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| Her eyes flickered across the familiar number on the phone she held in her hand. In the background, she could hear Javier screaming on top of his lungs to Mariachi music, which he knew she hated. Helena was cackling on her cell phone with one of her stripper buddies, the woman had wanted to become one for kicks before they decided to go out of state with the band. Joey, on the other hand, was asleep with two Chinese women in the back bedroom. It would have been a distracting scene for most but Aianna was quite used to the lives of her band mates and roommates. She wasn’t quite used to the familiar number coming up out of the blue on a Saturday however. She would have never expected her uncle to call after all this years. With a swallow, she laid the phone back down on the counter her eyes drifting to Javier again who was shimmy his hips in a very flamboyant way. Rolling her eyes, Aianna grabbed her keys off the counter. It was suddenly clear that she needed to get out somewhere with distractions. Wasn’t there a bar or club in town? It had been a while since she had gotten here that she hadn’t been to a bar just to be at a bar instead of doing a gig. It would be nice for a change especially with the change of her family wanting to talk to her again. They hadn’t taken her heroin addiction lightly and for a good reason as well. Slipping out of the door of the apartment and past the old beaten up van that the band shared, Aianna slipped her hands into the pockets of her jeans. She certainly wasn’t dressed to go to any bar she mused. With her worn torn blue jeans complete with a pair of black boots and a Johnny Cash t-shirt which was covered with a black leather jacket with the words “Small Town Outlaws” stitched on the back. Well, perhaps for the bars back home she was dressing in the norm but not for the fancy smucks out here. She pondered the idea of calling one of her boy friends to come along but decided that she’d rather have the company of herself tonight. Making her way to Tim’s, grimacing at the name (she had never gotten used to it), Aianna pushed through the heavy doors blinking at the sight of a crowded room. Great. Just f***ing great. Making her way through the crowds rather roughly, she made her way to the bar shouting at the bartender. “José Cuervo, Jack!” Ignoring the raised eyebrow of the bartender, she glanced at a woman besides her eyeing her up slowly. “So whatcha doin here, cutie?” Well we never said a Kione knew how to be subtle. |
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| Aria felt more reassured at Adelle’s half-hearted apologetic smile. Though it seemed the girl wasn’t completely sincere about it, Aria was fishing for any kind of forgiveness from the other girl. When Adelle shut her eyes quickly squeezing them as if she could squeeze a bad memory from her brain, Aria turned away to take a sip of her drink looking around the bar. The silence was making her nervous, as she was a talkative soul herself. Hearing her friend’s sigh, she shifted her attention back to Adelle to see the girl down a beer. “Hey…maybe you shoul….never mind.” She almost reminded the girl not to drink so fast since it usually got her in trouble. However, at the recent looks and actions of the other girl, Aria decided it was best to keep her mouth shut. Aria felt herself giggle at Adelle’s disgusted look as the other girl thought about Rhys in pantyhose and heels. “Stripper heels with black lace tights with a hot pink mini.” She managed to get the sentence out before laughing at the thought of her boss in a stripper outfit. All he needed was a playboy bunny tail and Aria would have posted that s*** all over the Internet. “Hell, I’d pay to see that.” He words managed to get Adelle to laugh as the other customers of the bar began to stare at the two girls wondering what private joke was so funny. “C’mon, you know you would totally paste that all over myspace and facebook and s*** if you had the chance.” She reached over to poke Adelle in the ribs playfully as she took another swig of her drink. Finishing her drink, she nearly choked on the liquid at Adelle’s cry of George Clooney was the only man for her. “Awwh helll nooo. Hugh Jackman all the way! He’s got uber muscles!” She began to flex like a semi pro wrestler putting on her serious face before bursting out into laughter. “I say we so kidnap Halle Berry and tap her ass. Or smack it. Lord, I love to smack that ass.” She muttered to herself before ordering another drink. While Aria wasn’t drunk, she tended to feed off the emotions of others. If her friend were drunk, Aria would begin to act like she was tipsy as well. “She posted a picture on twitter? Dannng I must have missed it. I posted it on myspace and facebook before she could stop me.” She put her hand over her mouth giggling at the thought, which was an unheard thanks to Adelle’s booming laughter. The subject changed as she asked a new question, Aria began to frown at the sound of silence and the award feeling between them. “Oh well me neither!” She quickly said in hopes to get rid of the awkward conversation between them. Why did she always seem to be picking the wrong subjects to talk about? “Hey, it’s no problem really.” Aria said softly in reply to Adelle’s request for her not to pick up her tab. Before she could continue, Adelle became defensive about her single status-causing Aria to stiffen in defense. “I’m sorry I asked…I didn’t mean to imply that you needed someone. I was just asking if you had met someone since everyone else is these days.” She rushed softly turning her face away to look at a couple of friends laughing at another table. Why couldn’t this meeting been like that? |
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| Aria had to hold back a laugh when Robin woke up bleary eyed accompanied with drool leaking out of her mouth. She looked like a dog that had been jolted from its afternoon nap in the sun and was worse off from it. Masking her laughter with her hand faking it as a yawn, she stretched her other arm up in the air as if she was just waking up. “You won’t believe this. Something happened to your hair…” Aria stopped at the end of the sentence feeling the familiar sense of dread coming over her. Should she continue on with the fake plan/lie or fake it as if she had no idea what had happened? Grabbing in the air for Robin’s hand, she gave up deciding that the less physical contact was the better for the situation. Jumping up, she tripped over her sleeping bag in her run to the bathroom. “Whoops!” She cried cheerfully with a large smile on her face as she picked herself up. Aria then ran to the bathroom throwing open the door. “C’mon! You have to see this!” Not waiting for her friend to get herself together to even walk towards the bathroom, she went inside looking at the mirror at her hair as if to check if something was wrong. “s***, whatever you did to yourself must have been on you only.” She yelled out to Robin wincing at the sound that drummed into her brain. Turning on the sink, she ducked her head into the cool water splashing her face with her hands trying to clear her head. “C’mon, shithead!” She cried out waving her arm in a frantic direction trying to get Robin up and out of wherever the hell she had passed out on. “YOUR HAIR IS f***IN PINK!” Whoops! |
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| “Don’t push it, Mr. Emerson.” She replied when he said that was more like it. It sounded like her father after he had gotten through smacking her when she had been caught out after curfew with a whiskey bottle in her hand. Aria had to apologize to her old man and clean out the garage for the remainder of the week. The words didn’t bring back the best of memories but what punishment ever does? What? He didn’t believe her? Of course he probably didn’t believe her. Anyone from the South never used those words anymore. It just showed how much of an inner hick she really was. The next words he said caused her to the blush the hardest she ever had. Rhys had a non-romantic way of embarrassing the hell out of her in a way that only Robin could when Aria was so mad that her accent was very pronounced. Usually it ended with the two girls wrestling each other to the ground trying to get the other one to say “mercy”. “Honestly, Mr. Emerson, does that work on all your girls?” She laughed joking trying to blow off the comment like it was nothing else. While Aria knew she was pretty, she wasn’t used to that kind of attention coming from an area where blonde and blue eyes were favored more than brown hair and brown eyes. At his comment about what happened, she had to cover her mouth as she burst out into laughter. “I’m sorry but I can just see midget attacking you with a pillow!” She cried as she took a moment to control herself. “Well you two made quite a stir with the town gossip. Not that I usually read it but since Adelle was mentioned I had to. Out of friendship of course.” She said in a matter of faculty voice as if reminding him she was not the type of person to read gossip or trashy magazines. Even if she read trashy romance novels, the ones she claimed belonged to her mother and had accidentally landed in her stuff. As he grinned, Aria raised her eyebrow as if expecting him to say something else. “Oh well, I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.” She nearly choked out the last words trying not to laugh at the irony. As they spoke, Andrew was probably using every curse in every language in the planet at her name. Probably mailing an entire letter, which would make the pope blush in shame. “I guess we could do that.” As he petted her like a dog, she resisted the urge to bark at him to mock her in his manner. “Rhys, how many times do I have to tell you that I love the ladies?” She called after him as she began to fall into step behind him. “Rhys, hunny, we have to find you some hot chick. Haven’t you tried the Russian bride service? Imagine one of those hunnys on your arm at school being your secretary. Mrowr.” |
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| If Leigh had known that Ross was coming with two horses to the Mariet Police Department, she would have ditched the inmate that she was watching in a single moment. Staring at the overweight middle-aged guy eating the slosh in his bowl, Leigh tapped her fingers on the side of her uniform pants in frustration. Due to the idiot’s failed attempt of trying to sneak in a screw in a bible from one of the Catholic preachers, he had to be on surveillance twenty four seven. Fortunately, a tiny beep saved her from the bored of watching the slob eat as she flipped open her phone to see the text from Ross. Smiling at the text, a rare moment for the officer, she texted the Scottish man quickly back before snapping the phone shut. “Hurry up, boy. I don’t have all day here.” She snarled at the prisoner taking in the jail’s cafeteria and her surroundings. The other officer would be here to take over in about five minutes leaving her a moment for a lunch break and a quick cigarette out back. It wasn’t a job that she particularly enjoyed but correctional officers were always in need. When rookies graduated from the police academy, they would quickly run to snatch up the police detectives or police officers openings instead of security guards or correctional officers. Having served as a police officer for a while in the sleepy town of Mariet, Leigh did prefer the occupation of being a correctional officer instead. Seeing the tall blonde making her way towards her, Leigh nodded politely to the other officer. “He’s taking his own sweet time, good luck.” The other correctional officer, obviously new, gave her a tentative smile before turning her attention to the inmate. Grabbing her pack of cigarettes out of her back pocket, Leigh fished for her lighter in the pocket of her navy blue shirt. Thank the lord for cigarettes on these days. Heading out towards the back, she lightly balanced the cigarette with her lips as she lit it inhaling the familiar rush. Blowing the smoke slowly out of her mouth and nostrils, she flicked the cig in her hand looking around. The parking lot was mostly empty with only a few patrolling officers coming in for a break before heading out to give the teenagers of Mariat more tickets. There seemed to be a hierarchy unfortunately at the police department. The detectives came first, then the officers, with the jailors and correctional officers in last. While it wasn’t right, it was always the way in most police stations around the country. It was just the way it was. Leigh didn’t know how many minutes or hours she had been out there kicking the gravel around with her boots. After her brother’s death, she hadn’t been the same even on the job. Though she had never taken a leave, the other officers and the chief had been understanding towards her. Leigh knew that she eventually would have to take a break from her job and possibly go to counseling for what had happened. Little Aaron was getting counseling from the school free of charge for his absent father’s death. Though it seemed that the boy needed something more to help him with the overall pain of not having his real parents. The back door opened to show one of her fellow officers as he looked at her with concern and surprise. “Southwood, what in the hell are you doing back here?” She shrugged as if it wasn’t a problem snuffing out her cigarette on the ground without a second thought. “Just taking a break. What’s the problem?” Looping her hands through her jeans, she waited for a response from the other officer. “Some Scott wants you in the front office. Asked if we could spare you for a while.” Nodding a thanks to the other officer, Leigh picked up a trot heading towards the front with a smile on her normally withdrawn face. “Hey there, Ross!” She moved forward to hold out her hand for her friend to shake. “Knock it off, boys.” She scowled at the two officers who looked at the Scottish man with mocking grins. Opening the outside door for Ross, she waited till they were outside before speaking. “So where we going today? You have no idea how boring it was in there. Some idiot tried to sneak a screw in to break out. This isn’t Huntsville.” Leigh laughed, a rare sound, at the irony of the situation. Someone trying to break out of Mariat? It was just too amusing to behold. |