[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Ashley McKenna-Chase + wearing

It was a surprise that Ashley still lived with her parents. While most people her age would likely be in the same position or in college Alice had assumed that the singer's success would mean she had her own place. After a moment's thought she realised that perhaps it wasn't just a money thing. After all, Alice would have much preferred to live with someone if she had the opportunity. She'd been unlucky when she turned eighteen, not really having anyone to get a flat with. At least she'd found somewhere to live, even if it was the size of a shoebox and still stretching the limits of what she could afford. She never invited people over if she could help it. Her flat was tiny, a bed, a tiny kitchenette, and a dresser with her TV on it. The oven in the kitchen probably wasn't even legal. Even so, despite all its faults, the mould in the shower, the creaky pipes and its miraculous ability to be freezing in winter and boiling hot in summer it was home. She'd move in a heartbeat, but for someone who had spent so much time moving between different homes while growing up it was important to her to have somewhere to call her own. Even if it was the size of a shoebox. Jason had been there. He still lived with his parent's as well, and while they might be dating Alice was sure as hell not ready to meet them. She texted him as she got off the bus. They'd been dating for a little over a month now and things were going well. They were having fun, but she didn't get to see him as often as she would have liked. Nearly there so I'm not going to be able text much. His reply was swift. Have fun babe. She slipped her phone back into her bag as she started down the street. Ashley's parent's house was supposed to be around here somewhere. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ It didn't take her long to find the house, and she admired it as she walked up to the door. Will's family life might not have been quite as idyllic, but this scene perfectly fit the vibe that Alice had imagined for his younger sister. She felt a little awkward for a moment, after all she had only met Ashley a short while ago, but they'd really hit it off, and seen each other since. This wasn't like she was meeting a boyfriend's parents, but it still felt a little weird that this was happening when she was eighteen. She was supposedly an adult. She resettled her backpack on one shoulder before knocking on the door. She had texted Ashley when she was nearly here so hopefully it would be her who answered the door. Just in case it wasn't though she steeled herself, ready for the awkwardness of having to introduce herself to someone else's parents and explain that she was here for a sleepover like a twelve year old.

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

The Lie-in King

Shuffling around the kitchen in her bright white fluffy slippers, Ashley hummed a melodic, meaningless tune to herself as she dipped in and out of the lower cupboards. She avoided the higher shelves for now – she’d need to nick her mama’s stool for that – but fortunately the essentials (cookies, popcorn) were stored down low. She even considering raiding the fridge-freezer but thought it best to wait for now until she knew what Alice was going to demand as fodder. She hadn’t bought any fro-yo, though she’d thought about it. Nothing could compare to the fro-yo place Alice had introduced her to.

She’d worried at first what Alice might think that she still lived with her parents. She paid rent, of course – had done since she’d first earned a half-way decent income from her music – but at the end of the day she was still under their roof. Ashley had been considering moving out lately but was hesitantly holding out for the perfect roomie to share a space with. No way could she live alone.

Still, she had her room – which was more than sizeable – and her own bathroom across the hall, meaning she had the entire top floor to herself. It was a little like having her own flat, except her mum cooked most of her dinners and occasionally did her laundry. Probably the genuine situation for a lot of people her age who had “moved out”.

Tonight her parents were out at dinner, in fact, so they could sing to their hearts’ content (until their return at night, of course). Their absence softened the blow of welcoming the self-sufficient eighteen-year-old into her parents’ home slightly.

She was just arranging her goodies on the counter when she heard a knock on the door, running as fast as her fluffy little slippers would allow to let her friend in.

“Aliiiiice! Hello, hello!” Ashley pulled the door open. “Welcome to the Casa de McKenna-Chase, please enjoy your stay. We have microwave popcorn…!”

She let Alice actually enter before she continued in her role as hostess.

“Can I get you a drink of anything? I have full reign of the kitchen tonight,” she said proudly. “And I picked out some snacks. Oh, I’m so happy you’re here!”

With that, she pulled Alice into a sudden hug. “You are going to love the movie, I promise.”

It was an easy promise to make. Who didn’t love the Lion King?

Alice Morrow

405 words

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Ashley McKenna-Chase + wearing

The vision that greeted Alice was a bizarre one. Ashley was perfectly normally dressed, except for below the knees. Right there was a pair of explosively fluffy white slippers. They were actually quite impressive, and Alice was sure she had never seen a pair of slippers that looked quite as much like a pair of cheerleader's pom poms. "Hey!" She came in, looking around the inside of the hall. There were pictures on a small table by the door, as well as along the wall, a much younger Ashley featuring prominently in them. There were even one or two of Will. It looked like an almost idyllic family life, although the lack of very young photos of Will perhaps suggested the less than happy background behind at least some of the pictures. It was clearly a nice house, even more so now that she could actually see the inside of it, see some of the memories that had been made here. She felt, for a moment, uncontrollably jealous. She'd had foster families, but none of them had ever stuck. There were a few treasured photographs in a shoebox in the bottom of her wardrobe, pictures of her as a child with what amounted to her family. "Full reign? Wooo don't tempt me, I might have to spend all night in there." She followed the excitable brunette into the kitchen, and selected a coke from the fridge, ignoring the beer, tempting though it was. She had definitely been drinking before. She'd had her fair share of drunken nights, even if it was illegal. Usually it was a guy in school who had a fake ID or whose dad didn't check his liquor cabinet too often. "I'm looking forward to it, especially considering I won that bet at the mini golf." She stuck her tongue out, mischief in her eyes. "You don't have to though, I guess I owe you anyway. Wouldn't have met Jason otherwise would I? Did you ever meet up again with Teak?"

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

The Lie-in King

Ashley giggled, smiling at the chef’s enthusiasm for her access to the kitchen. It was certainly a nice and well-stocked kitchen – both of her parents were pretty good cooks. Ashley wasn’t even sure what half of the utensils were for, although she was sure that Alice would know. Maybe she could be persuaded to cook them up a beautiful dinner, if she could resist the sleepover staple of takeaway.

“You’re a little bit of a geek, you know that, right?” Ashley smiled.

It wasn’t too surprising to hear that Alice hadn’t forgotten their bet. Ashley had found her most inoffensive pair of underwear for the occasion – a cute, flowery set of girl boxers – and put them in a prime spot in her top drawer just in case. Still, she’d certainly not been planning to bring it up by herself.

“Oh, c’mon, I’m not going to chicken out.” Ashley crossed her arms. “My shameful mini golf display definitely warrants atonement. And, y’know,” She pulled out the chain from around her neck briefly, “I’m all about atoning for my sins.”

At the mention of Jason and Eli, Ashley actually paused in rifling through their selection of snacks. She’d rather forgotten “Teak”, even if Alice hadn’t let her forget Jason. Every time Ashley messaged to ask how she was doing, Alice would always give a summary of how things were going with Jason too. Personally, Ashley wasn’t overly sure about him – he seemed okay, but rather immature – but he made Alice positively delirious with happiness so he stayed in her good books for now.

“Oh, no, no. I think he wanted to but I’ve been… super busy,” Ashley said hurriedly. “You seem to be having a great time with Jason though. Do you think it’s getting serious?”

With a grin, Ashley grabbed a soda for herself and hopped up onto the counter to listen, idly kicking her fluffy slippers back and forth as Alice spoke.

“So you wanna see my room?”

Alice Morrow

328 words

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Ashley McKenna-Chase + wearing

Alice had been instantly impressed by the kitchen, it would be difficult to tear herself away from it for the whole night. It was better equipped than the kitchen at the diner, and she could only dream of having a kitchen like this in the future. She stared with envy around the large room, tracing her fingers over the expensive granite counter beside her. If she could turn green she would be the colour of an unripe tomato right about now. Eventually she managed to pull herself away from her admiration and back to the conversation. She smiled, "Alright then, but you can't say I wasn't merciful." Still not entirely sure just how important her faith was to Ashley, Alice refrained to ribbing her for it. It had become clear over the last few weeks that it was an important part of her life, and she would have been surprised if the fun loving brunette was sensitive about it, but she didn't want to offend her. The question about Jason was no surprise, she'd kept Ashley fairly up to date on how things were going, apart from a few juicy tidbits. Not that Stephen wasn't a good listener; it just seemed easier to talk about these things with Ashley. Maybe it was a girl thing. Alice wasn't sure, she hadn't really kept in touch with many people besides Stephen since she left school and she didn't have much in common with the people she worked with. They were nice, but all significantly older than she was, which made it difficult to connect. She smiled shyly, "Yeah I think we're getting pretty serious." As they were talking they moved upstairs to Ashley's bedroom. Alice grew more excited, though her voice stayed hushed, as though disclosing a vital state secret. She sat cross legged on Ashley's bed. "He stayed at mine on Monday… all night…" They were hardly in high school anymore, but it was clear what she meant with the added emphasis.

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

The Lie-in King

It was always a bit of a trek to climb up to Ashley’s floor, but she liked it up there, and not just because that’s where her bed was. It was a little cosier than the rest of the house due to the sloped ceilings and all the walls were some shade of purple, making it a great deal more colourful than the rest of the house. They’d moved into this house when she was 15 and so it carried only a trace of her more embarrassing younger years. The rest was captured in the many family photos around the home showing Ashley’s (admittedly, not that awkward) transitions into young adulthood. At least she’d been a cute baby.

Alice had already been acting pretty coy on their way up, and so it wasn’t too surprising when she plopped herself down on Ashley’s bed and made her solemn confession. Having said that, the news itself was sufficiently surprising that Ashley gasped all the same.

“Alice! Did you…?” She didn’t even finish the question, taking Alice’s expression as a "yes", and her eyes widened. “Is he your first, you know… serious boyfriend?”

They were speaking in an incredibly obvious code, but it was somehow more fun to do so. It made the whole thing so much more scandalous.

“I guess you really do owe me for taking you mini-golfing, huh,” she grinned, before turning her attention to the TV that she’d dragged up from the living room. She’d already put the movie in earlier and, as the screen came to life, Ashley was pleased to see that it was still patiently waiting on the selection screen for her.

She moved to switch on her speakers. They were normally pumping out some kind of music 24/7 when Ashley was around, even when she slept. Although at that time the volume was turned right down and the music selection was limited specifically to more chilled playlists. It was a good sound system, and obviously so. The fancy speakers stood out a little compared to the rest of the room, which was a pretty average young woman’s room. White furniture, splashes of purples and blues, the occasional splatter of photos she’d taken with friends. The fairy lights and posters she’d adored at 17 were gone, but a good number of her cuddly toys remained piled in a corner that functioned as some kind of reading nook. She couldn’t quite overcome the guilt of getting rid of these old faithfuls.

She motioned to the screen. “This can wait, give me gossip! Are you guys even official yet, like meet-the-parents official?”

Ashley, shockingly, had reached that step a couple of times. It had never lasted beyond that, but she still considered her dating efforts pretty good overall. She tried, dammit!

Alice Morrow

463 words

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Ashley McKenna-Chase + wearing

The gasp from Ashley delighted Alice. After all, she'd been specifically holding onto that news in order to see Ashley's reaction in person. The petite brunette did not disappoint. Although her initial words surprised her a little, "Don't be… of course he's not my first. I know I'm a nerd but I did have some sort of social life in high school." She grew a little more serious and shrugged, "I dunno, I really like him. Like really really like him." She began to make herself comfortable as Ashley moved over to the TV that had clearly been added to the room just for this occasion. "I've… done stuff with boyfriends before, but this is like the first person I've dated since I left school. I don't really know how this is supposed to go now. It's a lot easier in High School." The speakers were impressive. Alice didn't even own a Bluetooth one for her phone. Ashley's were compact black boxes connected to a low, flat device of some kind that appeared to control the volume and had more channels than some TVs. Ashley's musical background was certainly evident in those speakers. Soon the rich sound of the Lion King's menu music filled the room. Alice could only assume the music was cut from the movie. "Woah! Slow down there, we are so not at that stage yet!" They'd only been going out for what amounted to a few weeks after all. Long enough to be at least a little bit serious, but meeting-the-parents was way more serious than that. She wondered if everyone else her age had the issue that her and Jason did. Most people her age, and even his age, might still be living with their parents, did they just sneak their girlfriends or boyfriends into the house all the time? Not that she'd not done that in the past, but meeting the parents after knowing a guy for a month seemed a bit much now that she wasn't in high school.

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

The Lie-in King

Ashley flushed, suddenly very aware of her relative inexperience as Alice quickly dismissed the suggestion that this could have possibly been her first time, almost shocked that Ashley could have conjured such a thought. For some reason Ashley hadn’t considered that Alice may have already done it, even though plenty of her own friends had been just the same at Alice’s age. It made her realise that there was still quite a lot she needed to learn about her new friend.

“Hey! You could have been saving yourself for someone special like Jason and had a perfectly good social life,” she suggested swiftly. “I mean…”

She shrugged. It wasn’t exactly a big deal, right? Just not something she often discussed.

“I’m still… you know… waiting for the right guy…”

Embarrassed giggles set in for a moment. It was true though – Ashley just wasn’t interested in doing… well, that, unless it was with somebody really special. There were a few couples at her church who had saved themselves for marriage and she really admired that level of commitment. It felt more pure to her somehow, far more appealing than an awkward fumble at some high school party.

Alice definitely had her priorities in a different order to Ashley. Apparently making it round the bases in a matter of weeks wasn’t too big of a deal for her, but meeting the parents was definitely off the cards for a while yet.

She laughed at Alice’s horrified objections. “Okay, okay, I’ll cancel the wedding dress fitting,” she teased, lobbing a nearby throw cushion in Alice’s direction. “I just thought it was a possibility, you guys are super into each other after all, right?”

Then, grabbing the bowl of popcorn, she settled down next to Alice and handed her the remote. “So, would you like to do the honours? I think it’s about time you got your education in true Disney classics.”

Alice Morrow

318 words

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Ashley McKenna-Chase + wearing

"I just don't think it's that much of a big deal." Alice was at least a little surprised at Ashley's confession however, despite dismissing it as not important she would have at least expected the older girl to have 'done it' before. That said, it was hardly going to bother her. "That's OK. It never really bothered me that much, but if it's important to you then you should wait." She shrugged, pulling a face, "I mean… sometimes I regret that I lost it when I did… I wish I'd saved it for the right person. But… y'know, it's done now. And it is pretty fun." She stuck her tongue out and took the remote that Ashley offered. "Of course we are!" She pressed play on the remote and tossed it onto the bed, reaching out to take a handful of the popcorn from Ashley. The music of the Lion King's opening credits filled the room, Ashley's speaker system doing an impressive job of broadcasting it around the room. She mumbled through a mouthful of popcorn, "I don't know… do I get in trouble for talking in class?" ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Alice had loved the movie, and was unabashed in expressing as much. "That was so good! I can't believe I've made it this far in life without ever watching that movie!" She tossed a cushion at Ashley. "What's up next Miss? I like this class. Are we doing food? Or more movies? I could live on popcorn for a night. If there's lots of it…" She wriggled her way out of the spot that she had made for herself on Ashley's bed and stood up dramatically. "But first!" She looked about the room, "I gotta pee. Where's your bathroom?"

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

The Lie-in King

“Don’t think I won’t put you in the corner if you talk through this,” Ashley said warningly. And it was true – she wasn’t above disciplinary action for rudeness in the face of Disney movies. Especially not one as good as the Lion King.

Fortunately Alice was a model student, and they snacked, laughed and cried their way through the whole thing without their attention being torn away even once. Ashley couldn’t help but sing along to every song and Alice was surprisingly quick at picking up the words to choruses. It was a promising sign for their planned karaoke session later on.

“I knew you’d like it,” Ashley said, a little smug. “Cute lions, good songs, a happy ending… perfect ingredients for a movie. I’m still not like, totally over Mufasa though,” she added, frowning. Then she bounced up onto her knees and re-enacted his death scene, collapsing onto her sheets with a dramatic, “Long live the king!”

She sat up, only to catch a cushion to the face. “Hey! Hmm… We could do food next if you want, I was going to order take-out but we can raid the cupboards if you wanted to cook?” As eager as she was to sample Alice’s cooking at some point, Ashley was happy with whatever outcome Alice chose. She knew a few good pizza places… or maybe they could have Chinese…

Ashley laughed at Alice’s ridiculous delivery of her desire to pee.

“Across the landing,” she said, pointing directly at her bedroom door. “It’s my own private bathroom so make sure you admire the shower curtain – it’s glittery!”

She’d made the slightly frivolous purchase a few weeks ago and was still quite pleased about it. Her parents didn’t get it, so it was important to her that someone understood the joy of a sparkly curtain. Ashley figured Alice was a pretty good bet in this department. With her bold blue hair, she was obviously drawn to the brighter things in life too.

Alice Morrow

330 words

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Ashley McKenna-Chase + wearing

Alice did indeed admire the glittery shower curtain while she was in there, and said as much to Ashley upon her return. "Very! Glittery! I don't know how you ever manage to concentrate enough to actually shower properly." She mused on the idea of cooking, she would have loved to be set loose in Ashley's parents' kitchen, but it would have felt a little awkward as well. It wasn't her kitchen after all, and she would have felt a little out of place, as if she was intruding. She nodded, "Maybe we should order something, what kind of sleepover would this be without pizza?" She eyed the shelf of DVDs, spotting a number that bore the Disney logo. The collection of DVDs was eclectic, and not half as impressive as the shelves of CDs that dominated the wall. Ashley's musical background and profession was obvious just from a brief glance around her room. She looked back to Ashley, and jumped dramatically onto the bed, making cushions fly everywhere. " Do you know somewhere nearby that does good pizza? And remember I have reeeeaallly high standards when it comes to food so it'll have to be pretty great pizza." She surfaced from the pile of cushions, "No pressure…" They spent an inordinate amount of time on the website of said pizza place, picking their favourite toppings. Alice went with a completely overloaded, double cheese, stuffed crust monstrosity that contained a fairly controversial choice, pineapple. She shrugged, "All that cheese, I should make sure I get at least one of my five a day right?" Fortunately it didn't take long for the pizza to arrive, and they were still hot, which was always a good sign for delivered pizza. They took it upstairs and Alice made herself comfortable on the bed once more while she waited for Ashley to pick out another movie. "Come on! I want entertainment."

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

The Lie-in King

Sitting up a little straighter, Ashley’s lips stretched into a proud smile.

“So glittery, isn’t it beautiful? And ya, you know what, Alice, sometimes I do catch myself standing there with the shampoo bottle in my hand just gazing at the sparkles…” Ashley giggled, despite the anecdote being perfectly serious. She was definitely not quick when it came to showering – and she was pretty sure her parents had hiked up the rent they asked of her on that basis. She couldn’t help it; bathroom acoustics were amazing!

Making a mental note to arrange a date in the future for sampling some of Alice’s cooking, Ashley rose enthusiastically to the challenge of finding the perfect pizza place to treat the chef’s tastebuds. There were a couple of reliable ones she liked to use, but one in particular had a lot of options in terms of base, toppings and even crust. Some of the topping choices were a little more uncommon – like figs and honey – so she hoped the menu would appeal to someone with a more discerning palate.

She was quite pleasantly shocked to find that Alice was a fellow pineapple-on-pizza fan. She’d begun to think her kind were being methodically exterminated for enjoying the sweeter things in life.

For her own pizza, Ashley had gone for a strange mixture of anchovies, onion, pepperoni and artichoke hearts (and extra cheese, obviously). It was something her mum had ordered once and she’d greedily sampled a good third of it herself. The saltiness of the anchovies just balanced so well against everything else, for some reason. She wondered if they’d go with pineapple…

Happily settled back in Ashley’s room with two steaming pizza boxes, it was time to make their next choice before the inevitable karaoke session would commence.

She waved a box at Alice for her approval. “Do you like Moana?”

It was a pretty stupid question, but she felt like she had to ask all the same. Just in case Alice’s opinion was wrong and needed to be forcibly corrected.

Alice Morrow

339 words

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Ashley McKenna-Chase + wearing

Alice giggled with Ashley, "I guess you're lucky your brother is out of the house then. Otherwise he'd keep trying to cut your shower short so he could gaze at them too." The warmth of the pizza was seeping through the base of the box, and Alice enjoyed the sensation for a moment while she waited for Ashley to pick out a DVD. She opened her mouth in mock offence and outrage at the other girl's suggestion. "I know I missed the Lion King but I haven't been under a rock for the entirety of my life." She stuck her tongue out briefly, then lowered her voice to a whisper as though imparting a great secret. "Sometimes… I even have a social life…" She opened the pizza box and marvelled at the heavenly display of cheese, bacon and pineapple. Traditionally pineapple lovers would go with ham, but Alice didn't believe in doing things half-heartedly. Ham was nice, but the kind of ham most pizza places used was just a poor stand in for bacon anyway. Thank god the shop had cut the pizza for them, surely this amount of cheese would have gummed up anything but an industrial pizza slicer. She somehow managed to pry a slice away from the rest, and closed her eyes as she sank her teeth into the thick cheese topping. "Mmmmmf, that is so good." Or at least that's what she intended to say. It actually came out more like "mmmmmmffff, thffff isssfff sfff mmfmmfff" It was at least obvious from the look on her face and the appreciative sounds she was making that she was enjoying the pizza. It took her a while to get through the first slice, and she looked with some admiration at what was left. "This might take me a while to get through, I might be finished by the end of the movie." She patted the pile of cushions beside her, which she had hollowed out into a rough chair shape. "Come sit in your throne m'lady."

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[Ashley McKenna-Chase]

The Lie-in King

The idea of Will becoming captivated by the glittery shower curtain was just a little too ridiculous for Ashley to even try to entertain seriously.

“Unfortunately an appreciation for glitter is one thing I’ve failed to bring him round to in all my twenty years – and believe me, I’ve tried,” she said, smiling. “It’s probably what drew the line for him when it came to Twilight, now I think about it.”

Alice was beginning to insist upon her social life’s existence just a little too frequently, and Ashley was getting a little amused. Alice seemed perfectly sociable and easy-going, but Ashley was beginning to get the impression that she wasn’t quite on the butterfly level that a lot of Ashley’s other friends were. Maybe more of a social caterpillar. Or a cocoon.

They had both asked for extra cheese and boy had it been delivered. Alice’s muffled appreciation was echoed by Ashley’s own nonsensical reply.

“MMmmf! Phmm, s’goohmm!”

As good as her own pizza was, Ashley couldn’t help but feel a bit envious of Alice’s own pizza. The bacon just looked so good drowned in all that cheese.

“It’s gonna take me a while too,” she giggled, finally finishing her first slice. She reached for another and held it aloft. “You wanna trade? I know it looks weird but it’s hella good.”

Settled happily into the extremely comfy mass that vaguely resembled a throne, Ashley started the film. This was going to be yet another song-fest. Moana’s voice fitted her own pretty perfectly and she couldn’t help but belt along with the music. Having said that, she had a fondness for ‘Shiny’, and even suggested in half-jest that she should make it her performance piece for the underwear-over-tights bet. She could definitely throw herself into that.

Alice Morrow

296 words

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[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Ashley McKenna-Chase + wearing

Narrowed eyes greeted Ashley's excuse regarding Will and his lack of enthusiasm for glitter. "I feel like you haven't tried hard enough to bring him around to the joys of glitter." All concerns about appreciation, or lack thereof, of glitter vanished in their dual appreciation of the pizzas. Really, there could be no disagreements between friends when pizza with this much cheese was involved. Mainly because the cheese was so hot and thick that to concentrate on anything else was impossible. They both eventually managed to finish their first slice. The whole pizza would be a challenge however. The offer to trade was immediately accepted however. Alice knew what she liked, but she was always willing to try something new in case she liked that too. She nodded eagerly, "Definitely, I always want to try new stuff. Always good to have new recipes anyway, even if it's something I probably won't make for myself. I can always make it for you sometime." In truth Alice had half-forgotten about the bet, but she laughed and nodded at Ashley's joking suggestion of Shiny as the song she would sing in her underwear. Great though the other songs were in Moana, Alice was certain that Ashley prancing about to that song could not fail to entertain. Right now though, Alice settled for joining in on the choruses. She was no great singer, but what she lacked in tune she made up for in enthusiasm and volume. It wasn't until the end of Moana that came up. It was getting dark outside, not exactly late yet, but nonetheless coming towards the end of the day. "Come on then, it's now or never!" She borrowed something she had heard on TV once and immediately regretted it, "Put your money where your mouth is!"

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