lostlake | D A Y 0 8

[ the chips aisle is where isabella had found the most comfort. typically, these kinds of snacks were something she didn't resort to-- anything she cooked was far superior than crispy potatoes or too-salty pretzel sticks. but for some reason, this is what she found. a small basket attached to her arm, she had taken it upon herself to shovel quite the collection of foodstuffs into it.

at the moment, the very disheveled isabella was deciding whether to go for the BBQ potato chips or the classic sour cream and onion. decisions. seeing what appeared to be a firelady--dedicated to helping the people of blackwell (her reasoning)--she shuffled the basket on her arm to allow herself to hold up the two bags of chips. ]

Which one should I go with?

[ on top of the gummi bears, the circus peanuts, the trail mix, the various bottles of soda, the popcorn, the famous amos cookies and the candy bars already stuffed in her basket. ]

[ she pulls her attention away from her own selection when someone apparently addresses her. luckily for izzy, nicola is actually a friendly person and isn't going to ditch her or the conversation. she seems to weigh in the options, making a humming sound in thought, and points to the bbq ones in the end because, come on, asking an australian that will always get you the barbie answer ]

That one. [ she smiles a small, but pleasant smile before grabbing her own ketchup potatoes. her eyes happen to glance to her basket and she scoffs a bit in amusement ]

Where's the party at?

My room.

[ she shoves the bag in with the rest of the snacks and examines other chips as if they're the most interesting things in the world. izzy is lost in her own little world and it takes her a second to realize nicola's accent. cute. but she's back to wallowing in her own self-loathing already to think bout it anymore. ]

It'll be me and Netflix. The greatest party of all.

[ so sarcastic. she's going to shove a bag of pretzels in her basket. yeah. that sounds great. this thing is getting so heavy her arm feels like it's going to fall off. ]

[ she makes a silent "ah" sound and nods, not having much to add but a pleasant smile. ]

Could be worse. Imagine if you didn't have Netflix. [ honestly she's surprised netflix even reaches this middle of nowhere town. she gives her a friendly wink, maybe to encourage her to think positively and moves along the aisle ]

It's not like there's that much to do around here, right?

A world without Netflix would be a great premise for a horror film. [ isabella sets her filled basket on the ground and shakes out her arm. ow. it gives her time to really look over the BBQ fan. it was truly a tragedy izzy didn't look her best today, now this poor, attractive lady was going to have the worst first impression of a frumpy smalltowner. gross. she may or may not be trying to smooth out her messy curls when the aussie isn't looking her way. ]

There's plenty to do around here if you know where to look, but Elkins is definitely a bit more exciting if you exhaust all of your Blackwell options. [ she just made herself sound like a homebody. good job, isabella. ]

[ her little joke make her smile in amusement; she is beginning to enjoy the small town folks because they're pretty nice and talkative, which something that she as a city girl isn't used to. so the fact that she's a homebody is not a bad thing at all. ]

Yeah? I'm living over there, but since I'm spending heaps time around Blackwell I might as well get to know this town. It's been nice so far.

[ i mean, she found the underground gay bar on her first day so points for blackwell ]

I reckon you're a local?

Edited 2014-11-22 21:47 (UTC)

[ hey, there's fritos down here. isabella crouches down to scope out the flavors. ]

Yeah, the housing is better in Elkins anyway. And they have their own Wal-mart. You definitely picked the better city. [ that isn't what she needed to know, but it's whatever. wal-mart is great. ] I'm a local. I don't know anyone who'd willingly stay in Blackwell, but to each their own. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

[ she keeps walking before realizing isabella is getting more junk food, so she's nice enough and stops, turning on her heels to wait for her. nicola scoffs a bit with the better city comment because ow, someone's enjoying their day. but she doesn't let it bother her ]

I don't know, the people here are nicer. [ she shrugs and scratches behind her ear ] But I got transferred here so that's why I'm going to be around.

Luckily, we don't have a lot of fires here so you'll probably enjoy that. It's the police that typically have their hands full. [ okay, basket is back on her arm now that she's chosen like three bags of fritos to put in it. isabella shoots nicola a smile. ] The rest of the fire department are these big, burly men so it'll be nice to actually have something nice to look at if my house suddenly catches aflame.

[ oh-- she did. she just said that. ]

[ she frowns at the comment, wondering how she got it for a second, before realizing that she has her little beanie on. oh, yeah. ] Yeah? I reckon I'll have heaps free time. [ she's mostly kidding. she's sure they'll have those kitty stuck in trees calls every once in a while, but she's hoping there is some action. she's a bit of an adrenaline junky.

raising her eyebrows at her words, nicola's expression turns to one of amusement and she laughs a little, shaking her head. did she score, like, gay heaven in the middle of nowhere? she's usually so unlucky, so this is a lottery ticket that she never expected ]

Thanks?

[ oh, no. she did it. she did that thing where she accidentally flirted with a girl who is clearly straight and now it's awkward. what was she thinking? you don't come from australia to west virginia to pick up chicks. she didn't even mean to hit on nicola, it just happened. but it was really true. even the straight ladies would appreciate something soft and pretty to look at. these guys were really not ladykiller material. they were probably gay lumberjacks in another life. they were nice guys, though.

isabella was really screwing things up. that's the moral of this story. her head was not in the right place and now she was going to be the victim of the next hate crime. ]

Um, sorry. That probably was... taken the wrong way.

[ nice save, isabella. ]

Yeah? That's too bad, I always like it when a cute girl says I'm pretty.

[ nicola has long since cared to hide her sexuality. she's come to terms with it since she was a teenager and her only regret is not telling her family sooner. it might not be the brightest idea to be so open about it when in a small town in west virginia, but it's not like she goes around announcing that she's gay. she just can't be arsed to pretend or make a big deal out of it.

besides, she knows it can be Uncomfortable to accidentally slip up, she had that phase too and she won't make a big deal out if it now, that's for sure, as she continues to walk as if had said the sky is blue or grass is green ]

You work here? Not here, here, here as in Blackwell.

[ and now she was reading signals wrong. isabella groaned softly, shifting the basket on her arm. it wasn't that she was hiding her sexuality, but coming from NYC where she had zero fears and no worry of extreme judgement, returning to blackwell reminded her of it's many, many problems.

but whatever. nicola thought she was cute. that's a good sign, right? ]

Uh, yeah. At Chew a few blocks over. My dad owns it. [ and her step-mother, but she doesn't matter. ] I'm a waitress. Not as exciting as putting out fires, let me tell you.

[ good sign. ]

Oh, I think I heard some guys at work talk about that place. [ it's a well known restaurant around blackwell, from what she gathered, so she feels weirdly proud to be able to know something. not that it's a big place so she should know the more famous spots here and there ]

You guys serve these, uh-- [ she frowns, trying to recall ] some kinda stuffed peppers?

With beef or chicken. They're probably one of our best sellers so the chef won't listen to any of my suggestions on spices because they're good enough. [ there's an eyeroll there. she's definitely recalling a few past conversations just now. ]

You should come by. I don't say this a lot but the food is actually pretty good. It's better than going to Red Robin, anyway. [ isabella laughs, stopping for a second to shove a bag of marshmallows in her already too-full basket. that's it. that's all she can get. nothing else will fit. ]

[ she purses her lips and closes an eye, pulling one of them cute selfie faces. ] But you're biased. [ her tone, however, clearly makes it sound like she's joking and she straightens up again, walking to the cashier once isabella fills her terrible choices quota over there in her basket ]

Is that the competition? [ not that she cares much, she's just making conversation as she waits in line, turning around so she can face izzy ]

I'm probably coming over sooner or later; the guys were talking about dragging me there before drinks. What do you recommend?

[ this line is exciting. she's a little bummed out that nicola turned around, let's be honest. the view from behind was almost as great as the view from the front. she's letting her gay pour out a little, partially because the only interest she's gotten since she's been back in blackwell was ben. and it wasn't good enough. and after last night, there needs to be some other woman crossing her mind that isn't noah. she's going to try her hardest to make that happen. ]

There really isn't any competition. Everything else around is a chain, so Chew wins hands down every time. [ isabella smiles at her. it's good she'd come by the restaurant. it means she won't have to set a kitchen fire to get to see her again. ] The steak fajitas are pretty good. My favorite on the menu. It was their attempt to try to do fancy Mexican-- it was the only thing on that menu that stuck around.

[ she tucks some hair behind her ear. ] If you do go by, ask for Izzy. I'd be able to give you more recommendations then.

[ please don't set the kitchen on fire, isabella. just ask for her number and text her like a normal person. ]

Is that so? [ she smiles at her marketing skills. she's selling it pretty good so she just feels compelled to go along anyway. she's easy to coerce, a bit of a doormat and all. ] I'll remember it.

[ she nods at her name with a grin, always very friendly ]

Nicola. It's nice to meet you, Izzy.

I'm sure you'll love them.

[ she's not suave today. the number will have to come later when she's feeling more up to flirting, although her comment earlier was good enough. she guesses. a start. ]

It's nice to meet you too. [ isabella shakes her basket a little. ] Try not to remember me like this. Pretend I just got wine and chocolate.

Nah, I like this image. [ it's not really flirtatious even if it could be interpreted that way; she's just being friendly and encouraging. ] Can't say I'm much of a winer, but give me a coldie and I'll be happy.

[ she sets her stuff on the rolling carpet and digs out her dinky wallet ]

So what do you do for fun around here? Besides Netflix.

Well, my life right now usually just consists of hanging out with my friend Sophie. [ who hates me right now. ] Otherwise it's just barhopping and the occasional club. I guess that's fun, right? [ she shrugs her shoulders, leaning against the little conveyor belt platform. her accent is so amazing. keep talking to me, nicola. ]

Sometimes I like to try to convince some people to go bowling with me, too. Bowlings fun, right? We have this like bowling alley that does midnight runs with glow-in-the-dark pins. It's great.

Too right! [ on barhopping and clubbing she can agree. it's a wonderful vehicle for her self-destructiveness and escapist nature. drinking and popping pills, what ever could be wrong with that? but it's a step further than she's comfortable in saying so she keeps her mouth shut about that and just agrees with the general sentiment of fun.

except on the bowling. she scrunches up her nose a little ]

Really?

Okay, I'm making a mental note to never ask you to come bowling with me. [ a shame. she needs more bowling buddies. one day she's going to get enough people to get some cool bowling jackets. one day. she won't ever admit this, though. it's like her private shame. ]

Did I just lose cool points?

[ she laughs at that, pretty delighted at the honesty. she pays the cashier and holds her hand out for the change, putting it back in her wallet. she doesn't get the paper bag either because she's going to eat it right away, so there's no need.

she's very conscious about the environment. ]

No, don't worry. I'm just a more, uh, extreme kind of chick. Do you guys snowboard or mountain climb around here?

[ isabella flips her basket over and lets all her items fall onto the conveyor belt. have fun with that, cashier. she pries herself away from his judging eyes to look back over at nicola. ]

Not in Blackwell specifically. You have to go out a ways for enough snow for that, but there are plenty of trips that take you out climbin'. [ we are in the mountains, so that would. make sense. ] So you like the kind of thing that can end you up in the hospital.

D A Y 0 8

haha no one replied so you get more threads with me sry

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