sweet roses

Presley chuckled lightly at the mention of free food, “I guess you are correct about Tinder dates and free food, but half the time they expect something in return or I just have shitty luck with that.”

Ivy began to shake her head vigorously, putting her hands up. “Trust me, you are not the only one to deal with that.” A slightly frown, yet almost half smile on her face. “I’ve had a few men think that dates automatically mean sex. Jokes on them. We exchange our precious and valuable time for free food and wine.” She smirked. “So try it! It could be fun, even if it’s only for a end of the summer hookup.”

She nodded, an apologetic expression forming over her features. “Don’t be too hard on yourself,” She said in a softer tone, though it was only for the sake of making the brunette feel better. After all, she was in no position to be giving life advice. But, the stranger seemed kind enough and she wasn’t heartless. “Relationships are hard, you know? Sometimes, shit happens. If it’s meant to work out, it will— if not, it’ll suck for awhile, but you’ll be fine.” Kendall continued, giving her a small smile. “Besides, after witnessing that call of yours earlier, it’s safe to say you’re tough as nails.”

A slight shrug, Ivy agreed with the girl. Yet she was in no mood to go into further detail about her personal life. Within her morning she had already had enough to deal with. Meeting new strangers, buying them coffee and spilling details about her personal life. It never happened to her, at least not like this. “Yeah, I’m not too worried much about it all right now. I just moved to a new city, so I guess I have to explore or whatever.” she said jokingly with a laugh. Her mind went back to the call she had only a mere ten minutes before. “Oh yeah, the toughest. I only get that mean and snippy in times of need. I rather yell at someone, than my boss yell at me.”

“Okay.” He took note of her suggestion as he accepted the pen from her, examining it in his hand before drawing his attention back towards her. “Hello. And thank you for the pen.” He raised the object slightly before moving his hand over the table where his sketchpad lay open in front of him, then began to trace the pencil outline of his latest doodle across the paper. “I’m drawing a rose, but I don’t have a picture of a rose with me, so I’m trying to draw it from my mind.” He glanced up at her, a quick smile flashed across his face. “It can’t be that hard to draw roses, though, right?”

Ivy had almost become a little too annoyed by the stranger. She hadn’t wanted to be bothered, and just focus on her work. She smiled at him, though it came off as more of a yeah whatever, you’re welcome. Hearing his voice again, Ivy looked up from her work, her eyes rolling back into her head only to realize she had been acting almost too much of a brat in that moment. He was being kind, and she needed a distraction whether she wanted to admit it or not. “I don’t know, roses can be depicted in many ways.” She said before reaching into her bag and pulling out a small piece of paper folded up. “I’ve always wanted this tattooed on me. My middle name is rose” a more warm smile formed on her face as she handed it to him. “Maybe that could help?”

Foster moved to sit down beside Ivy, still with a smile on his lips. That was one of his favorite things about going to the bar, talking to people. And any chance he could to make people smile, Foster was all for it. “Bein’ a bartender, I always like a good drink. That right there?” He pointed at her Manhattan. “That right there ain’t a proper drink. It’ll get you drunk, that’s for sure.” Foster glanced over at the bartender, offering a pleasant smile even as he leaned closer to Ivy to whisper to her. “See there, he’s just tryin’ to get you drunk so you’ll keep buyin’ more drinks. Bad way to do it. Want people to stay and have more drinks? Talk to them, make a damn good drink, and don’t make goggly eyes like that fella there.”

Her upper lip raised, a disappointed look on her face. As she could already tell the portions were off, her bubble was not busted by this stranger nevertheless. “Maybe my intentions were to get as drunk as possible?” She questioned, teasingly before taking the cherry from her glass and eating it slowly. Her eyes glanced over at the bartender, who managed to keep checking back at Ivy every so often and watched him stumble over something. A laugh escaped her lips before she turned her attention back to the man before her. “I guess you’re right. But it’s all entertaining really.”

    “Just wondering if this phone is yours.” Jon stated, said phone held in hand and being displayed to the brunette who seemed as though she was well on her way to inebriated. “It was occupying this seat,” he finished just as he sat and set the phone onto the bartop. When the bartender came round, Jonathan ordered a bourbon, then turned his attention back to the brunette. “How many of those have you had?”

Ivy looked down to see her phone in his hand, wondering where exactly she had misplaced it for a second. Only to realize she had been keeping it in the bar stool next to her, to avoid anyone trying to take the seat. That plan was now obviously failing. “Why yes it is, thank you” she said politely taking it back into her hand and sliding it next to her drink. Having normally paid no attention to the person next to her, Ivy averted her attention back to him once he spoke to her again. Pressing her lips to the glass and tipping it back, she downed the drink in less than a matter of minutes. “Well that was my fourth. Though I’m positive the  bartender is using enough whiskey to make about five.” She said with a shrug before seeing his glass of bourbon served to him. “I see you like it straight.”

Chase needed to get out and shake everything off with a drink or two, so he figured he would go out instead of hosting at the bar his brother owned. He needed a night to himself and collect everything in mind. He asked for a whiskey sour and hung around the bar. Only to per over to glance at Ivy. “ Nothing. I see you are having a good time” He commented with a smile. 

Ivy shrugged before picking up her glass and drinking half of the freshly made drink. “Oh you know it. Being alone at bars where strange men hit on you is a blast” she said sarcastically, smiling back at him. “I’m Ivy.”

“That guy over there gave me twenty bucks to ask you if, uh..” Billie whisked her hand towards the opposite end of where she stood to point out the man, a frown now notably molded on her face, seeing as she had already forgotten what he sent her over there to ask. She turned slightly to re-clarify with him, but he was gone. “Okay, I’m not crazy. There was a guy over there.” Lifting her shoulders up into a shrug, Billie slid onto the bar stool and waved over the bartender. “Want to do a shot?” She paused, working the math out on her fingers. “Or two?”

Ivy glanced over into the direction of where the girl had been pointing. An even bigger look of confusion formed on her face, as she literally couldn’t see who she had been talking about. Nevertheless, she hadn’t cared for who he was, she was interested in who this strange girl had been. Though the sheer thought of strangers in a bar vanished at the idea of shots. “Hell why not” she said, a smirk on her face as she downed her drink in one go, and then slightly slamming the glass down on the bar as she waited for their shots to be poured.

“Sorry, sweetheart. Didn’t mean to startle ya if I did. Just thought I’d ask what you’re drinkin’. Seems like I might have to get me some of that,” Foster said with a chuckle. He could probably figure it out by looking at the drink, the help of being a bartender. “Whoever’s makin’ you that drink there might need to take it a bit easier, hm?”

A smirk formed on her lips, Ivy raised an eyebrow. He generally had her curious, even more so when he began to ask what she was drinking. “A Manhattan....a very strong one at that.” She nodded towards the bartender, who seemed to be smiling at Ivy a tad too much that night. “And why do you ask?”

   “I said that we would be closing in an hour” he answered looking at the other

Perking up from the view of the bar and her glass, Ivy had saw the bar was practically empty from before. “Oh” was all she could mutter out before she glanced down back at her drink. “Guess that means I’ll need another five -- six if I’m feeling really adventurous” She joked, before sipping on the drink just handed to her. 

  “I was asking if this belong to you?” he asked the other as he held a purse that he had picked up from the floor, “I saw this on the floor next to your chair”

She glanced down at the bag, noticing it looked familiar she begun to swirl around in her stool before actually realizing it was indeed her bag. “I guess it definitely would be mine.” She admitted sheepishly with a smile before taking it back. “Thank you..so much, you have no idea. Can I buy you a drink?”

“I have a cat,” the brunette said since that was the only animal that could keep up with her busy schedule of always leaving and going when she had to be at the hospital for several days at a time.” Bitting her lower lip, her brow perked at the thought of the latter one. “That’s actually a really good idea since the father and I really do love coffee.” It was one of the little things that they shared in common, actually.

Ivy smiled, the look of achievement on her face. “I mean cats generally aren’t as obedient as dogs. But it could work.” She titled her head to the side, shrugging it off. “See, there ya go! Besides it’s super cute and you can do your favourite coffee shops or buy a cute pair of cups off etsy.”

“Sorry,” Livia said and smiled accordingly to the word, excusing herself for interrupting the younger female at the bar. “Your stool… It’s sitting on the strap of my bag,” she answered and looked down, holding her bag a few feet off the ground, not able to pull it up higher because of said trapped strap.

Tilting her head to the side, Ivy glanced down to see the bag strap still around her bar stool. She gasped out of sheer embarrassment, before jumping up out of her seat to move it. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I guess that would totally explain the fact that i felt my chair slightly move.” She admitted with a slight laugh.

“I wouldn’t know—” She replied with a light chuckle, shrugging her shoulders. “But yeah, sounds supper messy.” It was definitely not something Kendall would ever go near, seeing as she did her hardest to avoid any typeof drama. And given her twenty-five years of life, she’d say she was doing a pretty decent job at that. “But like, you’re here, I think that shows effort. I hope things work itself out—” She attempted to reassure the other brunette, offering a small smile. “God, no.” Realizing that the words had rolled off her tongue slightly harsh, she paused. “I mean, no. I’m not good with… being with someone.” 

Letting out a long sigh  before taking another sip of her coffee, Ivy nodded her head in agreement once more “I hope they do too, whatever working things out truly means.” She said before pausing, feeling guilty of asking her the question. “Well trust me, I’m apparently not good with it either” Ivy let out a laugh.

“Sorry,” came the apology immediately after he’d finally elicited a reaction from her. “I just thought you’ll notice me better this way.” Clearly, and much like most things, he hadn’t considered his actions very well. “I wanted to borrow a pen. Do you have a pen? It looks like you have many pens.”

As if this hadn’t been one of the more strange encounters Ivy had with a random stranger in this town. She nodded her head, faking a smile though she still seemed confused. He actually seemed relatively harmless. “Oh, well you know next time maybe just a simple hello.” Her snarky tone as she reached down into her bag, reaching around for the pen. She finally grabbed one and pulled it out, handing it to the stranger. “I do have many pens. Here ya go.”

emerson shouldn’t even care. they weren’t together anymore, and she wasn’t his responsibility. and yet, as soon as he’d spotted her at the bar when he’d walked in, he’d made his way over and stood next to her, waiting for her to notice him. “since when are you a day drinker?” he asked with one eyebrow slightly raised, silently judging her with his eyes.

The last person she expected to look up to would be Emerson -- especially in a bar around noon. Her eyes grew wide,and her body stiff for a moment before hearing the judgmental comment fall from his lips. “Since coming to Lanford” She snapped back, her tone cold. Turning away from him to face back towards the bar and continued to sip of her drink. She paused for a brief moment and set down the glass. “Why do you care?”

     Morgan generally was a rather affable person and when it came to bars, he’d strike up a conversation with just about anyone. When it came to drinking alone, he’d turn to the person to his side and that was usually how the night went on but he’d ended a shift not too long ago and he was exhausted. Deciding on simply keeping to himself, he’d sat at the bar and was on his second beer as he’d allowed his eyes to scan the bar, stopping on the brunette not too far away that seemed like she’d possibly had a little too much to drink. Morgan wasn’t certain but it was still worth keeping an eye on her if that was the case, considering she seemed to be alone. Before he could stop himself, the fireman had made his way over to her and tentatively grabbed tugged on her arm. ❛ You here by yourself? ❜ he inquired, ending the gentle hold that he’d had on her arm as he allowed his free hand to fall to the wood of the bar and pulled himself into the vacant seat next to her. The comment was not supposed to come off as though he was attempting to pick up on an inebriated woman, not that she wasn’t attractive, but it wasn’t his style. ❛ Y’know, you should probably eat something. They have great nachos here. ❜

Normally Ivy wasn’t one to pay attention to any guy that seemed even in the slightest bit interested in her, and at a bar nevertheless. She believed there were more appropriate places to meet available men. However maybe it had been the alcohol talking, or maybe it was the fact that he seemed even the slightest bit different from the other men who had tried to hit on her that night already. She perked up, an eyebrow raised with curiosity in her eyes. “No, I’m not here alone. Why?” She asked before hearing him talk about nachos, as she could almost feel her eyes roll into the back of her head. Of course he was trying to be a gentleman about this, and sober her up a little. Something she wasn’t concerned with at the moment. “I’m not necessarily hungry. Unless you know, it’s this drink I just ordered” her sarcastic nature and cocky tone as she held up her glass.

Ezra took the drink from Ivy since he hadn’t had one yet and he had to fight a bunch of teenage girls in the merch line so he desperately needed the alcohol. “I said they’re out of your size, so I got you a large,” he said after chugging her drink, crushing the plastic cup and tossing it into a nearby trash can like taking a shot with a basketball. “Have you been here this whole time instead of trying to get into the crowd by the front of the stage? I can’t believe you, Ivy… alright, we gotta get in there before the headliners come on.”

Her jaw dropped, eyes narrowing at him as he finished her drink. As if she didn’t have the money or means to get another. Part of her didn’t truly care anyways, not with Ezra. “Heyyy, that was ---” she paused before realizing there wasn’t a need to finish the sentence. “Yeahh -- this line is ridiculous.” A slight frown formed on her lips. “I’m about to go flirt with a security guard to get ahead” Her head nodded in the direction of the two men guarding the entrance.