damned if you do.

LOCATION: the mixing house bar. @mapleviewstarters​

Rani wasn’t sure how many different ways she could express her disinterest. Fuck off was on the tip of her tongue, but she swallowed it down for civility purposes. The man didn’t have a clue. He’d already told his whole life story, one crammed pack with a divorce and a recent unemployment. It was unfortunate, no one was disagreeing nor would they. Having said that, someone should tell him that forced pity was the quickest way to kill one’s libido. Relief painted over her ridged appearance, soon giving way to a look of desperation. She silently pleaded with the other as they joined at the bar. “Oh, look, my partner just arrived,” she chanced, a pathetic attempt at smile present. “Hey baby, Arnold here was just leaving so you can have his seat. Isn’t that right?”

whilst atticus is wandering to his car after work, finishing on time for a change, he spots estella who seems to be struggling with the lock for her bike. he observes her out of the corner of his eye as he puts his briefcase on the front seat, waiting to see if she needs a hand until he’s being called upon. “ an axe; definitely not. i wouldn’t own up to having that on me. ” the teacher teases, walking around to the boot of the car and popping it. “ however, i may just have some bolt cutters. you could be in luck. ” with a quick look through the back of his trunk, atticus pulls out a set bolt cutters, flashing them to estella as he makes his way towards her. “ here we go; want to give it a crack? ”

“Hey, even dashing heroes need saving from time to time.” Thea teases with a grin, shrugging back at Este. “Well, it was worth a shot. You don’t have a spare key for it or anything? I feel like locks should come with those.” 

        HE PURSED HIS LIPS, giving the question a bit of thought before shrugging. “ well, not really, but i’m not really a ‘judge a book by its cover’ kind of guy, so… ” he trailed off. a mock offended look crossed his features. “ lonely ? i’ll have you know, i quite enjoy my own company, ” he responded, chuckling, “ but since you’re offering. ” he grinned. “ i’m jimmy, by the way. ” he held out his hand for the other to shake. “ might as well know my name so you can tell them whose bill to put it on. ”

it was warm here . it was safe here . she wasn’t being interrogated or gated in , she wasn’t being patted down , her breath wasn’t being checked . it was different , but not in the kind of different that was considered negative . if she’d been allowed to stay forever vale would’ve done , but how unrealistic could her ideas get by the end of the night ?? she’d blame it on the alcohol although the whole situation had been more than sobering . letting herself fall onto the couch her injured wrist sat , balanced , in her lap , as her other hand slipped off the heels that were too high for slender ankles anyway . without the extra inches she was miniature , like a woman only smaller . a girl . with her freckles , her slight stature and the fact she dressed like a child masquerading like an adult she was always checked for ID at the bar and even then she was often shunned and accused of holding a fake . gnarly blisters beat up the backs of her feet , and she dragged them up beneath herself to force her body to contort as small as possible against the furnishing . now the world had quietened down around them she was suddenly back in her shell : soft , sensitive , gentle .. 

the place was nice , barer than she’d imagined , but anything was empty compared to her apartment . for starters they were all crammed into one space , her and her roommates ; by design they owned three times the belongings and took up three times the space . their home was stocked with trinkets , flooded with animals , decorated with strange lingering odours and blasting music , and yet that was where she called home . this was different . that was quickly becoming her favorite word to explain such a strange , twisted scenario . “ i’m okay . thank you . i think the pain relief of the alcohol has worn off , though , ‘cus this thing hurts a lot more . but you’re right , i don’t think it’s broken . “ thank god for that . it meant they could remain on the couch and treat her wound right there , without the need for her running into anybody she knew or that knew her family . in a small town with tight connections news travelled quicker than she could keep up with . “ is it just you .. that lives here ?? “

as vale spoke about her wrist and the feelings of pain, estella frowned and set the bag of ice on the granite island. for a long moment she simply looked out at the other, observing her posture and her stature. she looked small on the sofa and the longer that estella looked, the more her mind began to torture itself about what may have happened if she hadn’t been there in time. but, she reminded herself, you were there and now she’s safely here. it wasn’t like estella cared too much about what other people did in their lives but she had a righteous streak. even she could hold herself accountable for doing some good in the world... even when it seemed like a bleak place to be. but then again... a sweet little thing like her didn’t seem like she was ever going to be safe out there by herself. that was just another way that the world was so disgustingly cruel. when the question about her residence was asked, estella’s eyebrows rose and she paused her search through one of the kitchen drawers to answer. “just me. it’s convenient because i have the spare room sort of turned into a home gym and it’s really close to the fire station so i’m always able to get there when needed. or if i wake up late...” plucking a packet of tablets out of the drawer, she busied herself with pouring a glass of water too. 

Holden chuckled and shrugged. “I don’t know what you like to do in your free time,” he murmured with somewhat of an innuendo, a smirk pulling at his lips. He rolled his eyes at her comment, though paused for a moment to appreciate her hands on his shoulders. “Oh, shut up,” he laughed despite himself as she leaned against the wall. “I can still decide not to help you out,” he raised his eyebrows in a teasing warning, but in reality Holden loved to help people. He wouldn’t walk away, and truthfully wasn’t offended. Fishing the wire cutters out of the mess that was his trunk, he came back with them in his hands and brought the tool near the lock. He’d always been good at handiwork and mechanical stuff, as his dad had been a construction worker at one period of time and then worked on cars. He clipped the lock and freed it from the bike, side eyeing Este as she began complimenting him. “I can tell you’re trying to do something, but I don’t know if that’s saying thank you yet,” he teased, then shrugged a shoulder. “Don’t mention it. It wasn’t a problem at all,” he turned towards her to smile softly, friendly. 

Walking up to where Este is standing, Thea clears her throat softly, not wanting to startle her. “Hey. Everything alright? Can’t say that I have anything stronger than a pocket knufe on me, sorry You’re welcome to try to use it to pick the lock though, if you want.”

          “  then i choose to plead the fifth,  “  the blonde quickly states, hand raising in a  salute  to make the deed more serious than her expression is at the given moment. alana then  carefully  observes the other’s reaction upon receiving her written note, trying her best not to crack a smile in the process as she offers a shrug.  “  what ?  i was being honest,  isn’t that the best policy ?  “  she asks, tone dripping with  innocence  as she narrows her fox eyes at her.  “  so you do have a firetruck,  “  she then proceeds to answer with a raised brow, purposely teasing the other.  “  oh, relax. it’s not like he’s going to do anything about it,  “  she motions to the note  &  the car in question, acting far too  casual  , but also vividly not bothered.  “  show me yours then i’ll show you mine,  “  alana starts to tease again. 

After buying some dry goods from the grocer’s, Isabella had been walking back to her car on the phone. “No ma’am, a scholarship would mean that Jack’s college would be paid for. I was just calling to see if you’d be willing to let me call a few friends to recommend him for an art scholarship…yes of course, I’ll let you know when I find out. Have a good day as well ma’am.” She ended the call, just about ready to head out when she heard someone call out. The woman turned and found the source of the voice, nodding quickly. “Ya know, I knew these would come in handy one day.” Bella chuckled, walking to the boot of her car to open it and grab the bolt cutters out of her toolbox she always had in her car. “I left my axe back with my shield, but these should work.” The blonde playfully joked, walking over as she held out the tool to the brunette. “Those bike locks never seem to work for me, if I’m being honest.”

As Duncan placed his bike between the bars of the bike rack, he couldn’t help but notice the young woman swearing under her breath. He peered over, her fingers fiddling with the lock. When she turned and asked him for help, he had already locked his own bicycle so he took a couple of steps towards her so he could speak without having to raise his voice. “Normally, with these kinds of locks, you can flush out the old code by continually moving it counterclockwise ‘til it clicks,” he informed her in a warm tone until doubt slipped into his mind. “Or maybe… it’s clockwise.”

Este knew it probably shouldn’t have pissed her off as much as it had but the more she looked at the goddamn lock... the more her temper was building. “Genius.” She muttered, throwing her hands up and pawing them back through her hair. “Fat lot of good that is...” She added under her breath before bracing her hands on the frame of the bike and gripping down hard. He’s just trying to help, she told herself as her knuckles went a stark white. “Do you think you could give it a go or is it just something you’ve heard? If not I’ll be walking to the fire station to get the ol’ faithful bolt cutters and I’ll be taking no prisons...”

“oof. i’m sorry, i think i am a bit useless if that’s what you need from me.” they admitted, coming over to see if they could help anyway. n knelt down, tilting their head at the lock, “hm. well, i can only think of two solutions. one is for us to take a walk to help clear your head a bit from this frustration and then revisit the lock and attempt your combination again. the other would be to head to the nearby hardware store and purchase bolt cutters for the lock.” they looked over at the woman, offering a friendly smile. “any of those sound at all useful?”

she wasn’t feeble , at least she didn’t want to make out that she was . vale was named after the valleys , after dipping canyons and magnificent ravines , and yet there she was biting the inside of her cheek in an attempt to fight off sounds of discomfort . whimpers were silenced , rubbing the slender joint of her wrist that seemed a lot more swollen than she was used to . ever since she was a child she’d been a firecracker . it was needed , with an older sibling ; her and paxton would often ‘ battle ‘ with couch cushions , using the force to throw them at each other imagining they were characters in the star wars franchise . precious moments like those were long gone , long forgotten , but her fire was far from extinguished . much like este’s tinder she was crackling kindling , an ember that may have dimmed but never once ceased to exist , no matter how hard the wind blew . ” i think that’s the best idea . i mean , those things are expensive .. and it’s probably just a sprain . nothing i can’t handle . if it gets worse i can just grab an uber or something , save a couple of hundred .. “ 

tugging the sides of este’s jacket closer around her shoulders vale was taken aback by the scent that nestled deep within her nostrils . it wasn’t overly perfumed , not like a soap store or a chemical factory , but earthy , natural , something that stopped her in her tracks for only a second . it was half a moment , not long enough for the other to notice ( at least , she hoped it wasn’t ) . “ vale . “ the girl responded as nonchalantly as the other had . she figured asking to be led back to the other’s abode was enough of an overstep for the evening , so she wasn’t about to force friendship on top of already wobbling foundation . pressing ahead would’ve threatened the kindness that had been shown and could be ripped away just as easily . a gap was left between their bodies as she followed along , much like a stray cat or a child without their mother , far enough but with the shawl of este’s jacket comforting her with cedar wood scent . “ i wouldn’t say we’re strangers . i mean , not now anyway . you saved my ass , so .. “ este had saved her from a lot more , too , but she didn’t need to know , and vale didn’t need to confess either .

vale. it wasn’t a name that estella thought she recognised and she definitely knew it wasn’t a popular name. it was unusual even, and she was sure if they’d have met before then she would have remembered a name like that. except, there was some familiarity there but she could blame that on the ways she’d seen similarities between herself and the other in such a short period of time. was there something eating her up inside? was there something that riddled her mind every night and plagued her every time she tried to sleep? what did it matter? what did este care? as they walked, estella stuffed her hands deep into the pockets of her tracksuit pants, trying to bring some warmth to her cool fingers. she could hear vale’s footsteps a few short steps behind her and she listened attentively, making sure the step was consistent. she was probably tired. a little intoxicated. a little bit hurt - both physically and her pride. “i did what any good person should have done. intervened. however, i did it...” estella said clearly, turning to look at the younger woman with the faintest impression of a smile on her lips. what a strange way to consider that you could possibly know someone... but este still didn’t need the gratitude. 

With just getting off the phone with a client, Aspen heard the female’s voice and she slowly turned around to look at her. “You would think I’d carry one around with me but unfortunately I don’t.” Aspen gave a small frown to the other. “I can give you a ride to wherever you need to go, or to go get a bolt cutter if you have one.” She offered while placing her phone into her bag while grabbing her car keys. “I wouldn’t know how to get out of this type of situation.” 

It was in Jude’s nature to stop when he saw someone in distress. He had never been less equipped for a situation. “The only axe I have is the bodyspray… and to be honest, I don’t even have that, it smells gross. I’m sorry.” He frowned, eyebrows knitting as he tried to think of anything that could be remotely helpful. Getting out his cell phone, a quick Google search led him to a tutorial on how to crack a bicycle lock. It took a few tries and more than a few curse words but, finally, the lock gave way. “Ha! Holy shit, the Internet actually coming through for once.”

Estella barely processed the comment about the body spray. She caught the end and looked at him with a rather confused expression but made no further comment to humour it. How the hell was that supposed to help her? However, when he pulled out his phone, her attention perked a little and she lifted her eyebrows. “Oh...” She muttered as he moved past her and fiddled with the lock. There was no fucking way. What shit had he just been reading? “There’s no fucking way you just Googled something!” She reached out and slipped the lock from around the bike. Sure enough, it came off undone. “If bikes go missing around town, I’m calling you in. But thank you... that was quite impressive. I was too busy trying to fight the fucking thing.”

graham had been on the phone with one of his colleagues whenever he had stumbled upon estella, who was bent over a bike and seeming to grow irritated by the second. “i’ll call you back.” he said into the phone, pushing it into his pocket and turning his attention back to the woman. “bolt cutters? no, sorry - i forgot to grab them with my keys when i had left the house earlier.” it was his attempt at a joke and to lighten the mood. “no axe, either. i think there still may be a way to get the lock off without either of those items, though.”

“oh... i didn’t realise you were giving up your job in the medical field to be a fucking comedian, graham.” estella sighed heavily as she pushed at the bike and then stepped back, throwing her hands half-heartedly in the air. “why is it when i need something then no one has the goods but all someone has to do is dial 911 and say hi my toaster has smoke coming out of it and i’m saving everything they love. weird...” turning to face him, she folded her arms over her chest. “what’s that smart brain of yours got to offer? i’ll take dumb answers too.”

perhaps the charm of the duet was that it would never happen . the pair of them were affectionately known as ‘ gay best friends ‘ , a relationship where everybody mistook them as being together but the thought of the matter turned their stomachs to physical disgust . it wasn’t that jaden didn’t find estella attractive – he wasn’t blind – she just wasn’t interested in adam’s descendants , and he openly bat for both teams . unfortunately for them there weren’t many platonic duet songs on the karaoke machine . cheeks blushed an unnatural , impossible shade of pink as if he’d been rouged by a passing makeup counters ; the praise was something he was far from used to . maybe he’d grow comfortable with it the more they performed ( which he certainly intended on doing after tonight’s successes ) . fingertips against his chin cause goosebumps to prick up against his skin , turning to playfully bite her fingers until his next line . tremors of nerves had long since passed and , for once , he was the star he’d always wanted to be , even if he was in a shitty deadbeat bar rather than on a festival stage . foreheads touched as he stood to his feet , a little clumsily thanks to his replacement calf . “ i guess i’d rather hurt than feel nothin’ at all .. “ taking the hand that didn’t hold her microphone jaden raised estella’s arm and twirled her in a circle , giddily laughing so the speakers caught his unrelenting happiness . for the first time in months , he felt free .

Holden was on his way home when he barely noticed Este and then turned his head to focus in on what she was doing. And then she was asking him for an axe and he couldn’t help but smirk a little at her question, but he understood that it was a frustrating situation to be in so he held it back the best he could. “Not on my person, no,” he told the other, as a firefighter and him as a paramedic, they’d worked together on occasion. “Forget the combination or something?” he asked, stepping forward and fiddling with the lock in the feeble hope, but knowing that he wouldn’t manage it, belief that he could somehow fiddle with it enough that it’d come undone. Remembering the tool in his trunk, he spoke up again. “I’ve got some wire cutters in my trunk, actually, let me just grab those,” he said and rushed to his car.