Who: Eric and Ariel What: A Random Meeting and Flirting When: Backdated: Saturday, March 29th. Afternoon Where: The Beach Rating: Family Friendly Status: Complete
Eric was bored. He still had a few more days before he moved back into the house for the show for a few months and he’d done everything he needed to do before then. He’d made plans with a friend to watch his apartment and he’d packed, so now he was just waiting and enjoying his last few days with no camera crews following him around. While he enjoyed being on the show, it was gonna be a long couple of months with little to no privacy. So while he still had his privacy, Eric decided to go around to a couple of different places, including the beach.
After parking his car, he decided to take a walk along the beach, see if anyone was around and if anyone would recognize him.
If Ariel wasn’t doing one of the hundred things she always got herself roped into doing, she was at the beach. Okay, sometimes she was even skipping one of the hundred things to be at the beach anyway, but that was besides the point. But the weather was improving and she wasn’t going to miss any of it, so currently she was wading around with her jeans rolled up, leaning over to examine what was currently living in the tide pools.
When she happened to glance up, her eyes fell immediately on a very familiar and totally handsome face. Ariel took a step back to try and make herself look sort of presentable in case he saw her, but in her haste her foot slipped and she stumbled back. There was a dull splash, and she blinked, feeling her face turn nearly as red as her hair.
Eric had been walking and thinking about the upcoming filming schedule when he heard the splash and looked up then in the direction it had come from and saw the red headed girl in the water. “Crap. Are you alright?” He asked, jogging over towards her, sneakers getting wet as he stepped into the water to extend a hand to her.
She blinked at him in what could only be described as mute horror. Ariel’s brain kicked into gear after a moment and she took his hand, trying not to be too humiliated. “Yeah. I’m good. Just, you know, soggy.” She grinned a bit and laughed, then shrugged. “I’ll dry out.”
Eric smiled as he helped her up, released her hand once she was back on her feet, “That’s the good thing about water. If you get wet, you’ll eventually dry.” There was no denying that the girl was cute, which meant it would be very difficult not to flirt with her. Eric had a thing for pretty girls, but then again, who didn’t?
“Good ol’ water,” she said, giving Eric what she was sure was a dumb smile. “I. Uh. Thank you. For helping me?” Ariel cleared her throat and pushed some wet hair behind her ear.
“Hey it was no problem. What kind of guy would I be if I just let you sit there and didn’t come help?” Eric grinned, “So, what were you doing that caused you to fall over? Is it slippery in there?” He knew that sometimes the sand in the ocean could be pretty treacherous.
Her sisters, she thought, were going to have a field day when Ariel told them about this. “A pretty awful one, I guess,” she said, laughing a little. “I, um. In the tidal pool. I saw something I just wasn’t thinking I’d see and, well. Splash.”
“Really? What’d you see?” Eric glanced down at the tidal pool that he was still standing in, his shoes were going to take a while to dry out once he did finally step out of the water, “Is it some kind of weird looking fish or something?” Of course he had no idea that Ariel was talking about him. If he had, that definitely would have stroked his ego.
“Oh. Uh.” Ariel cleared her throat, then flapped her hand dismissively. “I don’t wanna bore you with you fish and ocean stuff because once I get going I’m not ever going to stop. So. Yeah. You know.” Ahem.
Eric’s attention was pulled back to the redhead, brows rising slightly as he watched her, “You know a lot about the ocean and fish and things?” Despite living near the beach, Eric rarely actually went there unless they went for the show and even then, they’d only gone once or twice the previous year. However, if cute girls like the one standing in front of him were there this often then he might have to go more often.
“Oh. Um, yeah, my dad’s sort of this famous marine biologist. I mean. Famous if you do science and stuff. Not like -- Celebrity famous or anything.” Ariel realized she was babbling and she promptly stopped, then pointed at a large house not too far down the beach. “That’s my house. Always around the ocean and fish and things, this girl.”
“Wow. That’s pretty impressive.” Eric said, following her hand as she pointed to the house, “So, you’ve always known lots of sea stuff then?” Having grown up in Ohio, it didn’t give him much of a chance to really learn anything about the ocean except what one could learn at the aquarium.
“Yep, always,” she agreed, nodding enthusiastically. Though she realized maybe that might be super dorky. “I don’t know. There’s just a lot out there. It’s never boring.”
“That’s pretty cool. I’m from Ohio so I’m not really all that familiar with sea life.” Eric finally took a step back out of the water, his toes beginning to get cold, “I mean, except for the basics like whales and dolphins and fish.” He spotted a dry bit of sand and sat down, removing his shoes and socks, “I bet you know a ton more than I do.”
Not wanting to be left standing in the ocean, Ariel followed, because she figured that he was still talking to her so it would be all right to join him. “Whales and dolphins are amazing. There’s definitely nothing wrong with knowing just whales and dolphins.”
Eric would have been disappointed if she hadn’t joined him and he smiled over at her as she did so, “I’m sure there’s a million different kinds though. I really only know Shamu and….what are they, bottlenose dolphins? Those are the grey ones everyone always swims with, right?” He hoped that she didn’t think he sounded like a loser, but then again, Eric didn’t see how anyone could think he was a loser. Yeah, semi-fame had gone to his head just a bit.
"Well ... It's a start," she said, trying not to laugh. "Just hang out at the beach more, you'll catch on. I mean, we even get sharks now and then, it's never boring." Oh, geez, she thinks. She meets a sort-of celebrity and she blabs on about marine life. "I'm, um, Ariel. By the way."
“Maybe I will. I mean, this has already been a thrilling experience. Never thought I’d rescue a cute girl from not really drowning.” He flashed her a slightly charming, slightly smug smile, “Ariel? That’s really pretty. I’m Eric. Not as pretty, but I have no real complaints with it.”
Oh, she knew who he was. She just didn’t want to say that because she was worried about coming off as crazy or something. “I think Eric’s a good name,” she said. Ariel dug her toes into the sand a bit and then, reluctantly, bit her lip and sighed. “I should probably head home, I guess. So I can stop being, you know, soggy.”
Eric smiled in response and shrugged a little, “I guess it could be worse.” He certainly didn’t think she was crazy and wouldn’t have minded if she had said she knew who he was; he was used to that kind of thing, but it was nice to talk to someone who wasn’t gushing over him, “Right. That’s probably a good idea. Maybe I’ll see you around again if I stop by the beach again.”
“Well, I’m always here.” Which was pretty much the sad truth. She stood up and dusted the sand off as best as she could, and gave him a shy smile. “It was good to meet you, Eric. I’ll, um, keep my eyes out for you.”