IRL.

rhea plopped her shopping bags down on the empty space next to her in the booth before sitting down herself. drew chose the seat in front of her, setting his shopping down on the floor beneath their table.

he tried everything in his power to act normal. he even placed his phone face down to the side of the table to stop himself from fidgeting. there was no reason for him to be this nervous, after all, they had spoken before, texted regularly and had many mutual friends. but now, in person, sitting across from her in this little booth at the back of the mall cafe, it felt like the silence between them had taken on a personality of its own.

perhaps it was the lingering embarrassment from the interaction earlier, if you could classify it as an interaction.

drew watched as she shifted around beside her bags, huffing slightly. she lifted one, frowned, then dropped it back down.

"they're so heavy," she groaned, rotating her shoulders with exaggerated drama. "my arms are going to be literally bruised. why didn't anyone stop me."

she sat back with a sigh, head lightly hitting the booth wall behind her. drew watched her, trying not to smile.

then, suddenly, their eyes met.

neither of them said a word.

drew's lips pressed into a thin, unsure line, like he was about to say something but couldn't find the words in time.

rhea stared back, and then her bottom lip jutted out just slightly into a small pout. then she laughed.

a small snort at first, then a short burst of laughter. she leaned forward, hand to her face like she was embarrassed, like it caught her off guard.

drew blinked. "what?"

"nothing," she said quickly, shaking her head. "i don't know. this is so... this is so awkward."

he exhaled a laugh, finally letting himself slump a little. "it really is."

"what do we even talk about?"

drew shrugged then tilted his head, his eyes still averting from rhea's gaze, but she didn't seem to notice. "hmm... who are you shopping for?"

rhea perked up at that and pointed at her mountain of bags she was just struggling with. "just my family. i got my dad a new camera, my mum a cheese board that i definitely will use more than her," she spoke as she gestured to each bag, "and i just got my cousins a bunch of blindboxes."

"no way that's all you got with all of those bags..." drew scoffed in amusement and rhea jutted her lips out again in shame.

"you right... i got myself a bunch of stuff too but don't worry about all of that—oh thank you!" she smiled at the waitress who had just placed their drinks down in front of them.

"thank you very much," drew nodded and smiled at the waitress too, but she lingered for a bit longer than normal, both drew and rhea knew what would come next.

the waitress dug her hands deep into the pocket of her apron and took out her phone with an awkward smile. "i'm so sorry to be a bother but i'm a big fan of both of you and... um... can i take a picture with both of you?"

rhea clasped her hands together and gasped with a smile, "of course!" the waitress' awkward smile turned into a bigger, more genuine one, at the gesture as she got in position to take a selfie.

"thank you so much! this is so crazy but joe keery was just in here about an hour ago and i got to take one with him too," the girl scrolled through her camera roll a bit and showed them the goofy selfie she had taken with their friend.

"that's a terrible angle of him, thanks for doing him dirty," rhea giggled, leaning in to look at the phone, as drew let out a low laugh.

the waitress laughed, clearly still starstruck as she quickly tucked her phone back into her apron. "you guys are seriously the cutest couple i'm glad you both squashed your beef. thank you so much, i'll leave you alone now!"

rhea gave her a small wave, cheeks tightening in a half-smile. "thanks..."

drew just smiled politely, nodding once before the waitress turned and walked away. as soon as she was gone, his fingers tapped lightly against his drink, the ice shifting with each knock.

the silence that followed was weird and not the good kind of quiet either.

rhea stared at the edge of the table for a second then let out a small, tight laugh. "erm... let's just not talk about that."

drew blinked like he'd just snapped out of something. "yeah," he said quickly. "yeah, no, definitely agree."

rhea nodded like she needed to double confirm the contract. "cool. usually when people mistake me and my friends for a couple i just tell them they're my cousin but she walked away too fast."

"that literally would not work because she knows us though," drew shook his head as he watched rhea fuss with her straw, unwrapping it with her teeth and mumbling something under her breath.

he blinked again before sitting up a little straighter and taking a sip of his drink.

"god. damn." rhea said out loud, which startled drew a little bit. "they put so much syrup in this."

"yeah they went a bit heavy," drew confirmed, taking a sip and wincing at the taste of his own. "it tastes like perfume, no offense to the waitress, she was lovely."

rhea snorted, clearly amused as she learned forward to rest her arms on the table, her scarf almost dipping into her drink. "do you still want help with your audition?"

"uh... i mean, only if you want to," he spoke, caught off guard by the sudden return to seriousness. "it'd be nice to have someone who's passionate about the book tell me how they envision the characters."

"i already said i would so i will," she tilted her head, lips curling and her hand absentmindedly stirring her drink with her straw but she refused to sip. "besides, i would be fuming if i didn't get a say in any of it."

"you're seriously not auditioning?" drew asked with genuine concern.

rhea signed and rested a cheek in her free palm, staring into space behind him. "i don't think i suit any of the characters."

"how so?"

"um... they're all a bit older and... white," she smiled sheepishly, her eyes flicking back to his like she was trying to soften the blow with humour.

drew tilted his head, processing her words. "yeah, but like, you don't have to be a carbon copy of the character."

"i know," rhea said with a shrug, "but you know how it is. sometimes the way a character's described is basically code for 'not you.' like, alicia is described as 'pale, ethereal, fragile-looking, tragedy in her eyes' that's not me."

drew squinted at her, "wait. you said all a bit older and didn't even mention how i'm auditioning. you think i look old?"

rhea pasued, her straw halfway to her mouse, her dark eyes hidden behind her lashes with false innocence. "... your words, not mine."

drew raised an eyebrow, about to reply when suddenly rhea's phone buzzed loudly on the table. she glanced down, frowning.

"ugh, hold on," she muttered, grabbing it and quickly swiping through notifications.

her face shifted from curious to slightly annoyed. "wow, okay. that selfie has been posted and joe was acting a little bit too much like joe goldberg earlier." 

she turned the screen to him. "you gotta see this."

drew's eyes glued to the screen, his expression shifting from amused, curious, to outright laughter. when the camera caught himself frozen he simply cracked a smirk and shook his head.

"oh god, that's me? i look so scared," he muttered, chuckling. he leaned closer to watch joe's dramatic narration."

as the video progressed, showing rhea descending down the escalator and him disappearing from sight, drew let out a huff of air. "damn, sorry for ghosting you like that. didn't realise i was starring in this film."

rhea lowered her phone then smacked her hand on her forehead in shame. "that's what i was talking about before when i said i was recovering from something, i just can't believe joe was lurking."

"god, that's so embarrassing, i ran away again." drew leaned back in his seat, feeling the heat rush back to his face. "thanks for documenting that joe."

"yeah thanks, joe," rhea shook her head and laughed.

. . .

a/n: god i'm really not used to writing less than 5000 words proper chapters...