sweet caroline.

Preston was talking a stroll through town, sipping on his coffee from Star Diner. Sure, it wasn’t his usual order at Starbucks, but it would have to do in a pinch. Checking his emails on his phone, rolling his eyes at some meme that made it through his filter system, he felt a body bump into him. “Excuse you, I almost spilled my coffee. This is Givenchy.”

If there was one thing Caroline couldn’t stand it was rude people. At the man’s tone, she raised her eyebrows, before simply shaking her head, her phone still playing that terrible song the company used for holding. “Yeah and this is TJ Maxx, a store I had to travel to Mobile to get, but you don’t see me throwing a fit.” She shot back, irritation filling her voice. “I’m sorry I hit you, sir.”

“we could totally take this one together, i bet. i can see it.” a grin comes over her face.  “car, we’ve got this. next time i’m willin’ to give these wings a go, i’m callin’ you.”  she points at the blonde with a sure nod. she grabs the cup of beer and takes a few more sips, inhaling deeply through her nose.  

“they should let people do the challenge in teams. that’s only fair.” she grinned, nodidn’ at joey’s words. “sounds like a plan, i’m here for it.” with a sigh, she took a sip of her drink before turning to the girl. “so, what’ve you been doin’? other than tryin’ to burn yourself with wings?”

Maia had been preoccupied with scrolling through her emails on her phone that she only noticed the blonde when it was too late. She stumbled briefly but managed to keep herself standing. “Oh, I’m fine, I’m fine,” she repeated. After getting her bearings, she held up her own phone and chuckled sheepishly. “Seems I was too distracted. Are you okay?”

It was funny, Caroline didn’t recognize the person she had run into. With a smile, she shook her head. “Are you sure? I’m sorry.” She said again, holding her phone out. “Oh, I’m fine. Stupid customer service, y’know how it is.” Pausing, she reached her hand out. “Do I know you? I haven’t seen you around before.”

Some people were so sensitive. It was a plate. It’s not as if she’d lit the place on fire. And she certainly didn’t appreciate people asking her dumb questions. ‘Is everything alright?’ Uh, no lady, of course everything is not all peachy and dandy, or did you miss the part where my plate ended up in pieces? Letting out a sigh, she replied, “My hand slipped. Besides, I was almost done anyways.”

“You know, if you wanna throw plates, the creek is a good place to go. The people at the restaurant usually don’t like it.” She chuckled, before shrugging her shoulders. “Okay, well, I thought I’d ask. Just wanted to check before you start slamming down drinks and things.”

Morgan new better than to pay attention to her phone when she was walking but her grandma had text her a list of things she needed her to do and Morgan was too busy making sure she got everything before she got home. Not even realizing it til she collided with someone, her phone falling down. “No, I’m sorry.” She said bending down quickly to pick up her phone and brushing it off. “Yeah, I’m okay, teach me to pay attention, ya’alright?”

It was Caroline’s fault, she should have been paying more attention. “Is your phone okay?” She asked, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, I got left on hold for like an hour. Drivin’ me insane. And the nearest Verizon is an hour away.” She ranted, before trying to smile. “If I knew how to pay attention, I’d teach ya. I need lessons too.”

closed started for @caroline-dalton​

Carrying a bag full of supplies — most of which were alcohol—Karma stopped at Caroline’s door and knocked, she was most that ready for an after-yoga class that involved talking and drinking with one of her best friends, sometimes when she stopped to think about it she found it somewhat funny as they had started as a simple hook-up, but here they were. “I got all of our favorites and a lot of everything.” She said in a sing sang voice when Caroline opened.

Caroline opened her door to reveal her best friend, a very happy sight. “Oh, really? Well.. c’mon in. We need to get started.” She grinned as she welcomed Karma inside. “So, how was your day? I meant to go to your yoga class but I got caught up with work.”

o p e n.  /  @frostfordstart​.

“no!”  joey exclaims and her hands ball into fists, coming down onto the table in front of her. she lets out a laugh then shakes her head, “oh i need —- “  she breaks her own laugh and reaches for the pint of beer she had been avoiding for the past twenty minutes.  she takes a big gulp then exhales heavily,  “i will beat you one day, nuclear wings. one day!”  she shakes her head, laughing, at the four wings that were left in the basket.  “oof, y’all, my mouth is on fire!” and with that, she takes another drink from her beer.

“I swear,” Caroline started, shaking her head. “I have tried this challenge so many damn times. You would have thought that by now I would at least people to handle more than three of those wings.” She shrugged. “Maybe we need to try it together. Teamwork makes the dream work!”

@frostfordstart​

The day was quiet and pleasant as she sat in the shade of an oak tree at the local playground. Later this afternoon she’d be hosting her pageant training class in the school gymnasium, but for now she just had Rosemary. She’d grabbed the latest edition of the Frostford Herald to browse. She missed the bigger, and juicier papers from Montgomery but it was more entertaining then watching her two year old go up and down the same slide five hundred times. She was so deep into reading the latest column that she didn’t notice her daughter walking over and starting to shovel mulch into her open Birkin bag. She did however notice when someone sat down beside her. “I’d rather see some innocent sap go to prison then admit I’d eaten five pounds of bacon,” she said, waving the paper, with the mention of the Boland ‘robbery’ around.

Caroline wasn’t a big fan of gossip, but she couldn’t quite help herself from reading the news. For the people of Frostford it was their bread and butter, something they thrived off of. While she hated to admit it, she had become quite fond of it, and looked forward to reading it. As she strolled around the park, her yoga mat tucked neatly under her arm, she decided to take a break and sit down at a bench before she headed home. “I know, right? I would never, and I mean ever, tell someone I had five pounds of bacon.” She shook her head in disgust. “I mean, I don’t eat any meat at all, but five pounds of bacon? Just... overkill. Literally.”

“Ya know, I hadn’t thought about that. I was worried about not gettin’ their orders right, but since they will probably already be drunk, maybe they won’t notice?” He shrugged. “Not really!” he said with a laugh. “But I’m startin’ to think maybe I should go for somethin’ more, I dunno, grown up? Someone mentioned a law office, maybe even the bank?” Calvin had a flash of working in the bank, counting money, doing math. “Okay, maybe not the bank.”

“Exactly. Drunks will either not care at all or care a bit too much.” She noted. “No one has ever complimented me on my decisiveness.” Caroline joked, nodding as he mentioned something new. “Yeah, the bank might get boring. Plus, I’ve seen some of those little old ladies chew people out for messing with their checkbooks.” Her eyes grew wide as a laugh left her lips. “Maybe the law office! It might be a bit boring, but hey, everyone needs an office job once, right?”

Andrei let out a sigh of exhaustion as he twirled the gold wedding band on his left ring finger. It felt a little loose around his finger, making him wonder if it had always been that way. Had he just not noticed that until now? Why he was still wearing this ring, he had no idea. But he knew it had to come off at some point. He had to let go of his past and move on. It was for the best. It took him a moment to regain his composure and he looked up at the other with a sad smile. “Fuck it, I’m just going to do it.” He nodded his head before he removed his wedding ring, never to be worn again, but the tan mark was still burned onto his skin. “I need a drink. Or two. Maybe three? I don’t know. Just get me drunk. I’m not working for the next two days.” // @frostfordstart​

Asher sighed, staring defeatedly down at the mountain of red pepper on his pizza before he slowly began to smile, chuckling. “–I remember I’d used to sit in one of the back booths, just waiting to see the reaction on people’s faces when it happened to them. Can’t believe someone finally got me.”

“I think this is what some people would call karma.” She chuckled, shaking her head. It was funny how life had a way of being like that. “You doin’ okay, though? I know the shakers can be a lot.” She smiled. 

open starter \ location: the hogtied cavern \ @frostfordstart​

Angrily typing out another text, as Delilah pressed send, she could feel rage bubbling up through her veins. Taking her half-eaten plate of Texas Toast and Cheese, she slammed it on the floor of the bar, the plate shattering all over. The commotion caused people to glance over her way, making her anger to spike up even more, “What the hell are all of you looking at?!” She picked up her phone again, brows furrowing at a new text that sent her throwing her phone against the table.

Confrontation wasn’t something Caroline particularly liked, but she wasn’t afraid of it. She loved going to Hogtied because of the rowdy spirit, or vibe as she liked to call it, but tonight, the vibe was ruined. A loud young woman who was yelling at her, was the last thing Caroline wanted. “Is everything alright?” She asked. “’Cause you just wasted a perfectly good piece of Texas Toast and no one should ever do that.”

MOODBOARD: @kylessullivan

“Listen, Karma showed me this new move the other day and I have to show it to you.” Caroline grinned, rolling out her yoga mat. Her backyard was her favorite place to be, it provide an especially serene space when it came to yoga. As she leaned down, moving into the position, she turned her head to Nash. “So, what’s up?”