TRIGGERS. THERE COULD BE TRIGGERS ANYWHERE. … … Uh, I was startled out of my stupor by the loud noise of people flooding into the bar I was currently occupying. The momentary lapse into un-cool species prejudice was just… me being a bit intoxicated. Balthazar made me a fake-ass I.D that was pretty much magic. I don't know how he did it, but it looks pretty perfect. No one would suspect I was 19 years of age, so we Gucci. Despite him being a weirdo who was planning on burning down our old school's computer labs to get back at our, his words not mine, "fascist teachers and secret police jocks," he was pretty alright. The aforementioned bar wasn't the worst place I've wasted time in. Just a rustic lookin' shack with a pretty lookin' tender' serving me my underage ass tall glasses of piss. This place coulda been considered high end I guess, higher than the houses I usually hang out in. Felt mighty fancy even, with how well lit the establishment was. The clientele didn't look like users either. Place felt family owned, overall, four outta' five stars. One less cuz' the overhead speakers were tinny as fuck and playing only shitty pop music. Reed, you are a fuckin' lucky guy. A social engineering professional with a wide web of web-savvy individuals at your fingertips and plenty of opportunities to make it big. You just gotta… stop spending your time in dumps like this. It's really starting to affect productivity. So to counteract that, I pulled out my phone and checked CoinBit to see if the numbers really were going up. I had invested a bit into this new thing called "Simoleons" and it seemed to… … Have tanked in between me last looking at my device. Fffffffuck me sideways, I was out a few grand. MotherFUCKER… "Uh, Reed?!" A familiar voice jumpscared me as I slammed my fist into the bar top, almost knocking over my half finished beer in the process. Turning around I saw… surprisingly, Trish? "H-ey! Long time no see." I stutter out. Her shocked expression turned into a really excited smile as she lunged at me for a big bear hug. I really was not in the mood but it was for an old friend, so might as well reciprocate. I stood up and accepted my fate. "Where have you been fam'? I haven't seen your ass since graduation. And why are you wearing… that? In here?" She asked, pulling up a seat right beside me. She was wearing her normal street clothes, nothing really changed about her from what I could see. I felt kinda silly in a black blazer. What can I say, I tried to look nice sometimes. It's just not working right now. "Oh well, really I've just been here, I dunno. I thought you got out of town." I replied, not trying to bring up the blazer, or the newfound financial trouble I was in. Trish smirked. "I'm just back for the weekend. Wanted to see my family. Maybe bump back into you, and now I'm here!" "Yeah… I'm sorry I just sorta bolted. Last few months of school were pretty messy." "Ugh God, don't remind me." She said with a hint of disdain in her breath. I'm surprised the bartender didn't bark at us immediately, but when she did come over to card Trish, my triceratops had her own fake ID. Thatta girl. She asked for the same glass of piss I had too. "Things change. Life chilled out. Now I'm in between jobs looking for something better… again." Trish said, propping her head up with her arm. "I uh… Get that. I guess I need a job now too," I laughed; she followed after. "So what, looking to get a job here?" I jokingly asked. She let out a heartfelt chuckle. "No. I desperately needed a drink and my mom would've gotten pissed at me if I did it at home. Wasn't really expecting to meet back up with you though." "Well… God, if you need money… I certainly have some ideas." Trish gave me the side eye in between sips. "What could you possibly have in mind, other than selling drugs and getting me ten to twenty years in the clink?" "Well, recently I've been talking to people who throw regular house shows that bring in plenty of cash. You don't happen to still have your bass, do you?" "Maybe. Oh fuck, are you actually saying we should…?" "... Only if we can find a guitarist within a month. I have a few ideas…" I'm weak. I have the weakest will of anyone I know. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity to look at her abdomen. I don't even know why. I'm not even into muscle girls. Now me and my ex were just hanging out at my place once again, like it wasn't even slightly weird. When we arrived, the first thing she asked about was RAY, which is the funniest thing because like, it's just a stupid phone cleaner gimmick to everyone else BUT me right? "I'm surprised you kept the stupid thing, but I respect it." She said, sitting in my office chair, fidgeting with the tiny Roomba sitting on my desk and placing her guitar case in front of my TV. I was relegated to watching her sic the thing on her own phone while I sat on the far end of my bed opposite to her, awestruck at whatever the fuck was happening. The drive wasn't filled with too much conversation as Lucy was content with just blasting music, but my metaphorical jaw never really left the floor when she implicitly asked if she could come over. Months of playing it cool with Reed has taught me how to be a tiny bit less socially retarded, but damn, on the inside, it was like someone threw a hand grenade into my brain and messed everything up. Thank Christ I cleaned up the Anon-Cave beforehand. "Yeah well, he is a weapon of war. I personally wouldn't want RAY to fall into enemy hands." Lucy laughed at the exaggerated notion. "Worst, weapon, EVER. Poor thing can barely get the smudges off my phone." "He's TRYING." I remark, realizing he's probably well past his time. I guess RAYs now… OLD RAY. One more laugh later and she spins around to retrieve her guitar. It had been a real good while since I saw Lucy like this. She looked so full of energy and joy as she immediately strummed out some cursory cords, just to get a feel for the instrument again. "Ugh… one problem." She said after four tries. "What's that?" I ask, sitting with my hands in my lap. "My calluses are gone. Fuck, it's been a while…" Lucy looked frustrated with her squishy fingers. While she remembered where exactly to place her fretting apparatuses, it wasn't looking too pleasant for the poor pterodactyl. She kept unhooking and pressing her fingertips into my desk to ease some of the pain. I laid on my bed while she spent the next few minutes trying to get anything going. I just sorta watched on my side. Despite her struggle, I felt pretty warm inside. This did indeed remind me of better, simpler times before we all had responsibilities. The noises coming out of the thing we're also familiarly beautiful, if a bit spacious in between notes. I wasn't too worried about anything. Everything felt alright, but there was still a hint of guilt in my gut. Maybe it was because of Stella, maybe I still felt bad about highschool, maybe I’ve just been an overall fucking idiot, who knows; I've been losing the need to care. A tiny bit of her hair was draped over my chair; nothing could ever make me feel this nice again. Minutes pass by and Lucy lets out a sigh, obviously still frustrated, placing the guitar back in its case and sitting herself on the foot end of my bed. "This fuckin' sucks," she huffed, her arms crossed. I sat up to comfort her. Once again we were sitting on the side of my bed. Time was a flat circle, nothing cube-like, like how I thought time worked. "I mean hey, all you gotta do is keep playing till you fix the problem." I shrug. "Plus, you still know how to PLAY. So like, you're halfway there already." "UGGHHH," she mouthed. "Putting in time for anything is fucking hard. I wanna play again, but it hurts…" "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I will literally force you to play till you get your calluses back." I joked. She rolled her eyes in a friendly way. That sounds backwards, but I knew Lucy. "Yeah, sure dweeb." "And I'll play alongside you. No problem." She blushed at the notion, covering her face with her hands out of shame. "...Oh God, I offered you a peek at my abs… didn't I?" She piped back up. "Well… yeah, but I certainly wasn't going to bring it up. On a list of things I wanna see you do, playing guitar is higher up." Lucy had this unimpressed look on her face. "Surrrre guy. Surrrre." "It's true! I mean, abs are temporary, music is forever." She snickered, "That's… Sorta true? I guess." She leaned a bit back and… Ah fuck, she actually pulled up her turtleneck to expose her midsection, slowly. And sure enough, her pack is there, faintly. "It's developing… slowly." Her blush got just a bit brighter. I just sat there, hands glued to my lap for no particular reason. Just as a few seconds went by, her hand holding up her shirt went back down. "Heh… You don't have to stare so intently." I uh, shit, was probably staring like a creep. I felt the heat bubble up in my own cheeks. I didn't think I had it in me to be so enraptured in such a spectacle. "I uh… Yeah…" I stood up from the bed just to shake up the tiny bit of shame I felt. "Well you know… I really didn't expect any of this to happen today is all." I answered genuinely as I stretched my arms. "Ugh, I don't even know why I offered…" her eyes darted off me to the side, obviously embarrassed. "I mean… I liked it." She perked back up at the notion, but only a little. Her recrossed arms and slouched posture told me everything. "I'm glad… It's just… Why am I doing this if I can't show anybody right?" "Yeah, exactly!" I exclaim sitting back down next to her. "I guess that's why I… Plus, I trust you enough." "Exactly. Everything is cool. I'm glad you came over." She smiled, I smiled, everything was okay. The only thing that threw me off was my ass vibrating like it was. I set my phone on silent, but obviously somebody was trying to get my attention. Lucy shot me this funny devious look. "Is your girlfriend texting you?" "Ha ha. Very funny." Did she know? No… surprisingly it wasn't Stella, it was Reed. He actually sent multiple texts. I didn't really read any of the words before I swiped the notifications away. I'm fucking busy my guy. Busy as FUCK. "I did… Have this one idea for a song in my head for fuckin' ever, and I can surely show Stella but… I haven't gotten to it yet." She changed the subject. "Oh really?" I replied, brushing past the subject of showing off her body just like that. "Yeah I wrote lyrics and everything. I just need to put chords to it." "You gotta tell me the title." I ask. "Working title? No One Understands Me." I try my best not to laugh by thinking about the other songs with goofy names Stella showed me. "That might be a bit on the nose, isn't it?" "Ugh God, maybe. But it's how I felt at the time… how I still feel now, actually." "Can we get the title down to one word?" "Uh… how's about Misunderstood? That's one word." Oh damn, Stella has been training me for this moment, I feel it. "How's about something eye-catching, like Cruel, or something…" She stands up to stretch her arms up. "I dunno. It's not really what the song’s about…" "Well, how about you tell me explicitly what it's about." "Well, it's a slow acoustic song. It's kinda a retrospective of what I've gone through up until now. I don't really wanna get across that the world around me is completely cruel or anything, I just wanna tell my side of the story when it comes to how everyone views me… that sounds stupid, I'm sorry." She continued, pacing a little bit back and forth casually. "Hey now. That isn't stupid at all. In fact, it sounds really interesting." She grinned at me as I sat there listening. "I dunno'. Maybe I do see things a little bit like that… Ugh, you're gonna make me overthink things." "Maybe… That's what I'm actually here on earth for." I said jokingly. "Maybe I'm here to be a little bit combative until the pressure makes a diamond." I watched Lucy bite her lip just a bit. "Maybe, my purpose in life is to fistfight you." She said in a jovial manner. "Oh, you wouldn't hit me would you?" "Try me." She crossed her arms once again. "Is that an invitation?" I said playfully back, sitting next to her once again. There was plenty of space between us and… I'm not sure if it was killing me or not. "I guess I'm down." "Can it lead to making out after?" … Why the fuck did I say that out loud? That really took her by surprise, and I wasn't too far away either. It was an intrusive thought that won over in my mind and birthed from my mouth. She sat there for a moment rocking back and forth while I sat there being as cool as I could be. A sneaking suspicion that I had just destroyed everything was clogging up my brain, something real bad. Oh God oh fuck me sideways… She blushed a shade of red I had never seen and her wings fluttered for the first time all night. "R-really smooth. Dweeb," she said, grabbing her elbows. I folded too, and the only thing I could do was laugh nervously. "Was uh… That's too much right? I'm sorry it's-" "-NO! It's cool! It's just… I'm not sure how to feel about anything right now." I tried to compose myself once again and lurched just a bit towards her. "I understand." Spilled out my stupid mouth. "I-It does feel nice being here… familiar, safe, y'know?" She shrugged. She has a sort of at ease look on her face that literally dragged me in. As in literally, we started really leaning in towards each other till our lips locked… … Stella was going to hate me for this, But I needed closure. I needed to apologize to Lucy. [POST-NOTES] Another short chapter. Been awfully busy with irl and I felt the need to cut a lot out of this work. When I started this it was just for practice. the scale of this particular story keeps fluctuating as life continues to change. I'm sorry if this is not what anyone was looking for. I'm about 40k words into my own VN at the moment, so hopefully, if you like this even a little, you will like what happens in the future. I am definitely going to finish this.