Too late!" She calls back as I start closing the bathroom door. "I'm already up!"