2019-06-20 - Stocking Up

Tomorrow, all hell is supposed to break loose, with the latest STORM OF THE CENTURY putting the whole town in a tizzy. As a direct result of this, the number of people at the Safeway today is astronomical. As a direct result of that, the credit card machines have gone down. People stroll up to the doors, see the sign warning them that it's cash only, and about half of them have some sort of hissy fit before stomping back off to their cars.

Graham was not deterred by the plastic-only issue. He's in the store right now, specifically on the frozen foods aisle, watching a couple of elderly women verbally snipe at each other over who's entitled to the last bag of frozen corn niblets. They're seriously bickering at each other pretty hard-core now. He is just waiting for them to work it out, so he can get to the frozen green beans still waiting inside the freezer they're blocking. Leaning elbows on his cart, chin on his hand; he's been here a while, just based on the slouch-posture.

Dahlia was skeptical of the news of the storm but, this was Gray Harbor and it rained a hundred thousand times more often than it rained in LA. So it was better to be safe than sorry. And she was looking for any excuse to get out of the trailer for a little while. It was a good thing she didn't drive, because she would have had a fit just trying to find parking in the place. Thankfully though, the Uber driver just dropped her off and Dahlia headed inside. Cash was king, and she'd rather use it than the debit card. Helped to make sure you didn't buy more than was necessary. Water, poptarts, some canned soups, and chips, and obviously Dahlia had no idea what to buy for a storm so she was just winging it.

Dahlia didnt have a cart, because they'd all been taken. Instead she had picked up an empty basket while it's owner's back at been turned and was using that instead. She rounds the corner, leading into the frozen food aisle and blinked at the bickering women. A look to the corn niblets, then back to the women...and then she reached into the open freezer they were bickering at and grabbed the bag they were bickering over. She didn't even like corn niblets. It's was just the principle of the thing.

The women surely looked a mix of offended and flabergasted that anyone would dare do such a thing. "You snooze you lose ladies. Move on." Dahlia, it would seem, either had little respect for the elderly or no patience for their shenanigans. Or both!

There's a strangled sound from Graham when Dahlia just cuts right in between the old ladies and plucks for the prize they had been coveting. He lifts his chin off his knuckles, and he sounds out, "Ah - " But the two old ladies kind of take it upon themselves to get involved before he does, with the blue-haired one announcing in a creechy voice, "I will call the manager down here right now, young lady! That is MY bag of corn!"

Nothing brings people together like a common enemy. Her silver-haired sister-in-arms says, "You tell 'er, Gertrude! My nephew's brother-in-law owns this store, and I will just call him up right now and have him..." She starts punching on her phone, but clearly has no idea how to make it work.

Dahlia just stares at the women, then starts making like she's inspecting the bag. "Is it? Is your name written on it? Gertrude? I don't see it. Then again, that shade of blue is blinding. You really should find a new hairdresser. You're not in your twenties anymore." She puts the bag in her basket and laughs at the other elderly woman's words. "You call up who ever you want honey." Then just starts walking right past them, in the direction of Graham. There's a rather satisfied grin on her features as her gaze settles on him. Coming to a stop a peering for a moment. Recognizing him, of course. How could she not recognize him. "Sorry I ended the show a little early." Another laugh as she peeked back at the two ladies.

Emerald eyes traveled back over to Graham and she leaned lightly on his cart. "Though you should have brought some popcorn. Oh. Popcorn, that's what I should get." A mental note taken before giving her childhood partner-in-crime a once over. "It's been just about forever since I've seen you I think." Offering up another grin. "How're you doing Graham?"

Hey, at least the two of them getting their dander all up means they move along, and Graham quick-snatches open the freezer door that they were guarding, bouncing the bag of green beans on his palm a couple times before it gets tossed into the cart. Most of his cart is uninteresting type stuff: rice, yogurt, fruits, vegetables, almost as if he shops like a grown-up. But then he ruins the illusion by smoothing the list riding in the front of his basket, and is still doing that when Dahlia gives him that once-over.

It takes a second, with him side-eyeing her in the manner of a person that's not above bolting if it comes to that. But then the penny drops: "Holy shit. Dahlia? Goddamn, you look different." There's no awkward dithering on how to play this; unless she seems likely to cold-clock him, he'll do the one-arm hug of old friends. "I'm all right, thanks, how's life treating you? What the fuck are you doing back in this hellhole?" Pretty sure he managed to fit every curse word into that greeting.

Hey, at least he has a list! Dahlia has a bag of corn niblets that will likely end up in someone else's cart and a box of strawberry poptarts so far. She looked fairly amused as Graham finally seemed to recognize her, returning the one-armed hug easily. She had definitely grown up, and she was out of the ill-fitting second hand clothes too which likely helped. "I'll take that as a compliment, you're looking pretty good yourself." Dahlia ran a hand through her hair and shrugged. "I've been doing good. California sun didn't give me a tan but I can keep dreaming right?" She mused.

"Mom's not doing too hot lately and my brothers are useless. So, you know, here I am." The last place that Dahlia really wanted to be. She'd always talked about leaving and not coming back. "What about you? Never got around to looking for greener pastures?" Quirking a brow.

Yeeeeah, but odds are high that he didn't write the list, just got it handed to him on his way out the door. Anyway, Graham retreats back to his basket after the hugreeting, smoothing a hand down his prize t-shirt with a half-shrug; "I have my moments," of looking pretty good, he means. There's a chin-tip to suggest maybe they could wheel their carts out from in front of this particular freezer door, with the clarification, "In case those old ladies come back with shotguns or something."

His cart rattles toward the end of the aisle at a slow mosey, one wheel wobbly so it makes all kindsa noise. Genuinely, he says of her mom and brothers, "That sucks. You came all the way back from sunny California to the Huckleberry?" And he clucks his tongue against his teeth, disappointed for her (rather than in her, at least). As for him, there's a shrug and a what're-you-gonna-do smile. "I left and came back more times than I can count. Just never seemed to figure out how to get gone and stay that way, yanno?"

Dahlia does a look around and nods. "Yeah, probably a good idea. Because lord knows if they brought the shotguns I'd still be the one getting arrested." She laughed and turned so they could walk somewhere a little less in the way of the crowds of people invading the Safeway. "I mean, if I'm gonna be honest my apartment was only slightly less shitty than Huckleberry." A wry smile on her lips. "But that's what happens when you try to make it big as a movie star in a place filled with movie stars. A whole lot of struggling first." Dahlia tilted her head slightly. "But I'll get there eventually. I've had a few minor gigs here and there so my times coming." If she ever managed to make it out of here and back to LA. Nodding at his mention of trying to leave. "Yeah I get that. I'll admit that I nearly came back a whole bunch of times. But the need to prove my brothers wrong was strong." She laughed. Of course, they were still in the right - she wasn't rich and famous yet. "And being back now...well, I don't know how I feel. Seems like there's a lot of new people filtering in though."

"Enh. People come and go around here. You know how it is. Everybody wants to live in the Pacific Northwest." Beat. "Till they fucking live in the Pacific Northwest." Graham, stocking up for the massive storm rolling in tomorrow, trails off with a snicker and a shrug. Since it doesn't matter if he gets in line now or five hours from now - the lines are a snarl of people all mad about everything being sold out + the credit card machines being down - he'll just hang out for now, back to leaning on the handle of his cart. At least he's nice enough not to take up the whole entire aisle.

All her talk of making it in the big-time leaves him squinting at her contemplatively. After a shifty look around the immediate vicinity, where no one seems to be paying them any mind; "Can I ask you something?" It has the tang of 'not small-talkish' to it.

"That's true. I think they're in denial about how much it rains until they come here and see how much it rains." Dahlia agreed with a laugh. She tossed a box of wheat thins into her basket as they passed them and then looked back up. Dahlia was a very impatient person so it was safer for everyone involved if she just stayed put here, chatting with Graham and waiting for lines to die down some. Her brow quirked when he got all quiet and leaned in just a touch. "Sure, I guess." Looking curious, wondering what he could possibly want to say that required some bit of discresion.

Graham's pro-tip regarding the Wheat Thins: "You should eat those with cream cheese." Thereby ruining any healthy value they have~. He mostly aims them toward the dairy aisle after his suggestion, though the two could have nothing to do with each other. There's another glance around, but seriously, Graham, no one is eavesdropping, so just quit worrying about it. So, after a lip bite of the hesitant variety, he just gets on with it. "You been making porn?"

"Cream cheese, noted." Dahlia would pick up a block of cream cheese since they were in the dairy aisle after all. Then refocused. At his question, Dahlia nearly dropped her basket. Shifting a little and looking away from him. Trying to pull herself together. Listen, it wasn't that Dahlia was ashamed of doing porn per say. It was more that she didn't want to or quite know how to deal with this. That was happening right now. Being confronted about it, in a sense. Dahlia took a slow inhale and exhale, peeking back towards Graham and clearing her throat. A rose color had crawled up her neck to her cheeks. "...Maybe..." Yes. Yes she had.

Graham has a list! He should get some of the things on that list, since he's here. There's a moment spent debating over two different packages of cheese, a moment that makes it clear that this is not his shopping list, since he squints at the two labels, shrugs, tosses one into the basket and stuffs the other one back on the dangling hook-thingie. All this while Dahlia is coming to grips with how to answer his totally socially appropriate question up there. At least he's not oblivious to the awkwardness and shoots a smile Dahlia's way; he has a lot of smiles, and this one is the 'meant to be reassuring' smile. "Does 'maybe' mean 'definitely have been.' 'Cause, if not, there's some chick who looks just like you that definitely has been making porn."

Dahlia just continues to stare for a moment. Then she's laughing, maybe because of how ridiculous the whole thing is. If someone asked how she expected her day to be going, this was not a part of it. Raking a hand through her hair she took another breath. Calming herself. "...I have. Yes. For the past year and change." Dahlia said finally, though she was still somewhat avoiding looking right at him. "I uh, haven't knowingly met anyone who's seen it aside my coworkers and supervisor types." What a totally normal conversation to be having in the middle of Safeway!

"Hey, look. Think about it this way." Graham gestures with his bag of cheese to Dahlia. "You're providing a product to a consumer." And he gestures to himself with the bag of cheese. "Is it really any more embarrassing to be the person that makes the porn than the person that watched it?" 'Cause Graham doesn't look embarrassed in the slightest about his part in all this. "Not gonna lie, it was a little bit weird to be like, 'holy shit, I think I know that chick.' Also, Ivory Rayne sounds like a fragrance for soap." He probably has soap on his list, come to think of it, he looks up at the signs overhead for which one would be the soap-aisle.

Dahlia seems to relax a little, focusing on him properly as he talks, giving a chuckle. "I guess it isn't. And, it does means I get laid on the regular." She blinked a bit and chuckled again. "Or did. Not like Gray Harbor has a big foothold in the industry." She checked her basket briefly. Still needed water at least before all the riff-raff - which is just the citizens of Gray Harbor trying to be prepared - clear it out. "Obviously I don't advertise it, so I'm mostly just waiting for the day one of my brothers calls me up hollering and demanding to know what I'm doing with my life." She looked a little amused at the thought. Because of course that's not something you tell your family about when they ask how the job hunts were going. "At least they didn't go with Irish Spring." Allowing more of a smile on her lips. She also grabs a can of biscuits while she's thinking about it and since they're in reach. Eventually she'd get around to the stuff that's actually on her mental list.

There's a 'gotta give that to ya' series of nods about Gray Harbor's lack of porn presence, and Graham comments, "Always heard Chatsworth was the place to be." For porn. Because why wouldn't he know that kind of thing? "Yeah, well, just remind your brother that, if he sees you in porn? It's 'cause he's watching porn. So tell him to get back in his glass house and quit throwing rocks at yours." After the biscuit-grab, he looks entirely entertained; maybe he's not judging her for being a porn star, but for the crap she's got in her little basket? Totally. "You didn't get to pick that shit yourself? That's stupid. Who decided to call you Soap Fragrance for a stage name?"

"Chatsworth huh? I'll have to look into that." Dahlia looked amused at the thought. "Mm good point." Turning slightly so they could start walking again - probably at least going near the soap. Oh candles. Maybe candles would be a good idea to get. "And then I can shame him for watching even a second of a porn with me in it. That would really shut him up." She smirked. The mischief in her eyes definitely meaning she was going to file that idea away and use it eventually. "Fuck no. If they left it up to me I probably woulda just stuck with my name. Dahlia Evergreen. It's practically halfway to being a porn name already." She laughed, looking back over to him. "I mean honestly there was probably an opportunity to chime in on what I wanted to be called but I wasn't paying much attention. Too much eye candy. Maybe they pulled words out of a hat?" Not completely ruling it out as she spotted a few yankee candles left on the shelf and snagged those as well.

It's pretend chagrin, but Graham manages to put on a reasonable facsimile of embarrassment when he admits, "It's pretty fucking awkward, and we're not even related." Nor have they discussed how many seconds of porn Graham watched, but let's just move on from that subject. "I guess be grateful you didn't wind up - " He eyes one of the candles she's just picked up. " - Amber Moon?" Then he laughs through his nose, a briefly snorted snicker. "Or Line-Dried Cotton. Gimme that one." He beckons with a fold of his fingers, like he fully expects Dahlia to just hand over her rightfully-earned candle on the day before a huge storm 'cause he said to.

Dahlia started laughing again when he starts up with the names of the candles. "Oh lord. I can't even. I'm pretty sure there might actually be one," as she sets the Amber Moon candle into her basket and is picking up the Linen-Dried Cotton one when he says to hand it over. "Just give it to you? I dunno. What if I need it? Seems like we might need those two old ladies to fight over it for us." She looks totally serious before cracking a smile again and handing it to him. Picking up an 'Apple Delight' one for herself. "Do you think the candle companies and the porn companies share the same naming tools?" She asked as this one gets set into her basket. In the basket, so totally her's now!

"I mean, yes?" Just give it to him. Graham dusts off his salesman smile for that, the one that makes with the dimples and convinces people to buy watches that are obviously fake but whatever, look how pretty he is and do what he wants! Really, all he wanted - now that he's gotten it and turned the smile into a quick beam of gratitude - was to smell the thing, so he uncaps it and bends his nose into Line-Dried Cotton, inhaling deeply. Then coughs out afterward, waving his hand and thrusting the candle he does not want back at Dahlia, cap stuck back on it. "I dunno, but someone needs to teach them what line-dried cotton actually smells like." He exhales a long 'wheeeeew.' Also, "I almost guarantee you there's a porn star named Apple Delight."

Dahlia giggled again as he recoiled from the smell of the candle and promptly sets it back on the shelf. The trailer was small, after all, and if it didn't smell good she wasn't going to have it burning. "You could always write them a strongly worded letter about it." She flashed another smile and then nodded. "Oh I'm sure there is." an Apple Delight porn star out there somewhere."I can picture her now, some kind of southern belle get up - short shorts and a tied off checkered shirt with an apple pie in her hands." She shook her head. "I hope that's a real thing..." She might maybe do some searching on the internet later if she got bored. "So anyway. Enough about me and my line of work. What're you doing these days?"

Graham snaps his fingers and points at Dahlia and her description of Apple Delight. "Definitely saw that one." And his snappy-finger-hand eases into a teetering palm, as if to imply that he wasn't all that impressed with Apple Delight's, uh, acting chops. He head-tilts into the suggestion that they maybe head toward the snarl of traffic that makes up the line at the registers, since that's almost definitely going to take hours and hours to work through, and didn't they both have frozen stuff in their carts? "Your line of work is way more interesting than mine, though. I'm a bartender at the Firefly Club." <-- That's a completely believable half-truth. 😃

"Well now you have me curious. Maybe I'll check it out to see what not to do." Dahlia smirked a touch and then looked down at her basket one final time. Water. She needed to get the water. "Hang on a sec." She turned on her heels and quickly navigated through the people in her way. Then returned where she'd left him with a jug of water. Now they could stand in line. "I could always get you a hook up if you got tired of bartending." Teasing him. Mostly, once they're settled in one of the ridiculous lines. She doesn't seem to think it odd or suspicious or anything. Sometimes people were just bartenders! Also, Dahlia is likely not entirely up to speed on Felix. Though her brothers probably had some dealings with him in the past. "Though I think I'd rather be a bartender than a waitress. I never want to wait tables again. 6 years was way too fuckin' long for that. It's a miracle I never got fired." Shrugging slightly. "Is the Firefly club just a regular dance club? Or is it a strip club? Because it sounds like a strip club."

"What, as a porn star?" Graham pretends to think about this for a second, rubbing fingers and palm over the scruff on his chin, like he really needs to give it due consideration. Finally, he shakes his head and commits to a chuckled, "Nah. First off, I'm a consumer, not a producer. Second." He shrugs, so heavily, so hopelessly. "I gotta girlfriend, and I'm not sure she she'd sign off on it. You remember Elise Kruger?" Yeah, her. "It's just a dance club." He does a little white-guy boogie in the aisle, making the un-tss un-tss noise of dance music with his mouth. "If you know how to tend bar, I could probably get you a couple shifts a week if you're looking for work." Not on her back.

"That's fair. It ain't so great for relationships." As if speaking from experience. Though her brows rose when he said his girlfriend was Elise. "Really? That's a name I haven't heard in a while and certainly didn't expect to come after 'Graham's girlfriend'." She chuckled. "Congrats though." Nodding as he explained it was just a dance club, giggling at his dance moves. "I know a little bit, but I also pick up on things pretty fast too. I have a couple ideas to bring in some money but I wouldn't be opposed to having a little gauranteed income and to staying out of the trailer." She adjusted the basket some again and pulled out her phone to hand it to him. "Go ahead and put your number in."

Smiling peachily, Graham commits, "Finally wore her down. Only took me - " He checks his watch. " - nine years, give or take." With a big, helpless-looking shrug that ends his stupid attempts to dance in the grocery store. Taking the phone, he swipes through a couple things, and does this the easy way: he dials his own number with her phone, connects the call, hands Dahlia's phone back to her, and takes his own out of his pocket. Then says into it, "Hello," like he didn't just knowingly call himself.

"Well, at least no one can say you're not determined." Dahlia mused, watching as he takes the phone. The look of amusement lingering as he so casually answers his phone. "Hey, you may want to head down to the Safeway, there's a dude that looks just like you in the checkout line." After he responds, whatever the response may be she'll hang up the phone and laugh again as it gets slipped into the back pocket of her shorts. "I'm glad you're still hanging around. It's good to have a few friendly faces."

"For reals? Punch him in the fucking face, he's probably an asshole." Graham says this sternly, then hangs up the phone and briefly distracts himself with the punching on the touch screen. (The big question: Is she in there under Dahlia or Ivory? The world may never know.) "It's less 'hanging around' and more..." He eyes the slow-moving line for a second with an almost equally slow-spreading grin. "Needed somewhere soft to crash-land? And now I'm just sorta stuck here. But back at ya, kiddo, it's nice to see you." Beat. "In the flesh."

"There's a saying out there...something, something, the only person stopping you is you." Dahlia offered, though it didn't look like she fully believed the words of wisdom. "We'll be stuck waiting out the storm in the Safeway if people DON'T START GETTING THEIR SHIT TOGETHER." Dahlia's slowly raising voice earned quite a few looks. Some dirty, some in whole hearted agreement. Not that it would help anything of course, but what could she say? Being back in Gray Harbor brought out her less refined side. "If I end up having to deal with a jealous girlfriend or something though, I'm coming after you." She said in a mock serious tone.

One eye squints at that saying, and Graham cocks his head, his mouth open around a sort of half-smirk. But then he nopes right out of saying whatever it was he was thinking, just settles for a brow-quirk that speaks volumes: He disagrees, but he'll just leave that there. Pointing at himself afterward, he asks, "What? You mean my jealous girlfriend? First off, she knows that fucking Thai kung fu shit, so you won't be coming after anybody, at least till you get off the crutches." More lies. "And second off... Okay, probably I would get in some shit if I wound up riding out the storm of the century in the Safeway with a porn star." That part's true!

Dahlia looked skepticaly. "Elise Kruger going Jackie Chan on my ass? Yeah I don't know about that. But it'd be a helluva cat fight regardless." She laughed and ran a hand through her hair. "Probably. But at least it wouldn't be boring." Winking to him, another tease. She couldn't help herself. She looked around a moment before reaching into her basket and making a little hole inside the corn niblets bag. "So how long before you know if you'll be able to get me those shifts at the club?" Taking one of the niblets out and giving a flick of her wrist, letting it go and seeing who the unlucky patron was. What? She had to devise multiple ways to pass the time.

"I would definitely sell tickets. Kruger versus Evergreen, fight of the century." Graham can see the marquee and everything~! But he should probably stop staring out into the middle distance and fantasizing about his girlfriend doing kung fu on a porn star. Clearing his throat, he blinks back to the here-and-now with an easy shrug at her question. "I gotta talk to my boss about it, but I'll shoot you a text this week and let you know how it goes. I fucking hate tending bar, so I'll be sure to talk up your abilities. But don't be throwing corn at people in the Safeway. That's not gonna make the line go faster."

Nothing will make the line go faster. These two will be here for the next half-hour, with Graham eventually complaining that he needs a fucking cigarette and taking out his aggression by...

...stealing a bunch of candy and shoving it in his pockets. Here, Dahlia can have some, too. Fucking Safeway bullshit.