Andrea Parker
Kansas City Native
Daughter of Taylor and Milo
Posts: 301
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Post by Andrea Parker on Dec 2, 2018 21:50:05 GMT -5
Andrea had been spending less and less time at her apartment lately, especially since she'd convinced Zane to take her old mattress and replace his own. Previously, that had really been the only thing that made her feel less like spending every night at his place, because it did typically lead her to waking up with various aches. Now that she could comfortably sleep in his bed, though, she usually had to force herself to leave. Generally, she didn't go to his place if he was going to be home late, or if they both had a lot of studying to do, but other than that, the only thing that made her stop at her place at the very least every other day was to give her pets some love, and make sure they were fed and their living space was clean. She knew better than to suggest bringing them over to her boyfriend's place, although it would have been ideal. Today was one of those days, so after leaving work she'd headed to her apartment so that she could stop over for a little while before heading to Zane's for the night. Upon opening the door, however, she was greeted the unusual sight of Heather in the kitchen, pausing in the doorway as she took in the appearance of the kitchen. The sheer amount of cookware on display made it look like someone had been cooking for hours, and the state of her roommate's hands quickly explained the various brown handprints across the cabinet doors. "What in the world?" she questioned as she finally closed the door behind her.
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Post by Heather Morrison on Dec 2, 2018 21:53:58 GMT -5
Heather was not exactly the cooking type. She'd never had to properly learn, really. Her parents had done the cooking when she'd lived at home, and she'd spent a lot of time eating cafeteria food and takeout during her first year of college. Then, she'd moved in with Andrea, and the other girl had taking it upon herself to keep the both of them fed well. Even now that she was barely around anymore, the vet student still found time to drop off meal prep that she'd made over at Zane's, or cooked on days that she wasn't spending at her boyfriend's. She knew it was a matter of time before that all stopped though, and Andrea was entirely moved out, so she'd taken it upon herself to cook simple meals now and again. And today, she'd decided to take it up a notch and try her hand at a couple of recipes that she'd heard Pablo refer to as his favorites. She'd not really bothered figuring out the reason why she wanted to do that for him, instead just getting to work. Brazilian cheese bread had been a bigger order than anticipated, especially for a beginner, and once the end result had come out of the oven, she'd elected not to actually subject him to the rock hard lumps of dough. The brigadeiro recipe she'd found, however, seemed simple enough, but it had turned out a bit messier than anticipated, although she should have expected chocolate covered hands upon watching the video, even if it had made it all look a lot cleaner. She had just finished up the last sprinkle covered truffle and was about to tackle the cleaning task when the front door opened, and she looked up to see Andrea standing in the doorway, looking a bit taken aback by the scene before her. Shrugging in response to her question, trying to turn on the water in the kitchen sink with her elbow but failing at doing so until the other girl came to the rescue and turned it on for her. "I was just cooking," she told her.
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Andrea Parker
Kansas City Native
Daughter of Taylor and Milo
Posts: 301
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Post by Andrea Parker on Dec 2, 2018 21:54:26 GMT -5
Andrea knew that Heather wasn't already the tidiest person. As it was, most people did tend to make a bit of a mess in the kitchen when they cooked, and she wasn't an exception when she took to stress cooking. Under normal circumstances though, she tried to keep her working space clean, and keep on top of dishes as much as she could so that it didn't pile up in the way it seemed to have for her roommate. Raising an eyebrow slightly as the other girl spoke up, saying that she was 'just cooking', heading over to turn on the water once she noticed Heather struggling to get it turned on with her elbows. "Are you sure you're not just trying to use up every piece of cookware we own?" she asked her as she started neatly piling up the various bowls and placing them next to the sink, next taking care of the few cooking utensils and deciding not to ask as she noticed what appeared to be burnt rolls on top of the stove. "Cause unless you've already put things away, I can't think of anything you may have cooked that would have used up so many things," she went on, clearing the counter top enough that she could start wiping it down. "Also, I know you're not that big a fan of chocolate, so who are the truffles for?" she asked, though she had a pretty good idea of the answer.
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Post by Heather Morrison on Dec 2, 2018 21:54:59 GMT -5
Although she hadn't asked her to help, Heather wasn't surprised nor displeased as Andrea started tidying up the kitchen counter and wiping it down, letting the sink fill with soapy water before grabbing some of the utensils to start on the dishes. "It's not that bad," she said with a shrug as the other girl asked if she wasn't just trying to use up every piece of cookware they owned. "Like, I had to mix different things, and then I had to mix them together, and then I couldn't really reuse those bowls for the truffles cause they had cheese and stuff in them, which doesn't go that great with chocolate," she went on. Glancing over at her best friend though as she pointed out that she wasn't that big a fan of chocolate, questioning who the truffles she'd made were really for. Making a bit of a face because she knew Andrea was likely to make a bigger deal of this than it had to be, but at the same time, it wasn't like she could lie and say they were actually for herself, or that she had just made them to bring to work or school or something, because the other girl also knew that she didn't like her coworkers or classmates that much. "Pablo likes them," she said simply.
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Andrea Parker
Kansas City Native
Daughter of Taylor and Milo
Posts: 301
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Post by Andrea Parker on Dec 2, 2018 21:55:28 GMT -5
Heather had been a constant presence in Andrea's life for a few years now, and although she hadn't known her since childhood, it didn't mean she didn't know her well. Therefore, she had known for a while now that the other girl's relationship with Pablo wasn't quite as casual as it had been in the beginning, even if they apparently hadn't bothered talking about it yet. There had been a few times that she had come home only to see them curled up on the couch together, watching a movie, and it seemed that the other guy was a frequent visitor at their place. How frequent, she couldn't really tell, but she had a feeling that they made good use of the nights she spent at Zane's. And the bottom line was that Heather had never been involved with a guy for this long just for sex. As such, the answer she got out of Heather was the one she had been expecting, and she couldn't help but give a slightly amused smile. "So you're baking treats for him now?" she asked a bit teasingly. "I don't know why you bothered shaping them, you could probably have just had him lick it off your body," she went on with a light shake of her head, although she couldn't help but give a snort of laughter at the look on Heather's face at that, as if the other girl was realizing a missed opportunity.
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Post by Heather Morrison on Dec 2, 2018 21:55:55 GMT -5
Heather shook her head a bit at Andrea's teasing, because she really wouldn't consider making truffles baking by any stretch. She'd had to use like, four ingredients, and none of it had gone into the oven or anything like that. However, she was a bit surprised that it was about as far as she was willing to go on this, although she wasn't ready to believe that she would entirely drop it. Maybe she just didn't have time to get into this whole conversation right then and there, if Zane was waiting for her or something. Hearing what she said next though, her mouth felt slightly opened, because she had definitely not thought about that. "Damn it," she grumbled quietly as she moved on to washing bowls, not realizing that Andrea had moved next to her at that point to take over drying the dishes she'd been putting in the rack. "You don't have to do these, you know," she told her. "I've been taking care of my own dishes," she went on in a teasing manner. "Besides, I know you didn't come to stay," she added with a shrug. She did miss having Andrea around, but she was really glad to see that hers and Zane's relationship had taken off so much. After all, she had pretty much pushed them together.
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Andrea Parker
Kansas City Native
Daughter of Taylor and Milo
Posts: 301
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Post by Andrea Parker on Dec 2, 2018 21:56:18 GMT -5
Andrea gave a bit of a smile as she heard Heather swear under her breath, moving to stand next to her and grabbing a dishtowel so that she could start drying the various dishes she finished cleaning. Shrugging a bit as she told her that she didn't have to do this, adding that she knew she hadn't come here to stay. "So? Just because I'm heading back out, doesn't mean I can't spend a bit of time with my best friend," she pointed out. "I know Zane wanted to study a bit tonight anyway, so he might as well do it while I'm not there," she added. She always loved spending time with Heather, and not getting to be around her as much anymore was the one downside to being over at her boyfriend's so often. As such, she figured that she might as well stay over until Pablo arrived - as she assumed that Heather wouldn't have made the things she had if she wasn't expecting him today. "I'm glad things are going well between the two of you," she spoke after a moment. "I can tell you like him a lot. And he makes you happy," she went on with a light smile. "I mean, I've never seen you even tempted to make food for anybody else," she told her with a teasing grin.
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Post by Heather Morrison on Dec 2, 2018 22:06:44 GMT -5
Heather gave a smile as Andrea mentioned that the fact that she was heading back out didn't mean that she couldn't spend a bit of time with her. She didn't really know anybody else who would consider doing dishes together to be quality time, but Andrea did tend to take care of pretty much every body she knew and was close to, and helping her out went along with that. Glancing over at her as she did go ahead and bring Pablo up again, not really having much to argue about the idea that things were going well between the two of them, because if that had been inaccurate, she would have stopped seeing him months ago. Hearing her add that she could tell that she liked him a lot and that he made her happy though, she sighed a bit, because that was an indicator that she wasn't actually just gonna let this go. Unfortunately, she couldn't really try to even deny any of it, because Andrea knew her better than anybody, and she knew that she'd never actually stayed involved with any other guy this long. Plus, she was right in saying that she'd never been tempted to make food for anybody else. "What about you and Zane, how long til he puts a ring on it?" she asked, deciding to change the subject to something that should hopefully distract Andrea well enough that she wouldn't think about getting back on her case for a while.
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Andrea Parker
Kansas City Native
Daughter of Taylor and Milo
Posts: 301
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Post by Andrea Parker on Dec 2, 2018 22:07:16 GMT -5
One of the things about Andrea and Heather's friendships was that teasing was rarely possible without retaliation. If she could claim to knowing Heather like the back of her hand, the same could be said of how well the other girl knew her, and as such, she knew how to get her off topic pretty efficiently. Therefore, it wasn't unexpected that she defaulted to bringing Zane up rather than giving a straightforward answer to any of the statements Andrea had made - she'd anticipated that much. The topic she decided to bring up, however, did cause her brain to briefly go way off track. Admittedly, had her boyfriend been a different kind of person, it might have sent her reeling a bit with various what if scenarios, considering the fact that Heather was also his best friend. As such, the idea that he could have potentially talked to her about something like a proposal wouldn't have been far fetched. But Zane was Zane, and Andrea was pretty sure that the first person who would know of his intention of proposing to her would be herself. "Hey, no playing dirty," she told the other girl with a shake of her head. "Besides, we haven't talked about anything like that yet," she couldn't help but add.
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Post by Heather Morrison on Dec 2, 2018 22:07:58 GMT -5
Obviously, Heather didn't expect Andrea to go entirely crazy over proposal talk, because it wasn't like Zane was likely to consult her over asking the other girl to marry him, and they both knew that. Still, she knew her best friend well enough to be aware that, even if it wasn't an official plan yet, it was still something that she was thinking about. And after she called her out for playing dirty, she was proven right as she went ahead and fell right for it, adding that they hadn't talked about anything yet, and not missing the light note of wistfulness in her tone. Of course, Andrea would never admit to it, because it was still rather early on in their relationship - they hadn't been dating for a year yet. Even so, it was something she could easily get her to talk about for a long time, and she planned on making the most of it. "I mean, I guess Zane does seem like the kind of person who would want to have 'the talk' before doing anything, but it's not like you guys aren't moving in that direction," she spoke easily, having successfully changed the course of the conversation. "You're basically living together. Which I guess means I should downsize once the lease here is over," she added with a bit of a sigh. She hated moving with a passion.
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Andrea Parker
Kansas City Native
Daughter of Taylor and Milo
Posts: 301
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Post by Andrea Parker on Jan 16, 2019 12:08:07 GMT -5
It would be lying for Andrea to say she hadn't already envisioned a pretty clear future with Zane. Of course, she didn't want to rush anything - after all, they hadn't even been dating a year yet. Still, there was no doubt in her mind that she could be extremely happy if she spent the rest of her life with him. He wasn't the kind of guy she'd thought she might end up, but by now she knew that didn't mean he wasn't the right person for her. Shaking her head a bit though as Heather mentioned that she should downsize once their lease was over, because she was getting way ahead of herself. "Slow your horses, Heather, you're moving faster than we are," she told her. "We haven't talked about any of that stuff. You know we don't have the same rent budget, and I don't know how comfortable he'd be with me putting more in than he does. He already isn't big on my buying groceries for his place," she pointed out. "But then, I know I would want to stay closer to this area, and rent is higher here. There's a lot of stuff to go over, more than wanting to share a living space," she went on.
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Post by Heather Morrison on Jan 16, 2019 12:14:55 GMT -5
Heather rolled her eyes as Andrea started giving 'reasons' as to why she should slow down before thinking of her own moving plans for the summer. Honestly, she didn't know why the other girl always tried to tiptoe so much around anything that implied her relationship with Zane was serious. It was like she was afraid that the other guy would be scared of, or tell her that she was reading more into things than what was really there, when in reality, Zane was clearly at the same place she was. He was just cautious, but it didn't mean he wasn't thinking about a future. He wasn't the kind of guy to invest himself in a relationship the way he had with Andrea without thinking ahead. "Sure, but splitting rent in a more expensive area will probably still be less than paying full rent in a more sketchy neighborhood," she pointed out as Andrea tried to bring up money as a reason they couldn't necessarily jump into moving in together. "And then you'll be splitting the cost of utilities, which really shouldn't change that much from what he's paying now, so really, he'd probably save money by living with you. And he'd have less ground to tell you off for groceries when it's not just for him but for you, too," she added. "Just talk to him about it. Stop being scared of talking about this kind of stuff, Andrea, he's not gonna take off. You're both clearly serious about each other. Moving in together is a natural progression, and you know you're gonna want to spend a couple of months researching things, so might as well get a move on. And I'll need time to figure out what to do on my own, too," she reminded her.
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Andrea Parker
Kansas City Native
Daughter of Taylor and Milo
Posts: 301
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Post by Andrea Parker on Jan 16, 2019 13:43:48 GMT -5
Andrea knew Heather made good points as she listed reasons why moving in together could turn out to be a good move financially, but she still felt there was more to it than that. Her lifestyle in its essence was different than Zane. She didn't have to worry about money in the ways he did, and it showed in several ways. Of course, she didn't think he minded so much when it was about buying things for herself, but once they shared a living space, that distinction would be a bit more blurred. Giving a small smile as the other girl told her to stop being scared of bringing these things up with her boyfriend though, because she wasn't entirely wrong on that front - she wasn't scared exactly, at least not of him taking off. But she didn't always feel comfortable talking about more serious things in regards to their future, because... well, what if they weren't on the same page? Still, she was right in saying that it would take some time to research everything if they did decide to move in together, and it would be the considerate thing to do to give her best friend enough time to figure out her own living arrangements. "I know, I know, you're right," she said with a light sigh. "I'll talk to him. Like, not right away," she warned her. "But soon," she conceded. "Now, let's finish cleaning up this mess you made, and we can talk about how great a roommate Pablo could be for you," she went on with a slightly teasing grin. Obviously, she couldn't let Heather off the hook just because she'd managed to change the subject for a bit, but in all seriousness, she did want to know more about how things were going with the two of them.
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Post by Heather Morrison on Jan 16, 2019 13:48:35 GMT -5
Heather was glad to see she'd somehow got through to Andrea, if only just by appealing to her sense of fairness. She obviously wouldn't want her to have to deal with searching for an apartment on short notice, and although she didn't typically try to guilt her best friend into doing things - because it was so easy to do that it was just mean - this seemed like a good cause to do it for. "Good. I'll be asking about it though, so don't wait too long," she told her. Raising an eyebrow slightly as she mentioned they should get back to cleaning up her mess, giving a bit of a snort though as she added that they should also discuss how good a roommate Pablo could make for her. "That's cute. You're a jerk," she told her with a shake of her head. "Maybe I won't miss you so much after all," she went on, although the smile they exchanged made it pretty clear that neither of them believed that. Living without Andrea would be a big adjustment, no doubt - and in a way, it was a good thing that she'd been easing into spending more and more time at Zane's, because it'd made Heather's transition from having a doting roommate to being on her own a bit easier. Nonetheless, she couldn't be anything but happy for the other girl. She was clearly in a good place right now, and that was exactly where she deserved to be.
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