Scouting - Tag Ben, Eden, OPEN

[Sloane Taylor]

After the troublesome run in with that hooligan, well pretty hooligan in the afternoon, Sloane was ready to just mellow out and spend the night far away from home. Nothing against her household but the condescending stares and the supposedly comforting rubs on the back were starting to grate on her. She didn't need pity from her family members about her stupid non-existent break up with the boy who wasn't even her real boyfriend. Well, not real to her anyway.

So there she was at the pier, scouting for any potential victims company for the night. So far, not even a small fry was biting. But she wasn't Sloane Taylor if she gave up. No...maybe all she had to do was stand still and let the swarm hit her instead of the other way around. And off to the jetty she went, leaning against the rails as she looked out at the carnival bustling with activity. It was a school night yet the carnival was full of life.

Her eyes scanned the crowd, meeting a pair a few times but only to be smacked down by a girlfriend or a boyfriend, husband or a wife. She was amused at how pliant people were under whatever hold a beautiful girl could have. She ignored the fact that she too did the same thing. Be that as it may, apart from the slip up she got into with Nolan and May, Sloane didn't paint any illusions about herself. Ergo, she had never cheated on the person she was with. Not even slightly.

Finally, she settled on the back of a girl in a pleated skirt, long flowy platinum blond hair trailing down her back and what seemed to be a loose flowing top thing. Oh, prime innocent meat. Sloane pushed herself off the rails and walked over to where the girl was apparently in the middle of a transaction with a pot dealer. Oh, not so innocent but still...worth the search.

Once the dealer backed away, Sloane made her move. "You wanted to be caught, didn't you?" Her raspy voice sounded. Of course, she was assuming but really...dealing at the pier? Sloane wouldn't be surprised if the girl was an adrenaline junkie.

[Eden Patridge]

Eden felt a little nervous...on edge. Ben was usually the won who bought the pot...not her. While their dealer was sort of a friend of the family, he also could be a bit sleazy, which was why Ben usually handled their transactions and not Eden. But for some reason he'd texted Eden specifically saying he had a new strain for them to try and it seemed that Ben wasn't around...so...

Eden drove herself over to the pier where their dealer and said to meet up. Eden parked her car and walked down to the pier, still wearing the clothes she'd worn to school that day, she wondered if perhaps she should have changed into something grungier. Jeans and a T-shirt or something.

"Eden...long time no see," he said as he saw her. He opened his arms for a hug, one that she didn't give.

"Just give me the weed and lets get this over with," she said as she folded her arms across her chest.

"I must say, I'm surprised you didn't bring Ben with you...but I can't say I mind...."

"Ben wasn't home," Eden said flatly. "Are we doing this or not?" she asked. "Cause I can leave."

"Fine, fine," he said, pulling the weed all out in the open. Seriously? Is this what he did with Ben? She doubted it...he was totally messing her her. Eden looked around, making sure no authority figures were around before snatching it and stuffing it in her purse. She then stuffed some bills into his hand. "Now leave," she told him.

"Aw come on...I thought we could hang out," he said, reaching out and trailing his finger down her arm. "Ben and I usually hang out," he pointed out.

"Probably cause you don't creep on him," Eden snapped. "Now go away."

The boy sighed, mumbling something about not bothering calling her at all next time which was perfectly fine by her. He then slunk off and Eden could feel her body relaxing. But it only lasted for a second as a raspy voice behind her informed her that she wanted to get caught. Eden bit down on her lower lip, turning around slowly, expecting to be greeted by some female cop but instead her eyes falling upon Sloane Taylor.

Eden knew Sloane...just not well...well, not any more. Another friend of the family, Eden and Ben and both played with Eden when they were kids only they'd sort of grown apart as they'd gotten older. Eden and Ben had gotten really into surfing and Sloane had gotten into...well, sleeping around if there was anything true to what she heard around school. From what she heard Sloane was always trying to find new boys and girls to hook up with...was that what she was doing now?!?! No...couldn't be...

"Um...hey, Sloane," she said, still chewing on her bottom lip. "How are you?" she asked.

[Sloane Taylor]

When the blonde turned to face her, Sloane's eyebrow raised as she put two and two together. Wait...sweet innocent Eden Patridge was taking drugs? Damn, it had been a long time since they saw each other last. Sloane remembered she used to hang out with both the Patridge twins when they were growing up. Way before Sloane started sleeping around. Eden used to be so small and all peaches and cream but now she looked...indescribable.

"Eden," Sloane recovered from her mild shock and grinned. "Where's Ben? Never seen you without him before." Which was partially true. Sloane and Ben were more active when they played and Eden just hid behind her big brother most of the time. Sloane found it cute. "I'm good. I didn't really expect to meet with anyone I knew." The redhead chuckled. "Mind my pointing out the obvious but that guy was selling weed. And you bought some from him..." Sloane chuckled once more.

"Must admit, I'm pretty surprised by your choice of drug." Sloane said as she escorted Eden into the carnival, her hand on the small of the blonde's back. She purposely stilled her hand there just to see how Eden would react to it. They hadn't seen each other for awhile but Sloane remembered how the fellow junior used to be so compliant before. Had she changed?

[Eden Patridge]

"Oh yeah...not really sure where Ben is right now....I know he's not home, I dunno," she said with a shrug. She remembered how it all used to be too. Eden had always been sort of the tag a long to Ben, up until recently really. Now she'd become a bit more independent of him, something that hadn't happened until Jett had come into the picture really, but still, while the twins were still very close, they also did their own thing sometimes as well, which was new to them.

Eden smile guiltily as Sloane pointed out she'd just bought weed. "Yeah...Ben usually gets it," she admitted. "We sort of know the guy though, but he can be a creeper sometimes," she explained, "which is why Ben usually handles it all...but yeah, he was just being really obvious and stuff to give me a hard time," she said. Eden had been smoking for ages so she really didn't see that as a new development, however she supposed that she'd started smoking weed after the twins and Sloane had grown apart.

"Really?" Eden asked when Sloane mentioned she was surprised by the choice of drug. It really was the only one she did after all, unless you were one of those people who considered alcohol a drug cause it was no secret that she drank as well. She felt Sloane's hand on the small of her back as she sort of redirected her into the carnival, where she hadn't planned on spending time in, but it seemed that Sloane wanted to hang out, which Eden really wasn't opposed to either. It was really the hand on the small of her back thing that bothered her since it was the type of thing that Jett did when they walked. Eden of course said nothing about this though and just continued letting Sloane lead her through the carnival.

[Sloane Taylor]

It made Sloane smile how Eden was obviously uncomfortable with the hand. So the girl wasn't into experimentation. Then again, Sloane was known for her charming ways. And if she recalled correctly, Eden was pretty easy to manipulate. Through no fault of her own, of course but Sloane took the term 'Carpe Diem' in a slightly different manner. Anyone who knew her knew she did and she was not about to correct them.

Sloane laughed at Eden's description of the guy. "That's a bit of an understatement. The guy kind of reeks of creep." She chose to ignore the fact that she had been called the same thing. In her defense, charm could be misconstrued as sleaze sometimes. But she wasn't about to turn it on just yet. Let Eden get more comfortable with the idea of being friends again with Sloane before anything else. She even let her hand drop to her side.

"I actually didn't think you'd do drugs at all." The redheaded junior shrugged. "But it has been a long time since we last saw each other. What do I know right?" She turned to a corn dog vendor and asked for a corn dog. Turning back to Eden, Sloane asked, "You want one? I haven't had dinner yet and I'm not in the mood for anything heavy."

[Eden Patridge]

Eden had only really experimented when it came to boys. Doing anything with a girl had never really crossed her mind. It seemed that most girls that hooked up with each other would only make out on dance floors or during parties and it was usually to get the attention of guys anyway. And Eden had a guy now, so she didn't really need to do that. However it was true that Eden was easy to manipulate...mostly because she went about, walking through life without any rhyme or reason, letting things happen to her without really even attempting to create her own fate. Even with Jett...if he hadn't made the first move, she probably never would have done anything. The problem really was in that when whoever made their first move, Eden was more inclined to just go along with it that actually think anything through and reason out whether it was a good move to go along with it or not. But that was Eden, never thinking things through.

"Yeah he does, but like I said, sort of a friend of the family...plus he has really good stuff. They grow their own plants so it isn't like a lot of the crap that's out there..." she explained, relaxing slightly when Sloane removed her hand from her back. She then continued talking as if everything was normal, which told Eden that she'd probably been wrong about the gesture anyway. Everything was normal. She'd just been reading into the gesture too much perhaps. Sloane was clearly just being nice.

"Yeah...been smoking for awhile now...started when I was...14 maybe," she said. "Ben smokes way more than I do though," Eden admitted about her brother. While Eden was a very frequent smoker, Ben could almost be considered a full blown pot head. It really wasn't a big deal that they smoked though or that they had both started so young because their parents still smoked weed too, so it had never seemed like a big deal, even if it was technically still against the law.

"Yeah, actually that sounds pretty good," Eden said, reaching into her purse to pull out a few dollars since that's all she needed. It was then that her phone beeped. Text message. It was from Ben...apparently he'd talked to their dealer too only to find out Eden had beat him to the punch, but he was already by the pier now. "Think he's going to join us," Eden said. "Better get him one too," she said about the corn dog.

She reached into her purse to grab the money for the second corn dog, the breeze causing her skirt to swish back and forth since it was more flowy of a skirt that she usually wore. But being by the water it did get windy sometimes and a gust of wind came and passed, causing Eden's skirt to flip up, revealing her pale pink mesh and lace panties to Sloane and anyone else near by watching, for a moment before she could quickly push her skirt back down. Her cheeks instantly began to burn as she looked around wildly and then back at Sloane. "You don't think anyone saw that...do you?" she asked, biting down on her lower lip.

OOC: will wait a post of two to bring Ben in, give him a chance to walk over from wherever he parked and give Eden a little more time to be embarrassed before he arrives

[Sloane Taylor]

"Wouldn't know about that." Sloane chuckled when Eden started talking about the weed. "My choice of drug is a little different than what people are selling." She grinned. The revelation that Ben smoked more than Eden didn't come as such a surprise to Sloane mostly because she would think Eden followed Ben instead of the other way around. She of course was not in the position to judge so she kep her mouth shut about it. Somehow, the redheaded Gould junior was quite sure Eden would be coming into her own soon enough. Wouldn't that be a sight to see.

Fourteen is a young age to start doing drugs in Sloane's opinion but then again, Sloane started sleeping around at that age too. She wondered why though. Her upbringing was good as any, her parents never neglected her and she had brothers who would do a lot for her. Laughing to herself, she shook the thoughts out of her head. That was a bit too deep for her to be thinking on an empty stomach. That was a bit too deep for her to be thinking, period. Sloane Taylor was not known for thinking. Sloane Taylor was very much known for doing. And when she does, she does it good.

Sloane was about to refuse the money when Eden's phone sounded. The junior athlete smirked when she realised she would have both the Patridge twins with her. She wasn't entirely sure what would happen but then, she wasn't much of a planner and things happen to her anyway. So she wasn't worried too much about it. Sloane vocally refused Eden's money as she took out a tenner to pay for all three corn dogs. "My treat. I needed to break the money anyway." She shrugged when Eden looked like she was about to protest.

"Nice underwear choice." The runner chuckled lightly. Her embarrassment amused Sloane who reassured her that no one did. "Except the vendor. I'm sure he will keep his mouth shut about it." Sloane raised an eyebrow at the corn dog vendor who raised both hands in defense before giving her the corn dogs. Sloane handed two to Eden and started walking back to the pier. "See, all settled."

"So, besides smoking weed, what else have I missed in your lives?" she asked before biting into the snack she had just bought.

[Eden Patridge]

"Oh?" Eden asked, not sure what kind of drug she was talking about it. "Is it like something you make...I don't even think I've ever heard of anything like that," she pointed out, completely oblivious to what Sloane meant. She tossed her hair behind her shoulders, as Sloane continued to speak.

She refused her money and Eden stuffed it back into her purse, "Okay," she was about to say when the skirt thing happened. Eden's cheeks were bright red and she had trouble looking Sloane in the eye as she laughed about it, commenting on her underwear. Eden personally wished she'd been wearing some that left a little more to the imagination, but hopefully the quick glance had been too fast to see anything. She was still glancing down at the ground when Sloane handed her the corn dogs.

Sloane began headed back toward the pier and Eden followed dutifully. She didn't much want to keep standing by that vendor anyway. "Oh...well I surf a lot," Eden said. "Still hang out with Izzy and Jett all the time too," Eden told the other girl. "Actually....uh...Jett and I are dating now." It was still strange to say. The words still sounded strange in her mouth. She took the first bite of her corndog, filling up the silence for a moment before she spotted the blonde head of her brother.

Ben, freshly caffeinated knew that he wasn't going to stick around long. He still had a report to get to but Eden had mentioned food so he couldn't turn that down. His blue eyes widened at the site of Sloane Taylor standing with his sister. He smiled as he approached them and took the corn dog out of his sister's hand. "Sloane Taylor," he said. "Long time, no see," he said as he pushed some of his hair out of his eyes. "What are you two up to?" he asked.

Like Eden, Ben had also heard the rumors about Sloane...sleeping around and all that. He mostly didn't pay attention to these things, preferring to think of Sloane as she was when they were younger and used to hang out with one another.

[Sloane Taylor]

Sloane just chuckled and left it at that. If Eden was oblivious to the fact that Sloane meant something else then the redhead was not about to take advantage of it. She wasn't mean or anything. "Yeah, probably not even on the market." She shrugged and dropped the subject. "And don't worry about the skirt thing. It's not like it's anything new. Marilyn Monroe kind of made it sexy."

As Sloane listened to Eden, she took interest in the fact that the blond was now dating a jock. One of the nicer onces perhaps but she never really pegged Eden to be one of the girls who fell for jocks. Of course, Sloane didn't know Eden anymore did she? Sloane was sure Eden wouldn't believe if Sloane told her that she had been involved with a cheerleader and a jock. A silver jock at that. They had been apart for too long to know what each other's preferences were anymore.

"That's an interesting pairing." Sloane commented and left it at that. Lately, Sloane's annoyed that she's starting to find a conscience in herself saying that if someone was tied to another, she should just back the hell off. God, she was getting soft. And Eden was apparently tied to someone else. Should she...? No, the annoying part of her conscience was saying no. What an annoyance.

When Sloane heard her name being called, she turned and grinned at the blonde boy, the boy half of the Patridge twins, Ben. Well Echo, really but she knew well enough not to call someone by their given name if it was something like Echo. She wasn't stupid. And besides, Ben told her never to call him that and she wasn't about to be obnoxious.

A thought struck her mind and she realised she had the Patridge twins together with her. Two very attractive blonde just...ripe for the picking. Well, Ben she wasn't so sure about. It had been awhile since they last spoke. He must have heard about her reputation and being the backbone of the twins, she wasn't entirely sure Ben would be so quick to fall for her charms. Then again, didn't hurt to try.

"Ben Patridge," she nodded, returning his full name greeting in kind with a grin. "I'm sure that's for the best you not seeing me for a long time. You look good." Sloane smirked, checking him out rather openly. No shame in showing appreciation. Especially with him looking like that. "I just bumped into her earlier." Sloane waved the corn dog in Eden's direction.

"You really shouldn't let the girl do any more transactions. That guy's a creep. You should have known better, Ben." Sloane jokingly scolded the blond boy.

[Eden Patridge]

To Eden dating Jett wasn't dating a jock, even though she supposed that that was how a lot of people would see it. To her it was dating the guy she'd grown up with. While she and Ben had a number of childhood friends, the Chen's were the one's the ones they'd always stayed in touch with even when their parents or nannies stopped forcing them to play together. Izzy was Eden's best friend and Jett was Ben's. So to Eden it really wasn't a jock preference, in fact she sort of wished he wasn't one since she liked to remain more low key and now she was thrown into the popular crowd every now and then just because of Jett. But then again a lot of things about Jett still annoyed Eden. As much as the couple cared about one another, they were still always fighting about this or that, pushing each other to the limit just to see if they could survive it. It was really terribly dramatic on both their parts, but that's just how it was. Right now they were in bliss, tomorrow who knew.

Ben smiled. He'd already checked Sloane out from the a distance and could see that she looked very good indeed, something that was odd to think about since while they went to school together they hadn't really spent time together since they were like 10. Ben laughed though when she said it was a good thing they haven't seen one another. "I don't know about that," he said. "We probably should hang out more...its really been too long." Back in the day they'd hang out through their parents. But the older Ben and Eden gotten, the less their parents stayed in town. And the less they were in town, the less they saw the kids that had been involved in those meetings, Sloane being one of the casualties.

"Thanks," he said, "you too," he told her about looking good. After all, she did. Ben was aware of her reputation but he didn't really care. While he did hear rumors from time to time he tended not to put too much faith in them. Plus, who cared if someone slept around? Was it really that big of a deal? Maybe Ben didn't do it, but being a normal 16 year old guy, well, it wasn't something he'd exactly mind. In fact, he'd been quite keen on losing his virginity when Liz had offered it, only wanting to wait a bit since he'd only known the girl a day. But that had fell apart as quickly as it started and to Ben's dismay he was still very much a virgin. Okay, it wasn't that big of a deal...he wasn't desperate or anything, but it wasn't as if he wanted to stay all chaste.

He let out a sigh when Sloane mentioned the dealer. "Yeah, he said, that's why I usually tell her not to even come along," he explained, looking over at his sister. "You really should have just waited for me," he told her.

Eden bit down on her lower lip. "Sorry..." she mumbled. It was no secret that Ben, being the older of the twins by a whopping 2 minutes, was the dominant of the two. Still, it wasn't something that he usually used to his advantage or anything like that. Sure, when they were young and even now sometimes, Eden had followed his lead, but it was never something that he'd really asked for or pushed her into doing. Sure when he'd first walked in and found out about Eden sleeping around with Jett, he'd yelled at her, sort of told her what to do, and then there was just now and the other times he warned her not to come along when he bought pot, but really other than those instances that were few and far between. For the most part, he let Eden do what she wanted...it just always seemed that she wanted someone to follow, wanted direction. Ben certainly was not the poster boy for making decisions or having any direction in his life really, but compared to his sister, he probably was the more stable of the two, despite the whole pot head thing.

"So you two gonna hang out for a bit?" he asked. "I have some homework I need to do, but I totally don't mind putting that off a little longer," he said, looking back at the carnival. "We should go on a ride or something," he suggested.