🌻good life 🌻

He cannotfeign innocence, but the smile on his face is one of a mischievous little boy.Ever since he found out that little piece of information, he hadn’t been ableto stop himself from thinking about it, and occasionally, teasing her about it.Nash hadn’t adequately been able to let the information sink in when she firstenlightened him to it, so he felt it was only fair he got to bring it up at anytime.

“Don’t youstill have a crush on me?” he asked her, half teasing, but also wanting to knowthe answer. “I still have a crush on you. You’re the only girl I’ve ever had acrush on.”

It was exactlywhat he’d told Brooke the first time he’d ever admitted out loud, and it stillshocked him how accurate the sentiment was. But he supposed it was healthy, forone to have a crush on one’s girlfriend.

Though it’staken longer than anticipated – he should have fucking practiced beforehe just picked up the skates that hadn’t seen the light of day in fifteen yearsand thought he could get right back into the swing of things – he is startingto feel comfortable again, confident in his movements. He knows she has to betaking it easy for him, and he appreciates that, but he didn’t want to hold herback. This was all for her, after all.

“Fine, fine,if you wanna surprise me and woo me, I won’t tell you no,” he joked.

There was a brightsmile on his face as she skated off, and he slowed down to keep his focus onher, laughing with every new move.

“Color meimpressed,” he tells her, turning around quickly on the skates so that now heis going backwards, brows lifted because he does somewhat expect her to beimpressed; hell, even he is impressed. Who knows what abilities he willbe able to remaster the longer they are out here.

“How…is thateven possible?” he asks, catching up to her and taking her hand again. “I guessa blade requires more balance than the wheels…”

“‘Course I still have a crush on you,” Babs grudgingly admits with a soft snort as she looks at him. Hell, he’d slapped together the skating rink of her dreams together in someone’s barn, soundtrack and all. How the hell could she not have a crush on him? 

Especially when he’s risking breaking his own neck by putting on skates that she suspects haven’t been touched in at least a decade. 

At his admission, Babs quirks up an eyebrow. On one hand, she finds that hard to believe -- that he hadn’t ever had a crush on anyone else before. Rumors around town had definitely painted him as his own kind of Cassanova before the two of them were together. Plus, he was older than her -- had he really lived a decade longer than her and had still never had a crush?  Then again, any crush she’s had in the past has got nothing on the way she feels about him. It’s a mix between the most giddy kind of puppy love and the most intense emotional connection that she’s ever had with anyone.

It gives her a warm kind of smug feeling to know that she’s such a milestone for him. 

“I mean, how else am I gonna keep you interested if I don’t woo you just a little?” she teases, tugging a handfull of his shirt to bring his face low enough for her to kiss. 

Babs bows proudly after performing her tricks for him, letting out an impressed whistle as he turns on his skates and rolls to her backwards. When he takes her hand again she pulls their joined fingers to her lips and kisses the back of his hand in affection, smiling to herself as they begin to roll in tandem again. 

“The blade makes me nervous,” she tells him with a wrinkle of her nose. 

“I just don’t feel like any of us have any business to be goin’ and strappin’ knives to our feet and spinnin’ around on ice. It’s just askin’ for trouble.”

Adam laughs, and turns back to finishing up dinner. “I guess if they were hungry, sure. Maybe they’d think better of robbin’ me,” he jokes. He has too much family that comes and goes throughout the day for him to really think about locking the door. Adam doesn’t even tend to lock the door at night, in case Barbie or Rian or anyone else decides to drop by late. “Cajun chicken pasta. Sound good? Still got some leftover chili in the fridge too, if that sounds better.”

“Only you would try and give dinner to a robber. This is exactly why you end up with so many strays,” Babs points out with a quirk of her eyebrows, knowing very well that she was probably one of the most promient “strays” that he’d ended up with, and for the longest period of time. 

“No, god, chicken pasta sounds so good, I din’t think I’ve eaten anything other than popcorn and coffee for like, three days,” Babs admits with a guilty look on her face as she pulls off her jacket and hangs it up before joining Adam in the kitchen. 

“Is there anything I can help with? Need me to set plates or something?”

At her quip, Nash drops at the knees as though he’s been dealt a fatal blow, but he’s at least managed to enough balance on the skates to keep himself from tumbling down even with such dramatics; that ought to impress her, if nothing else.

“You’ve never been as impressed with me as I’d like,” he joked with her, though there was a touch of the serious there. “Not since the beginning. I was pulling out all my best lines, and you outwitted me every time.”

It was a funny memory now, considering everything that had happened in the interim.

“So imagine my surprise when it turns out you’d been harboring a crush on me all along,” he says with a raised brow. There was no way he was going to let her live down that admission.

Nash was a little rustier than he’d expected; he hadn’t exactly kept in great shape since he’d hung up his skates after high school. But he was starting to get the hang of it again, the comfort in maintaining just the right balance and momentum.

“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, baby,” he teases, trying to keep up with her once they begin to move in tandem. She is so practiced, it puts him to shame, but he is determined to keep up with her, and hopefully not force her to slow herself for his sake.

“It isn’t a competition, you know,” he tells her lightheartedly. “I just wanted to do somethin’ to make you happy. Glad I could succeed at that.”

He shot her a devilish grin.

“You got any tricks up your sleeve, Evel Knievel?”

“If you don’t shut up about that, I’mma smack you,” Babs laughs as he brings up the crush, a drunken admission that she now knows that she’ll never be able to live down, the way her ears turn red enough to give that fact away.

She keeps a hold of his hand as they turn a corner slowly, her grip on his fingers tightening. She’s worried about his balance, she doesn’t give a second thought to her own. His body isn’t used to the movements, and she knows his muscles will be sore in the morning, but she’s not about to be the one who ruins the moment and tells him that. 

“You did, I’m very happy,” she assures him, the grin she can’t seem to manage to wipe off her of her face is a pure example of that. “I just wanna do stuff t’ make you happy too, you shouldn’t have to be pulling all of the romantic weight around here.”

“Oh baby, do I got any tricks?” 

The music changes over, the upbeat tempo of ‘Do You Wanna Dance?’ filling the barn as she moves to stand in front of him, skating backwards for a moment. 

“I can barrel roll...”

She demonstrates. 

“I can grapevine...”

And again. 

“I can moonwalk...”

She does so and finishes off with a spin, grinning at him as she hair flies into her fact.

“Ironically? I suck at ice skating, if you can believe it.”

Suddenly she feels awful, guilty and she’s talking herself out of the whole damn conversation. What on earth had she been thinking? “Well–” and she managed a smile, genuine, not forced like she’d expected. “Well then don’t listen to anything I have to say on the matter, my opinion doesn’t count.” She’d gone into this conversation ready to warn Babs about Nash but she couldn’t go through with it and hell if a part of her didn’t envy her for getting to have that feeling in the first place. “M’sure he does,” she told her with a nod. “I’m– I’m happy for you both.”

“I--Well, thank you, Sadie, I really ‘preciate you sayin’ so,” Babs smiles brightly, the nagging thoughts in the back of her mind easily forgotten when the conversation took a turn that she hadn’t expected. “Let me pay for your frozen custard, okay? Treat yourself to an extra scoop of whatever you got the taste for. On me. And I wouldn’t reccomend tellin’ me no, I’m pretty stubborn.”

Out of all the things Babs could have told him in this moment, her dating Nash Gordon isn’t one he would have ever guessed. He’s quiet for a moment, but nods.

“Nash Gordon? The… the one I know?” He’s known Nash since he was a kid, which has him contemplating the age difference, but it’s not important enough for Adam to dwell on for more than a few seconds.

There’s only one thing that truly matters, here. “I’m just glad you’re happy, sunshine. If he makes you happy and treats you right, then I’m happy.” But he still opens the box of donuts to take out one.

“Yes...” Babs begins slowly, carefully watching the expressions on Adam’s face as if she’s waiting for a moment to brace herself. 

The moment, however, doesn’t come and she remains on the stool a moment feeling a sense of stunned relief. Wordlessly, she then rises from the seat and walks around the kitchen counter to give him a tight hug around his middle. 

“Thank you,” she says sincerely, still reeling with the weight that had been on her shoulder suddenly disappearing. Giddy with the feeling, she take one of the beers and cracks it open, hoisting herself to sit on the counter.  “Now, in other news, let’s talk about my birthday party,” she grins.

“Moulin Rouge… that is a great one, I agree” Dixie nodded, her mind drifting off for a moment before adding, “also, Gone with a Wind is a classic.” There were so many great love stories produced, it was hard for Dixie to pick a favorite. Laughing softly at Bab’s serious look, she shook her head, “Hey, not joking. It’s a good story for an animation.” 

“I’m ‘meh’ on Gone with the Wind,” Babs admits with a wrinkle of her mouth to the side. “Like, you don’t really root for Rhett and Scarlett to be together, do you? They’re just two selfish assholes going back and forth. You know who you can root for? When Harry Met Sally. Or! Romeo and Juliet, 1996 version. That will be on my top ten list every stinkin’ time.”

Noah nodded his head, agreeing with everything Babs was saying. She was a smart girl. She knew her ice cream flavors. “You’re completely right, but speaking of peach custard? We should get some.”

“You’re a goddamn genius, has anyone ever told you that?” Babs questions, holding up an arm so Noah can help pull her from her chair to her feet. “It was so fucking hot at the ranch this morning, I thought my face was gonna melt off my face.”

“It’s no worries, Babs.” Brooke was doing her best to just be supportive, knowing that most of the town wouldn’t share her own view. She was happy for Nash and Babs. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe there will be, I’m just takin’ things slow for right now.”

“Yay,” the sound is a soft squeak, but still delighted at the prospect of there being a love connection between the two. The younger blonde grinned. “He’s very good looking. I mean, not my type -- obviously. But still. And he’s really nice and I mean, come on, a firefighter? You can’t beat that.”

“I could, but what makes you think he’ll listen to me?” Sol pings back, shrugging his shoulders lightly. The only person he knew who took direction less smoothly as him was his father, and that was saying something. 

“I’ve been trying to get him to show The Witch since it was released. That was 2015.” 

“He’s still ticked off at me for convincing him that Hereditary was a family drama,” Babs notes, her eyebrows raising at the memory of the look her grandfather had given her the first time he’d spotted Toni Collette creature-crawling across the ceiling in the film. 

“However, I maintain the fact that I wasn’t completely wrong. It is a family drama, there’s just a little bit of Satan involved.”

“Not, it’s not the first time I’m hearin’ about it. But it hasn’t been all that long either,” he shrugged. “Nash was pretty private about the matter but he eventually came out with it.”

Tuck wasn’t sure how their mother would be reacting to Nash’s relationship with Babs but he knew that the woman wanted her son’s to be happy more than anything. It helped that she had a soft spot for Nash and it always gave Tuck peace of mind to know that Nash had support on more than one front. 

“The first time he told me I really wasn’t expectin’ any of it, I can tell you that much though,” he chuckled. “Please tell me you’re gonna get him to skate ‘round town with you.”

“If it makes you feel any better, we were being pretty private about how we felt about each other to each other,” Babs admits with a little laugh. She’s still amazed by the amount of denial they had been in trying to convince themselves it was all casual for as long as they had. 

“Oh, I could never make him do that -- he has a reputation to uphold. Serious journalist and all.”

“Nash told me I’ll be required to be at Sunday dinners. Care to give a girl any inside tips on how to win your mama over?”

“They probably already have,” he said with a soft laugh, imagining it was a conversation that could definitely could have arisen between the two friends already. In his teenage years, he was hard for anyone to wrangle, and he didn’t listen worth a damn. There were probably people who would claim that was still the case.

It has been ages since he’s skated – probably eight years, at least. His confidence waivers as he pulls out old faithful, the same skates he’s had since he was in high school. There are a lot of memories there, and he chuckles as he prepares to put them on. Standing up for the first time, he definitely feels wobbly – his sea legs will need a refresher, that is for sure, but he sticks his arms out to balance himself, getting used to the feeling again.

He hears the Beach Boys playing through the speakers and he smiles despite himself; no surprise with that choice. Nash takes a minute, moving slowly at first, trying to get his speed just right, disappointed he can’t just immediately throw them back on and do all the tricks he used to be capable of; it didn’t help that he had a much older body now. He paused for a moment, a line of determination forming on his forehead, about to try again until he heard her comment about falling on his ass and he scowled.

“You are lucky this is a first date and I’m bein’ a gentleman,” he tells her, now even more determined to show off.

Now that he has steadied himself, it’s beginning to come back to him. He moves, then turns quickly in a circle and stops himself, with no signs of losing his balance, and he can’t help but smirk.

Just like riding a bike.

He smiles up at her, and makes his way over, taking her hand and intertwining their fingers.

“Lead the way, pretty girl.”

“A gentleman? Who’re you tryn’ t’impress?” Babs taunts as she raises a playfully skeptical eyebrow in his direction as she waits for him to stand. 

But the fact of the matter was Babs was impressed by the whole thing. The set up in the barn, the obvious thought he had put into it and the time it must have taken to pull it all together. It was head and shoulders above any other first date she’d ever been presented with. 

Added to that was the fact that, really, Nash didn’t have to do anything this grand to gain her attention. He was already at the forefront of her thoughts most hours of the day.She was already his girlfriend, and she slept over at his apartment more often than not these days. She was a sure thing, and yet he still seemed to be doing his damndest to secure even more affection out of her. 

And it was definitely working. 

“Oh, you’ve got moves,” she giggles as he turns in a circle, nodding with approval to the fact that he didn’t immediately topple over. Maybe there was a chance of them eventually exiting this barn with no broken tailbones. 

Once he takes her hand, she leans them in the direction of the floor of the barn that’s smoother for skating, starting them in a path of a wide circle. 

“You know, this puts a lot of pressure on me to come up with a really good second date. You’ve raised the bar,” she tells him, looking over with a grin as they roll along. 

“I’d be pissed at you if I wasn’t so stupidly happy.”

“They were never together whilst I was sleepin’ with him. They were over, it wasn’t like he was cheatin’” Sarah sighs. “No, I don’t think so. I mean I suppose she was my friend, but it’s not like I did it alone, y’know?” It was the first time she’d really thought about that - how come Easton was getting off so lightly? It didn’t feel fair. “I hate this town, honestly. Should’ve gotten away.”

“Takes two t’tango, I hear ya,” Babs nods in agreement, putting a Red Vine in her mouth and yanking on the end of it until she manages to break off a chewable piece. She can’t help but snort softly and lifts up her brows in sympathetic understanding. “Maybe you could take a break for the summer. Got any aunts or uncles that live out of town?” (She was only half joking.)

Adam eyes the gifts Babs brings in with his usual wariness. At least she comes right out and says she’s trying to soften whatever blow she’s about to give, but it doesn’t ease the nerves he’s feeling. “Alright…” He starts, already opening a beer to prepare.

Which is more of a joke gesture than anything. “I got a feelin’ all this is makin’ me more nervous than what you’re about to tell me is, so let’s hear it.”

“See! You already know what to do,” Babs smiles as she watches Adam open the beer. (Hell, she could go for one herself right now -- maybe something stronger -- that wasn’t the point).  She pulls a stool out from the kitchen counter, taking a seat and folding her hands together before resting them on the countertop.  “So, um, as of the night of the basket auction I do...actually have a boyfriend now. All official and stuff. I’m dating Nash Gordon. And it’s going really good. I really like him and he really likes me, too. And I’m really happy.”

She nudges the box of donuts in his direction, just in case he needs them.