Young and beautiful

He smirked as Ashley finally said something. Well, she wasn’t stupid, he could say that much. Jason looked at her and didn’t respond for a moment. “If you want to play a grown-up today, here’s a lesson for you: ‘sorry’ means nothing out here,” Jason said, “I worked to get this, and you say a few words about a puppy. I don’t care if you’re sorry. Just do your job and stay out of my way.” 

“No,” Jason shook his head vehemently, “Vera, no.” 

This morning was not really a great one. It hadn’t started out this way. Actually, before Jason came in to work, it had actually been pretty good. He had his usual coffee made by his favorite barista, didn’t encounter any detours or other issues while driving, and managed to pull into the best parking space with ease. But then he’d walked in, the interns and crew all running around getting ready for the broadcast. Jason made a beeline towards hair and make-up as he sipped his coffee when Carey, the stylist, said, “Hey, you! We’re going to have to make this quick today. We’ve got your co-host coming in any minute, and-” He stopped paying attention right there. 

“I don’t do co-hosts,” he argued stubbornly, “I do guests, interviewees, whatever! It’s my portion of the show, and then it goes to the goddamn weather!” 

Vera stayed cool and collected throughout the anchorman’s tantrum. She sighed, leaning against her desk. As the owner of the station, she really didn’t have to do anything that Jason said, but he always tended to forget his place. “Jason, let’s not pretend you have any standards for who you ‘do,’” she began, “You’re going to go along with this, okay? Besides you don’t even know who it is yet.” 

“Exactly-” 

“I handpicked her myself. She’s in need of some work experience, and well, you two showed great chemistry.” A young blonde caught her eye outside the glass wall in her office. Vera smiled, pointing her finger for Jason to see. “Make it work.” He tried to argue again, but Vera only shooed him off. In her head, it was a perfect fit. They had rapport, and from what she had seen of Ashley, Jason could use a partner like that to teach him how to be less of a selfish shit. Plus, Vera mused, Ashley was pretty enough for the camera but too young for Jason to try anything. Hopefully. 

Saturday had been a particularly hard day for her. It was the day before her period and she was feeling bloated and ugly. It was getting to the point that she couldn’t focus on the homework that she was supposed to be doing. So when they called her up, she was thankful to be given a distraction. Until she heard what the distraction entailed.

“Well, yes, I do need work experience...” She said. “I mean, who doesn’t want to be on TV?” (her).

“Excellent, we’ll be looking forward to seeing you on Monday after school.” The voice on the other end said. 

She wanted to ask about Jason and what he thought about all of this, but they hung up before she could. She looked at the phone in her hands, wondering if she had just made a huge mistake agreeing to this. In the short amount of time that she had known Jason, she could tell that he enjoyed his solo screen time.

So when Monday rolled around, Ash was just a bundle of nerves wrapped up in a human body. She was sure that she had straightened her jacket a hundred times just from the moment that she walked into the door. She waited patiently outside of the office while Jason yelled at the owner. When he was finished, Ash stood up to say hello but she was just greeted with a cold shoulder and a stern look. 

Was it too late to back out?

In makeup, he didn’t even acknowledge her. The makeup artist was complimenting her for her skin and hair and freckles, something which she hated more than anything else. She was given her own things to talk about, something which she had been practicing from the moment she received the email.

The makeup team left the trailer to go and get the wardrobe people and to mic them up. The silence in the air between them was deafening and she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“I’m fine,” she rubbed her eyes. “Just tired mostly. I think that’s the one that is mostly getting me down at the moment. So yeah, I’m sorry about earlier it was rude of me. My father would have died if he saw me being rude to anyone.” She shrugged.

When Ashley opened up, Jason made a mental note to try being nice to her if he ever needed something from her again. Especially if she ended up back on the air. He supposed a little sugar could have gone a long way back when they were at the pound, but Jason hadn’t really been in the mood to put up with any antics, especially with the fact that he didn’t like dogs too much. 

She sighed, she wasn’t one to snap at people but that day had been particularly hard. Still, her father said that she should never take her troubles out on anyone else, no matter how much they deserved it. “I’m sorry,” she apologised. “That was rude and uncalled for. I’m not normally like this but my step sisters… Wait no, never mind. Forget I said anything.”

The bite that he was seeing from the girl - Ashley - was vanishing, and in its place, Jason was seeing someone else entirely. It actually was the first time that he thought of her as a fellow human. Back at the pound, he’d been more focused on his work, and then her attitude had started up… Well, he found her as more of a kid. As Jason got older, he was finding it hard to view younger people as the same species as him. But Ashley looked that way now. She looked tired. 

"I'm fine," she rubbed her eyes. "Just tired mostly. I think that's the one that is mostly getting me down at the moment. So yeah, I'm sorry about earlier it was rude of me. My father would have died if he saw me being rude to anyone." She shrugged.

Immediately after work, Jason decided he was going to have a few beers that night, maybe invite a girl over. There were a few women in his contacts list that knew Jason was just using them for the occasional night of fun, and they didn’t care. They were using him too. He wasn’t the relationship kind of guy, definitely not. Then they would try to ask so much out of you, affection and money. And Jason wasn’t the giving type. 

She sighed, she wasn’t one to snap at people but that day had been particularly hard. Still, her father said that she should never take her troubles out on anyone else, no matter how much they deserved it. “I’m sorry,” she apologised. “That was rude and uncalled for. I’m not normally like this but my step sisters... Wait no, never mind. Forget I said anything.”

When she finally finished her shift and helped lock up, it was getting dark out. She still had to get some groceries before she went home, but walking in the dark always made her feel uncomfortable. She said goodbye to her manager and pulled her jacket tighter around her small frame. Ash plugged in her headphones and turned on some music, hoping that the lyrics will distract her from the rapidly fading sunlight.

She wasn’t really paying attention to where she was going, except that she was going in the general direction of the supermarket. There was a breeze that picked up and played with her hair. She shivered and walked faster, keeping her head down and minding her own business. Until she walked into someone, causing her to drop her phone and her headphones to yank off of her head.

“Everyone cares about whether someone thinks they’re attractive,” Jason chuckled, more amused by her comment than anything now, “Especially teenage girls.” Or teenagers, in general. Jason was a teenager once, though he hardly remembered it. They were all technically fake memories anyways, implanted by the spell put on Storybrook. His real childhood, Jason had been a rich prince with too big of a weak spot. He’d definitely cared about other people thinking he was a good prince.

He scoffed. “You think the news isn’t show biz? Try working in it and see for yourself,” Jason argued, “So, let’s quit talking about stuff you don’t have any idea about and get on with the show, hm?” It was perfect timing, the camera crew looking back and forth between the news anchor and his interviewee. But it was time to go live, and Jason put on his smile, making it seem as if they hadn’t just been arguing for the past ten minutes.

"Hello, Storybrooke, my name is Jason Arany, and I’m here at Storybrooke’s local pound to talk about the story of 101 dalmations being held here, a difficult task for the facility to take on given its current low funding," Jason told the camera, "I have Miss Ashley Boyd here, a volunteer at the pound, to tell us a little bit about the daily tasks around here, as well as how the dalmations are doing and how they’ve affected this place. And later, we’re going to see who her favorite puppy here is.”

Finally, Jason looked to Ashley. “So, Miss Boyd,” he said, “How has the family of dalmations affected the running of the pound?”

Ashley had a comeback ready on her lips. But she didn't have the time to use it before Jason was smiling and talking to an audience that would watch this report later tonight. She smiled, trying not to fidget too much. She did not sign up for this when she volunteered at the pound. "Well, Jason," she said in her sweetest voice. "Although we are excited to have such an iconic set of puppies, we are saddened by the fact that someone would want to give them up." She looked at him with a smile. "Dalmatians are gentle dogs with a good temperament, perfect to have around children, especially the older ones. But it hasn't affected things too much over here. We still give the puppies all of the love and care that they need."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jason was a little taken aback by her sass, but he adapted quickly. Storybrook was full of all kinds of characters, which Jason supposed was actually literal now that that truth was out. “Add in as many ‘aw’s as you want,” he retorted, “Just keep that sour, teen-angsty look off your face. It’s actually attractive when you’re not frowning.”

When she started to argue about the dogs, Jason just rolled his eyes and fixed his tie. He gave her a patronizing look. He really didn’t have time for this crap, especially when they were going to be on air in just minutes. “Look,” he replied, “I know about show business. I’ve been working for the news station for years. If you give us a broken dog, you’re going to make people cry. We don’t want them to cry. Not when the piece is about how great this smelly pound is.” Jason went on. “Besides, you should want them to want the cuter ones. Someone who sees a broken dog is going to think ‘Hm, maybe I can fix him. Maybe I can be the one that turns his life around.’ And guess what? Chances are they won’t. They’ll realize how difficult it is, and they’ll return the damn thing back here. So pick a cute, little puppy, put a smile on your face, and answer my questions like a nice do-gooder in the community, got it? Or we’ll go get that other co-worker of yours.”

Ash scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Like I care whether or not people find me attractive." Especially him. What he thought had no impact on her life at all. He was probably used to people telling him the exact opposite, judging by the way he held himself around her. Ash hated people like him. People who thought that they were entitled to the world.

She didn’t look interested, but she definitely looked interesting. Jason could see that, his eyes scanning over her briefly. Blonde hair, thin, pretty, blue eyes. Even her abundance of freckles worked for her, just making the girl look less generic and blandly beautiful. In Jason’s eyes, screen time should only go to the attractive. People weren’t interested in ugly people or things. He’d learned that a long time ago, in another lifetime.

"Yeah, we’re going to need more enthusiasm than that," Jason replied, looking at her skeptically. Even with her looks going for her, the teen angst attitude probably wasn’t going to get them anywhere. "Why don’t you try and smile, hm? You’re in a room full of puppies. Aren’t young girls like you supposed to be whining about your heart bursting or something in a situation like this?"

He was getting a little distracted from the main interview, and Jason was well-aware of it. Being Storybrooke’s number one news anchor, he took it as very important responsibility of his. Jason cleared his throat. “So, I’m just going to go over how long you’ve been working here, what your routine is, some statistics on adoptions, euthanization rates just to bring in the tears… Stuff like that.” Jason looked up to her to make sure the teen was following along. “And then we’re going to showcase one dog, so I need you to pick one out. Try to pick the cutest. People don’t go for the pathetic three-legged, blind thing. And besides, this isn’t a PETA commercial.”

Ashley's eyes flashed for a second before she took a deep breath in and smiled. She tried very hard not to glance over at the clock. She had to take the dogs for a walk, bathe them, treat any cats for fleas and do her homework. She really didn't want or have time to be doing this. "Fine, you're right." She conceded. "Would you like me to talk in a really high and peppy voice with all the right amounts of "aw"s." She put on her best impersonation of a good majority of the girls in her year level. Part of her wondered how easy it would be to get under this guys nerves, which worried her because she wasn't one to push people's buttons. Ever.

"Sounds absolutely fine." She almost spat through her teeth. She hated when people told her what to do and who to be. It was bad enough that she had just found out her supposedly real identity but now this guy was dictating what sort of dog she was allowed to showcase. She wished that she had enough time to lecture him on why his way of thinking was stupid and why he was a butthead. Actually... She did. "People tend to go for whatever they see on their TV screens. In fact showing a beaten, broken puppy pulls at the heartstrings more than a cute one which will only attract people who will look after the dog for as long as it takes the excitement to wear off. And then those people will neglect the puppy, view it as a chore to look after and we'll end up where we first started, here. Most of these puppies do not get the love that they deserve and you know what we have to do with those puppies? Kill them. So I will showcase which ever dog I like."

Jason hated pounds. They were loud, smelly, and, well, loud. “Ugh, I can’t even hear myself think!” the reporter complained to his camera men. One of them was actually playing with a puppy at that moment, sticking his finger in between the tiny bars of the kennel. Jason shook his head and frowned. “Really, Dave? Can you try to be a little professional here?”

His camera man shrugged, and one of the producers standing on the side made the sign that they were going to be on in ten minutes. Jason sighed, heading over to the girl he was interviewing. Apparently there was a boy volunteer, but he had called in sick that day. Meaning this girl was his only option. She was pretty enough, skinny, blonde, and a bit freckly. She also looked like she was in high school, and from the fact that he’d seen her stuff a backpack beneath the front desk, Jason knew he was probably right on that assumption.

High schoolers happened to be his least favorite to interview. Firstly, they mostly just had the dumb grins on their faces, happy just to make it on TV. Secondly, they tried to steal Jason’s spotlight as much as possible. And lastly, they always tried to do a shout out to their friends at the end, which was just annoying.