@silkplay / @curseplay sent:
from lauren : have an oyster. they're a delicacy. / accepting.
from paris : oysters are supposed to be an aphrodisiac. did you know that? / accepting.
even though she's been invited on her own merit, and has been for quite some time now ( even before she'd joined their tour last year, though the invitations have grown in number since ) โ even though she didn't even know the three of them would be there until they'd spotted each other across the hall โ she still feels a little bit like SILK's sweet little opener that they're so graciously carting around behind them to the fancy events. they just always seem so much more at ease than she feels. maybe it's just by virtue of her being alone rather than their built - in trio. or maybe, as she's being reminded now, it's because they have lauren's lifelong expertise on rich people shit to follow. mina leans against the table, peering down at the large platter sitting between the four of them as lauren distributes a shell to each of their plates.
โ they don't look like one,ย โ mina says, with a wrinkle to her nose. she's never been a particularly picky eater, and she can easily believe lauren that they must taste good ( because despite her occasional questionable taste, she has rarely steered mina wrong when it comes to food ) but there's just something about the goop of it all that she just really can't get over. but she picks it up anyway, even if she shoots a dramatic grimace andie's way that makes them giggle as she does it. the shell is cool against her fingers, and she holds it by her mouth hesitantly, watching lauren eat hers first.
somehow, she makes it seem so graceful, even with the whole ... slurping situation. but it looks a lot less complicated than she was making it seem in her head. she can definitely do that. and even if she can't, and it ends up totally unladylike or unsophisticated or whatever, it's just the four of them together, so who cares, right?
as she finally lifts the shell to her lips, paris leans over across the table to catch her attention, having finished their own, and really, mina should have known from the glimmer in their eyes. a cheeky grin splits right across her face as she speaks, head tilted like the thought just occured to her, and mina, very gracefully, absolutely chokes.
( she's too busy nearly dying a second time to hear the suspiciously andie - kicking - paris - under - the - table sounding thump that reverberates the whole table. )
there's a chorus of voices around her ( a paris, seriously?! and a hey, mina, breathe are all she can coherently make out through her own coughing ) as the rest of them jump, and a hand patting her back that could be either andie or lauren's, but somehow, all she can focus on are the fingers reaching across the table to grab onto hers. once the shock fades and it's clear she's okay, just a total idiot, paris tilts her head back and laughs. it vibrates through their hands and up into mina's chest and nearly takes her breath away all over again, even once they let go.
once her breath more or less returns โ something that seems harder to do the longer she watches paris โ she coughs a few more times into her elbow and then glances up at them sheepishly, cheeks bright pink. when she realizes she's being watched, paris meets mina's eye with a charmingly apologetic smile and a wink, and then tumbles into another round of laughs. sorry, bambi, she says, between giggles, and like an idiot, mina can't help herself. before she knows it, her mouth is opening, voice catching on itself with a gentle rasp, not quite recovered from her coughing fit.
โ uh, it's okay. i didn't know that.ย โ she did. โ but i do now, i guess. so thanks, even if it nearly killed me.ย โ at least it wouldn't be the first time. she reaches up to run a hand through her hair, attempting to smooth down what is most definitely a mess after all of that, and the tips of her fingers still tingle from where paris had held them. she rests her elbow against the table as she leans her cheek against her palm with a theatrical sigh. โ but i think i'm oystered out for the night. you guys are just gonna have to be horny without me.ย โ or something like that, she thinks, as something warm flickers in her chest when paris' smile widens in surprise and her laughter fills the air once more.
