[anna laughs, bright and happy and not with any kind of malice behind it at all. the smoke that lives in her throat colors it and makes it sound, to her old ears, like the laugh of somebody who actually is anna's age, instead of the ten years younger she often feels like she acts.]

It's about the aesthetic, Ange. Cigarette smoke and shitty beer and loud-ass music played through the worst amps imaginable. [this conversation has taken a hard left, but maybe it can provide ange with a better understanding of the way anna looks at things like romance and love.]

It's about knowing that you're not in the right place to do something, but your body and your emotions don't want to wait, so you just say "fuck it" and do it anyway. [she's still smiling, but there's nostalgia creeping into her tone. this isn't the way she acts anymore, but before trench, before A2, coming on twelve or thirteen years ago, this is the way she loved to be. and that's because...]

My first girlfriend used to live like that. We lived like that together, until... you know, we didn't. But I think there's always gonna be a part of me that thinks there's something romantic about it.