Inherently Risky

“A fucking bakery, why the hell didn’t I think of that?” Josie cursed, casting her eyes to the ceiling in exasperation. She was a whole scientist with two degrees and she hadn’t managed to think of that. Maybe the holiday was just stressing her out. “Thank you. This, uh, living up to familial expectations thing is making me a scatter-brained mess. I’m Josie, by the way.”

“Years of trying to stay out of the kitchen when it’s not myself I’m cooking for has taught me that.” Alana shrugged, snickering silently. It wasn’t like she had a problem with cooking, especially for other people, but the least amount of being stuck in the kitchen was how she lived her life. “It’s no problem. Ah yeah, holiday season tends to turn that up at least ten-fold. Nice to meet you Josie, I’m Alana.”

date: November 13, 2019 time: 11:56am location: Heisler Park 

@alanaxmurillo​​

Being a pilot wasn’t any easier in the private role he chose than it was before, but at least his hours were a lot less chaotic. Someone had requested a flight from the dreaded Los Angeles International Airport - unfortunately - to an airport in Redding and then back again in a trip that, while not as long as his jaunts into Germany, was just as exhausting. He was fresh from a nap, and ready to bring his land legs back into working order by getting lost in a park. Heisler, maybe? Levi couldn’t remember the name, and truthfully he wasn’t much paying attention to anything. It was why he was holding a wallet, absently scanning over the license inside before it fully registered what he was holding.

“Ah, hell,” he muttered, looking at the picture on the license and the name. When did he pick it up? A few minutes ago, an hour ago, just right this moment? Levi turned on his heel, casting a look around, and then spotted the woman, albeit not identical to the one in the picture. Close enough, perhaps, to be her a few years ago. “Alana Murillo?” Levi called, starting in her direction, hand reaching out to catch her elbow. Just as quickly, he stepped back, holding both his hands up. In one hand, he held her driver’s license, and in the other he held her wallet. “Excuse me, yes, sorry for the interruption. Is this yours? If not, I need to find her, I’d feel bad holding onto this longer than necessary.”

She was experiencing one of those, thinking you’ve heard your name when clearly no one has said your name scenarios and she had learned it was easier to continue about her day. The wind was just trying to mess with her, even if she had distinctly thought she heard her full name. She barely had time to rethink the thought once she felt a hand on her and rather than carefully thinking it through or hearing much of what the stranger was saying, Alana had pivoted and jab her knee in his crotch, maybe it was also a subconscious reaction. Who knows. By the time she stepped back, she was slowing her breath, trying to figure out what was going on. “What the hell?” And why the hell did he know her name. No amount of educated guess could randomly give him that information.

Alana took a deep breath, “Are you mentally okay? You don’t just randomly come up on a person, even if it’s in the daylight. And you definitely don’t just touch strangers in a park. Are you kidding me? Do you realize the amount of people getting kidnapped these days?” And if she was being serious that was only half of the issue, but currently that was the half that she had the most concern for. Her eyes narrowing, as she snatched her items from his hand. “Why... how... who.” English wasn’t helping her currently. “My stuff?” As if that was an adequate response to him having it.

🍕… eaten an entire pizza by yourself?

“In on sitting or just in one day?” She asked, a brow lifting, wanting more of needing specifics. Though she had to think whether the answer would change regardless. Even with her recent trips, pizza hadn’t been a first choice nor rarely a last either. “I’m sure I’ve eaten an entire pizza by myself though, maybe not in one sitting or one day but I’m sure I’ve ordered an entire pizza myself and had no intent to share it.”

😈… stolen something?

“As an adult or as a kid? I was a little sticky hands kid you know, but what kid isn’t? I also had a sister with things I wanted to borrow. Since she was so much older than me, there were a lot of things that she was into that I definitely wasn’t, nor the kids around me. As an adult, not if we still count taking stuff from hotel rooms as stealing, but if we do, then I definitely have.”

⚰️… had a near-death experience?

“Entirely, no. I mean I’ve felt like I had one when I’ve slipped and slid on ice and thought my whole life was going to flash before my eyes - it didn’t - but realistically no.”

Location: Balboa bar  Date: Friday night  Status: OPEN @newportstarters​

Haley was tired, to say the least. After an eventful dinner with her parents that ended up at her hearing things she didn’t want to, and her mother blaming her for Leyla’s death, all she wanted was to be far away from the couple who placed her in this world and raised her in their terrible way of developing a child to grow old and be all by herself as an adult. Playing with her index finger on the edge of the martini glass in front of her — now empty since she had poured the last few drops of the liquor within her mouth, she directed her dark hues at the person next to her. 

“I’m slightly drunk, which means, in a current state that would get my fiancé worried and I don’t want to get him worried.” Again, she thought to herself. “I’m sure he’s having more fun than I’m actually having right now, so please, enlighten me. Keep me company, share something nice that happened on your day while I’ll slowly sober up before I’ll head back home.” She sighed, trying her best to share a smile with the other person, even if it was the weakest she could form. “I could use some of it. Something nice, interesting. Hell, at some point I even thought about leaving this place and heading straight to the fun zone, how lame does it sound?”

Alana breathed out, glancing over at Haley as she leaned against the palm of her hand, lowering the glass from her lips. “Are you sure you don’t want me to just drop you off? I say this in a very nice way but you look tired and I mean that minus the whole drunk thing.” Or even an Uber, something to help her. Alana wouldn’t have minded a detour on the way home and obviously Haley was in no state to drive. Though if she wanted to hear something interesting, Lana wasn’t sure what to tell her, nothing had really happened to her. “Gotta say, fun zone sounds like it would’ve been... I need them to change their name so I don’t sound like an idiot when I want to complete that sentence.” She muttered. “I mean some stranger paid for my coffee this morning, I guess that’s something nice but other than that, I’ve got nothing for you.”

location: the grocery store

@newportstarters​

“Okay, mom wants me to make a pie and I’m gonna make a pie. I can do this,” Josie breathed as she stared at the ingredients sitting on the shelf before her, not sure where to start. She didn’t remember why she had agreed to such a thing, cooking had never been her fore. It required far more patience than she was capable of and there were better uses of her time than sitting and waiting for an oven to ding. 

The scientist scrolled through the recipe with a hum, her brows furrowing in concentration. “I need cinnamon, sugar, pumpkin… you know what, maybe I should just buy a pie. Who would really be able to tell the difference anyway?”

Lana didn’t think much of the woman openly talking to herself in the store. If she hadn’t seemed so non-threatening, she probably would’ve called the cops or more realistically just left the store should anything happen. Still, she couldn’t help but listen, the other was literally talking out loud. What was she supposed to do, ignore it? Not at all.

Fighting back the urge to cackle at the quick give in of Josie. That was a mood. She turned, even though she was completely sure the question wasn’t aimed at her. “Pie snobs will know but they’re not the one making it. You could buy it from a bakery, at least that’ll be more handmade.”

“I’m pretty sure this is what love is,” he started, thinking of ways he could plaster Practicology all over Buzzfeed’s website and a hefty profit. If Alana could do that maybe he could even snag businesses like Nike and Adidas. Turning his attention back towards her, he couldn’t help but belt out a laugh at her idea of far worse. “I mean, don’t tell anyone.” Matt lowered his voice and moved closer to her ear, “I once did far worse to the couch cushion when I was a kid.” Laughing, he pulled away from her and kissed the top of her head. “Secret between us, alright? I was like, eleven, and for some reason I just knew it would feel good to use cushions. Did it? Eh.” 

Wrinkling his nose as the flour hit his face, he jumped off the counter and moved towards the the pantry to pull out some powdered sugar. “You know what goes well with pancakes? Sugar on top, right?” Moving towards her, he placed the container of sugar onto the counter and dipped his finger into it. As his fingers moved towards her nose and then to her lips, he grinned widely. “I think this is better than makeup, Alana. You look beautiful.” Mimicking the wiggle of her brows she previously gave him, he chuckled. The thing with Alana was that he never felt the need to pressure for anything more, what they had between worked and he appreciated every bit of it. Glancing towards her, his hand moved towards his chest and hands moved to clench where his heart would be. “The heart wants what it wants. Wise words from Ms. Gomez. Selena Gomez.” 

Alana made a mental note to look into whether she could do anything to help him out. “Don’t get your hopes up, I don’t know what they’ll say” she warned Matt, not wanting him to get his hopes up especially if she couldn’t do anything. There was a lot that had to fall in place for it to workout for him. A lot. Buzzfeed was big and who knew how inviting they were for change. Alana stared at him, hesitating but curious about what he was going to say. Her face scrunching at his revelation, only to burst out laughing. This was not what she expected to learn this morning. “Wait so were the couch cushions in your house ever replaced?” Guests had sat there, his parents had sat there. Oh.

Men were at their peak of being disappointing, if Eva was honest. If she had more time, she’d attempt online dating, but too many cases of it going wrong kept her away. Tinder and Bumble would have to wait. “Well, he started off by saying he makes his money off cops being too dumb to collect proper evidence for trial and bragged about a client he recently got off that was absolutely guilty,” she replied. It was a case she had personally worked but wasn’t the primary on. She took a harsh bite of her mozzarella stick, almost picturing him. Fucker. “If he honestly thought the date went well, I don’t mind telling him how badly it did.” 

Finley couldn’t say that he had ever encountered the issues this woman seemed to be having right now, he couldn’t remember a time that he wasn’t tall, in fact he was pretty sure he had been the tallest kid around since kindergarten but he had just never been picked on for it - it was probably the money, or the fact he’d never been awkward with it. “Well I could help you down, but I mean, have you seen yourself right now?” He had to admit that if he had a sense of humor, and he was the type that joked with strangers he would have made some sort of joke at it because she did look like a state. “I think it would be much more entertaining on my part to watch you try and actually get down all by yourself.” Had it not been for the creaking of the shelf she was currently perched on he would have left he hanging for just a moment longer, but it was a moment she didn’t have. Without invitation the male moved, snaking an arm around her waist and pulling her into his side before he gently set her down on the floor. “Now you’re going to have to ask real nice for the sauce.”  

LOCATION: Drybar, San Joaquin Hills Bar CLOSED: @alanaxmurillo​

Pulling the sunglasses off his face once he entered the bar, Sam headed straight towards the usual table him and Alana always shared. It was normal for the male to hit up Alana after his shift ended for some drinks, good food, and even better times. So, naturally when it came time for Sam to clock out, the male stopped briefly at his house to change out of his scrubs and into normal clothes while sending the text to Alana. ‘Drybar, be there in 10.’ Simple and to the point, normally what Sam’s texts were like. Sitting on the black bar-stool at the small wooden table near the stage, Sam now wore black jeans and a red flannel with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow in place of the scrubs. His eyes kept scanning the faces that entered the bar, waiting for the dark haired female’s face to appear. In the meantime, the male had ordered himself a Rum and Coke and started to drink it as he waited. There was no harm in starting the night already.

A standing appointment. An excuse to distract someone from a long day was a great thing but an excuse to drink? Now that was an easy way to get Alana out of her house and away from work. Even if she had more work to do. It could always be done later but it wasn’t always acceptable to drink at all hours of the day, not that she cared too much. Still, although Alana had come to expect their arrangement, she didn’t rely on it on the chance that it didn’t happen. Sam had yet to ruin it for her, and she hoped it was kept that way. Rounding up her work few minutes after the text and mostly giving Sam some wiggle room. Entering the building, she scanned the room, hands pocketing themselves as she made her way over. She gave him a small smile and a nod, “shock to see you here” she joked, sliding into her seat. Mock shock, she placed her hand over her heart, “you started without me? rude.” Honestly she probably would’ve done the same. Countless times she probably had done the same. She waved down the bartender to get her what Sam was drinking. “How was your shift?”

Amelia shook her head at her friend who insisted that she could make anything look good. “Well, maybe not anything but I’d surely pair a belt with a trash bag and that would elevate it some.” She said teasingly before eyeing the working and coming to the same conclusion. They weren’t prepared to be taking out their credit card for a piece of jewelry right now so they’d be better walking away before they were kicked out and got on the employees bad side. “Okay, so there’s a few stores around here that we should go see since you’re free and we’re already here.” Amelia said with a grin. Shopping was as exciting for her as anyone else, even though her focus was on others. It was often during the time she went for other people that she found the best pieces since they just popped out to her more. “So, tell me styles that you’d want to stay away from completely.”

“There’s beauty in Newport, Rhode Island,” she tilted her head in thought, “just not to the point where you have to scramble to get a flight over there immediately, if you know what I mean. I don’t know much about the rest of the state. They’ve got a Cliff Walk which is actually nice, and I’ve seen some fancy mansions. Except there are nice mansions in The Hamptons and right here in California too, so yeah.” There were hidden gems in plenty of the less popular places, she believed, but she wasn’t motivated to go to states such as Rhode Island unless there had been a purpose. “Wait, there’s a Paris in Tennessee? I had no clue.” She shook her head with a grin. “I’ve been to the Paris once briefly, I have to go back. Before that, I feel like maybe paying a visit to Texas or Tennessee first to keep it fair.” Shrugging one shoulder playfully, Nadine took a small sip of her lemon water. “Lash Out Loud.” She let out a breathy laugh at the name. It felt corny coming off the tongue at times, but she genuinely adored it—after all, when she took control of her parents’ business, she was the one to rename it that. “We’re trying to open another location and aiming for Spring 2020, just in time for weddings and the desire for summer glow ups.” The woman crossed her fingers. “Confuses people, is that so? Oh, interesting. How do you like it?”

Alana’s head bobbed in understanding, her lip jutting out. Although she wasn’t adding Rhode Island to her list any time soon, she knew now she really wasn’t in any rush. She still had many countries to visit that she cared for more than staying in the States but if she ever for some reason needed to fly to Rhode Island, she’d know where she could stop by. That was always a benefit though, learning of places she didn’t realize exist. “Exactly, I’m assuming it’s a small town or maybe we would’ve heard more about it.” Though there were many towns that probably meant more that they had yet to hear about. Alana hummed in thought, “I’ve really only been in Paris’s airport as part of a layover so I have yet to step foot there, but I was in Nice. But you’re right, should definitely even it out. Give all the Paris’ a fair chance.” She teased. How fitting the name was and probably easy for clients to remember with such a playful name instead of something so basic. “Punny. I’m sure you’ll do great. People are really into the whole self-care thing so it’s bound to be successful. Is wedding season your busiest?” Especially with a business that did a variety of skin care, an expansion was plausible. Alana shrugged, it was more tedious to explain her job title and convince people she wasn’t a psychologist - though that was generally what she majored it - than her work itself. At least it felt that way, though that probably wasn’t true. “The title is Industrial and Organizational Psychologist or I-O, but people hear psychology and think I can either read their minds or I’m about to psychoanalyze them. So it’s just easier to explain that I’m a consultant, because essentially I am. Eh, I like that it lets me travel and I thoroughly enjoy problem solving.” Puzzles? A great time taker.

“We should just make a list in general, things to experiance.” She had been lucky with her life, a lot luckier than most and she would never discredit that, but even with all the world had offered her so far she wanted more. Adriana was focused on family and food, but she needed to make sure she didn’t miss out on the small moments to, the smiles, the memories, having happy customers and proud parents were one thing, but they weren’t going to be what she remember when she was old and looking back on her life. She wanted to remember trips with her brother, laughing with the girls over wine, love, she wanted it all. “Even if that’s true, I’d have to get him into the kitchen yet and most of them men in my life are family or friends…the rest are just, well I’m not very date-able, I’m awkward and busy, it’s not a good mix and I’m going to have to deal with that. If it happens well it just does, but you can’t force that type of thing.” Adriana wasn’t sure that she would be able to date another chef, she wasn’t sure that she could give up the control in the kitchen. “Oh no, no way, what if he thought he was better than me?” Adriana shook her head in clear protest at the thought, she would rather try internet dating than date a chef, it would just cause to many arguments she didn’t have time for. “Well that’s true I suppose. But having a boyfriend would make the winter a lot easier, I’m going to have to wear all of my own sweaters.” She scoffed playfully. “I am excited for the excuse of coco every night though.” 

Where | OLIVE OIL & BEYOND In |  SAN JOAQUIN HILLS @newportstarters​

Grocery shopping was so below him. In fact, he wasn’t even sure he had ever done it, but he was currently a puppet to his management team and if they said jump, he just had to ask how high. Apparently doing normal things would make him look more approachable, more of a people person, because addicts couldn’t possible buy stir fry ingredients? He thought it was stupid and so far there was nothing in his cart that was going to make an actual meal but he was let his chef worry about that - he wouldn’t be cooking. Right now he was simply entertaining himself by reading warning labels, people watching, and praying that this would be over soon enough one someone had noted he was there, and the media got buzz the star had been shopping for his own groceries. Turning the next isle, Finley made quick work of throwing a pack of spaghetti in his card when he came to a halt, he was pretty sure people were not supposed to try and climb the stacks for things. Normally he would have walked past and let them be, but he was already being tortured so he supposed he might as well throw in being nice too, he was freakishly tall. “Hey, you need a hand with that before you pull that whole shelf down on you?”

Amelia was glad that someone seemed to be genuinely interested in learning about what she did and the ins and outs of fashion. Most of her clients were worst off and held no interest in learning. Not when they had busy schedules and had so many other things. In the end, they only wore what she put them in with the hope that they looked half decent. “I doubt that’s true. It’s a pretty basic outfit and it would be hard to have something not look nice on you.” Amelia said genuinely since there were some people who could just pull off a fucking sheet. The fact that she wasn’t that person had been the main reason why she’d gotten into fashion to begin with. “Usually jewelry are the last part, but there’s always some statement pieces that look good with almost anything. So, when you’re buying those — it doesn’t really matter. Plus, everyones process is different.” A small smile framed her lips as she shrugged. “Well, are you busy right now cause I always feel there’s no better time to star than the present.”