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By the time that Haley Jones and Ricky Cunningham arrived to the beach, the bottle of Jack Daniels they had brought with them was already half-empty and their sobriety was half-gone. Haley would insist that Ricky drank more, and he likely did, but their tolerances brought them to the same level of tipsiness.

She dressed comfortably, in a small dress with sandals, and he wore an old wifebeater with swimming trunks. In just moments of arrival, the shirt was off and on the floor, exposing his very muscular torso - he hoped to pull in some attention from the ladies.

"KESS!" Haley exclaimed, waving at her friend and drug-dealer. She instantly began to run towards her friend, but after one mighty gallop she found herself face planting into the sand, tripping over Ricky's shirt.

Ricky laughed as his friend picked herself up, dirt on her face.

"I swear, I'm not that ******** drunk," Haley insisted. "Buuuuuuuuut you should probably hold on to the bottle for the night. I'm going to go chat."

Ricky had no problem with that as the two went separate ways to enjoy themselves.

Hypatia Kirk was perhaps a little behind in arriving to the party, but that was partly Bo's fault-- he had only just texted her the place and time of the party half an hour ago, and a girl needed time to get ready. She was rather dressed down in sneakers and cut-off shorts, a hooded t-shirt with a splashy design on it, topped off with her hair twisted into a single long, thick braid that fell down to her waist. There some at the party she recognized, some that she didn't. It was rather easy to pick out the one who had invited her, however, given how absurdly tall he was. He seemed to be other wise engaged, though, so Hyp settled for wandering around the general are of the party, skillfully dodging a few water gun enthusiasts, in search of a central area to place her party offering-- no booze, given her age, but she hoped that cupcakes (even store made ones that she grabbed on the way here) would be acceptable enough. Who didn't like cupcakes?

{If anyone wants to have their character already know Hyp, that's cool by me! She's totally up for meeting new people as well, so it's all good!}

"You doubted it," asked Tate, bristling at Billy's snide comment. She'd known that Ladon was just as lonely as she, but she'd assumed he was doing alright without the pressures of a supernatural second life on him. Not all of them needed to totally lack in social lives, after all, and Ladon was sweet, and kind, and giving--there was no reason that he should be alone. It irked her that this silver-haired guy acted like he did.

But she wasn't there to pick a fight, even if she itched to, and she said, "With college and work, mostly. Not much time for socializing when you've got two jobs--I'm at the letterpress shop on Fourth Street and Waverly, and I work the early morning shift at the coffee shop at the student union, so my schedule's kind of a mess." She skated right over the compliment, even though she self-consciously brushed her hair out of her eyes. He was just being kind about it, since they'd been on the topic. Obviously that's all it was.

Obviously.

She sort-of smiled at getting away with not having fun. "I have a book," she said. She did not mention that it was a textbook. That seemed unimportant, and actually more important to not tell Kess, because she knew Kess's opinions on fun. Where they pertained to board games, Tate's idea of fun overlapped, but from there they seemed to head in two totally different directions. It was something to distract her when the jackass who seemed convinced Ladon was unlikeable kissed him. Not my business, she thought, but she really did want to make it her business, but Ladon was old enough to know his own mind now anyway and didn't need Tate butting in and punching someone in the face.

Yeah. That was exactly right. Also it'd be impossible to get anywhere in life with an assault charge on her record. "I can be persuaded to put my bag down in a safe place," she edited, after a moment.

He hadn't expected such a public kiss, even if it was on the forehead, but it was on an open beach before two girls very close by, and he flustered as Billy moved in and pressed his lips to his brow.

Well, no denying their relationship now.

He stood frozen, not sure what to do, but Tate continued, though the words washed over him. She was in college. Had 2 jobs. Was busy with her own life.

She moved on, and was doing well.

He had been inwardly hoping she was miserable without him and still needed him, but life was good for her. Maybe her life was even better off without him.

What little force he had to keep a smile was being pulled to it's breaking point, and when Tate starting talking to her friend, he gripped Billy's wrist tightly. "Well, it's been nice talking to you. I'm going to head off to the tent. Later." He didn't give Billy the option to linger, and dragged the boy away as he headed off to the tent, the smile lasting only until he has turned away from his former friend before pressing into a frown, brow creased in mixed self-hatred and sadness. He just needed a soda and to just not see her for the rest of forever and maybe things wouldn't hurt so badly.

Sounded like a good plan to him.

Grinning, Arilee ruffled Daphne's wet hair before nodding agreeably. She had no problems continuing lessons later if that was how things worked out.

"Sure thing. It was nice having someone so willing to try learning without all the panicky bullshit I usually hear."

Still smiling, she watched the bluenette head off to find her towel before chuckling very softly to herself. For a moment, Arilee had considered going back into the water and finding some inner peace. She stood on the sand, looking back and forth between the gentle waves and the people clearly having a blast.

"Oh ******** this," she muttered to herself and she carefully stuck her board into the sand. She could head into the water at any time. Right now, she wanted to human interaction. It was time to track down Quinn. She spotted the brunette and hurried over, managing to snag a small cup of ice on her way. Then, with a smile, she wandered over until she was standing behind her friend.

"Hey sexypants. Who's winnin' the water war?"

She was almost under the tent and had almost got Kess' attention when Venice's call reached in her ears. Jade turned on her heels, trying to locate the source of said voice and finally found the caller. Really now? She was no one's love, or personal waitress. Her food was for everyone, although she was starting to worry if she had made enough as the crowd was getting bigger and bigger. But she couldn't be rude to one who had shown interest towards her souvenirs.

"If you want some, come here to get it!" she called back to Venice. Then she turned around, wanting to exchange couple words with the host, only to find out she had went to socialize with some other people. Oh well, they could talk later. Right now, her attention was drawn to something more interesting.

It was the barbeque grill and the man handling it. Deciding that was the best place her to be in the party, Jade walked straight there. "Hi," she said before touching Falco's hand slightly, hoping to get his attention. "Are you the master of the grill in this party?" She glanced over the grill, him and also shortly Corey as well before asking another question, the one to what she needed an answer. "Can I help you?"

She really hoped the answer would be yes.

Falco had let himself get caught up in watching, rather than participating in the festivities, partially because he was starting to remember that, while he worked a variety of jobs, NONE of those jobs was "Line order chef". Not by a long shot, and when offered help, and my an attractive woman a hair closer to his own age than many of those at the beach, he was about as likely to refuse as a tired swimmer might refuse a life preserver.

"W...Oh. Yeah. Yeah that would be great." He floundered briefly for words, making a vague gesture at the coolers and food he sort of suspected might be breeding in the space between blinks. It was considerably less organized right now than he would have liked.

"Yeah this is sort of starting to get out of hand, can you help me get some sort of system going here that isn't "Set everything on fire and hope for the best?"

He was trying to be vaguely funny here, since although some things were going out a bit more well done than he would have liked...and a few had gone in the trash as definitely too 'well done'... he hadn't actually started a full blown case of grill-related-fire... yet. He was however a bit concerned that this might happen if he spent too much time juggling between getting things on or off the grill and making sure they were available for a grab and run for hungry party goers.

"Falco Marks. Nice to meet you. I'd offer to shake your hands but I've been handling grill stuff and I haven't had a chance to clean off."

Tomorrow was a Sunday which meant that she was pulling the morning shift at the photo store. It was probably a bad idea to spend most of today at the beach and then from the looks of things staying for the bonfire after, but how often could you get photo opportunities like this?! Nobody ever really drove out this far for impromptu parties; a ton of work must have gone into the planning and execution of this one judging from all the food and toys heaped around. "I know that fear, that is why I'm almost desperate for a roommate. You are saving me from having to put out an ad of my own just to get out of the bad neighborhood I am in right now. It's still a bit better than some of the streets around my home in Bujumbura but that does not mean I like to take those risks." Actually she didn't much pay attention to those risks but if it would set Renna at ease, why not mention it?

"I work until 3pm tomorrow but after that we should be able to get in. The superintendant of the building knows me so I will just give them a call and we can meet before dinner tomorrow. Maybe we could go eat after if you like the place so we can iron things out?" Was that a bit forward? Probably. Immediately trying to cover for it she smiled and backtracked a bit. "But if you'd rather not when the time comes that's alright too. I am a little casual about things sometimes as long as I'm not running late. I hate being late." Being undependable at all was a fate worse than death for Bernadette and she avoided it even if she had to dash across town hyperventilating the whole way.

Going out to dinner would eat into her budget but she'd just have to eat a bit less the rest of the days. One of the fantastic things about America was that they had incredible things like dollar ramen packs that would fill her up so she could eat for less than five whole dollars a day. It was fantastic! Probably if the two of them started living together Renna was eventually going to be subject to a lauding of the dehydrated noodle soup and the many things that she could do with it.

Picking up her camera upon hearing a few shouts, the young woman was able to snap a few really good movement shots while waiting for Renna's answer. "I didn't think today would be so fortunate. That is what happens when you take chances, I suppose. Good things."