Survival Of The Fittest

((>tracert ParkerGreen.Memories
3 | 47 ms 52 ms 39 ms Parallel Punishment Procedures
█))

The most important step to not getting caught doing something that was kind of shady was making sure you didn’t look like you were doing anything shady. The second most important trick was to make sure you were as unmemorable as possible, which was why Parker had dressed in a simple ensemble; unzipped black jacket, plain white t-shirt, blue jeans, black baseball cap - as generic as it came. It was also why he was quietly taking puffs from the pen vape in his hand every few minutes as he waited. There was no nicotine in it - he hated that - but the sweet cherry smoke gave the impression of him smoking, which was one of the few drug addictions that people seemed to just accept made people do weird shit, like sit around on a park bench inhaling cherry flavoured smoke.

It did taste kinda nice though, he had to admit.

He restrained the urge to check the phone in his pocket, knowing it would buzz if the person he was expecting to meet decided they wanted to inform him of their near arrival or delay, checking it was simply born out of a desire to hurry something up he had no ability to alter. So, he watched the rest of the park instead, looking to see if anyone met roughly who he was expecting to meet. He knew next to nothing about her, other than her gender - neither of them was stupid enough to share identifying information with each other - but he could rule out almost everyone in front of him by virtue of them either being male or over 30.

He could help but nervously note the few people doing their own thing around the park, hoping that they’d continue to be absorbed in their own activities, but in a way that was the reason for doing this here. If you didn’t know someone, meeting them in a private place they controlled was a good way to put yourself at risk, and that applied to the other person as well. So, you met in a public place, where both of you were on equal footing in terms of having things to lose if the interaction went sour.

He nervously tapped the metal arm of the bench rhythmically with his left hand as he continued to look around, the lack of music in his ears setting him on edge a little. He had wanted to be alert in case of… Well, anything surprising, really, but the lack of things to be alert for was making him oddly nervous. His teeth bit into the mouthpiece this time as he took a drag, letting some of the tension in his jaw out through that, closing his eyes for a moment as he held the smoke in his lungs.

((Christine Summers: Start))

Christine was getting into some really shady shit.

She feverishly checked her phone as she made her way to the designated meeting spot. Even though there were no new messages, Christine read and reread the messages she received just to make sure she was doing this correctly. Her thoughts of drug dealing were in hidden rooms or shifty alleys. So she was taken aback when she found out that her soon to be dealer wanted to meet in the middle of the park. Maybe they could be more public about it because it was only weed and not something like cocaine. She had no idea how this whole thing worked.

Her outfit was mostly casual due to the recommendation of her friends who set this up for her. She let her bushy hair loose and didn’t bother with any makeup. A casual grey zip-up hoodie was slung on top of a simple white shirt and matched with a pair of beige khakis.

When talking with the supplier, she made sure to hold back personal details, not wanting to risk giving identifying information to a random stranger. Especially with the world she was diving into, she knew better than to plaster her personal information that could like the not so legal activities back to herself. Then again, the only thing she knew about the supplier was that he was a guy. Which wasn’t really helpful or comforting.

When not looking at her phone, Christine was peeking over her shoulders and looking around in a paranoid frenzy, worried that someone was going to come out of the bushes and arrest her. She was in a heightened state of awareness, keeping an eye on anyone that might be looking at her strangely or following her activities. So far, it was a normal day and it didn’t seem like anyone paid attention to her.

She stopped suddenly when she arrived at the bench. Was this a set up? Why was someone from school here? The surprise on her face was very obvious and she made no attempts to hide it. She quickly looked down at her phone and looked up again. This had to be the right bench. Yet, this guy was here. Parker. Yeah, that was his name.

“Uhhh…”

Ok, she had to play this totally cool. Like it was a total coincidence that they they met. Which it was. Yeah, totally a coincidence. A forced smile strained on her face as she greeted the unexpected guest.

“Oh, hey Parker! Didn’t expect to see you here. Uhhhh It’s a nice day, isn’t it?”

Yeah, totally cool. Not suspicious at all.

Christine took one more look at her phone to confirm that yes, she was here at the right place and the right time.

Parker rested his head back on the seat as he exhaled, keeping his eyes closed for a few moments as he let the acridly sweet vapour out of his lungs. By the time he opened them, there was a new figure in the park.

Parker tracked her as subtly as he could, not turning his head towards her, trying not to attract her attention in case she wasn’t headed towards him specifically. As she got closer, he realised he recognised her from school, although he couldn’t place from where, and he certainly hadn’t interacted with her for long enough to consider her name valuable enough information to retain. Then again, names had never been his strong point.

As she sat down next to him, there was an awkward pause and stumble that told him she was trying to figure out what to say. He turned to face her, offering her a small, courteous smile and making eye contact with her as he responded with a polite “Sure is.” that had just enough conviction to seem something approaching sincere.

Now he had a problem though. He had to figure out if this was the person he was supposed to be meeting, or one of those infuriating people who seemed to make it their job to interact with absolutely everyone they ran across. Fortunately, he had a pretty easy way to check for that, as his right hand unzipped the front pocket on his messenger bag. He slid the little pen vape into it, and pulled out a simple flip phone, quickly selecting the last message received with a few soft button clicks.

He was faced with a dilemma here though. What specifically to say, that would make sense to the person next to him if they checked their phone, and also to the contact if the person next to him wasn’t them. The person he’d been talking to seemed flighty, saying that he was right next to someone who wasn’t them might make them panic, and panic wasn’t exactly something he was fond of.

[+] +1 423 555 0186

>lmk when in pos

He slid the phone back into the front pocket, and waited, looking back to her. He hadn’t heard a buzz or text tone yet, so he should probably keep the conversation going, in order to brush off any awkward questions about who he’d been texting, though “girlfriend” was always a solid option to cut off that kind of line. People tended to respect that level of privacy for some reason.

“What brings you out today then?” he asked, keeping his tone casual and light as he waited for his cue to either change tacts or start closing down the conversation quickly.

At least she seemed to be playing it cool enough for him to buy. Or he didn't care. Either way, Christine was feeling a little better about the situation.

The issue now was how she should approach getting Parker to leave. Just telling him to go away would be rude and she'd rather not deal with the blowback that she'd probably get from the boy. That option was off of the table. Maybe she could just be annoying to the point of getting him to leave? But she didn't really have that in her either.

For the moment, she decided to sit down next to him but left a comfortable distance between the pair. Her stiffness came through as she tried to think of a way to navigate the situation. Christine did take a moment to smell the smoke that was coming from Parker's vape. Oooh, cherry flavour. Nice. She briefly considered asking Parker where he got the vape from before quickly realising that would be a horrible idea. She was already starting to get addicted to marijuana, no need to add another drug to the mixture.

For a moment, she sat there awkwardly. Parker wasn't leaving. Why did he have to sit here of all places? She squirmed slightly in the seat. More time passed. Parker was still there. How long was she going to have to wait here to get Parker to just leave so that she could meet her dealer? Did she mess up somewhere? Oh man, she probably did mess up somewhere and was just being an idiot. It wouldn't surprise her.

Christine's phone vibrated in her pocket and she quickly reached for it. Her eyes danced across the screen as she read the short message from her dealer. Biting her lip, she quickly began to type a response.

[+] me

Hey! I'm in pos, but sum guy from school is here as well and won't go away. Maybe wait a bit until he leaves then we can meet. kk?

She sent it over and slipped the phone back into her pocket. She'll have to wait for a response from him. She couldn't tell from the message whether or not he was here or not he was already here or not. Probably best to wait for a response from the guy as he was infinitely more experienced at this than she was. It took a second for her to realise that Parker was talking to her and she quickly swivelled her head towards him once she recognised what was going on.

"Oh, just stuff and things." She replied in a non-committal fashion. There was no way she was going to casually admit to someone from school that she was trying to meet a drug dealer.

"What about you? Got anything interesting happening in your life?"

At this point, she was just killing time, waiting for a response from the dealer on what to do next. She gave a smile to Parker, but on the inside, her heart was beating rapidly. She was hoping to god that she didn't fuck up somewhere along the way and fractures of her nervousness made itself known through the cracks of her facade.

Parker's phone rumbled softly, the noise mostly obscured by its housing in the soft fabric of the bag, until being silenced by a hand darting in and retrieving it. Such a quick response - and one that came just after the person to the right of him had sent their own text - meant it was almost certain she was in fact, the person he was supposed to meet. But it didn't hurt to make entirely sure, especially when dealing with something sensitive, so his thumb slipped between the rounded crack in the plastic where the two halves of the fliphone met and opened it with a jerk up of his thumb that let the spring in the hinge do the rest of the work for him.

He debated responding to her question without looking at her, just in case she actually wasn't the contact, but he couldn't think of anything that he was doing that'd interest her. Not that he didn't have anything planned - shit, he was doing some pretty 'exciting' stuff right about now - but the things that were important in his life tended to not be the most important to others. And explaining them took so much effort that it was easier to just

"Not really, just getting by."

And move on.

He couldn't help but crack a smile as he finished navigating the labyrinthine menus of the cheapest UI that money could buy and finally ended up at his inbox, eyes quickly scanning the response and picking it apart, his thumb hovering over the reply button for a moment as he thought about texting her back to simply confirm his identity. Then, as he digested the information, he came up with a better idea. He turned to look at her, making eye contact for the first time - though she seemed more interested in staring at her phone than meeting it - and gave her what he hoped was a 'knowing' look before he spoke.

"If it'd make you feel better I could leave and then come back." he said, trying hard to keep his tone dry, and not let the smug smirk that had found his way to his lips mar his tone. He didn't want to seem like he was fucking with her too much, after all.

That conversation went nowhere really quickly.

And Parker was now on his phone.

Christine sat still, looking at him intensely as she tried her best to will Parker to leave. Sadly, she was unsuccessful. She did marvel at the fact that Parker still had a flip phone. She hadn't seen one of those in ages. Was Parker poor or frugal? It's not like someone having a phone like that out of choice. It wasn't that Christine was making judgments about Parker's tastes. It was more about her being curious about an aspect of someone and extrapolating from there. It helped keep her mind off the whole potentially screwing up meeting her drug dealer situation that was going on right now.

"Huh?"

It took her a few seconds to put together what Parker was trying to imply. At first, she just sat there, her head tilted slightly as she worked to put all the puzzle pieces together in her mind. Then, it clicked. At first, she was mortified that she was unknowingly trying to get her dealer to go away. Then the embarrassment quickly subsided for hilarity. A goofy smile spread across Christine's cheeks before she fell into a fit of giggles.

"Oh my god. Oh my god!"

Christine found it difficult to form words as she continued to laugh about the situation she had put herself in. There was a noticeable relief in her motions as well as her body loosened and she turned to face Parker. So it turned out the dealer was a guy from her school. She could definitely work with his.

"You know, I really should've caught on to the fact it was you considering you're last name's Green and all."

Christine had a newfound confidence in navigating this situation. What she assumed would be some super scary drug dealer turned out to be a classmate. While there was still a little bit of nervousness, at least she wasn't worried that she was going to be suddenly offed or knocked out and had her organs sold on the black market. Christine flashed a friendly smile as she looked over towards Parker.

"So, how do we do this? I've totally never done this before."

Parker watched as she went through the stages of working out what his sentence implied, enjoying the shift from shock, to confusion, to finally seeing the hamster wheel in her head start turning as she tried to piece together the new information, before finally breaking into a smile as she realised what he meant. It wasn’t much of a pause, but it was interesting nonetheless to see the delay in action, and told him she didn’t expect him to be the person she was meeting. Which was a good sign, he tried to not fit into the mould of the kinds of people she probably expected the anonymous text-voice she’d previously held conversation with to be.

He flashed her a little grin back as she took the realisation well, her expression shifting through a few things he didn’t recognise before landing right on laughter. He looked away from her for a second, momentarily worrying that she’d attract the attention of the scattered few in the park, scanning their surroundings. He just wanted to make sure things weren’t going wrong, because things tended to always be going wrong, the important thing was to sidestep the fallout. For now it seemed things were calm. A jogger with earbuds in, a man playing fetch with his dog, a couple chatting as they walked, all continuing to not pay attention to them. That little nervous itch scratched, he looked back at her, just in time to catch her joke.

Parker didn’t quite laugh, but he couldn’t stop himself from letting out a little snort from his nose and his grin curling up from “composed” to “amused”, giving her enough pause to continue with her next question. He had to admit though, that was pretty funny.

That next question was an interesting one though, it could have been sarcastic, but he was pretty sure she was being genuine. In all honesty, that was one of the reasons he’d started doing this to begin with. It wasn’t like he was a drug dealer, drug dealers bought drugs to sell them. He just bought drugs to use them. But, because it seemed like all of GHHS was too scared of what Mommy and Daddy would think, that left him to do the leg work and talk to the actual criminal enterprises to get the good shit.

And, well, if someone was going to have to serve as a conduit of supply and demand to the people he knew - it was best it be someone like him. Someone shadier might have fucked over someone like this chick, left her with a bag of oregano or something, because she wouldn’t know better. He kept it small time, clean and honest. Just shifting a few grams every couple of weeks when one of his ‘friends’ ran dry, and making a few bucks for the effort, everyone walked away happier.

He answered the question, his voice a little lower in volume, but the tone still light as he spoke - trying to keep their little transaction as smooth as possible.

“Simple, really. You give me the money, I give you the product, then we leave.” he said, pointing at the both of them in turn to indicate exactly what the order of events was going to be.

"That's it?"

Maybe she was expecting things to be a bit more casual considering the fact that they went to school together. There was a hope that their mutual backgrounds would allow the entire affair to be more chill. The clinical nature of the entire affair didn't settle well with Christine as she shifted a little in her seat.

"I guess I'm seeing how it is," Christine began as she dug into her wallet, her disappointment hidden in her voice. "I was hoping that we could chill out, chat for a bit, get to know each other. I mean, I think we both know this isn't going to be my last time doing this."

While neglectful at best, her parents did leave her pocket money every now and then. At the back of her mind, she reckoned it was just another way to make her less reliant on them and if that was the case, she didn't mind. It wasn't like they kept a watch over what she was buying anyway, so she could get away with investing her money into something that may not be so legal. She tucked the wallet and crossed her arms. Lifting her right arm up while still keeping the elbow cradled in her left hand, she wafted the money in Parker's direction, her arm limp and a small smile hiding behind it.

"Here's the money. You can count it if you want to make sure the full amount's there."

Christine made sure to count it before she finalised a day to meet up with the mystery man who turned out to be Parker. Her initial fear was that she would get royally messed up if she tried to pull a fast one. Knowing the guy was from school, that fear wasn't there. Now it was more about solidifying a relationship. Building up trust for the long run. Even if his methods were a bit... stifling for her tastes, she still envisioned herself making more deals like this in the long run. Plus, having a stoner friend in school was never a bad thing.

"Mind if I see the good stuff? Is it sativa or indica?"

That was all provided that Parker was a man of his word and was actually able to provide her with weed. Judging from his general character, he didn't seem like the type who would try to screw someone over. She was happy to give him the benefit of the doubt, at least for now.

The first question was expected - so many people seemed to expect that there would be more hassle than just a simple transaction - but the follow on statement made him raise an eyebrow internally. This was a deal, not a date, after all. If she wanted to get to know him, she could have very easily tried to do so at school, rather than whilst they commited a crime together.

He didn’t mind the casual attitude at least, and it made him feel a little less concerned as he took the small collection of crumpled $1 bills and folded them neatly in half without counting them, before putting them in the inside pocket of his jacket with a smile directed at her - trying to signal that he at least trusted her, even if he wasn’t being quite as jovial as she wanted him to be.

With that settled, he rooted around in the bag once again, this time opening the main pocket of it. His hand groped wildly for a familiar shape, but couldn’t find it for a few annoying seconds, just enough time to make the little question of ‘Oh fuck did I leave it at home?’ pop into his head, before his fingertips brushed circular plastic and gave him his answer.

He pulled out the semi-translucent, blue, plastic container, and tried his best to discreetly pass it to her. The label that had probably once held someone’s prescription number had been scratched off, leaving a small, sticky patch of flecked white that partially obscured what was inside. It was clear it was what she wanted though, and in bud form, not pre-ground.

“It’s a hybrid, it’s what I smoke, so it’s good shit.” he explained. He was tempted for a moment to suggest that they probably shouldn’t be openly talking about the facts of what they were doing, that someone might hear them. That’d probably lead to him having to spend a few minutes calming her down though, which didn’t sound like a particularly enjoyable way to spend his time, so he abstained. He could suggest caution some other time.

He couldn’t help but feel like she wanted a response to that first little piece though. He wasn’t quite sure how to approach it though. He had no problems chatting with her, she seemed ok, but she didn’t seem to understand that things had to go in order. You did this first, you got the business out of the way, then you went somewhere else and chilled. The old saying about business and pleasure might be laughably outmoded - doing something you found pleasurable as you job was something everyone aimed for, after all - but it rang true in things like this, where it increased the likelihood of one getting caught. The problem came in phrasing that in such a way that it didn’t sound dickish, hence the awkward pause as he considered his words carefully.

“We can do that, by the way, chill and chat and shit. I’m just pretty sure we both would rather be high for that, so I’d rather just get this....” he paused for a moment - a staged pause - making it seem as though he was struggling for a word he couldn’t find. It was something he hoped made him sound honest, like he was speaking from the heart and trying to figure out what he felt, rather than figuring out what the best thing to say was. “Thing out of the way first, y’know. Go somewhere we can light up.”

Christine watched as Parker took the money and began rummaging around for the marijuana. The smile was reassuring. At least her first impression wasn't a bad one. She crossed her arms again, head tilted slightly as she waited.

A few seconds passed as she silently watched Parker grope around in his bag for the goods. The mystique around Parker vanished for a second. Someone she thought totally had this drug business down pat to a science showed fallibility. It was certainly enough to give her eye a raise and a curious smile to play out. Parker was odd. That much was obvious. There was something there, however. Something that Christine wanted to find out. If weed was the way to get to that something, then she was more than happy to go down that path. Even if it turned out that nothing interesting was there after all, at least she'd have a weed buddy at school she could smoke with.

Once he finally got the container out, Christine took it from him. She took a cursory glance around to see if anyone was paying attention to them. Once she was sure it was safe, she held it up to her face and took a good look inside it. She jiggled the container around, watching the bud bounce around inside. Well, at least it was a genuine product and not some picture. The jiggling did make her giggle though. The bud looked so cute and unassuming. It's a shame she was going to have to grind it up and smoke it.

She was now glad she had the foresight to invest in a herb grinder. Through a mixture of advice from friends and the internet, she had amassed some knowledge of the world of marijuana. One of the things that she did pick up was the necessity for a herb grinder. Her search on Amazon was more interesting than she had anticipated. Herb grinders could come in some real funky colors. If she were bothered and made of disposable income, she probably could've gotten a custom-made, special grinder just for her. Since she was neither, she decided to go for something less extravagant. A simple metal grey aluminium pocket grinder. That was more her style anyway.

"Don't think I've tried a hybrid before. That's exciting." She mused to herself as she tucked the container away into her bag. Christine was genuinely curious about how a hybrid would feel in comparison to pure sativa or indica. While she definitely came across it during her research online, it was not something she had a chance to experience until today.

Christine chuckled as Parker awkwardly mentioned that he'd be up for smoking a joint with her. There was something about his sincerity that she found weirdly adorable. She sagged in her seat and shot a cheeky smirk in Parker's direction.

"Oh yeah, that's fair. I get that." She remarked.

It seemed like things seemed to be going her way today. Firstly her drug dealer turned out to be someone in school. Then, said drug dealer who she wanted to learn more about and have a smoke together basically extended the opportunity to her. She thought she'd have to be more persistent than that, bug him once the interaction was over in a chill manner, but that didn't need to happen. It was fair to say that she was in a pretty good mood.

"You know, I think it'd be great if I tried that baby out. You know of any good places to light up?" She inquired. "It'll be nice to smoke with somone from school outside of a loud party."

Parker couldn't help but feel a tinge of satisfaction course through him as he got the reaction he wanted. She was no longer on edge, and their tone retreated back into the more friendly edge it had held before. There were other little things too, her shoulders loosened and her posture slackened, becoming decidedly less formal. Perhaps she was just glad to have the deal over without any bullshit. He sure was.

The question was one that gave him pause though, especially as it was somewhere he was now - by social obligation - forced to go, and he didn't have many spots in mind. With the obvious exceptions of parties - where one could huddle outside on the porch and engage in some drug taking camaraderie, before plunging back into the noise, lights and people - he mostly just smoked at home.

Suggesting that had a few problems.

First of all, he wasn't really sure he wanted her to know where he lived to begin with, that seemed like bad information to give someone who was as willing to break the law as he was. Secondly, he was concerned about how she'd interpret that. He didn't want to seem like he was hitting on her, and an invitation to come home with him certainly had connotations he didn't wish to convey. Not that she wasn't attractive, but well, he just didn't feel the desire.

There was a pause as he searched for an alternate option, a way out of this problem that would make this easier, but he came up frustratingly empty. So instead he scrabbled for a way to pose the suggestion in an indirect manner.

"I know a few places, but I'll have to head back to my house first - Not gonna smoke yours, and I didn't bring my stash out." he said, trying his best to put a sheepish look on his face as he looked away a little from her, breaking eye contact. An attempt to look submissive, to give her control briefly. "Gotta say, I didn't expect this either." he lied, knowing full well that schoolkids tended to pass his number to other kids from school. There was a hint of truth to it though, he hadn't expected her to want to smoke with him, most preferred to get this done and smoke with their actual friends.

Still, the ball was in Christine's court now. She could be the one to suggest the course of action.

The pause was longer than she liked.

The corner of her smile twitched slightly as Christine waited for a response from Parker. He was probably just having a think about where they could go smoke together, right? That had to be it. She drummed her fingers against her arm, doing her best to come off casual. Her back unintentionally stiffened slightly, however, as she leaned in towards Parker, though making sure there was enough space between them that it didn't breach his personal space.

It was the little stuff like that which she picked up through her time in school. Learning what people were comfortable with, what could set them off and what they didn't want to see. First impressions were super important when making friends after all. Christine knew she shouldn't come off strong to Parker as to intimidate him. Instead, be casual. Be cool. Be relaxed. That's what people liked. It helped that Christine wanted to be that way as well. It certainly made her life easier.

His response finally came and it took her off guard.

"Well aren't you a gentleman." She quipped, the reply coming out naturally. Maybe not the most appropriate response in retrospect considering the situation, but she liked to think a little humour helped alleviate the situation. It also gave her time to think. In all honesty, Christine was hoping he'd take the reins and show her some new spot that she'd never known about before. Now that the ball was thrown back into her own court, she had to think of a place that he would enjoy. It couldn't be just any old place. After all, Parker had been doing this for long enough that he was now dealing as well.

She looked down for a second, her face scrunched in deep thought as she tried to rack her brains for a cool place to smoke. She stroked her chin as she took into consideration places that would be out of watchful eyes of those who would intrude on their peace. It was a pain in the ass that marijuana was illegal. It made the whole process so much more difficult than it needed to be. Attempting to counterbalance the need for privacy with a place that was not mind-numbingly boring or dangerous was hard. She had to go somewhere amazing, however.

An idea came to her and her features lit up almost instantly as she looked back up towards Parker exuberantly.

"Oh! We can totally go smoke just off the riverside trail. You know, past the bushes and just sit by the river? I mean, it may be a bit chilly at night, but I've heard that the views are totally awesome."

As she finished offering her idea to Parker, she was struck with a horrible realisation. Parker could just be planning on ditching her. Give the justification for not going immediately with her and then just not turn up at the arranged meeting point. They did just meet after all. Maybe Christine didn't give off as good a first impression as she thought.

Her earlier excitement seemed to diminish as she twirled her hair around her right finger. She looked away for a moment, her face contorting against her will. This probably wasn't helping her case. She needed to remember to be chill. That's the Christine that people wanted to spend time with. She took a deep breath and glanced back at Parker.

"Uhh, you will be there, right? I mean, I can totally understand you not wanting to since we just properly met and stuff. But, can you like promise you'll be there?"

Her smile was unsteady and there was the presence of desperation in her eyes. She tried to play it cool, but she could feel her facade start to crack against her will.

Parker was pleasantly surprised as she suggested an alternative of her own, rather than pouncing on the obvious option. The riverside was pretty chill, and it was a weekday so the area would probably be deserted. He liked taking walks along the riverside when he was taking a break from weed so he didn't build up too much of a tolerance, listening to the current in one ear and some light music in the other. Something about it let him just stop thinking about anything important and relax for a while. You needed to be able to do that sometimes, to make sure you had time to rest, to come back to problems with fresh eyes.

That was always hard around other people.

That consideration didn't interrupt the conversation though, as he gave her the answer she expected, curling one side of his grin up as he confirmed her promise with a half-serious "Cross my heart and hope to die", keeping up with the casual tone of before. He wondered what had prompted her to ask though, as he watched her nervously turn away for a moment, as if worried what he might see in her eyes. Was she used to people backing out on her at the last moment? Or was she just earnestly wanting to meet with him?

He was fairly sure the 'if a girl is playing with her hair that means she's into you' thing had been debunked, but perhaps she was trying to send that signal to him consciously, without know that? He resisted the impulse to narrow his eyes and study her more carefully, breaking eye contact himself as he laughed at his own joke, looking over the park for a moment. There were probably other possible reasons, but her wanting a promise from him meant something about her, even if he didn't know what yet. It was important to note things like that, so you knew what things to conveniently skirt around, or if you were trying to figure out how to make someone comfortable.

He made eye contact with her again, and decided to give her a slightly more serious promise, as she seemed like she was too on edge to press any more - and he liked to be precise when agreeing to something. And, whilst he wasn't sure what smoking with someone from school would be like, he wouldn't mind finding out if it was fun or not. No time like the present for that.

"Meet up at-" he paused for a second, pulling the sleeve of his jacket down to check his watch and read the time. It was a simple piece, black and metal with silver coloured hands. Cheap, but reliable. "- eighteen hundred on the bridge then head off to the woods?" he suggested as he looked back to her. That would give the both of them about an hour to get home then head out there, which was generous. He wanted to change into clothes that actually looked good if he was going to hang out with this person, who he once again was struck by the realisation he didn't know the name of. He'd have to ask her when they were both high, and forgetting each other's names was more socially acceptable.

Christine awkwardly laughed along with Parker as she attempted to hold up her crumbling facade. She was probably being overly cautious. No, she knew she was worrying way too much about this. She hated the fact that she cared so much about the opinion of a classmate she only just got to know. She barely knew anything about him and here she was panicking that he was going to leave her high and dry.

She clenched her hands tightly, crushing the skin between her fingers as she tried to reign in her emotions. She clamped her jaw tightly as she could as she felt her fingernails dig into her skin. The pain helped ground her while she took a few deep breaths to regain her composure. Yet, a smile never left her face throughout as she attempted to share in the mirth that Parker was experiencing.

Christine had a strange yet intimate relationship with pain. Pain was a common thing to her, though more so emotional in comparison to physical. There was a strange sense of comfort that she gained from it. A sense of familiarity as it embraced her within its arms. Sometimes she found that inflicting minor physical pain on herself helped quell the emotional pain when it became too much. But, she knew this wasn't healthy and she never even considered cutting or anything close to that. She wanted to get away from such behaviours, no matter how inviting they may present themselves. Weed tended to help with that.

Relief shot through her as Parker continued to speak. Granted, it wasn't enough to completely alleviate her worries, but it was a start.

"Ok, I can totally work with that," Christine responded, her voice lighter as she got up from her seat. "I'll see you then."

She needed to extricate herself from the situation. She gave her best attempt at a friendly wave before she headed off in the direction of a patch of trees. Once safely out of sight from Parker, she sat against a tree and hunched over. He gave a time. That had to mean something. He wouldn't give a time if he had no intention to meet up with her, right? Even though she told herself that, there was still that nagging at the back of her brain that believed otherwise. That she was just going to go there and wait and wait and he'd never show up.

She had to calm down. She knew she was being irrational. She was tempted to grind some of her new stash now but stopped herself. That was for later with Parker.

At least she hoped.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Christine didn't bother going home. There was no reason for her to do so. Not like her parents were expecting her back or anything. They barely noticed when she left in the first place, only giving an obligatory "have fun" as she was already out the door.

She had spent some time brooding against that tree, trying to get her emotions out before she met up with Parker. For the most part, she was able to get the crippling anxiety out of her system. She was still worried that her time this evening was going to be wasted, but the feeling had reached a point where it wasn't overwhelming.

By the time she got to the bridge, it was 10 minutes to 6 in the evening. She had debated whether she should've headed over immediately or hung around a bit longer at the park before making her way here. After all, if she turned up too early, then she could come off as too eager. Then she realized that if he was going to come at the time specified, it didn't really matter if she was early or not.

Christine had managed to find a bench and get comfortable on it. There was still a fairly sizable amount of people going about their business considering that it was coming close to nightfall. Not the most that she'd seen on the bridge, but enough to make her slightly nervous that Parker might lose her in the crowd.

Christine held the herb grinder in her hands, fidgeting with it as she observed the crowd. Should she be doing more to stand out? What if Parker didn't see her and thought that she wasn't there? That'd ruin any opportunity she had with getting closer to him.

She wondered what made her so curious about Parker. Maybe it was the fact he was so guarded. While she saw glimpses here and there of fallibility, he projected such a strong competence to a professional level that it unsettled and intrigued her. Not just anyone could or would get involved in the drug dealing business. Then again, it could just be that Parker was so weird with his old phone and way he interacted with others that she just wanted to understand how he worked. Christine also personally wouldn't mind having a consistent smoking buddy she could hang out with outside of big group events. Parties were rarer than she wished they were.

In the end, it could just be that she wanted him to like her. Consider her on at least friendly terms. She could trust him to make drug deals so she'd probably be coming back to him to ask for more to add to her stash. There was nothing wrong in her book with having more people she could consider friends. It would certainly make future drug deals easier on her mentally and logistically.

She looked at the time on her phone. 5 minutes to 6. She looked around, but couldn't see him. Scrolling down to Parker's number, she began typing a message on her phone and then clicked send.

[+] me

I'm on bridge. lmk when in pos

All she could do now was wait. She twisted and turned her head, keeping a lookout within the crowd for any sign of Parker. She fiddled with the grinder in her hand as she did so. He had to come. He was the one that suggested the time. She bit her lip slightly as she continued to have no luck. On the other hand, it wasn't 6pm yet.

The time on Christine’s phone now read 18:00.