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[haggle]

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LARK

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[masticated]

Firework? Doll, I'm a goddamn loaded gun and you're the trigger.

We can talk visiting rights when I get that dance.

[haggle]

already offered you that dance, baby
you don't gotta sweet talk

yeah yeah
you're just jealous cause he likes my lap better and you know it

[masticated]

Yes I do.

I like your lap better, too. Twist it around all you want you just want an excuse to be in my house again.

[haggle]

i know
you did the same little circles on my lap 😘

can't blame a girl
you got good taste in furniture
and a tub big enough to drown in

[masticated]

Just say the word I'll be in your lap again.

Furniture I had to reupholster because of you. Worth every penny.

[haggle]

oops
i gave it character 💋

( said local unrepentant woman. )

you should've framed the stains or somethin
not everyone gets a one-of-a-kind anora mikheeva masterpiece for free yknow

[masticated]

Damn right you did.

What makes you think I didn't keep some of the leather?

[haggle]

( anora doesn't (usually) misjudge a man's attachment. it's the difference between cutting your teeth on diamonds — hard, unbreakable, built with a lifetime in mind — and dollar store cubic zirconia. one is built to last. the other is a fun accessory to dress up in for awhile, until something better comes along. henry was meant to last exactly as long, a blip of short-lived affection worn and taken off, in and out of fashion in anora mikheva's wardrobe, last season's trend.

the problem: anora doesn't misjudge a man's attachment until she does. her nose wrinkles, holding back on her initial thought: ew. unsanitary, henry. )

did you?

( not exactly an answer. what makes her think that? because she planned for it — heist into his life, sticky fingers pocketing exactly what she'd needed from him, the quick and clean, easy getaway out of it, a mark who had never grown smart to her tricks — without ever considering a different outcome. her bad. )

[masticated]

What else did you leave me to keep, Anora?

[they had a whirlwind, a passion-filled week of dangerous ups and downs that made the makeups even better. not suitable or healthy or even remotely close to long lasting, but henry became addicted to the push and pull of explosive arguments that lead up to the two of them ravaging each other.]

[haggle]

( a compound of dogs trained to the knife-click of her stiletto heels. splintered wood, a broken vase, a week's worth of memories — more than enough memorabilia, if they're keeping score. nothing as sentimental as a real goodbye, nothing as permanent as any piece of herself. she's always preferred to be more ghost than girl to the men who couldn't love her right; better to haunt than to hold, remembered more fondly when she's not real flesh and blood in their arms. the ephemeral dream girl.

it feels safer, especially with men like henry, with his favors and ledgers. always keeping track, always staying even, always with his eye trained on what's his. still, she types, a light sidestep away from revisiting history: )

if you wanted an autograph, you could've just said so

[masticated]

[she's a natural at pivoting away from nostalgia while all henry wants to do is talk about it, especially if it means she's still talking to him. he had to give her up and protect her ex-husband in jail, knowing if he didn't someone else would come along. can't have that.]

I got enough autographs.
I like my keepsakes but I wanna see you one more time, for closure. Give a man some closure and I promise I'll leave you alone.

[famous last words.]

[haggle]

( ani, with her own favors and debts and ledgers — always keeping track, always staying even — tallies it down as another empty promise. i'll leave you alone. he won't. they never do. it's always one last night, one last kiss, one last look, one last fuck, one last thing they can take from her. that's the thing about mice and men — they're a pain in the ass to evict, once they've chewed through your walls and chosen to make themselves at home. leave them even the smallest crack in the plaster, and they'll take it as an invitation to slip back in to gnaw you apart and piss all over your safe, clean spaces.

like she believes him, charitable enough to play her part in this stage production of moving on and moving forward: )

sure 😉
you know that old piano bar?
i'll save you one last dance so long as i get to pick the music
lady's choice