RP: Catching up

[ariel_crabtree]

Date: January 22, 2012
Characters: Ariel Crabtree, Erica Allen
Location: Ariel’s place
Status: Private
Summary: Ariel and Erica hang out and catch up.
Completion: Incomplete

Comments

[erica_allen]

Today would probably be Erica’s last Sunday off for the foreseeable future, as after Pierre trained her this coming week on what her management duties would entail, she was going to be working weekends. She was going to miss having Sundays off, but she would get over it, and at least she still had Mondays off, and Pierre had mentioned that he might give her Tuesdays off, as well, so that she could still have a ‘weekend’ off, which would be nice. She was just excited that she was really doing this, that she’d made her decision and was happy with it. She’d worried that she would regret it after taking action, but she didn’t. Knowing that she didn’t have to wake up early tomorrow and have a full day of school was such a relief to her.

Erica had been happy to accept Ariel’s invite to hang out with her today, as J.J. was working and she didn’t have any other plans and she hadn’t seen Ariel since J.J. proposed, so she was kind of excited to have a female friend to gush over it all with, and she really did think she was starting to be able to consider Ariel a friend. Not on the level of Ezra, of course, but still a friend. She’d brought along her guitar, though it wouldn’t really bother her if they didn’t play at all.

She smiled over at Ariel as she tried to keep her dogs in line. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind ‘em unless I’m expected to take them home,” she assured Ariel with a smile. She wasn’t big on the idea of having pets, but she didn’t mind when other people had them. “So, how’ve you been?” she asked as she moved further into the apartment, doing a pretty good job of ignoring the small dogs. Once they calmed down some, she would probably give them some attention.

[ariel_crabtree]

Ariel nudged Tiana back, knowing that the bigger of the two would calm down fastest. She wasn't terribly worked up, her little tail wagging furiously in welcome, and it was obvious to Ariel at least that all she wanted was attention. Sunday would follow his mother's example, and she encouraged him with a rub on the head as she walked by. "Nah, I'm keeping them. They're my babies, I'd be lonely without them." She loved her dogs, very much. She showered love on them when she could.

"Busy, as usual," she replied almost ruefully. "Sometimes it feels like that's all I ever say." She flopped onto the couch. She wasn't upset, it just sometimes felt like she didn't get too much time off. WHich, given she worked two jobs, she didn't most of the time. "Working a lot and all that jazz." She ran a hand back through her hair and smiled.

"How about you, though? Things going good?" she asked curiously. It had been a little while since they'd gotten together, so something interesting might have happened between then and now.

[erica_allen]

Erica grinned at Ariel, not at all bothered that she intended to keep the little dogs. She still didn’t really get the whole pets thing, though she could understand being lonely. She’d just chosen to fill that void with casual sex in the past, though she could say without a doubt that she was not lonely anymore. She still had her moments, she couldn’t deny that, but they were mostly on the nights when J.J. had to work late and wouldn’t be staying the night with her. That thought brought another to her mind, and she wondered when she and J.J. would move in together. It was going to have to happen at some point, as married people generally lived together, and she was a little surprised that the thought of living with him did not make her nervous or anxious.

Erica laughed softly, though a little humorlessly, understanding the sentiment completely. “Yeah, I know how that goes,” she said simply. She bit her lip, then smiled broadly when Ariel asked how things were going for her. “Great, actually,” she said honestly, she held her left hand out for Ariel to see the ring there. “J.J. proposed last weekend!” She was still glowing with the excitement of it all, still so happy that he’d asked, that somehow her life had taken off in this wonderful direction, and she was excited to just be a girl about it all and gush and just be happy.

[ariel_crabtree]

"I bet you do, yeah," Ariel said, knowing Erica had school and work. She didn'tknow how people did it. She admired people like Erica and also Harley, who was taking courses and working still too. She knew she could never do it, personally. School would wind up failing miserably.

Ariel saw the ring and clapped her hands, grinning excitedly. "Oh my God! That's wonderful, Erica!" she said, moving closer to look, leaning down to peer at the beautiful ring. "Oh gosh, that is gorgeous! Your man really adores you," she said, admiring it genuinely. "How? Was it just perfect?" she asked. A part of her wondered if she would ever get that, yes, but she was so pleased for Erica. She knew her friend loved her boyfriend and it was just great that they were taking that step. "Have you all set a date or anything yet?" Okay, maybe that was nosey, but it was a question that everyone asked.

[erica_allen]

Erica laughed lightly at Ariel’s excited response. It really was wonderful, and even a week later, Erica felt so happy and giddy about it still. “I know, right? I love it! J.J. really is so wonderful,” she said, laughing softly. “It was! I can’t imagine a more perfect one. He took me to the park, right over to the spot in it that we met, and he said how he’d known that day that I was ‘the One,’ and he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him,” she told Ariel, smiling so widely her cheeks were starting to hurt. It still boggled her mind a little that he’d known from day one, as beyond thinking he was cute and that she’d have fun flirting with him if she hadn’t been seeing someone else at the time, she hadn’t really thought anything like that about him.

“We haven’t, not yet, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot,” Erica admitted. She was sure that before long she would get into full planning mode, and Pierre had already said he’d be more than happy to help her sort out what would need to be done and that he had a few gowns in mind for her when she was ready to start looking for dresses.

[ariel_crabtree]

"Oh, that's just great. So sweet!" Ariel said. She was excited for her friend. "The spot you met? Oh, he is a keeper. That's all kinds of perfect and wonderful." She couldn't imagine knowing someone was The One these days; she'd thought that with Josh for oh so many years, and look at how that turned out. But Erica seemed to be very happy, even if Ariel hadn't met her fiance yet. "Definitely a keeper," she said, reiterating something she'd said before.

"Well, you've time yet. It's not been long." And it took a lot of thought, she'd heard, sometimes to pick a date that would work with the place one wanted and the people as well. "At least you work at that shop, right? With the wedding dress and planners and all." She remembered Erica mentioning that once. "So you'll have a leg up in that department."

[erica_allen]

Erica nodded, smiling widely. She definitely agreed that J.J. was great and sweet and definitely a keeper. “Yes, he is,” she agreed when Ariel reiterated the point. She was so glad that she had him in her life, that somehow he’d decided that she was worth loving, worth having this future with. “I’m just glad he feels the same about me,” she admitted with a wry grin.

“Exactly. I’m sure we’ll start figuring things out for it soon, but for right now, I think we’re just enjoying the moment,” Erica explained, glad that she wasn’t getting on her for not having any details figured out yet. She really was just enjoying the fact that they were going to get married. “Mmm, yes, I do, but we don’t have any planners or anything, it’s just a dress shop. But Pierre - my new boss, he just bought the place - said he has some dresses in mind for me to look at already, and that he’d help me figure out some of what needs to be decided and all, so at least I have some direction.”

[ariel_crabtree]

“I bet he says the same thing about you,” Ariel said. Erica was very lucky, she thought, but she also knew just a little of Erica’s past, from what had come up in passing, and she thought the other woman deserved the happiness. A very small part of her simply wondered if she would ever get a chance like that as well.

“Savoring, yeah, I totally get that. There’s no hurry, anyhow, right?” Ariel curled her feet under her on the couch. “Ahhh okay. I see. Well anyway, if you get brides in, you can always ask for the best places for some things, yeah? Make it easier on yourself.” She’d always heard her friends, the ones who hadn’t gotten married rather quickly and on the spot, talk about all the details and How Important They Were. “If you’ve got the dress, that’s half the battle, right?” she said optimistically. “So if you get that, you’ll be pretty good to go.”

[erica_allen]

“No, there’s no hurry,” Erica agreed with a smile, shifting a little on the couch. It wasn’t like they weren’t going to be able to spend their life together if they waited a little bit to start working out all the details for their wedding. “Oh, yes, I could do that. I’m sure a lot of the brides who come in will have already scouted out some of the things I’ll need.” It couldn’t hurt to strike up conversations with some of the brides who seemed open to it, though she knew there were some brides who would not want to chit chat with her, who would want the experience of finding a dress to be 100% about them and would likely be very upset if she were to intrude on it in any way other than as a bridal consultant helping them to find their perfect dress.

“I have heard that a time or two,” she agreed with a little laugh. “But I’m not sure the dress or any of the other details are so important, so long as at the end of the day J.J. and I are married.” And maybe it made her a sap that she was thinking that way, but somehow she thought J.J. would probably think the same thing. “I didn’t really ever think about getting married someday when I was a kid, so I don’t have all those ideas that a lot of girls have in their heads from childhood.” And she thought that Ariel knew enough about her already to understand maybe a little bit why that was.

[ariel_crabtree]

Ariel nodded. She thought it was a good place to start. She’d never been to a real fancy wedding, most people she knew just couldn’t afford that kind of thing. But she’d been to a few simple things, and a few nicer ones held in a church, though she didn’t really peg Erica as a church wedding type of person. Not that that was a bad thing, because it wasn’t.

“That’s a good attitude to take,” Ariel said with a nod. “Better than some of the bridezillas who want all those things absolutely a certain way.” She grinned faintly; she’d never really seen the shows, but she’d heard of them, and known a few girls who were insistent on a few things. Ariel nodded, understanding what Erica was saying. “I know how that goes. I always wanted to be married, thought I would marry my ex. But I never really planned anything.” Probably because deep down, she’d known Josh would never propose, or maybe she’d just not wanted to get her hopes up. Who knew.

[erica_allen]

Erica laughed just a little. “Oh trust me, I’ve seen enough bridezillas in the last six months that I’d have to be an idiot to let myself become one. I mean, yeah, I want things to go smoothly and all work out well, but it’s life, y’know? Things go wrong in life, and we can’t control everything.” It was a hard lesson she’d heard in her life. She frowned slightly at Ariel’s admission. “It could still happen,” she said softly, encouragingly.

“Which reminds me, how are things going with Ezra?” Was it sneaky of her to ask? She didn’t think so, she really was genuinely curious, and as Ezra tended to be scarce on the details, she wanted to know how things were going in Ariel’s mind.

[ariel_crabtree]

“I just bet you have,” Ariel said with a soft laugh. “I’ve done the hair of several over the years, as well. Never pleasant.” Bu tthen, she had stories about all sorts of clients she’d had over the years. It was interesting at times, though on the whole she really did enjoy her job. “Yeah, can’t control everything, sometimes you just gotta go with the flow.” She’d lived her life like that, pretty much. “Could, yeah. Maybe.” Not that she had any expectation that it would.

Ariel smiled faintly at the question. “Good, I think? He’s really so sweet. He came over with breakfast the other day and we hung out for awhile before I had to go into work that afternoon.” She couldn’t say she knew exactly where they stood with things, they were sort of dating but she wouldn’t say it was serious or anything, at least yet, though what did she know?

[erica_allen]

“Not all brides are bad,” Erica added, knowing Ariel would be able to relate, “but some of them are just downright awful and catty.” She rather thought that had more to do with their personality than them being a bride, though. “Exactly,” she said with a smile, and really she preferred to go with the flow, anyway. She frowned at Ariel’s response to her encouragement, wondering if she should repeat the things Ezra had told her last year when she’d been so doubtful she would ever have a meaningful relationship. She didn’t, though, because she knew from experience that sometimes you just had to come to realize it on your own.

Erica smiled as Ariel talked about Ezra. He was sweet, and she was glad Ariel saw and appreciated that. “Well, that’s nice. I might have given him a hard time about not having set up another date with you yet,” she admitted with a smile, her nose wrinkling a little. “I know he’s taking things slow, I think it’s just cause he’s worried he’s gonna get in the same situation he was in before, in a serious relationship without really knowing each other first,” she explained. She wasn’t sure she should even be talking about Ezra to Ariel, and she worried briefly that she might be breaking some kind of best friend code, but she didn’t think Ezra would tell Ariel this, and she thought Ariel should know.

[ariel_crabtree]

"Not all of them, no. But hte bad ones are easier to remember," Ariel admitted, grinning. They at least lingered in her mind more than the good ones did. Though some of the good ones stayed in her mind, too; she had her favorite clients, and a few she wished she could see more.

Ariel laughed. "I don't really mind. If he wants to take things slow, then that's okay." She ran a hand back through her hair. "I mean, I'm not used to it, but there's nothing wrong with it." She was used to men just wanting to take what they wanted, even in a relationship. "Well, yeah, he's barely out of nearly marrying that guy Kyle, right? I guess that sorta makes me a rebound." She lifted a shoulder, knowing he was treating her like a rebound, and not accusing him of doing so.

[erica_allen]

“They really are,” Erica agreed with a small laugh, though there were a few wonderful brides she didn’t think she’d be forgetting.

Erica was glad that Ariel didn’t seem to mind if Ezra took things slow. She thought it would be good for Ezra to take things slower this time around. “No, there isn’t anything wrong with it, but I think it’s not real common to find a guy who’d rather take things slow,” she commented, figuring that if Ariel wasn’t used to it, she would understand what she meant. “I wouldn’t say barely. They broke up the end of September, so it’s been over three months, and they were only together for like seven months. And you and Ez have been friends for a little bit, right? I don’t think he sees you as a rebound. If he did, I don’t think he’d be taking things so slow,” she said with a small shrug.

[ariel_crabtree]

"No, it's not common, I think," Ariel agreed. Not in her experience. Most all guys were after only one thing. Her lips twitched slightly. "Not that we exactly started out slow," she said, smiling faintly at that memory, "but he's been pretty much the perfect gentleman since then." It was less than she'd done in the past, of course, and he'd respected her wants in that regard, a first in who knew how long, if ever.

"Yeah, well, they were going to be married," she said with a shrug. It was still a little odd, that he'd been with a guy before her, but she didn't think too much on it. She didn't want to ask any awkward questions. "I don't think he does, no, so that's good, and we are friends." She trusted him, inasmuch as she trusted men on the whole, and he hadn't done anything to hurt her yet.