Harmony Howard

nico had been put in charge of replenishing the brushes at the studio, which would have been easy enough if he had actually remembered to order them. as it turned out, he was not proving to be the world’s greatest gallery assistant. what he lacked in experience, however, he made up for in enthusiasm or at least, that was the generous way to look at it. he had eventually placed the order, but the brushes would take a few days to arrive, and elio was not exactly known for his patience when his supplies were involved. so nico had found himself at the hardware store, hoping temporary replacements would be better than showing up empty-handed and admitting defeat.

"Yeah. Not great. Sometimes, with things like brushes, you get what your paid for." At least in her experience. Coming up beside him, eyes scanning the wall of paint brushes, her teeth worried over her bottom lip in contemplation before she finally reached up and snagged a couple of mid range horse hair brushes from the lower rungs and held them out to him before offering a hand in greeting. "It's like the opposite of a bar, all the top shelf stuff is cheap because they want you grabbing from where your eye lands. So like a bar, the best bang for your buck is right here in at the bottom." The middle eye level part of the set up housing the more expensive ones.

Irvin smiles." Hey Harmony, what do you have for me today?" He tries his best not to let her get to him, even if he's always been a bit of a sucker for nicknames. Easiest way to get to his heart.

Vale was headed into The Silver Bullet because he really, really needed to get shitfaced tonight. Work had been rough. It wasn't that he'd dealt with anyone particularly rude or anything, it was just...he'd met someone who reminded Vale of himself before everything fell apart. The girl had a bright future ahead of her if she stuck with the piano, and Vale hoped she would, even if he also felt unfairly bitter about it. He hated when he got like that, especially about young talent, so Vale needed to just forget about everything for a few hours.

"Oh, um... yeah." Shaking herself back to the moment, she let her hands rise and fall back onto the steering wheel. "This old girl has been a little saucy as long as I've had her." Not that that helped her now. "You wouldn't be able to give a girl a boost would you?" For a guy who had an air about him that said 'resting bitch face' he was pretty cute at least.

They hung their head, picking at their burger. Not wanting to admit now, that their question had been about Asher Stone himself. But it was too late for that.

"Asher, actually," they confessed, before suddenly laughing. Reaching out to touch Harmony's arm as they quickly added, "No, don't run over him though, I'm kidding." Claude knew hers had only been a tease as well, but he wanted her to understand that Asher hadn't actually done anything wrong to warrant even a metaphorical jeep running him down.

She was a little surprised though when they revealed at Asher was the cause of their dour mood, blinking at Claudio in confusion. "Trouble in paradise already? You're really sure I don't need to run him over though? I will, even if it'd be a shame to lose a face like that." The teasing was mandatory to make sure that his brilliant smile returned.

Brows only rose higher toward her line of blond hair atop her forehead as she took in everything that had been spilled into her lap. "Well dang, that really is messy. First things first, he's a top of the line idiot for not liking you like that. His loss like a hundred percent. A generational fumble. Secondly second, Harriet? As in McLaughlin?" She couldn't help the little cringe she gave, adverse to most of the town's wealthier residents, the Reynolds and their supporters most of all. "She's probably rebounding from the entire Reynolds family with him. Sorry, that was mean. I just... Don't blame yourself. Everyone knows Asher has been up that girl's ass since the stone age."

He needed a distraction. His phone had gone silent. Lilith hadn't even bothered a fuck you text. Or jealousy inducing proof Grady was nothing, showing off whoever she'd ended up with after their tiff. Not a peep. And trust that he had been checking. And typing and deleting his own messages. And hovering his fingers over her name to call, on the brink of apologizing to go along with whatever she wanted just to have her back. But he was just as stubborn and his and feelings were still hurt - he hadn't been wrong in liking her.

So he needed to get his mind off of Lilith and his crush.

Pulling off her gardening gloves at the sound of the main door bell, she slid them into the pocket of the apron the bore the Howard's Greenhouses logo as she came out to play welcome wagon. To maybe the cutest tall drink of water she'd seen in a hot minute. Grin turning coy she sidled over to offer any help.

"Thanks." She accepted of his compliment with a nod. "Been family run since before my Dad's time. A lot of these blooms are unique to us. Harmony Howard," an introduction paired with a bright smile. "How can I help you?"

He locked the front door of the rink, seeing Harmony still hanging around after all the work is said and done. "Huh?" He frowned slightly at the beer at first, "I didn't even say anything yet," he huffed because she knew he'd nag. And mag he will, "these better not be here once the kids show up," still he sighed and accepted the bottle, clinking glass to glass, "to summer camp season." He loved it so much too, usually would be beaming and full of joy, this year unfortunately, will be putting him to the test to put up the best front he can for the kids.

Sure, when all had been said and done she'd ended up closer to Claudio, but Ash was still a friend, and something about the look on his face pulled at her heartstrings. The way he inhaled half the beer in almost one go only stood to confirm.