peachy keen

*

honestly, peaches and michael were the most unlikely pair one could think of, but it just worked. they always bumped into each other, given that they worked next door from one another, and before they knew it, they were often gossiping and chatting during their breaks—or taking special breaks just to gossip with one another. michael lived for it, honestly. 

casablanca’s definitely not a place you’ll find michael at regularly, but it had been the one peaches suggested, and he offered no resistance. so now here he was, sipping on a cosmopolitan with his friend. “what is it?” he asked. “uh, never too old, i don’t think. if you’re dead, you’re too old. if you’re not yet, you’re good. you’re not asking for yourself, right? cause you’re like, what, twenty-ff…?”

✧

peaches shot michael a look when he tried guessing her age, even she wouldn’t exaggerate that much and say she was in her twenties, but leave it to this shit head to have the audacity to pull that card out of his ass. “do not even. flattery is amazing, ass kissing is a totally different thing. and it’s only good in the bedroom.” she said and shrugged her shoulders. after all, the two of them gossiped and chatted so much that she figured talking like herself wasn’t out of the norm. and that meant bringing up bedroom talk sometimes, but didn’t all adults do that from time to time? “i’m just afraid of it hurting. i know it’s supposed to because well, it’s needles repeatedly poking into your skin, but ugh, the outcome of it all is always so beautiful and makes me jealous that i’m a big wuss.” 

willa laughs at the other woman’s playful sincerity. she loves people like that. “i think we have a few in the back. we have two different ones, and they come in different colors. blue, red, yellow, pink, green and black. what color is his favorite?” she asks as she browses through the stock of record players on the store’s computer. “how old is he going to be?” she asks, almost as a reflex. willa’s one of those people that likes to start conversations with every single stranger. it enriches her life, she thinks. 

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“hm.” she hummed thinking to herself as she listed off some colors that they had in stock. “let me see the green, annnd...” she trailed off before choosing. “blue.” because if the record players were an ugly shade and wouldn’t go with the aesthetic, she’d just get a solid black one. but she did want to see what colors they had in stock just to be anything but basic too. “seventeen.” she almost groaned out. “i swear though, the older he gets the younger i look.” she said and flipped her hair off her shoulder with a laugh to follow. “he’s gotten really into the older blues and classical music, so i want to get him a player that’ll make him feel the music. vinyl is always, always better to listen to if you ask me.”

@pcachyqueen​ →  ☕️ : our muses to have coffee together

“Do you think I should get a cat?” Oliver asked, all too focused on the feline in his lap. Love & Toe Beans probably wasn’t where most would expect to find Oliver but well, he liked cats and it was always fun to drink coffee with a companion. Not that Peaches wasn’t one but who would turn down a cat? “I’m not great at keeping fish alive…” He murmured, frowning a little when a thought occurred to him though he shook his head as though pushing it from his mind. “But I like cats and they seem a little less sensitive to say, oxygen levels and water temperatures or whatever you’re supposed to worry about with fish.”

peaches liked pets when they were other people’s. she liked animals, don’t get her wrong, but taking care of them was like taking care of children; and she was already taking care of one of those. that’s why she didn’t mind coming to love & toe beans from time to time. there was a cat in particular that seemed to like her a lot; he was a black maine coon and he was absolutely gorgeous. and peaches adored him and felt truly special that he liked her enough to sleep in her lap as she sipped on her creme brûlée latte. “that would explain why so many fish of mine died when i was a kid. we just dumped them in a bowl and called it a day - fed it when we were supposed to, changed the water. but oxygen levels and temperatures, never would have guessed.” she replied with a laugh to follow. “and cats pretty much take care of themselves too. all you have to do is feed them, change a toilet box, and pet them when they allow you to.” she added in with a little chuckle as she stroked the head of the cat’s head in her lap.  

location: Outside of Roses are red. status: Open. @amorestart​

at long last, a much needed order had arrived at roses are red, a bit late though and the postal service had just placed the boxes outside after her signature. business had been booming over the holidays which meant that, well…they had run out of the essentials of tying together the flower arrangements. nina stubbornly huffed, eyeing the task at hand and optimistic that the boxes surely weren’t that heavy. oh how wrong she was. so out of sheer will, she managed to pick one up, then got stuck mid squat and considering the delicate pieces inside, she couldn’t exactly just drop it. “ — shit ” she cursed underneath her breath, spotting a friendly face down the street. “ hey, hey!  do mind giving me an extra hand? i’m stuck.”

✧

–

Fiona wasn’t the type to just settle. She literally came from nothing, her parents too poor to even get her brand new school supplies every year. They relied heavily on donations and food banks and the government checks…but Fiona had not been about that life. She was too clever and far too ambitious to even think about settling into poverty like her family had. As young as grade school, she began hustling. She was gifted twenty-five dollars from her grandparents on her ninth birthday and took that twenty-five dollars and bought a shit ton of things - notebooks, pencils, pencil cases…and turned around a sold it all to the kids of her class and online for fifty dollars. From there, a passion and an addiction began. Making bank. Buying and selling anything she could get her hands on came extremely easy to her and so did finding other ways to make a quick buck - some legal and some not so much - and it easily took over her life. With dollar signs in her eyes, that’s how she looked at the world and the people living in it. Her work wasn’t completely honest, and in fact she could have easily been pegged a criminal and placed in prison should some of her less than reputable entrepreneurial dips be found out by the authorities…but it allowed her to live very comfortably and raise her son how she had wanted to be raised, herself. In luxury, wanting for nothing, and she was beyond proud of that.

Sipping a margarita, the younger woman shot Peaches a red-stained grin, “Girl, please - you’re never too old to get a tattoo, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Tattoos are for everyone to enjoy, ya hear? Tell your ‘friend’ that if they want a tat, then get a fuckin’ tat and don’t let their age stop them from livin’ their best life.”

✧

peaches couldn’t help but laugh at fiona’s reaction. it really amazed her that a girl so young could be so well off the way she was. that was one of the things that made peaches want to be around her even more, a woman that was successful - in any form or fashion - was something the older woman could certainly get behind. rolling her eyes at fiona’s comments, peaches can’t help but laugh at the way she speaks to her. “okay, maybe it’s not me - i mean her.” she added, a cheeky grin spreading on her face before continuing with what she was saying in the first place. “feeling too old, because i know i look damn good, and could pull it off. it’s more like... i’m bein’ a baby because, i’m scared it’s gonna hurt!” she said and jutted out her lip. “and before you say anything, i know it’s going to hurt because it’s needles practically jabbing into your skin over and over agin. but they’re so pretty if they’re done right.” she said, sighing softly before taking a sip of her drink. “you have any tattoos? you don’t seem like you do, but, my mama taught me never to judge a book by the cover.”

for most of her life peaches had been running some kind of business. if it weren’t the farm, it was her wedding planning. and if it wasn’t that, then she was taking care of family, and now, she was taking care of her nephew full-time. it wasn’t easy and the move had definitely been a big change but it was well worth it. peaches was pretty happy with her decision, after all her nephew had the best schooling, he was getting private piano lessons from a rather talented pianist, and peaches well, she was enjoying the cozy scene rather than the hustle and bustle of the city life. she was at casablanca’s, having a dry martini with a friend of her’s when she thought of something silly. “alright, so tell me somethin’.” she started, took a sip of her drink and then sat it down. “how old is too old to get a tattoo? askin’ for a friend, of course.”

“hey, hey, hey!” willa greets the person who has just walked into rose records. she’s been working here for a year, and she likes the stability. she especially loves being surrounded by great music and getting to pick the playlists that everyone will listen to throughout the day. the other looks either excited or confused, she can’t really tell. “are you looking for something specific?” willa asks. “or are you lost and thought this was a sex shop? it happens,” she jokes with a laugh.

@amorestart​

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her nephew’s birthday was coming up, and in true fashion and knowing just how much the boy loved music she went down to rose records. she’d passed by the place once or twice when she was on this side of town, but she never stopped in. but quentin had a love for records lately, and so she wanted to get him a few and a new record player rater than the old hand-me-down  one that barely worked. as she was greeted, peaches laughed and pushed her oversized sunglasses on the top of her head, approaching the counter. “oh no, i know exactly where that store is.” she said and grinned playfully. “i’m lookin’ for a record player. my nephew’s birthday is comin’ up and i wanna get him a real nice one. you got any suggestions?”