FANCY YOU*

oh, tell me i'm the only one, babe.

[aricllas]

📱hayley + aria || 03.03.

hayley: honey 😊

hayley: waot you hve a doctorate???

hayley: i am not illiterate, just drunk and thinking of u

hayley: i did n plan that far, are u bored maybe i can save u from that

aria: Oh, are you calling me honey? Yes dear, how can I help?

aria: And yes, I have a PhD in computer science, or at least, so says UCB

aria: Let's say that I am. How do you propose you'll save me, Ms. Drunk-and-thinking-of-me?

[aricllas]

📱hayley + aria

hayley: what would be less attractive, that i am iltierate

hayley: illitrate

hayley: illirate

hayley: fuck

hayley: can't spell?

hayley: or a little bit drunk?

hayley: i'm sure you know many CTOs, but i was talking about u 🙈

aria: Less attractive? The illiteracy, honey. I didn't get a doctorate so I could find illiteracy cute, but it's got its own charm on you, I guess

aria: Good thing I was talking about me, too, then

aria: So, what sort of rescuing are we talking about?

[aricllas]

📱hayley + aria

hayley: you know u can just ask me to hang ou if thats what u want ;)

hayley: good i am so glad, beach was oaky when i left it a few hours agoo

hayley: a little borin, no beautiful CTOs to rescue

aria: Oh, we're feeling feisty tonight? You always have this many spelling errors or am I seeing the effects of some liquid courage?

aria: Would you like a beautiful CTO to rescue? I happen to know one.

[aricllas]

📱hayley + aria

hayley: no i wanted to earlier day one honest

hayley: is somethig afoot with ur foot still? haha

aria: Well, better late than never. Good to hear from you

aria: If I said it was doing poorly, would my offer of paying to be moved places interest a certain lifeguard?

aria: It's recovering just fine, though. How's the beach?

[aricllas]

📱hayley + aria

hayley: when will aria text me no siri no no stop don't send no

[several minutes later]

hayley: disregar my phone gliched

aria: It appears that she'll text you now, so it seems

aria: Is the only time I should expect a text from you when your phone "glitches"?

[alexasdemies]

ANA DE ARMAS Photographed by Greg Williams for ‘No Time To Die’

[aricllas]

HAYLEY*

There was a moment when Hayley paused before taking the car keys in her hand. She let her fingers hover on the other girl’s hand longer than she needed to before she pulled back and cleared her throat. You could’ve just asked for my number. No, there was no way she was going to do that. She scratched the back of her head and then tentatively slipped an arm around the girl to support her. “Aye aye, not a scratch,” she paused and then said, “Alright princess, let’s get you back to your ivory tower.” With that she slipped the keys into her back pocket with her free hand and then put that same hand under the girl’s leg to lift her back into her arms. Her cheeks flushed and she adjusted her grip a bit. She walked over to the building elevator and then placed the girl down gently before pressing the up key. 

“So uh… I guess.. I mean, you’re good from here on out right?” She’d already felt like she was overstepping with everything she’d done. The elevator opened and Hayley paused. If they were different people, if Hayley was a different person, then maybe… maybe… she would have kissed her, or held her hand, or told her she was absolutely the most beautiful girl she’d ever seen. But they weren’t different people, and Hayley was who she was. So instead she pulled out a sharpie from her sweatpants and a receipt for a 32 ounce Slurpee she’d bought earlier in the day. She scribbled her number down and handed the receipt to Aria. “Here, Penthouse,” she said softly, “in case you decide to come back to my beach and get hurt again. Give me a heads up so I can stretch, you know?”

There was a beat between her steadying on her feet and Hayley taking the car keys, a second of hesitation that felt like it should build up to something before Hayley dropped her hand and cleared her throat, talking again; it was strange to think that somehow being scooped into someone’s arms could be a less intimate moment, but somehow, it managed to be. There was something heavy about the moment that Aria couldn’t quite put her finger on, but didn’t say anything -- the whole walk to the elevator felt charged with something she was scared to quantify and scared to break.

“Yeah, I think I can manage,” she answered softly, looking down at her feet as she was set down, looking up at Hayley tentatively through her lashes before dropping her gaze back down onto her wrapped ankle. She wanted more from this moment, but had little to offer but a soft, sinking feeling in her chest in return, and so, felt undeserving of pushing for it, and like that, it passed them by, the elevator dinging loudly behind her. She watched, breath bated, for a moment as Hayley rustled around and started writing something, she took it without hesitation when it was offered, looking over it curiously, eyes darting back to Hayley’s. She laughed, a little bitter with the finality of everything. “Okay,” she said. “Do me a favor and pass the next girl who sprains her ankle on the beach to another colleague. I’ll, uh,” she raised the receipt, waving it. “Give you a call sometime. Talk to you later, Hayley. Thanks for everything,” she finished softly.

[aricllas]

HAYLEY*‌

She listened to the girl as she questioned Hayley’s motive. She felt heat creep up her neck and to the tip of her ear. Sure, on a normal day Hayley was usually pretty helpful, tended to put other’s needs before her own but as Aria spoke she realized how far fetched and over the top the gesture was. And still she wanted to do it. She didn’t doubt that Aria could afford a hundred different options to getting her car back, hell at the end of the day she could just ditch the car and buy a new one entirely no doubt, but Hayley wanted to do this, for her, because she… well it didn’t matter now did it. “Something tells me you don’t have a lot of friends,” she stated with a smirk as she made the last turn. 

They arrived at Aria’s building and Hayley pulled over and put her flashers on before turning towards the other girl. “You don’t tip lifeguard, I’m a division of the fire department so I get paid via the taxes that I’m sure you luxuriously contribute to.” She threw the vehicle in park, pulled the keys out of the ignition, and then hoped out of the car to go over to Aria. As she opened the door, Hayley let out a huff. “Maybe I don’t have ulterior motives you know, maybe I just want to do this… for you, you did rescue me from the most boring day ever.” She steeled herself and then made eye contact with Aria as she admitted, “maybe I just want to be in your space a little bit longer.” She extended her hand out to the girl and raised an eyebrow as if to say, well, are you coming out?

Aria huffed in affront, flustered by Hayley’s sudden statement, floundering for an answer. “I don’t see how you got to that conclusion,” she said sharply. “Nor how it’s entirely relevant,” she finished, pursing her lips, shrugging out of her jacket awkwardly around the seatbelt for lack of better things to do. They pulled up to her building, disappointment and relief pooling in her chest in equal amount; the relief was obvious why, and the disappointment wasn’t something she wanted to dwell on. 

Grateful to hear Hayley interject matter-of-factly instead of having to follow her own train of thoughts, Aria shrugged, watching as Hayley got out of the car. “Your loss. I tip well,” she shot back, raising her voice over the shutting of the car door, tracking as Hayley made her way around the truck to her side, tilting her head in a tacit question. There was a thrill that raced through her, her thoughts lingering on for you, heartbeat speeding up and knocking at her ribs, feeling like the breath was drawn out of her lungs at the next admittance. She bit the tip of her tongue, busying herself with unbuckling her seatbelt, hoping that the wardrum beat of her heart wasn’t as apparent to Hayley as it was to her.  “You’d go through all that trouble for me?” She asked softly, tentatively taking Hayley’s extended hand to steady herself as she got out of the car. 

“You know, you could’ve just asked for my number,” she started, already working overtime to cover up her momentary slip up. “And not had to work so hard for it, but since you’re offering,” she said, pulling her car keys out of her pocket with a sly grin. “No take backs. And not a scratch, you hear me?”

[aricllas]

HAYLEY*

To take over. Hayley tightened her grip on her steering wheel, feeling heat creep up her neck. She wasn’t sure what she had expected the other girl to say, but the context of their conversation was obvious, even to Hayley who was a little daft when it came to women and flirting. She glanced over at her, watch as the girl’s face furrow and then Hayley inhaled a breath before removing a hand from the steering wheel and gently putting it on the girl’s forearm. “It’s not a bad thing,” she said softly, “It takes a lot to throw me off, I kind of like it.” The last sentence was said as she moved her hand to skip to the next song. She took another couple turns and then offered up. “You don’t have to send your PA on some goose chase, I can just grab it for you. After all, no one knows beach parking quite like I do…”

Hayley’s soft admittance drew a gentle upturn of her lips before she tutted, looking out the window and biting down a smile. “Glad to know that you think I’m ‘a lot’. Really flattering impression,” Aria said, tone somewhat mocking despite having clearly enjoyed the previously confessed sentiment. The next song queued up and she laughed at it momentarily, shaking her head at it -- she listened to a great many things, the strangest of which being classical, which her sisters would never let her live down -- but she mostly avoided country like a plague. Being in this truck, Josh Turner crooning baby lock the door and turn the lights down low -- it all felt surreal and entirely too authentic all at once.

She looked over at Hayley’s next offer, readily frowning at it. “You would just do that?” She asked skeptically, an eyebrow raising in disbelief. “For a virtual stranger? Drive back down to the beach, drive my car back to my house and then have to find a ride back? Just out of the goodness of your heart? What do you get out of it? After all, it’s my PA’s job to assist, and you’ve already gone above and beyond the line of what I would assume normal lifeguard duties are, sending me home. Do I need to tip a lifeguard?”

[miss--sherlock]

[harmonyrook]

@aricllas

[aricllas]

a 💫 team | aria & astrid & ainsley

['i'm gonna kill you two dickwads!' astrid partners aggressively with a throw of a pillow at ainsley. she calls them a few more choice words and even kicks at the desk chair, making it wobble before tiring herself out and settling back against ainsley's other pillows, typing up her messages loudly.]

astrid: u are kinda fucked up like the chick from midsommar, so if the shoe fits 🤷🏻‍♀️

astrid: but so yes to party central or nah ar? if you don't go out w/ us, you're a a bitch

[sparing them, astrid sends the picture behind the iPhone's blur feature. the picture, however, is a nude of a some random blonde she'd met at retro. it's a full body nude, piercing visible.]

astrid: hot or what?

[ainsley quite literally glares at astrid when she keeps up her /annoying/ antics and shouts a 'fuck off!' accompanied by a double middle finger in her sisters direction]

ainsley: she's gotta go out with us, she knows she shouldn't trust the two of us partying alone together lmfao 😎

ainsley: what are we doing tho? the real question

[ainsley immediately unblurs the picture and gasps out loud]

ainsley: NOOOOOOOO ur joking i think i made out with her like last week lmfaoooo 😩😩😩😩😩😩😩

ainsley: but definitely hot

aria: Alright, calm down, I'm going

aria: As if I had a choice, really 🙄

aria: What do you losers want to do anyway? Just go to Retro so I can watch you guys stick your tongues down some girls' throats?

[ she rolls her eyes at the blurred photo, but what did she expect, really? at least it wasn't just blatantly sent without the blur. ]

aria: If you can send it with the blur, you can also just crop it appropriately

[aricllas]

HAYLEY*

All things considered, Hayley was handling the heat pretty well. She wasn’t exactly used to having someone quite as good looking as Aria in her vehicle, or in her space. “Oh you know, I could take over or something,” she said with an almost shy smile, “that’s just the kind of person I am, selfless and all.” As she said that, she made a show of puffing up her chest and threw a wink in the girl’s direction. It was almost dangerously distracting to her driving. So much so that she briefly considered emailing the National Traffic Safety Agency and getting them to add flirting to distracted driving laws. “You frustrate me too,” she admitted as she glanced at her phone GPS. Seeing that the ETA being less than 10 minutes away and the thought of saying goodbye, ending their little temporary escape from reality, was a little hard to swallow. “Oh yeah, meant to ask, where did you park your car?” She paused as the took a turn and then added, “I just want to make sure it’s not in a no overnight parking zone or something. Though I’m sure you’d have no problem paying a ticket off, if it was towed it would just be a bigger hassle.”

There was something distinctly endearing about Hayley’s smile -- not dripping with the sort of confidence she’d been chock full of up until this point, and Aria couldn’t help the softer laugh that was drawn out of her in turn, before she straightened up and sent a cocky wink her way. “Cute,” she commented dryly, previous moment swallowed down. “I’ll keep your selflessness in mind for when I get tired next time. You’ll be the first I call to, ah, take over.” You frustrate me too. Aria blinked at this, furrowing her brows, unsure of what to make of it; was it good? Was it bad? Hayley didn’t strike her as the type to be particularly easily ruffled, so perhaps it was an impressive feat? She didn’t care to dwell too much on it -- not while they were still in the car together, and while she still had some amount of face to save ( as much as she could, given that she’d already sprained her ankle in front of her ). “Somewhere by the beachfront, I don’t know,” she answered dismissively. “It’ll be fine. I was probably going to ask my PA to pick it up later. Why?”

[aricllas]

HAYLEY*

The way Aria spoke fondly of her family made Hayley’s heart twinge. She wondered what her life would had been like if she had had siblings, if she would still have a relationship with her family if she had. She didn’t dwell on it much, too focused on the magnetizing CTO that was seated in her pickup truck, looking out of place and yet entirely like she belonged there at the same time. 

Hayley smirked and conveniently they were held up at a light so she turned and held Aria’s eye contact, “well if you ever get tired on being on top just let me know.” The light turned green and Hayley averted her eyes back to the road, thankful for the momentary distraction from probably the most attractive woman she’s ever had in her car. At her comment, she let out a chuckle and ran a hand through her hair, a slight edge of nervousness to her. Hayley was well aware that once the car came to a stop and she returned the other woman to her penthouse, she would most likely never see her again. Maybe that made her a little bit braver, a bit more forward, and a lot more confident in what she said. “Oh yeah, and am I lighting any fires under you?”

She grinned wryly in response, quirking her eyebrows up in amusement, meeting Hayley’s eyes dead on in the brief lull the stop light provided them with. “Oh?” Aria asked, encouraged to prod further in good humor, emboldened by the easy camaraderie so far. “And pray tell, what might you do if I were to tell you I’m tired of being on top?” The light turned green, and with it, drew Hayley’s attention back to the road; Aria took full advantage of the moment, of the fact that she couldn’t possibly see the extent of her staring, and simply sat to admire as she ran a hand through her hair. She wet her lips, tongue peeking out for a brief moment as she considered the next thing Hayley said; equal parts pleasantly surprised and fondly exasperated by her straightforwardness, considering how little candidness she was usually privy to on a daily basis. There was something grounding about everything that Hayley did that seemed so foreign to her, and that Aria refused to think more on, lest she find more than a momentary desire to bask in it. “Certainly not,” she answered. “But it’s a good thing. You’re quite refreshing, albeit almost frustratingly so.”

[aricllas]

a 💫 team | aria & astrid & ainsley

[bored of editing pics for her try-hard artsy kanye west fanpage finsta, she throws her laptop on her bed and walks the distance from her room to ainsley's, grabbing a water bottle in the process. chugging it, she throws the nearly empty bottle so it smacks ainsley on the back of the shoulder. when she sees said assignment, she's reminded that's also /her/ assignment and makes a mental note to copy ainsley's later. 'asshole' she says before plopping down obnoxiously on ainsley's bed, fully intending to ignore her in person.]

astrid: down 2 go out

astrid: booked & busy she says 💅

astrid: shut the fuck up this is the groupchat NOT with mom and dad, loser

[a minute passes by]

astrid: you guys wanna see a pic of the girl i hooked up with? she has a clit ring

ainsley: aria whose side are you on???? 😤 fake ass

ainsley: maybe if you were a little more busy like the rest of us you'd finish this program one day?? race u to the finish line 🏃🏽‍♀️😘

[she gasps in overdramatic hurt when she's hit with astrid's water bottle, jaw dropping as she looks up from her phone at her sister. she rolls her eyes and drops her pencil down onto the textbook because there's no way she's gonna get anything done with astrid with her. instead, she fully focusses on her phone screen]

ainsley: she just fucking hit me with a water bottle, ar. are you gonna encourage this behavior????

[she bursts out laughing at astrid's last text]

ainsley: LMFAOOO duh!!!!

aria: Call me Switzerland, bitch

aria: Ainsley, Jesus! Go easy on Astrid. Racing, really?

aria: ... After all, there's a separation between Olympics and the Paralympics for a reason, Ains 😒😒

aria: Send the pic

aria: If it's nsfw, I'll throw worse than a water bottle at you, bitch

[aricllas]

a 💫 team | aria & astrid & ainsley

astrid: what are you two boring bitches up to? ainsley are you in your room? bring me a water

ainsley: tf? get your own water hoe!

ainsley: im trying to bullshit this assignment real quick so i can get lit tonight 😛 we going out together or am i flying solo?

aria: A boring bitch is at work, and busy

aria: Did you really just text here so you could try and get Ains to get you a water when you're perfectly capable of getting one yourself, Astrid?

aria: Go bring her a water, Ains

[aricllas]

HAYLEY*

Hayley let out a laugh and raised an eyebrow, “can’t say I can relate to what I’m sure is the joy of having siblings but I hear if siblings tease you then they’re either jealous or they love you.” The top of her knuckles grazed the inside of Aria’s palm and she pulled her hand back, choosing instead to fasten her seatbelt and adjust her already adjusted mirrors. Once the address was in, Hayley put the car in drive and maneuvered her way out of the Venice beach’s one way road mess until they hit Santa Monica Blvd. Then she glanced over at the girl, happy to sit in silence but wanting to hear more about her. “So tell me. Penthouse,” she started, the nickname rolling off her tongue, “what’s in the day to day of a CTO? Must be exhausting being on top all the time.” She paused and then teasingly added, “Did you have to schedule in spraining your ankle so a hot lifeguard could rescue you or is that just scheduled under miscellaneous.”

“Seriously.” Aria rolled her eyes at the comment on siblings, but couldn’t help the smile that crawled up her face either. “My younger sisters drive me up the wall daily, but I love them anyway,” she admitted, looking away and out the window, suddenly self-conscious at the admission. “So you should be glad to not have any siblings; they’re a plague on rationality,” she said sharply, to compensate for her previous moment. There was a beat between Hayley’s knuckles brushing against the palm of her hand and the immediate fiddling the lifeguard set out to do that Aria pulled her own hand back a tad, pursing her lips tightly to avoid smiling, before busying herself with typing her address. 

An easy silence came to rest between them, something Aria hadn’t been able to enjoy properly for a while now, and she simply let it swell between them, before Hayley spoke. There was a catty part of her that wanted to comment on the phrasing, and indulgent, she simply answered in two parts. “Somebody has to step up and be on top... of things sometimes,” she said, expression unflinching, as if she weren’t aware of how her words may come across. “And honestly,” she continued, genuinely happy to answer anything Hayley asked. “It’s a lot of delegation and putting out fires that the people working under you keep lighting. As for the ankle... I was planning to take a day off at some point,” she said pausing. “The hot lifeguard that came with the mandatory rest was just a bonus.”

[aricllas]

HAYLEY*

Hayley smirked as she made her way back into the lifeguard tower. Once inside she pressed her back against the wall let out a disbelieving breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding.  What the fuck was happening. Hayley didn’t do this, flirt with girls, if this could even be classified as flirting. It’s not like Hayley would know really. She smiled, pushed off the wall and then went to grab her things and change out of her uniform.  When she came back out to the truck minutes later she donned an in-n-out t-shirt ( ha, fitting) and a pair of lulu lemon sweatpants. “See I own more than one shirt,” she teased as she got into the truck and threw her backpack in the back seat. She put her cellphone in the cellphone holder and opened up google maps before asking, “So.. where do you live. Let me guess, Beverly Hills? Or do you have a penthouse apartment somewhere downtown. Or better yet, the whole building.” She jokingly started putting in Aria’s last name, surprised when a building did pop up and Hayley chuckled (nervously? what no, she wasn’t nervous). “Haha… well… I’m assuming you don’t live where you work?”

What a mismatched pair they made, Aria thought as Hayley made her way back, now in a new casual tee and joggers, while she sat in the front seat, silk blouse and cigarette pants, her right high heel still in hand. “I’m really just so impressed,” she said drily, taking the excuse of examining her outfit to let her eyes linger as Hayley got in the truck, only tearing her eyes away when she started settling in and starting up maps. She let out a humorless chuckle to mirror Hayley’s own tenuous one, shaking her head. “No, I don’t live where I work, much as my sisters like to insinuate that I do. You actually hit the nail on the head the second time -- I live in a penthouse in downtown, pretty close to the firm’s building. Good guess,” she said, a slight lilt in her tone from the praise. “Here, let me put it in,” she added on, reaching over for Hayley’s phone, hovering her hand over Hayley’s, darting her eyes over to make eye contact.