love and virgin cocktails -- SCARLET

[ELIZA JOY LIEBERMAN]

[atrb=border,0,true] [/style][STYLE=text-align:justify; border: 3px dashed #931c6d; width:300px; font-size:10px; padding:10px;]There was one major flaw in this whole ‘keeping Jelly Bean a Secret’ plan. People kept inviting Eliza to do things that she couldn’t do. ‘Oh lets catch up for Coffee’, ‘Lets go out for drinks!’, ‘Want Sushi for Lunch?’. She didn’t even like Sushi under normal situations, and now all of a sudden that raw fish was completely out of the question everyone seemed to think Eliza would make the best Sushi date. At least though, that one was easy to get out of. Anyone that knew Eliza wouldn’t question her when she said she hated sea-food. It was the other two that were harder to make up excuses for. She either had to accept and then make up some reason why she wasn’t having coffee or drinking when she got there or she had to forgo seeing her friends. Neither options Eliza was all that fond of. Wasn’t your social life supposed to die after you have kids- not before. Which was why, when Scarlet had suggested they catch up after the holidays, Eliza just could not say no. The young woman hadn’t seen the other woman in a while and considering the fact she was rather fond of her friend, there was no way she was going to say no. So that left her with only one option. Go to the bar and make up some reason as to why she couldn’t drink more than sodas. Which wasn’t going as well as she would have liked, to be honest. Eliza frowned intensely at her diet coke as she gave her straw a stir. While she did have an unhealthy love for diet coke, there were times when it just wasn’t satisfying. Right now was one of them. A sulk tugged at her lips as she brought her boring old diet coke to her lips, taking a long drink. How many of these had she ordered now? Too many, she was sure. Happy, Jelly? You’re ruining my fun, she chastised her stomach silently. The child was going to have to get used to these sorts of things. It wasn’t that she was completely serious- it was just a part of who Eliza was. She could be hugely sarcastic, and when she was unhappy about something, it showed through in bitter jokes. Any child of Eliza’s would have to learn that she wasn’t serious when she told someone that their face smelt like dog-food. It was going to have her DNA though right? So chances were it would come out with the same sort of sense of humour. Man she hoped so. Well, if it wasn’t born that way, it would surely end up that way with influences like Eliza and Ellis. The woman smiled at the thought of her best friend. He was going to be so amazing with this little baby, Eliza knew it. Just like he was so good to Eliza. At least she knew her child would have one good father figure. Speaking of Ellis, Eliza tilted her head. She had been meaning to introduce Scarlet to her best friend for ages now, but she’d never really gotten around to it. She’d have to try to remember though wouldn’t she? She was sure they’d get along really well, and Scarlet might actually be good for her best friend. Smiling a little, she chewed on her straw for a moment before opening her mouth to speak. They’d covered most topics so far; work, the holidays, family... but Eliza had been avoiding the topic of love life for fear her own would come into question. Thing was, she was curious about the other girl’s love life. Curious enough that she was willing to risk it in order to broach the subject. “So now that we’ve covered the boring topics,” she started with a small wink, “Tell me, miss Garland... How is your love life? Any saucy details you need to tell me? Because god knows I need to live vicariously through someone.”

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[SCARLET OPHELIA GARLAND]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: transparent; width: 350px; padding: 20px 10px 10px 10px; border-bottom: dashed 1px 357257; border-left: dashed 1px 357257; border-top: dashed 1px 357257; border-right: dashed 1px 357257] Scarlet tended to be a very cynical sarcastic type and sometimes she needed to be around someone like Ej – bubbly, but with a similar humor. She’d missed her good friend and couldn’t figure out why she hadn’t seen her in a while, they both must have just been busy, but when she had a day off she decided to take that chance to call her friend up and ask her to catch up. Scarlet wasn’t usually the one to make the first move as she tended to be perfectly happy alone most of the time, but she liked spending time with Ej and she seemed to like spending time with Letty. They meshed personality wise in a strange way. Growing up she’d never really had a lot of girlfriends, or even friends in general, only people who wanted really nice expensive gifts at their birthdays or were terrified of the wrath of her father. Ej wasn’t like that though, she couldn’t be, Scarlet hadn’t ever talked about her father’s profession only that they didn’t talk anymore and she was cut off from them financially and emotionally when she decided not to come home after high school. Which was more than most people got out of the very closed book that Scarlet was. She smoothed her dress, she didn’t often dress in bright florals, but today she decided to with a red floral short sleeved dress which hit a bit above her knees with a chocolate brown studded belt around her waist. Couse she had to make it less shocking by wearing her black combat boots. She’d wanted to dress up for their little date and get away from her gothic business wear she often sported. She wore what she wanted and felt comfortable in, which was usually dark colors, but she could occasionally step out with the element of surprise. She wasn’t bothered with labels or the treads, she wore what she wore, fashionable or not. And though she wasn’t a self-conscious young woman she had to admit she felt quite pretty today – even if she was wearing minimal make up and had her long dark hair slicked back into a messy bun. Apparently florals could really pump up the feeling pretty factor. The brunette scanned the table with her green eyes, her friend was drinking a diet coke and she had whisky on the rocks in front of her “Gosh E, you’re making me feel like an alch-y drinking in the middle of the day alone” she laughed, she was only teasing “what are you pregnant or something?” she giggled, that seemed to be the conclusion everyone jumped to when someone decided not to have a drink and she figured Ej would get the joke. Scarlet was a non-typical thinker and Ej new that, so she’d often get that Scarlet was joking when she said typical things. Course sometimes she was serious, but as true as it may be, this time she was simply joking and had no real suspicions about it. Nor was she one to chastise someone for choosing not to drink, staying sober was perfectly fine with her, she did it often – just not today. Though, she also what’s setting out to get smashed either. After all she may have to work later. She laughed at Eliza’s summery of their conversation thus far and offered “well your work isn’t boring, I’m sure it’s good fun to be puked on by first graders while you’re trying to teach them their times tables” she spoke with a sarcastic and teasing tone and finished with a wink. Scarlet’s cheeks flushed to match her name as Ej asked about her love life, she couldn’t help it, it wasn’t as if it was a really embarrassing subject, it was that giddy feeling in her stomach that was exciting and she wanted to keep herself from sounding like the high school girls he taught. So of course she deflected “oh all you'd have to do is walk into a bar and wiggle your hips a bit and men would be all over that” she said waving his finger in Ej’s direction wildly, even if it was a deflection she still believed it was true. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to talk about Ellis; it’s that she was embarrassed by how much she liked him after only meeting him once. She found it pathetic to be quite honest, some cute bumbling chowder head talks to you for about an hour and now has you hoping he’ll actually call. Even when you know men never call when they say they will. She knew Ej likely wouldn’t let her off that easily, but she had to try.

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[ELIZA JOY LIEBERMAN]

[atrb=border,0,true] [/style][STYLE=text-align:justify; border: 3px dashed #931c6d; width:300px; font-size:10px; padding:10px;]Eliza just about chocked at Letty’s joke. In fact, they were both lucky she hadn’t been drinking in that moment or they’d both be wearing diet coke. Which, by the way, would have made it really damned obvious that she was in fact, knocked up. So instead, Eliza cleared her throat and screwed up her nose. Hoping her expression was less ‘caught with your hand in the cookie jar’ and more ‘even for a joke the idea of that is ludicrous’. Truthfully, she probably just looked constipated or something. Hopefully Scarlet wouldn’t read too much into the reaction and wouldn’t ask any follow up questions. Ej was doing okay at keeping the information a secret, but she really wasn’t great at lying. If someone asked her outright, she wasn’t sure if she could convincingly deflect the question enough to throw them off. She’d always been such an awkward liar that it gave it away right away anyway. Glad that the subject had moved on, Ej leaned forward on her elbows. Raising a small eyebrow at her friend’s comment. She always knew that Letty would use the story of being vomited on against her at some point. Rolling her eyes, Eliza waved her hand dismissively. “First, grade one don’t learn times tables, they are still getting the hang of plus and minus. Second that was one time! It’s not like I come home stinking of sick up every day thank you very much!” Her job wasn’t really disgusting as Scarlet was making it out to be. It wasn’t as though she was a preschool teacher or anything of the sort. The kids she taught were all toilet trained and really it was just the occasional runny nose she had to clean. Besides, she actually found teaching young children really rather fulfilling. As to the rest of Scarlet’s comment, Eliza waved it off too. She had never really been one to think highly of her own looks. It wasn’t that she thought she was unattractive or anything like that. It was more that she thought she was a bit plain. Eliza just didn’t think there was much about her that lured in the opposite text. She wasn’t stunning and she didn’t have legs that went on for days, and she was more quirky than charming and that just wasn’t exactly what guys looked for now was it? Sure, there were a few men out there that found her attractive but it wasn’t like she could actually go into any bar she liked, wriggle her hips and pull any guy she wanted. That was just unrealistic. Of course, she did appreciate the ego boost her friend was trying to give her, but she knew it was just that- an ego boost. Wagging a finger at Scarlet, Eliza used her free hand to stir her drink around with her straw. It really didn’t need stirring but Eliza was a fiddler and she couldn’t ever just sit still. “As much as I appreciate you trying to make me feel like the sexy beast I am not, you can’t deflect my question missy. Trying it only makes it obvious that you have goss. So spill.” Flashing the woman a smile, she picked up her drink and took a long sip. Eyes staying on the other woman. Waiting for her to spill whatever she had been trying to avoid. Eliza wasn’t exactly one to give up easily, so she was pretty set on finding out what she wanted to know about the other woman. They were friends, and friends told each other about their love life. So what if she was keeping something from Letty. That wasn’t the point now was it?

[SCARLET OPHELIA GARLAND]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: transparent; width: 350px; padding: 20px 10px 10px 10px; border-bottom: dashed 1px 357257; border-left: dashed 1px 357257; border-top: dashed 1px 357257; border-right: dashed 1px 357257] Letting her own nose crinkle with the smile at her friend’s silly face “don’t be so down on yourself it’s no completely absurd, is it?” Scarlet may not have been a man, but if she were she wouldn’t be allowing such an amazing girl to be alone, she looked off thoughtfully for a moment “you know it’s too bad neither of us are lesbians” she teased as she looked back at her friend with her signature devious smirk. It was slightly true, it’d fix all her problems with men, but likely give her whole new problems with women so it probably wouldn’t be worth it. Pricks were her thing, sexually and personality wise, which was probably why that bearded chowder head hadn’t called her. Gosh, now she’s getting mad at a complete stranger and calling him names in her head. Oh no, she wasn’t getting pathetic at all. Ej was just as good at deflection as Scarlet, but Scarlet was better at flat out lying – Victory. “stupid kids, I was already started on investment banking by grade one” she said with a smirk. I wasn’t completely true, but she knew what money was and that people believed the more the better. Letty wasn’t quite a child person, they just didn’t seem to like her, she been kicked enough to know that much. Though she’d also had her ass grabbed by a couple, so at least she was hot to children. Though, they probably didn’t think so after she slapped their hands away hissing at them not to do that. Grubby handed twats. Shaking her head she took a sip of her whisky “I don’t know how you have the patience for them” she returned her drink to the table “children I mean… and the stupid parents that come with them that think their children are perfect” she rolled her eyes in disgust “promise me you’ll be able to see your kids are brats when you have them” she nodded completely oblivious. If she’d knew how oblivious she’d punch herself. She hated oblivious people who just went on and on about a subject that was obviously close to someone’s nerve. “oh shut up, you’re a catch anyone who isn’t deaf, dumb and blind knows that” Even though Ej didn’t actually say anything she knew what her silence implied and maybe she didn’t believe it, but Scarlet did, she wouldn’t be friends with her if she didn’t think she was pretty great. If it were the last thing she did she’d make Ej as confident about herself as she should be. That was the kind of friend she was, she may tease the people in her life, but in the end she wanted them to know how wonderful she thought they were and Eliza was wonderful to her. Scarlet knitted her brows “yes I can, I do what I want” she giggled. Sighing heavily it was clear she was about to give in “okay, fine” she feigned a pout. She took a breath and rolled her eyes “so I met this guy…” gosh what was this the beginning of a romantic comedy. “He’s a total chowder head and won’t call, but I liked him” she said throwing away the news like yesterday’s trash. She decided she really needed to give calling people chowder heads a break and come up with a new insult. “I probably just made him incredible uncomfortable and he asked for my number because he just wanted to show his mother he could” she wasn’t sure he’d actually told her about even having a mother, but he seemed like the type who had to defend why he wasn’t married with two and a half kids by now. She rolled her eyes “I just liked him that’s all” she sipped her drink before adding “which probably means he’s a tosser anyway” she shrugged trying to stay aloof about the subject.

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[ELIZA JOY LIEBERMAN]

[atrb=border,0,true] [/style][STYLE=text-align:justify; border: 3px dashed #931c6d; width:300px; font-size:10px; padding:10px;]Lesbians. Heh. Eliza had to smile at that thought. It would probably fix all her problems. In fact, had she been a lesbian, she’d never have gotten herself knocked up. Which would did have its plus side. Though, to be honest, Eliza wouldn’t change her current situation. Well, besides her current relationship status with the father. She wouldn’t change the baby part. Eliza was pretty attached to that little life form growing inside her and she couldn’t imagine not being pregnant. Though she could always go lesbian now couldn’t she? Give little Jelly two mommies? While she didn’t have anything against same sex couples and fully supported them being pregnant, she felt that one neurotic PMSing mess was probably enough for the poor child. Considering Eliza felt like she was worse than most women, she already felt bad that her child had to deal with her. Throw in a second and the kid was probably doomed. At the mention of her own kids, Eliza bit her lip. Glancing down at her stomach for the moment. Would she? Be able to identify the faults in her own children? Eliza wasn’t exactly sure about that. She had a sinking suspicion that she was going to turn out to be one of those ridiculous doting mothers that thought anything their child did was fantastic- even when it wasn’t. Oh lord, she was going to be one of those really annoying parents that refused to see their child was in the wrong at parent teacher interviews wasn’t she? God how she loathed those sorts of parents. That was it, she decided, she was going to see her kid for what it really was. Nodding her head, she smiled at Letty. “For sure. When I have kids I’ll see them in all their annoying glory.” Ah. Now they were getting into the good stuff. Eliza felt herself grin as the other girl started talking about a guy. It was always a guy wasn’t it? Chowder head? Eliza couldn’t help but laugh. They were all chowder heads. At least the ones Eliza seemed to be interested in. And it seemed Letty had the same affliction. “Aren’t they all?” She rolled her eyes, taking another sip from her straw. Though, she supposed it wasn’t all that fair to refer to Will as chowder head. He wasn’t a bad guy exactly.. Just. Gah. She couldn’t even finish that thought. Truth was she didn’t know what he was anymore or how she felt about him. It was all just a mess. She was a mess. However, this conversation wasn’t about her own messy affairs, it was about Letty’s chowder head of a new love interest. And Eliza was most interested. Meddling in other people’s love lives was favourite pastime. Laughing, Eliza threw her head back in delight. “To prove to his mother that he could? Oh God! That sounds like my best friend Ellis!” Still laughing, she shook her head. Ellis’ mother was always on his back about girls, and Eliza was sure he would do just about anything to get the woman off his back. Eliza couldn’t blame him really, considering she was the same with her own mother. Anything to pacify the woman. Though honestly, Eliza had never found Ellis’ mother as bad as her own, but that was because Mrs. Ellis actually liked her, as appose to her own mother. “If he doesn’t call he has no balls.” She said with a nod, leaning forward. “What’s he like though? Well besides being a chowder head? Is he cute? I bet he’s cute. All the assholes are cute.”

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[SCARLET OPHELIA GARLAND]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: transparent; width: 350px; padding: 20px 10px 10px 10px; border-bottom: dashed 1px 357257; border-left: dashed 1px 357257; border-top: dashed 1px 357257; border-right: dashed 1px 357257] Sipping her drink she nodded as Eliza made the promise “good” she said definitively. Scarlet was normally a very observant person and would have notice how uncomfortable her friend got every time the subject of babies came up. Normally this would have caused her to be extremely suspicious and prod to subject further. However at the moment she was being a boozer drinking in the afternoon and slight intoxication tended to cloud her mind a bit and soften her keen powers of perception. If she knew she’d slap herself for being daft. The subject quickly changed to men or the scum of the earth as Scarlet often referred to them. She’d had plenty of horrible relationships and her current state of boozy bitterness was not helping change her mind. She wasn’t drunk or anything, but she’d like that to be the end game in all honesty. “speaking of, what’s going on with your chowder head?” If she was going to have to talk about her feelings so would Ej. She’s thought that Eliza and her man friend – who she couldn’t remember the name of at that particular moment – were fairly happy and then boom, they were farther apart emotionally than Greenland and Madagascar. Which according to her geography classes in school was about as far as two people could get on earth. Not that Scarlet particularly minded from the selfish standpoint that not being with her boyfriend freed her up to hang out with her on days like this – girls day outings. It was strange how everything even the least bit cheesy made Scarlet’s stomach turn violently, even if she’d been the one thinking it. She knew Eliza would likely deflect her question or try to anyway as Scarlet had, but in the same way as Eliza she would not let her. She wanted to know why they went from being perfectly happy in their break up-make up sex relationship to being done – finished in thirty seconds flat. They’d actually stayed that way as well as far as she knew. Scarlet may not have been Ej’s best friend for ages or even today, but she was around during the tornado that was Eliza and Will – that was his name – somehow even when they didn’t seem to be amazing together she still found herself rooting for them – weirdly. To be honest she didn’t like to “root” for couples, it felt to romcom to her, but they had something and she liked Will enough when he wasn’t being a two year old. Maybe that was why they’d broken up though – Eliza was sick of leaving the children she worked with only to come home to another one. Not to mention she probably had to hide her valuables every time he started to simmer with the strange amount of rage he carried with him. Scarlet believe he must have had a horrible childhood or something to hold on to that anger, always allowing it to lurk just beneath his chest. Swirling the liquid in her drink she couldn’t help but catch the fact that Eliza had mentioned her best friends name was Ellis. Abandoning her swirling to look up at her with large wide eyes “Logan Ellis?” she asked simply as her eye lids fell into a quizzical squint. It couldn’t possibly be different people, that would be highly improbable and Scarlet was a firm believer in probability. “Tall, bearded, funny nose, seriously socially awkward Logan Ellis?” she asked rattling off as many things about him she remembered. She wanted to make sure they were talking about the same person. Cute, of course he was cute, physically and personality wise. She probably wouldn’t have been so disappointed that he didn’t call if she wasn’t in some way attracted to him. Course there was also the added interest that he had an uncanny ability to captivate her attention and curiosity through his odd, socially awkward behavior.

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[ELIZA JOY LIEBERMAN]

[atrb=border,0,true] [/style][STYLE=text-align:justify; border: 3px dashed #931c6d; width:300px; font-size:10px; padding:10px;]At the mention of her own ‘chowder head’, Eliza let out a low sigh. Honestly, she was kind of sick of talking about him. Everyone kept asking her what had happened between them and Eliza could never satisfy them with her answers. Mainly because the only answers she could give them were way too vague. I mean, how was she supposed to explain what had happened between her and Will? She couldn’t just tell people she was pregnant and she’d gone running scared. That’s what had happened. She’d told herself a million other things but when she was honest with herself she knew that’s what it boiled down to. That’s what it always boiled down to for Eliza when it came to Will. She was scared of the dept of her feelings for him. Scared that if she let herself get lost in those feelings Will would break her. They’d never had a stable relationship, and admitting how much she loved him wouldn’t make things any more stable in her own mind. “We are not talking about me, we are talking about you.” Eliza was quick to get the conversation back on track. Talking about Scarlet was much safer. There wasn’t the risk of Eliza having to spill some of her secrets. At the mention of Logan’s full name, Eliza’s eyes bugged out a little. Scarlet knew Logan? While she’d known them both for a while, Eliza had never hung out with them both at the same time. And to her recollection, she barely ever referred to him by name. Staring for a moment, Eliza nodded. “Yes. Yes. And yes.” That was the exact description of her best friend. How did Letty know that though? Oh... Oh! The pieces started to fall into place and Eliza’s eyes grew even wider. Oh God! Ellis was Letty’s chowder head! Eliza wanted to laugh. Oh this was just perfect. Of course he was the chowder head. “Oh my God!” Letting out a laugh, she covered her mouth in excitement. Staring at Letty. “Logan Ellis! You’re talking about him, aren’t you? He’s the guy you met!” Eliza wasn’t asking, she knew for sure it was true. What other explanation could there be? “Oh my God! I am going to kill him! He never told me he met some hot girl and got her number! The asshole! Why hasn’t he called you though? Oh my God I can imagine it now. He’s probably sitting there with your number, picking up the phone but psyching himself out before he can finish dialling. Oh God what a loser.” Eliza was talking a mile a minute, she was well aware of that. It was just.. Too much. The idea of Letty and Ellis actually really excited her if she were honest about it. Someone like Scarlet would do the chowder head the world of good.

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