'a' is for amity

“Mutual fangirlism,” Ashley insisted with a grin, applying her own make-believe badge.

She wondered if Ari was also a fan of Paladin. It was pretty likely – Paladin was the celebrity superhero, especially in San Francisco. Unless Ari was a secret super-villain, she probably knew of Paladin as the brave beacon of hope that everyone else did. However, Alice was not Paladin right now. Alice was Alice and so there wasn’t about to be a full-blown triangle of fan-girling, no matter how closely Alice’s hair matched that of her alter-ego.

“It really is such a small world! Does your apartment face the street too? We’d totally be able to wave at each other,” she giggled, a little over-enthusiastic in her discovery that Ari lived so close to them. Ashley just really, inexplicably enjoyed the idea of being able to spot a friendly face from her own window.

Ashley chuckled. “So noble of you to keep the fast food chains afloat, Ari. Like Alice says, we try our best to help out the local economy. Takeout pizza is just the best pizza, plus we all have our lazy days.” Her stomach rumbled gently, a low, gurgling reminder of the feast that they were about to consume.

“Ex-bartender huh? I can definitely trust your judgement. Should we buy some soda to go with this?”

As Ashley turned to look for something that would mix with Ari’s selection, she heard Alice invite her to the girls’ night. Ashley had already asked her earlier so at least Ari would definitely be feeling wanted by the pair. She turned with a smile to signal her agreement.

“For sure! Why not? You could at least just come over for a little to sample some of the snacks Alice is going to cook up for us. It’s not like you have far to go home,” she added with a shrug, grinning with amusement. She liked Ari and it would be fun for the three of them to sit around the apartment enjoying tasty snacks and drinking exciting drinks for a little – it gave Ashley the chance to get to know Ari outside of the more business-like offer to feature in performances, and Ashley was all about making friends.

'a' is for amity

Having been swaying towards the idea of alcoholic drinks herself, Ashley was pleased with Alice’s suggestion of drinks. She’d recognised a few of the guys on the checkouts and so they knew they wouldn’t have any trouble with ID. Alice and Ashley were pretty regular customers and the staff here either didn’t know or didn’t care that only one of them was 21. At this point, Alice could probably buy drink herself, even though Ashley always liked to do so as a precautionary measure.

She started for the alcohol section when she suddenly heard her name from a voice that was oddly familiar, and yet she couldn’t quite place it… Ashley turned slowly, just in case they were shouting for a different Ashley, and immediately spotted the bright red jacket and lopsided grin.

Alice prodded her as Ari came up to them and Ashley nodded before bursting into a huge, welcoming smile. “Hi, Ari! Long time no see! This is my roomie, Alice. Alice, this is the illusionist I was telling you about.”

She took a moment to survey the food Ari had obtained for herself, an approving grin settling into her features. She could only assume that Ari was here to buy dinner-for-one – and she was more than welcome to join the two of them if she fancied a less lonely evening. Still, Ashley decided against extending an invitation just in case it scared her off. She’d already kind of invited her earlier anyway.

“We’re buying supplies for Alice to work her chef magic on,” Ashley explained, gesturing to the basket which seemed rather overloaded with chocolate. “And now we’re on the hunt for some drinks to go with! You got any recommendations?” They started making their way down the aisle as they spoke, Ashley still reeling with the exciting coincidence of it all.

'a' is for amity

“You might need to use your superpowers to help me out of bed in the morning,” Ashley said with a laugh, a little softly in case anyone happened to be eavesdropping. Getting blasted across the room was not the ideal solution, but if Ashley’s tired limbs weren’t cooperating then it was her best hope at actually escaping the clutches of her bed sheets. “Or cook something that smells reeeeally good.”

That one had actually worked on a few occasions. Alice rarely submitted to Ashley’s demands for breakfast in bed and sometimes the smells from the kitchen were just so enticing.

“That sounds like her, I think the red jacket is kinda her thing,” Ashley said, nodding. “And hey, she is really good! You know me, I always wanna step things up in fun ways – I think gorgeous, visual magic would be a great addition to live shows. I have her email so we’ll see what the team thinks, I guess. Hopefully at least someone will be on board, my crazy ideas never get off the ground unless somebody at the table has my back and can translate them into profit-ese.”

Ashley rolled her eyes. She was definitely eager for success in the music industry, and had done well with it, but there were some parts to her job which were definitely not so fun. Hanging out with street performers and playing remixes in clubs with DJs? Much more fun than talking numbers.

Chocolate was a great idea. Ashley hummed with enthusiastic agreement as Alice loaded some into the basket. “She seemed pretty excited! We didn’t really have time to talk about anything specific but she said ‘Til we meet again’ so like, she seems down to at least discuss it again in the future,” she explained happily.

Ashley peered into the basket. “Yes, they were delicious! We should grab some drinks too… are you feeling like drinks or drinks?”

She eyed up the selection of alcohol that she could see from the aisle, turning to Alice with a shrug. She didn’t mind either way – sometimes it was fun when the two of them had silly nights with sparkling wine and a bountiful supply of treats from Alice’s kitchen. She handed the responsibility of making a decision – as she so often did – over to her roommate.

kiss and tell

Ashley scooped a hefty amount of avocado into her mouth. “If Friday’s good for you, and good for him, then it sounds pretty great to me.”

She’d hoped that Alice might have already enquired about Nate’s schedule while Ashley was grabbing herself a snack, but it seemed Alice wasn’t quite confident enough yet to make such moves without some reassurance.

“You can suggest a questionable motel out of town if you like,” she teased, “But I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear that you want to go out for dinner. Just be straight up with him, it’ll be fine. It’s only dinner, you’re not asking him for his hand in marriage. Yet.”

Ashley felt pretty secure in her advice – she wasn’t pushing Alice towards any kind of commitment in the slightest, but if an invite to dinner was enough to scare the guy off then he probably wasn’t worth their time. If he knew about Alice’s excellent taste in food then there was almost no way he could say no, unless he had some kind of late-night MNRU shift. Even then, he should probably try and get out of it – Alice’s refined palate was second to none.

“I can make myself busy on Friday night, I promise.” She couldn’t picture her schedule, but she was probably already busy – she just didn’t know it. Alice was sure to feel more comfortable knowing that she had an empty apartment to return to; alone or otherwise.

Family Reunion

Ashley liked performing around the Bay Area; it always felt like a homecoming no matter where she went. San Francisco was her absolute favourite, of course, but she’d spent much of her childhood all around North California. Tonight she was in the Fox Theatre in Oakland which was a pretty great building to look at in Ashley’s eyes. She particularly liked the dome and the general Eastern vibe to the place, as well as the relatively small capacity of just under 3000 seats. It made for a fun show.

Tonight had gone particularly well because Ashley’s experiments with the setlist seemed to be paying off. The crowd was electric and, while the bright lights kept her from seeing the entire audience all at once, she was reflecting the energy right back at them with every song. Even as she reached a slow song, faces were locked on her with her fans hanging off of every word. As she thanked them endlessly following her final encore of the night, Ashley found herself almost moved to tears.

“I’ve been McKenna Chase, thank you and good night!”

She made to leave the stage but hung back to cast her eyes across the room now that the house lights had been brought back on, her smile broadening as her gaze swept across the excited faces. Just as she was about to disappear behind the black curtain, she spotted an unusual tall figure – their stillness almost unnerving in contrast to the excitable young fans around them – at the back of the theatre.

For some reason, maybe the elation in her heart combined with the inevitable hope that her own lyrics always instilled in her, Ashley thought her dreams were coming true. Maybe, finally, after being bombarded with texts, he had given into her pleas.

Although she was being ushered into the dressing room, Ashley couldn’t let this opportunity disappear. She ripped the mic pack from herself, offering apologies and breathless attempts at half-explanations, and then rushed out of the backstage door.

Everyone was already spilling out of the venue, some held up by the allure of merchandise but most out on the street. She cracked open the outer door, adjacent to the box office, which led backstage and peered out, eyes peeled for a tall man who definitely did not look like your average Chaser… ah-ha!

“Will!” she hissed loudly as he emerged from the building. She caught him mid-stride and watched as he stopped in his tracks. She beckoned him over, still barely poking her head out of the gap in the door as she did her best not to draw attention to herself. “If you walk away from me I swear I will tell mom you want an arranged marriage,” she added threateningly.

'a' is for amity

Ashley grinned. “What can I say? I must be some kinda marketing genius – you can have that one for free,” she said with a cheesy wink. She tried to imagine showing up to meetings and declaring that she was going to be in charge of publicity from now on – strangely enough, she decided it was probably best left to the professionals. The sea of red jackets was a beautiful mental picture but it was hard to really figure out how one would implement such an idea in practice.

Still, she liked the spirit of it, and it was certainly an iconic part of Ari’s image. That and the jazzy-looking top hat.

“You think I could pull it off? I’ll start dropping hints to my stylist,” Ashley laughed.

She agreed whole-heartedly with Ari’s suggestion that everybody needed a little spark in this crazy world. It resonated well with her own ideas about what she wanted McKenna Chase’s music to be about. Her songs – particularly the latest album – were often about hope, faith and finding the joy in the everyday. It was probably why they had such a broad appeal.

“Are you serious? I’m serious, that would be awesome! Do you have like… business cards or anything?”

Ashley was not the type to let inspiration run away from her in moments like this. She saw an opportunity – a little spark, as Ari had said – and just like the illusionist she was definitely excited to follow it and see what could come from it.

Ari seemed to want to move on from where they stood which, if her allusions to pickpocketers were true, was fair enough. Ashley peeked down at the watch on her wrist. “Probably a good idea not to stand around here chatting all day,” she admitted with a small frown. “I guess you have other things to do – I’m sorry to keep you! I’m just on the way to meet up with my roommate, you’re welcome to come along too.”

It might have seemed like a throwaway invitation, but Ashley really was enjoying talking to this girl and she knew she’d fit right in with her and her equally dorky roomie. She was sure Ari had better things to do than hang out with random strangers but it was always worth offering, just in case.