girl, sweetvoiced.

The exact reason she over thinks the things she does is because of this, this split second decision to help someone out in need now surely to turn into the most awkward of moments, Mia realizes quickly there’s a reason she’s played the avoiding game and this is it, because just being in proximity to Willow leaves her racked with guilt and self-loathing, if she didn’t know any better, she’d look for the person responsible for putting that expression on her face and have a few choice words for them. That person is her, of course. “You always did, thought you could carry your own weight in eggs.” Mia knows damn well it’s not the time for jokes but she can barely handle the silence between the two of them. She reaches out, careful not to come into contact with her, and stacks boxes of eggs in her hands. She stops, actually takes the time to think about what she’s going to say, whether small talk is appropriate here, and instead settles on allowing her to lead. “Where we headed? I’ll follow.”

Mia’s sudden one-eighty from complete avoidance to casual joking around makes Willow dizzy. She doesn’t know if she should just go along with it for politeness sake, or finally ask the few dozen questions she has been incessantly thinking about since Mia so suddenly dropped their relationship and vanished two months ago. For now, she sticks with the former. The last thing she wants to do is make some big scene out in public.

Having grown up on a farm, Scarlett wasn’t bothered by Edie at all. “Miss Edie I’m so sorry, but you can’t have any. It has avocado on it,” Scarlett said, letting out a laugh as she looked up to see Willow. “It’s like you never feed her, she’s such a glutton.”

“See Edie? Scarlett’s looking out for you!” But her little hen isn’t deterred at all, still interested despite the avocado that would most certainly make her a very sick chicken.

“I have a feeling if I died first, Lexa would come to my funeral and leave my least favorite flowers.” Flo rolled her eyes and snorted. “Thank you! I actually do really like it so I’m glad I bought it. I have a severe lack of cute summer clothes.”

“I would never let that happen.” She says so jokingly, and with a laugh, but there’s some definite truth behind it. 

Diana leisurely sipped on her iced coffee as she walked down Main Street, not quite paying attention to anything or anyone as she scrolling through her playlist as she prepared to head back home after a run. She wiped at her perspiring brow when she heard a familiar clucking– she turns to see Edie, Willow’s hen charging towards her. Laughing, she stopped in her tracks, forgetting that if Edie was around, that meant Willow would be close by as she kneeled down. She quickly brushed her hair away from her face as she saw Willow, flashing her a quick smile. “It’s okay, I’d hate to upset her by not sayin’ hello,” she replied with a chuckle as she gave Edie a nuzzle against her neck with her knuckle. She really wished she hadn’t run into Willow when she looked like a gross sweaty mess. “–How’re you? Y’all headin’ home?”

Willow smiles down at Diana as she greets Edie, and reminds herself to chill out. It’s been months since they broke up; it’s ridiculous for her to still be this nervous around her. They decided to remain friends for a reason, and Willow doesn’t want to make Diana change her mind about that.

Thanks to her excessively rigid upbringing and an overbearing control freak of a mother, Luna had never experienced certain things. One of which being farm animals. So, naturally, she’d developed a fear of most farm animals especially larger ones like cows. But chickens came close second which was why when she saw the small chicken at her feet, she let out a yelp and took a few steps back, hand placed on her chest. “Que porra e essa,” what the fuck. Looking at Willow, her brow furrowed, “As much as I want to believe you but I’ve had some nasty nightmares about chickens and myself stuck in a Prometheus situation and I am not risking it. —Can… uhm… Do Chickens eat muffins? Or… like… sugar? That’s all I have.”

“Chicken nightmares! Y’know, you’re actually the second person who’s told me that they have chicken nightmares.” She doesn’t understand it herself, but she’s plenty biased from having been born and raised on a farm. “Don’t worry, though! I promise she won’t hurt you. She’s a real sweetheart, just a little bit gluttonous.”

beck smiles down to the little hen. “oh no you don’t. you’re clucking up the wrong person if you’re looking for food. she’s got all the goods you want.” glancing up, she chuckles. “she’s getting very demanding, isn’t she?”

"You’d think, given I just fed her before we left! But you know Edie – give her a blueberry one time and she’ll remember it forever,” Willow says, laughter still interwoven in her voice. “More and more by the day! She’s queen of the farm, back home.”

jules had been wandering around, some candy in her hand as she looked around.  she was almost caught off guard when the hen waddled up to her and she looked down, flinching her hand away from the animal.  “i don’t think you’d like nerds rope, darling.”  she cooed to the hen before turning her head and looking at willow.  “i mean, right?  she can’t have candy.”

“Unfortunately for little miss Edie, she can’t have most of the things she wants to steal.” Willow doesn’t doubt that she’ll never stop trying. “But she’ll never stop believing that everyone she passes by has berries or vegetables for her!”

“Alright, I forgive you,” Janet shot Willow a smile, eagerly taking the cup of coffee and bringing it to her mouth, a sigh of relief escaping her lips after.

“Yes, but by breakfast, I was kind of hopin’ more for something at… 11am? Maybe 12? I’d even go for 1 o’clock.”

As she’s done hundreds of times before, Willow grabs two plates and sets out the muffins on the kitchen table without even thinking about it.

A wide smile formed on her lips the moment she heard the gentle noises, looking down and seeing the chicken at her feet as she was unwrapping a granola bar she’d had tucked inside of her purse, “Aren’t you a lil’ ray of sunshine!” She cooed, squatting down to look at the chicken before lifting her head to look at Willow, “Goodness, I wish I could give ‘er some but unfortunately I’ve not eaten anythin’ all day and if I don’t eat this I’ll surely die of hunger. D’you think she’ll forgive me?”

“Aw, you’re too sweet! Now Edie might not forgive you right away, but she’ll get over it before long. You might get some pouting.” Her little hen is nothing if not dramatic. “And I swear, she just ate before we left the farm! She just thinks everything’s for her, that’s all.”

“I don’t know.” Cassidy jested, holding her cup of ice cream closer to her body as if she was protecting it. “She seems like she’s ready to fight me for this ice cream. I’m bout ready to cut my losses and chuck it and run!” 

Between what Cassidy says and how Edie continues to look up at her expectantly, Willow keeps laughing. “She might be the little hen that could, but don’t worry! The worst she’ll do is try to guilt trip you by playing dead.”

“Good question. It’ll be interesting to see how she reacts if her daughter starts to take it more seriously.” Sadly, a lot of people didn’t think her career as a ballerina and now ballet instructor was a real one. “Thank you! I’m glad you think so. People don’t realize how hard it is, and that’s because we’re taught to make it look effortless.” 

“I hope she does! If her mother doesn’t try to talk her down from it.”

Too focused for a moment on mending the shirt in her hands, Arlene didn’t at first register precisely what type of creature had walked up to her. When she finally bit the thread and let her eyes focus on her shoes down below, she expected to see a small dog, or perhaps a particularly upset cat; not Edie, the dear old little hen she’d come to recognized well by now. “Hey, Edie,” Arlene chuckled, crouching down and holding out her shirt for the puff of feathers to inspect. The Alabama sun burned her shoulders, unprotected as they were by her white tank top – but Arlene didn’t mind. She turned her squinted smile to Willow when she’d caught up with them. “Oh, please, it’s no trouble at all, Will!” she said. “Besides, miss Edie gets what miss Edie wants. I don’t make the rules.”

Willow’s smile widens at the interaction between Arlene and Edie. Her hen will fearlessly approach anyone, but she suspects that when Edie sees Arlene, she sees not only a friend, but someone who might give her a treat. This time, poor Arlene was just mending a shirt and minding her own business.

Persimmon let out a laugh as the chicken crowded at her ankles; she paused, not wanting to move another inch and accidentally trample the poor chicken or hit her with her cane. “—She’s very excited, isn’t she? She must be a fan of cherry pie.” Persimmon held up the pie pan she was holding onto with one hand. 

“If it’s food, she wants it! No matter how bad it is for her.” Willow makes a kissy noise to beckon Edie back to her side, which she follows with some reluctance. “I swear, she loves to pretend like I don’t feed her.”

How had she even made time for everyone when she’d come back for weekends and one week at a time? How had she even gotten to have nights like this with Willow? 

“You ever think about the love Rick and Evie had? I know it’s not a romantic movie, but I’ve been thinking about it.” 

“The Mummy is a romcom and I’ll die by those words.” Willow quickly gets all their snacks paid for, and heads to the car.

Looking down as he heard the strange noises, Chase was a little shocked to see a chicken begging at his feet almost like his dog did. “It’s nothin’ really excitin’, just my cell phone. The excitin’ stuff is what pops up when it’s unlocked.” He showed the phone to the chicken like he would with a kid. “She’s just nosy, nothing wrong there.”

“She loves cell phones,” Willow tells him, drawing out the word love. “Mostly because she’s a little vain. She loves seeing herself in the reflection or on camera.”

Amelia was the furthest thing from a farm girl at this point. Not only had she been in California, literally living on the beach for the past five years but she never truly liked the whole wild animals running at her thing, so she was nothing short of terrified when a hen came clucking orders at her.

Had it not been for Willow following the angry little creature, Amelia probably would’ve called the police, ran or something, but she opted for just freezing up and staring at what she thought was her friend finding amusement in this very terrifying situation.

Willow’s laughter fades immediately when she sees how terrified Amelia looks at the sight of Edie. “Aw, Ames, I’m so sorry! I promise she won’t hurt you! She’s just a very nosy girl.”

Closing her eyes, reaching in and picking out a random cookie. Pulling her hand out and holding up the peanut butter cookie and opening her eyes to see it. “Perfect, who doesn’t love these?” She chuckled, “Thanks again. Though, what do I offer in return for you? Pride month and all.” 

“Can’t go wrong with peanut butter!” Or anything sweet and sugary, in Willow’s case.