you either fought back or surrendered

Brushing away barely visible flyaways of strands of hair, Corinna was content that the window reflection of herself looked good enough. They were nearing the end of the week and between work and attending as many events as she could, she was itching for a bath. Or sleep. Or both. She hadn’t found much time to relax in between all the events she’d attended. “You ready?” Corinna spoke as she walked towards him, fingers brushing against his neck to fix his collar. “You have your lil baby crown with you?” The lawyer couldn’t help but smirk at her self-proclaimed name for his runner up tiara. Stepping back, her eyes flickered from his head to his shoulders, hips then feet. Taking his hand, she lifted her arm and grinned. “Spin. How are you this hot without tryin’ too hard?”

“Believe me, it sounds better than it is.” Not that Edgar had any kind of personal experience with being Mr. Maywood. “Probably. If it doesn’t, the texts from my ma will.” Daiyu had someone found out about all of this. Knowing her, she probably had alerts for whenever her children appeared in the news. “She’s already texted three times to say how proud she is, and how she’s hoping that this will be the thing that helps me find a spouse.”

Nathaniel was glad to spot a pathway near the parade without many people. It was a moment to get out of the huge crowds, even if it did mean a slightly worse view than the one he had before… he didn’t really mind that so much anyway. He was only there to get out of the apartment on his day off… and he knew that he would get grief from coworkers if he didn’t go for a little while.

He didn’t mean for his eyes to land temporarily on the small child, it just seemed like habit at this point. The kids were always the ones he was working with, it was them he had to check on, make sure they were okay… but he pulled himself out of that once he heard the adult speak, and his gaze moved back up to her. “I don’t have much of an opinion, to be honest with you.” He admitted. “I don’t know most of them very well.”

Jade had been dragged out to this event mostly to see Thalia and Elena’s work, but also because apparently when you lived here it was just something you did. Keeping her dark oversized sunglasses on her face, she stood off to the side. “I honestly don’t know any of these people.” Jade remarked with a shrug. She wasn’t sure if the woman was talking to her or not, but she’d answered just to be polite. “Really? What makes you say that about them?” Raising an eyebrow from behind her sunglasses, she turned towards the woman next to her. “Is there something bad about this group of winners?”

Emery had grown up with this yearly tradition. Honestly it was something that was way more fun when she was younger. Still, she made sure to attend and show her face every year. But at the end of the day, it was a tradition and she always enjoyed seeing the whole town come together. 

“Is it mean to say I’d rather it have been the runners up to win?” she asked, grinned softly. Emery was never really a big fan of the whole king and queen titles and to this day never really understood the need for them. “I mean I don’t think all the winning choices were bad, I just thought some of them maybe weren’t as expected.” she shrugged. Emery gave the little one a smile. “So how’s babysitting duty treating you?”

     It was like the second the Mrs and the Mr was announced, Zuri was out of her gown and back in jeans. Though she did make sure to return to the parade, if for nothing more than to capture Ford smiling and waving to poke fun at him for it later. Though she had to admit, even with the itchy dress she had to adorn while they announced the winners she was having quite a bit of fun. Might even say she had missed it while she was away.

     “I think…” she trailed off glancing up at the winners before returning her attention to Corinna. “I’ve never been more happy to hear the words runner up in my life. Did not expect Ford to be up there though.” The thought alone made her laugh. “He always had girls crushing on him in high school for his bad boy mystique, but something about that transferring past graduation just don’t sit right.” Her tone was playful as she kept pace with the other. “Out of everyone who caught you by surprise the most.”

“I mean… what is there really to say about something that you win by being good looking when it comes down to the wire?” She asked rhetorically, head tilting for a second as she took a sip from the iced coffee she had in her hands. Something she felt like she needed when dealing with anything this town had to offer. You’d think she’d be used to it since she’d lived here her whole life yet that wasn’t the case. “I would have preferred people that would take the whole thing and make it enjoyable instead of standing there looking stiff. Like… honey, we know you don’t wanna be here, you don’t have to fake it.” 

Griffin needed a break from all the crowds. It was amusing to watch his friends up on the float, Edgar the grumpiest of them all though Ford was probably a close second. He did enjoy the bowtie though. It was a nice touch. However he did miss having ball there with him, that way he wasn’t eating a whole funnel cake on his own. 

Staring down a plate of fried dough and powdered sugar he made his way down the street. He couldn’t help but chuckle seeing Corinna and Ruben up ahead musing about the Maywood Royalty. Stepping up next to her he lifted the plate in an subtle offer to share.  “You’ve got that right. Its actually pretty amusing to see them up there, honestly I think the runner ups were more prepared for all the festivities than some of the actual winners. I see they put you on babysitting duty, how’s little Ruben doing? 

Cam looked at the card in the woman’s hand next to her. She smiled for a moment but then raised her eyebrow at the words ‘interesting bunch’. “I have to like the winners or at least one of them. My twin sister is part of the interesting bunch, as you were pointing out,” she said to Corinna, pointing at the name of Alex near the top of the twenties category of Miss Maywood. “But I do have to admit that some of the other choices are quite unexpected, don’t you think?”

Oliver blushed as soon as the words left his mouth. He’d always been a strange child, obsessed with history and mythology. Add to the fact that he’d spent countless hours watching The Golden Girls with one of his babysitters and could quote almost every line of any random episode, made him the sort of child that other child didn’t know how to relate to – the odd man out. So, he was still trying to understand why Cory find his strangeness amusing. 

“I uh… I suck at normal compliments, okay?” As he spoke, he adjusted the watch on his wrist. It had been a gift for his father when he’d graduated from his MSW program. It had appeared in the mail one day and Oliver had kept it on every since as a reminder that his father knew exactly what was happening in his life and thought about him every now and then, even if they didn’t talk often. 

“A fan of chocolate chips? Do you know me?” He quirked an eyebrow, a half smile on his face. “My go to order at the cafe is a double chocolate muffin. Anything chocolate works for me.” He realized that his enthusiasm had been a  bit over the top and bit his lip. “Unless you wanted to go out. In which case, my treat.”

“When you say Beyonce, are you thinking Drunk in Love or Love on Top,” Diego questioned, a mischievous glint in his eyes. He couldn’t say that he knew all of Beyonce’s considerable collection of songs, but he knew enough… and karaoke? Karaoke was his thing. It was something that he usually did with his wife, but tonight, she was home with their son. His meeting had ended a little under twenty minutes ago and he’d been debating heading home or indulging. With the offer, it seemed as if the decision had been made for him.

“If it’s a partner you want, it’s a partner you’ve got.” 

Lincoln smirked as he looked up from the woman who had grabbed his attention, seconds before. The suggestion of singing a duet was a little too funny, mainly because he definitely didn’t have nearly enough liquor in him to make this a good show. But instead of shutting the idea down completely, as he so desired to do, he decided he was going to play along. “You’re gonna need shots to forget the awful back-up.” He responded, more a promise then anything else. “Lets say that I was willing to do that, what Beyonce song are we talking?” He questioned, arching a brow in pure curiosity at the choices that could be given. 

One of Zahra’s little hobbies that she kept hidden deep, deep down was the fact that she really enjoyed karaoke. She enjoyed singing in general. It had been one of the few things that had managed to push her past the grief of losing her mother and remained to this day something that made her happy on days where she wasn’t feeling so great. With some alcohol already in her system, she watched the woman on stage essentially asking for a partner which made her laugh. Soon enough, she was raising her hand and rising to her feet, “I’ll do it!” She proclaimed, walking over to the stage, “I could never say no at the chance to sing some classic Queen Bey. But it really depends on if you want to do more recent Bey songs or if you wanna throw it back a few years. I can do both but I gotta get in the mindset first.”