ARLENE BISHOP

“Arlene,” Javi grinned, arms outstretched, “you’re tellin’ me you believed me being humble? That makes me happy. I don’t want to get too excited, but it’s nice sometimes. To share some art with the world. You wouldn’t duet with me?”

Grinning, Arlene shook her head at him. “Unless you’ve got an Oscar that says ‘Javi Sterling’ on it, I’m inclined to believe you’re just tryin’ to save face,” she retorted, narrowing her eyes in faux suspicion. “It’ll be hard to duet when I’m outsinging you, but,” Arlene said with an animatedly cocky shrug, taking a step toward the karaoke machine, “I’m game if you are.”

Willow’s smile widens at the interaction between Arlene and Edie. Her hen will fearlessly approach anyone, but she suspects that when Edie sees Arlene, she sees not only a friend, but someone who might give her a treat. This time, poor Arlene was just mending a shirt and minding her own business.

“She certainly seems to think so! Edie gets bossier by the day.” She laughs under her breath as her hen inspects the shirt with plenty of curiosity. “I’m pretty sure she expects everyone she comes across to have blueberries or cucumbers with then.”

In between the hard moment she and her family were going through, Josephine was sort of glad it was summer, her younger nieces were doing a lot better and his nephew had a good support system counting the whole family and his own friends; her older niece  —her daughter — had her friends to lean on, too and the four kids were spending their days outside with their friends, enjoying the warm days which left Josephine alone and while she finished unpacking everything there was always something to get in place. When there was a knock on the door she walked to the front and opened, her eyes widening slightly at the sight of the woman in front of her. “Arle —” Her whole name didn’t come out, instead she opened and closed her mouth trying to utter something before she shook her head and moved to make space. “Of course, of course. I could really use some company.” Jo smiled at her, her childhood friend, another person she let down by cutting ties. “How are you? Thank you for stopping by.” She closed the door and waved towards the hall leading to the living room.

Stepping into someone else’s grief wasn’t something Arlene had done many times in her life before; and especially not the grief of someone in Jo’s position. She could hardly even imagine it. Perhaps if Danny hadn’t died, if he and Elsie had married and had had children, and if they’d somehow later passed away... but even then, it was next to inconceivable. It wasn’t something that connected to reality. Any reality. And yet, it was Jo’s. Jo who, for all intents and purposes, seemed to hold herself together admirably well; something that made another wave of affection wash over Arlene. “I’m just fine,” she smiled, moving into the house. “I brought this -- it’s vegetarian,” she added, holding out the casserole. “All organic ingredients from the farm.” It was strange how, in a family of meat-eaters, one of her mother’s best dishes was entirely vegetarian. “How’s everything? You settling in okay?”

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?”

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.”

natalia grinned.  growing up with a big family, even a fake snowball fight in the middle of frostford felt tame considering how competitive her siblings could be during that time of year–or, just in general honestly.  she couldn’t help but laugh at arlene’s reaction.  “i got lucky?  please.  i have so many siblings i’ve got to be on my game all the time.”  she nodded her head, tossing another one that may have just missed arlene, but was pretty close still.  she shrugged her shoulders and chuckled.  

The grin on Arlene’s lips remained as uncontrollable as ever, her body bursting with giddiness. When the flash of a snowball went through the air, she swerved, managing to stay well out of its trajectory; something that put a disproportionate amount of triumph on her face. “That throw didn’t look like someone who’s on their game,” she teased. “You sure you’re not just all talk?” Ironically, it was all that Arlene was, at the moment. Granted, it was because she had no ammunition to speak of, but hopefully, she’d be able to change that. 

Arlene wanted to scream. She wanted to let out a neverending 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.”

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.”

Too focused for a moment on mending the shirt in her hands, Arlene didn’t at first register precisely what type of creature had walked up to her. When she finally bit the thread and let her eyes focus on her shoes down below, she expected to see a small dog, or perhaps a particularly upset cat; not Edie, the dear old little hen she’d come to recognized well by now. “Hey, Edie,” Arlene chuckled, crouching down and holding out her shirt for the puff of feathers to inspect. The Alabama sun burned her shoulders, unprotected as they were by her white tank top -- but Arlene didn’t mind. She turned her squinted smile to Willow when she’d caught up with them. “Oh, please, it’s no trouble at all, Will!” she said. “Besides, miss Edie gets what miss Edie wants. I don’t make the rules.”

“You’re bein’ facetious, but I’d do it. Parents have always loved me for some reason, I’ll take a pie over, compliment here a whole bunch. You’d be off the hook, trust me.”

“If you think I’m bein’ facetious then you haven’t met my momma,” Arlene grinned, shaking her head. “But you are more than welcome to try. I could use a weekend off.” She shrugged, a playful glint in her eye. “If you manage to convince her -- which you won’t -- I’ll eat my words. When you fail, you’ll spend the Sunday at the farm helpin’ me out, ‘cause now I can’t not tag along for some river-tubing. Deal?” Not exactly a win-win for everyone involved, but then again it was mostly a joke. Mostly. 

He bumped her shoulder right back, trying to keep his expression mild. Javi wouldn’t volunteer to sing, but if someone pushed him up there, he would complain about it. “It wouldn’t be the worst thing,” he admitted. “Why, are you scared to go up there and sing?” 

Arlene narrowed her eyes at Javi, a smile playing on her lips. “You sure? You didn’t sound all too excited by it a moment ago,” she teased, though let out a laugh as he continued. “Those are fighting words, Sterling. You sure you wanna go there?”

He would know that voice absolutely anywhere and he winced as he turned around – she only used his full name if he was in trouble. Nash sighed, but smiled at his friend, trying to soften the blow. Ah, she knew about that. And…not from him. “Arlie, you are looking so pretty today, did you know that?” he asked, trying to lay on the charm that if anyone could see through, it was her. “Here’s the thing – yes, I am. And I know I should have told you but, uh, I hadn’t seen you in so long and you know how quick gossip spreads. It all just kinda…happened.”

Sharp eyes glared daggers at Nash when he tried the one trick in the book that’d never work on her. Sure enough, he wisely abandoned it fast, launching into his explanation. “You hadn’t seen me? Oh, my bad,” Arlene retorted, brows knitted and voice heavy with sarcasm. “It’s not like I have a phone where anyone can reach me with a text message. Or on my answering machine.” She folded her arms across her chest, taking a deep breath and letting some of the anger subside. Unfortunately, all that was left in that case was... hurt. And a little bit of fear. “You didn’t even send me a text message.” Her frown softened a tiny bit. “Lately...,” she started, shaking her head, searching for the right words. “I just feel like I haven’t been part of your world, lately.” And as always, it was a scary feeling. 

“A walk in freezer? You folks really don’t play around out here, huh? Well, if it gets too bad maybe I’ll just go visit my parents back home.”

“Hey, have you seen Dynamo around?” Mags asked as she came onto the front porch and spotted her eldest sister. That little puppy of hers kept getting away, and she wanted to make sure he was outside to poop rather than inside where he’d make a mess. “I’m tryina make sure he’s learnin’ to go outside instead of in my closet.” // closed for @arlenebishop​

“NASH!” Her voice rang out like a shot across the property, echoing off the driveway. “NASH GORDON!” Already she could see the confusion in his face, though that didn’t hinder Arlene’s momentum at all as she stomped toward him in a beeline that somehow both felt like an eternity and no time at all. “Nash Gordon,” she repeated sternly once she was within conversational distance, her face wrought in a frown and her eyes sharp. “You look me in the eye right now, right this second -- you look me in the eye and you tell me definitively, don’t even think of lying: Are you dating Barbara Schaffer?”

Was she nervous because they hadn’t seen each other in years, or because she could never imagine herself being in Josephine’s position -- and as such, all gestures she could think of seemed inadequate? Arlene suspected it was all of the above. The grief casserole clutched so tightly between her hands that her fingers were leaving indents in the tinfoil seemed... inappropriate, somehow. It was social protocol, and yet somehow Arlene felt like she was committing a transgression. Realizing she couldn’t stand out there forever, she finally collected her thoughts and knocked on the door. It was difficult to contain the swell of emotions upon seeing her old friend; upon realizing just how real Jo’s situation was. What had been an attempt at a playful greeting simmered down into something much more sincere as Arlene let out a, “Hi. I wanted to check how you’re doing, with... everything. Can I come in?”