<span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: Ravi;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 10pt;">Success at putting her foot in it, or rather in her mouth. She should have known better, Ardy was proud, always had been and Bethany admired that quality in the younger girl. That sort of pride and confidence spoke of the fact that the teen was a survivor and would always find a way to take care of herself. It left the older woman with a new rush of nerves that she would blunder through tonight and she retreated a little further behind the perfectly polite smile, that friendly façade she had lived a great deal of her life behind. <br/><br/>“Oh, of course. And I understand, errands do come first. Forgive me for overstepping.” The apology, if not the smile was genuine. The brunette took a few steps further into the foyer, wondering how her home might seem to Ardy’s eyes. It wasn’t exactly her dream house, but it was pretty close, with touches of Colin’s tastes as well. But he had wanted her to feel comfortable, to be able to chose a place of her own. <br/><br/>A haven. They had made a refuge here, and she wanted to share that but with her social skills already beset by awkwardness Beth despaired over the chances of the offer being accepted. And that was enough to break up her composure a bit, to allow a real, self deprecating smile touch her lips. <br/><br/>“I’m sorry Ardy… I am afraid I’m not very good at this friends thing.” Which might explain some of why she had treated tonight as if she were getting ready to host a dinner party of the like her parents use to have rather than just a causal night in with friends. For a moment Beth felt anger well up inside her, at herself, for over doing everything yet again, for making this more complicated then they had to be. “It is just dinner, of course and you are here which is all you needed to do, I promise. I’m just being a silly….” <br/><br/>Beth trailed off with a surprised squeak at the hug, the sudden contact from someone outside of Colin unnerving in that first moment. But the fierceness of the hug, after her bumbling attempts melted away a good deal of the tension, as did the grin in her friend’s voice and she shyly returned the embrace, wrapping her arms lightly around the younger girl but not tight enough Ardelia couldn’t get away if she wanted to. A little laugh came to her lips then, eyes crinkling, “Even if you were being sweet I would never tell, I know you have your rep to maintain. It can be our secret.” That was part of what friends did, right? Have secrets together? The threat to eat her kitchen had another laugh, louder this time spilling out of her and she hugged Ardy tighter for just a moment before stepping away. <br/><br/>“There is plenty of food to eat, I only hope you like seafood, I went with comfort food from my childhood. We are eating in the kitchen tonight, so just follow me.” She had actually planned to eat in the dining room but Ardy had come expecting causal and compromising on location to make her friend feel more comfortable wasn’t a large sacrifice to make. She led the way down the one sided hallway of sorts, and into the kitchen where her salads were still neatly laid out, the cod resting and the chowder simmering away. “I just need to let Colin know we are ready, but if you want feel free to start without us.” <br/><br/>Not at all in her plans, in fact quite squarely outside of them without any of the order she preferred but making Ardy’s back go up with her perhaps rather overly organized life wasn’t what she wanted to accomplish. </span></span><br/>