She's so lucky

WHO: Josh & OPEN.

Cup of hot chocolate in hand, Sterling walked around between families looking at Christmas trees. Sure, all three of them had sat down and had already ordered theirs for the house but...Sterling liked to window shop. Window shop..Christmas trees —sue her.

WHO: Stelly & @sterlingclarke

By the time Stelly had carried in the last box of whoknowswhat of their decorations, Sterling had already begun cutting through the duct tapes keeping the boxes closed. The first thing she pulled out was a garland that was..well, definitely shedding. "Oooo-kay..." she sighed letting it back into the box. They had just finished cleaning dammit... "Makes sense." she nodded. "Okay..dry hands' check and we're on?" she checked.

"Oh, I have no doubt parents like you, but my parents are a...whole different sort, trust me." She nodded solemnly. Or they were, they're old now, so maybe they'd be kinder. "I have worked in a variety of kitchens in my life, I try to pick up tricks from everyone."

Sterling held up a finger. "You..realize you're making them sound like a challenge, right!?" she asked. "I'm good with challenges, I always win." or at least she used to. Sterling was used to winning, till that one loss. The big one..of all her dreams and aspirations that is. "Ooooh, give me one!"

Sam gave a nod, chuckling lightly, kind of acknowledging that she was right and he would not be 'arguing' about it any further. Some people might wonder why he'd return, or why he left. And if anyone asked, he'd probably just tell them that the town wasn't the problem. He liked living here, though he didn't quite realize it then. "That's awesome! Were you a professional dancer before?" he asked, popping a fry into his mouth. He finished swallowing before he answered her question, "I'm a paramedic. Not as exciting, I don't think."

Her hand paused mid reach for another fry; she always dreaded that question. Mostly cause it always had follow ups about why she's not one anymore, what happened..and then the pity looks always came. Gosh, Sterling hated being pitied. Admired? She loved it, basked in it. But being pitied could drive her mad... "I was." she answered with a sigh. "But I'm here now." she drummed her fingers on the table instead.

"Well thank you," she playfully bowed before laughing. Always interested in different food combos as long as no one got sick from them. "Same, and I don't think we were dared to. Which hey I'm not one to shy away from but if I was I probably wouldn't have done it. And hey at least we know for next time!!"

"We're young, we can handle a little..weird." Sterling grinned. Not that she'd ever been the wild one; sure, she could handle her whiskey like most Tennessee girls but she'd never missed her mark to stop. And she'd never been one to eat too much either or go wild. But her point still stood; they were young, they could handle weird flavors and horrible combos. "Yeah, that one was..a two-star review at best."

"There's a thing called a block button, you know. Or close friends. Just saying you can curate your own community, regardless of how big of a pool it's pulling from." She nodded as Sterling spoke. "Yeah, I get the need to roam thing. And then I managed to stroll my way back here, so, y'know, I'm sure you'll get the offer from others as well, but I can give you recs if you want them."

"I don't mind..they're making me look a hint more important." she giggled. "But imagine the amount of people we're talking about." Sterling shook her head. Less than 500 or something in the 2020 census. Sterling nodded. "I absolutely want the recs and all the tidbits you can give, thanks."

"Like an effortless kind of vibe?" Giving a bright smile, Kennedy imagined a peacoat and a pair of long boots to style it with, finally seeming to have made up her mind about the purchase. Maybe in part because of Sterling's glowing opinion.

"I can hear the wheels turning in there." she laughed at the look on Kennedy's face.

"No, no. No to preserve it. So that kids didn't go snooping and reading it if they weren't supposed to. It was just a few pages, usually with info about puberty, sex...that kind of thing." A shrug fell from her shoulders. She wasn't sure if it was just an American thing, or if the blonde was too young to remember that time. Did magazines still have a sealed section? Honestly, Kenzie had no idea. "Doesn't matter. What I mean is that having books like this just sitting on the shelves for anyone to pick up is wild to me."

Sterling gave Kenzie an odd look. They weren't that far apart age wise but..wow, different upbringings. Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that Sterling never had someone to hide any of her stuff from. She huffed out a laugh. "I mean...in the age of BookTok? They highlight and upload this stuff or copy it using zeros instead of 'o's and stuff..." she shrugged. "All you need is a kindle and Amazon subscription nowadays really."

"It's less about feeding strays and more that she still cooks like we live at home, so anytime that I get food, there's enough for our whole house," Sylvia explained. "So you're in luck."

"In that case..." Sterling smiled "I really am lucky." admittedly, in more ways than one. "You should give me your mom's address, I'll send her a gift basket for the holidays." she said, all southern politeness coming out.

closed starter for @sterlingclarke

Sterling leaned back with a smile as she sipped on her coffee but almost choked on it. "You're so bad!" she teased. Apparently, she and Kenzie had bonded —wrong word— over a little more that dance. "Wait..you..." she asked clearing her throat "..you wrapped up magazine pages? To..preserve or something?" she asked confused. She knew her mom had done that to a book or two of hers, back when she was really young and in full doodling beast mode but..teens did it too?

"I'll have to introduce you to mine, see if she's impressed, though that's not in her nature." Elise shook her head before reaching for more fries. They really did taste excellent. "Hey, nothing a little brisk walk and digestion time can't fix, right? Or laying in bed with the grease to comfort you."

"She will be." Sterling said lazily. "Parents like me." It was true; something about the whole blonde girl with a big smile and a slight southern accent did the trick. "Ooooh you've got tricks, I see."

"See!? I know what I'm talking about!" she laughed. Sterling nodded slowly; she assumed he had different reasons for moving back to a small town but..yeah, she could see why he'd return here. The place was small and cozy in a way only few small towns could be; and it had just enough of that Hallmark movie hint she liked. No, Sterling didn't assume people grew pine tree farms all year long or hosted twenty nine annual cookie baking competitions..but there was that something. "Oh yes! I'm a ballet teacher. Slippers." she offered with a smile. "What do you do?"

Y'know, I definitely can. Unless you stop to ponder it, it just kinda... floats you by. That, or if you're me and quite literally capitalizing on the holiday cheer. Eh, reliability, shmiability. If anything, I'm just looking to commiserate with snacks. Welcome to the study. We meet on Tuesdays at four. This week, I'm making peppermint bark brownies.

Everyone capitalizes on the cheer..and the love..and well, everything. So don't feel weird about it. La-a-dy...you run that study on a tight leash here..peppermint on my first time, wow...

"I don't know, where would I even wear it?" Kennedy gave a dramatic sigh before breaking into a smile as she caught eyes with Sterling. The dress was pretty, having tried it on for giggles. It was unlike her usual denim and linen closet that she wore on any other day when she wasn't dressed for work. She supposed the other woman brought it out of her. Her slight southern accent reminded her fondly of her home state, and it was always nice having someone to shop with. Giving a slight hum, she ran her hands along the skirt before eyeing her fellow blonde. "But glad I have a second opinion. Not sure if I would've picked it out if I were shopping alone. Found anything you want to try on?"

Sterling rolled her eyes and picked up a belt to look at. "You can wear it for coffee or..anywhere really." she said shrugging a shoulder and resting her cheek on it in that cute cheeky way "Like..gorgeous and I didn't even try, this I just threw on before I walked out the door." she said letting all the South come out of her mouth at once. It's not something she did often, especially not while she had been living in New York.

"Okay fine, maybe I'm a wimp and only try semi-strange combinationa," she playfully rolled her eyes at Sterling and smirked. Taking another fy and popping I to her mouth, she listened to Sterling before shuddering at the thought, "yeah how the hell did we convince each other to do that?"

Sterling laughed "Nah, you're good." she said. In her book, making sure not getting food poisoning was always a sound decision. "Honestly..I don't know." she laughed. "I think...someone mentioned and we just...went for it!?" she asked trying to recall.