phone post

[orangetoughguy]

"Motherfucker, I'm trying to watch The Lost Boys."

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[orangetoughguy]

What the fuck did you do, leave unfinished business?

[Finally, food. He's crunching into a taco then talking with his mouth semi-full.]

You try candy and flowers yet?

[signatures]

No, actually. Not as far as I know.

[ He goes for some beans first. ]

I've no intention to.

[orangetoughguy]

[He's putting a little taco meat on his tamale now because he can.]

You gotta give me a little more to work with here. [He's a cawp, remember?!]

[signatures]

I'm sure during your stay here you once considered this place to be a figment of your imagination?

[orangetoughguy]

Sure, here and there I'm thinkin' what if it's all a fuckin' dream, man? Then I put a hand right here.

[He places his palm over where he carries a bullet scar to the belly.]

And I tell myself no fuckin' way cause this really happened.

[It's a lot better than telling Eames Orange knows this place is real somehow because he came here with White and he couldn't make White up.]

[signatures]

Exactly.

[ Now it's Eames turn to lean forward. ] We all have physical evidence or desires that just wouldn't hold up in something created by fantasy.

[ He thumbs the side of his nose. ]

Arthur has doubts.

[orangetoughguy]

[Freddy might be crunching loud enough for Eames to hear. Crunch crunch.]

When the fuck did that happen? [Because the guy's been around a long while.] Don't you have a fuckin' dog?

[signatures]

The beginning. Then again when I came back.

[ Stupid cockblocking dog. ]

[orangetoughguy]

[In trying to make sense of this Freddy ends up flapping his hands this way then that way while swallowing up a tamale.]

When the hell was he convinced at all?

[It occurs to him now that Eames may not know the extent of just what happened while he was gone, especially if Arthur's stuck in a rut of thinking he imagined it.]

[signatures]

[ Eames rolls his shoulders. ]

Who knows. Perhaps he'd only allowed it out of a pause in his otherwise solid line of logic. I'm still not sure what he thinks, now.

[orangetoughguy]

[Okay the kid clears his throat a little then washes down his taco with some soda. No choking this time.]

He talk to you about when you were gone?

[signatures]

Somewhat.

[ He finally digs more into his food. ] Why?

[orangetoughguy]

Just wonderin' what he thought it was with you gone.

[Freddy's still trying to decide whether to tell Eames or not.]

[signatures]

Thought what was? All this?

[ Eames waves around him idly with a taco. ]

A dream.

[orangetoughguy]

[This is tearing Orange up inside. It really is. But his face is a facade of utter supercoolness.]

How long you known each other again?

[signatures]

[ Eames exhales in thought, shaking his head before biting into his taco. Chewing gives him time to do the math. ]

Eight years, or thereabouts.

[orangetoughguy]

[That almost makes Freddy jealous. Almost. He wonders how many times Eames and Arthur have fought, how many times they've come together then drifted apart only to come back again. He wonders if it's dumb and naive to want to have even half that time with Larry. It's a quick temporary flare because he comforts himself knowing in the short time he's known Larry he's gained the kinds of memories he'll take to the fucking grave.]

Long time. [Orange says around this second tamale.] Too long to think you're dreaming. I mean all kinds of crazy shit happens here, you'd need a fuckin' therapist if it was in your head.

[signatures]

[ What Eames leaves out, of course, is the year spent not knowing one another - and everything between all that. ]

I don't think he considers the entire eight years to be inconsequential, [ he muses over his tacos, ] only this place.

[orangetoughguy]

I didn't mean that, just you know a guy for so long...

[And suddenly he doesn't want to say anymore because after gunning guys down and holding his hand while he bled to death and losing his ass cherry to White it still took him time to reveal he's a cop. Somehow it just makes Orange an uncredible source when it comes to knowing who people really are, in his opinion anyway.]

After all that though I'm pretty sure he missed you.

[signatures]

[ Eames only shakes his head, finishing off his last taco, washing it down with a few pulls of his cola. ]

Had plenty of company, besides.

[orangetoughguy]

I mean it man.

[He looks at Eames curiously, thinking the guy's dismissing the concept too easily though he wouldn't blame him for it either.]

[signatures]

[ Now would be a good time for a cigarette, but he quit. ]

Nah, mate. He was just waiting to wake up because I told him I'd get him up, if we were dreaming.

[orangetoughguy]

[........Freddy clears his throat again.]

You're a pretty easy goin' kinda guy, right?

[signatures]

So I'm told. [ He shoots Orange a small smirk. ]

[orangetoughguy]

So there was this one day where all the mistletoe in the whole fuckin' place started creepin' everywhere. I'm talkin' your bedroom, your bathroom, the kitchen, the mailbox, the fuckin' streetlight. This shit was everywhere.

[Hands. They're flapping.]