“Hey, Whit!”

Whit looks up to see his goddess amidst the trees. He sits up and smiles at her, “What are you doing Laurel?”

She sighs, “Mass is ending soon we need to get back before they know we’re not there.”

“But they already know we’re not there.”

“Yeah, but now they’ll be able to do something about it.” Laurel points out.

“Alright.” Whit picks himself up and climbs to the top of the embankment where Laurel waits for him. He takes her waiting hand, but before they leave Xylo calls after them.

“Lovely Laurel, tell your boy Benny that if he wants to buy from me he needs to come out to my trailer. I ain’t going to the city for a sell.” He grins up at them before taking another drag of his joint.

“Whatever.” Laurel scowls at him and quickly turns, pulling Whit along with her giving him barely just enough time to wave goodbye to Xylo as she charges angrily through the forest.

“Since when were you fooling around with Xyler?”

“About ten minutes ago.”

“Really?” She turns to look at him exasperated and shakes her head. “You shouldn’t be fucking around with him. I don’t like him.” Whit can feel her hand tighten around his.

“I think he’s interesting.”

“Yeah, well I know he sells to my dad which is more than enough reason to not like him.”

Whit comes out of the dead forest reborn and the sun christens him in his new life.

“Took you long enough.” Benny remarks still sitting on the bench where he had been left.

“He was hanging out with Xyler.”

“Xyler? What the fuck was he doing in the forest?”

“Pot.” Whit clarifies.

“Yeah, and he had a message for you. Said if you wanted to buy from him you’d have to go to his trailer.” Laurel sits back down on the bench while Whit sits up on the bench table still holding hands with Laurel.

“You shouldn’t be doing drugs.” Whit says.

“Why not?” Benny looks back and forth between the two of them.

“Because it’s bad for you, you idiot.” Laurel states starkly.

“And I don’t like the smell of pot.” Whit chimes in.

“Wah? You were just hanging out with a drug dealer and I bet you weren’t lecturing him about doing drugs.” Benny argues.

“No, I was letting him give me a blowjob. But anyway, Xylo’s different than you, he doesn’t belong anywhere or with anyone, but you belong with us.” Whit argues back soundly. To prove his point he leans forward and gives Benny a kiss on the cheek. “And we want you to be healthy and not smelly.”

Benny frowns and becomes fascinated with the dirt and grass around them, “Alright, I won’t buy any more drugs…”

Laurel takes his hand, “Good.” She leans her head against his shoulder, “If you ever feel bad enough to want to take drugs you should talk to us instead.”

Benny blushes, “I don’t want to bother you guys with my stupid shit. You both already have your own problems.”

“Idiot,” She squeezes his hand tighter, “if we can’t be there for each other than what even are we?”

He looks up at her and grins sheepishly, “I know, it’s just… hard sometimes, you know?”

“Yes, but even still…” She reaches her other hand forward and begins to take off his solid black sunglasses. Benny has dark blue eyes.

“Aren’t we going back to the church?” Whit breaks up their moment.

“Oh, right.” Benny pulls away from Laurel and readjusts his sunglasses back to proper place. “We should be getting back.”

“Alright.” Laurel gives grudgingly.

“Alright!” Whit yells while jumping to his feet so he towers over everyone on top of the table, “To the church!” he shouts more as he points aggressively in the wrong direction.

Laurel sighs and shakes her head, “That’s not where the church is you dummy.”

Whit grins slyly, “Yeah, BUT if everyone already knows that we’re not there and we’re all going to get in trouble anyway we might as well continue on our current path.”

“He’s got a point.” Benny remarks from the side.

“So, rather than trying to get forgiveness for our disappearing act we’re just going to make everyone ten times more pissed at us.”

Whit nods eagerly, “Exactly. And while we’re at it we need to find some laurel wreaths.”

“What do we need those for?” Laurel asks exasperated.

“Because we need laurels for Laurel.” Whit grins.

“You’re not going to find any laurels growing around here.” She crosses her arms in annoyance.

“I wonder if the nursery in the next town over would have them.” Benny muses aloud.

“Don’t give in to him.” Laurel turns quickly on him.

Benny smirks, “Or we could try ordering them online.”

Laurel tosses her hands up and leaves the bench while taking her coffee, “Where are we going?”

Whit points back in the direction he had originally pointed at, “Benny’s place.”

“Don’t be mad sweetie.” Benny comes up behind her and kisses her gently on the neck, “I think laurels for Laurel is a great idea.”

“It’s a dumb idea,” Laurel retorts, “you’re not going to find laurels growing anywhere around here and nurseries aren’t going to be raising anything like that either.”

“We’ll just use imaginary laurels then.” Whit hops down from the table and starts walking ahead of them.

The other two follow behind readily. Benny leaves behind his empty hot cocoa cup on the table.