Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“And that’s why we need to start opening this store at six in the morning.”

The clock on the wall reads 6:55 a.m. Rose rubs her eyes. It isn’t even light outside yet, and The Director is already on his second tangent on how they need to best their competitor in every field possible. Their pre-opening meeting is already a drag, and Rose has to endure five more minutes of this until she can go to her station working the cashier.

“Director, correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t we already open an hour before the Target in front of us does?” Wren, the assistant store manager, picks his head up from the table. Heavy bags hang from under his eyes.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t go above and beyond, Wren. Just think of the possibilities! They’ll be fuming! We’ll have so many more customers than them because we get a two-hour head start in the day!”

“Nobody goes to Walmart that early in the morning, Director.”

“Who doesn’t have a crack-of-dawn trip to Walmart every once in a while? We’ll just make the hours accessible to everyone.”

“Yeah, accessible to people who wouldn’t hesitate to take your kidneys in an alleyway.” Surprise, the unpaid intern, mutters under her breath.

“Don’t you have a coffee machine to refill?” The Director gives her a glare.

“Don’t you have a store to run?” She shoots back. Falcon, the backroom stocker, raises an eyebrow at her.

“Alright, that’s enough, isn’t it time to open the store now?” Rose interrupts the tension in the room, getting up from the table.

The Director mutters something under his breath, getting up. Wren is fast asleep, and Falcon already disappeared to who knows where. Surprise fixes her blouse, tying her hair into a ponytail before resentfully filling the break room’s coffee machine. Rose shakes Wren’s shoulder, and he picks his head up again.

“It’s two minutes until opening. Long night?”

He grumbles in response.

“Geez, okay. You can complain to me later, let's just get the workday going.”

The customers started to trickle in around eight in the morning. Wren was right, nobody goes to Walmart at seven a.m. Work wasn’t bad here, but Rose still couldn’t help wondering if she could work the opening shift at Target instead. Knowing The Director, he would raise all sorts of questions of why she wanted to change shifts all of a sudden. He couldn’t mind his own business if his life depended on it. So, Rose settled with working the closing shift at Target, but she didn’t let any of her team members know that. The Director wouldn’t be happy that she was working part-time for their competitor, so she’d most likely get punished in some shape or form.

As Rose waves off a customer and wishes them a nice day, she does a double-take and sees Surprise. The intern is sitting ominously on the register across from Rose, holding a coffee in both hands. She takes a sip that lasts for an uncomfortable amount of time, not breaking eye contact once.

“Er, hey there…” Rose could have sworn Surprise was cleaning the floors five seconds ago.

“Hi.”

“Can I... help you?”

“Can I help you? I’m in a lower position here.”

“Well... Could you get me a cappuccino from the coffee shop around the block? If it’s not too much trouble, of course.”

“One cappuccino from the coffee shop around the block, got it.” Surprise nods and Rose lets out a sigh, looking down for a moment to check her watch. It reads 10:36 a.m.

“On second thought, make that an espres-” Rose looks up to see Surprise nowhere to be found. Well then. Surprise was an… unsettling person, to say the least. They just showed up to their Walmart one day, no interview, no nothing, just wearing the Walmart uniform. They needed staff around the time she showed up, so The Director just… let it happen. Rose still doesn’t know how she seems to appear and disappear out of thin air. She reaches for another paper bag but finds none at her disposal, so she has to make her way to the storage room where Falcon usually hangs around.

“Ya got any bags?” Rose pokes her head into the dim room. It smells like sawdust and paper.

Falcon is busy loading crates into their corresponding shelves and answers her with gesturing to the stack of paper bags in the corner of the room.

“Good to know I’m still not worthy to be graced with having a verbal conversation with you.” Rose sarcastically jabs at him, grabbing all the paper bags that she needs to get through the rest of her shift. Unsurprisingly, Falcon doesn’t answer her and focuses more on the boxes he loads onto the shelves.

On her way back to her station, she runs into Wren, who just left The Director’s office. He rubs his eyes with one hand, letting out a sigh.

“What’s up?” Rose tilts her head.

“They’re doing it again.”

“Doing what?”

Wren gestures to the office. Inside, The Director glares at his window. Rose follows his gaze to see Jackdaw at the receiving end of the stare- the Target manager who had his office window conveniently facing right across from The Directors. The configuration of the office windows ended up in multiple glare-offs that went on for hours until one decided that was enough and pulled the blinds. So far, Jackdaw has won all of them.

“You know when you have a cat sitting against a window, watching some rat or bird run outside? And they can't take their eyes off of it? Yeah. This is what this reminds me of.”

At the mention of cats, The Director’s white mutt, Misty, rubs up against Rose’s leg. It meows at her until she picks it up.

“Aww, you poor thing… Director’s too busy with his staring contest to give you attention, huh?” It meows at her again, and she holds it like a baby.

“Get that thing away from me.” Wren backs up, giving the cat a look of disgust.

“What, scared of cats? Look at her! She’s an angel. We should have named her that.” Rose gives it another scratch under the chin.

“Didn’t you suggest Bonecrusher the Unkillable for a name when we first got her? Also yes, I’m terrified of cats. They could take over the world if they had opposable thumbs.”

“Oh quit being so dramatic, Wren.” Rose sets Misty down, and it bounds away onto The Director’s lap. She shuts the door quietly behind them and brushes off the cat hair that collected onto her shirt. Back to work, it was.

Rose finishes the cappuccino Surprise brought her, heading back to the break room to grab her things, ready to head out to her second job. The clock on the wall reads 3:00 p.m. She wears a cardigan over the target shirt she changed into, making sure the logo was well-hidden. The air is nice and fresh as Rose leaves Walmart, walking to the Target across the road.

The moment Rose sets one foot in the building, she’s shoved aside by Rivera, her co-worker that manages the security of the store.

“Coming through. Shoplifter.” She makes a quick apology before tackling a man that Rose saw sprinting out just a few moments ago. Rivera pins him down onto the concrete, grabbing the box of jewelry he had clutched in his hand and detaining him until the proper authorities show up to help.

“Hi, Rose. How’s it going?” Rivera’s deadpan voice sounds almost sarcastic, but it’s always hard to tell. She keeps both hands on the shoplifter, making sure he has no chance of escaping.

“Doing well. What about you?”

“Oh, same old. Got a gun pulled on me, the usual. You know, I’m kind of busy right now, so I think you should head to work now.” Her last sentence was less of a suggestion and more of a demand, so Rose nodded and turned on her heel.

“DID YOU SEE THAT? OH MY GOD!” Sparrow, the in-store barista, shrieks in amusement. “RIVERA TOOK OFF! THAT GUY DIDN’T STAND A CHANCE!” Sparrow pauses to take a sip of her drink that she made. Her drink isn’t actually coffee, it’s whipped cream in a cup with marshmallows. But that’s something only she knows.

“Hey, Sparrow! How’s business?” Rose makes a detour to stop at the Starbucks that their Target has in-store.

“Doing great! From my station I get to see Rivera takedown shoplifters n’ kick people out, it’s literally amazing to watch.” She takes another slurp of her cup of whipped cream.

“Shouldn’t you be working right now?”

“I should! You’re totally right! No customers right now though.” Sparrow says through a mouth full of whipped cream. She wipes her hands on her apron, swallowing. “I mean, shouldn’t you be working as well? It’s past three o'clock already.”

“Yeah, I should probably clock in now. I’ll see you around.” Sparrow waves as Rose makes her way to the break room.

“Hey, guys!” Rose throws her bag into her designated locker, glancing over at Jackdaw and Ryan. The manager and the sales associate are playing a game of cards. Ryan is currently beating Jackdaw at War.

“Hi, Rose. Can you check to see if Ryan isn’t cheating at this damn card game?”

“Ryan isn’t cheating, old man. You just have bad luck.” Rose chuckles, watching over their game. Ryan takes yet another pair of cards. Jackdaw is down to 8.

“Is it even possible to cheat at War if your opponent shuffled the deck?” Ryan wonders out loud. He takes yet another card from Jackdaw.

“This is RIGGED.” He grunts, begrudgingly handing over another card.

“Have fun.” Rose giggles and heads out to her station.

Although the work of a cashier is the same, Target has a much friendlier vibe that Rose loves. Sparrow also whips up a drink for her in between customers, so she’s always given something to drink. Sparrow makes something new for her every time, so it’s a nice surprise whenever she takes a sip to figure out what the drink of the day is. Today, the drink Sparrow decided on was an iced chai tea latte.

Rose works until her break at 6:00 p.m, where she heads back into the break room to eat the rest of her lunch. She finds Jackdaw sitting at the desk across from her, typing away at his laptop.

“How’d War go?”

“Ryan kept winning. I gave up. Don’t know how he always beats me in any card game I challenge him to.”

“Just don’t challenge him to a card game then.” Rose takes a bite out of her sandwich.

“I can’t just... NOT challenge him. It’s already become my goal to beat him at any game of cards.” Jackdaw types angrily on his keyboard.

“Whatch’ya typing?”

“The Walmart Director sent me a nasty email, so I’m sending one back. Imagine going by ‘The Director’. How pretentious can one person be?” He grumbles.

“Don’t know why you guys hate each other so much.”

“The Director started it. The moment I took up business here he was clear about getting me out. Always had flash sales and stuff like that. He even changed store hours JUST so his store could have an extra hour.”

“That’s rough. Anyways, have fun with your nastygram pen pal. I need to get back to work.” Rose finishes her sandwich and heads back outside, on her way to work the last hours until closing.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Rivera returned from arresting the shoplifter, Sparrow made Rose another drink just for the heck of it, and Ryan beat Jackdaw at a game of ERS just before they closed. Rose finally left the building, exhausted, but satisfied. She wondered what would be in store for her tomorrow...

Chapter Text

“More stock means more profit, stupid.”

“Oh my God, shut up. You’re an intern. What do you know about running a store?” Wren crushes a smiley-face stress ball in one hand.

Today’s pre-opening meeting is just as fun as yesterday’s. The Director sparked an ongoing argument between Wren and Surprise about his latest decision of buying even more stock of the latest blockbuster video game to hit the markets.

“I know enough to know entry-level finance and business stuff.”

“We can’t just buy five pallets worth of a single video game! We have other expenses! This is a general store! We can’t just cross our fingers and hope they all sell!”

“Well, maybe we should cross our fingers. I’m a pretty lucky person, you know.”

“Surprise, name a single retail store that depends on luck to keep their store open.”

“Wren, have you seen the sales for that game? Pretty telling, if you ask me.” Falcon weighs in from the corner of the room.

“Falcon… I did not just hear you agree with Surprise.” The stress ball in Wren’s hand is pitifully close to snapping. The smiley-face on the ball is unrecognizable.

“Falcon is right. Plus, we bought out the supplier, so Target is going to have to wait another few days to even get their hands on it.” The Director adds.

Wren slowly sets down the stress ball, getting up from the table. He starts to walk out of the room.

“Where are you going?” Rose looks up from her phone, calling out to Wren.

“To open the store.”

“It’s only 6:52.”

Wren slams the door behind him.

“Imagine getting that fired up over Walmart stock, I can’t relate.” Surprise takes a sip of her coffee.

“I mean, the guy is pretty business-oriented. He doesn’t really care about the Walmart-Target rivalry, he just follows whatever the old man here says.” Rose glances at The Director, raising an eyebrow.

“He’ll be just fine. Let’s get the day started.”

And so it was business as usual. Wren was nowhere to be found the whole morning. Rose worked diligently at her station, going about her day. But when heading back for more bags, she saw a bunch of young children making a ruckus in one of the store aisles. They all were trying to reach something, so Rose made her way over to help them.

“Hey, guys! Is there anything I can help with here?” Rose tries to put on her best kid voice, squatting down to their level.

“Kitty!” One of the kids, a young boy, pointed up to one of the high shelves. Rose looked to where he was pointing, her eyes going wide.

Misty sat on the top shelf, working away at a ripped open pouch of tuna nabbed straight from the non-perishable goods aisle. Rose gulped.

“Misty! Get back here!” She reached up to grab it, but the cat bounded out of her reach, hissing at her. It took the pouch of tuna in its mouth and took off. Rose chased after it, the children behind her following. As Misty leaped down to the second shelf, Rose took the chance and grabbed it. It hissed, trying to bite and claw Rose. She grabbed its scruff.

“Ya little devil…” She muttered under her breath as she wrangled the cat into a safer position, not giving the kids a chance to pet it. Rose made her way to The Director's office, knocking with the toe of her boot as her hands were full.

“Cat escaped.” Rose shoved Misty into The Director’s hands the moment he opened the door.

“Ah. So that’s where she went. Thank you.”

“Yep… Anytime…” Rose clutched the top of her hand where the cat managed to bite. Besides Misty escaping and causing havoc in the store, the day was fairly uneventful. But the same couldn’t be said for Target.

“They can’t just buy out all of the stock! There have to be some orders left for us!” 

“I told you, there’s nothing left. I don’t know why that Walmart thought it was a good idea to buy that much, but you know that this game is in high demand.” 

Jackdaw and Ryan sit at the break room table. Rivera hovers their conversation.

“Unbelievable.” Jackdaw rubs his temples, letting out a sigh.

“What, so that’s it? You’re not gonna put up a fight?” Rivera remarks as she folds her arms, leaning against the wall.

“What else can we do? They got to it first, so all we can do is just wait for them to restock.” Jackdaw looks over at her.

“They deliberately bought out all the stock to hurt our income. When have WE ever interfered with their own finances? Never.” Rivera lets out a huff.

“That’s debatable,” Ryan mutters.

“If they’re gonna play that dirty, you might as well fight fire with fire.” Rivera rolls up her sleeves.

“What exactly do you mean by that?” Jackdaw raises an eyebrow, watching Rivera slide on her heavy-duty vest.

“I’m getting us that stock. Right here, right now. By whatever means necessary.”

The tension in the air is so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Wren holds a pack of frozen peas straight from the produce section to Falcon’s swollen cheek. Rivera pinches her nose to keep it from bleeding all over her shirt. On one side of Walmart’s meeting room sits a furious Director, a beat up Falcon, an unreadable Wren, and a concerned Rose. On the other side of the room is a speechless Jackdaw, a nervous Ryan, Sparrow that only came along because she wanted to see Rivera, and of course, a silent Rivera with a slightly smug expression.

“YOU SET TH-”

“I DID NOT SET THIS UP!” Jackdaw cuts off The Director with an equally loud tone. Sparrow gets up from the couch Rivera is sitting on to go play with Misty sleeping in the cat tree.

“I’M SORRY? YOUR SECURITY AGENT BEAT UP OUR STOCKER OVER SOME VIDEO GAME COPIES? THIS IS YOUR FAULT!”

Rivera smirks at The Director’s choice of words. Falcon gives her the finger. Wren keeps him from getting up, holding the peas closer to his face.

“I DIDN’T TELL HER TO DO ANYTHING! SHE ACTED BY HERSELF!”

“WHY WOULD A SECURITY AGENT, WHO HAS NO BUSINESS OUTSIDE OF PROTECTING THE STORE, DEAL WITH STOCK?”

“THIS ONE, APPARENTLY!” Jackdaw glares at Rivera. She looks indifferent.

A meow is heard from the corner of the room as Sparrow picks up Misty. She coos to it, completely ignoring the mood of the room.

“Why don’t we look at some lovely CCTV footage?” The Director ignores Falcon’s protests and opens his laptop, turning it around so the whole table can see. He plays the saved footage.

The broadcast is fixed on the backdoor. Rivera enters the frame, knocking on the door. After a few seconds, Falcon opens it. They both get progressively more heated until Rivera throws a sucker punch. The fight just escalates from there, and they disappear from the frame until reappearing when Rivera shoves Falcon down against the pavement. Wren opens the backdoor to see what the fuss was about, and rushes in to separate them. He drags both of them back inside, and the footage ends there.

Jackdaw is close to snapping. If looks could kill, Rivera would be dead ten times over by now. Falcon, after a few minutes of sulking, finally speaks up.

“It’s not just… About the stock. We uh… attended the same high school-”

“And you bullied me relentlessly? Yep! Love those high school memories!” Rivera spits at him.

Wren almost drops the bag of peas.

“We’re here… Because you still have a grudge from high school?” 

“I might as well give the guy who peaked in high school what he deserved. Plus, I get the stock to help the store on the way out. I don’t regret any of it.” Rivera crosses her arms. Falcon glares at her for the 50th time. Jackdaw lets out a heavy sigh.

“Can we just negotiate about the stock?” Jackdaw tries to offer without sounding pissed.

“After this? Not a chance. Just suck it up and wait a few days.” The Director is relentless. “Get out of my office.”

“You’re the one who made us gather here in the first place, but okay,” Rivera remarks.

“Rivera, that’s enough.” Jackdaw gets up, waving a hand to Sparrow. Sparrow brings the cat with her as she gets up.

“Leave the cat here.” The Director looks at Sparrow suspiciously. She mutters an aww before reluctantly putting Misty down. It meows at her.

“Ah, I think I need to leave with them, my shift there starts in five minutes…” Rose gets up from her chair.

The Director whips his head around, and Rose realized she made a big, big mistake.

“Your WHAT?”

Chapter Text

She shifts uncomfortably in the scratchy orange jumpsuit. The room she sits in is a plain, cramped, concrete box with no windows and a single iron door with a slot at eye-level. It smells akin to old leather and stale bread. The buzz of the fluorescent light over her head is the only source of noise in the room. The metal folding chair she sits on grows more uncomfortable by the minute.

The heavy iron door opens. A soldier wearing a uniform a few sizes too big for her awaits behind it.

“And who are you supposed to be?” Rose raises an eyebrow.

“Dojo. Halcyon sent me, we’re getting you out.”

“Took you long enough.”

The disguised operative slips her a firearm. Rose takes it. It feels oddly familiar in her hands. Before Rose can say a word, an alarm goes off. It progressively gets louder and louder. The concrete room slips into darkness.

“Shut... Shut up…” Rose picks her head up from her pillow, fumbling for her phone. It rings the same 5 notes at her incessantly until she grabs it off her nightstand, dismissing the alarm. Her phone reads 10:37 a.m. That was probably the longest sleep she had gotten in months. Light leaks through the blinds of her bedroom window. Rose closes her eyes for a moment before addressing the piled up messages on her phone. She wonders what that dream she just woke up from was about.

Rose turns her phone on again. The lock screen is set as a picture of her and Wren at his favorite pizza place. Around this time, Wren would be at work. Rose wonders what he’s doing right about now. She’d be there helping him if she didn’t get... let go. As per the events of yesterday, The Director took their rivalry too far and fired her for working at Target. The only good thing that came out of that situation was that Rose now could sleep in until she would need to leave for her 3 p.m. shift at Target. Rose sighs, opening her messages. The first is from Jackdaw.

> Rivera says shes sorry for getting you in this mess she hopes to apologize in prison today

> *Prison

> **Person

> Fingers too big for these small as hell buttons see you at work

Rose smiles. If it were up to Jackdaw he would send an email to her, but Sparrow tries to get him to use texting more. He still hates it, but at least he tries. She opens the messages from Sparrow.

> hey my dude 

> srry abt ur job lmao that director guy really is mean isn’t he

> hope ur not too sad abt it or anything cause that rlly sucks 

> btw do u wanna go out today at 11:30 or something cuz my shift doesn’t start until 1 pm lol

> we can get lunch n stuff it’ll be fun 

> anyways call me if ur up for it im most likely wasting time on my phone rn so i’ll pick up instantly

Rose makes a mental note to call her after she gets dressed and ready for the morning. In the meantime, she opens the last text from Falcon of all people.

> Hey, just texting to say that I’m sorry for escalating the situation and getting you fired. It was really immature of me to act like I did yesterday. I’ll try to talk to The Director and knock some sense in his head, but right now it’s no use. Wren is in his ‘I trust everything The Director says’ mode, so he’s not gonna help me make him rethink the decision right now. I hope to see you back in the store because it would suck to be the only sane person in the whole team 

Rose sighs, rolling out of bed. She couldn’t lie that she liked working at Target better, but she couldn’t just leave the whole team of friends she made at Walmart behind. She leaves that thought for another time as she starts getting ready for the day.

“God, Sparrow, can you drive any faster?” Rose waits at the curb outside her apartment, holding her phone against her ear. Sparrow is giving her live karaoke to some far too loud punk-rock music that is unrecognizable through the phone speaker. 

“IS THAT HOW YOU TALK TO YOUR CHAUFFEUR?” She stops her scream-singing to yell over the max-volume music.

“Yes. Turn the volume down, you’re gonna go as deaf as Jackdaw.”

Sparrow laughs. She turns the music itself down, but still sings as loud as she can into the phone. Eventually, her beaten-up pickup truck pulls up next to the curb. Sparrow rolls the window down.

“Heard you needed a ride!” Sparrow finger-guns her as Rose gets up from the curb, hopping into the passenger’s seat. 

“Hah, nice to see you too Sparrow. Loving the look today.” Rose gestures to Sparrow’s backward snapback and shades, combined with black stud earrings and a cropped halter top sporting the logo from a band she’s never heard of. 

“Thanks, dude! Dressing in a black polo and barista apron every day gets boring, ya know? Gotta spice it up a bit sometimes.” Sparrow pulls away from the curb.

“So where are we going?”

“It’s this new crêpe and dessert place that opened about a week ago. It’s called SCRS- Sweet Crêpes and Real Sweets. It has really good reviews online so far, so I figured we should try it together. Did I mention they share a building with an ice cream parlour?”

“So we get double dessert today?” Rose grins, looking over at Sparrow.

“Jackdaw’s not here to stop us, right? I say we try the parlour as well just for fun.” Sparrow grins back, maneuvering the pickup suddenly to avoid colliding with a garbage bin.

“You suck at driving.” Rose laughs, punching her in the shoulder.

“Bad driving just makes you more grateful that you’ve arrived at the destination! Just trust the process.” Sparrow takes a sip of the drink that she has in her cup holder. 

They continue their friendly banter until they pull into the parking lot of the joined restaurants. On one side of the building is a cozy cafe with the lettering ‘ SCRS: The Finest Crêpes from Canada ’ neatly printed in white lettering on the window. On the other side, a chalkboard sign with the writing ‘ Steel Cove Creamery ’ on the top is propped up next to the door leading inside. It has the menu for the day neatly written in various fonts and colors of chalk.

“Crêpes first, ice cream second. My mouth is watering just from the smell coming from both places…” Sparrow’s stomach grumbles.

“Are we underdressed? Is this a formal thing?” Rose murmurs to Sparrow as they enter the cafe. The floors are clean, the walls are decorated nicely, and each table in the small crêpe shop is meticulously prepared. A white tablecloth is draped over every table,  with a centerpiece of assorted flowers on top of each. The cafe menus sit in front of every seat on top of a lavender placemat. They take a seat together at one of the tables near the window.

“I’d say yes, but look at the owner of this place. I wish I had that outfit...” She murmurs back, gesturing to the woman who is currently taking orders from another cafe-goer. The woman has shiny black boots that go up to her knees, pairing with black dress pants. Along with the boots and pants, she sports a black blouse and leather jacket. Her hair is pinned to the side with a bobby pin, but a tuft of hair similar to Sparrow’s hangs over her left eye. At first glance, nobody would assume she was the owner of a higher-end crêpe place, but here she was.

“Hello there, how are you two doing today? My name is Nightshade, thank you for coming to SCRS. Can I start you off with anything?” The woman greets their table, a hospitable smile lighting up her face. She’s surprisingly soft-spoken for someone as intimidating as her. Nightshade’s french accent just makes her voice all the more soothing.

“Hi there,” Rose greets her with a smile, “Can I start off with the… American style hot chocolate?” She sets down the menu in front of her. Nightshade writes her order down quickly on her miniature notepad.

“I’ll have the berry smoothie, thanks!” She scribbles down Sparrow’s order, nodding. Nightshade excuses herself from their table to walk to the back of the room where the kitchen is.

“One American style hot chocolate, one berry smoothie!” She calls to the back of the kitchen. After a few minutes of waiting, a broad-shouldered man with a thick black beard wearing a pink apron emerges from the kitchen to set two drinks on the counter. He rings a bell on the counter to notify Nightshade.

“Thank you, Hemlock.” Nightshade carries the drinks over to Sparrow and Rose. The hot chocolate looks stunning. Marshmallows float at the top, buried under a dollop of whipped cream and drizzled with melted chocolate. 

“Damn it, I should have gotten that too…” Sparrow drools over Rose’s drink but drinks her own smoothie anyway.

After they finish their drinks, they both order crêpes that come out just as delicious as their drinks. They’re warm, fluffy, and fresh off the pan. Sparrow’s crêpe is stuffed with Nutella and fruit, and Rose’s crêpe is stuffed with caramelized apples dusted with cinnamon. They both taste amazing. The not too crowded cafe environment is welcoming and comfortable, so Sparrow and Rose stay for a little while chatting after paying for their food.

“This is literally the best crêpe place I have ever eaten at. In my life.” Sparrow closes her eyes in bliss, leaning back in her chair. She lets out a contented sigh.

“We should totally come back here again.” Rose brushes crumbs off of her jeans. “Still want to check out the ice cream parlour?” 

“Yep. We can just grab some stuff there to eat in the car on the way back, ‘cause it’s 12:38 already. Gotta get to work soon.”

They get up, thanking Hemlock and Nightshade for the great meal and service, then leave for Steel Cove Creamery.

They seem to have walked in the middle of an arm-wrestling match between the staff.

“Must’ve been a slow business day.” Sparrow chuckles as the door closes behind her. The employee who hovers over the match looks up, scrambling to the counter to serve them.

“H-Hey! My name is Alpine, sorry if you guys were waiting!” The brunette laughs sheepishly. A black bandana rests around her neck. Behind Alpine, the match concludes and one of them yells victoriously.

“Guys! Customers!” Alpine whips around, yelling at the rowdy bunch. They stop, getting up to join her at the counter. The two other employees also have brown hair and sport bandanas of various colors. The whole trio looks strikingly similar.

“Are you guys related?” Rose chuckles.

“Oh, yep! These are my brothers, Cedar and Willow.” The other two employees wave, grinning at them.

“So what can I get you two?” Willow, the tallest of the three, slides on sanitary gloves.

“I’ll have a scoop of the rocky road on a cone, thanks!” Rose watches Willow grab a cone, giving it a paper sleeve and putting a scoop on top. Sparrow orders a cup of cotton candy ice cream, topping it with a cherry. Willow, Cedar, and Alpine wave goodbye before returning to their arm-wrestling match. Sparrow and Rose hop in her car with the ice cream.

“Thanks for driving me! I’ll be biking to work later for my own shift, so you can just drop me off at my apartment.” Rose licks her scoop of ice cream, enjoying the breeze from the open window. Sparrow starts blasting the radio again.

“No problem!” Sparrow drives with one hand so she can dig the spoon she has into her ice cream. They eventually reach Rose’s apartment.

“See you at work?”

“See ya there!” Sparrow waves, driving off. Rose eats the last of the cone, heading back inside.

At around 2:30 p.m Rose gets multiple texts from Sparrow.

> LMAO JACKDAW IS MAKING RIVERA MAKE YOU A SORRY-I-SCREWED-YOU-OVER CARD AHAHAHAHAHA

> THIS IS THE FUNNIEST THING EVER I AM DEAD

> THERE’S GLITTER AND EVERYTHING

> YOU NEED TO SEE THIS 

Sparrow sent a photo

> RIVERA LOOKS DEAD INSIDE

Rose laughs at the photo Sparrow took. It’s slightly blurry and taken from afar as to not look like she was taking pictures, but Rivera is clearly seen getting scolded by Jackdaw as she writes in a bright purple card. Rose texts back.

She always looks dead inside though <

> YEAH BUT IMAGINE HER BEING TWICE HOW SHE NORMALLY IS. I AM TRYING SO HARD TO NOT BURST OUT LAUGHING IN THE MIDDLE OF MY SHIFT

Can’t wait to get the card. Should I frame it? <

> totally. you have to show me first though i want to read what she’s written cause she’s been at it for like ten minutes

Rose grins. She gets out of bed again, briefly combing through her hair before leaving to bike to work.

When Rose walks into Target, she is immediately approached by Rivera. Jackdaw watches her from afar to ensure that she delivers the envelope. Rivera holds it out to Rose.

“I’m really sorry for indirectly getting you fired.” Rose takes the card, watching Rivera walk away with her head down. Rose makes her way to Target’s Starbucks, finding Sparrow.

“Did you get it?” Sparrow asks, looking at the card in her hand. 

“Think so.” Rose chuckles before opening the envelope. She pulls out a folded purple card. As she opens it, glitter falls on the counter. The card reads:

Dear Rose,

My deepest apologies for causing trouble and getting you fired. You would not have been found out at the meeting if it wasn’t for my immature actions. After getting yelled at by Jackdaw for 40 minutes and counting, I have recognized that my actions were not thought out at all, and I know that I should not have fought Falcon in the first place. I’m sorry for getting you fired, even if it technically wasn’t my fault.

Sincerely, 

Celeste Rivera

Her signature is written in silver glitter. Attached to the top is a ten dollar Olive Garden gift card.

“Leave it to Rivera to write the most passive-aggressive apologies, am I right?”

Chapter Text

“WHY IS NOBODY PAYING ATTENTION?”

Surprise ignores The Director’s shouting, continuing to play games on her phone. Wren is asleep, again, and Falcon is hovering over Surprise’s shoulder watching her play.

“Can you lower your voice a bit? I’m busy feeding my virtual cats.” Surprise doesn’t bother to look up from her phone. Wren stirs a bit, but his head stays rested on the table. 

“I’M DISCUSSING OUR BUSINESS PLANS FOR THE FUTURE! HOW ARE VIRTUAL CATS MORE IMPORTANT?” 

“Hey Falcon, does this cat look like him?” 

Falcon nods, laughing quietly.

“What are you-” The Director gets up and takes Surprise’s phone out of her hand. He ignores her protests and looks down at the screen. A scraggly cartoon cat wearing a suit and tie looks back at The Director, sporting gelled back hair and an overly-grumpy expression. Surprise snatches her phone back.

“That does NOT look like me!”

“Stay in denial, old man. Stay in denial.” Surprise tsk-tsks, putting away her phone. The Director rubs his temples, looking over at the whiteboard where he scribbled all of his ideas during the morning meeting. Falcon makes his way over to Wren, flicking his cheek to wake him up.

“OW- I’m up, I’m up!” Wren picks his head up from the table, rubbing the side of his face.

“Are you getting enough sleep?” Falcon raises an eyebrow.

“I’m fine,” Wren mutters.

“Wren, you need to take a break. Why don’t you just take a few days off or something? Go hang out with Rose, go see a movie, I dunno. You’ve been working here every day ever since I got hired. Even weekends, too.” 

“Falcon, I appreciate your kindness towards Wren but he’s doing just fine.” The Director interjects.

“Damn, I didn’t know we were at a high-surf beach, ‘cause I see a red flag right in front of me.” Surprise whistles. The Director gives her a glare.

“We’ll discuss this later. Go open the store.” After The Director’s order, everyone eventually moves on, going off to do their own jobs. Surprise narrows her eyes. She had a knack for getting answers out of everyone, no matter how annoying she had to be. Wren’s peculiar relationship with The Director was something Surprise would get to the bottom of.

“So whatcha up to?” Surprise brings two coffees in her hands, looking over Wren’s shoulder as he watches the store.

“Making sure everything in the store is running smoothly. Can I help you?” 

“I brought you a coffee. You look like you need it.”

“Is that supposed to be an insult?” Wren takes the cup from Surprise anyway, sighing as he takes a sip.

“Perhaps.” Surprise shrugs.

The two sit in silence together, drinking their coffees. Wren watches the customers mill about the store.

“So, is The Director twisting your arm to keep you working here or something? What’s with you two?” Surprise looks up at Wren. He stares back, narrowing his eyes.

“Don’t you have better use for your time? You know, instead of interrogating me?”

“I’m an intern. What else am I supposed to do, fetch coffee for 6 hours?” 

“Yep. That’s basically what an intern is, Surprise.” Wren takes another sip of the coffee she brought him.

“You know what else an intern can do? Listen. So, I have a proposition.” Surprise curls a strand of her hair around her finger.

“This is blackmail, isn’t it?”

“I know you’ve set up a whole meeting with Mr. Jackdaw over at Target to sell some of the video game stock to them to make some profit. Very very sneaky of you.”

“This is blackmail.” Wren crushes the now empty cup of coffee in his hand.

“I wouldn’t want to spoil your little meeting to the big man himself, so my only demand is that you tell me what’s actually happening.” Surprise looks up at him. Wren lets out a heavy sigh.

“Ask away then.”

And so Surprise did. Over the hour she found out that The Director and Wren went way back business-wise. He managed to get Wren to start running Walmart with him, and overtime the Wren had more and more work-related social ties to encourage him to stay in the business. He never hated his job, it’s just more or less he doesn’t know what else to do outside of work. Wren was a very results-oriented person, and taking care of a store just clicked for him. But times were now tougher without Rose around, so The Director was trying to keep him from leaving. Clearly he wasn’t content with the direction he decided to take the store in.

“If I take a vacation, the store will fall apart.”

“You can always find another job, man. Just block The Director on Facebook or something after you inevitably quit, then it’ll be peace and quiet.” Surprise shrugs.

“I can’t just-”

“You can just leave. I don’t care how long you’ve been working here, or how much time you’ve poured into this godforsaken store. You can and should get another job. The Director is a pretty terrible boss. Rose is already out of here, so why don’t you follow?”

Wren sits in silence. Surprise stares at him, squinting her eyes.

“That’s just my opinion, though.”

“Your opinions are awful. Did I give you enough answers so I won’t get fired?” Wren looks down at her, gritting his teeth.

“Yep! I’m gonna go deliver more coffee now.” Surprise nods, content with what she got out of Wren. “Bye-bye!”

Wren sighs. Although he despised her, he couldn’t tell himself that what she said was false.

> TEXT ME BAAAACKKKK

> i just had the best idea

> answer me stupid >:(

> wake up

> wake up

> wake up

> get out of bed it’s 10:42

Rose mumbles something under her breath, yawning as she rolls on her side to grab her phone. Its notification noise goes off in rapid succession. Must be Sparrow. She opens the messaging app and texts her back.

I should have put my phone on do not disturb <

> too bad you’re awake now

> so hear me out

> tomorrow is the weekend, so why don’t we have a road trip

Where did this idea even come from? Why a spontaneous road trip <

> i'm ready for a change of scenery aren’t you?

> it’ll be fun!!! it’s about three hours to the beach by car

> you can even bring your friend wren

> he might have to sit in the bed of my pickup with j-dawg tho

I don’t even know if I can convince Wren to come with me, but I’ll try <

I’m up for the trip anyways though <

But why did you decide to bring Jackdaw on this? Is he a beach person <

> he said he could use a break from this place 

> but he’s also coming to make sure we don’t do anything stupid lmao

> he’s probably not even gonna swim but he’s there so we don’t die bc that would be inconvenient 

> but anyways pack whatever you need like a swimsuit or sunscreen or whatever idc

> we’re gonna be leaving at 7 in the morning tomorrow, i’ll pick everyone up just have your stuff ready

Rose yawns. The plan sounded like a lot of fun, but she would have to go through the whole process of prying Wren’s hands off of work for a whole day. Although he was a good friend, Wren was… difficult, for lack of a better word. He basically lived at Walmart. Rose reluctantly opens his contact on her phone and calls him. It rings for a few seconds until he picks up.

“Hello?”

“Hey Wren, it’s me! So uh… I was thinking… my friend Sparrow from Target is bringing me and my boss Jackdaw on a road trip to the beach and I was wondering if you’re interes-”

“I’ll go.”

“Wh- I mean- great! She’ll be picking you up at seven in the morning so… have your stuff ready by then!”

“Got it. Bye.”

“Bye!”

Rose hangs up. She stares at her phone screen in shock. That was it? No excuses, no argument, no nothing? Just yes? She sighs, shrugging to herself. If he was going, then he was going. She still was curious about why he made the change in attitude all of a sudden. Did someone finally get through to him?

The clock hits 3 p.m. as Rose walks into work. Rivera is busying herself with giving what looks like a group of teenagers a talking-to, and Jackdaw is trying to redeem himself with another game of War against Ryan. He, of course, is losing already. 

“Why do I even bother?” Jackdaw grumbles, sliding two cards to Ryan.

“I’m surprised too. Usually, in a luck-based game like this, you wouldn’t lose consecutively for the past… seven rounds.” Ryan comments, presenting another card against Jackdaw. It’s higher. Rose puts her belongings away in her locker as she listens in on their game.

“Jackdaw, do yourself a favor and never play any game of cards where money is involved. You have the worst luck.” Rose comments from across the room as she fixes her hair in a bun. Jackdaw just grumbles in response. She laughs as he gets yet another card stolen from him.

Around an hour into her shift, Rose is suddenly dragged aside by Sparrow.

“Woah, what? What’s happening?” Rose looks down at her terrified friend. They stand in the back of the Starbucks, out of sight behind the counter.

“Rose, please confirm my eyes are playing tricks on me and that Hemlock and Nightshade from that restaurant aren’t sitting over at that table.” Rose raises an eyebrow, craning her neck. Hemlock and Nightshade do indeed sit at the table that Sparrow points at. They converse in a language Rose can’t quite catch.

“I hate to break it to you, but that is them. Why are you so worked up about it?” Rose tilts her head.

“They’ve come here! To eat! And they recognized me! I’m never going to recover from this!” Sparrow paces the small space they’re in.

“Elaborate?” 

“They’re like the best cooks in this whole city, Rose! They've come to eat at a STARBUCKS! IN A TARGET! AND I HAVE TO PREPARE THEIR DRINKS AND FOOD FOR THEM? HOW DO I EVEN MEET THEIR STANDARDS?” 

“What did they even order? You’re a barista, it can’t be that hard. Calm down.” 

“Nightshade ordered a caramel macchiato and grilled cheese from the lunch menu; Hemlock ordered a dark roast coffee…”

“Okay, the sandwiches here kind of suck and I pity you for that, but just do your best on the coffees. It’s manageable, right? Just don’t screw them up and you’ll be just fine.”

“Don’t screw them up… Got it…” Sparrow nods, repeating Rose’s words to herself as she grabs two cups for their order. Rose watches her work with concentration at the counter until she successfully whips up two separate drinks. She toasts the grilled cheese, packaging it in a paper sleeve, and puts it onto a tray where the drinks are being held. Rose gives her a thumbs-up as Sparrow looks back before walking over to their table. Nightshade smiles and thanks her for the drinks. Hemlock nods politely and takes his drink off the tray. Sparrow walks back to where Rose stands.

“See? They’re not food snobs. They’re just enjoying a cup of coffee. Nothing to worry about.” Rose smiles slightly as Sparrow lets out a sigh of relief. 

“Sorry for distracting you, you can go back to work now.” Sparrow laughs sheepishly.

“See you tomorrow.” Rose flashes a peace sign before going off to finish her shift. Tomorrow would be an eventful day, and Rose was looking forward to it.

> roses are red

> violets are blue

> if i don't see ur ass down here in five seconds i’m gonna run u

> over

> with my car

> i will run u over with my car rose

Oh my God have some patience I’m putting my shoes on <

> everyone is in the car except for u

> ur lucky you didn’t lose shotgun to j-dawg only cuz ur my best friend smfh 

Rose scrambles down the concrete stairs with only one shoe tied. The sun still isn’t out at seven in the morning, so Rose uses her phone’s flashlight to look where she’s going. Sparrow’s pickup idles outside the curb. Wren and Jackdaw sit in the bed of the pickup. Jackdaw has already dozed off.

“TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH!” Sparrow grins and crushes Rose in a hug. 

“My ribs-” Rose lets out a huff.

“Throw your stuff in the back with the guys, they’ll make sure it doesn’t fall off or something.” Sparrow gestures to the bed of the pickup. Rose puts her bag neatly in the corner before she hops in the passenger seat. 

“Yo Wren!” Rose sticks her head out the window, calling out to him.

“Hm?”

“Make sure all the luggage doesn’t fall out, ‘kay? Knock on the back window if you need anything!”

Wren nods, turning to Jackdaw to pass the message on. Rose rolls up the window.

“And we’re off!” Sparrow pulls away from the curb. 

“Let’s try to keep the punk rock music to a tolerable volume, I’d like to retain my hearing after today.” Rose snorts.

“No promises, ya dork.”

The drive goes well. Rose sleeps for the first hour of the drive, but by the second and third she’s awake and ready to go. Sparrow and Rose make conversation, take turns playing their music and commenting on the other’s music taste, and share the sugary snacks that Sparrow snuck under Jackdaw’s nose. 

“I swear, this is supposed to be cereal but I treat it more like a dessert. There’s just so much sugar on each piece.” Sparrow reaches a hand in the cereal box that Rose is holding, grabbing another portion. 

“Jackdaw would probably kill us if he saw us eating this. He’d be all like ‘Grr… as your dad, I will revoke your sugary snack privileges’... “ Sparrow almost spits out the cereal she’s eating at Rose’s impression of him.

“Rose, you’re literally spot-on and that’s what scares me.”

“Rose, that ‘ol whippersnapper. That head of hers is filled with air. All she thinks about is hotdogs and sleep.” Rose makes her voice extra scratchy and gruff. Sparrow bursts out laughing. 

“Speaking of Jackdaw, how’s he doing back there with Wren?” Sparrow glances over her shoulder. Rose turns in her seat.

“They seem to be doing just fine. They’re having a conversation and don’t look like they want to kill each other, so that’s a good sign.” Rose snorts. She looks back at the long stretch of road they’re currently driving on. The sun is up by the third hour, and Rose can already smell the salty air of the beach. A flock of seagulls passes over their truck.

“We’re getting close, aren’t we?” Rose looks out the window, seeing a glimpse of the sandy shores before it disappears behind a line of buildings.

“Yep, GPS says five minutes!” Sparrow chirps excitedly. The scenery quickly changes into a closely-knit town of shops and restaurants. A boardwalk stretches along the beach. People mill about the beach, some swimming, some on beach chairs, some making sandcastles. Sparrow grabs a lucky parking spot in a lot right next to the beach. She gets out to feed the meter. Rose hops out of the passenger seat.

“We’re here! How was the ride back there?” Rose grabs her bag out from the bed of the pickup.

“It was good.” Wren nods, slinging his own bag over his shoulder. Jackdaw just gives a thumbs up. Sparrow returns from the parking meter, getting her stuff out of the back. She drags out a heavy-looking surfboard.

“Didn’t even know you surfed, wow!” Rose gestures to the board. It’s waxed heavily and well-worn from use. The design of the surfboard is a skull with a moray eel snaking through the eye socket.

“Hah, I grew up near a beach. It’s hard to let all those years of practice go to waste, right? I even brought a paddleboard if you want to come paddleboarding with me.” Sparrow reaches for the second board, bringing a long paddle with her.

“I need to change, so I’ll be right back. I wasn’t smart and didn’t wear my swimsuit under my clothes as you did.” Rose chuckles as Sparrow tosses her jacket in the pickup.

“Hurry and change, then. I don’t want to be in the sun for too long, I’m ready to surf!” Sparrow drags both boards out to a spot on the beach where Jackdaw is setting up their beach chairs. Rose later returns with her swimsuit on, running out to where Jackdaw, Wren, and Sparrow sit on the beach.

“Yo Wren, are you gonna swim?” Sparrow tilts her head at him.

“Don’t think so. I’m fine just talking with Jackdaw here.”

“Great, let’s go!” Sparrow nods to Rose, dragging her surfboard with her.

“Not so fast, kiddos! Sunscreen first!” Jackdaw looks up from his book, stopping Sparrow and Rose in their tracks, “You’re gonna get burned!”

“Fine, fine,” Sparrow grumbles, reluctantly spraying on the bottle of sunscreen Jackdaw brought. Rose takes it from her after she’s done with it, using it as well.

“Can we go now?” Rose holds her arms up to help the sunscreen dry a little.

“Good enough. Have fun.” Jackdaw looks back down at his book and Wren puts on a pair of sunglasses as Sparrow and Rose run towards the ocean.

“WOOO!” Sparrow practically tumbles into the water with her surfboard. Rose is a bit more tentative as she enters the water.

“Geez, that’s cold!” Rose clutches her arms as she inches into the water.

“Your fault for wearing a two-piece. Heads up!” Sparrow’s warning doesn’t reach her in time for a wave to crash into her. Rose shrieks.

“AGH THAT IS- THAT IS FREEZING!”

“You’ll get used to it, c’mon. I’m gonna go paddle out to catch a wave, be right back.” Sparrow rests on her surfboard, paddling out with long strokes on either side of the board. Rose stays floating in the water, ducking under the waves that approach her. She watches Sparrow start paddling towards the shore as a wave builds up behind her. Like magic, the board starts to catch the wave and Sparrow stands up, riding along the curve. Rose cheers her on.

“THAT WAS SO COOL!” Rose calls out to her as Sparrow slows; the wave breaks. She goes back into a prone position, paddling towards her.

“You should try!” 

“No way. I’d fall off the instant I got on.”

“Here!” Sparrow pulls off the surfboard leash from her wrist, attaching it to Rose’s own arm, “Just paddle like I was doing earlier. Remember, to stand up on a board you put one knee forward at a time while your body is leaned back, then you slowly stand up with your right foot to steady you. You can do it!” Rose gulps, then nods. She goes onto the same prone position Sparrow was in earlier, paddling with alternating arms. She spots a wave building up in front of her.

“SHOULD I CATCH THIS ONE?” Rose looks back to Sparrow.

“NAH, TRY THE ONE AFTER IT!” She calls back. Rose nods, passing over the first wave. She sees another one starting to form a bit farther out.

“THIS ONE?”

Sparrow gives her a thumbs up, motioning her to turn around. Rose follows her instructions and starts to paddle towards the shore. She can feel the current under her shift as the wave builds up behind her. To her surprise, she starts to go forward as the wave lifts the board. 

“STAND UP!” Sparrow calls out to her.

Rose gulps, putting one knee forward and following what Sparrow told her. And she did it- she stood up on the board, shooting forward as she rode along with the wave. But the board slips out from under her three seconds in and she crashes back into the water. 

“You did awesome!” Sparrow greets her in the water, grabbing the leash of the surfboard so it doesn’t drag Rose away. Rose spits out seawater, laughing.

“That was really cool, honestly.” They both hang off the surfboard, bobbing up and down with the waves. The two surf and swim for a couple of hours until Jackdaw calls them over to eat the lunch that he packed everyone. 

“Thanks for the sandwiches, J-dawg! I’m starving!” Sparrow, soaking wet and sandy all over, reaches in the cooler for her sandwich.

“You really thought ahead, didn’t you?” Rose laughs as she sits down on the sand next to Sparrow, taking a bite of the food. It’s a ham and cheese sandwich.

“Boardwalk food is overpriced, so I just packed everyone's lunches.” Jackdaw shrugs.

“Thanks! This is delicious!” Sparrow exclaims with a mouth full of food.

“Manners, Sparrow. Manners.” Jackdaw sighs. Sparrow takes a moment to swallow.

“I meant this is delicious!” She grins.

“It’s a very good sandwich, Jackdaw.” Wren smiles contentedly. Jackdaw gives him a thumbs up. After everyone finishes eating, Sparrow and Rose return to the water with a paddleboard. Wren and Jackdaw decide to browse the shops on the boardwalk.

“Never knew the water was so calm this far out. I always thought there were just more waves.”

Rose is sitting on the back of Sparrow’s stand-up paddleboard, dragging her legs in the water. The water below them is crystal clear, but you can’t see the bottom. Stalks of kelp descend into darkness.

“It’s a lot nicer. So quiet, too. We should be over the kelp forest by now.” Sparrow keeps paddling slowly. The beach is far behind them. Sparrow slows the board to a stop, sitting down with the paddle in hand. The kelp below them sways in the water. Rose looks out below them.

“Aww, look! It’s a seal!” Rose gestures between two stalks of kelp. Between them, a seal swims and chases after a fish. Sparrow follows her gaze.

“There’s a lot of animals you can find in the kelp forest every now and then. I’ve seen a shark before. Wasn’t interested in me though.” Sparrow shrugs nonchalantly. 

“You’ve seen a SHARK and you didn’t tell me?” Rose picks her feet out of the water almost instantly, scrambling back on the paddleboard. Sparrow laughs.

“Relax, sharks are pretty docile. Just don’t get an injury while you’re over the kelp forest.” Sparrow giggles as Rose clutches the board.

“I’m ready to go back, let’s go back!” Sparrow laughs, standing up on the board. She starts paddling them back, making jokes about sharks just to mess with Rose even more.

By the time the sun sets, they’re on the road home. Rose sits in the bed of the truck with Wren this time around, and Jackdaw drives so that Sparrow can sleep in the passenger.

“So, did you have fun?” Rose yawns, letting her sandy hair dry out in the wind.

“I did.”

“Are you gonna go back to work tomorrow?” Rose sighs, expecting the obvious answer.

“Actually, I won’t be going back.”

“Huh?”

“I talked with Jackdaw about my problems with The Director, and my own struggles with my work schedule. He offered me a position at Target. I’d rather be working under him than The Director, anyways.”

“You’re gonna be working at Target now?” Rose exclaims. Wren nods.

“Mmhm. I accepted his offer. It’s nice, knowing I’m not obligated to work on weekends anymore.”

“Wren, that’s great news! You’ll love working there!” 

“I’m sure I will. Thanks for bringing me on this trip, Rose.”

“Thanks for accepting my invitation and not disregarding it for your own work.” Rose punches him in the shoulder playfully, “See you on Monday?”

“See you on Monday.”