meant to live

Blake popped a peanut in his mouth, fighting back a smile as he listened. “Don’t get too cocky on me now,” he shook his head at his friend. “Pretty fades. So why you might be enjoying this now, it’s us rugged men that will get the glory in the end.”

“Good, you can be my personal restaurant google. Hmm. I like chicken. And meat in generall. I’m not too big on pasta but I definitely don’t mind it. Seafood isn’t my favourite either.“

“Why do you think that?”

❛ Yes. ❜ The color of the tie was really awful, for Philippa. When he turned around to her, she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. ❛ Hmm... Perfect! ❜ She beamed to him, to see what would be the next step.  ❛ What else do you need? But the blender as a wedding gift is okay… ❜ She mused, now rethinking of what he asked. Well, the people she knows that get to marry, they usually make a list of things they would need…  People like right makes lists or just let people surprise them ?! ❛ Are you going to be the best man of this wedding? ❜

While Blake hadn’t been happy about being far behind it was mostly a joke that he was giving the other male a hard time. For years he had taken things like this all too seriously finally learning patience and how to dial back to enjoy things no matter what. Still, that didn’t stop him from messing with Ryan. “You know, man, I think you’d do better at just being our mascot the next round. Just sit there. Look pretty. What you usually do.”

“My most and least favourite thing about moving to a new place is finding all the good restaurant. The best ones usually can’t be found on google which makes it difficult. It is pretty exciting though. Do you have any recommendations?“

Adaline was sitting on Ryan’s bed, both amused and annoyed that she was invited due to an urgent matter – to pick a damn tie for a wedding. However, it did give her the opportunity to insult him, and that she took with every chance she got. “I think the first tie really brings out the corpse-like paleness of your skin. The bridesmaids at the wedding might be into that.” She said with a playful grin on her face, “and if you’re looking for a present, I know the perfect one – your presence. Estranged family members love that.”

Nora was surprised by Ryan’s quick clarification, but even so, she still managed a sly hit that slid the puck home for her. She grinned to herself, letting out a bit of a laugh when he cursed. “My one lucky score of the whole game, I know. – But ice skating could be fun,” she finally answered, just barely blocking Ryan’s next hit. “I’m good at roller skating, but the few times I’ve tried anything on the ice, I’ve fallen right on my ass.” Truthfully, she didn’t see any reason to not go out with Ryan again. After surviving karaoke together and finding that he had excellent taste in arcades, it seemed like a stretch to wind up clashing. Nora nodded as they bounced the puck back and forth, just to show that she was still listening. She was tempted to ask when the word ‘sickly’ came into play, but if there was one thing that she knew how to do, it was not pry. “Tch,” she clucked her tongue, snagging the puck to toss it back on the table. “You were always in Boston, right?” She asked, glancing across to Ryan. “I grew up a little further north, in Lynn. We lived like, right on the beach, so I was outside a lot. I collected hermit crabs from the tidepools.” It was a random, useless fact from her childhood, but it was just one of those vivid memories that always stuck around. Sweeping her hand back, Nora accidently scooped the puck back into her own goal, the score ticking up again in Ryan’s favor. “Okay, now I know you rigged this machine,” she teased, pointing an accusing finger in his direction. “I went to Salem a lot, too, and they have a cool little arcade, but no air hockey. A lot of older games like skee ball and that fortune teller thing. Like from the Tom Hanks movie, you know?”

“Oh, it’s no problem. I’m happy to be of assistance.” she laughed. “Plus, I don’t think I’ll be getting married again anytime soon, so this is kind of fun for me.”

“That is the last time I let you be on my team.” While there was a slight hint of frustration in his voice, it was interrupted with small laughter. Blake shook his head at the person across from him, taking a sip of his beer. The night of trivia was a friendly game but being an athlete and a natural competitor even the smallest loss was still a loss. “I told you not to push the bell unless you knew the answer, and what did you do? You pushed it.” He wasn’t really upset, hoping the other could sense the playful nature of his teasing.

“ — You’re probably right. Cross my heart I shan’t tell her” Nina played along, dragging her painted index finger into a cross against the covered skin above her heart. Thinking on it, she probably wouldn’t have any reason to since unlike Ryan, the woman was a perfect stranger, faceless and nameless too. “Well, I don’t know. Are cradle-snatchers your ideal type of woman?” She asked, a soft snigger warming her features as she planted a hand underneath her chin. “A date, hm? Got anyone in mind?” came her next question as she stood there, genuinely curious of his answer. It didn’t seem like the worst idea in the world. At least he’d have genuine company if the actual event didn’t work out in his favour. Happy her gift suggestion seemed to be going over well on his end, Nina laughed along with him, folding her arms tight across her chest. “I reckon you should. It’d definitely be an original gift idea. The other guests’ll probably just stick with your original blender combo. Not nearly as exciting”.

“Intensely.” Nora had never really understood her mother’s interest in figure skating, especially since as far as she knew, her mom had never stepped onto the ice once in her life. She shook her head. “And, get this, I never even learned how to ice skate. Hypocritical, right? – I just feel blessed to not be a Patricia.” Her smile widened and despite already starting to catch on that Ryan had much more air hockey practice than herself, Nora found herself laughing right long with him. “Tough? Yes. Do I have quick enough reflexes? Definitely not.” Her gaze stayed focused solely on the table, nudging the puck back and listening it to ping against the side walls. There was a noticeably harder clack whenever Ryan struck it back and before long, the thin puck was knocking into the wall and then sliding directly into her goal. “Oh my god,” Nora groaned, giving a dramatic roll of her eyes while stooping to fish out the puck. “In my defense, we weren’t competing against each other at karaoke.” Her eyebrows raised when she looked across at Ryan. “Just how much time to you spend at the arcade as a kid?” She asked, tossing down the puck and giving it a hard hit back.

Throwing his head back and laughing when Ryan joked with him, James rolled his eyes and looked away from him for a second before turning his attention back to Ryan. “Nothing, unless you’re a ten year old child who’s about to graduate,” he joked shuddering at the thought of someone important wearing a skinny tie. James gave him a knowing and agreeing look when he then talked about how he wasn’t about to spend money on someone he doesn’t talk to anymore. “You got me there. How about a personal cutting board?”

“I’m just here offering advice as a previously married woman.” she laughed. “I promise you, money goes a long way for a married couple.”

“You said it yourself, Ry. It’s a classic. Plus, you look good with it,” Hayley complimented as she leaned her elbow on the arm of the couch and rested her head against her hand. “She does sound like the kind of person who loves gifts,” Hayley thought, but then shook her head when she realized they might have been talking about a different cousin. “Hold on. Which cousin are talking about here?” she asked.

“R-A-D,” Nora repeated, shooting Ryan a surprised but impressed glance. “You must have parents that really love you.” Her teasing words were accompanied by a chuckle before she shook her head. “Mine are N-T-P, which is kind of just nonsense. Nora Tonya Platt.” It didn’t have the nicest ring to it, but she’d lived with her name long enough to get over every schoolyard rhyme that contained ‘splat’ or ‘shat’ in correlation to her surname. Not that she was expecting anything like that from Ryan. In fact, he’d turned out to be a lot friendlier and more fun than she’d initially thought. He wasn’t a half-bad singer and on top of that, his idea to hang out at the local arcade was the exact kind of nostalgia throwback that Nora lived for. “Oh, we’ll see about that. If air hockey had a scoreboard, you know what it’d say? N-T-P.” She grinned as they hustled over to the air hockey table, choosing her side while Ryan loaded in the coins. It hardly took a second at all before the cool air was ghosting over the table, the machine buzzing while their game started. “Oh– !” Nora very nearly jumped when Ryan made the first hit, not at all prepared for it despite the warning and already holding her own striker. She lucked out in having her hand resting right in the center of the goal, the puck dinging off and starting to glide back across the table with much less force. “Okay, wow. Can I take back all of my shit-talking and beg for mercy?” She asked jokingly, idly sliding her striker back and forth.