not your pretty girl

He just needed a minute to sit. Doug let out a sigh when he saw that Rosalie was there. But he took a seat anyway. “Just needed a break myself. If you think you can stomach my company for that long, Ro,” he said, shooting her a look before mumbling, “It’s too damn cold outside.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flask, taking a swig. Sure he could just sit in his own office and drink all he wanted. But if he was there, people would know where to look for him. Back here, he at least got a few more seconds before being found. 

She closed her magazine and looked up properly at her boss.  “A break?  What do you need a break from?  You’re not out there dancing or caring heavy drink trays.  You just sit around and do paperwork.  Speaking of sitting around don’t you have an office you could be sitting in instead?” she asked raising an eyebrow.  “I suppose I can put up with you for a bit.”

Nathan threw a glance behind him, and squinted. Yeah, he didn’t know this one yet. So he shrugged, and continued smoking. Weren’t these things supposed to chill you out? “I’m Doug’s nephew, and I’m bored.” So he was here, because he had two total options, and he wasn’t about to do school shit and get that much closer to doing something…really fucking stupid.

“Your Doug’s nephew,” she repeated trying to get over the shock of that information.  She couldn’t picture Doug having family.  Obviously he must because everyone has to come from somewhere but it just seemed weird to think about it.  “I had no idea Dougie had a nephew.  I had no idea he even had family in this area.  Do you need me to go get him?  Do you need money or something?  I’m sure there are lots of other more interesting places you could hang out than the back of a strip club.  Back here really isn’t the place to cure boredom.”

Evangeline gave a small smile to Rose as she took the cup from her. Truth be told she needed this. Really badly. “Don’t apologize, I haven’t been the most social either. I umm…Dev and I sort of broke up and I threw myself into the music. For healing purposes, you know.” She brought the mug to her lips and sighed at the steam. “Other than that, things are okay. What about you? I feel like I’m the one who’s been the awful friend.”

“You broke up?  Oh honey, I’m so sorry.  How are you doing?  Do you need ice cream, a stronger drink?” Rose asked setting down her mug of coffee.  “Well at least you’re getting to work on your music.  Maybe something good will come out of the break up,” she said trying to put a positive spin on the situation.  She wasn’t sure if it work or be that helpful but it was better than saying nothing right?  “I’ve been alright.  Mostly just working, nothing interesting has happened recently.  I need to do something to change that.”

Hades shrugged. “Can’t just leave. Got a business I run, so I’ve gotta make sure nothing goes to shit. Like…gotta see if they’re gonna stop being dumbasses for a while.” He figured it was like making sure your kids were old enough not to burn the house down before you left them alone, but with a lot more kids and a lot more than a house at stake.

“Aw well that’s a shame.  Sucks you don’t have a good second in command you can trust to leave behind.  Well hopefully they stop being dumbasses so you can have your vacation.  It certainly sounds like you need it.”

Did the smart part of Nathan know that he shouldn’t be near Sin City looking for trouble? Yes. Did he care? Absolutely fucking not. He hadn’t slept in…well, he didn’t know how long, he was bored, and he was more frustrated about stupid shit than he should’ve been. So he posted himself near the back door, smoked, zoned out, and sort of hoped…anything would happen.

“No, I’m not moving,” he deadpanned to whoever he felt looking at him. He didn’t know who they were or where they’d come from. Didn’t matter.

Rosalie stepped outside on her break for a smoke when she almost hit a kid.  What on earth was a kid doing at the back door of a strip club?  “Fine I guess I’ll just have to risk stepping on you,” she said shrugging and pulling out a cigarette from the pack and lighting it.  “Now what on earth are you doing out here?  You look way too young to be anywhere near a strip club.”

Hades gave a small nod. Going home to bother his family seemed to be winning out in the grand scheme of things, but who knew what would happen? “Nah, not avoiding someone. Just the weather.” And possibly people, depending on who decided to like him.

“Well if you’re avoiding the weather why not leave now?  Why wait until February?  It’s already cold.  You could get a lot more time in the sun and possibly the sand too.”

In a surprise to everyone, including himself, Hades was in a good mood. This wasn’t uncommon, not after New Year’s Eve, at least, but the amount of money he’d made? He just needed to figure out what to get with it, since the club didn’t need more improvement.

“Serious question: long vacation in the Mediterranean or beach house in the States? Gotta figure out where to spend February.”

“Well if I were going to pick a place to vacation I’d choose to go out of the country.  Another place in the States just doesn’t seem as exciting.  Why February?  Trying to avoid someone around Valentine’s Day?”

@lumineuxeva​

Doug shifted in his hospital bed, letting out a bit of a groan. He played it off as if it was from moving, but really, he was in too much pain and on too many meds to truly hide his feelings toward her being here. He only had an issue with her because she had an issue with him. Not that he really went out of his way to make her have a better opinion of him. He just accepted that this was how it was. Sort of. “Hey, Ro,” he said with a bit of a grin. “Yeah, I’m definitely not in my prime here, thanks for noticing. If I knew you were coming I would’ve tried to clean up just a bit more,” he joked. “I see Polly talked you into taking her place. Or are you here to get me to sign a paycheck?”

Rose sat down in the visitor’s chair crossing her left leg over her right.  She tried to appear as casual and friendly as possible not wanting to make any nurses rush in or annoy Doug too much and make him worse.  “I suppose you could look worse for someone who nearly died.  Honestly for someone in the hospital you don’t look half bad.  Remind me again why you aren’t one of the guys out there stripping?” she asked.  “More like I talked her into leaving for a few minutes.  She needs a chance for fresh air, a shower, change of clothes, maybe a nap if we’re lucky.  Damn I didn’t think to bring my paycheck I’ll keep that in mind for the next time you piss someone off and land up back here.”

Polly: Like some of the teachers I had to deal with. They were complete assholes. I’m trying not to, you know that. It’s why we broke up, well one of the reasons. But I can’t just not care about him. Ro, you know I hate asking for support but it means a lot to me. <3

Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep

Polly: He really is. He cares about everyone he hires, even if he’s a bit gruff sometimes. But you are right. Trouble usually follows. I… I’m sorry too. But if it was between that and him dying, I’d take that any day. Though I’m not going to say no to some company. It would be nice to see someone and not feel like crying for once.

Polly: Should and would are very different, Ro. I feel like I don’t know either sometimes but I really do care about him. He’s a sweet guy just a bit troubled. I know, I know. I just. There was so much blood.