Chapter Text
It all starts to spiral on a Friday night at Sally's diner movie night during summer break. The sky was clear that night, the parking lot crowded with youngsters alike. Per usual, Anakin and his friends chip in to participate since it's one of their only traditions they can do together after Obi-Wan graduated last month. Being the only son of a big clothing brand CEO, Obi-wan got elected to an intern in basically no time with its headquarter in the big neighboring city away from the small town they grew up in. Anakin’s cherry red Ford Ranger 1995 is parked at the very back of the row to evade lots of light. It's a used old school pick up truck he bought when he entered high school. Anakin saved up his entire savings that year just to bring it home.
Turning the engine off, Anakin rolled down his window. His hands quickly grabbed a stick of cigarettes, lighting it up. A puff of smoke exits his mouth as gentle blows of wind move past his lightly gelled black hair. Not long after, a blue Toyota Prius parked next to him. A guy popped up with a huge grin plastered on his face donning shades on despite it being nighttime.
“Ani! My guy!” Obi-Wan cheerfully walks over, giving Anakin the bro handshake then propping both his elbows on the window. He pushes the shades up, combing his hair back.
Anakin takes a long drag of his cigarettes before putting it out. “How's work?” he asks as he puffs the smoke out.
Obi-wan coughs dramatically, fanning his hands in front of his face. “First of all, I thought you quit smoking. Second of all, it fucking sucks. Third of all, I miss you, man. I haven't seen you or the guys in like what? Two weeks? since I graduated and essentially never home, like— ever.” Obi-wan rants loudly.
Anakin snickers, “Big boy living in big city now, eh? and no, I said I'd quit smoking during school time.” He tilts his head as if to make a point.
Obi-wan rolled his eyes lazily, though a chuckle could be heard. “Where are the others? I got the new goodies...” Obi-wan pulled up a blue drawstring pouch to view. Giving it a smidge swing in front of Anakin with his little sing-song voice.
“By now, I thought the big city practiced intelligence. I guess not.” Anakin quips with a pointed look towards Obi-wans’s pouch.
Obi-wan swatted his best friend's back of the head, “Shut up, dumbass. I don't want to hear it from someone who fails history class. A.K.A. easiest subject ever.” Obi-wan stressed on his last sentence.
Anakin hissed, “In my defense, I'm dyslexic.” Anakin rubs the spot where Obi-wan hit him.
“Dyslexia and stupidity are two very different things, Sky Guy.” A girl's voice chipped in their heated debate, closing in on the two of them.
“Oh thank God you’re here. I can’t deal with this moron anymore.” Obi-wan exhales loudly, putting a hand on his chest. Ahsoka approaches the two of them, putting her arm around Obi-wan.
Ahsoka peeks at Obi-wan’s face, she quips, “Damn. You look awful, city boy-”
Obi Wan begrudgingly puts a hand up stopping Ahsoka midsentence, “Don’t even mention it.”.
Anakin misses these moments, where it’s just him and his best friend laughing their ass off on something stupid. Soon the three of them settle on Anakin’s truck bed, laying out every other snack they possibly gather before they come down to the diner. Some assorted chips in ziploc bags, candies that don't match one another and a couple cans of sodas that also came in singular.
“Kitster told me he can’t make it tonight. He got held up for closing duty.” Anakin informs. Kitster— one of Anakin’s childhood friends whose family owned one of the biggest bakeries in town. Though it’s the biggest, it’s nowhere near a mass production factory since it’s a small town, anyway. Besides, Kitster and his dad both have such massive dedication towards baking that they, Anakin quote, ‘can’t let their children be raised by strangers’ as opposed to leaving the bakery to run on its own. They tend to go to the store earliest and stay up late to do the closing by themselves. Anakin really admired their passion and hard work since he started being friends with Kitster and often visited the bakery after school during elementary school. For as long as Anakin can remember, he has always been friends with Kitster.
Ahsoka checks on her phone, “Damn, this sucks. Both Kitster and Lux are not coming down? What a pooper.” Ahsoka quickly points her front camera to the three of them, stealing a picture with the front camera. “Fuck you for missing out, middle finger.” Ahsoka mouths her typed response. Which, Anakin assumes she sends that to Lux. Lux Bonteri is someone who Anakin still tries to figure out till this day. The case with Lux is that he pops up on a random day in first year of high school and somewhat hits it off with Ahsoka and Obi-wan right away. Being in a small town, almost everybody knows everyone and so the arrival of Lux Bonteri, an incidentally proper city boy with an A-lister business owner parents does spark conversations on why his family moved in. Something something about them living the “slow life”, if Anakin remembered correctly. Though Anakin as far as these past 3 years has never had issues with Lux, he does sometimes think the way of city living still dilutes his manners.
Obi-wan breaks his train of thoughts as he held up the blue bag again, “Let’s get fucked.” Obi-wan offers the bag to Ahsoka first which she gladly pops in one gummy from Obi-wan’s conspicuous blue bag, humming in satisfaction. “Dang, that's sweet!” Ahsoka comments as she chews. The gummy looks just like store bought gummy teddy bears with a little too bright red coloring on it than Anakin would like. Obi-Wan thrusts the bag in Anakin's direction, nodding his head in encouragement.
Anakin shook his head lightly, “Nah, I'm good.” as he swung around the box of cigarettes he's been fiddling with in front of Obi-wan. Obi-wan quickly snatches the box away putting it in his pocket despite Anakin's protests, once again encouraging him to take one of the edible as well.
“I have to go back to reality on Monday. Which is 2 days from now. So, please, entertain me.” Obi-wan pleads with Anakin as he puts on the most pout he can muster.
“...Fine.” Anakin grumbles as he shoves his hand in, taking a bear and putting it in his mouth. The taste is funny, definitely a bit of mint in it but nothing too much. “It’s light.” Anakin quips.
Obi-Wan barks out a laugh as he throws his head back, “Get a load of this champ! Take one more, I dare you.”. Anakin scoffs lightly at Obi-wan’s jab. He knew better than to get high on a Friday night with not one but two idiots. One time the three of them woke up piled on top of each other on a dumpster 30 miles away from their town. God knows where he’ll end up in the morning this time. Their conversations flow on as the night settles in with the movie starting playing in the background. It is a romance movie, something about marriage, family tradition, and heritage lineage. Wait… no, it’s a thriller. Wait, what? His thoughts slowly come to a halt as his mind races to keep up. Anakin’s vision grows blurry, his breaths getting shallow by the minute. He looked around only to find Obi-wan and Ahsoka talking to a can of Mountain Dew, worshiping it as the Deity of the mountains. Abruptly, the air from his lungs constricts, giving his body a jolt. He can feel the lump of food slowly billing up his throat. Anakin crawled out of his truck bed, then ran for his life to the bathroom. Not skipping the fact that he probably tripped once or twice during his short journey there.
Sally’s Diner’s toilet is definitely not on his top list of clean bathrooms and he hated the fact that he sat on the floor— puking his guts out on the toilet. It’s the smell and the disgusting mold on its corner that gives him ick. Frankly, Anakin has a thing for hygiene. Though, all of it doesn’t really matter when his ears are ringing and black spots are showing in his vision. A couple moments pass by, his crash out dissipating into a gentle lullaby of the high. A classical song playing on the back of his head, still serenading him through a stream of consciousness. Anakin takes his time in gaining balance once he straightens up and heads for the sink. He can't help to notice his liner becoming smudged and running down his face, his jet black hair once styled back now a messy mop of hair as he washes his hands. Not the worst he managed but not his best either— mix it with the dirty foggy mirror, he thought. Then a second realization came by, a girl was standing behind him. Anakin steadily turns his body around as he takes in the girl in front of him with seemingly flapping white wings behind her.
“Fuck.” Anakin grumbles, “You look real, and that’s weird. I never got high and made up an Angel before.” His fingers are busy hovering over the poor girl’s face. Who is now sporting the same confused expression similar to the one on his face.
The girl huffs out loudly, before extending her hand quickly to catch Anakin’s elbow as a form of support. “You’re literally about to fall on your face.” The girl berates. Anakin did feel like he was about to plunge with his face planted to the ground. Her fingers are cold, Anakin noticed. He quickly maneuvers his hands to hers despite the hazy vision and against his clouded judgement. He claps their hands together, unconsciously pulling towards his scorching hot face. Reeling in the cold sensation, Anakin sighs with relief— fluttering his eyes closed before swiftly opening it again, boring his eyes on the girl. Anakin towers a whole head from this so-called Angel hence why it’s hard to not loom.
“Don’t look at me like that.” The girl quips. Her pink glossy lips shimmers as she speaks. That in itself could put Anakin in a trance, he thought.
“Why not?” Anakin's gravels. His eyes swept over her face in a quick swipe. Her eyes are warm chocolate brown, whilst thick lashes fans on her cheekbones. That gummy from Obi-wan must've been heavy since his high trance doesn’t usually linger around so well after he freshens up.
“It makes me uncomfortable.” The girl gives him a look— undecipherable to Anakin’s foggy conscience, she quickly snatches her hand away from his clasps. Leaving him alone with the racing thought of her in the dingy bathroom at Sally’s Diner.