A Closed Starter For @dusktildcwn

darcy took in the girl's name with a nod, the typical pleasantries of a nice to meet you exchange skipped over unconsciously. instead, a question slipped from her lips before she could stop it, an unexpected fact about her roommate a sudden sticking point for her. "she has a band?" she asked, the fact taken in and filed away for later.

she still didn't know rosie very well, but how had she missed that she was in a band? where did they practice? what type of music did they play?

another sticking point in the conversation soon followed, darcy's questions not helping at all with what they should have been discussing. and yet, she asked them all the same. there would be no progress until she worked out how dusk morgan fit into the background of her life, a new piece of the puzzle she hadn't realized existed beyond her immediate line of sight.

"which room?" she asked for clarification. "i have two - my bedroom and my thinking room." the latter was a phrase that likely needed additional details of her own, yet she provided none. instead, she let herself observe the stranger who had been in her house. who was friends with her roommate. who had been able to put together a life for herself in coolsville in under a year - friends, a band, clearly some reason for being at the community center that day.

"and do you know charlotte?" it was the right question, finally. but the timing had made perfect sense in darcy's mind.

sitting along in the room with only one other person brought on a sense of quiet that dusk didn't enjoy. when it was too quiet was when she was alone with her thoughts, and that was not a place to be. it's why she often had headphones on, listening to loud music to just drown out the thoughts in her head.

considering the reason she had come today, she had decided to leave the headphones at home.

picking the polish on her thumb nail that had started to wear away, dusk was surprised to be approached and greeted by the other girl. giving her a good look, dusk couldn't place her face. but when she gave her name, it clicked.

darcy warren, rosie's quiet and introverted roommate. in the dozen or so times that dusk had gone to rosie's apartment, she had never once seen her roommate. either the girl was out or holed up in her room. she only left for food or the bathroom, but even then it was so quick dusk only ever saw the flash of red hair.

"hey," the blonde greeted, shaking darcy's hand before going back to her mindless task of picking at her nail polish. only this time her attention was on the girl in front of her. "dusk morgan. and yeah, moved here a little under a year ago." with that being the first question darcy threw her way, dusk could assume she had lived here her whole life.

"you're rosie's roommate, right? i'm apart of her band." noting that darcy was still standing in front of her, dusk motioned to the open and available seats nearby. "kinda fucked that i've been in your house but we've never met, huh? i didn't think you ever left that room." was that a shitty thing to say? if it came off that way she didn't intend it to. it was more just an observation.

fact: crushes were stupid.

also a fact: darcy'd had one, once. it was long ago, with multiple degrees secured between when it had ended and the present. it was over, a finite end.

except... she hadn't actually been in a room with scott bishop since she'd graduated from coolsville high at sixteen years old. and even just standing there, vaguely in his presence, there were certain indicators that she wasn't as immune to romantic feelings as she'd believed.

how did that work? barely knowing someone and yet feeling drawn to them anyway? once upon a time, darcy'd developed feelings because he'd been nice to her at a time when others were very much not, a small act of kindness meaning so much that it broke through her defenses. did she know anything about him other than what was reported in the school paper? no! and yet, the feeling of butterflies in her stomach continued during the handful of times they spoke.

but why? and why were the butterflies beginning to flutter their wings yet again (eight years later), when there was zero grounds for the action? it made no sense! darcy was a woman of science, but not of neuroscience or psychology. love (or even just like) was a mystery to her.

which was why seemed so uncertain when, at his clap, she moved to sit in a chair near him. she was at the community center with one goal in mind - finding out what happened to charlotte blackwood - and she would not be derailed from her mission. but deep down, she was fighting to speak up, having traveled back in time to her senior year of high school.

"yes, let's," she started carefully, not bothering to take a moment to say hello first. why was scott there? why did he care? it was time for the q&a portion of the morning. "how do you know charlotte?" present tense. she could be optimistic!

where: the coolsville community center who: scott bishop and open

Scott had woken up that morning for the first time in a while with a sense of invigoration. For the first time in a couple of weeks (hell, a couple of years), he felt good about the day. It offered something that wasn't the same monotonous thing. As he made his breakfast, dished up a plate for his younger brother (who knew fourteen year old boys could eat so much), he was buzzing. It would be too much to say he was excited, especially in the climate of the last two weeks with Charlotte missing but Scott couldn't help it. He'd even brought snacks.

Those same snacks were laid out in the middle of a lone table in the community centre, only touched by him. Wasn't hard to do when there was hardly anyone in the room. He had been the second person to arrive, glad to know he'd gotten the right place at least. A few other people had trickled in since but the group seemed to be milling about in silence. The awkwardness just wasn't something Scott could deal with.

Giving a loud clap to get everyone's attention, he leaned back in his chair. "Should we get this show on the road?" he asked before really noticing how many empty chairs there were. Maybe not.

me trying to justify my over worrying to friends

When Harry Met Sally (1989) | Gossip Girl 4.15 “It-Girl Happened One Night” (2011)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone dir. Chris Columbus | 2001

They didn’t know how preoccupied I could get when surrounded by books; it was something I preferred to do alone.

Nancy Drew vs the Printer from Hell

SCOOBY-DOO (2002) dir. Raja Gosnell