OOC Date: June 10,2010
IC Date: June 10, 2010
Public Beach
Lined in picturesque silhouettes of sunbathers, surfers, and swimmers, the main public beach of Seaside is an image right out of a magazine. Scattered with colorful beach umbrellas, the rolling dunes of soft wave-drenched sands provide a perfect place for sun worshipers and beach bunnies alike to hang.
Chalk it up as another bright warm day at the beach. The sun is high, the patrons are wandering about half naked, the surf is up and it's a general awesome time to be a kid in California. Guys and gals of all ages and sizes wander the sands and swim the waters of the expansive beach, with quite a few people sunbathing and enjoying snacks of various types.
Among the various beach goers is the self-proclaimed princess of Seaside High, Ashley Kerrington. Upon a large, thick and colorful red towel with a white A. K. in cursive lettering upon it that looks more like a rug than a towel, and a matching umbrella stuck in the sand, covering a greater deal of the sun from her lounging body underneath it.
She is wearing a red, two piece bathing suit that looks both expensive and stylish, along with a pair of red rimmed, dark sunglasses upon her face. Her body glistening and clean looking from the lotion she has applied, receiving glances and stares from passersby, as to be expected for one that looks like her.
Clear sky, warm breeze, and perfect surf, why wouldn’t the beach be buzzing with activity. Springing to life at the bite of morning only to fade to a slow hum with the setting of the sun, there is little rush carrying Adam out of bed and toward the population of peers and family friendly picnics, though thanks to one Chad and one other Ryan, the darker teen can be found being shoved and hurried toward the hive of water sports.
Barely a few steps onto the beach, his eyes are drawn instantly toward the brightest thing in his vicinity. A Loud, red clutter of towel, umbrella, and … Ashley. His eyes roll at the sight. She *would* be color coordinated from her toenails to her umbrella. The only thing missing is a conveniently dressed purse dog. Still, he does grin inwardly as he heads toward the lounging girl, leaving his friends to watch and complain about an off count team for volleyball.
“Ahem.” He clears his throat firmly as he steps towards the umbrella and lazing girl, his eyes squinting against the glare of the overhead sun. “Why stop at red? Why not pick yellow and finish blinding the beach?” His words are somewhat rude but thanks to a small delayed laugh and a grin he hopes to keep the peace. Of course, she *did* cost him his girlfriend.
Red and white, it must be the color of the day, for Ashley Kerrington barely lifts her head from the position she rests it upon to reach over and pluck an hourglass shaped cup, filled with a bright red, fruity looking smoothie substance, topped with white whipped cream and.. well what do you know? A yellow straw. Her tongue curls out and up, lifting the object toward her lips, which surround it's circumference with a subconsciously sultry kiss, and a savoring siphon of the fluid into her mouth. This does of course not go unnoticed by a group of guys that would find this sort of thing.. amusing, and knowing Ashley, it was planned that way. Might as well give the people what they want.
She makes out the standing figure of Adam behind the shade of her dark sunglasses, and she has to lower them so that her bi-colored eyes can take him in. Ashley isn't the type to carry an animal around as an accessory. She'll save that for other rich girls who are far sluttier than she is. It's all about being tasteful. As tasteful as that drink she is holding is. Some of the condensation dripping from the glass and falling upon her neck, causing her to sit up and wipe the cold away quickly with a finger.
"It's a bi-color coordination day, not a tri-color coordination day." Duh. What else did you expect? "Well now," Ashley pulls her glasses away from her face, folding them and setting them off to the side. "If it isn't my new 'boytoy', according to the latest school gossip.." Ashley isn't too pleased with being a 'whispered word' around school, but the gossip could be worse. Adam has his merits, she wouldn't talk to him like a human being if she didn't believe that.
"How are you holding up?" The tone of her voice relays several things all at once: sympathy, apology and general concern for his well being. "You can sit down if you want."
“I’m fine.” Adams smile relays that at least. He seems fine. Light hearted, just withdrawn enough to give his silence that necessary air of social comfort. He even bends to crouch down near her, giving her layout a small glance over. Mostly he reaches to give the umbrella a firm shake, testing the stability of its spot. “It was coming. Sooner or later. It just happened to be sooner than later, but at least she can vacation in Rome with a clear head and without the weight of…ya know.” He doesn’t state the word ‘relationship’ though his intentions are rather clear. It can be more fun to be single on vacation after all. Or..so he hears.
He also clears his throat as he releases the umbrella stem, turning to slump back into the sand before leaning on his knees. “And also, if I’m your idea of a ‘boytoy’ you really need to broaden your horizons.” His brows arch at that before he turns to eye the beach beyond her. “So…other than being in love with me, and apparently the made crazy animal sex we apparently have, whats up?” inquiring minds want to know.
Huh? She is a little confused as to what his reasons are for messing with her umbrella. Did he not believe she was capable of setting the thing up properly or something? Really, she had it covered. Maybe it's just his little awkward habits of being idle around her, which she really didn't understand 100 percent. "Well, honestly? She's stupid.." Ashley shrugs her bare shoulders, "Sounds like she was /looking/ for a reason to break up with you. And I don't think I like the idea of you dating someone that insipid. You two didn't mesh well, in my opinion. It was kinda like wearing socks with sandals. It might be comfortable, but looks terrible and is generally a bad idea. You're better than that, okay? Just.. what you to know." It's a an Ashley Kerrington 'I'm sorry'. Considering how she views most people that aren't in the same social caste as she, and how critical she is of even those that are, it is a compliment.
His words make her chuckle, and she sits up, curling her knees up more toward her body, wrapping an arm around them, "Not much. I'm sorta taking your advice a little bit.." she gestures around to her little lounging area. No books, no papers, no school work in sight. She does listen to him, see? "Remembered you sorta liked the beach so.. In great hopes of maybe catching you here, I decided to hang out. I wanted to apologize for the incident. For some reason I guess I feel kinda bad." She can't explain it herself.
Adam can only chuckle as Ashley rambles, his mind connecting dots slowly as he untangles her way of thinking into something that doesn’t think like Ashley might be able to follow. “Hmm.” He thinks he has it, and while he nods and offers a low laugh be seems to somber just a little. “I would have to agree about the breakup, but I wouldn’t go so far to say she’s stupid.” Because, really she wasn’t. he’d never waste his time with a bimbo to stupid to carry her end of the conversation. “And, I guess I’d be the socks in that relationship.” Despite his bringing up, Adam was discovering that compared to his peers, his head was not nearly as lost in the clouds these days. Not to mention the Kates family was hardly something outside of Ashley Class level. A founding family and financial dynamo like the Kates was hardly out of anyones class. The country club and hotels they owned was proof of that. If anything, Adam sometimes found himself a little in awe at the business skills of his ex’s father.
When his attention is drawn back to the present, and his eyes captured by the obvious lack of school books and paperwork, Adam does allow his expression to lighten a bit. Wide eyes punctuate his amusement at her comments. “I see. So you were looking for me AND you were sorry. Hmm. Who knew right?” Clearly he is teasing, but the might Ashley Kerrington apologizing (in whatever diluted form it came) was something to remark about. Possibly even crack a few jokes over before the opportunity faded away. “But really. Don’t worry about it. If anything it’s made for good conversation these past few days. Even my dad heard. Talk about awkward over dinner. He’s all concerned I just screwed up some epic business deal with Mr. Kates, though really last I heard Angie wasn’t all to pissed. Just indifferent. I can deal with indifference.”
In an effort to silence her sometimes harsh and critical mouth, Ashley brings the red fruity drink up to her lips for another sip. She was being a little judgmental, and she knew it. But it was only because of her protective instinct kicking in, and that was only because she didn't want Adam to feel bad. Ashley was a bit of a shrew is all. "No.." she says in a defeated and apologetic tone, "She's not stupid. She's just..you know.. -Stupid-" Somehow, she knew what she wanted to say, just not how she should say it. It made sense in her head at least. Not to mention, her reputation was at at stake here too. Ashley Kerrington could not stand to be known as a homewrecker. Heads would have to roll if such a rumor would get started.
She brings her finger to shake once and point firmly at him, "DON'T… Make this a habit, Adam." she scolds him, "Stop dating girls that are gonna get all irate, menstrual or bi-polar just because they hear you were talking to some other girl." The sun creeping into her shade at the top just a bit, she hangs back leaning upon her forearms, leaning her head into the warm rays and closing her eyes, with her long dark hair hanging suspended just above her towel. It does feel good for her to relax, but she wouldn't be the type to get used to it. There are things to do, and expectations to be met. "Indifference, huh? You seem to deal with indifference quite a bit. You sorta have this whole 'don't-really-give-a-damn' outlook on things. Well.. not everything. Just, you know, stuff like this."
Her attention is grabbed by a few passing Seaside students that she recognizes who take a quick note of the conversation that is going on upon the large, bright 'Kerrington resort'. Rumors would most likely continue to fly, yet she couldn't just tell Adam to go away. He was considered one of her friends, and not one who was under suspect of offending the 'crown'. Many of the privileged have fallen out of grace, but they usually deserved every bit of it. Adam didn't. Ashley wondered just how long this rumor would go on before she had to answer to Dean, which wasn't that big of a deal, just a small bit of a hassle, that's all. She'll have to handle this herself.
Her finger pointing in his face causes Adams eyes to nearly cross, and naturally, causes him to rock back on his heels and fall into the sand with a small yet easy grin. “Uh-huh. And what girl on this planet doesn’t get irate, menstrual, and bipolar?” his question is asked with a small laugh, though the expression he holds is one of clear curiosity. If there were a girl alive without any of those qualities, she was about to find herself very very popular.
“Anyway, being indifferent about the future has its advantages. I don’t get stressed out. I don’t lose sleep over a big test. I don’t work myself into a fit over girls. When you think about it, I actually have the advantage on most of our peers.” He offers a wink before his eyes drift up to follow the passing flock of friends before his jaw twitches. There would defiantly be more rumors. Then again, all hail the virtue of indifference.
“Anyway, it’s not bad I don’t guess. I heard about your sparing match with Teague Edwards the other night.” He pauses for dramatic effect, and naturally she turn back and fuel a wide grin back toward the lounging girl. “From what I hear things got kinda hot and heavy there. You’re just lucky rumors didn’t start from *that*.” By ‘hot and heavy’ he is obviously describing the temperament the conversation ended in, of course taking creative liberties is always fun. “So hows that go then? Got a secret torch hidden for the future con of seaside?”
"Hm." Ashley intones, giving Adam the 'eye' and a smirk, "If I relinquished that information, I'd have to have you killed. Female conspiracy to control the male population and all." Now she could be kidding and she could not. More than likely, she WAS kidding. Every girl gets 1 if not more of those three things, herself included. It is a fact of nature, and even the great Ashley Kerrington isn't immune to nature's ways. But with his laughter, Ashley simply swipes her hand upon the surface of the glass of her drink and flick the cold condensation at the boy as punishment for his little remarks. Take that! The girl's eyes roll with her smirk and her head shakes from right to left.
"Yeah.." the girl's glossy lips push together in a tasty purse. She wishes she could be indifferent, but it just isn't within her personality to overlook things the way Adam does. She admires it about him, but she just can't be the one to be that way. The girl sighs, while she watches the students make their way completely past, and she imagines that the news has already hit Twitter or Facebook or something. Great.
"What?" Ashley's eyes twitch and squint down into an unamused narrow. Her teeth showing and jaw tightening with the delivery of the word. "Edwards? You heard about that? HOW did you hear about that? Obviously there is some kind of a rumor being started if you heard about it." Ashley actually has to sit up for this. The defensiveness is written all over her body. She can't BELIEVE this! Teague Edwards? She can /not/ afford a rumor about him. Dean will have a FIT. Her FATHER will have a fit! "Oh. My. God. Adam, you can /not/ let that get out." From the way she initially states it, and how defensive she becomes would almost suggest that something /did/ happen that night. "Nothing. Happened." she elaborates, "He was a jerk, as usual. He totally knocked this drink all over me, and I threw one on him. The normal sling of insults and then he left. Edwards is.. He's just so.. so.." The irritated teen struggles to look for a word she can devise to describe him. Her face looks like she wants to breathe fire right now.
“Uncontrolled by the rules that govern the rest of us?” Uh-oh. Adam doesn’t seem to loathe the idea that Teague represents. Of course, Adam doesn’t loathe much. “Na. Not so much a rumor as a youtube video of the argument. Flying insults, drinks, and scandal.” His brows arch slowly as she runs her freak-fest through his head slowly, his lips twitching under a small lapse of control. “I don’t think anyone would be ignorant enough to think anything more was going on with Edwards than, ya know, war. I wouldn’t worry about it. From what I saw you two make better enemies than you would friends.”
Reaching, he finally wipes the droplets of water away from his face, his eyes narrowing to watch the group of students slip farther toward the beginning volleyball game before his attention drifts in towards the ocean. “So what you got planned for this Saturday afternoon? Gonna lay on the beach till dark or you gonna sneak off and study?” It’s a fair question!
"I was going to say vexatious, actually. Maybe even ignominious or disreputable?" Ashley corrects him. She brings her index finger and thumb to pinch together delicately to bounce in the air as if conducting her next words, spoken in French, "Il est ennuyeux." The girl gives the correct accent and enunciation. "I mean, really.. Who does he think he is? He has hated me from day one." After that, Ashley hesitates, rethinking the statement, "Okay.. maybe not day one. We were pretty cool in elementary school. He actually was actually kinda nice back then. But Dean and Benton were twin terrors and far more protective than they are now. They HATED him, because I kinda liked him back then. And they'd go out of their way to pester him and pull me away. BIG drastic change about 4 or 5 years ago. I kinda see that Ben and Dean were right. Boys like him?…" The girl trails off and she shakes her head, letting her eyes roll.
"Anyway.." Ashley sighs, "This youtube thing just might be a problem.. I'll have to have it rectified soon." the girl finds her bag and removes her cellphone from the side compartment. She fires off a quick text message to her brothers, tucking it back into it's place. "Now? Saturday evening? Mm.. I might lay here for a while until something else interesting comes along. Maybe.. I'll do something -wild- and -crazy-." the girl grins, raising her brows and widening her eyes in emphasis on each word.
“Oh yeah. Like study AND practice the piano in unison!” Adam rolls his eyes lazily toward the girl at her joke about her ‘wild’ and ‘crazy’ future plans. Really, he’d be shocked to find out she hadn’t gone home and studied. And, sadly, French is lost to him, so while he does return to the previous topic of the local ‘go to’, he doesn’t seem sure what she said. “That’s not very nice, Ash. Throwing the blame off on your bothers. You don’t like people because –you- don’t like people, not because your brothers don’t let you.” His brows arch at that, a small punctuation to the fact that regardless, Ashley Kerrington is a terror because she’s one of the most judgmental creatures on the beach. “Anyway, we were all nice when we were little. It’s an aspect of development. We go from adorable to angelic to adolescent, aka, evil.” Adam didn’t go to elementary school with any of his Seaside friends, so unlike Teague and Ashley, his childhood was, safe to say it, free of judgmental comparisons. The yesterday Adam was thankfully in the past, and the today Adam was making leaps and bounds of improved calm.
The thoughts allow him a moment of stillness before, finally, he moves to rock back into the sand, propping himself on his elbows. The sun, as it were, is abundant, and it’s easily the most relaxing part of being outside. It isn’t long before Adam reclines back again into the sand near the girl, though his foot does move into the shade to nudge the girl. “So how’s the party plans goin?”
She was an over-achiever, not a nerd. There was one week of class left, and she has everything for the most part wrapped up in a neat little package for the year. She could relax, and she could be wild if she wanted to! She is Ashley Nichole Kerrington! She can do anything she wants /if/ she wants. Why did it matter?! As if why does she suddenly care what he thinks about her anyway?! She doesn't have to prove anything to him! "No!" she protests, "I might… go to a frat party or two, or something." It was the best she could come up with, "And I'm not blaming them. I'm just saying, I had a reputation even back then. Ben and Dean cared about it more than I did. As a result? You got me." The girl lifts her hands, palms to the air while she shrugs.
"Hm?" Ashley blinks, snapping out of her little haze. He mentioned studying, and she let her mind wander back to calculus for a few moments, contemplating her previous assignment, and her upcoming exam result. "Oh.." she blinks, "Party is still on. You're still invited. Have flyers to hand out. Bring someone, or come alone.. whichever." while she is laying there, Ashley begins to play with her own hair, petting her fingertip through it's silky texture, wrapping a few locks around her middle and index fingers.
Adam hums, nodding slowly before he gives a faint yawn. “I’ll probably bring someone..dunno. But I’ll come.” Obviously. He’s epic for stating the obvious. “Anyway princess, I’m guessing that for the moment I need to head back to the game. If you’re not opposed to getting a little sweaty you can come hit a few balls, I’m sure you’re good at it.” The lude comment is protected by a wide grin and a wink sent to the girl as she toys so lazily with her hair.
He pushes forward shortly after, reaching to stretch his arms over his head to give a small twist and a rather loud pop to his back. “You can come mingle with we mortals. What you say?” He doesn’t expect a yes, but he does cast the offer to the winds. Let it never be said Adam Blake wasn’t at the least polite in his ways. He was brought up well, and in the past few years he’s made good on that.
Weather she follows or, he does offer a small salute to her along with his grin before turning on his heels to head slowly back toward the gather masses. Rumors happen, and if nothing more, it was the opportunity to nip a few in the bud before they spread to facebook and even farther beyond.
Volley ball. Who does he think he's kidding. He does know she's on the volleyball team, right? Of course he does. Who doesn't pay attention to the workings of Ashley Kerrington? She mulls over the notion of his offer for just a few moments, "Hm.. Alright." she agrees with a shrug, "But just for that comment, I'm totally not gonna go easy on you." The princess dusts the sand off of her legs, and she pulls herself up to stand and give a comfortable stretch to the air, arms high above her head.
"Besides.. One of your friends is actually kinda cute." The girl looks ahead to the group, wrinkling her nose cutely as she wanders to follow beside him, "Your team by the way." she dubs the guy, lightly butting her shoulder against Adam's while they wander. So she'll mingle among the mortals as he said. It couldn't hurt anything. At least it was better than risking the chance that she would run into Teague by just sitting there. He'd probably kick sand in her face or something.
