“Hey,” greeted Ana, waving shallowly as she arched her brows. She wasn’t completely sure what Rebecca thought of her, but the truth was, Ana didn’t really go in for what other people thought of her. So, she had always felt, that didn’t matter, especially since they didn’t see each other very much, given that they lived on separate continents…Though that particular aspect of things, of course, had just changed - now they shared a tiny island for a home - and that in itself altered the first part. Besides, what with Cass pregnant, in a very real way they were about to become family, given that Ana was Cass’s best friend and roommate.
Chewing on her lip, Ana offered her hand to shake, thought better of it - was that too weird? This wasn’t exactly their first meeting, after all - and shoved it firmly in her cutoff pockets. “Sorry, not sure exactly what the protocol is here,” she said, shrugging her shoulders with a big grin.
She paused. “Wish it were under better circumstances,” she said. She meant, of course, the sad turn Cass’s relationship had taken, leaving her alone and pregnant. Of course, she was exactly alone: she had her sisters and Ana, but Ana had to guess she might have rather have had them in addition to the baby’s father. Ana frankly thought that he had been a two-faced bastard to treat her that way, but after the initial shock of it all, Ana hadn’t been especially wont to bring it up. She was adverse to anything and everything that hurt Cass - and nothing hurt her quite like Tom, it seemed.
“So, tell me…how do you spend your weekends here?”
Bex had been sitting at the front desk as she so often did when she needed to think. She wasn’t the sort of person who could be still, who could relax and process things. No, she needed a task (running the front desk) in order to keep her mind from running enough into a thousand different directions and focus on one line of thought.
Cass was pregnant. Matty was here. Emily was going to college. Chris was still awkward to be around. A light bulb needed replacing in room four.
She’d been through this before, with Andrea. It had been worse then-- they’d been kids. Granted, in her mind, Cass was still a kid but she was more of an adult than Andrea had been at 16.
Bex looked up when she heard someone greet her. She gave her half a smile, her mind still elsewhere. She’d been a bit concerned when Cass had told her Ana was moving to the island out of the blue. Her sister was going to be a mother-- did she really need a band mate around?
But then she thought about sixteen year old Rebecca’s grand scheme to run away to live on an island with her best friend, about how she’d finally managed to make that scheme a reality, how she’d watched Emily grow up and made a family alongside Andrea and all their friends.
Cass deserved the same thing.
“Hi Ana,” Bex’s smiled broadened, standing up from the stool behind the desk. Ana reminded Bex so much of herself,unsure of exactly what she’d gotten herself into, moving to the island.
“There’s no protocol,” Bex reassured her kindly, waving her hand to get the attention of the girl who was supposed to be manning the front desk before Bex had sent her on a two hour paid break. When the young woman had returned, she turned back to Ana.
“Drink?” she offered, hoping that might relax her a bit. “I know the bartender,” she whispered as if it were a secret.
“Weekends?” Bex pondered the question a bit. She knew what she did on the weekends: work. “Same as everywhere, I guess. If you’re exciting, go out on the town to drink and party. If you’ll a dull old woman like myself, staying home to do laundry and finish your reading latest book is perhaps the better option.”
“What can I get ya?” she asked as they approached the bar. “On the house.”
