Graffiti Casanova

Friends

"Okay." Jared looked me dead in the eye. "We need to talk about our set on Friday."

It was Monday, and we were back in our practice space in the V Bar. Dad was downstairs chatting with Otto, giving us time to debrief.

I squirmed in my chair, but couldn't stay silent under Jared's pointed stare.

"Sorry."

Jared's brow furrowed. "No explanation? So many weird things happened that night and--"

Davey nudged him with an elbow from his spot next to Jared on the couch. "Let her be, man. We don't need to know every little thing about her life."

Jared scowled, but Davey ignored him and continued. "We just need to go over the mistakes we're likely to make again and work on them. Anyway, none of us played perfectly." He lifted a hand as if introducing himself in an anonymous confessional meeting. "I, for one, always think there's a fourth verse on that newest song, and I forget to go straight to the chorus after verse three."

I leaned forward. "It may help if you have more vocals in your mix-- I cue you vocally into the chorus every time."

"Okay, that'll help. Jar?"

Jared's eyes darted to me in a subtle sideways glance, but he sighed.

"I always fumble in the bridge of the third song. I just need to practice it more."

Davey nodded in approval and turned to me. "Claire?"

My lips tightened. "I just need to focus. I was distracted, and I can't let that mess me up."

He nodded once more. "Let's go find Reece. I'm sure he noticed things we need to work on."

Davey stood and slipped out the door, and I moved to follow.

"Claire, wait."

I turned to face Jared, bracing myself for more interrogation. I gripped the doorknob with one hand, ready to escape.

He didn't approach me, just stood by the couch, his hands latched to each other in front of him like he didn't know what to do with them.

"I don't mean to be pushy." He looked at the floor.

I paused, caught off guard. A silence hung between us until he looked up to meet my eyes.

"I'm not mad about you messing up, either." One of his shoulders lifted in a tense shrug. "Not that it was all that bad, anyway. I mean, we all messed up, and--" He stopped, cleared his throat. Tried again.

"I know things are different now. After what happened last year, and after we teamed up again. And I know that I've been hard on you." He paused, looking at the floor between us. "I just thought--" he shrugged again. "I don't know."

My grip tightened on the doorknob. This was Jared's idea of an apology. And I wanted to wring a real one out of him, I really did. But Jared didn't say things like this. I knew it was as hard for him to say as it was for me to hear. So I didn't stop him, I just waited.

He took a deep breath and started again, this time with slow, startling clarity.

"I've always been hard on you and you used to know that it meant I cared about you."

I blinked at him.

"We were friends, Claire. I just want that again."

I shook my head, finally opening my mouth to speak. "Friends..." I trailed off. It was on the tip of my tongue-- friends don't screw each other over. Friends don't do what you did. But that was the old animosity speaking. That was last month's anger. We were stuck with each other now, and I had to get past that. I had to acknowledge that, in his own way, he did care about me-- enough to force me to let go of my pride and self-pity in order to give 100%.

I nodded, swallowing the tight knot in my throat.

"We're friends, Jar."

I met his gaze and was hit by a look of relief on his face that almost made me stumble back, had I not been gripping the doorknob. Instead it made the corner of my mouth lift in a smile that he returned. Apology accepted.

Cas stepped into the warehouse, the welcome scent of paint hitting him like a wall. His crew was spread out, each working on specific tasks. He strode to the back wall where Mark was helping Finn cut out stencils of the drawings Cas had made.

"I got your message, what's the news?"

Mark straightened, tossing his exacto-knife to the side. His face was grim.

"It's not good, man." He slid the back of his wrist across his forehead, pushing sweat-sticky hair to one side. "Gary was caught last night."

Cas looked down at the stencil, lips tightening. "What'd he get?" He didn't look up from studying the stencil, as if it would have answers hidden within it.

"Summary offense, few hundred in fines. But he doesn't have a record." Mark nudged the stencil with the toe of his heavy work boot. "They're cracking down."

Cas felt a curse forming in his mouth but his lips stayed pressed together. He could feel his breathing speed, though, and he closed his eyes to think.

"Smaller teams from now on," he finally said.

"What? That's just as risky!" Mark stepped up beside him, grabbing Cas' shoulder as he started to walk away. "If we don't finish, we can't come back because the place will be monitored."

Cas shook his head once, firmly. "Smaller teams. I'm not going to risk these guys just for my reputation. We'll just have to work faster and make the pieces simpler."

"You're gonna get backlash."

"I'd rather get it from Sirena than Platt."

Mark threw up his hands. "I'd rather not get it at all!"

"It all falls back on me in the end," Cas said. "I can take it." He handed Mark a stack of paper with lists of teams. "Ricky's diner is low-risk, so I'm putting everyone on that project. But after that, let's cut our teams down by twenty percent. Can you do that for me?" He slapped a pen on top of the stack. "I gotta go help Andy with those sculptures."

Cas left Mark scowling at the stack of lists and headed to the back corner. A sick feeling rolled around in the bottom of his stomach. This was a wrench in that momentum he was trying to maintain. This second chance he'd gotten may yet turn out to be a dead end.

But he stooped down next to Andy, grabbing a chisel from the pile of tools on the ground. There was nothing he could do for Gary. But the rest of his team was still here. And until it was just him-- until he was stopped for good-- he'd do what he was best at.

What do you think about Jared's "apology"? And stakes are rising for Cas and his crew! Tell me your thoughts in the comments and hit that star! <3

Chapter song is Wolfe by Brolly.