C O N F I D E N C E

Addy chose to lose the ‘fight’ about the bars, seeing as Finley seemed like he was just going to keep on one-upping her every time. She chuckled as she shook her head. “You, Finley Westbrook, might be kind of insane, you know that?” Insane in a good way, though. Or mostly a good way. Listening to him talk, Addy couldn’t help but smile. “That’s really sweet, though. That your parents are still in love like that. I never really got to see that side of it, but I don’t really think that’s stopped me at all. I just suppose, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve thought about it less and the possibility of it happening is lower. I mean, nobody’s really gonna wanna marry you when you’re a shrivelled old maid, right?” She shrugged a shoulder, only slightly joking. When he kissed her, Addy happily melted into it like she often did whenever he kissed her. “This might seem like a loaded question to ask someone of your age,” she mumbled after pulling away. “But how do you think you know if it’s the right person?” 

“You are a total dream boat, Bennett. I don’t know how anyone hasn’t snapped you up yet, and I bet half of those school people are still single for all the wrong reasons. I imagine it would be super satisfying to arrest your schoolmates, though, oh, to see the looks on their faces,” she chuckled at the thought of some of the people she herself had gone to school with. If only. “Hey, I volunteered. I’m up for it and I’m so ready to hear all those jokes you’ve got.”

As she reached up a hand to pet the horse, Addy chuckled. “Oh, had I known you were so interested, I would have left Fin weeks ago. He’s got nothing on you, honey,” she grinned. “And you have horses. Win-win.”

“I mean, what else am I going to call them? They’re hypothetical children,” she grinned and shrugged at Maya. Children were barely even in the picture. “Add seasoning to the baby food? Interesting tactic. I’m pretty sure my mom didn’t do that with me because I’m nearly the fussiest person I know when it comes to food.” She’d been cooking a lot for herself lately, but that didn’t mean she was going out, buying fancy cookbooks and trying to replicate fancy recipes. “You could never sound like a horrible parent, Maya. I don’t think that’s even possible. It’s normal – everyone has things they wish they could change.”

There was just a tiny bit of her that felt wounded pride at being at the doctors for something as small as a cut hand. It was accidental, anyway – and she’d only been trying to properly cut a damn tomato, too, but the knife had slipped awkwardly and now here she was, hand wrapped up in paper towel. She nodded down at her hand. “Had a little bit of a cooking accident this morning,” she chucked. “Pitiful, I know.”

There were plenty of times that Addy was more than glad to have Maya as a friend, and having her as a friend who had experience with a child of her own was one of the reasons – even though Addy herself was pretty sure children were years away for her, if at all. “Yeah, I’d probably try it anyway,” she shrugged. “I mean, gotta make sure the hypothetical child is eating something that tastes like... something. And I’m just too curious not to.” Addy chuckled and nodded along. “Oh, what I wouldn’t give to go back to the good old days.”

“Oh, you’re kidding?! That’s ridiculous. I’d do it all the time just to spite whoever came up with the law,” she laughed, really only half joking – she wasn’t that much of a rule breaker, but the occasional rule did call to be broken. “I used to be a terrible cook. I literally burnt my toast every single day. It’s edible now, though, and I think I’ve mastered eggs for the most part. I’m spending a lot more of my free time cooking now, though. Just because it’s kind of going to be useful one day... you know,” she shrugged, “I’m gonna be thirty soon enough. I should probably be cooking and providing food for myself.”

“You’re not wrong there, especially as it ensures me a watch of Back to the Future, so I really can’t fully dismiss that option straight off the bat,” she flashed him a grin, but then shook her head. “Ugh, oh no. I’d be intolerable. Even if people are supposed to be friends with similar people. I’d get so sick of myself. I imagine there are a few people like me out there. But you – no way you could get sick of yourself. You’re so nice.”

Chuckling, she agreed. “I don’t doubt that, for some people, at least. I’ve heard plenty of stories,” she explained. Addy stifled a proper laugh at Felicity’s next words, though, because if there were anyone that she were to talk about any potential problems with, it would definitely not be a stranger – or an impartial one. She shook her head. “There is a lot on my mind that you do not want or need to know, so I’ll keep you in the blissful dark on that. Do you come out here and smoke often, though? Is there like... a weed smoking group or something...?”

“Yeah, you’re safe from that with me. Any bartender that does that deserves all the shit you’ve probably already given them.” Addy had met a few bartenders in her time that were like that, and she’d given them all a piece of her mind before, too. Laughing, she shook her head. “I’m sorry, wifed up? I wouldn’t go so far to say I’ve been wifed up, but... taken? I think that’s a way to describe it. He’s not a business man, though. Far from it, actually,” she chuckled. There was no need for her to really keep secrets when it came to her and Fin, anyway. “I probably will.”

Addy frowned a little at that. “Well, joke’s on them because look at you now. You’re probably doing better than all of them combined, buddy,” she assured him. “I didn’t say you had to be perfect! I’m giving you wiggle room. You’ve got plenty of time to work on them and get them perfected. And then, over time, you can test them out on me. And I’ll even do it for free.” As if she’d ever do it for anything else.

Addy had honestly only ever smoked it once in her life, and she hated it, so she was kind of glad to see the other girl putting it out before coming over to her. “I’m just getting some air,” she shrugged. “Been cooped up inside for the night and all morning. In need of some thinking space, you know? I’m guessing what brings you out is that?” She nodded to the bag.

Addy still laughed often about the memory of that morning and considering the look on Finley’s face about that, it seemed he found it amusing, too, which she was glad for – especially because, at first, he hadn’t been so thrilled. “Shush, you. You’re not buying the bar or giving her a good pay out from your trust fund. You’re keeping that money for yourself and that’s that,” she spoke a little forcefully. After all, the money was his. He deserved to use it in a way that benefitted him – not just so he could keep her in bed. What surprised her the most, though, was seeing how flustered he became as she commented on his thoughts on marriage. She smiled a little as she looked at him. “I didn’t think you’d be one to even get married in the first place, honey,” she hummed. “But I suppose if you meet the right person at the right time... well, what’s stopping you, right?”

fishing | camping | sewing | singing | dancing | drawing | painting | baking | cooking | making music | gardening | mixology  | playing sports | beekeeping | knitting | chess | video games | working out | doing yoga | playing an instrument | collecting things | hiking | parkour | kite flying | making bread | origami | wood carving | trivia | board games | jigsaw puzzles | juggling | swimming | creative writing | journaling | scrapbooking | thrifting | doing makeup | working on cars | cosplaying | wikipedia editing | genealogy | book club | table tennis | calligraphy | meteorology | astronomy | larping  | geocaching | photography | reading | litter picking | scrolling through social media | watching movies / shows | witchcraft | pottery | lego building | ghost hunting | graffiti | poker | people watching | birdwatching .

It was accidental, Addy stumbling across the smell of weed. She screwed her nose up at the smell and was starting to regret sitting down and getting comfortable so close to it when a voice pulled her out of her own head. “Do I wanna hit it?” She shook her head. “Uh, no. I’m past my weed smoking days... by like fifteen years.”

“Is that a challenge I hear?” Addy was up for it immediately. The second anyone ever suggested a challenge, there was pretty much no way she could back down on it. “I’m pretty damn good at pool, you know. I could kick your ass in it no problem.”