“Lucky you, I was 'indoctored' into believing that fried chicken and ramen noodles were the height of haute cuisine.” Her nose scrunched when she grinned playfully, her brief interjection over whilst she let Beth continue her story.<br/><br/>Ardy may well have been pretty focused on her food, but not enough that she was foregoing paying attention to her friend. Seconds from scoffing at the fact Miss Perfect went to Harvard,<em>naturally</em>, the only thing that stopped her was the look in Beth’s eyes. It was enough to curb the question of why she left Boston, with the sudden foresight that the topic would make the other woman uncomfortable in all the wrong ways. People were allowed their secrets and Ardelia wasn’t one to pry. It was all okay anyway, because now she was gushing over Colin and the look was gone, Ardy took another mouthful of food hoping she wouldn’t be required to intervene in the conversation until she had swallowed.<br/><br/>This whole sitting and chatting at the table thing came with an entirely new host of complications.<br/><br/>“Don’t feel bad about it, I don’t think I ever unpack boxes. I’ve been in my apartment for three years and I still don’t actually own much besides a couch and a microwave. I think on the slacker scale you’re still in the ‘forgivable’ range.” That wasn’t even entirely true, she was pretty sure the microwave had come with the apartment, which wasn’t even hers, her ex-boyfriends name was on the lease she’d only moved in, not even officially. It was testament to her powers of charm and manipulation that the landlord hadn’t adjusted the paperwork yet, despite Scott having vanished months ago.<br/><br/>Then the topic turned to jobs and Ardy looked up for a second, as if processing the question, really she was just deciding how best to swerve it. It was a wonderful feeling, being in the home of two successful people and being asked to highlight her failures. Her instinctive reaction was to say something scathing, but it had occurred to her after a few weeks of knowing Beth that she didn’t do these things to make Ardy seem inadequate. She simple didn’t see how they might, because the other woman seemed to be lacking in absolutely any judgemental tendencies at all.<br/><br/>Nice was a rare concept to the teenager, she had been sceptical at first but she was starting to think that Beth really was genuinely too nice for her own good. She was nineteen, not even a high-school diploma to her name and save for her excellent entrepreneurial skills (<em>a girl could scarcely put ‘crack pusher’ on her resume</em>) her skill set was vast. Her job history long but not exactly impressive. As such, with the economy the way it was, things were far from promising.<br/><br/>“Nah, I know a guy who runs a bar though. I just need a fake ID to apply” she smiled, “and adequate begging.” Ardy was seconds from making a quip about being on her knees but reminded herself just in time that she was at a dinner table with posh people. With a dismissive shrug, “no worries though. I always land on my feet.”<br/><br/>However this time her luck really was testing its limits.