— ανδρείος

Arlene couldn’t help but chuckle just as Beck did, though the look on her face was a good deal more guilt-ridden. In all honesty, Arlene should have probably guessed they’d set her up with someone like Beck – someone she had passing knowledge of, but wasn’t too close to these days. In Frostford it was either those people, or people she’d known her whole life and knew much too much about already. She had to hand it to her sister, really. It had been a good attempt. “Because!” Arlene let out, grimacing at herself. “Here I am babblin’ about how much I hate blind dates to my actual blind date. Pretty sure that’s a ‘my momma would smack me upside the head’-level of rudeness.”

“in both of our defenses, i don’t think very many people enjoy blind dates they’ve been set up on by someone else.” beck tries to placate. the last thing she wants is for arlene to feel any sort of negative emotion from their meeting --- after all, beck finds it all rather amusing. “enough about it all, though. how about we order some drinks? maybe an appetizer? if you’d like, at least.”

“You’d think, given I just fed her before we left! But you know Edie – give her a blueberry one time and she’ll remember it forever,” Willow says, laughter still interwoven in her voice. “More and more by the day! She’s queen of the farm, back home.”

“oh, don’t i know it,” beck chuckled, gaze flicking down to the insistent hen. “don’t look at me as if i don’t already know you’ve been fed.” with a dramatic sigh, the brunette shakes her head. “i don’t think we have anyone to blame but ourselves.”

“Trust me, me too,”  Maisie laughed.  She was the nap queen of her dorm room, usually knocking out for at least forty minutes after long seminar classes.  “True! And I can’t imagine there’s a safer place than Frostford for nappin’ outside.” 

“no, i don’t think there is,” beck agreed. “though you do have to be careful about the raging gossip. who knows what someone’ll say --- the news in this town spreads like wildfire. you could be minding your own business and someone’ll start something.”

“Funny, ain’t it? I’ll see a jacket or somethin’ I love for fifty bucks and it’ll feel too expensive, but I’ll drop forty on food with no hesitation.” That’s his curse and he’s come to accept it.

“But hey, pick a place, and we’ll see how you feel about the cost after we eat. That sound good?”

“i think a lot of people share that impulse,” beck admits, knowing full well she was the same. materialistic wasn’t in her wheelhouse. “sounds good to me. i feel like we’ll both luck out seeing as we don’t mind dropping money for food. everyone wins.”

her brows raised. “Are you not? Could have fooled me. Age is just a number, isn’t it?”

“thirty-five and still going strong,” she holds up a fist for humor. “that it is. though a lot of people like to hyper-fixate on it.”

“I’m not sayin’ this town is dry, but.” And Rayleigh stopped, because she thought she sounded like her mother. “I am sayin’ my mom’s finally run outta people to set me up with. That must be a good thing.” 

@frostfordstart​

“unless she’s bribing more people to move into the town as we speak...” it’s meant as a joke, though realistically there might be a small amount of truth to her words. beck grins regardless.

“Oh, really, that’s how that works?” Dot played along as Destiny explained to her, in some very mumbly words, that her and her sister came from storks to their door. Laughing, she glanced up at the nearest person to them in the park, “Did you here that? All babies come from storks.” // @frostfordstart​

beck looked up, eyebrow raised, though a smile graced her lips. “oh yeah? those storks have some pretty cool jobs, then.” zeus’s ears prick up, though his head stayed rested on his paws, body hunkered down right next to her feet.

It’s not uncommon to see Willow being tailed by a rotund little hen named Edie, but her feathered friend still likes to surprise her. This time Edie takes off in a waddling sprint, very intent on checking out what the nearest person has in their hands.

She makes her little chicken noises from their heels, while Willow laughs. “Please, you don’t have to give into her demands! She’s less threatening than she appears.”

beck smiles down to the little hen. “oh no you don’t. you’re clucking up the wrong person if you’re looking for food. she’s got all the goods you want.” glancing up, she chuckles. “she’s getting very demanding, isn’t she?”

starter for @alliscnbeck !

Arlene wanted to scream. She wanted to let out a never-ending groan, wanted its vibrations to cause an earthquake that would split open the ground under her feet so the earth itself could save her from the absolute nightmare she found herself in. Alright, perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration. But there were very few things Arlene hated as much as blind dates. As she stood lonesome by the bar, waiting for the poor sucker who’d also gotten roped into this, she wondered to herself for the umpteenth time why she’d even agreed. Was she that desperate to make some progress in her love life? Or had her sister just been that good at guild-tripping her? Fortunately, Arlene’s thoughts was interrupted by a familiar face. “Oh, thank god,” she breathed, and made a beeline for Allison Beck. “You have no idea how glad I am to see a familiar face right now. I got set up on a blind date by my sister but I hate blind dates and I honestly don’t know why I, I–… agreed to…” Her momentum died fast as her gaze drifted downward, realizing the description she’d been fed matched what her old friend was wearing. “You…,” she tried, unable for a second to form a sentence as the surprise short-circuited her brain. Then, a hand came to cover half her face. “I’m sorry.”

unsurprising, beck found herself at the bar because of her mother. rather, the blind date her mother had set her up on. she hadn’t been back for a significant amount of time and her mother was already creating match.com accounts and setting her up on dates before asking beck if it were something she wanted. not that beck ever expected her mother to ask first ---  the older woman was a firm believer in asking for forgiveness than permission.

to be honest, beck’s glad to see a familiar face. her own excuse is lost in arlene’s own one, a smile growing across her lips the more their stories match up and realization dawns. “me,” beck chuckled, taking the revelation in stride. “except my mother set me up. apparently her and your sister think alike. why are you sorry?”

“How long you had him? Seems like you either made some hell of a progress or just got lucky with him. Little sister’s been grillin’ me to get one myself for a few years, thinks I need the company or somethin’, but that’s one hell of a commitment.”

“since he was a puppy, so i dunno if that plays into it or not. he was already trained for most things before i got him, but i still had to do about a month of work with him to get him used to my voice and all that. they’re definitely a commitment, but i think a good one. if that puts any sway into the conversation.”

“no you’re not! you’re, what, like….twenty-seven?”

“flattery,” she chuckles. “i wish i was still twenty-seven.”

“Do you have… any other tips on how I could help with a sunburn?” Bo asked the person in front of him at Dixie Drug. Crowded in his arms were at least six bottles of aloe vera, all because his mama had called his sunburn simply atrocious. It wasn’t that he wasn’t used to getting sunburnt while working at the orchard, but the first sunburn of the hotter season always made mama a little nervous. “I have a feeling this… ain’t gon’ cut it.” @frostfordstart​

beck turns, eyes falling on the young man behind her. she wants to initially smile, because if he hadn’t asked, she would have been able to figure out his problem anyways considering the amount of aloe vera bottles in his arms. “aloe vera’s a good start,” she nods. “if it’s really bad, though, white vinegar will work too. you just have to endure the smell.”

“What? You over here trying to one-up me?” He says so with a big grin, just messing with her.

“Nah, I’m kiddin’, but seriously, you don’t gotta do that. I’m more than happy to blow this hundred on food – trust me.”

“maybe,” she joked. “i’ve got no problem covering you. but i get it. food’s probably one of the few things i could warrant dropping money on. especially good food.”

“Can I get that in writing? Maybe record it for me? You gotta be the first person to tell me I’ve got good taste. I’ll take constant rain over blistering heat every time.”

“you must be meeting the wrong people, then. i know a fair few who’d take rain over heat any day. pretty sure it’s statistically therapeutic or something. heat not so much.”

“Looks can be deceiving!” Maisie insisted without much conviction, happy to take the woman’s hand and pull herself up.  “I would if I thought it’d help,” she sighed.  “But thank you, ma’am.  Pretty sure my siblings’d pitch one heck of a hissy fit if I got myself into trouble sleepin’ outside.” 

“i couldn’t imagine not being able to sleep. it’s like.... one of my favorite things to do.” catching up on sleep was a myth, but beck could fool herself into thinking she was regaining all of the hours she’d lost while in dc. “hey, sometimes you just gotta sleep. people nap in parks all the time.”

“Yeah, so this morning, I was runnin’ late getting ready, because I had to shower and I thought I would be late to work, but I was actually early, so I had to wait th—” She knew they weren’t listening to her.  “—-And that’s why I think we should have sex.” @frostfordstart​

beck all but chokes on her coffee, head ducking into her cup slightly to keep it from spilling. “uh... i’m flattered? but i think i might be a little to old for you.”

“Sleeping? Pfft. Nah.  I was just, uh, distracted?”  Maisie lied.  She didn’t mean to doze off, but she was a little lacking in the sleep department with her whole situation with her parents.  “Gimme a hand up?”

beck raised an eyebrow. “yeah? ‘cause it definitely looked like you were sleeping.” she offered out a hand. “might wanna get a new mattress or something. might help you sleep better.”