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izzy_lightwood (izzy_lightwood) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-01-07 22:59:00

Who: Gwen Stacy, Jane Foster, Audrey Baxter, Izzy Lightwood
When: Early December
Where: Baxter Bakery
What: Girlfriends hanging out!
Rating/Warning: Low/None
Status: Complete



Gwen had Jane on her arm as they headed into Baxter Bakery. It was after work, and Audrey and Izzy were both supposed to have the afternoon off to meet the girls there. Gwen had suggested they all go get manicures and go see Frozen, the new Disney movie. She was looking forward to having someone work on her nails--her cubicles were insane with the sudden cold that’d taken over Southern California.

She pushed through the door, tugging Jane along behind her. “Hello? Aud? Anyone home?”

Jane had hidden her hands in the crook of Gwen’s arms against the cold as they hurried along to the bakery. She’d never had a manicure to be honest, never really been a girly girl, but when Gwen had suggested it, she figured it was a good excuse to get out of her books and have something resembling a life, so she let herself be led to the bakery.

Audrey was absolutely thrilled to be going to the salon with the girls. She was wearing a Christmas dress, even though it was freezing outside, it was warm enough in the bakery that she didn’t need a sweater. She looked up from the register and gave a wave when she saw Gwen and Jane come in. “Hi! Just a minute! Izzy’s just grabbing our coats!”

Izzy had been so pleased when Audrey had invited her out with the girls, she’d had manicures before though she wasn’t one to have beauty treatments very often but was looking forward to it with Audrey and the others. She’d met them on the hen party and at the wedding but beyond those brief encounters didn’t know Jane or Gwen very well.

She came out of the back room with her own jacket on and Audrey’s in her hand, “Got them” she said with a smile coming over to them all.

Audrey was obviously fully embracing the Christmas spirit, she looked adorable. “Hi Audrey, hi Izzy,” Jane greeted them with a smile, rubbing her hands together to get the warmth back in them. She’d met Izzy briefly during the reception and they seemed to get on well, so she was looking forward to getting to know her better on this trip.

“Hey!” Gwen stepped forward, pulling her scarf and gloves off. She grinned between the other ladies. “Gosh, it looks like Christmas in here!” She added, motioning vaguely toward Audrey’s skirt.

“I can’t help it!” Audrey said, beaming. “It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Haven’t you heard? Anyway, let’s grab some drinks before we go. Sparkling latte?” She pointed at the others, giving them a moment to refuse, then hopped behind the counter to make some drinks to-go.

“Audrey’s been getting steadily more and more festive” Izzy grinned at Jane and Gwen, “It’s getting infectious, we’ve all started humming Christmas songs” she added before moving to help Audrey automatically as she made the drinks.

Jane laughed at them and moved to stand by the counter to watch them work, looking forward to having a hot cup of latte between her chilly fingers. “I always meant to ask, how do you make them sparkle?” she asked curiously.

“It’s hard not to when the music’s going nonstop.” Gwen said, giving Izzy a grin. She could hear the music playing, and had been in here… it seemed like Christmas nonstop. She imagined that if Audrey had her way, the place would be a giant Gingerbread House.

Oh, if Audrey had her way it would be a giant Gingerbread House. Only with a reinforced kitchen to the heat of the oven wouldn’t burn the cookie down. She grinned over the espresso machine where she was pulling the shots. “It’s in the milk!” She called back to Jane. “It’s magic milk, we buy it straight from a little farm… we’re the only shop that can, it’s in our contract. If you want sparkling milk, you have to buy it here.” Though, a few people bought a couple of gallons for residential use from Link, Audrey was the only retailer to do so.

"Magic milk?" Jane asked dubiously. She wasn't one to believe in magic, there was always a logical explanation in her experience. "Does it have some sort of inert chemical in it that refracts the light?" she asked, trying to figure it out.

Izzy couldn't help laughing, "Not quite sure you've grasped the concept of magic" she teased, "There is no explanation. It just is" she smiled.

"There's always an explanation, it's just that most of the time we haven't found it yet," Jane shrugged as she explained. "Magic is just science we haven't explained yet, Arthur C Clarke," she quoted, frowning and feeling like she'd said that to someone before. Either way, the drink was delicious.

Gwen chuckled. “You sound like my ex, Peter. He just couldn’t accept that these strange things were happening. It was like talking to a brick wall. An angry brick wall.” She said, then gave Audrey a gentle “thank you” as the redhead passed out the drinks.

“Izzy’s right. There isn’t an explanation. I mean, you’d have to ask Link--he owns the farm where the magic cows are. But still, I don’t think he’d be able to tell you. You’re welcome to take a sample and run tests if you want to.” Audrey added, then sipped her drink as she led the way out of the bakery.

“You have to admit that some things just can’t be explained, like the dreams; how do you explain the things appearing from them or people gaining abilities they had in the dreams?” Izzy’s tone was curious and non-confrontational. She was just truly intrigued by a girl who claimed magic couldn’t exist but lived here of all places.

“I’m not sure without having any raw data to analyse about the phenomena, but I could hypothesise at maybe parallel universes, alternate dimensions, maybe even wormholes,” Jane shrugged. “What can I say, I’m a scientist, I like to know how things work and when I don’t I try and figure how they could,” she smiled up at them. “Guess it’s in my nature,” she said as she settled her hands around the warm cup. “But whatever makes it magic, this drink is amazing,” she took a sip.

Gwen chuckled. “If you can figure out some experiments to try and explain the phenomenon, I’d be glad to help you with them.” She said, then lifted her cup as if to clink it against Jane’s in a cheers.

Audrey beamed. “Thanks.” She said, re: the drink being amazing. She led the way down the block. “I didn’t actually pick the Bakery’s location because it was so close to this amazing nail spa, but I have to admit it’s been a perk.” They were walking distance from the place where they had their appointment for their mani/pedis.

Izzy grinned at Jane’s response, she was obviously a very smart cookie and Izzy, for one, would be very interested in anything Jane found. She was happy to accept magic but also equally happy if someone could give an explanation. Even if magic was cooler.

“It’s a great little added bonus” Izzy nodded, “Especially when you get discount just because you work at Audrey’s. Everybody loves her” she grinned at Jane and Gwen.

Gwen grinned. “Do we get a discount just for being Audrey’s friends?” She asked--not exactly a penny pincher, but Gwen had a smart head when it came to money.

“I think we’ll work out some kind of a deal,” Audrey said, grinning and blushing. They turned into the salon. It was much warmer inside than out.

Jane laughed at Gwen. She wouldn’t know if they were getting a good discount if she were honest, since she couldn’t remember a time when she had stepped into a salon for more than a haircut. “So uh...what happens now?” she asked.

“Now we let Audrey work her magic. Then they’ll show us to our seats and start the treatments. It’ll be fun, you won’t be on your own. We’ll still be able to gossip and chat” Izzy grinned.

“Cool, sorry I just...never been a girly girl or had particularly girly friends before,” Jane shrugged by way of apology. “This is all kind of new,” she gave a nervous laugh.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s a bit strange at first, just go with the flow.” Gwen said. She collected all of their coats, while Audrey went over and talked to the first lady she could see.

Four of the women in the salon (who all happened to be Vietnamese) turned to wave and say hello to Audrey. She handed over a box of cookies, and got a round of thanks. Then the employees all led the girls over to the pedicure chairs, and ushered them into their seats..

“We take off our shoes and socks, and roll up our pants at first. There’s a bit of a foot bath,” Audrey explained. “And some massage, then they do the toenails. And give them your hands, too, they’ll do your nails at the same time. These chairs also warm up and have a massage option.” ...that may have been her favorite part.

"I love you" Izzy declared with a grin, "Just putting that out there. Massage chairs are awesome, you're gonna love it" she enthused to Jane.

“Massage sounds wonderful!” Jane groaned happily as she let herself be lead to a chair. “The foot bath doesn’t have those weird little eat-your-skin fish does it?” she asked, eying the foot bath a little dubiously.

Gwen laughed. “No, no eat your skin fish. Just bubbles, really. I’ve never been to this place in particular before, but all the other places I’ve been to have… just Epsom Salts and the like.” She climbed into her own chair and let the ladies start working on her hands and feet, while the massagers in the chair started to vibrate against her back.

Audrey beamed. “I’ve never tried a pedicure with those little fish… it sounds like a lot of fun.” She was busy taking off her shoes and preparing for her own pedicure.

Izzy tried not to shudder, “I’m not sure about that” she said, “There’s something wrong about the idea of fish eating my feet. Especially if mine aren’t the first feet” she added laying back in her own chair.

“Yep, I’m with Izzy, the idea of those fish having their mouths around someone else’s feet before mine?” Jane shuddered dramatically as she settled into a chair next to Izzy. “Not good!” she added before letting out a blissful moan as the chair’s massager started on her back. “Oh my god, why did we not meet before now?” she asked at length, closing her eyes as someone started working on her feet.

“No sense of adventure.” Audrey said, giving her shoulders a little shrug. She climbed up into her chair and let the women start massaging and everything. For a few minutes, she found that she had no voice to speak, only little whimpers of pleasure escaped her.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve had a manicure or a pedicure since my undergrad years.” Gwen mused aloud. She was leaning back in her chair with her eyes closed. There were about six employees working the spa, so a couple of them were working on more than one customer at the moment… but the good news was that Audrey, Gwen, Jane and Izzy had the place to themselves.

“I’ve not had one since I moved here” Izzy said as she relaxed into the chair, “This was a great idea girls, we’re going to have to make it a more regular thing. Girl’s treat” It was nice having a girlie group and this group was simply the best.