Fic: Different Things
Justified. Ava/Carol Johnson.
Pre-series. 1,200 words.
Unbetaed. Written for the Summer in Harlan Comment Fic Meme in response to a prompt from rillalicious.
Short disclaimer: All characters and scenarios belong to Elmore Leonard and Graham Yost and NOT ME.
Summary: They meet in a bar in Lexington.
Different Things
Ava usually drank bourbon. She was a girl from the holler after all, and she'd practically been weaned on the stuff. But tonight she was in Lexington, having just left a meeting with the judge and her probation officer, waiting on Raylan to decide if he was going to let himself get any closer to her, and she was in a classier joint than the honky tonks she was used to.
She looked over at the menu above the dimly lit bar and found it to be barely legible. So as the bartender waited impatiently for her order, she glanced down the bar at another woman with a clear cocktail in a glass with a lime.
Ava jerked her thumb in the direction of the woman, a red-head in a dark business suit. "I'll have what she's having," she said.
"A gin and tonic for the blonde," the bartender said and began to mix the drink. Ava couldn't decide if it had been a good or bad choice on her part to leave the drink order up to that kind of fate. She hadn't drank gin since a bottle of Beefeater was all she and Bowman could sneak out of his daddy's liquor cabinet.
The drink appeared before her and Ava shrugged of thoughts of Bowman, refusing the urge to search her skull for that knot again. It throbbed sometimes, when she was thinking too hard, so she knew it hadn't completely healed yet. But sometimes it was damned hard to find among her mess of hair and scattered thoughts. She took a drink and nearly spit it out, not remembering the sharp, piney taste of dry gin, so different from the warm bite of a whiskey or bourbon, or the medicinal clarity of the tonic.
Ava squeezed her lime wedge dry into the glass and quietly asked for another. She heard a laugh from down the bar and turned to see that woman a few seats closer to her than before. The bartender gave her two more lime wedges and Ava drained them dry then dropped them into her glass and swirled it around.
The woman spoke as Ava took another sip, "Any better?"
Ava smiled politely, taking in the woman's long, well styled hair, her expensive but strongly tailored suit, and her big green eyes. "I'm just not used to gin drinks," she replied. "Guess that's what I get for taking a chance. Tryin' for something different."
The woman smiled and Ava couldn't read the reason behind it. She drained her glass then asked Ava, while beckoning to the bartender, "What do you usually drink?"
"Wild Turkey, on the rocks. Sometimes with a splash of soda."
"I'll have that," she told the bartender and turned back to Ava. She raised her eyebrows and her glass. "Now we're both tryin' something different."
The clink of their glasses was the loudest thing in the bar.
Ava heard the south in the woman's voice, but she knew it wasn't Kentucky. She took a drink and asked, "You from out of town? I'm Ava, by the way."
"Carol," the woman replied. "Yeah, I'm here doing some... scouting for my job. You?"
"I'm from south and east a ways. Coal country. It's not a bad drive though. I've been doing it a lot lately."
"Business?"
Ava didn't like to beat around the bush about what goes on in her life. After a while she'd started telling people how she'd got that black eye, or the reason for the bandage on her arm. And they'd make concerned faces, or just do nothing. The women at work would tsk and tell her to leave him. She'd change the subject after that. But Ava didn't like to lie about herself. so she said, "I killed by no good husband a few days ago. In self-defense. I gotta meet some people here i Lexington, about my probation."
If the woman, Carol, was surprised by this, it barely showed. "So you're single," she asked, tilting her glass like anybody else would tilt their head in curiosity.
Ava's eyes frowned even as her lips quirked into a smile. "Yes, ma'am," she answered, having never been hit on by a lady before. She wasn't really sure how to take it. Maybe it wasn't even a come on. But why even ask such an obvious question?
Then she thought about Raylan and ducked her eyes, like she always did when she realized she jus told a lie. Bowman could spot it a mile away, and this Carol seemed to notice the gesture as well.
She grinned. "I knew it. I knew they wouldn't let someone as pretty as you alone for long. Somebody else is sneakin' into you life, girl. Tell me, was it a badge at the scene or a suit in the DA's office?"
Ava laughed. This woman was whip smart, and Ava liked that about people. She'd come to appreciate it after so many years with Bowman, his only smarts being for sports stats and counting bullets. She finished her drink and tapped the bar for another. "It wasn't nobody like that," Ava said, smiling to herself. "It's somebody outta my past. But..." she broke off, laughing into her hand this time, somehow finding it all to funny for words.
"But what?" Carol cried. "You can't just leave me hanging like that."
Ava leaned back in her bar stool, bracing her arms on the bar before her. "He wears a badge too. He's come back to Kentucky and he's investigatin' my brother-in-law, who might be robbing banks as we speak, or plotting to murder me for defending myself, or planning how best to fuck me."
Now Carol reeled back, looking at Ava hard. "Where the hell are you from, woman?"
Ava smiled and raised her glass, saying proudly, "Good ol' Harlan County." She drained half the drink and thought it entirely fitting how bitter it tasted, she hadn't bother to ask for more limes this time around.
Carol stared at her for at least a half a minute, but not like she was really looking at Ava, more like she was thinking about what she said and letter her eyes just rest there. Then she spat out, "Shit," and knocked the rest of her bourbon back as well. Her gaze seems to clear a little and she considered Ava once again. "So where's that man from your past now?"
"Trying to decide if he wants to risk his job to get a taste of me," Ava replied, pragmatically. She knew Raylan wasn't really thinking about it in so many words. To her it was an inevitability, to him it just wasn't going to happen, yet.
"Honey," Carol stood and said, putting a warm hand on Ava's arm, "I think what you need right now, is someone to love you up."
Ava thought real hard about moving her arm away from Carol, but she didn't do it. She didn't say anything either.
"You ever been loved by a woman before?" Carol's voice is real quiet now, and low.
She smiled, soft and slow, and replied, "I'm trying different things today. New things."
Pre-series. 1,200 words.
Unbetaed. Written for the Summer in Harlan Comment Fic Meme in response to a prompt from rillalicious.
Short disclaimer: All characters and scenarios belong to Elmore Leonard and Graham Yost and NOT ME.
Summary: They meet in a bar in Lexington.
Different Things
Ava usually drank bourbon. She was a girl from the holler after all, and she'd practically been weaned on the stuff. But tonight she was in Lexington, having just left a meeting with the judge and her probation officer, waiting on Raylan to decide if he was going to let himself get any closer to her, and she was in a classier joint than the honky tonks she was used to.
She looked over at the menu above the dimly lit bar and found it to be barely legible. So as the bartender waited impatiently for her order, she glanced down the bar at another woman with a clear cocktail in a glass with a lime.
Ava jerked her thumb in the direction of the woman, a red-head in a dark business suit. "I'll have what she's having," she said.
"A gin and tonic for the blonde," the bartender said and began to mix the drink. Ava couldn't decide if it had been a good or bad choice on her part to leave the drink order up to that kind of fate. She hadn't drank gin since a bottle of Beefeater was all she and Bowman could sneak out of his daddy's liquor cabinet.
The drink appeared before her and Ava shrugged of thoughts of Bowman, refusing the urge to search her skull for that knot again. It throbbed sometimes, when she was thinking too hard, so she knew it hadn't completely healed yet. But sometimes it was damned hard to find among her mess of hair and scattered thoughts. She took a drink and nearly spit it out, not remembering the sharp, piney taste of dry gin, so different from the warm bite of a whiskey or bourbon, or the medicinal clarity of the tonic.
Ava squeezed her lime wedge dry into the glass and quietly asked for another. She heard a laugh from down the bar and turned to see that woman a few seats closer to her than before. The bartender gave her two more lime wedges and Ava drained them dry then dropped them into her glass and swirled it around.
The woman spoke as Ava took another sip, "Any better?"
Ava smiled politely, taking in the woman's long, well styled hair, her expensive but strongly tailored suit, and her big green eyes. "I'm just not used to gin drinks," she replied. "Guess that's what I get for taking a chance. Tryin' for something different."
The woman smiled and Ava couldn't read the reason behind it. She drained her glass then asked Ava, while beckoning to the bartender, "What do you usually drink?"
"Wild Turkey, on the rocks. Sometimes with a splash of soda."
"I'll have that," she told the bartender and turned back to Ava. She raised her eyebrows and her glass. "Now we're both tryin' something different."
The clink of their glasses was the loudest thing in the bar.
Ava heard the south in the woman's voice, but she knew it wasn't Kentucky. She took a drink and asked, "You from out of town? I'm Ava, by the way."
"Carol," the woman replied. "Yeah, I'm here doing some... scouting for my job. You?"
"I'm from south and east a ways. Coal country. It's not a bad drive though. I've been doing it a lot lately."
"Business?"
Ava didn't like to beat around the bush about what goes on in her life. After a while she'd started telling people how she'd got that black eye, or the reason for the bandage on her arm. And they'd make concerned faces, or just do nothing. The women at work would tsk and tell her to leave him. She'd change the subject after that. But Ava didn't like to lie about herself. so she said, "I killed by no good husband a few days ago. In self-defense. I gotta meet some people here i Lexington, about my probation."
If the woman, Carol, was surprised by this, it barely showed. "So you're single," she asked, tilting her glass like anybody else would tilt their head in curiosity.
Ava's eyes frowned even as her lips quirked into a smile. "Yes, ma'am," she answered, having never been hit on by a lady before. She wasn't really sure how to take it. Maybe it wasn't even a come on. But why even ask such an obvious question?
Then she thought about Raylan and ducked her eyes, like she always did when she realized she jus told a lie. Bowman could spot it a mile away, and this Carol seemed to notice the gesture as well.
She grinned. "I knew it. I knew they wouldn't let someone as pretty as you alone for long. Somebody else is sneakin' into you life, girl. Tell me, was it a badge at the scene or a suit in the DA's office?"
Ava laughed. This woman was whip smart, and Ava liked that about people. She'd come to appreciate it after so many years with Bowman, his only smarts being for sports stats and counting bullets. She finished her drink and tapped the bar for another. "It wasn't nobody like that," Ava said, smiling to herself. "It's somebody outta my past. But..." she broke off, laughing into her hand this time, somehow finding it all to funny for words.
"But what?" Carol cried. "You can't just leave me hanging like that."
Ava leaned back in her bar stool, bracing her arms on the bar before her. "He wears a badge too. He's come back to Kentucky and he's investigatin' my brother-in-law, who might be robbing banks as we speak, or plotting to murder me for defending myself, or planning how best to fuck me."
Now Carol reeled back, looking at Ava hard. "Where the hell are you from, woman?"
Ava smiled and raised her glass, saying proudly, "Good ol' Harlan County." She drained half the drink and thought it entirely fitting how bitter it tasted, she hadn't bother to ask for more limes this time around.
Carol stared at her for at least a half a minute, but not like she was really looking at Ava, more like she was thinking about what she said and letter her eyes just rest there. Then she spat out, "Shit," and knocked the rest of her bourbon back as well. Her gaze seems to clear a little and she considered Ava once again. "So where's that man from your past now?"
"Trying to decide if he wants to risk his job to get a taste of me," Ava replied, pragmatically. She knew Raylan wasn't really thinking about it in so many words. To her it was an inevitability, to him it just wasn't going to happen, yet.
"Honey," Carol stood and said, putting a warm hand on Ava's arm, "I think what you need right now, is someone to love you up."
Ava thought real hard about moving her arm away from Carol, but she didn't do it. She didn't say anything either.
"You ever been loved by a woman before?" Carol's voice is real quiet now, and low.
She smiled, soft and slow, and replied, "I'm trying different things today. New things."