& she's a wild soul.

Blue laughs at her reaction. It was a common one. “I think peppermint is worse. Can you imagine the heartbreak I felt when I had my first candy-cane and it sent me to the hospital?” She struggles to keep her smile from fading when she hears that name. “Oh, shit. Hart owns this place? I should’ve known. The dude owns like half of the city at this point.” She contemplates leaving then. Blue had always had a longstanding disdain towards Aaron Hart. Would it make her feel any better to let her personal grievances with the man get in the way of just one more drink? She’d feel bad about it tomorrow, but for right now she needs alcohol. “I really hate to give him any more of my money, but I will order a Kamikaze if you don’t tell anyone that i’m a sellout.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Hart took over the whole fuckin’ world,” Jo chuckled. She knew just how extra and ambitious the man was, but she still considered him one of her good friends. He wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea but she liked to think that their friendship was a good balance. The brunette wondered if Blue knew him personally or not and if she actually liked him. “I’ll get you a Kamikaze in just a second,” she nodded her head, reaching for the ingredients to make the drink for her customer. 

“Sure! I’m sure you could use one! I think bartenders have the highest tolerance whenever they are working. Like, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bartender drunk, even after taking shots with a few guests and all, ya know?” She mentioned to her. “I’m not really into the whole egg nog thing either, but a hot chocolate one sounds good.” Athena giggled softly. “I could use a miami vice or actually no, I will take a cosmo please?” She requested from the bartender.

“Don’t worry, I’ve grown to build a pretty strong tolerance to alcohol. Been drinking since I was way too young,” she admitted with a simple shrug of her shoulders. Jo had been only thirteen, fourteen when she took her sip of alcohol and dove head first in the party scene back home. Now, she has learned to cut back on her bad habits and place limits on herself. One little shot during her shift at work wouldn’t hurt, right? The bartender made two of the specialty drinks and placed them infront of her and the other girl. “Cosmo coming right up too,” she spoke. “Alright, so are you ready to taste this amazing shot that I made just for the two of us?” Josephine joked.

Blue didn’t know why she’d come to Throuple. Maybe it was the music that carried her in, or maybe it was because she needed something to do and throwing back a mojito didn’t sound too bad. Either way, she was here now, seated alone at the bar. Admittedly, she wasn’t having as much fun as she thought she’d be, and it was starting to feel a bit sad. But just before regret settled in, she hears a sweet voice and instantly perks up. She grins when she sees the girl. She’d recognize that face anywhere. They hadn’t ever really spoken much, just the polite exchange of a smile in the hallway of their building if they passed each other, but it was enough. “As much as I would love to have a pretty girl make me something festive, sadly, I’d die. Peppermint is such a lame ass allergy to have, but God had to give me at least one flaw I guess.” She downs the rest of her drink. “What else have you got?” 

“Shit, you’re really allergic to peppermint?” Jo gasped, feeling bad for the other girl. Luckily, the musician had never been diagnosed with any allergies growing up, always being able to enjoy whatever she liked without fear. “At least you don’t have a real shitty allergy like peanut butter or something, huh? But, this pretty girl right here can make you anything that your heart desires. Throuple is always well stocked with the best liquor in all of New York. You can thank Aaron Hart for that,” Josephine spoke. 

Athena was sometimes sad that she never really got weekends off, but it was also nice that she didn’t have to deal with the craziness of all of the people being surrounded at the bar. She was sitting at the bar and was looking at something new that she wanted to try. She heard the bartender speaking and she giggled softly. “Well, we can totally try that! Sounds like it could be pretty amazing. What other drinks do you have on your holiday menu? I would love just a regular drink.” She explained.

“I’ll take one with you if you’re down? I know we have an egg nog shot and one that’s supposed to take like hot chocolate. I’m not huge into the egg nog one but the other one is pretty good,” she explained to the other girl. “But, what would you like for your regular drink?” Jo asked as she leaned slightly against the counter. She hadn’t made any drinks in a few hours so it would be nice to be a bit busy now. 

Weeknights were the nights that Aaron could really get stuff done at his clubs. He often found it easier to check shit off his to do list when he wasn’t worried about the crowds of people starting fights or creepy men hitting on women. Creepy pervs didn’t really come to Throuple, though, his security knew they still had to be on the lookout. He chuckled, leaning on the bar towards his best friend’s sister as she spoke. “How enthusiastic.” He joked. “Sorry it’s so dead though. That’s just what happens.” He shrugged. “The weekends tend to make up for it. Especially here. Since Ronnie made that dildo rainbow, we’ve had a line out the door.” 

“I’m simply just using my customer service voice, dude. It seems like the higher I make my voice, the better tips I get,” she responded sarcastically to her boss. Jo liked the fact that Aaron was so chill and not like some of her previous bosses, it was refreshing to say the least. “It’s all good. Sometimes it’s nice to work a shift that isn’t super crazy. Plus, it gives me all the time in the world to admire the dildo rainbow. Ronnie is quite the artist.”

“the subway sucks,” cillian complained. it may come as a surprise that anything was below cillian’s standards, but he just didn’t like it all that much. “besides, i’ve been biking places since forever. she may look banged up but this bike here, she’s my trusty steed,” cillian told jo, flashing her a goofy smile.

“It’s really not that bad dude. Atleast in the subway you won’t crash into anything like a damn fool,” she rolled her eyes at how stubborn the boy was being. “I think that if you crash into one more bush or curb, she’s going to be on her death bed,” the brunette glanced down at the busted up bike that Cillian seemed to love to pieces. “Anyways, what were your plans for the rest of the night?”

Mat really needed to stop getting so distracted on his phone, especially when walking around in public. One of these days he was going to end up hurt or hurting someone else. Although hopefully that day was not today. “Are you okay?” he asked, hoping that it was just a bump and the girl didn’t get seriously hurt. That would not make for the greatest publicity for him. He picked up her clothing bags to make sure they didn’t get wet from the puddles on the ground, and handed them to her once he helped her up. “Sorry again. Clearly I need to stop looking at my phone all the time. Your clothes should be fine though.”

“Yeah, I’m good,” Jo nodded her head in response, taking a few moments to properly collect herself and her bags of clothing. The girl had been so stoked to hit up a few thrift stores in the area that she flew out of the door at lighting speed. “You’re fine. I’m sure that my clothes will be good too. When I go to these stores I usually end up washing my items before wearing em’ out anyways just to make sure they are really truly clean.”

cillian grabbed her hand and pulled himself up out of the bush. “why walk when you can bike,” he told her, and it sounded pretty lame, even to his own ears. “i should really invest in some heelys,” he lamented, picking debris out of his hair. he turned to look at his bike, staring down at it in disappointment, hands on hips. “i should really get a new one, but we’ve been through so much, y’know?” he said, more to himself than to jo.

“Eh, you have a point. But, it’s not always the most convenient way of getting to places,” she shrugged her shoulders, shoving her hands into her jacket pockets. “You know what you could also do? Take the fuckin’ subway. It can like, get you anywhere in the city for cheap. Hell, you can even befriend a rat or two,” Jo suggested, a sarcastic ass snicker escaping from her lips. 

Mat really needed to stop looking down at his phone while walking because it kept getting him into awkward situations. Just like it did right now. He was so focused on sending an important email to his management team that he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going and didn’t realise there was someone directly in front of him. He only realised when they bumped straight into each other and Mat watched in horror as they fell backwards and right on their ass. Shit. “Oh um…shit. Sorry about that, I wasn’t watching where I was going”, he rushed to explain himself and held his hand out. “Need some help?” 

Jo finally had a day off for the first time in a few days and she had decided to spend it going thrifting. She was currently on the hunt for some specific staple items to add to her growing wardrobe and she was hoping to score big this afternoon. After exiting one of the stores, the brunette hadn’t been expecting someone to collide with her. Not having enough reaction time, the girl fall right on her ass. Awesome. 

“Bloody hell,” she groaned out, praying that her items of clothing wouldn’t get fucked up from her tumble. 

the one good thing that came out of this was getting to scare the shit out of jo. jo was not the type of girl to put up with cillian’s shit or fall for his charms which annoyed cillian endlessly at first but now he kind of admired. “guess,” cillian huffed, pointing at his overturned bicycle on the ground not too far from him. “chain broke,” he sighed, shifting a little in the bush but having trouble getting any footing. “you gonna help me or are you gonna stand there and watch me struggle some more?” if the situation were reversed, cillian definitely would have enjoyed teasing jo endlessly. but cillian was cillian and jo was the better person between the two of them. at least cillian hoped so. 

“That doesn’t sound like fun,” she replied as she went to extend a hand out for her friend. That was one of the main reasons why she typically preferred other methods of transportation, such as walking or the subway. “I was going to ask why you are riding a bike in the city, but you are already quite the character,” Jo remarked. “Get your ass up dude, I’m trying to help. Consider yourself lucky I decided to take this way home.”

a lot of people had tried to convince cillian to invest in a car. or at least consider public transport. but cillian preferred to bike. it was probably partially due to the fact that he was terrified of letting go of his childhood and riding his bike was one more thing that could solidly ground him in the past and make him feel like really, he wasn’t all that much older after all. either that or the fact that his calves looked amazing. anyways, he was out riding around, headed into the city after getting of work one evening when the inevitable happened. the chain on his bike broke and he was suddenly out of control, riding straight into a bush. “fuck,” he grumbled, trying to asses himself for any injuries. he hadn’t been wearing a helmet, but the bush had cushioned his fall. aside from a few bruises of scratches, he felt a-okay. he stayed where he was in the bush for a moment, picking debris out of his hair. “hey, you!” he called out to a nearby pedestrian. “mind helping me out of this bush?”

Jo had just gotten work not too long ago and was currently making her way back to her friend’s place. It had been a pretty good shift and luckily, had managed to bring home some solid tips. Overall, she didn’t mind working the weekends when they were like that. Turning a corner, she was lost in her thoughts when she heard a voice coming from a bush near her. “Jesus Christ!” she shrieked, being scared for a second. Turning around, she realized it was just Cillian. “What a way to get someone’s fuckin’ attention,” her accent slipped out as she rolled her eyes. “How the hell did you manage to get here?”