. the upsides

[avery anthoine]

This heat was unbearable. The city burnt up outside around them, but they managed to keep themselves cool. With the help of a bottle of vodka a piece, a twenty four pack of beer, three bottles of wine and an air conditioner permanently set on its lowest temperature, the two of them dubbed it a successful night; much better than anything they’d come across in the local bar scene. And if it wasn’t so hot outside, that’s probably where you’d find these two on a Friday night like this. But, under these circumstances, Avery refused to leave his apartment and whined to Kit very loudly over the telephone that he wanted her to come over and stay in with him tonight and, with almost little to no coercing, she had obliged him. Like always though, when they found themselves spending a night in together, they managed to keep themselves thoroughly entertained; board games, Netflix, philosophical musings, all the normal things that got significantly better when alcohol was involved. Rarely did they need anyone else on these nights in, they had become old pros at it by now. Between her late night study sessions during the school year that always needed Avery’s sparking personality to spice up and his hermit days when he just flat out refused to leave the confines of his own place and she took it upon herself to pull him out of the funk he’d get stuck in. It was a dynamic that worked ant that Avery thoroughly enjoyed. She always said they complemented each other and it was on nights like these that he completely agreed. After an unbelievably empty threat that Avery himself would drag her to his place if she refused to come over, she had called him on his bluff but showed herself anyway. They munched on leftovers in his fridge before calling in a pizza that they polished off not ten minutes after it arrived. All this while starting and stopping movies on Netflix, falling in and out of the plots quickly as the sucked down beer bottles and left them sitting empty on the end tables. The beer became wine somewhere along the line, Avery was already feeling a buzz when that happened, and between the two of them, their stash dwindled steadily. At this time, whatever was playing on the television no longer became the point of interest and Kit had dug out Life the board game, which Avery hadn’t even been aware he had, from somewhere in the depths of his bedroom closest. Life was shortlived though when Avery had to start a family and grew increasingly frustrated with trying to put the little blue and pink pegs into the tiny little holes on the backs of the tiny little cars. Kit wasn’t having the easiest time counting the money or sorting the profession cards either so, they figured it was best if they stopped before more pieces ended up across the living room. Despite the initial frustration however, Avery was all the more willing to give another game a try and the growing curiosity of what other games he had hiding in his closest was starting to be too much for him. A sloppy, stumbling game of tag lead them to his bedroom closest, pushing around clothes and boxes of old movies, comic books, and photo albums in search for the perfect activity. But to no avail. Their interest in an activity slowly diminished, becoming distracted by the comic books and photo albums that inhabited cardboard boxes in his closest. Kit pulled out a few albums and Avery a few comics before they made their way back to the living room, sulking down on to the floor. They sat quietly, passing back and forth a bottle of vodka that neither one of them had been sure who opened. She flicked through the pages of the albums, mostly at pictures of Avery, his brother and his family while he read through the comics for what had to be the thousandth time. Finishing one though, he closed it and placed it aside before scooting over to Kit to see what she had been quietly giggling at for the past few minutes. “Nooo,” he whined quietly, pushing his hand down on to the album, disallowing her to turn the page and to look any further. “You don’t want to look at that stuff,” Avery assured her, taking the book form her hand and flashing her a wide grin, “it’s not particularly intellectually stimulating.” His words slurred together and he struggled with the syllables of ‘particularly intellectually’ so much that it mimicked that of a small child. Avery leaned over and rested his head on Kit’s shoulder, cuddling close to her on the floor and slipping the bottle of vodka out of her hands for a sip. He raised it to his lips and missed, spilling some down the side of his face and on to her shoulder. He laughed loudly and put the bottle down on the floor, “Ahh, I’m drowning!” He exclaimed with a chuckle, rolling off her shoulder and back on the floor, his arms up in the air. “Drowning in vodka, it’s everywhere!” Avery reached out and grabbed Kit’s waist, pulling her backwards and down across his chest, shouting, “Man overboard! Man overboard!” as he did so. Laughing loudly at his own dramatics, he kept an awkward grip on Kit, one arm caught beneath her and the other one draped across her stomach, keeping her across him for at least a few more minutes and revelling, drunkenly, in the physical contact. “Don’t think we’re gonna make it, Kit,” he confessed, trying to cease his laughter, “no one’s coming to save us.” . TAGGED: @kit WEARING: sure NOTES: i have no words for how long this took or how bad this is. sorry homie.

[Deleted]

Alcohol, ice, air conditioning and not being able to look at a thermostat without swearing. These were the nights that Avery and Kit were accustomed to during the bleary New York summers, wishing for units that had a little more space, a lot more circulation, but when they lived in this city any air at all was to be cherished. So they'd grown used to it and made these nights work, enthralling themselves in childish games and smoking cigarettes lazily out the window, watching the population melt on the concrete sidewalks. Usually they would be down there at dingy bars or outdoor restaurants, indulging in frothy beers and random impulsive chatter, but Avery was known to burrow in his studio and she knew she could never talk him out of it. Eventually she even came to accept it, barely questioning his whines as she threw on a shift dress and gathered Bacon into her arms, skipping down the stairs into the muggy city air she was so obsessed with. "Honeyy I'm hereee," she sang into the intercom with a laugh, hearing the loud clang of the locks releasing as she pounded her way up the stairs, alcohol clattering against her leg in the bag she'd covertly hidden it in. Though a recent 21, Kit still felt strangely off carrying it around. Like she was still the illegal reckless girl with the fake ID and the dreams of making it in everywhere. Shrugging off her old fantasies she greeted his puppy with a laugh, letting Bacon wriggle about with Wally as she embraced Avery with a fake sound of annoyance. Like this had been so much of an effort. The night lay open for possibilities before them suddenly, picking through his fridge as movies turned to games turned to food, slurping down alcohol from paper cups and wincing at the after taste that was still so caustic on her lips. Before long, everything was hazy. She watched Avery mess with the Life board on a laugh, trying to decipher where her car even was, if she had a family, if she'd spent all her money? Whatever, no real consequences, laying back on the floor for a few moments until she swore she fell asleep, waking up to impromptu tag and photo album explorations when finding another game became too daunting. "You're sooo cute thoughhh," she slurs, trying to stare intently at the photos by squinting her eyes and being dramatic though she could barely make them out. Always a lightweight, it had never changed. Her willowy body was capable of strange things, but alcohol intake had never been her strong suit. Instead she pushes the books away to look at more comics, stray doodles she wished she could even attempt. Even in subconscious flicks of a pen he created magic, watching little swirls and dots come to life before his eyes, while she maimed every character she ever tried. It was pathetic but still fun, laughing about it all later, another swig of vodka up to her lips as the dogs scampered too and fro with the empty pizza box in their mouths. Avery's head lolling on her shoulder brings her back to a tilted reality, feeling him reach for the vodka before it splashed onto their clothes, a surprising gasp sounding from her lips as if she'd been completely shocked something like that would happen. She lets out a tiny yelp of a scream as he rolls onto the ground, playing along as she scrambled for some paper towels. "I'll save youuuu," eventually comes out in a series of jumbles, leaning down to dab some off the ground before he catches her waist and she tumbles on top of him, landing with a deafening 'oof'. Her mind clicks into a series of thoughts, his voice numbing out as she takes in the contact, a drunken spark igniting in her system as she eventually turned in his grip to face him, hair tumbling down like a curtain. She bats it out of the way with minimal effort, making more of a frame on his face instead. Their eyes catch as she props her elbows on the floor below them, never quite noticing how completely blue his were. "Your eyes look like the ocean we're drowning innn," she spouts randomly, throwing her hand over her mouth in embarrassment only to lose her balance and land right next to his shoulder, studying his profile when the world settled around her. "What would you doo right now for your lasttt wish," she asks quietly, leaning closer. "What last thingg would you do before we drownn?!," TAGGED: Avery WEARING: ignore the hair NOTES: eek took a while too, and is probably just as horrible, ahhh.