Nobody But Me

“I did not cheat! If I had a white glove I would slap you in the face with it you indignant swine!” Darby laughed. “Rematch? Why? You’ll just lose again.”

“I’m not going to lose again, because I’m going to make sure that you don’t cheat again.”

“Would be a great start. I’m Evangeline”

“It’s nice to meet you. Name’s John.”

Annabelle: five yr olds dont get drunk

Annabelle: ... spunin circles...

Arlena laughed, utterly amused by the silly thought. She considered herself a generous employer, but she wasn’t an idiot. Where would she get if she took everyone in, snoop around her stuff, invade her privacy? “You don’t expect me to do that, do you.”

“No I don’t.” John responded with a chuckle. “But it would be pretty amazing of you if you did.”

“Sounds like a good deal to me”

“I should probably start off by learning your name.”

a lot of being in the military was complete shit— the early hours, the lack of sleep, the desert, the danger, the killing. there were few things that were good. but this was one of his favorites, the brothers he found, the brothers he’d never had and had always wanted. jaxon grinned widely at john, immediately feeling a little better, a little less dark.  “ mhm, that’s th’ john boy i know, ” he laughed, happy to pass over his flask. jaxon tipped his head back and sighed, trying and barely succeeding at seeing stars in the washed out vegas night. the alcohol was starting to make his head spin, and he’d gone from happily drunk and loving it, to starting to feel kind of sick.  “ mmm.. you gonna psychoanalyze me too, buddy? ” he mumbled with a soft huffed laugh, his eyes slipping closed..  “ honestly. it was jus’ startin’ to get kinda crowded in th’ bar. a lot of people, a lot of noise. a little… overwhelming. so i wanted t’ be somewhere… away. somewhere pretty, t’ get my head right. but, then… the last like 3 drinks hit me. aaaand, yep. here i am. ” his words were lazy and a little slurred, weighed down by whiskey. 

A quiet chuckle fell from his lips before he slowly shook his head. “I would have to fully understand what psychoanalyze meant to do that.” He admitted then listened to his friend closely. John knew exactly what he was talking about. Overwhelming. That was one word he knew all to well since returning home. Everything was so different for John and there were parts of him that imagined that he had never left the war. A sound that was a little to close could set him off into a state of panic and he tried his best to hide that from the world. “We can stay up here as long as you need.” John reassured him with a pat on his shoulder. “The fresh air will do you good.”

“I’m a wedding planner, it’s actually really fun. Plus, there’s always a hot groomsman to flirt with.”

“How do you think I would be as a groomsman?”

“You’ll make sure?” her eyebrows raised, and she shook her head. “As nice as that sounds and the sentiment is–I can handle myself. I have a taser, pepper spray and a gun. I can handle it. But it was nice of you to offer.” She said this with no hint of malice–she did appreciate his offer. 

When she began to list the objects that she carried John grabbed the edge of his chair and physically moved himself away from her slightly. “Remind me never to piss you off.” He teased which was followed by a quick chuckle. “Have you ever even shot a gun?”

“Become a stripper.” He joked and laughed to justify the joke. “That’s how I am at work, love my boss hate my job if that’s what you mean. My coworkers aren’t half bad either.”

“I have the body for it, but my dance moves wouldn’t get me very many tips unfortunately.” John smirked as he returned the joke. “That’s exactly what I mean. I haven’t had a lot of time to meet my other coworkers though.”

“I’m sure I can help with that”

“Teach me and I’ll repay you by buying you dinner.”

John is keeping how serious his injuries actually are from his sister. He doesn’t want to worry her with what had happened to him.