-- look up at the skyline

“You asked…did you not?” She looked at him. Christina knew that was a crazy task to ask someone about, but he really wanted to know. It wasn’t like she didn’t have time for the delivery, only having to finish up decorating the last batch of cupcakes for the day, but she really didn’t feel like it.

“They already paid, though if they tip you..I’d let you keep half.

“Yeah, it’s tempting, but Imma have to pass,” he said, moving back behind the counter. “We’re pretty slow, but I’ve still got a business to run. I can’t really take off all willy nilly like,” Plus, it didn’t sound as though it was a dire situation. She was pretty nonchalant, meaning there was no reason to agonize over whether or not to help. 

Jensen rolled his eyes detecting the sarcasm, he was happy to have a closer game shop in town until this moment. “I hope you are hiring, or you’re gonna last long,” Jensen replied. “Especially since you are apparently living in fear of criminals. You just made yourself a sitting duck,” he slipped his hands into his pockets. “This doesn’t scare you right? You need me to empty them to ensure your safety?” He joked.

Jensen approached the counter slowly, you know to not scare Aidan with any sudden movements. Making sure to exaggerate each step, for dramatic effect. “You are the game master, I am open to all suggestions. Including older worlds.”

Aidan’s brow knitted in momentary confusion. Being aware of criminals made him a sitting duck? Eh-- it didn’t matter what the kid said or whether or not it made sense to him. What did matter? Money. 

“Yeah yeah, keep talkin and I will,” he replied, patting the counter before returning to writing. He stared at the note, ignoring to sudden urge to trip up Jensen’s dramatic approach. “Try these,” Aidan passed him a sheet of paper with some titles on it. “Okami is a gorgeous game, it has a classic Zelda vibe. Darksiders: Warmastered Edition has some good hack & slash, but it’s story’s kinda out there. And-- well I won’t go through them all. You can read, right?” 

Davis grinned happy she ended up getting her way, she never thought anyone would be super proud to be a grinch but to each their own. “We’ll have flyers around town in no time,” Davis joked. “Send over a picture to the clinic and we can have sign right there for.” 

“Hey- if you know any man willingly to serve, tell them Davis is looking,” Davis teased. She made room for him to come out of behind the counter and walked over to open the door for him.

“Done,” he replied with a chuckle. Aidan shrugged on his coat and paused a minute. This required mental prep. He debated just grabbing the stuff and darting out the door, but he’d still have to wait for her to open everything up. Which wouldn’t be worth it. So he grabbed the first box and sighed. 

“I’m sure you could find a few around here. Jobs market ain’t what it used to be,” He chuckled again, but cut himself off as he watched her walk over to the door and open it.  He looked for the counter where her last few things lay and back to her. “Woooow. Not even gonna attempt it, huh?” He laughed, but honestly? It was obnoxious. Helping is one thing, but carrying all of it? Spoiled much? “I’m gonna stress this is the only time I’m doin this,” Aidan added, scooping up the remainder of stuff before carrying it out into the freezing brisk morning air. “Where are your wheels?”

“Oh, I’m glad, that was my concern,” Edward said dryly, snorting at the Brando impression. Assuming it was an impression and the guy wasn’t even trying ot be ironic.

“Uh-huh.” Edward glanced around the store again, which was about as devoid of customers as it appeared to be devoid of products for potential customers to purchase. Either the guy was astoundingly successful or incredibly lazy when it came to actually stocking his shelves. Just from his first impression, he was going to have to guess the latter. 

He raised his eyebrows. “Who is asking for free product?” he said. “All I want is your space, and you get a guaranteed batch of customers who are going to come in every week and are all too happy to spend their parents’ money. I know you already do game nights here, so I didn’t think it would be a big deal if you hosted the high school’s video game club. They bring all their own stuff, although if you had a table, that would probably help. In exchange they’ll promote you on the group’s social media pages, and probably their own, too. Nothing like word of mouth – or word of Instagram, I guess, but whatever – to help a small business.”

“Perhaps, you should lead with that next time,” Aidan replied as he wrote on the colored note. “Comin in all devil may care and askin for favors? It always implies either a con, a bum, or both,” 

“Great minds think alike, though, cause that’s pretty similar to what I was gonna suggest. But as you can see, I’m not really equipped for that just yet--” Aidan nodded to the cove like room that hosted a few tables and a large blank wall. “I actually just had a buddy leave out to fetch something that might work for a video game club, but we’d still need to fix it up. If you can bring a projector, however, we could figure it out,” His thought had been more along the lines of workshopping at the high school. Bring in some games, demo’em, build some rapport and then bring them into the store. Edward’s plan was more direct but come on-- what was it with video games in this town? He liked’em as much as the next person, maybe more. But did no one like anything old school anymore? 

Stashing his pen behind his ear, Aidan ripped the top post it note off the pad and passed it to Edward. “Here’s my number and e-mail. About how many kids are in this club?”

Considering Aidan’s knack for getting along with folks that were older than him, Jolene was no stranger to him. In the last few years, they sold at the same events. Aidan pimped his designs, both nerdy and not, and Jolene her crafts. He knew she had a business of her own. They weren’t exactly his aesthetic, but he also knew how hard it was to break in places. Humming to himself, he glanced around the store. It was empty. Not unusual for this early in the morning though.

Aidan hummed as Kent began to describe what he was looking for. A video game, of course. Video gamers seemed to be his biggest clientele so far and as much as he appreciated their patronage, things were becoming increasingly more difficult for him. He’d been ambitious when he did his pop-up shops, introducing the idea of getting back to less tech based games. He hadn’t ordered a ton of console games. Just enough to appeal to the niche and give himself a little cushion. So these obscure games people were asking for? He had nada.

Even without a name, this one seemed familiar though. Pulling out his phone, Aidan typed a few key words into his search bar. “I’ll be honest with you. I probably don’t have it. But if we can get a title, I can probably find you a copy...” he said, scrolling through possibilities before he spotted something that fit. “OH, is it this one? Um, Micro Machines?”

Lily chuckled at his attempt to decipher her plan, and she enjoyed playing along with it even further. “I appreciate that.” She smiled gently, following him out into the street once more, before he answered her question. It amused her, that he was continuously playful during their conversation. It was a nice change, from the courthouse.

“Does that mean I can give you a random name?” She raised her eyebrow, mischieviously, already thinking up the names she could give him. Lily began walking towards the coffee shop, when she turned back to face him. “Bob?”

Aidan tutted, shifting the laptop to his other side. “I mean, sure. I think something cool would work. Colton or Blaze, maybe. OH, maybe Gunner,” He was rambling as he followed after her, thinking of other ridiculous names when he heard her suggestion.

“Bob? Really?” he laughed, rubbing the back of his neck before nodding, “Ok ok ok, cool cool cool. Bob it is,” Aidan-- Bob extended his free hand, offering her a shake as they stopped in front of the coffee shop. “Hi, I’m Bob and it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lils. Can I call you Lils?”

          raising her eyebrows at his words, having no clue what he was talking about right now.  it might be the wine that she had in her system already but so far, she couldn’t make sense of what he was talking about.  she was just about to comment on the ‘ barbie cure ’ when the bag started to twitch, making her pull away a little from that.     ‘ you  –  tell me you don’t have a darn squirrel there, now. ’

          she was almost expecting a squirrely to jump out of the bag to wreak havoc in her room, eyes squinted as she listened to him but what tumbled out of it made her gasp loudly.  it was a little gray kitten, so small and so beautiful, yet she could note that it was also scared right now.  her heart swelling at how cute it looked, barbie let out a soft, high pitched sound as she got closer to its eye level too.    ‘ oh my god, oh my god  –  you’re the cutest little thing ever, aren’t you ? ’

          after a few moments of easing her hand to the kitten’s side and managing to get close enough the scratch under its chin gently with her fingertip, she looked back at aidan, a huge smile on her face.     ‘ i can’t believe you’ve gone through all the trouble to bring it to me. ’     she chuckled before wrapping her arms around him, giving him a quick tight hug before pulling away to look at the kitten again.     ‘ thank you. ’

For a hot second, Aidan was worried. He didn’t exactly think through the different ways Barbara might respond to him bringing a kitten he found in a gutter into her home. Literally. He’d found it in a gutter and his shirt and its dirtied fur were proof. He wasn’t sure if she still liked cats. His only thought was to rescue it. If she didn’t want it, he’d find it a home. Telling someone about a stray they might like and dropping it in their room were different matters though.

“I thought so. Little thing was stuck. I think it was too tired to climb out,” he mused, smiling as Barbie’s uncertain demeanor practically melted. She managed to not only touch it, but give it a scritch. Aidan rocked back, sitting back on his legs.  “Wow, I’m impressed. It barely let me get near it, let alone pet it. I tried to get the majority of the gunk of its fur and well-- you see how that turned out,” A gesture to his clothing was all he could manage before he was breathin in the sweet smell of whatever fragrance she was wearing. He returned the favor and nodded as it wobbled again and fell back onto its bottom to look around.

“Ya got any scrapes or anything? I’m sure it isn’t too picky right now,” Aidan asked before shifting slowly to his feet. It winced regardless, skittering right into Barbara. Aidan chuckled as he made his way toward Barbie’s kitchen. “I’m startin to think this is a gender thing and I dunno how I feel about it,” 

She was relieved to see that he didn’t seem bothered by her tardiness. That, at least, was a positive sign. Krystal was lucky to be typically unburdened by the constraints of time, and found Aidan’s willingness to overlook something as silly as being fifteen minutes late to a date a good thing. Even if he had far fewer tattoos than her usual type, she might be able to do some overlooking of her own. Maybe Resa knew what she was doing, after all. She nodded as he spoke in French. It went mostly over her head, but she caught the word manger, and figured she understood the gist. “I totally agree. I’m starving,” she said, nodding sagely.

She beamed as she sat, this smile genuine. “It went really well. Thanks for askin’. Last year I won a trip to Vegas because I was one of the top sellers in Alabama, so now I get to be a district leader and have other sellers workin’ under me, and we have weekly conference calls to track their progress and share our wins,” she explained. “And I’ll have an eight second ride,” she said, making sure to make eye contact when she told him her drink order, flirting 101.

Aidan chuckled at her response and pushed her chair in. It was about the only thing he remembered from French class. Well that and Jenny Allen-- but that was a story for another time. French had not been his forte. Lucky for him, it obviously wasn’t Krystal’s either. 

“Vegas, huh? Sounds like you’re doin more than well. I swear my momma likely buys a third of your supply. Everytime I’m over she’s got a new box,” Did they work? That remained to be seen, but it made her happy. So he didn’t meddle much. She would have a fit if she realized he went out with Krys and didn’t get her some sortta discount. A good word would have to be good enough though. His eyebrow raised as he took his seat and she gave him her drink order. “8 seconds, huh?” he mused, keeping eye contact, “You’re gonna need quite a few of those tonight, so saddle up”

He tossed her a wink and took another swig, before waving over a waiter. He gave their order, his being a Saddle Up. Which wasn’t coincidental, of course. “So, let’s get the obvious questions outta the way. You’re sister-- she’s pretty persistent. Not that she had to do a lotta convincing, I’m always up for a night out with a beautiful, fun ‘adult’. But I gotta ask-- is my name not bein Jake gonna be a problem?” Aidan teased, biting the inside of his lip to stifle a chuckle as he passed her a menu, “And does the ex, this ‘Jake’, have more swagger than me? And if so, know not only am I offended, but Imma take it as a challenge,”

Aidan tilted his head. “Deliver a cake? You’re jokin, right?” Anyone that knew AIdan knew his biggest weakness was his sweet tooth. He’d been visiting Wild Flour Bakery since he was knee high and in the time that he’d been back in Frostford, he liked to think he knew the staff well. Christina was a brilliant decorator, but to come all the way over here...to ask him to make a delivery? It was a bit strange.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m flattered you’d trust me not to eat it the minute you hand it over. But, uh, don’t you all have people you pay...you know, in cash, for that sort of thing?”

“When you put it that way? Not really,” Aidan chuckled before waving to a customer entering the shop. He’d seen them the night before during the event so he figured they’d be ok on their own for a moment. “For one, I think pulling the firefighter card this early in negotiations is a bit much. It cheapens it. And two, I enjoy one dog, maybe two dogs-- but four plus mine? There’s no way I can watch them all,”

closed for @aidanxoconnor​ “I’m so sorry I’m late!” Really, she wasn’t, but it was hard to tell how annoyed Aidan would be that she’d made him wait fifteen minutes. She vaguely recognized him from past meetings and Resa’s rundown before their blind date, but he had changed a lot since they’d gone to high school together. She strolled over to the table and pulled her chair out, perching her sunglasses on top of her head and slipping her purse under the table. “I had a conference call that went way longer than expected, and I just could’t get away.” But if this was really going to happen, he should at least know what kind of life he was getting into, trying to date a businesswoman. She held out her hand to Aidan and fixed him with a brilliant smile. “I’m Krystal, with a K. Enchanté.”

Aidan was half a beer in, his heels kicked up on a chair just diagonal to him as he waited for his date to show. Had this truly been a blind date, he may have been a bit more...anxious, but between Resa’s info and what he’d gathered around town, he was more relaxed than he’d ever been. In this situation, anyway. For a moment, he actually felt bad about it. Resa had seemed serious about wanting to help Krystal out and for all he knew, Krystal could be too. But he doubted either of them had any real expectations. They hadn’t spoken, in depth, since he was like what-- 14? 15? And even then, it’d never been that serious. He was here to have a good time and if he remembered right, when it came to the Beauchamps there was always fun to be had.

He took another swig as he heard her approach and dropped his feet with a smirk. He stood as she pulled the chair out, taking her hand with a light grip, “Enchanté. Je ne peux pas manger de crustacés,” he replied, keeping a straight face as he pressed a light kiss to her hand, “I’m Aidan with an A.” 

Dropping her hand, Aidan stepped around her and he held the back of her chair, ready to push it in once she sat. “I’ve heard you’re a busy woman, so I’m just glad you could make it. Did it go well? 

Lily dated, yes. Whether that was a lot, was another story. Rather, she went on the odd date and then never had a good enough time to consider calling them back, or going on a second one. Which, in a town like Frostford, was a very difficult thing to do. There was the chance of running into them more than once. Then again, she’d only just run into her last boyfriend from six years ago, the other day. Perhaps it was easier to avoid people than she thought.

The way the man teased made Lils smile softly, or rather - had her biting down on her lips gently to try to prevent it. It was the jesting around about porn of all things that had her feeling more comfortable around the stranger. “Oh yeah? What else is your sixth sense telling you?” She questioned curiously, nodding at his words before realising what he’d said. “Wait– a.. what?” She questioned, following him with a frown on her face as he went to flip the sign. “Do I at least get a name?”

“It’s telling me that now that your plan’s been foiled, you have no choice but to use Plan B. Lure me into a false sense of security and-- well, giving you away this early wouldn’t be much fun,” He wiggled his eyebrows and flipped the lights before stepping into the Frostford sunlight. It wasn’t particularly warm or cold, which only reenforced his decision to go with a light long sleeve button down. The sun felt great after being cooped up inside and he stretched a second before catching the door.

Daniel cast a glance about the store before looking back at Aidan with a deadpan expression. “Are you serious?” It was a fucking ghost town in here– save for the two people over there, but they seemed like they were taking care of themselves just fine. That same look stayed on his face as he watched Aidan walk back around the counter and pull out his planner. Daniel groaned, barely resisting rolling his eyes as Aidan faked looking through his planner for a spot to fit him in. “I’m not even asking you to come with me! I just need your car!”

He looked over his shoulder, at the spot Aidan was talking about, an appreciative look settling on his face as his friend laid out his plan. “That doesn’t sound half bad– but seriously,” he said, turning back to Aidan. “You can have it, if you want it– I mean, if I can fix it.” Daniel paused, looking at him expectantly. “So can I borrow your car?”

Aidan couldn’t have held back another laugh even if he’d wanted to. Daniel’s expression was too much, (Daniel had been a walking meme before it was a thing), and as he sat his planner on the counter top, he chuckled. “I’m always serious. I’m pretty swamped. A lot goes on behind the scenes. You know-- stocking, ordering, daydreaming about what I’m having for lunch...stocking,” 

As Daniel looked, Aidan walked past the shelves and into the cove like room. He touched the wall, as if to measure it, and smirked. “No no, it’d still be yours. You’d just be loaning it out. And you could commandeer it whenever,” he shrugged, turning to look at the wall again. It would be a nice addition and worst case, if they couldn’t use it, he could invest in a projector. Really though? It’d be the perfect bait to get Daniel into the shop more. Things had been busy for the both of them lately. Aidan was constantly in the shop and Daniel was trying this new-- get out and have a life fad. It was disturbing to say the least, but he supported him. Mostly. If they had a way to game in store, however, maybe it wouldn’t be so difficult to make plans.