23 Griffin Way, Porch, Monday Night

[onlysmokesnics]

Hayley had a cigarette between her lips, a bottle of cheap whiskey in her hand, and her leather jacket pulled tight around her. Settled in, sitting on the porch, she almost looked like she felt at home. She'd made a bunch of mistakes last night, horrific, awful mistakes. She couldn't undo them and she could feel the weight of it all eating her up

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[justlike_a_girl]

"What's so funny?" asked Dani, making her way out to the porch with a cup of tea. "Oh! And you are you, right? I heard about a lot of people switching bodies this weekend. At least I got to miss that one."

[onlysmokesnics]

Hayley's laugh ended with a snort, and she held out her bottle in case her landlord wanted to sweeten her tea.

"Oh, no, that's what I was laughin' about," Hayley said, just a tinge drunk. "Just enjoying being in my own skin instead of that lousy bag of blue-gray broody broody pants."

[justlike_a_girl]

Dani debated for a moment before holding out her mug.

"That has to be such a bizarre experience. I'm glad that it ended fairly quickly," she said. "Though I'm sure you wish you would have been able to switch back a lot sooner."

[onlysmokesnics]

Hayley managed to add a dash of whiskey to Dani's tea without spilling. She stubbed out what was left of her cigarette, then let out a deep breath. "Yeah, it sure ended way sooner than I expected it to."

Which was part of the problem.

"Didn't like having someone else inside my things, you know? Like... who knows what he did with me?"

She was projecting and deflecting, all at once!

[justlike_a_girl]

"Yeah, I can just imagine," said Dani, wrinkling her nose. "Do you know the person you switched with? Have you tried talking to him?"

[onlysmokesnics]

"He wasn't feeling talkative this morning," Hayley said. "Guess I have to wait until he's willing to turn his frown upside-down. Just... try to put a smile on a person's face and they get all mad. Story of my life."

That was so not what happened, but Hayley was going to stick with how she viewed things.

[justlike_a_girl]

"You can't always get through to everyone. Sometimes, all you can do is try," said Dani. "And until he's ready to talk, you can just find ways to keep busy. Does that help? I'm not used to giving out pep talks," she added with a smirk.

[onlysmokesnics]

"Yeah, you can't," Hayley said. She finally put the top back on her bottle and sighed. "Thanks for trying, though. It means somethin'. Like not everyone's willing to just give up on me."

But Dani didn't know the half of the real Hayley.

[justlike_a_girl]

"I don't believe in giving up," said Dani, though that wasn't entirely true. She'd given up on her family, even though she wasn't going to admit that.

[onlysmokesnics]

"Well good," Hayley said. "I'd hate to think we hadn't shared somethin' special last week."

She chuckled, a bit of a sad laugh. "That woulda been awful."

[justlike_a_girl]

"Well, it's a good thing we can talk about it without getting all awkward or anything," said Dani, even if she was feeling just a teensy bit awkward. But she figured that feeling would go away eventually.

[onlysmokesnics]

"Don't worry, I don't think we're goin' steady or anything," Hayley said. "But I will say, you weren't kiddin' about the stamina."

She gave Dani a genuine smile.