no man is an island

“You should see the other guy.” A cliche remark made in an attempt to lighten the mood. Sporting a black eye and bruised knuckles at his age wasn’t something to be proud of, yet for some reason he wore them like a badge of honor. “If you’re gonna try to scold me, I don’t wanna hear it. But if you’re gonna pat me on the back, thank me for a job well done, and buy me a beer; well in that case, I’m listening.”

“Aren’t you a little old to be bragging about a brawl?” Jane sipped on her moscow mule careful to not let whatever infection was forming on the man’s black eye to get near her drink. “You’ve got grey knuckle hairs under those bruises, but whatever keeps you feeling young, I guess go for it. Most guys would just buy a motorcycle and crash it.” She held up her finger as if it’d get the busy bartender’s attention. “Give your shittiest draft to this guy so he can feel like he achieved something. On my tab.”

Sylvia stared at the cup on the floor, not wanting to get up but she was startled when someone else spoke. “Yeah, I know. Definitely didn’t make it as a basketball player.” she said, honestly not sure if the other girl was joking or not due to the look on her face. “I’m sorry I bothered you,” she said again, making sure it was clear as she got up to properly place the cup in the trash. 

“I can tell.” Jane spoke towards her laptop screen, seeing the girl pick up the cup from the corner of her eye. “It’s not a big deal. I’m more bothered they don’t have recycling here. People throw away a lot of drafts, coffee cups, and tear stained tissues.”

Sylvia sat in a booth at the public library, flipping through pages of the stacks of books she had laid out in front of her. She sighed and leaned back after looking at the time on her phone. She was here for far too long, gathering information about a story she was writer. Her first for the Grape Gazette since moving here, so she was going to make sure it was perfect. She was given the job of lifestyle editor, and ever since has been questioning why the hell they let her get this far if she knew absolutely nothing about the Napa Valley lifestyle. “More coffee. I need more coffee.” she said to herself, picking up her cup and realizing it was empty. She tried to shoot it in the garbage can a few feet away, and missed. “I’m sorry.” she said to whoever was around her who may have just witnessed the scene. 

The internet has been down at Jane’s flat for the past few days and the coffee shop signal wasn’t cutting it. It’d been time to resort to the public library in order to get around to responding to emails. She had picked a spot in a corner, to herself, so she didn’t have to become self conscious of her typing fingers. The “Inside Voice” zone was the perfect spot in case her phone decided to ring. As Jane was typing away, a thud hit the trashcan next to her and she used this as an excuse for a valid reason to look up from her laptop screen. “You’ve got terrible aim, you’re sitting in the perfect spot.” 

Scout had left her phone in the back room at Barley & Me the night prior because, well, of course she had. She had rushed to the bar in the middle of the afternoon in order to retrieve it, hurriedly unlocking the door. The bar sat empty in the daylight, which was not a good look for the place. At least the nighttime covered up some of the fact that it was pretty much a hole in the wall, but nothing could be hidden under the light of day. Scout grabbed her phone off the counter, quick to lock back up and get out of there. In her hast, she opened up the front door rather forcefully, completely running it into whoever had been unfortunate enough to be passing by. “Woah, sorry.”

Jane hated being on this side of Napa Valley. In fact, she could already smell the nearby pub in all its greasy glory as she was walking to her destination to pick up supplies. She’d only been to Barley & Me once on a blind date and the only detail she could recall was how terrible the wine was yet how strong the scotch tasted. In the midst of holding her breath as she passed the doors, one flew open and nearly knocked the wind out of her. “If I hadn’t known any better, I’d say you did that on purpose.” Jane rubbed any sore areas before smoothing out the wrinkles in her dress. “Did you have one too many rum and cokes before realizing your lunch break is over and it’s time to head back to your office job?”

“Stop time. That way I can take a breather for ten seconds without ever losing time.”

“Working, only with crow’s feet forming under my eyes resulting in me finally having to buy an eye cream.”

“I never really listened to them, they were after my time but I guess Nick? He had an established career prior to the band and is still doing well after I assume.”

“Not really a custom, but why don’t you guys use the damn metric system?”

“A ton of books wherever there was free space. I loved reading nonfiction books just to know about things for the heck of it. My bedspread in my pre-teen years was pink and in my teens it was all white -- I never got a single stain on it. The only decor on my walls were a few posters and art I did throughout the years.”