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She should’ve known. Really, she should’ve realized. She barely even knew any of them, aside from a disaster of a group project, but they’d invited her along and she’d said yes, paid her share, only to be abandoned by her ‘friends’ as soon as they were able, lost among the crush of bodies.
Oh, just her luck, she couldn’t be lost any regular night. Some sports team or other had won or lost or something and now the streets are alive with cheering, dancing, chanting, screaming, people on top of cars singing, free food shoved into her hand, and she’s seen at least two people in Spiderman costumes drinking through the mask.
She’s hopelessly lost, and it’s beginning to set in, shoved from one spot to another by people pushing by, nearly bulldozed by what seemed to be several middle schoolers barging past, screaming with joy.
“Hey, baby, Knicks on top, alright?” Once again, a random person slams right into her, head craned back to yell at somebody behind them. Blue and orange jersey, matching cap on backwards, messy black hair and dark skin, amber eyes gone wide in surprise when she looks up at Zoe. “Shit, baby, sorry, I wasn’t looking.”
“No, no, it’s okay, I…” Zoe shrugs. “It’s alright.” She expects the woman to just nod and keep on with her day, by the bottle of liquor clutched in her fingers, it looks like she’s having a grand time. But she doesn’t.
“You alright?” Her brows furrow, slightly blurry eyes scanning her face. “You look nervous, you look lost and confused, you look like you don’t have a fuckin’ clue.” The summary is as truthful as it is blunt, and it must show, because the woman shakes her head. “No, no, I can’t leave a beautiful woman like you wandering the streets, alright? Where you going, huh?”
Zoe blinks as a warm hand wraps around her wrist, dragging her out of the middle of the street and toward the sidewalk, towards the bright outside of a liquor store. It’s only a bit less crowded, here, but every bit helps. “E-excuse me?” Her head is still spinning, and she’s probably the most sober person in the next mile.
All she gets in response is a drunk, yet incredibly handsome grin. “Okay, so, I’m Mio, right? I’ve lived here my entire life, I’m having a good time, it’s a parade inside my city, y’know?” She doesn’t wait for Zoe to say no, she doesn’t know. “You look lost, I’m not doing shit else, I figure I get you where you’re going, that’s my good karma, that makes up for all the other shit tonight, alright?”
She doesn’t exactly have any other prospects aside from wandering. Mio seems… earnest, at least, still taking swigs from the bottle in her hand, bouncing unsteady from foot to foot. “That sounds nice. I’m, uh, Zoe. Foster.”
“Zoe, baby!” Mio grabs her hand, presses a kiss to the back of her hand. “Lovely to meet you, lovely to know you, I’ll be your uber driver for tonight, follow me! ” Then they’re off, cutting through the streets like an arrow, and even with Mio shouting along with every cheer and singing along to music, it still feels like the attention is only on her.
They aren’t on the roads for long, though, turning off into a seemingly random abandoned lot, people sitting and smoking on top of their parked cars not even giving them a glance. "Are you sure this is the right way...? Google Maps says-"
Mio snorts, spinning around to throw her arms wide. "You don't need Google Maps, baby! You got me, alright?” She points back toward the main street. “Google Maps doesn't realize 6th is closed because they flipped a Cybertruck, we can't go that way, so we're gonna go this way! Don't worry about it, I've got you!"
She decided to just skip the ‘flipped a Cybertruck’ part of the sentence, Mio’s grin saying she was absolutely there, if not directly involved. "Alright. Are you sure you don't want me to like, pay you, or something?"
"Oh, no, you don't have to pay me, baby, alright. Seeing your pretty face is enough, knowing i got a gorgeous girl like you home safe is enough, but you know what you can do for me?" Her smile turns a little sultry, and damn it, despite the situation, her heart jumps.
"What?"
An arm around her shoulder, pulling her down so they’re face to face, amber eyes alight with glee. "When you go back to where you're from, you tell them that this is the greatest city in the fucking world, New York City. That’s cause I’m here, alright? Mention me by name, Mio Hudson, alright?" Mio pokes her in the chest to punctuate it.
Zoe giggles, nods, pulling away before the flush on her face becomes obvious. “Got it. New York City is the best, because it has Mio Hudson. Very pretty name.”
Mio snorts, waving her off. "Hey, baby, not as pretty as yours. Alright, now…” They round what appears to be a stripped-down truck. “Climb this fence." At least she’s dressed in things that aren’t entirely hindering her. If she had put on the skirt, she doesn’t know what she’d do. Mio scales it far quicker than she does, leaping to the ground with a grunt. “Not too much longer now, swear, just a little bit more running around and we’re done, alright?”
She could easily run around with Mio all through the night. This woman has a lot to say and not nearly enough time to say it, and Zoe’s listening wholeheartedly. “Thank you again, for doing this. I don’t mean to be such a tourist, it’s just, the people I was with ditched me, and-”
“What?” Mio’s eyes are wide and shocked, mouth half open. “Who the hell would ditch you, baby? Why the fuck would they do that?” The fact that someone she met maybe an hour ago is so affronted makes her bashful, for some reason. “That’s not right at all! Fuck’s their problem? You want me to beat ‘em up, baby? I’ll do that.”
“No, silly.” She’s recognizing her surroundings again, which means their little excursion is coming to an end. “I’ll handle it, don’t worry your cute little faces.” And she is quite cute, adorable, even. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything, Zoe baby! Anything at all, I’d tell you my social security number, alright?” She raises a hand to point at the building, speckles of light from all the individual rooms. “That’s your spot, right?”
Unfortunately, yes. She drags Mio to a stop just outside, noting that they haven’t stopped holding hands more or less the entire way. “I don’t need your social security number, darling. But I would enjoy your phone number.” Despite how flirty and familiar she’d been this whole time, Mio still looks stunned. “Maybe I can take you out for brunch tomorrow morning?”
Mio nods rapidly, slapping at the pockets of her baggy jeans until she finds a battered phone, fumbling to unlock it like the thing is on fire. Zoe takes it gently, navigating to the contacts and putting in her number, and after a moment of thinking, she names it Zoe Baby with a green heart to round it out, handing the phone back to Mio.
The second she sees it, she practically screams, dancing around in a little circle like a kid. “Oh my god, thank you! Thank you, you don’t have to, but uh, yeah! Yeah, alright, I’ll text you! Thank you.”
Oh, this is just too adorable, Zoe can’t help but drive it home. “Thank you, for being such a gentleman.” A kiss on the cheek, just a quick peck, and then she’s turning to go inside. “See you tomorrow, Mio!”
“Bye!” She spins on the spot once more before rushing off, and she can hear her yelling in glee for a good while, standing in the doorway of the hotel with the receptionist glaring.
There’s an upside of being ditched, she supposes.
Mio wakes up feeling utter garbage. Fuck the Knicks for winning, because she can’t just not celebrate. “Damn it…” It’s pretty fucking early, 11 in the morning, and she’s about to take some pills and crawl back into bed when she remembers.
She sits up straight, even though her head spins, opening her phone with wide eyes and going to see… “Holy shit.” Zoe Baby with a heart to boot, the woman she dragged all over New York on a whim, the woman who invited her to go out to eat. Like, in a date way.
Her drunk bullshit got her a date. Her drunk celebratory idiocy got her a date with a gorgeous woman. Then she’d run off to get into even more trouble, hyped for an entirely different reason. Honestly, it’s a miracle she made it home.
She nearly falls out of bed in her haste to get ready, tugging off her clothes and starting the shower in a rush. Shit, Zoe doesn’t have her number does she, which means Mio has to text her first. What should she say? Should she call her baby, or is that only okay when she’s drunk?
hey zoe its mio jst woke up. r we doing brunch?
She’s never sped through getting freshened up like this, brushing her teeth in the shower and scrubbing her face for good measure, two rounds of mouthwash to get the smell of weed and vodka off of her breath. “You’re fine, girl. You’re fine, she called you handsome, she kissed your cheek, she is so feeling you. It’s fine!”
She’s pulling on clothes when her phone buzzes, and no, she doesn’t launch across the bed to grab i, because that would be desperate and lame, and Mio is not desperate and lame.
omg hi!!!!!!!! i’ve only been up for a bit, but yes, i would love to do brunch. do you know any good spots?
ye totally i can pick u up and show u a spot. rlly good hangover shit. not that u have a hangover.
no, I don’t, but I trust that it’s good. I’m going to be in town for a week or so, it’s good to know I’ve got a local guide to show me around!! <3
Mio throws herself back from her phone with a yelp. An entire week, and Zoe’s more or less invited Mio to hang out with her the entire time. This has to be a dream. She fell off of that truck while dancing, bashed her head, and this is a dream.
sounds great 2 me bby, see u soon
Well, dream or no, she wants to see where it goes.