𝘪 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 ╱ 𝐆𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐎𝐔𝐒

INTRODUCTION. ╱ FULL NAVIGATION. ╱ MAIN.

zara  raised her  eyebrows  as  a  teasingly smile  tugged  the  corners  of  her  lips.  “  okay  girl  ”  zara  chuckled. “  what  is  a  real  drink  to  you  ?  and  please don’t  say  water  ”  the  raven-haired  girl  teased,  she  knew  that  was  not  going  to  be  the  answer.  “  maybe  …  a  mojito ?  ”

“A mojito sounds nice. I love mint,” Aaliyah easily agreed. It was sometimes odd, Zara naturally liked the same things that she did. She’d always just shrugged it off, and maybe it was unspoken, but she did consider the woman one of her closest friends. “I haven’t had a drink in awhile, actually. Work is kicking my ass.”

a  wide  smile  tugged the  corners  of  her  lips  as  she  noticed  aaliyah sitting  next  to  her.  “  it  can  just  be  a  scrawl, and  then  i  should  have  enough  imagination to  draw  something with  that  ”  she  told  the  other. “  i’m  sure  i  was  joking  ”  she  laughed along  aaliyah,  “  i  don’t  really  know  how  she  would  react  if  i  just  came  home  like,  hey  what  about  this  crazy  plan  ”  avery  laughed.

“That sounds promising, I’d be intrigued to find out what you think I look like without clothes on,” Aaliyah continued to tease, nudging Avery with a grin. “Personally, if I were Ivy, I don’t think I’d say yes. We’ll stick with the basics. You can draw my face.” She chuckled. 

zara  just  nodded,  she  was  sure  that  people would  be  fine.  living  in  a  place  that  close  to  the  coast  made  practically  all  the  people that  lived  there  be  born  knowing  how  to  swim,  it  was  normal  for  parents  to  sign  up  their  kids  for  lessons, even  if  it  was  to  keep  them  busy  or  just  to  make  sure  the  kids  were  safe  in  the  water.  “  i’m  positive about  that  ”  she  smiled at  her  friend. “  now,  want  me  to  bring  us  something  to  drink,  soda,  water  …  something  else  ?  ”  she  winked playfully  at  the  other.

“Depends on what you’re thinking of. I wouldn’t mind a real drink,” Aaliyah agreed, grinning at the other woman. Besides, if work didn’t need her, she might as well have fun on her first day off in a week. It had only happened out of pure luck, really. Most people had to work during big town events. 

starter  open  to  :  everyone

location  :   lighthouse  beach.

avery  was  sitting by  the  beach, her  feet  buried in  the  warm  sand  as  her  eyes  traveled  from  the  seagull she  was  drawing to  the  paper. she  had  been  sitting  there  for  a  couple  of  hours  now  and  all  she  had  been  doing  was  drawing random  things  she  could  see  from  where  she  was  seating:  seagulls, the  lighthouse,  and  the  old  fence,  she  even  drew  her  flip flops buried  in  the  sad,  she  was  bored  by  that  time.  “  excuse  me  ”  she  waved  at  the  person now  walking  closer to  her.  “  can  you  please  draw  a  random shape  on  there  ?  i  ran  out  of  ideas  and  i  need  inspiration ”  the  blonde asked  with  a  smile  on  her  lips.  “  that  or  i  can  draw  you  like  one  of  those  french girls  ”  she  said  jokingly, handing  the  other  the  notepad.

Having lived in Newhaven her whole life, Aaliyah was pretty attuned to knowing everyone around town by name. While Avery was still pretty new, as was Ivy, she’d become fast friends with both women. The brunette tilted her head at the question, giving her a sly smile. “I’m not much of an artist, but I can try I suppose,” she agreed as she approached Avery, sitting down next to her and taking the pencil and sketch book in her hands. “I’m not sure Ivy would like that too much... unless she was included, maybe.” Aaliyah’s brow raised before she let out a chuckle.

zara  shook  her  head,  a  chuckle falling  from  her  lips  at  the  dark-haired girl’s  words,  it  made  sense. “  if  you  haven’t  saved  anyone  you  just  have  to  chill  then  …  well  not  chill  chill  but  y’know  what  i  mean  ”  zara  chuckled.  “  i  hope  you  don’t  have  to  save  anyone  today  ”

“Yeah, I hope I don’t have to save anyone, too.” Aaliyah was pretty good about being aware of her surroundings, mainly because her job required it out of her. Honestly, if she was called in last minute she might have heard about it by now. “I can probably chill anyways. I think I would have heard from him by now,” she admitted, voicing her thoughts.

“  we  all  know  a  boss  like  that,  i  guess  it’s  just  something  so  normal  ”  she  shrugged, it  wasn’t  as  if  she  worked  as  aaliyah  did.  “  i’m  sore  it  will  ”  zara  nodded, “  i  bet  you’ll  get  in  there  if  someone  needs  it  thought  ”  she  winked at  the  other, “  you  little hero  ”

“I’ve never actually had to save someone before, you know.” Aaliyah chuckled when her friend implied she was a hero, waving it off. “Around here, the kids learn to swim early on in school since we live on the coast and all, so that helps.”

Aless laughed at the young woman response, nodding along to the sentiment. “You are far too kind. Honestly kudos to you for that reply, by the way, very clever.” She hummed, smiling softly at the other. Honestly, maybe it was from all the years of living in L.A., but it still came as a shock to her whenever someone wasn’t rude during such an encounter as this. It brightened her day a bit. “Hopefully this will be the only near human collision you have today. I believe the max for a week is 2 right?” She joked with a soft laugh, smirk quirking the corner of her mouth upwards. 

Aaliyah shrugged. It was hard to be angry over something that almost happened, and furthermore that the person who almost ran into her happened to be a child. “My mom usually just calls it sass, but thanks,” she chuckled. “Oh yeah, for sure. I’d call anything over 4 a bad week,” Aaliyah played along, flashing her a grin. “If you happen to find a can of whipped cream and some pancake batter, you’ve got breakfast.” 

location: a farmer’s market in town.

status: open to anyone!! @nhstarters

‘Mama? Can we get some strawberries?’ Alessandra’s daughter asked softly, looking up at the older woman. The mother smiled down at Cressida as she nodded, squeezing the small hand that she currently held. “Of course princess, let’s see if we can find any, yea?” She hummed, walking between the stalls of the market with the young girl. She was glancing at one when she narrowly managed to miss someone, the woman quickly pulling her daughter to her. “Oh gosh I apologize, I tell my kids to look where they walk and sometimes I don’t even take my own advice.” She laughed.

At this point, Aaliyah really should have known not to text and walk at the same time because it wasn’t the first time she had almost bumped into somebody else. She shook her head at the woman that she somewhat recognized, somebody she saw around town a lot but hadn’t really spoken to yet. “No worries, I definitely can shoulder some of the blame. No use in crying over unspilt strawberries, right?” Aaliyah smiled softly.

“He asked if we can meet up and go grab some food and then go back and chill at his place.” Chill could mean a lot of different things. Nikolai would see the night was going to lead them. Maybe he’d get lucky if he played his cards right? “You wouldn’t dare! I was beer pong champion back at my college a couple of years back. I have some great aim on me.”

“Well, you’ll have to let me know how it goes afterwards. I’m calling dibs on being the first to hear,” Aaliyah teased, flashing Nikolai a grin. “Why is every guy the college beer pong champion? I guess it’s better than being the flip cup champion. That game is beyond stupid.”

“  for  real  ”  she  just  answered,  taking another  sip  of  her  drink. she  had  grew  up  in  this  place, and  even  if  her  place  had  one  of  those  infinity  pools  …  she  loved  the  beach  …  it  was  something  she  wasn’t  able  to  express with  words.  “  why  would  …  wait  is  he  one  of  those  dicks  ?  ”

“Guess you could say that,” Aaliyah shrugged. It wasn’t uncommon for someone to pick up an extra shift during an event, especially if they ended up short staffed. “There are a lot of people in the water today, hopefully they have enough staff to cover.” 

Nikolai let out a chuckle as the girl mentioned that he was very clearly distracted with his phone. “I was texting a handsome guy from the gym who was trying to set up an appointment with me. Outside of office hours - if you get what I’m saying.” He nodded his head as the girl mentioned that she was going to tear up this beach party tonight. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you, Aaliyah. You better play some beach beer pong with me at some point tonight though.”

“Wow, forget my boring swimsuit. I wanna hear some details about the handsome guy. What did he say?” she prodded, raising an eyebrow expectantly. Maybe it was the small town in her, but Aaliyah was nosy. She really couldn’t help that fact. “Duh. I’m gonna kick your ass.”

“  they  could  just  leave, like  …  moving to  newhaven  and  not  liking the  beach  …  sorry,  we  don’t  need  boring  people here  ”  she  said  as  a  chuckle left  her  lips,  not  that  she  meant  it  though. “  oh,  i  know  i  would  ”  zara  laughed along  with  the  other.  “  that  sounds like  an  interesting  thing  to  do,  i’m  just  so  down  ”  the  raven-haired  girl  assured  with  a  grin.  “  wanna  have  another drink  ?  ”

“Yeah... honestly, I think a few people could do with a permanent vacation away from here. Like, for real,” she agreed, rolling her eyes. Maybe it had been a joke, but Aaliyah couldn’t understand how people complained about living in a small town and never decided to leave. “I might need one before my manager decides to put me on a shift for this party.”

Jason spoke with Aaliyah briefly at the beach party the other day before they went their separate ways. So when he saw her on lifeguard duty again he confidently decided to bother her keep her company on her shift for a while. He could see she was wearing headphones but that didn’t deter him one bit. He got out of the water and brushed some sand off his damp skin before joining her on the beach. “Hey hey, nice to see you again, Aaliyah. Whatcha listening to now? Did you get a chance to listen to the band I recommended you last time, Wet Leg?”

Working part time at Lighthouse Beach didn’t require too much effort on Aaliyah’s end. Sure, there were the kids that needed an extra watchful eye because they could easily swim too far... other than that, it wasn’t hard. At least, she had never had to perform CPR before. “I haven’t, actually. The name kind of sounds like you’re trying to pull a prank on me,” Aaliyah teased, tugging off her headphones. “Who willingly names their band Wet Leg?”