Challenge B1 - Write or Die! (NaNo Track)
Word Count: 305
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original: Bridges
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): None
Summary: Jarred gets an interesting visitor at his door.
After a long weekend weekend pulling out weeds in his backyard, and trying to find a store nearby that sells paint so he could fix up the fence that went around the perimeter of his property, Jarred was sore and exhausted by Monday morning.
He was brewing some coffee and flipping open his laptop lid on the ancient table left by the previous owners in the dining room, when there was a knock at the door. He left the dining room and made his way to the front of the house where he paused, remembering the last time he opened the door to unwanted company.
This time he peered through the eye hole.
Standing on his doorstep were two men. They were wearing dark t-shirts. One was balding, and the other wore a baseball cap. They were both wearing faded jeans. They definitely didn't belong to the old biddy's historical club. Jarred decided to open the door.
“Good morning, sir,” the bad man said and stuck out his hand for Jarred to shake. “I'm Bobby Putrone, and it's come to my attention that you're the new owner of this fine house.”
“Er, yes...” Jarred was already shaking hand and had to pull it away. “Just last week. And now it's Saturday.” He felt the need to point that out.
“Well, we wanted to come by and offer you our services,” Bobby went on. “You see, we're the Cleveland Minnesota Paranormal Society.”
Jarred felt as though he wanted to groan.
“I don't know if you're aware,” Bobby handed him a flier with their name on it. “But your house has had many rumors of being haunted throughout the years. We were wondering if perhaps you'd be willing to allow our group onto your premises to conduct an investigation.”
Word Count: 352
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original: Bridges
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): None
Summary: Jarred gets an interesting visitor at his door. (continued)
Jarred was looking down at the flier. It boasted claims of the paranormal and listed tools that the group used such as EVPs. When he flipped it open there were photographs of these 'ghosts' that the group claimed to have witnessed. He looked back up at them with a straight face.
“Free of charge, of course,” Bobby added.
“No thanks,” Jarred said.
“Is it because you haven't experienced any strange events in the house yet? Well, we could put your mind at ease and exorcise all spirits before anything happens. Or if you have felt anything odd, we could tell you about them.”
Jarred didn't know what to say at this point. He sort of felt like he was in some sort of Hollywood script, yet... he was far away from California. “Sorry, guys, but I'm just not interested. How about I hang onto your number just in case anything comes up?”
Both guys were smiling at him now. “Okay,” Bobby said, though he looked reluctant to leave. “But promise you will as soon anything strange happens! Really bad things have happened here in the past, and the spirits that may be in this place may not be friendly ones. Consider that a warning.”
“Um... okay.” Jarred closed the door and then watched them walk to their car at the curb. It almost sounded like they were threatening him. Why were they so interested in getting into his house? Ghosts, could that really be the reason? It seemed ridiculous to him.
After they drove away he set the brochure on the table and looked around the room. It was old. The wallpaper was peeling and the woodwork looked all original. There was an old chandelier hanging from the ceiling that didn't even take electricity. The previous owner hadn't taken several pieces of furniture, including a sofa and a chair, but they were worn and ragged and looked like they were from the fifties. The rest of the house looked much older.
It only reminded him that he would have to make some phone calls and
Word Count: 376
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original: Bridges
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): None
Summary: Lira's Aunts and the Historical Society convince her to be bait.
“First order of business,” Aunt Carol said from the end of the table. She had a donut and a cup of coffee in front of her, untouched. “The old Victorian house on the counter of First and Washington. Does anyone have any news?”
Dana raised her hand. “My sister lives on the block across the street and she saw the owner bringing in buckets of paint yesterday.”
Aunt Carol's eyes widened. Lira thought she saw a blood vessel pop in her forehead. “Paint! What could he possibly be painting in there? I hope it's not the wood!” There was a long pause where it was obvious she was thinking very hard. “New plan,” she said suddenly. “We have to get someone in that house to make sure he's not ruining it. Someone has to volunteer to go inside.”
No one raised their hand.
“That's trespassing,” Aunt Ida said.
“We won't break in, of course!” Aunt Carol told her. “One of us will charm our way in. Now who can that be...” Her gaze fell on Lira.
“Oh no, Aunt Carol. Count me out!” Lira threw her hands up in the air, almost knocking over her coffee mug. “What could I do to charm him?”
Several of the ladies giggled.
“You can't be serious, Lira.” Aunt Carol fingered Lira's strawberry blonde hair. It was so soft, it easily fell through her fingers. “He'll take one look at you and let you in.”
“Are you offering me up as bait?” Lira asked. “I'm your niece!”
Aunt Carol frowned at her. “Honestly, Lira, this is for the greater good. Don't you want to save the house just as much as we do?”
Lira could argue that point, but she didn't necessarily want to argue it in front of her aunt. “I guess,” she said and folded her arms over her chest. “I suppose he doesn't look dangerous.”
“Of course not!” Aunt Carol said, and the other ladies nodded eagerly in agreement. “He's very handsome. How could he be dangerous?”
Lira knew this was a fallacy. Handsome men were just as dangerous as ugly men, but she held her tongue.
Word Count: 376
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original: Bridges
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): None
Summary: Lira tries to enlists Rachel's help.
Lira arranged to meet Rachel for dinner that night in Mankato where they could grab something light and then maybe have a drink if they felt like it. Because the dinner choices in Cleveland were just a little pathetic, to be honest. They ended up at bar and grill downtown that served good appetizers and drinks.
Rachel was looking at the menu carefully. “Ooo, look at all these martinis.” She put the drink menu down so Lira could see and then pointed to one in the middle. “Look, blueberry! I think I'll get that one.”
“Sounds good.” Lira smiled.
The waitress came by and took their order. Once she had left, Lira spent a few minutes trying to decide how she was going to bring up the topic when she decided to just go for it. “Okay, Rachel, I have a strange question to ask you.”
“What is it?” Rachel's eyes were wide.
“I need your advice on something.”
Her eyes softened and a small smile smile came to her lips. “Yes?”
Lira began tearing the napkin around her water glass. “You know that I'm sort of involved in the Historical Society that my aunts are in?”
Rachel's face fell a little. No doubt she thought this was a boring subject. “Oh. Yeah, I guess I probably heard about that at some point.”
“Well, they're extremely interested in that old Victorian house on the corner of First and Washington,” Lira continued on, ignoring her friend. “Turns out some guy recently bought it off the market. Well, my aunts have nominated me to somehow get to know him and get into the house to make sure he's not doing any structural damage to the house.”
At this point, the waitress came with their drinks, setting Rachel's martini in front of her, completely distracting her from Lira's quest.
Rachel smiled at it and immediately picked it up and raised it to her lips. “Yum! Oh, it's so good! Lira, you have to taste it!”
Lira had stuck with a cherry coke herself, deciding to keep her mind clear for this conversation. “No thanks.” she said. “Listen, Rachel, I need your help on this thing.”
Word Count: 346
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original: Bridges
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): None
Summary: Lira tries to enlists Rachel's help. (continued)
“Okay, okay! I'm listening!” Rachel set down her drink and looked right at Lira.
“So,” Lira said and took a breath. “I need to get in this guy's good graces and ultimately into his house. That's what I need your help with. You know I'm not the best with...”
Rachel raised an eyebrow. “Men?”
Lira frowned. She was going to say that she wouldn't have put it that way, but she had in fact said most of the sentence herself. “Let's just say you're better than I am with this sort of thing.”
Rachel grinned. “Well, this is definitely something I can help with. I'm so glad you asked me!” She suddenly paused and frowned. “Wait a second. He's not some old, ugly guy, is he? Because I don't know if I can' condone that.”
“I haven't exactly seen him myself, but my aunt assures me that he's young and handsome.” Lira took a sip of her pop.
“Hmm. Your fifty year old aunt says he's handsome. We may need to confirm this first.” Rachel clapped her hands together. “No problem! I have some binaculars at my mom's house from when I took a birdwatching class in high school.”
Lira wrinkled her nose. “Birdwatching? How come I never heard about that class?”
Rachel sipped at her martini and looked it away. “It existed. Never mind though. We'll get to the bottom of this. My mom is friends with the paster of the church across the street. We'll camp out until we find out what he looks like. Then we'll make a plan and make our move.”
“Are you sure the pastor will be okay with that?” This was sounding downright shady.
“Pfft...” Rachel's martini was half gone. “He won't even know. My mom can get the keys from him. She's in the choir. We'll do it when no one's there. Don't worry!”
Lira nervously sipped at her coke. She sure hoped that asking Rachel for help would be the right decision.
Word Count: 444
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original: Bridges
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): None
Summary: Jarred shows Lira around the house.
She smiled. "I don't mind." She stepped over a few things that were in the way on the way past him through the door. "It's okay."
"These are just some lamps that I'm putting together." He pointed to the wreckage on the floor. "The original ones in the house are pretty much shot, so once it gets dark in here, I've been relying on candles. Till now that is."
Lira was looking around at the ceiling and walls. Jarred wasn't sure if she heard him. "Wow," Lira said. "This place looks bigger on the outside than it is on the inside."
"It's actually pretty big." He began walking a little ways through the living room toward the dining room. "It's just that the way it was designed was that there are a lot of little rooms instead of one great room. Not very trendy for people now days, I guess. I like it though."
She followed him into the dining room where he had his laptop and coffee mug on a large table. It still had four out of eight chairs. A bit shabby.
"This is it for the dining room. Needs a bit of work." He moved onto the kitchen but noticed she was still looking. "It's okay. You can take your time." He waited at the doorway and watched her, smiling.
"I just really like the woodwork around the trim of the room," she said and pointed up to the ceiling. "You don't see that on any new houses. Only houses made from this time period. It's really well done. All hand carved too."
"Don't worry, I won't be tearing it down." He went into the kitchen. "Now here's where I'll have to do a lot of work. Everything is completely out of date. I'm afraid to use some things. I'll have to call some guys to look at it. Unfortunately, I'm not very handy myself." When he turned to look at her, it looked like she was giving him a little smile. He smiled back, but he wondered what it meant. To him, it seemed like they were sharing some sort of secret, only he had no idea what it was. "New cabinets, too. The wood looks bad."
Lira opened a cabinet and closed it. "I see. That's a shame."
"I can take you up the back staircase, and then we'll go down the front. I didn't find the back one till after I bought the house. It was almost like a little secret staircase. I wonder if servants used it." He opened up a small door at the back of the kitchen and allowed her to go ahead of him.
Word Count: 339
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original: Bridges
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): None
Summary: Jarred shows Lira around the house. (continued)
They walked back through the main hall and into the dining room where Lira spread out several brochures she had in her purse out onto the table. After they had both taken a seat, she began going over each reference, explaining to him that each business was tied to the historical society and could give him deep discounts if he were looking to preserve and restore the house according to how it stood originally.
Once they were done going through each one, Lira looked over at Jarred and smiled at him. “Maybe we can work with one another?”
Jarred looked back down at the brochures. “These are all really nice, and I appreciate you explaining them to me. But I'm not here to restore a house. I'm here to work on my music.”
Her expression showed that she was taken aback. “But...” she started but didn't finish. “Okay. Well, I'll leave all these things here with you, and if you change your mind or have any questions, feel free to call us. Or me.” She scribbled her name and number on the top of the Historical Society brochure. “I know you probably don't want to talk to my Aunt Carol.”
He smiled at her again. “Thanks. I really do appreciate you showing me these things. It gives me a lot of ideas of what I can do to the place. I love this house, but I don't have the time or energy to put that kind of effort into it right now.”
She went to get up from the table. “Please keep in mind that the Historical society can help you with all those things in the future if you do change your mind.”
He walked her around around the lamp parts and toward the door. “I will. Thanks again.” He opened the door.
“You're welcome. Maybe I'll see you around.” She turned around and smiled at him.
“Maybe.” He smiled back. “Have a nice day, Ms Montgomery.”
Word Count: 356
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original: Bridges
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): None
Summary: Jarred goes to Jake's Pub for the 2nd time.
He only wished he could somehow find a way to get back into his music. The way he had planned when he left California. That was why he had gone back to Jake's Pub hoping to find a little inspiration for his own music.
He walked into the pub expecting to take a spot at the bar, but was immediately waved over by Sean and Dave who were sitting at a table, so he rerouted and joined them.
“Hey, guys,” he said and took a seat.
They both gave their greetings and when the waitress walked by, Jarred flagged her down and ordered a beer. Sean and Dave were talking about their day jobs and complaining about people who weren't pulling their weight at each of their places of business. Jarred knew those like that well. People like that could be fun to hang around with, but awful to work with. He had learned that the hard way several times. He could have shared a few stories with the guys, but held his tongue.
Once their conversation about work ended, it moved to music, and they began talking about their set that they were playing that night.
“Oh, what happened with the new guy?” Jarred asked.
Sean shrugged. “Nothing. We don't have a replacement for him, and he's the only one who knows the songs right now. He said he'll meet us here before we're scheduled to be on.” Sean looked at his watch. “Should be soon.”
Jarred took a slug of his beer. “That's hard when you have a member of the band that isn't really part of the band.” When he looked up, both guys were looking at him. “I mean, he is, but he isn't really. If that makes sense.”
“No, it completely makes sense. That's why we're staring at you,” Dave said. “You must be in a band. Or maybe you were in a band?”
Jarred put the glass back to his lips and took another drink. When he put the glass back on the table, he looked away. “Those days are gone.”
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original: Bridges
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): None
Summary: Jarred gets an interesting visitor at his door.
After a long weekend weekend pulling out weeds in his backyard, and trying to find a store nearby that sells paint so he could fix up the fence that went around the perimeter of his property, Jarred was sore and exhausted by Monday morning.
He was brewing some coffee and flipping open his laptop lid on the ancient table left by the previous owners in the dining room, when there was a knock at the door. He left the dining room and made his way to the front of the house where he paused, remembering the last time he opened the door to unwanted company.
This time he peered through the eye hole.
Standing on his doorstep were two men. They were wearing dark t-shirts. One was balding, and the other wore a baseball cap. They were both wearing faded jeans. They definitely didn't belong to the old biddy's historical club. Jarred decided to open the door.
“Good morning, sir,” the bad man said and stuck out his hand for Jarred to shake. “I'm Bobby Putrone, and it's come to my attention that you're the new owner of this fine house.”
“Er, yes...” Jarred was already shaking hand and had to pull it away. “Just last week. And now it's Saturday.” He felt the need to point that out.
“Well, we wanted to come by and offer you our services,” Bobby went on. “You see, we're the Cleveland Minnesota Paranormal Society.”
Jarred felt as though he wanted to groan.
“I don't know if you're aware,” Bobby handed him a flier with their name on it. “But your house has had many rumors of being haunted throughout the years. We were wondering if perhaps you'd be willing to allow our group onto your premises to conduct an investigation.”
Word Count: 352
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original: Bridges
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): None
Summary: Jarred gets an interesting visitor at his door. (continued)
Jarred was looking down at the flier. It boasted claims of the paranormal and listed tools that the group used such as EVPs. When he flipped it open there were photographs of these 'ghosts' that the group claimed to have witnessed. He looked back up at them with a straight face.
“Free of charge, of course,” Bobby added.
“No thanks,” Jarred said.
“Is it because you haven't experienced any strange events in the house yet? Well, we could put your mind at ease and exorcise all spirits before anything happens. Or if you have felt anything odd, we could tell you about them.”
Jarred didn't know what to say at this point. He sort of felt like he was in some sort of Hollywood script, yet... he was far away from California. “Sorry, guys, but I'm just not interested. How about I hang onto your number just in case anything comes up?”
Both guys were smiling at him now. “Okay,” Bobby said, though he looked reluctant to leave. “But promise you will as soon anything strange happens! Really bad things have happened here in the past, and the spirits that may be in this place may not be friendly ones. Consider that a warning.”
“Um... okay.” Jarred closed the door and then watched them walk to their car at the curb. It almost sounded like they were threatening him. Why were they so interested in getting into his house? Ghosts, could that really be the reason? It seemed ridiculous to him.
After they drove away he set the brochure on the table and looked around the room. It was old. The wallpaper was peeling and the woodwork looked all original. There was an old chandelier hanging from the ceiling that didn't even take electricity. The previous owner hadn't taken several pieces of furniture, including a sofa and a chair, but they were worn and ragged and looked like they were from the fifties. The rest of the house looked much older.
It only reminded him that he would have to make some phone calls and
Word Count: 376
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original: Bridges
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): None
Summary: Lira's Aunts and the Historical Society convince her to be bait.
“First order of business,” Aunt Carol said from the end of the table. She had a donut and a cup of coffee in front of her, untouched. “The old Victorian house on the counter of First and Washington. Does anyone have any news?”
Dana raised her hand. “My sister lives on the block across the street and she saw the owner bringing in buckets of paint yesterday.”
Aunt Carol's eyes widened. Lira thought she saw a blood vessel pop in her forehead. “Paint! What could he possibly be painting in there? I hope it's not the wood!” There was a long pause where it was obvious she was thinking very hard. “New plan,” she said suddenly. “We have to get someone in that house to make sure he's not ruining it. Someone has to volunteer to go inside.”
No one raised their hand.
“That's trespassing,” Aunt Ida said.
“We won't break in, of course!” Aunt Carol told her. “One of us will charm our way in. Now who can that be...” Her gaze fell on Lira.
“Oh no, Aunt Carol. Count me out!” Lira threw her hands up in the air, almost knocking over her coffee mug. “What could I do to charm him?”
Several of the ladies giggled.
“You can't be serious, Lira.” Aunt Carol fingered Lira's strawberry blonde hair. It was so soft, it easily fell through her fingers. “He'll take one look at you and let you in.”
“Are you offering me up as bait?” Lira asked. “I'm your niece!”
Aunt Carol frowned at her. “Honestly, Lira, this is for the greater good. Don't you want to save the house just as much as we do?”
Lira could argue that point, but she didn't necessarily want to argue it in front of her aunt. “I guess,” she said and folded her arms over her chest. “I suppose he doesn't look dangerous.”
“Of course not!” Aunt Carol said, and the other ladies nodded eagerly in agreement. “He's very handsome. How could he be dangerous?”
Lira knew this was a fallacy. Handsome men were just as dangerous as ugly men, but she held her tongue.
Word Count: 376
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original: Bridges
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): None
Summary: Lira tries to enlists Rachel's help.
Lira arranged to meet Rachel for dinner that night in Mankato where they could grab something light and then maybe have a drink if they felt like it. Because the dinner choices in Cleveland were just a little pathetic, to be honest. They ended up at bar and grill downtown that served good appetizers and drinks.
Rachel was looking at the menu carefully. “Ooo, look at all these martinis.” She put the drink menu down so Lira could see and then pointed to one in the middle. “Look, blueberry! I think I'll get that one.”
“Sounds good.” Lira smiled.
The waitress came by and took their order. Once she had left, Lira spent a few minutes trying to decide how she was going to bring up the topic when she decided to just go for it. “Okay, Rachel, I have a strange question to ask you.”
“What is it?” Rachel's eyes were wide.
“I need your advice on something.”
Her eyes softened and a small smile smile came to her lips. “Yes?”
Lira began tearing the napkin around her water glass. “You know that I'm sort of involved in the Historical Society that my aunts are in?”
Rachel's face fell a little. No doubt she thought this was a boring subject. “Oh. Yeah, I guess I probably heard about that at some point.”
“Well, they're extremely interested in that old Victorian house on the corner of First and Washington,” Lira continued on, ignoring her friend. “Turns out some guy recently bought it off the market. Well, my aunts have nominated me to somehow get to know him and get into the house to make sure he's not doing any structural damage to the house.”
At this point, the waitress came with their drinks, setting Rachel's martini in front of her, completely distracting her from Lira's quest.
Rachel smiled at it and immediately picked it up and raised it to her lips. “Yum! Oh, it's so good! Lira, you have to taste it!”
Lira had stuck with a cherry coke herself, deciding to keep her mind clear for this conversation. “No thanks.” she said. “Listen, Rachel, I need your help on this thing.”
Word Count: 346
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original: Bridges
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): None
Summary: Lira tries to enlists Rachel's help. (continued)
“Okay, okay! I'm listening!” Rachel set down her drink and looked right at Lira.
“So,” Lira said and took a breath. “I need to get in this guy's good graces and ultimately into his house. That's what I need your help with. You know I'm not the best with...”
Rachel raised an eyebrow. “Men?”
Lira frowned. She was going to say that she wouldn't have put it that way, but she had in fact said most of the sentence herself. “Let's just say you're better than I am with this sort of thing.”
Rachel grinned. “Well, this is definitely something I can help with. I'm so glad you asked me!” She suddenly paused and frowned. “Wait a second. He's not some old, ugly guy, is he? Because I don't know if I can' condone that.”
“I haven't exactly seen him myself, but my aunt assures me that he's young and handsome.” Lira took a sip of her pop.
“Hmm. Your fifty year old aunt says he's handsome. We may need to confirm this first.” Rachel clapped her hands together. “No problem! I have some binaculars at my mom's house from when I took a birdwatching class in high school.”
Lira wrinkled her nose. “Birdwatching? How come I never heard about that class?”
Rachel sipped at her martini and looked it away. “It existed. Never mind though. We'll get to the bottom of this. My mom is friends with the paster of the church across the street. We'll camp out until we find out what he looks like. Then we'll make a plan and make our move.”
“Are you sure the pastor will be okay with that?” This was sounding downright shady.
“Pfft...” Rachel's martini was half gone. “He won't even know. My mom can get the keys from him. She's in the choir. We'll do it when no one's there. Don't worry!”
Lira nervously sipped at her coke. She sure hoped that asking Rachel for help would be the right decision.
Word Count: 444
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original: Bridges
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): None
Summary: Jarred shows Lira around the house.
She smiled. "I don't mind." She stepped over a few things that were in the way on the way past him through the door. "It's okay."
"These are just some lamps that I'm putting together." He pointed to the wreckage on the floor. "The original ones in the house are pretty much shot, so once it gets dark in here, I've been relying on candles. Till now that is."
Lira was looking around at the ceiling and walls. Jarred wasn't sure if she heard him. "Wow," Lira said. "This place looks bigger on the outside than it is on the inside."
"It's actually pretty big." He began walking a little ways through the living room toward the dining room. "It's just that the way it was designed was that there are a lot of little rooms instead of one great room. Not very trendy for people now days, I guess. I like it though."
She followed him into the dining room where he had his laptop and coffee mug on a large table. It still had four out of eight chairs. A bit shabby.
"This is it for the dining room. Needs a bit of work." He moved onto the kitchen but noticed she was still looking. "It's okay. You can take your time." He waited at the doorway and watched her, smiling.
"I just really like the woodwork around the trim of the room," she said and pointed up to the ceiling. "You don't see that on any new houses. Only houses made from this time period. It's really well done. All hand carved too."
"Don't worry, I won't be tearing it down." He went into the kitchen. "Now here's where I'll have to do a lot of work. Everything is completely out of date. I'm afraid to use some things. I'll have to call some guys to look at it. Unfortunately, I'm not very handy myself." When he turned to look at her, it looked like she was giving him a little smile. He smiled back, but he wondered what it meant. To him, it seemed like they were sharing some sort of secret, only he had no idea what it was. "New cabinets, too. The wood looks bad."
Lira opened a cabinet and closed it. "I see. That's a shame."
"I can take you up the back staircase, and then we'll go down the front. I didn't find the back one till after I bought the house. It was almost like a little secret staircase. I wonder if servants used it." He opened up a small door at the back of the kitchen and allowed her to go ahead of him.
Word Count: 339
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original: Bridges
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): None
Summary: Jarred shows Lira around the house. (continued)
They walked back through the main hall and into the dining room where Lira spread out several brochures she had in her purse out onto the table. After they had both taken a seat, she began going over each reference, explaining to him that each business was tied to the historical society and could give him deep discounts if he were looking to preserve and restore the house according to how it stood originally.
Once they were done going through each one, Lira looked over at Jarred and smiled at him. “Maybe we can work with one another?”
Jarred looked back down at the brochures. “These are all really nice, and I appreciate you explaining them to me. But I'm not here to restore a house. I'm here to work on my music.”
Her expression showed that she was taken aback. “But...” she started but didn't finish. “Okay. Well, I'll leave all these things here with you, and if you change your mind or have any questions, feel free to call us. Or me.” She scribbled her name and number on the top of the Historical Society brochure. “I know you probably don't want to talk to my Aunt Carol.”
He smiled at her again. “Thanks. I really do appreciate you showing me these things. It gives me a lot of ideas of what I can do to the place. I love this house, but I don't have the time or energy to put that kind of effort into it right now.”
She went to get up from the table. “Please keep in mind that the Historical society can help you with all those things in the future if you do change your mind.”
He walked her around around the lamp parts and toward the door. “I will. Thanks again.” He opened the door.
“You're welcome. Maybe I'll see you around.” She turned around and smiled at him.
“Maybe.” He smiled back. “Have a nice day, Ms Montgomery.”
Word Count: 356
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original: Bridges
Pairings (if any): None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): None
Summary: Jarred goes to Jake's Pub for the 2nd time.
He only wished he could somehow find a way to get back into his music. The way he had planned when he left California. That was why he had gone back to Jake's Pub hoping to find a little inspiration for his own music.
He walked into the pub expecting to take a spot at the bar, but was immediately waved over by Sean and Dave who were sitting at a table, so he rerouted and joined them.
“Hey, guys,” he said and took a seat.
They both gave their greetings and when the waitress walked by, Jarred flagged her down and ordered a beer. Sean and Dave were talking about their day jobs and complaining about people who weren't pulling their weight at each of their places of business. Jarred knew those like that well. People like that could be fun to hang around with, but awful to work with. He had learned that the hard way several times. He could have shared a few stories with the guys, but held his tongue.
Once their conversation about work ended, it moved to music, and they began talking about their set that they were playing that night.
“Oh, what happened with the new guy?” Jarred asked.
Sean shrugged. “Nothing. We don't have a replacement for him, and he's the only one who knows the songs right now. He said he'll meet us here before we're scheduled to be on.” Sean looked at his watch. “Should be soon.”
Jarred took a slug of his beer. “That's hard when you have a member of the band that isn't really part of the band.” When he looked up, both guys were looking at him. “I mean, he is, but he isn't really. If that makes sense.”
“No, it completely makes sense. That's why we're staring at you,” Dave said. “You must be in a band. Or maybe you were in a band?”
Jarred put the glass back to his lips and took another drink. When he put the glass back on the table, he looked away. “Those days are gone.”