spitfire

"I do despair for them then, because they can't experience the best of a woman if they give half hearted attempts." Xander murmured as he walked up behind the woman once more. "I've always found that when a woman feels the effort put in, they are more inclined to want to do everything too." He twisted the woman towards the full standing mirror, letting her hold the dress up again. "I think you'd look ravishing but it's not my opinion that really matters here is it." He pointed out as he looked at her in the reflection. "Does it do what you want it to?" He asked, brushing back her hair from her neck to kiss the long pale column of flesh.

"Sounds like you've got it all figured out. Mastered down to an art," she considered with a quirk of her brow. She had to admit that it was clear that he put in the work to have a good understanding of women. After all, he always got what he wanted out of them in the end. Bekah sighed softly as she felt the heat of his breath on her neck, her head falling to one side lightly as she watched them in the mirror's reflection. "I think I'll have to try it on to be certain it hugs my frame in all the right places, but it's certainly beautiful. I think it's the one I'll go for," she decided.

"I don't know. Contracts don't really allow for that now do they." She pointed out, a dullness to her voice at the thought of it. It wasn't that she didn't love music but it was difficult finding herself now given it had always been her and her brother together. "A lot of the love came from who I was sharing it with."

"I understand that," Bekah nodded. Perhaps it was why she'd never quite pursued music herself, she was still on the search for a dynamic that worked best for her. "Would you want to share it with me?" she asked, wanting Cecilia to know she'd always have a safe space with her. Besides, she always loved listened to new music.

"I was planning to simply have a look around." She'd had a little spare time to kill and this appeared as good an way as any to spend it before she met up with her friend. "If you're busy you don't need to worry about me. I'll call you if I need anything."

"Of course, help yourself," she nodded, letting the woman have her space to browse. "Yeah, don't be shy and give me a shout if there's anything I can lend a hand with," Bekah confirmed before returning to what she had been sorting behind the till.

Noah was about to turn down the offer again but he noted the fact she was being genuinely helpful and he gave a smile before nodding his head. "Yeah, sure. Thank you. It does cut the work down by half." He admitted after a moment. "I guess I am just used to cleaning up after myself."

"I get that. However there is no shame in accepting a helping hand every now and again," Bekah replied with a little smile. "I say that because I think we all need a reminder from time to time. Myself included."

"I'll allow myself to be in the hands of your superior knowledge here. It seems like you might have been in this situation before." Ezra laughed when she gave multiple options for him to choose.

"We do some pretty hefty transports on the regular, so I suppose I do know my way around these things," Bekah considered with a laugh. "And my dads somehow seemed to be more disorganized than my own thoughts so somebody had to step up for the quick problem-solving of it all," she added in good humor. "Ah, here we go. Do these look like they'll work for you?"

"Don't worry about it, I'm not in any rush." Hunter assured the woman as he moved between the different rows. "I am looking for these albums." He explained, handing over his phone where he had typed them out on his phone. "I will be able to find them myself but it'll probably be faster if I get help from you."

"A list– how organized," she smiled, scanning over them and cross-referencing them with the store's inventory that she had memorized by now. "These shouldn't be too difficult to find, however I am unsure if we've got one of these still in stock. Let me have a look for you."

"I'm sure that some people are or they wouldn't continue to sell them, surely." Freya mused before giving a little shrug of her shoulders. When Bekah pointed out how deep the conversation had gotten, Freya laughed. "Nothing like a little existential crisis to bring people together. Besides, you brought up the dreams aspect a little bit."

"You're so right– there is nothing quite like it," Bekah chuckled in reply. "Yeah... well it must be nice to have those figured out. Maybe some day that'll be me too," she added with a wistful smile. "Are you doing your dream job? Was it easy for you to figure all of that out or did you have a crisis anything like the life I'm living?"

"Are you suggesting that I am not normally charitable?" Nathaniel asked with a raised eyebrow at the woman's words though he moved to sit down across from her. "Thank you. I would normally give people their space but that seems like a distant memory today."

"I don't know what you're typically like so that wouldn't be fair for me to make that assumption, now would it?" Bekah shrugged back at him. "Listen, I get it. This is one of those days where you got to take any seat you can get," she sympathized,

There was a pause in her answer to Bekah as she appeared to formulate an answer. "No, it's not that exactly..." Cecilia began slowly. "It's just that I've been struggling more recently. And there is this expectation, what with the group and with targets to be met. It's proving to be quite the cement wall when it comes to my artistry."

"Is there a world where you can follow through with what you want to do? Set yourself apart from these expectations and 'targets' as you're calling them," Bekah wondered. "It sounds like you need to find your love for it again and being free of all the noise sounds like what could potentially be the most successful first step to getting there."

"The highest of praise." He playfully responded back, giving a flourished bow of acceptance at Bekah's words. "I think it's always in a mans best interests to know what a woman he is spending time with is interested in." Xander smoothly responded back, letting his eyes drift over her for a moment before they returned to the rack of clothing.

"That's more effort than what most men want to put in," Bekah commented with a mutter, but she let herself relish in the way his eyes took her in. She began to sift through the options on the rack, trying to look nonchalant even if some of them were easily some of the most beautiful dresses she'd ever seen. "What do you think of this one?" she turned towards him after plucking one from the selection and holding it up to her frame.

Cecilia laughed a little at that, leaning lightly against Bekah. "I would say yes though it feels more like a drinking tradition more than a new years tradition. I've seen plenty of people do it on a night out." She mused, taking the bottle back so she could have another swig. "Hey, I never pretended to be good at handling all of this, I just said I would give it a go."

"Alright fair enough," Bekah snorted. "Anything more New Years-specific you'd like to adopt then?" she asked, nudging her back lightly when she felt Cecilia lean lightly on her. "Sometimes that's the best you can do," Bekah insisted with a shrug in reply. "The fact that you're out tonight and doing all of this is a great step as any into doing exactly what you said you'd do."

"What are friends for." Though it was also her love of music that made her offer too. It felt like less pressure than trying to create and play the type of music she had been doing recently. Knowing that it was for no other reason than to simply enjoy it with a friend. "Maybe. It'd be nice to simply be able to just enjoy playing."

Bekah smiled lightly in reply to that. She was more grateful to have Cece than she'd ever really be able to articulate. But it seemed that was an understanding they shared. "Do you not enjoy playing?" she wondered by the way Cecilia had phrased it.