You're beautiful, that's for sure Who: Max and Isobel What: Max bumps into a friend at the newly opened outdoor market Where: among the local organic fruits and vegetables ^_^ When: Weekday afternoon.
One of the side effects of being around famous people who ate like gods was the subtle shift in Max’s tastes for various foods. She used to be perfectly fine with hotdogs and kraft dinner most nights, with maybe some sort of guilt offering of a salad or something, but lately the eating habits of her clients were beginning to rub off on her. Organic, grain fed, pesticide free, cruelty-free, locally grown, dolphin-safe, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, vegan vegetables were on the menu today. Or what she assumed were just as pretentious.
She wandered down the aisles of vegetables being offered by obvious hippies and hipsters, smiling pleasantly at both and picking up a particularly delicious looking ripe tomato, smelling it appreciatively before plopping three of them into one of her organic, all-natural, reusable, planet-safe shopping bags and handing a few dollars to the grateful hippie behind the stall.
"Do you have any beefeater tomatoes?" Isobel asked, drawing attention away from Max's transaction as she stood on the perpendicular side of the stall. She had a woven plastic bag over her arm advertising the local zoo, already full of a couple of items. As her voice brought attention, she realized who was also shopping at the farmer's market.
"Maxine! Oh my gosh, I didn't know you'd be frequenting this market," she said, smiling wide to see a familiar face. "What are you here for?"
Max looked up from the display of all the kinds of peppers, smiling back at Isobel. “Hi!” she greeted just as cheerfully. “Ohh, you know, a little of this, a little of that.” She picked up an overpriced organic jalapeno, a sudden idea sparking in her head. “I’m making nachos later,” she declared, even though she had just come up with it on the spot. “I’m going to make my own salsa, and have nachos.” She picked up several jalapenos and paid the man for them, tucking them in her bag with the tomatoes. So she still craved pub food, even with her new expensive tastes.
Isobel nodded, watching Max place the pepper in her bag with no small amount of amusement.
"You'll have to share your recipe; I haven't had nachos in forever." She smiled at the shopkeeper, following to where he pointed to find the beefeater tomatoes she was looking for.
Max grinned. “I’ll share it as soon as I know what it is,” she confessed with a shrug. “I’m just gonna...make it up as I go and hope it works.” She wouldn’t call herself a chef by any stretch of the imagination, but she knew what she liked, and what went together and what didn’t. More often than not her experiments succeeded. More or less.
"I'm picking up a few things to make sandwiches. Trying to get Obed to eat better, spend less money going out, but you know how guys are." She rolled her eyes, her lips still curved to imply her sarcasm. "Are you planning meals for the week?"
A laugh tumbled out of Max at the idea of planning any food in advance. “No, not really,” she admitted. “With my schedule...if I fill my fridge the food could sit there for days and not get eaten. My regular job...I’m basically always on call, sort of, with notice. I sometimes don’t know when I’m working late until the day before, so planning food is kind of impossible.” She turned to the stalls around them bursting with fresh produce, gesturing to them. “So I tend to shop for one or two days at a time,” she said, lifting her bag as if to produce Exhibit A.
Isobel nodded, drifting around the booth to arrive at Maxine's side. "That's fair. I hope that means you're not eating out too much," she started, a soft lecturing tone in her voice that was overridden by her teasing smile. "I'm glad you're trying out some more organic sources then. What do you usually like to eat? How long have you been vegan?"
Max laughed loudly. “I’m not even a little bit vegan,” she said, “there’s steak going on these nachos! No, I’m very much a carnivore, but I do appreciate a fair amount of plant matter in my diet,” she said, eyeing the nearby stands for other potential candidates. “But I like the outdoor market. I like people watching. You see so many interesting things out here, especially now that it’s warming up.”
"That's so true," Isobel remarked, shaking her head a little at herself. "I'm sorry for my assumption, I didn't mean to pry. This definitely isn't the place for it, but there are farmer's markets where they'll have grass-fed beef and other things. Let's walk? I need to get some arugula and some kale."
Max’s eyebrows rose. “I love kale,” she purred, falling into step beside Isobel.
She started off slowly, moving away from the one booth to head down to another. She was only passingly familiar with the names displayed, but she took note of them all the same, trying to remember where she was buying what from. It would pay to follow up again later, more sources for Spring Growth in the longer run. "How are things going, otherwise? Outside of work, and grocery shopping."
Max smiled. “Good, I think. Actually…” she paused to consider for a moment, and then laughed at herself. “To be honest, I don’t really do all that much outside of work and shopping. Although I do hang out with a few friends once in a while, so I suppose that counts.” She grinned thinking about the drunken sleepover with BB and Alice a few weeks ago, promising herself right then and there that she should definitely host the next one.
"We're in the same boat," Isobel replied, her smile showing teeth. "Maybe you and I can do something, outside of work and outside of the self-defense classes? My work doesn't give me a ton of free time, but I've been thinking about maybe taking some craft classes. Not sure what, yet. I need to see what the city offers. What hobbies do you have?"
Max thought about that for a minute and then bit her lip. “Okay, but promise not to laugh?” she asked, waiting for the other woman’s ascent before leaning in like it was a huge secret. “Colouring books. I like to watch cartoons and colour.” She had kind of a big collection of colourful gel pens and pencil crayons and adult colouring books, and that was what she did on her off hours besides sleeping to unwind. “But don’t spread it around, I have a reputation to maintain,” she said with a smirk, although it didn’t really matter to her if anyone knew or not. She was tough as nails, but also kinda girlie and kinda childish. And she liked it that way.
"Aww!" Isobel grabbed at Max's elbow. "You mean like those really detailed coloring books they have these days? I've seen those, but I've never had the free time to try them out. That sounds like a lovely afternoon, Max; a great way to unwind." She let go of the other woman's arm, thinking. "Maybe a painting class, then? I've seen these art and wine evenings being advertised around town. You drink and you paint. I think that would still keep your reputation, right?"
Max’s eyes went the size of saucers. “Colouring and wine? I’m in!” Then she paused and smirked. “Wait, I already colour in front of the TV with beer,” she giggled. “You should come over sometime...we’ll watch cartoons and colour and unwind. I even have cultured things like tea if you’re not a beer girl.” She didn’t like to make snap judgments about people, but sometimes it was hard not too. And she definitely got the ‘refined, cultured woman’ vibe from Isobel. Refined, cultured women in her experience don’t usually drink beer like it’s water. Their bodyguards did.
Isobel offered a small smile in return. "Tea would be great. I've been...avoiding alcohol lately." She didn't say why, intent instead on other things, wanting to direct the conversation elsewhere. "What cartoons? I don't think I've watched any of those since I was in middle school."
Max grinned, looking over the new offerings at the stall they just walked up to, inspecting the dark green and black kale. “Ohh, all kinds...I’m kind of a big kid,” she admitted. “Lately it’s been old Disney movies and the new My Little Pony. They’re so...colourful and cheerful and full of simple happy stories...it’s kind of addictive.” She picked up a large bunch of healthy looking kale and stuffed it in her bag, handing over a few bills to the guy watching them.
Isobel grinned. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and you know, ever since Moana was nominated for an Oscar, I've been wanting to see it. Have you, yet?" They paused at a booth, where Isobel collected her desired arugula. It was, unfortunately, out of kale.
“I haven’t!” she said happily, “I’ve been wanting to see it too, I saw the other day that it’s available to rent on iTunes, so it’s on my list. I’ll make tea and popcorn?” she offered cheerfully, “and you can meet Cali, my troublemaker kitten,” she added, remembering her little puff ball with a fond smile.
"I don't think I've had tea and popcorn together, but that sounds like a fun time. Maybe over the weekend? Let me know what I can bring, I'd be more than happy to help out." Isobel shifted her bags from one arm to the other. "I'd definitely love a girl's afternoon or evening in, though." A simple event that required very little thought seemed almost just what the doctor prescribed.
“Great!” Max beamed, “I’m actually free on Sunday so we can do it then if you’re available. You can send me a message or something once you know your schedule. You can even come in your pajamas if you want, for the full effect,” she grinned, hefting her bag and nodding in approval at her day’s haul.
"Sure," Isobel replied. "Do you wanna do one more lap? Just to make sure we didn't miss anything." She didn't have much else on her shopping list, but Isobel enjoyed simply being outside in the sunshine, among the fresh produce. It always gave her so many ideas.
Max smiled at her and gestured forward. “Lead the way,” she said, following her new friend back into the market.