❝MARCO POLO EGO❞

third person

"sage- hey!" a voice said from behind her, the older routledge turning on her heel and smiling slightly as she saw the head of red hair running toward her.

"hey, morgan!" she said happily, letting the holcomb girl catch up with her before continuing walking, taking a sip of her slushee before turning to the girl next to her.

"so, how invested are you in kook drama? i mean, i know typically it stays separate but i wanted to talk to you about it, and-"

"i love kook drama, continue." sage mentioned, smiling at the redhead on her right as she continued to walk down the street, morgan following her.

"okay, so basically, i broke up with rafe, and-" she started, sage stopping in her tracks.

"you broke up with him?" she asked, morgan nodding slowly.

"yeah, and?"

"morgan, that's like, gonna do a huge number on his marco polo ego!" sage said happily. "you know how many girls he's broken up with? i've lived for the day i see rafe cameron get humbled, and you, my new best friend, was the one who did it." she said proudly, morgan laughing as the two continued to walk down the street.

"i'll do you one better." morgan added, sage raising her eyebrows at morgan who was grinning at her. "i broke up with him because i'm a lesbian."

"that's actually such a power move." the taller blonde replied, morgan smiling widely at her. "i cannot wait to see the pictures from midsummers, with rafe all alone on this side of the dance floor, it'll be so refreshing."

"he won't be the only one who's alone, i don't have a date anymore." morgan replied, her mood dropping slightly, but sage shook her head.

"i'm going with kie, i go with her every year. you can hang out with us and pope, it's so much more fun than being with the kooks." sage assured, morgan shrugging.

"i might, i'll see if sarah's still talking to me after the ordeal."

"she probably won't. she can't stand me anymore." sage replied, morgan looking at the girl in confusion.

"you dated rafe too?"

"was the only girl besides you who broke up with him." sage said proudly. "babe, every girl on this island has dated rafe cameron at some point or another. he's like that, shiny polo boy with sports cars, invited me to come golf with him and topper and kelce a few times. he ghosts all of them, acts like they never existed or had anything to do with him." sage explained. "you dodged a bullet, major bullet."

"maybe so, but still. word's gonna get out soon, i'm sure rafe hasn't kept this quiet at all." morgan said, sage shaking her head as she opened the driver's door of the twinkie.

"get in, you can come to the chateau and hang out with me and john b. rafe and his golf club wouldn't dare be caught on the south side." the blonde said with a smile, the holcomb girl climbing into the van on the passenger side, however a car stopped short next to their van.

"hey, gabs. glad to see you're moving on so quickly." topper said snarkily, morgan rolling her eyes as sage turned the car on.

"you broke up with me for her?" rafe added from the passenger seat. "i mean, i knew you made a couple comments about her in the past but i didn't think it was like that."

"would you shut up?" sage asked. "and for the record, rafe, she's the second girl who's left you for another woman who also likes women. the first one was me. seems like you have a type if you ask me."

topper turned to rafe at sage's words and morgan turned to sage.

"sage broke up with you for another girl?" topper asked rafe.

"you like girls?" morgan asked sage.

"love 'em. they're great." sage replied shortly, topper raising his eyebrows and looking at rafe.

"damn, bro." he muttered, rafe pinching the bridge of his nose as topper drove off, a smirk painted on sage's face. morgan turned to the routledge girl, who put the van in drive and cruised onto the street slowly.

"what girl did you dump rafe for?" morgan asked.

"his sister." sage replied flatly.

"sarah?" morgan asked, and sage nodded.

"no shame in admitting i was obsessed with her. loved her, being with rafe was the perfect way to spend time with her." sage explained. "i realized it wasn't fair to rafe. i broke up with him, but before i had a chance to even talk to sarah, he told her everything. she hates me now. wont even look at me if she's in the same place as me in public."

"relatable." morgan deadpanned. "kiara hates me too. some thing happened during her kook year with her and sarah, she blamed the whole thing on me because i was already going out with rafe at the time and was super close with sarah, so she thought i had influenced sarah into betraying her. something like that, anyways." morgan explained, sage shaking her head.

"kiara tends to overreact to certain things. she was hitting on my brother yesterday." the blonde said disgustedly, but morgan shrugged.

"i'd go straight for your brother." the redhead deadpanned, sage scoffing at the comment.

"you have a very low bar." the blonde replied, turning down the road to the chateau. "i mean, first rafe and then my brother, like i don't think there's more of a down-upgrade possibility."

"then again, i most definitely like someone else, so like, your brother's not even in the cards." morgan said, sage shrugging.

"i would most definitely hope not." the blonde replied, putting the twinkie in park as she and morgan climbed out.

"kiara's not here, is she?" morgan asked, sage shook her head.

"no, no, she's at the wreck this morning. it's just me and the guys." sage explained morgan slamming the door behind her as she and sage walked to the front door, sage swinging it open just as john b ran through the back door, running his hands through his hair.

"why is she here?" he asked, morgan looking taken aback as sage raised her eyebrows.

"good morning to you too, and she's my friend, you asshole." the blonde deadpanned, john b biting his lip and looking up at the redhead in front of him.

"hi, morgan." he breathed, clearly winded from his run.

"hi, john." morgan whispered, sage wrinkling her nose disgustedly and turning to the girl behind her.

"gross. never call him that again."

"why not?" john b asked.

"because it should be considered a crime that your legitimate government name is john." sage said, walking to the kitchen, morgan sitting on the edge of the couch. "where's jj?"

"don't know, haven't seen him all morning." john b said, sage raising her eyebrows.

"you left the child unattended?" she asked, standing in front of the open refrigerator and attempting to fan the cold air towards her.

"no, actually, he's with pope." john b replied matter-of-factly. "and shut the fridge, you'll run the power bill up."

"there is no power you idiot, it runs on propane." sage deadpanned, jj and pope running in through the back door and looking at morgan and john b before turning to sage in the kitchen.

"welcome." the blonde said, fanning more cold air at herself.

"'sup?" jj asked, turning to morgan. "hey."

"hi, morgan." pope said with a smile, sage shutting the fridge and rolling her eyes.

"ignore them, the only girls they've interacted with are me and kiara."

"i can tell." morgan replied, walking to the kitchen to stand in front of the fridge.

"why are you here, again?" jj asked, sage smacking him on the shoulder.

"be nice." she said lowly. "she's my friend."

"isn't she dating rafe cameron?" pope asked, but morgan chimed in.

"nope, broke up with him like a week ago and now all my kook friends hate me." she explained, sage pointing to the kitchen.

"jj, come on, i have somewhere i wanna go with you." john b said, sage raising her eyebrows.

"you taking jj to your secret kissing spot or what?" she asked, john b smacking her shoulder, sage slapping him on the back of the head.

"no, there's someone we need to go talk to." he said, sage rolling her eyes.

"who's this mystery person i can't go see with you?" sage asked.

"none of your business." john b replied mockingly, he and jj walking outside with pope eventually trailing behind.

"siblings are annoying." the blonde deadpanned, morgan shrugging and sitting on the pullout.

"wouldn't know, i'm an only child." morgan said happily, sage rolling her eyes.

"he's annoying, but i guess i love him." she added, falling onto the pullout next to morgan heavily, rubbing her eyes.

"you okay?" the redhead asked, sage nodding, closing her eyes for what felt like the first time in days.

"haven't been sleeping good is all." she said, morgan nodding.

"you can go sleep, i'm fine out here." she assured, sage shaking her head and sitting up, running a hand through her hair before pushing it back and over her shoulder.

"i'll be fine, always am." she assured, morgan wrinkling her eyebrows.

"what do you mean?" she asked, sage biting her bottom lip.

"you cannot tell anyone what i'm about to tell you. when i say no one knows, i mean no one." sage pushed, morgan nodding, moving to sit cross-legged on the pullout facing the blonde. "nothing has been normal for the last six months. i did something, i don't regret it, but if i was put in the position to do it again, i think i'd consider it more than i did."

"what is it?" morgan asked cautiously, sage sighing heavily.

"i signed my dad's death certificate. john b didn't want to, stormed out of the room when they asked him to. i went back the day after, signed it, put it in writing he was gone. i don't regret it at all. he wouldn't have hesitated if it had been me."

"john b wouldn't-"

"i know he wouldn't." sage said, looking up at morgan. dark circles had started to reform under the routledge girl's eyes, her skin was tan, yes, but had a sickly undertone to it. "dad would've, though. he didn't want me. he wanted a son, he and john b would go on their fishing trips and treasure hunts, he'd leave me here, take care of the house." she continued. "he hated me, i don't think he ever told me he loved me, and if he had i wouldn't have believed him." sage finished, morgan putting an arm over her shoulder.

"i'm not gonna tell anyone." she assured. "but really, go to bed. i'll let jj and john b know when they get back." she added with a small smile, sage returning the gesture as she stood up, stretching before walking back to her bedroom down the hall.

maybe with morgan, things would be okay.

kens speaks 🪐

this took almost two weeks to write so go me