<em>Ooohhh</em>he was the domineering type, Ardy smiled at the sudden change in posture and tipped her head a bit. She had been watching Beth’s reaction closely, watching her retreat behind her perfection because she was caught off guard. She might have felt bad if she didn’t think the other woman needed it so much; but then he was there picking up the slack and putting up his own shields to deflect from hers without even so much as a seconds hesitation. It was sweet she supposed, but Ardelia didn’t much like white knights. Beth was a grown woman who granted, wielded her social disabilities with the productivity she gleaned to everything, but until she realised that it was okay to be caught off guard she’d be a terrified little lamb forever. It wasn’t the lamb Ardy fought so hard to be friends with, it was the wolf cub hiding inside, the one she glimpsed every now and again, the glitteringly amusing Beth who said something before she realised she shouldn’t. Who forgot for a second that she was supposed to be perfect. That Beth seemed like a Hell of a lot of fun.<br/><br/>Maybe it was Ardy’s upbringing, but she was a ‘<em>throw them in at the deep end</em>’ kind of girl. Subtly was not her thing and delicacy, whilst having it’s place, was time consuming and never as effective as it could be. So Colin could protect her all he liked, but Lee would drag her to her own two feet kicking and screaming if she had to; after all it wasn't her job to pick Beth up, it was his.<br/><br/>The brunette had learnt to be quick at reading people, she was an excellent judge of character, one had to be with extracurricular careers like hers. Beth was the first person in a long time that she had struggled to read and the more she tried the more she realised just how much she wanted to get inside her head and figure her out.<br/><br/>He on the other hand, was more or less an open book. The way he instantly stood up as Beth backed down, probably the type of guy who really liked to hear himself speak. Who always managed to work logic to his side. Prim and proper with a perfect house and a beautiful woman on his arm. May well he disguise it as protectiveness, but these things usually all boiled down to control.<br/><br/>“Good things? I doubt Beth has a bad word to say about anybody. If she was being honest I’m sure all the things you’d hear about me would be bad.” There was an impish grin on her lips, but it faltered when he offered her wine. She shook her head. “I don’t really drink. And when I do it’s definitely not wine.” See this is why she should stick to her own wardrobe, nobody ever asked the slacker-types if they wanted wine.<br/><br/>This suddenly seemed like an entirely different world. Then she squinted at Beth;<br/><br/>“You want us to go and sit down whilst you bring food out? That seems a little backwards, we all have hands, can’t we help?” Her tone was softer now though, it wasn’t a critique of the way Beth was doing things it was genuine curiosity. This was not at all what she was used to and when Ardy was trying to make sense of things her mouth usually worked overtime. “Makes more sense than you doing all the work? Especially when you’ve already done loads. Unless that was code for, ‘<em>Ardy go away</em>‘ in which case – just say that. Subtly has never worked on me and I’m almost impossible to offend.”<br/><br/>Ardelia shifted her weight awkwardly for a moment; she’d never been to a dinner party in her life in which the most heated topic of debate was more serious than who gets the last slice of pizza. Nor was she used to sitting around whilst people did all the work for her, she’d grown up mostly fending for herself and her mother and even when her mother had been well the lesson had been very clear. Everybody eats, everybody helps. Suddenly she was feeling like an intruder into the perfect world of Colin and Beth, some kind of alien entity that didn't quite belong.<br/><br/><em>Oh well,</em>she was entirely used to not belonging.