“now, i don’t want to make this weird but you have really beautiful looking hair.” becca and chase exchanged a glance but becca shrugged, accepting the compliment.

“thank you! that’s not…too weird?”

“well, im glad to hear that!” the man flirting with them was a local guy, born and raised in the town they were passing through. good looking in an idle sort of way. what he lacked in looks, he made up for in charm. or at least, he had made up for it. “can i…touch it?” the question, both with and without context, severely diminished the conversation and both girls froze, polite smiles stuck in place.

“um?” and “what?” are all they can think to say. becca and chase had both encountered a fair amount of whackadoodles in their time. the type of bars they frequented on hunts, it was normal for them to get weird pick up lines and strange come ones. this…this was up there, though.

“you want to touch my hair?” becca asked, disbelief flooding her face and her voice.

“yeah, i mean, it looks really soft.”

the girls exchanged another glance, noses wrinkled, until chase wrapped a hand around the younger girl’s wrist and pulled lightly. “buddy, you just made it weird.”

“what did i…?” he asked, but chase was already dragging becca around their suitor and down the bar a few feet.

“boys,” chase greeted, slipping in neatly to the space allotted for her and becca between the company they usually kept.

“already tired of what the local color had to offer?” ben asked, angling a smirk down at them.

“the local color asked to touch my hair.” becca complained, nose wrinkled back up in disgust. marc snorted around his drink, unable to control his laughter, even when becca whacked a hand back against his chest. “shut up! it was creepy.”

ben concealed his own laughter behind a hand wiping at his mouth but the look he caught from chase had him smirking again. “if he comes around again, we’ll scare him off.” ben offered, reaching around chase to pat becca consolingly on the shoulder. she shot him a pathetic face and he full out laughed at that, squeezing lightly before turning to wave down the bartender. “my friend needs something to soothe the pain of being verbally molested.” the bartender cast a gaze down at where their weird little friend was drinking alone and both ben and marc cracked up laughing again, only regaining composure when becca’s new drink was set in front of her.

“so, your boyfriend’s reputation precedes him.” marc teased, poking becca in the side. it earned him another wallop, this time from chase and upside the head.