44. Spice Cabinet
SPICE CABINET
A MONTH LATER
GENERAL CHAT
Ava: spa day saturday
Ava: same place. noon
Tabby: YES
Annie: in
Ava: Nico?
Nico: Oh, I’m invited this time?
Tabby: Babe.
Nico: thought I wasn’t pedicure zen
Ava: you want in or not?
Nico: Yes.
Ava: Carter?
Carter: what treatments are we getting
Ava: pedicures. manicures. facials if anybody wants one
Carter: russian manicure?
Ava: probably
Carter: in
Annie: nobody had to convince you?
Carter: i like to keep my shit tight
Ava: Grant?
Grant: I own nail clippers and a shower. Pass.
Carter: and it shows
Grant: fuck you
Ava: Hale, you good with the time?
Hale: nah. gonna skip it this time
Ava: we can do later in the day
Hale: it’s all good. i’ll catch the next one
Tabby: you sure?
Hale: positive. have fun
Hale: night
Tabby: night
Nico: night, man
NEW GROUP: [NO Hale]
Annie: ok, we need to talk about Hale
Tabby: OH THANK GOD. Thought it was just me
Carter: what about him?
Ava: “i’ll catch the next one” what the fuck does that mean?
Annie: i got literal chills
Carter: it means he doesn’t want a pedicure
Carter: not everything is a cry for help
Tabby: and y’all noticed the beard, right?
Tabby: i thought he was trying something new and didn’t want to say anything, but clearly that is not what’s happening
Annie: SAME. depression beard. DEFINITELY a cry for help.
Ava: facts
Carter: if this is what the group chat is, i can see why Hale loses brain cells
Annie: i asked to borrow the Chevelle yesterday and he just handed me the keys
Ava: no lecture?
Tabby: no speech about the clutch?
Annie: not even a sigh
Grant: that is concerning
Carter: or maybe he finally realized the car is insured
Annie: no. that man once made me promise not to breathe too hard near the dashboard
Tabby: see
Tabby: textbook despair
Carter: y’all doing too much
Grant: maybe
Grant: but think about it
Grant: when’s the last time you had to chase him down for an invoice?
Carter: i don’t remember
Grant: exactly
Carter: i don’t like that
Nico: And he’s not talking.
Ava: What do you mean?
Nico: Hale talks. Even when nobody asks him to.
Nico: He’s been me-level quiet.
Carter: okay
Carter: that’s actually bad
Annie: WELCOME. he sees the light
Carter: i didn’t say all that
Tabby: should we say something to Yaz?
Nico: no.
Annie: hell no
Ava: no
Tabby: okay, damn
Annie: nothing she can do from a glacier
Tabby: we can’t just let him rot in that farmhouse for the next five months
Ava: we don’t
Annie: ominous
Ava: i mean we keep an eye on him. nothing weird, nothing he’d notice
Tabby: he’ll notice
Ava: not if we’re smart about it. we just... hold the fort
Annie: hold the fort?
Ava: Yes, keep the man alive and return him to Yasmine un-feral in five months
Tabby: we can do that
Annie: definitely
Carter: I don’t understand what’s happening.
Grant: Don’t try to.