sweet tooth

Why did it even hurt to act like he didn’t see her standing there? She might have been the last person Andrew wanted to see or talk to, but that didn’t mean ignoring her would solve anything. Andrew rubbed the back of his neck before resting his head against his arm for a moment, letting out a quiet sigh to himself. “It’s fine. You’re fine. You don’t have to leave. It’s a public space.” Straightening out his back, he lifted his head and gripped onto the railing, still staring out at the streets before eventually glancing back over and muttering a small apology: “Sorry…”

Carmel quickly shook her head when she heard Andrew’s apology, “Don’t be sorry,” she said to him, “And I understand if I’m the last person you want to see,” Carmel said as she walked towards him, leaning against the railing, “I’m sorry for everything that happened.”

Being away from home for near enough a week was supposed to be a means for Lydia to clear her head and get her thoughts straightened out. Honestly, she thought she succeeded. When she left her friend’s, she left with a clear mindset, goals to achieve and an action plan moving forward: figure out what she wanted to say to Andrew, focus on this case with her father without fearing what may happen or what the end result might be, and if she felt ready – go back to work. But her realistic mind should have known that she was being idealistic. Those were hard to achieve without overcoming even more obstacles and she berated herself for not anticipating it; seeing Carmel. She wasn’t ready to talk to the woman, to say the least. And the sooner she was away from her, the better.  Swallowing thickly as she asked if she was sure about not needing to help, Lydia didn’t immediately respond, she tried to brace herself for it instead. She shivered due to the weather beating down on them, a sigh falling from her lips. As much as she hated to admit it, Carmel had a point. “Okay,” She said reluctantly, wiping at her cheeks from where raindrops had fallen. Otherwise, she may as well be here forever. “I um, a bit of help might be nice. If you don’t mind, that is.” 

Carmel gave the other woman a time despite the cold rain falling down her umbrella, wetting her boots and jeans, she didn’t want to just leave, she didn’t know why. Maybe she should, maybe she need to butt out and just leave Lydia, clearly the woman knew about what happened with her and Andrew, she didn’t know why she even being hopeful that Lydia might not hear about the gossip, but of course that wasn’t what happened. “Of course,” she took few things to helped her, “Let’s get in before we’re completely drenched.”

Gabriela rolled her eyes ever so slightly before she nodded her head with a laugh. “ou and me both. I swear. I need a break.” She laughed as she spoke. “So you decided lounging by the pool would be keeing you busy?” She asked with a raise of an eyebrow. 

“Anything happened with you that you needed a break that much?” Carmel asked Gabriela, “Well the swimming will keep my body moving and focused on the swimming, at least it’ll clear my mind for a little bit.”

“I’m sorry, it was just so funny and every time I think back to it I laugh a little harder because I never expected to hear it.” Eisley explained before she chuckled some more and composed herself shortly after in order to go on with the rest of the story she needed to tell. “I’m totally serious, she really wanted to wear leopard print to a funeral–god knows why but I’m sure she would have distracted everyone from whoever had passed, you know? It would have been a great distraction from everything.”

Carmel chuckled a little and honestly it felt nice to just laugh and not just think about her problems all the time, the kind of distraction she needed. “I wonder why leopard print though,” she laughed softly, “And hey maybe she wanted to get all the attention for herself. Stay fabulous even when you’re at a funeral,” she shook her head.

Kajal followed Carmel outside the complex and towards the car. The agent sashaying towards her side of the vehicle before climbing inside. “Alright. Let’s do this.” She declared, ready to go.

“Can you tell him the address where we’re heading because I’m not sure,” Carmel asked Kajal as she settled in inside the car before the driver turned to see both women, “Hey, where are we going today?” he asked with a smile.

[ @caramelcarmel ]

Looking over from where Andrew stood, leaning against the railing that overlooked the street, he wished he hadn’t. The movement off to the side caught his eye since he was the only one there. Now it was just him and quite possibly the one and only person he wasn’t exactly wanting to face. So much for his rooftop solitude in the middle of the day. Andrew couldn’t act like he didn’t see her. It was obvious he glanced over, even if it was for a split second. That didn’t mean he had to say anything, though. He kept his attention focused on the streets below as he rubbed the side of his face, leaning a little more heavily on the railing than he did before. He knew what he said to her. That they could still be friends. But that was before… No, it didn’t matter. They could still be friends. They’re adults. They were both at fault. It didn’t change the fact Andrew didn’t want to see Carmel right now though.

Carmel never thought one action could turned her into the most desirable, hurting not one but three people with one single act, hurting Thor, made Lydia looked at her like she should just disappear, and now Andrew who was obviously didn’t want anything to do with her with how his body language say so. “Sorry, I didn’t think anyone will be here,” she said to Andrew, “Uh, but I could just go if you don’t want me here...” 

Neslyn didn’t see the female right away, so hearing the other speak nearly startled her. “Oh, sort of. Thought, I would come and relax in the hot tub. Muscles are a little sore, so I could definitely use it.” The blonde gave a warm smiled towards the brunette. Nes just needed time to relax, her mind being cluttered for the past few weeks. No matter how much she tried to clear it, the thoughts still came back to haunt her. 

"I was just thinking about the same thing, but I was planning to do it after another round of swimming,” Carmel said to the blonde with a small smile, “Tiring week?” she asked Neslyn as she sat up on the chair.

Lydia hadn’t even realized there was someone there until she tried to salvage the items that hadn’t broke. Until she heard a woman’s voice greeting her, causing her to lift her head up. Oh god. Seven billion people on this planet and the earth had to grace her with the one person she didn’t feel like talking to. What was the saying about events happening in threes? First, the shitty weather, then her bags deciding to give way on her when she was so close from home. And then thirdly, Carmel. After looking at the woman blankly for a minute, dumbfounded, wasting half a minute wishing the ground would swallow her whole before forcing a smile, taking the things from her with a muttered, “Thanks.” Did she need any help? Most certainly. However, Lydia was way too stubborn to admit that. And she wasn’t going to admit that now either. “I - I’ll be fine,” She said awkwardly, resisting the urge to make a comment about not wanting to be a charity case to make her feel better for what went down. “I’ll figure something out. I guess. It’s not like anything else can go wrong. And the building is just… there, so -”

The circumstances between the two is definitely not the best, not with what happened. Sometimes she tried to tell herself that Andrew and Lydia hadn’t date yet just like she and Thor hadn’t officially dating yet when everything happened to maybe make herself feel a little better, but her attempt was to no avail, nothing can make her feel any better. Her relationship with Thor was a history and god knows what kind of damage  “Are you sure?” Carmel asked, “It’ll be faster to get away from all this rain,” she offered but not wanting to push anything because they sure don’t need the situation to be any more awkward than this is.

“No, but I think I have a lot more faith in myself than you do.” Jaxon pointed out with a small smile. “I used to fix cars, and make all those experiments in university. It doesn’t make me qualified, but it gives sort of an understanding of it.” He shrugged, listening as Carmel spoke of her brother. “Your brother sounds like someone I would try to be best friends with. He sounds like everything I wanted to be.” He spoke, hiding the bitterness in his tone. It was all he dreamed about; all he knew he would never have. “Well, the only actual way to secure the collar is really painful and really not something I want to do to the poor dog. He’s already suffering by having me around, constantly working on wires he cannot play with.” He spoke, smiling lightly as the girl took a picture of Bear. “Go and try to get a better look, I dare you. He might roll on his back and start snoring again.”

Carmel couldn’t help but to laugh at what Jaxon just said, “Okay, okay I’ll try to have more faith in your plumbing skills,” she nod her head, “Just please, please don’t mess our plumbings even more because I have an early shift tomorrow,” she made sure. “Yeah you should meet him, I’ll introduce you two when he comes home. He came home last January for Chinese New Year,” she said, not noticing the bitterness in his voice, mostly because she didn’t really know Jaxon’s life story. “Really? Couldn’t you just give him the one with buckles? So he can’t take it off?” she asked about the collar, “He can play with me, I’ll give him treats,” she chuckled. 

“I just came to relax a little…” Gabriela stated with a small smile as she sat down on the edge of the pool. “Being by the water does that… closest i’m going to get to the beach after all..” She gave a small laugh before she looked up to Caramel, “What about you?” 

Carmel nod her head as she shifted to sat a little straighter on the chair, “Ah I missed the beach,” she hummed as she tried to think of the nice and sunny L.A, “Just need to find something to keep myself busy,” she said to the blonde, couldn’t help the small sigh that escaped her lips by the end. 

The weather was already dire and Lydia should have known better than to go outside without an umbrella. After coming back home yesterday, it occurred to her that there wasn’t all that much stocked up food wise. So, she took it upon herself to go shopping for some groceries. Carrying a couple of heavy, plastic bags in each hand, part of her wished that she had took her car instead of deciding to walk. Sure, there was the option to call a cab but it was pointless now as she could see the apartment building in sight. Taking quick strides along the sidewalk, tightening her grip on the bags, she continued to remind herself that she was almost there. Her walking came to a screeching halt as the heavy bags she’d been carrying suddenly felt… weightless.  One look at the ground confirmed her fears, along with the sound that came along with the contents of her bags falling to the ground. A groan emitted from her lips as she sighed, cursing at herself for lacking common sense in the first instance. “Congratulations, Lydia. You’ve been home for no less than twenty four hours and you’ve already managed to make a mess,” She muttered sarcastically to herself, brushing some of her wringing wet hair away from her face and behind her ear. “This is completely fine. Never wanted those eggs anyway,” Lydia added with a sardonic smile as she slowly bent down in an attempt to try and collect some of her stuff together. The items that weren’t smashed across the pavement, that is.

Carmel was just coming home from work when she noticed some things littering the sidewalk, which is odd because most of the things are new, okay maybe except the eggs. Carmel picked the things she could while carrying her umbrella and tried to catch the girl in front of her before she realized it was Lydia. She froze with some grocery in her hands. It was too late for her to run away of course, but she didn’t know what to say, not especially after the gossip about her and Andrew being broadcasted to everyone. “Uh hi,” she greeted Lydia awkwardly, “I think you dropped these,” she handed the things back to Lydia, “Do you need any help??”

“So I know you’ll appreciate this and I just need to tell the world what happened today.” Eisley said as she looked over to the other person who was with her in the club house area. “Today when I was shopping for some new shoes I saw some family in the same aisle as me. Everything seemed okay except for the moody little teenager that was pouting and rolling her eyes at her mom. When I go to leave the aisle, I hear the mom say something to the girl and the girl must have mumbled something because what I heard next was something I never expected.” Eisley began laughing, thinking back to it all. She forced herself to get the next part out, knowing it probably wasn’t as funny to the other as it was to her. “The mom screamed in the middle of the store , ‘Courtney, you can’t wear leopard print to a funereal!‘ I’m dead serious, it was the best thing I’ve ever heard.”

Carmel was sipping her hot tea trying to get rid of the sad feeling she’s been feeling for a while now after what happened with Thor. Though it’s been more than a week, every time she wasn’t working she couldn’t help herself but to feel everything all over again, which is why she ended up with a basket of chocolate chip muffin on the table. She nod her head and raised her eyebrow at Eisley and let her tell her story but looking at the other woman confusedly because she was already laughing before telling her the end of the story, which is why Carmel let out a small chuckle, “You might want to stop laughing first there,” she patted Eisley’s shoulder a little and let out a laugh at the end of the story, “The girl wanted to wear a leopard print to the funeral? At least she could’ve gone with zebra pattern you know?”

“I think that’s something you should do all the time. Remind yourself of how fabulous you are. Because it’s apparent.” Kajal complimented Carmel earnestly and with a smile. “I know when you’re running around, trying to take care of everything and everyone—it’s an easy thing to forget. But tonight, we will remember!” Kajal enthusiastically declared, waving her hands in the air as she cheered them on.

Carmel laughed wholeheartedly before doing a small curtsy in a response to Kajal's words, "I'll try to," she chuckled, "And you're right, tonight we will remember and I think our Uber is outside," she told Kajal as she pushed open the door and see the car waiting for them outside.

“I can have a look first. It can’t be something big.” Jaxon offered with a small shrug. He enjoying tinkering around the apartment sometimes; it kept him away from his mind, and it was more than he needed sometimes. “I’m not much of an expert, but I’m pretty sure you could pull the icicles in your hair off and everyone would be envious.” He added teasingly, nodded at her question. “I was… uh… kind of trying to become an astronaut.” He admitted shyly, shaking his head when she raised her brow, her implication obvious. “On his collar! Don’t think something bad. But he likes to chew on things. And the amount of times I’ve found him without his collar is ridiculous.” Jaxon explained, smiling lightly as she asked about Bear. “He’s a handful, but he’s fun. And he’s over there. Napping.” He nodded towards a pile of cushions and pillows in one of the corners. “I think he likes building forts.”

“Do you know anything about plumbing? Because we so don’t need it died altogether you know?” Carmel asked teasingly with a small nudge to him before she flashed him a small grin. “It could be my superpower, icicle hair,” she chuckled. “Really? You did? Okay you and my brother are too alike,” she told him with a laugh, “My brother worked for NASA. Not an astronaut tough, he’s like an engineer or something like that, but he was a total nerd about rockets,” Carmel explained to Jaxon. “Maybe you should secured the collar with something? Because with how he likes to go around by himself, I won’t be surprised if he get lost and without his collar people won’t know how to return him to you,” she suggested before looking at the sleeping dog and smiling, “Awh he’s so cuddly there,” she grinned before snapping a picture on her phone.