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New Beginnings: Part 3

Pairings: blind!gator x fem!reader

Summary: After things didn’t go quite as planned, you adjust to your new life. While it’s not what you expected, it’s a chance at a new beginning… for both of you.

Warnings: sexual references, drinking, smoking, age gap??? (reader is 23 and gator is 27)

It’s been about two hours since you arrived at Becca’s and she’s given you the full detailed breakdown of how her relationship ended. How she suspected he was cheating for weeks but couldn’t bring herself to say anything. How she found the receipt from Victoria’s Secret even though she hadn’t received anything. How she came home and found him in bed with another woman.

After she had cried it out on your shoulder she sat up and said, “Okay, enough about me. I wanna hear what’s been going on with you.”

You groaned, “Ugh come on, you know there’s never anything going on with me.”

She looked you dead in the eye and said, “Bullshit.”

“What?” You answered, wide eyed.

“I said bullshit, because when I called you your voice was all chirpy. You only sound like that when you’re blushing. So spill, who made you blush?”

You sat there wide eyed with your mouth open before scoffing, “No one, I was just happy cause I had my favorite muffin at Lou’s.”

“I don’t believe that for one second. So why are you lying to me, you think I won’t approve?”

You opened your mouth, closed it again, and opened it to say softly, “I don’t know. I don’t even know what I’m doing.”

Becca tilted her head in confusion, “What do you mean, honey?”

“It’s just, I didn’t really know him before and I’ve only talked to him a few times, but he seems different now. Softer. I ran into him at Lou’s and he bought my chai and my muffin. We sat and talked for a while and that’s when you called. I felt bad leaving so I kinda asked for his number before I went.”

“Okay, so ‘he’ is…?”

You took a deep breath before answering, “Gator.”

She blinked, “Gator as in Gator Tillman?”

“Yes.”

“Gator as in the blind ex-deputy, Gator Tillman?”

You glared at her, “Yes, Becca, that’d be the one.”

She stared at you with her mouth gaping as she struggled for words.

“This is why I wasn’t gonna say anything.”

She immediately grabbed your hand, “Honey, I’m just surprised that’s all. I mean this isn’t really something anyone would’ve seen coming.”

Again, you glared at her. “Well of course not! That’s why I said I don’t know what I’m doing. I mean, I don’t know what I could be getting myself into, is he still involved with sketchy stuff? I know he’s blind but that doesn’t mean he can’t hurt people. But he also seems so different than before.”

You both sat in silence for a minute before Becca finally spoke up, “Since you came back, has he done anything to make you think he isn’t a good guy?”

You looked at her with your brows furrowed, “No. He’s been kinda awkward, but sweet.”

“Okay, well maybe that’s who he is now.”

You raised your eyebrows in surprise, “This is coming from you? I thought you hated him and all his football deputy friends?”

She sighed, “I mean I did, but he’s also been through a hell of a lot of shit that can change a person. You know he testified against his daddy?”

Your lips parted, “What?”

“That’s why he ain’t in prison. That’s why Roy is locked up. It seems like he finally had a wake up call.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah… Honey, if you see something there and he hasn’t done anything wrong, then maybe you should give it a shot.”

You leaned back and chuckled under your breath, “This is absolutely not the reaction I anticipated.”

Becca laughed next to you, “What? You aren’t happy to have your best friend’s blessing to try and fuck Gator Tillman?”

You gasped, “Becca! That is not what is going on and you know it.”

“I’m just messing with you, honey. Come here.”

You leaned in a gave her a long hug, when you pulled back she said, “Alright, I think we both need a distraction tonight. What do you think about line dancing?”

You smiled at her, “I think I have a gorgeous pair of boots in my closet that haven’t been worn in far too long.”

Later that night, the two of you took an uber to the closest line dancing bar, about 30 minutes away. It was a special occasion and you’d decided to let yourself loose. Which, after three drinks and two shots, you definitely were.

“Becca I swear, if I get on that thing I’m gonna puke.”

“No you won’t! You’ll be fine, besides, this way you’ll find out if you’re any good at being on top!”

You gasped as she pushed you forward and gave your ass a playful smack. You stumbled up to the mechanical bull operator and he explained the directions to you, but you weren’t really listening. After the song that had been playing finished, you made your way to the bull.

You surprised yourself by how easily you mounted it. Must’ve been muscle memory from horseback riding lessons. Once you got on you heard the familiar beat of ‘Save a Horse’ come on the speakers.

You laughed out loud to yourself, “Oh my god, Becca’s gonna loose her shit.”

That’s when the bull turned on.

You expected to be able to hold on for at least a few seconds, but what you didn’t expect was to make it through the whole song before jumping off on your own accord.

When you got down you were laughing as hard as you could as you stumbled over to Becca, who was also bent over in laughter.

“OH MY GOD! That was the best thing I’ve ever seen. Gator would’ve lost his shit, you looked so hot!”

You laughed, “I cannot believe I just did that!”

As you two walked outside for a cigarette Becca grabbed her phone and said, “Hold on, I gotta do something”

You took a drag and heard the phone ringing before a rough voice picked up and said, “Hello?”

That’s when you realized, Becca hadn’t taken out her phone, she had taken out yours. And now Gator was on speaker.

You whisper yelled, “No! Becca what are you doing!”

Becca just laughed and began talking to Gator, “Hey Tillman, it’s Becca Struthers. I don’t know if you remember me, but I remember you.”

Gator sounded confused and surprised, “Oh, um, hi? Is everything okay?”

You couldn’t believe what was happening, you tried to grab the phone from Becca but she held it out of your reach.

“Of course! We just went out line dancing to celebrate my new single status, and this little missy next to me discovered a new talent tonight that I just had to fill you in on!”

You gasped again, “Becca, no! Don’t you dare!”

Gators voice cut in again, “Are ya sure ya girls are alright? Ya sound pretty drunk, I can send a car for ya?”

Becca jumped in quickly, “Oh no don’t worry about us, we’re having a great time! I just wanted you to know, that Ellie can ride like no other bitch!”

You gasped loudly, “Oh my god Becca, that sounds horrible!”

After hearing a small choked sound from Gator he said, “Um, excuse me?”

“I got her up on the mechanical bull and she held her ass up on there for the whole song!”

At this point you had accepted defeat and burried your head in your hands.

“It was the best thing I’d ever seen, and as a potential prospect in her life, I thought you should know.”

This really couldn’t get any worse.

“Oh, um wow.”

Becca laughed, “See honey, he’s speechless!”

“Listen, ya girls stay where ya are and there’ll be a car for ya in 10 minutes. It seems like ya both might’ve had enough to drink tonight.”

“Awe, you’re really earning some points right now, Gator! You keep treating her this good and you have my stamp of approval!”

A short chuckle came over the line, “Good to know. Alright, I’m gonna let ya go now, but if that car isn’t there for ya in the next 10 minutes ya call me back, okay?”

“Okay, thank you so much Gator! Bye bye!”

With that, Becca hung up the phone and you looked at her in shock, “Please tell me I just dreamed that.”

She giggled and replied, “Now you have a reason to reach out to him again! You gotta apologize for your best friend’s bad behavior.”

You started at her for a moment and laughed beside yourself, “Wow, you are something else.”

She smiled wide and gave you a wink, “Why, thank you!”

Taglist:

New Beginnings: Part 2

Pairings: blind!gator x fem!reader

Summary: After things didn’t go quite as planned, you adjust to your new life. While it’s not what you expected, it’s a chance at a new beginning… for both of you.

Warnings: age gap??? (reader is 23 and gator is 27)

It’s been three days since Gator walked out of your uncle’s ophthalmology office and you couldn’t stop thinking about your brief conversation. That didn’t seem like the Gator everyone used to whisper about. He wasn’t the same cocky and arrogant asshole you would see around town four years ago.

That’s the part that stuck with you. You found yourself wondering what else had changed about him. Was it because he was blind now? And how did that really happen? You’d heard whispers around town, of course, but there was no way to know what the truth was.

You did your best to push those thoughts away as you walked into the grocery store. After a few minutes of wandering down the isles you turn and see Gator standing in front of the cereal. Well, so much for not thinking about him.

He was standing there clearly frustrated with something on his phone. You weren’t quite sure why but you decided to walk over to him.

“Hey, Gator.”

Gators head snapped up as his face flushed with embarrassment.

“Uh… hi?”

“Oh sorry, it’s Ellie, from Dr. Carlton’s office.”

“Oh” he said, scratching the back of his neck.

You glanced down at his phone in his hand and asked, “Do you need a hand with something?”

“Oh uh… kinda.”

“Okay, how can I help?”

“I uh, I got this fucking stupid app that’s supposed to tell me what’s what with tha camera looking at it and I’m tryna get a box of Cap’n Crunch but every time I hold this damn thing up to a different box all it says is ‘cereal’ so I still don’t know what tha hell I’m holding.”

Trying to hold back a smile from Gators ramble of frustration you respond, “Okay, well right now you’re holding a box of Grape Nuts.”

“What tha fuck is a Grape Nut?”

You chuckled to yourself and take the box from him as you say “Honestly? I couldn’t tell you. But here’s your Cap’n Crunch.”

He accepts the box with a small sigh and quietly says, “Thanks, for uh, for tha help.”

You smile at him, “It’s no problem. Have a nice day, Gator.”

You start to walk away and catch him turning his head as if he was watching you as he says, “Yeah, you too, Ellie.”

The next morning you wake up at 9:08, it’s your first day off. You lay in bed for a little while, scrolling on your phone when your stomach growls loud enough to demand attention from anyone in a two block radius.

So you finally get out of bed and decide to treat yourself to your favorite muffin at Lou’s Coffee Shop.

When you walk in you greet Lou with a smile, “Hey Lou, can I get an iced chai and a blueberry muffin?”

“Sure thing, Ellie. It’ll be $7.32 today.”

As you reach inside your purse you hear a voice behind you cut in, “It’s on me, Lou.”

You turn to see Gator standing with his arm holding his card out to Lou, who accepts it with raised eyebrows.

“Oh, thank you, Gator. You really didn’t have to do that.”

“Not a problem, sweetheart.”

The unexpected nickname makes your heart flutter as you fail to come up with a reply.

“Ya having a nice day?”

You blinked before saying, “Uh yeah, it’s my first day off so I’m just taking it easy.”

Gator hummed, then your name was called. As you grab your drink and muffin you turn to Gator and ask, “Would you like to sit?”

The confidence he had slipping for a moment before he slowly nods and sits across from you. A beat of silence passes between you before he asks, “So… how’d ya end up back home?”

“Well, I tried to stay in Chicago after graduation, but the job market is pretty rough right now. My parents told me my uncle had an opening for a receptionist and I could stay in the basement for free, so here we are.”

“I’m sorry Chicago didn’t work out fer ya, but selfishly I’m a little glad yer here.”

Your breath hitched at his sudden boldness, “Is that so?”

“Can’t blame a guy for enjoying coffee with a pretty lady.” He said with a smirk.

You huffed a small laugh and replied, “Gator, you don’t even know what I look like.”

“Not true.” He said a little too quickly.

“I’m sorry?”

He hesitated before continuing, “We never really talked so I didn’t know yer voice, but after I left the office I placed ya. Yer Johnny’s sister, always had yer blonde hair a curly mess in yer face.”

Your face flushed with embarrassment and you were happy he couldn’t see it, but mortified by how he remembers you, “Oh god, yeah that’d be me. I’ve got my hair figured out though, wear it straight now, not in that mess it used to be.”

“Nah, I always thought it was cute. You were always pretty, like I said.”

Not knowing what to do with his compliment you quietly said, “Oh, thank you.”

You continued to chat for the next 20 minutes, mostly small talk but you could feel it teetering on the edge of something more. As you both got a bit more comfortable, he made a quick joke that caused you to bark a laugh. A sound that seemed to catch him off guard, but made his day as a smile settled over his face.

Breaking the moment between yourselves, your phone rings.

“Sorry, I gotta take this real quick.”

Gator nods as you pick up the phone.

“Hey Becca, what’s up?… yeah I’m just at Lou’s right now, why?… you’re kidding… okay, you stay put and I’ll be there in 15 minutes, love you, bye.”

“Everything alright?” Gator asks.

“Well, that was Becca, my best friend, she called to tell me that she and her boyfriend broke up. So, as her best friend I am now summoned to be by her side and ask if she wants to talk shit, cry, or distract herself.”

Gators eyebrows raise as he replies, “Wow, alright then. Well, I hope she feels better.”

You smile warmly and pause for a moment, “Hey, Gator?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think I could get your number? I had a really nice time today and I’d like to talk again.”

Failing at his attempt to hide his smile he reached for his phone, “Yeah, of course.”

You exchange numbers and before you walk away you say, “Thank you again, Gator. For the chai, the muffin… and good company.”

“Anytime, sweetheart.”

As you leave a blushing Gator in the coffee shop, you feel something suspiciously like butterflies in your stomach. You sit in your car and think, what are you getting yourself into?

Taglist:

New Beginnings

Pairings: blind!gator x fem!reader

Summary: After things didn’t go quite as planned, you adjust to your new life. While it’s not what you expected, it’s a chance at a new beginning… for both of you.

Warnings: age gap??? (reader is 23 and gator is 27)

If someone had told you six months ago that you’d be back in Fargo you would’ve laughed at them. But life has a funny way of changing your plans for you.

You graduated college in May with your communications degree and searched desperately for a job. In that search you practically lost your sanity. You did everything to stay in Chicago, but with the job market nowadays you couldn’t land a job that made a living wage.

So here you are. Living in your parent’s basement, working as a receptionist at your uncles ophthalmology office. You have a degree and no interest in ophthalmology, but here you are.

You wake up to the sound of your alarm, set far too early for your liking, but it’s your first day. Trying to make yourself feel better, you make a big breakfast, sing in the shower, do your hair and makeup, and put on the new outfit you bought for work.

After the short drive to the office, you go inside and introduce yourself to your new coworkers. First you meet Ruth, the other receptionist who is there to show you the ropes. Straight off the bat you can tell that Ruth is good at her job and will get it done quickly so she has more time to gossip about small town drama. Next, you meet Charlie, a guy a few years older than yourself working as an apprentice. He seems kind and quiet, potentially a new friend. Then there’s Dr. Blakely and Dr. Stanton, the doctors that share the office with your uncle.

You’re feeling a bit more confident after you check in the first two patients of the day when you hear the doorbell chime again. In the middle of sorting papers you say, “Hi, welcome to Carlton’s Ophthalmology! I’ll be with you in just a moment.”

You hear boots and a cane coming closer to you and a rough voice says, “Yer new.”

You finally look up and see Gator Tillman standing tall before your desk.

“To the office, but not to the town. It’s Gator, right?”

His eyebrows raise above his sunglasses as his lips part in surprise. “Uh, yeah. Tillman, Gator Tillman. I’ve uh, got an appointment with Dr. Carlton at 1:30.”

“Alright, I’ll go ahead and get you all checked in. You can take a seat in the waiting room for now.”

He nods and slowly steps away towards the chairs. A few minutes pass and you notice him sitting there, deep in thought while anxiously tapping his leg with his fingers. Then your uncle steps out of his office and walks to the waiting room.

“Gator! It’s good to have you back young man. You can go on ahead and follow me back to the office and we’ll get everything checked out.” He says to him.

Gator stands and begins to follow him, replying, “Alright.”

About a half hour later, the door opens again. Gator steps out with your uncle trailing behind him. “Well Gator, since everything’s still doing good I’d just recommend making your checkup appointment for about six weeks from now.”

“Sounds good, doc.” Gator says back to him. He walks back over to your desk and clears his throat. “Uh, I need to schedule another appointment for six weeks from now.”

“Alright, just give me one moment to pull up Dr. Carlton’s schedule. Okay, so we have one on August 3rd at noon. Would that work for you?”

“Yeah, that should be fine.”

“Okay, then I’ll go ahead and book that for you and it’ll send you an email confirmation with all the details.”

“Okay.” He says and he slowly takes a step back and begins to walk away before he turns around and says quietly, “Earlier… ya knew my name.”

The way he says it almost as a question has you tilt your head and reply, “Well yeah, I mean it’s a small town.”

He considers this for a moment and says, “Do I know ya?”

“Probably not, I was a few years behind you in school.”

He slowly nods and asks, “What’s yer name?”

Stars ✨

I remember the cool grass under our legs as we sat side by side

The open field, the sky at night

A space between the trees above our heads

Whispers between two kids feeling their hearts swell for the first time

The innocence in the air and the stars in our eyes

Wondering… will he hold my hand?

But now I ask myself…

Thank u for thinking of me with this @thecruxchronicles !

I’ve never posted before so I don’t rlly know how to format this that well but I decided to give it a shot 🤷‍♀️

Last song: Roddy - Djo

Currently Watching: rewatching teen wolf

Current obsession: making bracelets out of embroidery floss (I love making them for ppl too so if anyone wants one I’d gladly make u one and mail it!)

Currently reading: home by Whitney Hanson

Currently working on: homework for my summer classes

Currently wearing: pajamas

Last google search: the menu for a Mediterranean restaurant near my house

Favorite flower: carnations and tulips

I don’t have ten ppl to tag since I don’t really know anyone in the community so I’ll just tag my mutual followers, but no pressure to fill it out 😊