[She almost snaps 'join the freaking club' but she bites her tongue before she changes tack. She's not going to feel bad about this - and it's easier to believe that when this pissy at him.]
Boo hoo, you didn't have to deal with jack so don't even try selling that line. [Crossing her arm over her chest, Lia starts pacing back and forth slowly.] ...Not that it's any of your concern, but I'm here and talking, ain't I.
Oh, you're most certainly talking. [He nudges his hat back on his head and takes a slug of the bourbon.] Doesn't tell me whether you're all right so much as it tells me you haven't sweetened up any. Whereabouts? No, I'm not going to send anyone after you. The warrant got dropped. Mysteriously, his strongbox appeared beneath the back seat of his cab.
[You can hear the eyeroll and note how nowhere in here is an answer to his question.]
You got me, genius, I'm texting and talking to your dumb ass while bleeding out in a gulch.
[A pause.]
Am I supposed to be surprised? I told you I didn't do it and if you'd listened to me on that in the first place, none of that shit would have ended up playing out and we wouldn't be talking right now.
It's not my job to listen to you, it's my job to fulfill the warrant put out for your arrest. You know how many people try to sell me on their innocence every year? [He finishes the bourbon and glances at his watch before pouring another glass.] And if I hadn't kept you in hand, who knows. Those boys might have found you alone and yes, it would have played out different.
I wasn't selling anything - it was the truth! [There is a difference here, gdi. That you don't get it, Ray, is just. Argh. Again. The idiot.
...Except that idiot might have actually brought up a decent point. Not that she'd admit it. Ever. And so she totally sounds completely confident when she says,] I could have taken care of myself. [Any thoughts otherwise are clearly false and the result of a senile mind.]
[More silence. He finishes his second glass and puts the bourbon away. Too much and Art will have questions in the morning.] Did you ever finish school? After you ran?
[Looooooooooooooooooong long pause between the initial how does he even know that and the subsequent fingerprints = file. Then she shrugs, not that he can see it, and disinterestedly answers:]
So what if I did or didn't. S'not like it matters any.
[He shrugs into his jacket and switches hands so he can get his arm through the sleeve properly.] You know you're too old now for anyone to force you back. Could get your GED, do an internet college.
[...Yeah, she. Kind of knew that much, but. At that point the running had kind of become force of habit and familiar and she wasn't sure how to stop. Plus, you know. Settling down and normalcy does not go hand in hand with fuzz factors in her brain.
But that is not the point.]
Did you miss the part about it not mattering? [Fidget.] Why're you even asking, man.
[He shrugs, even though she can't see it. How can he explain that college was what kept him out of the mines, what got him out of Harlan in the first place? The whole new-lease-on-life thing seems a lot less likely when you're her age.] Because there's no reason for you not to, and such things come in handy, given time.
[All the disbelieving snorts go here wrapped up in one perfect noise.] Yeah, lemme just whip out my megawads of cash to get that done, since I've got a whole slot open for the frat experience. Plus? Pretty sure there's no checker box under the 'race' part for Furry-Americans. And the after-school special sentimental junk aside, I like where I am now. S'pretty chill set-up.
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Boo hoo, you didn't have to deal with jack so don't even try selling that line. [Crossing her arm over her chest, Lia starts pacing back and forth slowly.] ...Not that it's any of your concern, but I'm here and talking, ain't I.
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You got me, genius, I'm texting and talking to your dumb ass while bleeding out in a gulch.
[A pause.]
Am I supposed to be surprised? I told you I didn't do it and if you'd listened to me on that in the first place, none of that shit would have ended up playing out and we wouldn't be talking right now.
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...Except that idiot might have actually brought up a decent point. Not that she'd admit it. Ever. And so she totally sounds completely confident when she says,] I could have taken care of myself. [Any thoughts otherwise are clearly false and the result of a senile mind.]
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So what if I did or didn't. S'not like it matters any.
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But that is not the point.]
Did you miss the part about it not mattering? [Fidget.] Why're you even asking, man.
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