Lark meets Mia during a dinner-party event at Oliver and Robin’s. They immediately hit off as they jointly tease how domestic Oliver and Robin have become.
“Look at them holding hands under the table!”
“We’ll leave early, don’t you worry!”
And then after, they start whispering to each other.
“Oliver’s written love songs for Robin. You should see his expression!”
“Robin started working out for Oliver!”
“Oliver learned to cook for Robin!”
“Robin started developing a lot of desserts to cater to Oliver’s taste!”
They look at each other, and Lark immediately says, “Let’s be friends,” and Mia, no-nonsense as she is, agrees.
They decide to meet up together for coffee on a weekend.
On that warm, sunny day, they end up strolling through one of Melbourne’s parks.
“Is it easy to volunteer like that?” Mia is asking after Lark mentions her weekend teaching and supervising disadvantaged kids to play sport.
Lark nods. “It’s not too hard. There’s the working with children check, and a short training session. The hardest thing is getting the equipment, really. You have to pay out of pocket sometimes, but if you don’t, it’s not fair to the kids at all.” Lark sighs. “Sure, some of them are rowdy, but they’re good kids, ultimately.”
Mia nods. “I could get my company to donate some money to teach kids music. Donations are tax-deductible, after all.”
Lark smirks. “You said you have a boyfriend? When are you going to get married for tax purposes?”
Mia laughs. “But consider the cost of a socially-acceptable wedding. How many years would it take to recuperate that?”
Lark nods seriously. “You must calculate and do some serious forecasting. Unfortunately, there’s a reason I’m not an accountant. Maybe I can get my brother to help you.”
“Maybe if my boyfriend sees how lovey-dovey Oliver and Robin are, he might get some inspiration. A little hint that Oliver’s trying to seduce me with food…”
They soon move back to the volunteer work. Right there and then, Lark sends the details of the organisation she volunteers for to Mia.
“But it’s in my local council area, so you might want to take a look at what’s being set up at other areas, or ask this organisation whether they have plans to extend out.”
Mia nods. “It might be fun to have the kids come to the company on the weekend, there’s not as many people around, and it would be a good experience. We have some old equipment that’s perfectly serviceable at their level.”
“You don’t have to do something related to your profession,” Lark adds. “But I’ll definitely help you get this up and running.”
Mia smiles, eyes sparkling with excitement. “And I’ll drag my boyfriend too, he has way too much free time. Say, I noticed the image on your phone lockscreen…”
Lark raises an eyebrow. “You recognise it?” It’s a stylised picture from a fairly obscure series of books.
“Oh, I do.”
Lark smirks. “Wouldn’t it be funny if we knew each other’s online personas?”
They look at each other, and say their online usernames.
“I’ve seen your artwork!” Lark realises.
“And I’ve seen your writing!” Mia returns.
They both nod simultaneously. “Our friendship is meant to be!”
*
Later, when Lark meets up with Robin, Robin asks her how it went.
“How do you feel about teaching a group of kids how to bake a cake?” she says instead.
Robin blinks. “Depending on the time, I suppose…” His eyes narrow. “You’re planning something.”
Lark pats her innocently little brother on the back. “Don’t worry, leave it to me.”
Hahaha them telling each other what Oliver and Robin have done for each other is like two moms half boasting, half gossiping to each other about their kids xDD
EXACTLY!!! ????