seraphina hadn't spoken to her uncle for three days. she refused to eat meals with him, to ask him for money, to even be in the same room as him.

so, she spent most of her time out.

using the old car that was once her dads, she drove around town and prayed that she wouldn't get pulled over for bad driving.

it was night time when she saw a familiar head of curls by the side of the freeway, and her eyebrows furrowed as she pulled up.

"yo, what the fuck rue?!" she shouted, wondering why the fuck rue was walking rather sloppily and by herself at this time of night.

"well, hello there," rue greeted, opening the passenger door and sliding into the seat, wiping her nose with her sleeve. "are you high right now?"

a scoff escaped from rue's throat and she opened her mouth, ranting about her night. "listen, phina. don't give me fucking shit for taking drugs, you do it too. i've already got fucking jules on my case."

"speaking of jules, did you know that she fucked cal jacobs?"

rue turned her head slightly, eyes slanted as she stared at seraphina. "what, how do you know that?"

"it doesn't matter how i know, i just do."

"yeah, i know. fucking weird, right?"

before seraphina knew it, she was outside rue's house. rue stumbled out of the car and seraphina went to help her, but rue denied. "i'm fine, okay? i don't need your help."

"yeah, well if it wasn't for me, you'd be bumming it on the side of the road like a fucking caveman," seraphina scoffed, pulling off and not bothering to wait for rue's answer.

•

the next day, seraphina woke up in the back of the car, rubbing her eyes as she cursed herself for falling asleep.

it was a nice day but seeing as though she didn't want to go home, seraphina drove around for a bit. she found herself stopping outside fez and ash's store, a deep sigh leaving her throat as she grabbed whatever notes she could find.

"i need a drink," she groaned, noticing ashtray sat behind the counter. he was using a money counter to count bills, and his head shot up when he heard her voice.

"where you been? i was starting to think you finally died," ash joked, making seraphina stick her tongue out at the boy.

"i'm not that lucky," she responded, pulling out a can and grabbing a pack of chips on the way to the counter. "i'll spot you, it's cool," he said, and seraphina cautiously grabbed her things.

"you sure?"

"positive."

as she smiled at him, they were interrupted by fez who's head popped around the corner. "yo, me and faye watchin' a film if you both wanna join?"

"what about the store?"

"it's cool, we can shut it for a couple hours."

when fez disappeared, ashtray shrugged his shoulders and slid from the counter, "you coming?"

"yeah, yeah," she answered, grabbing her snacks and following after ash. faye was rested on the floor, smoking a blunt like always.

"hey," she greeted, a smile on her face when she saw seraphina. seraphina waved and slowly sat on the floor beside her, feeling ash move by her and jump on the sofa.

he lay down, hand falling to the side of the couch and rested it on seraphina's shoulder. she didn't even realise at first, until she laughed at something on the screen and felt him move his hand.

she didn't bring it up, instead eyes falling back to the screen and trying to get the feeling out of her stomach.

"this movie is so real," faye softly said, and fez responded, "word." she always liked fez's voice, it was calm and soothing.

something she could listen to for forever.

all of a sudden, a quick pounding began on the door and everyone looked at it. ash then turned to look at seraphina, a worried look on his face.

"yo, who the fuck is that?"

"i don't know, bro," ash responded, sitting up and eyeing the door. "get up," he hissed to seraphina, who immediately obeyed.

"come on, get in the room," he ordered, pulling her to his bedroom. she sat down on his bed and watched as ash held his finger to his lips, signalling for her to be quiet.

he seemed to be listening intently to whatever was going on. "who is it?" she asked, and ashtray shrugged his shoulders. "i don't know, but fez got it handled," he responded, sitting down besides her.

ashtray still had the blunt in his hands and he passed it to seraphina, who gladly accepted. "how've you been, ma?"

"i don't know," she answered, and it was true. she didn't even know how she has been. happy? sad? angry? high?

"listen, you ain't look too good. you sure you're okay?"

ashtray's hand moved to rest on top of hers and seraphina stared silently at the affectionate touch. "i'm fine, really."

he stared at her for a moment before shaking his head slightly, "whatever you say," and he grabbed the blunt, taking a few drags as he sat in the silence with seraphina.