2019-12-13 - Geocaching A Jeep

(TXT to Magnolia) Easton : Can you hypothetically access the geolocation on a cellphone?

(TXT to Easton) Magnolia : Hypothetically speaking I might have a thing but only hypothetically and if you tell anyone I will come in every day and order a skinny appletini with a splenda rim.

(TXT to Magnolia) Easton : What if it's my phone and I promise free drinks for a week so long as they are not that.

(TXT to Easton) Magnolia : Deal. Do I even ask why I'm geolocating your phone, or is this a surprise?

(TXT to Magnolia) Easton : I need to retrace my steps from a wild night out, I lost something.

(TXT to Easton) Magnolia : (after a couple minutes) I do like finding missing somethings. I know where you are, should I come pick you up and we can go find your missing something?

(TXT to Magnolia) Easton : Yes please. Feel free to charge your hourly rate, this is business not friend stuff

(TXT to Easton) Magnolia : On my way!

Easton is out in front of the apartments standing in the light rain He has on a thick gray hoodie with the hood up covering him from most of the rain. A lit cigarette dangles from his lips as he waits for Mags to pull up. It's already dark out and he is sure to stand near a big light so that she can see him easily enough.

Magnolia Jones pulls up in her beat-up Honda Accord, the driver-side backseat window covered with doodling using window crayons that include a dragon eating a piece of homework. Lark's really refining her artwork lately. She rolls down the passenger window with a little whir of a tired motor, and then she leans over to peek at Easton. "Hey dude."

Stepping out the cigarette Easton blows out one last plume of smoke and does a small wave to her as she pulls up. He walks around to the other side of the car and slips inside with an awkward hop. He pulls his hood down to smile and say, "Thanks for coming to pick me up." He doesn't look so great, his eyes have heavy dark circles under them. He glances back at the drawings and just nods, "Cute."

Magnolia glances behind her at the drawings, and then she flashes a grin toward Easton. "Lark is protesting first-grade homework. She apparently found some article online, printed it out, and gave it to her teacher this week. The phone call I got was pretty hilarious." Then she rolls up the window once Easton is in, and she waits for him to buckle up -- and if he doesn't right away, she will even give him a look until he does. Her shoulders then lift in a lopsided shrug. "Hey, no worries. I've even decided not to charge you, because then I can make fun of you freely." Her smile twitches before she starts to pull out onto the street. "So, I grabbed your geolocation data for hte last twenty four hours." She nods to the phone that's tucked in a little stand on her dash. "You want to tell me where we should start?"

"That's even better." He shakes his head and chuckles at the thought of a tiny (tinier) version of Magnolia protesting to her teacher, ideally with picket signs. He doesn't buckle up immediately but does at least take a hint after a meaningful look. He quirks an eyebrow and asks, "Can you actually afford to not charge me Jones?" He normally is a little more tactful and light hearted than this. Not right now. He nods and says, "Huckleberry. I was close to there... I." He looks at her and quickly admits as if embarrassed, "That's where I woke up."

"Eh." Magnolia turns at the first corner after his apartment, driving onward without much concern for the mild rainfall. "I just closed this case about a missing dog, and it pulled in a pretty solid payout. Guess the dog was some super rare breed. I'll manage through." She is also trying not to think about Christmas right now. Just thirteen more days. She takes in a sharp breath and then lets it out in a low laugh. "No judgement," she promises. She starts to take the next corner toward Huckleberry. While she goes down this straightaway, she taps her phone to bring up the info, and she notes the ping on Huckleberry, which allows her to better pinpoint where on the street Easton had been.

"Mmmhmm." Easton doesn't seem to quite believe her that this rare dog case squared her away. But he doesn't argue about it now. He shakes his head and says, "And in case you're wondering why you're driving my ass around. We're looking for my jeep." He coughs a little and admits, "I may have misplaced it." The geo location shows that Easton spent at least four hours on the side of the road near Huckleberry but not at all in a trailer or anywhere with shelter. Classy. "I checked my credit card so I know I was at both the Pourhouse and the Firefly that night. Thankfully didn't hit up Platinum, I'd likely be flat broke."

"Here I thought we were looking for your sorority sister's favorite purse that she left at that cute little club with the sugary shots served in chemistry vials because that's so hip," Magnolia delivers this all without missing a beat. But then she quirks a smile at him again before she slows at the side of the road that last kept a passed-out Easton. The news that he was at the Firefly arches her brows. "I was kidding about the sorority sister crack, but really? Was it 80s night or something?" She starts to squint around for an elusive Jeep, and then at her geolocation data. "Alright, well... let's try the Firefly first, and then the Pourhouse, because I'm judging you hard enough that I'm going to assume you hit the Firefly last -- and since we're backtracking, we can go there first. Was this last night? I know a guy who was working the doors last night."

Easton grins at the sorority sister line. "Ha. Yea, Kelsey is always losing her shit." He smirks about that and can offer only a slightly embarrassed lift of his shoulders. "Yea. There might have been a girls night out at the Firefly and they posted some photos..." He doesn't really remember too much but vaguely remembers thinking it would be a good idea to go talk to Bennie at the club somewhere deep, DEEP into his binge. "And yea, your instincts are pretty damn good. I wouldn't have gone there without a whole heck of a lot of more booze."

"You know, I actually made pretty good money in college looking for lost shit for all the drunk girls. Come Sunday morning, I'd have five calls about purses, or favorite shoes, or dorm keys. Once -- I shit you not -- a girl called because she was missing her dog. One of those little rat dogs that she carried around in a purse." Now Magnolia turns toward Maple. Her brow arches slightly as she glances his way, and then she nods. "I'm guessing this was a solo party, or did you have some people you were hanging with besides the girls at Girls Night Out?"

The story about finding things for drunk girls makes him laugh, particularly about the dog. He sucks in breath at the question. "Uhm. Yea. Bennie was out with some ladies drinking. I wasn't exactly on the invite list." He glances over at her, wondering if she knows that they broke up. Oh. That might certainly change the course of this little jaunt. "Have you talked to her? Lately?"

Mention of Bennie out drinking with ladies sinks Magnolia's shoulders a bit, and she starts to shake her head. "No. She's not really talked to me lately. I'm not really sure why. Last time we went this long without talking it, well... it was about my shitty choice in men. I think she likes Kevin, so I don't think that's it." Now she shrugs again. "Maybe I'm just not the easy-to-talk-to type." She turns onto Maple, heading toward the Firefly. She casts a glance toward him. "Last we talked, she came to me to apologize for hiding the bruises, for not telling me what was going on. I got mad at her... and maybe I was a little pissed at you. She told me what happened though -- this town fucks you up, Easton."

"Oh." Easton doesn't look at her as she mentions that Bennie hasn't spoken to her in a while. He stares straight forward out the windshield and exhales hard when Kevin is brought up as the possible 'shitty choice in men'. He winces and says, "Nope. Kev seems great." He clenches his jaw and then says, "Me? On the other hand? Not so great. She left me Mags." He takes one quick look at her out of the side of his eyes. "She told you about the attack. But that's not all. I cheated on her." He looks out the other side window and says, "If your rate just doubled or you'd rather let me out that's fine. I'm pretty sure you promised to fuck me up if I hurt her so.. we can also get out and you can tase me in the balls or whatever you had in mind."

Magnolia is silent in the wake of this news. She drives an entire block before she does pull over; she kills the engine and turns in her seat to look at him. "Why?" She backs up a bit. "Not about the tasing in the balls, but why did you cheat on her?" Her brows arch up high before they settle back into a frown to match the frown on her lips. She doesn't break her focus on the bar owner, her chin slightly sunk and her head slightly tipped to one side.

When the car stops, Easton reaches for the handle, silently berating himself for not thinking about how close Bennie and Mags were before he thought of hiring her for this little escapade. He stops though when she asks him a question. He glances back at her and says, "I.. Shit got weird after the Gohl thing. And I didn't know what the hell to do." That much is true. But doesn't quite cover why he thought sticking his dick in someone else was the 'right' course of action. He looks uncomfortable and says, "It's complicated. It's not that I don't love her."

But he doesn't want to get into the handcuffs and the other sex stuff and the fact that he slept with another dude. There are enough people in town knowing all the details that he has finally stopped just blurting them out at people. Even friends.

"I screwed up. I told her. She left."

Maybe it's not that complicated?

"Yeah. Complicated." The word sits between them, barely filling the space. Magnolia looks out the windshield into the rainy, misty night, and her lips tighten into a frown. Then she hisses out her next words under her breath, "This fucking town." A little laugh escapes her -- mirthless and harsh. "You know, I actually sat around wondering if Edgar beat the shit out of me all the time because this town got to him, or if he said destructive things because They were in his head." Now she leans her head back into the headrest. "This town." She sucks in a breath. "Was this before or after we did our little mind-melding?"

Surprisingly, Magnolia doesn't seem... mad. Or even vindictive, or righteous. She doesn't spout angry vengeance or even sits in silent rage. She's looking at Easton with a half-tilt of her head and a small worrying at her brow.

"Sorry. I thought you knew. I wouldn'a .." He sighs and then looks at her. When she brings up her ex beating her he looks pained. He sighs and says, "It's not like I can just blame this town though. Or Gohl. I mean.." It's not the first time he's done this? This is a pretty consistent pattern for him? He doesn't finish the sentence but he does answer her question. "After." He shakes his head and says, "Not sure I would have been able to hide that.."

He looks at her, expecting her to pop him in the mouth or at least kick him out of the car.

"I just wasn't sure she was ever going to get over it."

Magnolia rubs slightly at the bridge of her nose, eyes closing as she lets her thoughts stew. "Yeah, I know." She glances slightly aside to Easton. "I don't blame the town for Edgar either." Now she considers him, jaw tight. "Didn't know. Did know that Bennie was feeling skittish around you. So, you cheating on her probably was just rubbing salt in the wound." Now she stares ahead again, prompted to look back at him only when he wonders aloud. "Get over what, cheating? Dude, that's a trust thing... no one gets over it. Some people pretend to get over it, but most don't -- not without a lot of fucking work that most people don't want to put in." She sighs out a breath, fiddling with her knuckles with her opposite fingers.

"What I'm dealing with right now is that I think of you as, dare I say it, a friend. We're not going to start painting each other's nails or anything, but I'm not exactly a person who collects friends like beanie babies. I think you're a good guy with shitty circumstances that continually get in the way and fuck shit up." She takes a breath, shoulders lifting slightly. "Tell you what -- if you really want me to, I'll make a grand show of kicking you out of the car and telling you to find your crappy Jeep on your own. Or..."

The PI fixes her blue eyes at him. "You realize that I know you fucked up, you know you fucked up, and that means at least we're both on the same page. I don't even care if you're sorry, or if you regret it... maybe when things go to shit, your instinct is to find a pretty stranger to hook-up with. The point is that you just told me you cheated on Bennie before we even got close to finding your Jeep... if you were an ass, you would have waited until I found it and then told me. So. Ten points to Gryffindor."

"Yea, she was skittish around me. And yea, that got .. hard." He shakes his head and stops trying to explain. He nods as she describes him as a friend. It's not like he would have asked her to go through his mind if there was just a business relationship there. Easton sighs and says, "No. You don't have to kick me out of the car. But you do need to know."

"Of course I'm sorry. It was a shitty thing to do to her." He snerks and coughs a little bit at the 'pretty stranger' bit. If only that were the case. "Sadly, it was a friend." Again. He doesn't say the again part because the time with Baylee before he and Bennie were even officially dating doesn't count. Except then the time with Ruiz was eerily similar. Maybe because Easton's not been great historically with boundaries? But she is definitely not wrong about his instincts to go find someone to sleep with, it just usually happens to be the most inappropriate person he can find, that's all.

"Oh good nerd points. That makes me feel better."

Okay he does at least smile a little bit at calling them nerd points.

"Of course it got hard," Magnolia says this with a throw-away snort, and maybe a bit of laughter. "You know why? Because you're a normal human being who has things like guilt. So, stop being so hard on yourself." She drums her fingers on the wheel before she grabs for the keys still hanging in the ignition. "So, now I know." She looks aside to him. "You're probably going to fuck up plenty more in your lifetime, East. Like I tell Lark-- only thing you can do when it all goes sideways is either let the world throw you off your feet or embrace it and turn all the furniture 90-degrees-- let it beat you or you beat it."

Now she laughs, chuffing out a bit of breath as she does. "I just spent the last four months on a quest from a Dungeons and Dragons monster who tried to kill me with voracious fruitcakes and a hysterical gingerbread man. In some ways, talking about you cheating on Bennie is the most normal, everyday conversation I've had since Byron looped me into that stupid Lover's Gem case."

A little smile settles into place. "Don't worry. I've only watched the movies. I'm not that big of a nerd."

Easton gives her a sideways look when she snorts about it getting hard. Yes, he didn't mean it that way, but the fact that he can't suppress a smile means that he agrees it is a little funny. He smirks as she lays some mom-knowledge on him but does nod. "I know. I'm just..." He doesn't know. He finally manges to get out, "Fucking tired of hurting people I care about."

At the turn in the subject Easton looks a little relieved. He doesn't blink about the monster or the various trials. He just laughs and says, "Yea, that sounds about right." Thought her comment about this being normal gets a small wince, even if he knows what she means.

"Oh good." he barely gets the reference at all, let alone having seen the movies or read the books.

"So we're okay? You're not just lulling me into a false sense of security so you can tase me in the ear later?"