𝑳𝑰𝑻𝑻𝑳𝑬 𝑫𝑰𝑫 𝑰 𝑲𝑵𝑶𝑾.

WITH  MORE  THAN  A  FEW  SECONDS  TO  COME  UP  WITH  IDEAS  ON  THE  FLY,  mayra  dug  her  phone  out  of  her  back  pocket.  she’d  been  reluctant  to  pick  up  pinterest,  worried  it  might   cloud  her  own  artistic  vision,  or  be  a  waste  of  time,  but  the  pinning  system  ?  she  loved  it.  at  any  given  time  she  had  at  least  40  boards  going,  finding  it  easier  to  show  clients  an  inspired  pin-board  rather  than  trying  to  describe  what  she  envisioned  for  them.  with  couples  and  clients  getting  younger  and  younger  as  millennials  and  gen-z  got  older,  it  was  becoming  a  necessity.  “  here. ”  she  turned  her  phone  towards  him,  scrolling  to  a  section  of  boards.  savory,  sweet,  vegan,  keto,  vegetarian,  comfort;  she  was  nothing  if  not  through.  “ if  you  want,  i  can  air  drop  you  these  boards.  they’ve  got  links  to  recipes  on  most  of  them  and  i’ve  starred  the  ones  i  tried  and  really  liked.  there’s  something  to  cover  every  meal  of  the  day  including  dessert... ”   she  paused,  thinking;  “ there  might  even  be  some  fancy  coffee  combinations  in  there  too. ”  it’s  a  lot,  she  realizes,  to  dump  her  neurotically  curated  lists  into  a  stranger’s  lap,  but  there  was  something  about  him  that  had  overridden  her  usual  rationality.  “  sorry,  this  is  probably  way  more  than  you  were  looking  for. ”  her  smile’s  sheepish,  a  hand  pushing  hair  back  behind  her  ear.  “ my  company  does  a  lot  of  formal  events  for  clients  who  are  always  looking  for  something  new,  something  that  hasn’t  been  served  100  times  and  can  get  people  excited. ”

at  the  word  soulmate,  she  resists  the  urge  to  grimace.  coming  off  of  love  week,  she  was  a  little  soulmate-d  out.  “  how  much  time  do  you  have ? ”  focusing  on  food  was  easy;  food  she  could  talk  about  for  hours.  “  in  my  experience,  these  things  don’t  always  start  smoothly.  are  they  more  of  a  savory  or  sweet  type  person?  that  impacts  my  recommendations. ”  she  adds  that  at  the  end,  debating  it  for  a  moment  before  joining  him  on  the  bench.  standing  while  having  a  conversation  longer  than  a  passing  hello  felt  a  bit  awkward.

SHE’S  NOT  USUALLY  THE  ONE  PICKING  UP  THEIR  FLORAL  ORDER.  normally  it’s  jimmy,  the  delivery  guy  they  hired  part-time  to  trek  seating,  arrangements,  etc,  to  venues  on  the  big  days,  but  with  him  laid  up  with  a  broken  leg  —  the  team’s  doing  their  best  to  get  things  done.  hence  why  mayra  was  here  herself,  a  purchase  order  in  one  hand  and  a  monster  energy  drink  in  the  other  as  she  grinned  at  the  girl  behind  the  counter.  “  morning. ”  she  greeted,  waving  as  best  she  could  with  her  hands  full.  “  no  jimmy  today,  just  me.  picking  up  the  order  for  esparza ? ”

whenever  she  was  feeling  stressed,  or  run  down  from  whatever  life  could  throw  at  her,  fresh  air  and  a  cold  lemonade  always  did  the  trick  to  spark  life  back  into  her.  today  was  no  exception  as  she  jogged  to  a  stop,  the  back  of  her  hand  swiping  across  her  forehead  as  she  tossed  the  now  empty  lemonade  cup  into  the  trash.  “  it’s  not  bad. ”  she  replied  easily,  looking  over  at  the  man  settled  on  the  bench.  “  hot  but  not  humid,  breezy  but  not  cold. ”  in  truth,  it  was  a  little  perfect  —  but  she  wasn’t  one  to  gush  about  the  weather.   “  —  but  i’m  biased.  there’s  a  food  truck  over  there,”  she  points,  “ that  has  the  best  mac  and  cheese  bites. ”

SHE  DOESN’T  LIKE  PLACES  LIKE  THIS.  as  a  rule,  mayra’s  much  happier  to  take  clients  to  a  low-key  coffee  shop,  or  bring  them  back  into  her  office  where  it’s  quiet  and  she  can  offer  a  nice  spritzer,  or  glass  of  champagne,  but  the  client  had  insisted.  you  soooo  need  to  be  at  my  bachelorette  party,  the  woman  had  gushed,  a  manicured  hand  wrapping  tight  around  mayra’s  upper  arm,  it’s  going  to  be  lush.  a  night  at  medusa’s  certainly  wasn’t  HER  idea  of  lush...  but  what  the  client  wants,  the  client  gets.  except  of  course  she’d  lost  the  group  at  some  point,  their  pockets  burning  with  crumpled  singles  they’d  brought  along  for  the  evening.  so  here  she  sits,  front-row-center  to  an  underwhelming  rant  that  has  nothing  to  do  with  her...  and  certainly  doesn’t  get  her  belini  delivered  to  her  any  quicker.  “  interesting  night. ”  she  remarks  dryly,  credit  card  clinking  not  so  patiently  against  the  bar-top.   “  is  it  always  like  this ? ”

her family. without hesitation.

anything personal about herself? she kind of likes that she's a little aloof, a little mysterious, and the further you keep people away the less likely they are to have the power to hurt you.

she's definitely a morning person. very caffeinated, mind you, but up with the sun 200%.

there are two answers. drunk mayra and sober mayra do not pick the same songs. sober mayra probably picks one of these two if she's not going for a 'classic' choice: cool - dua lipa new rules - dua lipa drunk mayra, however, regresses and chooses reputation era taylor swift every single time. these two are probably the ones she picks 9/10 times: ready for it - taylor swift i did something bad - taylor swift

mayra's definitely a slytherin. ambition? check. resourceful? you don't want to know how many quick fixes she's had to come up with on the day of when things were going terribly wrong for her brides. determined? check. she didn't let a failed engagement run her out of everwinter. no, she dug her heels in even deeper and built a life for herself. clever? ask the diamond ring on her finger ( bought and paid for by herself ) to keep people from hitting on her while she was trying to live her damn life.

she has no strong opinions one way or the other. dogs are cute but they're too much work. cats are a little less work but they're so moody it's often an annoyance to deal with them. she could live with pets but she has no maternal need to have any furbabies.

1. the fear street trilogy 2. why did you kill me? ( documentary ) 3. the resident

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 .