worth more than that

Christian could almost hear the hesitation in the woman’s voice. “Hey…” He murmured softly, turning to look at her and offering a small smile. “It’s going to be alright. I don’t know how long it’ll take but I’m sure we can find a way to pass the time. Come on.” Moving to sit on the ground of the elevator, he patted a spot next to him. “If you don’t want to sit on the floor I’ll give you my jacket.” He offered. 

Looking at the man as he moved to sit down on the floor, Celeste contemplated her options. She didn’t want to make him remove his jacket so she’d settle for the floor. The situation was bad enough and she’d simply have to deal with her outfit potentially getting dirty. “How are you able to stay so level headed?” Celeste spoke up after taking up the spot beside him.

“I did have sign it was clear as day in front of it, where on earth did it go?” She sighed looking around and finally finding it halfway across the room. “I left for a moment to take a call, I didn’t think anybody would come in and try to touch it.”

“No, no no! Don’t go near that!” She exclaimed as she ran over almost slapping them on the hand. “That plant is very dangerous,I have been studying it and that’s why it’s away from the other plants,goodness knows what it will do to you if you touch it. Why did you go close to it anyway?!”

“I’m not a lift technician I’m afraid but if we stopped on a floor we should be fine…” If they answer, explain to them the situation.” Christian instructed calmly as he moved to the elevator doors. Getting his fingers between the metal, he began to pry them open. Unfortunately what met him was the sight of  and stone. “Ah.. it stopped in between floors so we really are going to have to wait for the professionals.”

“In between floors?” she swallowed back a lump in her throat. Celeste was really trying her best to keep herself together. “How long does it take for the professionals to get here?”

⛈️ - our muses get caught in a summer storm together @celestemcntgcmery​

“I swear my app said it wasn’t supposed to rain today,” Fleur laughed as she spoke to the other who found shelter at a bus stop. The rain came out of nowhere and was pouring now. “Do you think it will let up any time soon?”

“It’s fine– just fine,” Celeste insisted, blowing her nose into another tissue, the rest of which had formed a little mountain on the beside table. “I must just be having an allergic reaction to all the dust in here. Seriously can’t that friend of yours afford a maid or something? This place is a mess most of the time,” she rambled, trying to draw attention to something else like she often did.

🔒 - our muses get stuck in an elevator together

“Are you okay?” Were the first words that came from Christian as the elevator unexpectedly came to a stand still. There were only two of them in it thankfully; himself and the woman he’d met previously; Celeste. One hand reached out to try the buttons but to no avail so he instead switched to holding down the alarm, waiting for a response from the other end.

@celestemcntgcmery

“Wait– what just happened?” she blinked, taking a moment to process that this was reality. Celeste had seen it happen in movies or shows, but being stuck in an elevator in real life? This had to be a joke. “Can you get it working again?” Celeste asked the man she recognized from her first day at Grove Harbour, doing her best to keep herself composed.

“You a long way from New York now, sis- you’re not going to find any shopping districts close by. Maybe if you take a forty five minute car journey.” He commented, his hands pushed in his pockets as he tried to bottle down the nerves he felt upon seeing his twin. They hadn’t spoken in so long and then he called her up out of the blue asking him to help, he had expected her to tell him to fuck off, yet- here she was. He glanced over to where her luggage was and then back to her, “Please tell me that’s not all yours? Where exactly were you thinking of putting all of that and who did you expect to carry it?”

She crinkled her nose at her brother’s words. “How the hell did you end up here again? Seriously, what would possess a person to decide to live here?” Celeste asked bluntly, unable to wrap her head around why Cedric chose to stay in Grove Harbour of all places. “Well we can pay someone can’t we?” she reminded him, patting her purse. “Besides, didn’t you say this friend of yours you’re living with has a nice place? I’m sure you’ll find the space.”

“I do miss it in that I have a lot of good memories there. It holds my childhood and my family home but I don’t know… I’ve always felt more at ease here, probably because of the acceptance of the town more than anything.” That wasn’t to say there weren’t people trying to stir things up but that’s not what a new person needed to hear right off the bat. “Have you got no way to contact him?” Christian asked after a moment when the woman explained how she’d been intending to stay with her brother. “But sure, I can bring you to the hotel. At least that way you can get a little down time and sort yourself out.” Despite all the bags that littered the ground, Christian picked them up one by one with ease. “I can tell that. I’m not sure there’s a room big enough in the hotel to fit all your things in.” The man joked, chuckling a little. “Don’t mention it. It doesn’t cost anything to be nice and despite knowing you can look after yourself, you shouldn’t have to. No one should.”

“Interesting. I guess sometimes we find a home elsewhere,” she mused thoughtfully. Celeste was Upper East Side born and raised. But there were many people who had moved away from their hometowns and found lives they preferred. She just didn’t stop and consider it often. “I mean I have his number, but he hasn’t been picking up. He’s going to regret that the second I do run into him. I’ll give him hell,” Celeste added with a light chuckle. She was partially joking, but she’d certainly make it clear to her brother that she was upset about being stood up with all her luggage.

“I appreciate that, thank you,” Celeste replied politely. She watched, impressed, as he picked up all her luggage without struggle. She reached for one she could roll along so he wouldn’t have to deal with every bag. “You think?” she laughed back, knowing very she could be excessive with her overpacking. At the man’s following words she smiled, taking those words into consideration. The man certainly had a lot more going on underneath is surface and she could appreciate that about him. As well as his impressive physical build. “Well, I guess I can’t argue with that,” she nodded. “So, may I ask who looks after you?”

“Montgomery is that you?” Avery asked, grinned, “What are you doing here? Has your brother gotten into some trouble I don’t know about yet? We know it’s always the sister who has to bale the brother out,” She joked, “Shopping here isn’t as great as New York but I can show you where to get the best deals.”

Ronnie heard the other’s remark but didn’t recognise her and therefore didn’t say anything until she called out to her, “We have a mall,” She said, “And a bunch of smaller shops and also great bars.”

Ophelia needed to finish reading a few reports before work and was just starting the penultimate one when someone approached her. The questions made her pause for a moment. “I suppose the answer will be different if you ask someone else, but we do have some lovely coffee shops. Some people visit the bar, or the nightclub… And we do have a mall, it’s not that far away if you want to walk,” she offered.

“Fair enough, but those are all promising responses,” she admitted after the young woman answered her. “I do like some good nightlife, but obviously need a new outfit before doing any of that so I’ll opt for asking where the mall is exactly,” Celeste decided. “I mean I’ll be taking a car or something. I mean I can’t carry all these bags with me while walking, can I?” she gestured to some of her luggage that stood nearby.

“If you go a couple blocks down the street, you’ll hit the town square and there’s a bunch of shops there.”

“A couple of blocks down?” she raised her eyebrows upwards slightly. “You guys have Uber in this town right?”

“There’s uh, some shops in the town square. I guess it depends on what exactly you’re looking for.”

“The town square you say? That sounds... potentially promising,” Celeste considered. “Which way to the town square then?”

“We’re a small town,” Alex responded, as if that was all the explanation they needed. “They’ve got a few good stores but I wouldn’t call it a ‘district’ in the slightest.” She tried to turn back on to her work mode in order to help the girl in front of her, however mundane her questions were but… she was on a break. “That depends on what you define as fun, we have…” Alexandria paused to pretend to think, “One bar.” 

Thana stopped and turned to the very pretty woman hailing her. “Well, I uh…” she’d love to say that she was off to go do some normal people stuff, but this woman had honestly caught her in the middle of a bit of work. “I hear there are some cafes? And a bookshop and some music stores, but I’m afraid I don’t get out too much.” She said with a light chuckle as she shoved her notebook back into her pocket.

“Is there a single one you could point me towards?” she pressed. Cafés and music stores was too vague of an answer for what Celeste had been expecting. “I understand you might not get out much, but you’ve got to eat or buy clothing somewhere right?” she asked, still not too satisfied by the town her brother had beckoned her to.