After his brief encounter with Alexander, who soon leaves, presumably to go walk around with the girl who had been staring through the window when Jem walked in, the dimpled boy does find the person he's looking for. Hopefully the Shantley parents are planning to let their primary workers take the night off. It would surprise Jem if they didn't- it's not like they've kept the siblings locked in working for the past several festivals. As far as families go, CJ has a really good one, Jem thinks. They all seem to get along very well, at least. Not that Jem would ever complain of his family- they stick together, even if his mother and father have the tendency to argue quite a bit. It's a good thing neither of them are the sort to put aggressive words into action- especially with his parents' potions, which would be too perfect for bits of revenge or irritation and such.
CJ promises to be done soon, which merits another smile from Jem- not that his smiles are really a rare commodity to come by. Both of the friends, best friends since childhood, are known to be the sort who smile quite a lot. After all, they share a sort of sociable cheerfulness, as well as the fact that it kind of brushes aside any other issues the two may have. In Jem's case, people tend to forget how bad his sulking can be, or how emotionally sensitive he is [almost child-like], when faced only with a boyish smile and a joke. That's the way he likes it, of course. He's too dependent on the presence of others to allow them to slip away so easily.
As his brunette friend returns, this time for them to set off and enjoy the festival, Jem finds himself smiling once more. "So, where to first? Games? Music? Meet up with people?" he asks, never having had qualms with letting other people make decisions for him, especially ones so trivial. Besides, he doesn't know how long CJ's parents will let one of their few waiters go for- or how busy the restaurant usually gets during the festival, now that he thinks about it. He's never hung around the place during the Summer Solstice.
"Maybe we could find Skye?" he adds, mentioning their mutual friend [though he perhaps sees the spring faerie as more than a friend].
Mel owns a phone. She knows how to use her phone. She even goes sofar as to use it fairly frequently. That being said, she is one of those people who will send a text, put her phone down, and not look at it again for an hour, leaving the other person mildly confused. At the moment, she can argue the excuse that the music and dancing and cute guy dancing diagonally from her served to redirect her attention. Whatever the argument, the young woman doesn't notice the response texts that float in, focused on dancing and the music and the fact that the weather is impossibly perfect at that moment. It's her ideal summer day, really- perfect weather, perfect waves, perfect shots, and good music.
And, she soon finds out, good friends. It's fortunate that Chris actually physically approached her, because she hadn't noticed his text, just as she hadn't most of the other messages. Hearing his voice, she turns around to face the shapeshifter, whose hands-in-pocket, make-self-smaller stance looks impossibly awkward among the pulsing semi-crowd. She grins at him, her wide and easy smile as distinctive to her as Jem's dimpled one is to him. "Hey! My mood, man- on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend," she adds with a twist of her smile that gives it a funny looking quirk towards one side. As her speech patterns often suggest, Mel is a rather relaxed, non serious person. "Speaking of moods, here comes your lady love," she refers to his less than subtle crush on Theo Osonia, the girl hair that Mel has often compared to a supernova. To Mel's credit, she drops her voice slightly, out of courtesy for Chris's anxiousness.
Mel raises her eyebrows at Theo, smile quirking once more, "I took lessons from her." She looks over Theo once, then beams. "Nice to see you aren't wearing heels this year."
Finally, her attentions are located in such a way that she feels a text coming in. Leaning in towards Chris, she whispers [as quiety as she can to still be heard, "I'm gonna ditch this crowd. But first, I'll leave you and lady nova over there to the privacy of the mob." With a wink and shoulder nudge, she is out of sight, weaving through the crowd until she reaches clearer lands, where she can check her phone and wait for Chris and Theo to join her, if they choose to. This is just like Mel- bring people into her own habitat, only to leave them there to fend for themselves.
To: Jae
Oh, love, I'm blushing. I trust you'll wait for me. For a few minutes. Or an hour. I'll get there eventually
To: Belinda
I'll be looking for that top- and maybe the face. :-)
To: Skye
Maybe near the Ferris wheel. Stay tuned.
To: Chris
Wow, long time no see. Having fun in the crowd? Knowing you, I'm surprised you aren't crowd surfing yet!
To: CJ
The hardest! If you're nice, I'll give you cheaper drinks during my shift.