days gone by

Ruby decided that she needed a place to be alone, there were thoughts swirling around in her head that she just wanted to drown out. She found herself in a coffee shop close to her place, there were quite a lot of people there so a perfect place to drown out her thoughts.  She sat quietly running her finger around the rim of her cup of coffee as she nibbled on the cake she had gotten. The blonde was so lost in her thoughts that a cough was needed to break her from it. “I’m sorry, were you trying to talk to me, I apologise.” 

“I was just going to ask what flavor you got there,” Arabella nodded towards the cake the blonde was enjoying. “It looks delicious and I may or may not be thinking of getting myself the same.”

“I have too much paperwork to be having another drink and yet here I am anyway,” Avery said, “Are you going to join me or just stand there?”

“I mean it has to be bad given that was my wine-..” Abigail commented, though she was already calling the waiter for a bottle since it seemed to be that kind of night. “I do like the sun.” Abigail commented, patting her chin as she looked to the other. “But I’m not letting you run, you running is them winning and I know you don’t want to give them the satisfaction.”

“I’ll pay for a new one,” she waved away Abigail’s comment as she set the glass aside. “It’s not letting them win if they don’t know I did it because of them,” Arabella insisted with a little whine escaping her lips. She wasn’t the best at dealing with her own issues. “What do you suggest I do instead?”

“very much so.” anna nodded, giving the other a small smile as she listened. “i think i want to go back to school and learn something new?” she suggested, shrugging her shoulders gently. “i’m not sure just what yet.” 

“That’s admirable,” Arabella supported with a smile. “Well is there anything you’re passionate about that you’d want to study? That usually helps pave a path.”

alice frowned slightly at her sister. “that’s not fair, just because you’ve had a long day doesn’t mean i should miss out of the fun.” she pouted for a moment before a cheeky grin returned to her face. “one dance then you can go back to moping, okay?” she suggested, wiggling her eyebrows at the other. 

“Alright– sure,” she gave in with a heavy sigh. While her sister and her didn’t have the easiest relationship, Arabella wouldn’t be helping the situation if she didn’t try to make it work. “Just one dance and then I’m out, okay?”

“I’m just staying another hour,” Sage said, “I need to get back to my daughter and the sitter eventually needs to go home.”

“Wow, malum’s really been up to a lot since I left,” Mylene said aloud to no one in particular from her spot behind the counter in the library. She’d been catching up on things, all the things that she was too scared to stick around for. Just then she realized someone actually had heard her. “Oh, my bad. I probably shouldn’t be looking that up on work hours. I mean, it’s so busy here,” she said with a gesture to the empty library.

Sage laughed a little, “I haven’t seen her but then again I’ve been stuck in this office since class finished. I would have thought she’d have gone home by now.”

“I’m currently trying not to scream,” Camille confessed. “This is a crime against the written word.” 

“I don’t blame you,” she replied sympathetically. “Is there any way I can help?”

“I ran into my ex-fiancé,” Arabella admitted, practically downing the glass of wine in following of her statement. “Thoughts on packing up everything and moving to like New Mexico or something? Grove Harbour is getting too small of a town for me.”

“Hey Kim, would you mind just staying an extra hour? I need to get these papers graded … Yeah, of course. Thank you so much. See you soon,” Sage hung up the phone and looked back at the papers in front of her. This was definitely not one of the things she liked about her job. She looked up only when she heard someone at the door, “Oh hey, can I help you with something?”

“Surely it cannot be that bad,” Camille muttered to herself when she noticed one of the books laying in a puddle of soda. She poked it, then shuddered. “I’m going to need a drink. A stiff drink.”

“Who could leave a book in such a condition?” Arabella commented, noticing the woman and the drenched book. “I know paperbacks aren’t common anymore because of technology but there’s no need to disrespect them like this.”

Gray laughed and nodded. “Yeah no kidding,” he said. At whether he saw them he shrugged. “Some of them. A couple are parents now, so they don’t get to hang out as often, but there’s a couple who get together every couple of months.” He said. 

“I mean life moves on, that’s normal,” she nodded. “But it still must be nice to reconnect with them every now and again no? I know there’s plenty of old friends I haven’t seen in ages that I’d love to see again.”

“I think it’s a good start. No point in revealing everything right at the beginning.” Will answered with a little smile. “I’m more intelligent than most realise.”

“I guess people do love a mystery,” she shrugged slightly with a soft laugh. “I would say intelligence doesn’t come into play here. It’s more how observant you are.”

“Hey, could you take a look at this?” Ronnie asked, lifting up her shirt a little to reveal a bruise on her ribs, “I took a nasty hit during training and I just wanna make sure they’re not broken or anything so I know how easy I’m gonna have to take it for a few days.”

@arabellarcwe​

“No, I don’t and I don’t want to.” Tobias said, “Just some bad dreams really.”

“No,” Casper said, “Not mine. A stray though. I found him in our driveway and he was wounded so I thought I’d help him out.”