lennon

Girls that didn’t know their beauty broke Colby’s heart. “I moved here from New York. I flew and Daddy sent my stuff beforehand.” Colby was a spoiled princess, and she was just benevolent enough to get away with it. She wasn’t cruel and she never looked down on anyone because of what she had or what others didn’t. She handed over her phone after opening it to a new contact. Asking for the woman’s number was not strictly for the purposes of job hunting but Colby would keep that to herself for now. “Of course, I’m happy to help. So what are your prospects?” She pointed to the paper once she got her phone back.  

“oh wow. new york . . . i’ve never been anywhere like new york. i moved straight from west virginia to the bay area. then ended up here.” lennon smiled at colby, wishing she had the ability to have her stuff sent beforehand. that . . . wow. her eyes sparkled with a sense of wonder as she looked over at colby. “oh, okay!” she took the phone she was offered, punching in her phone number and full name. she handed the phone back. “um, a few places. there’s a couple of retail places looking to hire, some bars, even though i don’t have any experience with drink making. a couple of dance places i haven’t checked out yet. i’m sort of holding out hope for those . . .” she said with a nod.

Claudia smiled proudly to herself, feeling accomplished that she gave her a bit of a fright. She was a carefree person and loved fucking around with her friends. The young woman picked at her nails as Lennon spoke, listening intently. “I am proud. Job searching isn’t easy. It took me fucking forever to find a job in this town honestly. You seem like you have a lot of options, though so that’s a really good sign.” She grinned. The idea of Lennon working at Plan B amused Claudia. She couldn’t really imagine her working at a strip club, but she knew that Lennon would be good at it, and it even might encourage her to loosen up a little bit. “You should definitely go submit an application to Plan B. Honestly, I think you’d kill it and they make decent money over there.” Claudia thought about how talented her old friend was, and that she herself never really had any talents that could ever help her make money. She had debated selling a few of her paintings before but she never really found the motivation to do so. “There’s no harm in going to check it out. Want me to come with you?” she asked her, raising her brow. 

“um, you really think . . .” apparently there wasn’t much in dayton that didn’t make lennon blush. “you think i would do well at plan b? i mean, i’ve only worked on a pole for like, one dance.” lennon’s voice went soft, remembering how upset her boyfriend had been when she took that class. “i just don’t know if i can compete with the ladies already here. i’d only hurt business there,” she giggled, bumping claudia’s shoulder with her own. “no harm in applying anyways.” even with her dance experience, could she even take herself seriously enough to be sexy? she wasn’t like claudia, who wore that so easily. lennon wrapped both of her arms around one of claudia’s, resting her head on claudia’s shoulder, and tucking her legs up on the bench. she’d only been there a little more than a week, but already, lennon was attached to claudia again. they hadn’t even been wildly close when they both lived in north california, but she was used to relying on one person, and she had just left that one person. “um, plan b, or the dance studio?” she asked, picking her head up.

A sad smile took over Colby’s features. “Aw, you absolutely do have those merits. You’re beautiful.” Her hand tapped against Lennon’s wrist in a supportive manner. She then took her hand as it was offered. “I’m Colby. Are you alright in the meantime? Do you have somewhere to stay and enough to eat and all that?” She wasn’t sure what in her wanted to help people all the time. “I’d offer for you to be my assistant but I don’t know what you would assist me with. If you give me your number, I could let you know if I hear about anything? Since I will obviously not be joining the workforce again anytime soon.”

lennon pinked when she was told she was beautiful. “oh, thank you,” she said quietly, laughing almost like she didn’t believe it. “yeah, yeah! i mean, i was kind of scared about that too–i sort of just drove her from the bay area one day. just picked up and left. um, but yeah, i’m living with an old friend who was looking for a roommate anyways! we’re okay right now, but i hate the feeling of mooching, you know? and i even, like, have my own room! how could i not help with the rent?” all of that came out of lennon with one breath. “that was–i probably said too much,” she laughed, covering her face with a hand. “um, yeah! should i just–say it or enter it somewhere?” a pretty girl had never just asked her for her number before, even if it was for something job related. “i appreciate the help!”

Ali exited the coffee shop, with a large coffee in her hands. It wasn’t surprising that the blonde was already on her second cup of coffee, even this early in the day. She took a seat at one of the two tables that were outside the coffee shop, to enjoy her muffin that she had purchased inside. She couldn’t help but laugh, when she heard the girl at the bench beside her convincing herself that it was okay to take a rest. “Sorry - I didn’t mean to giggle.” She promised, her eyebrow raising at the next question. Ali was by far not poor. Her music career put more money into her possession then she would ever know what to do with. “I could be. What kind of job are you looking for? Any interest in a house keeping position?”

lennon flushed. “no, no, you’re fine! i was the weird one.” there was something familiar about this girl, but she couldn’t quite place it. lennon scrunched her nose up as she looked at the long list. her head shot up when the other claimed they might be hiring. “oh! wow! really, um, well really anything, if it’s a liveable wage.” she twisted around on the bench to properly look at the other gal. “i’m lennon! um, weston. lennon weston.” she held her hand out, offering to shake the stranger’s. “i did almost all the house stuff where i lived last. i promise i would do my best!”

Claudia had really liked the idea of having a roommate around. She had a smaller room that she used mainly as closet space, but she was scraping by each month just to pay rent. When she heard Lennon was coming to town, she found that to be a great opportunity to maybe stay above water for once. And she really liked Lennon. Claudia had promised to meet up with Lennon on her job search that day. She had just left so early…Claudia was still waking up. “Hey roomie” she chuckled. “Did I scare you?” she said, as she sat down next to Lennon. “Not me, but did you have any luck?” she asked her, hoping she had had at least some luck. Claudia wasn’t going to make her pay rent when she had no income and she definitely wasn’t planning on kicking her out, but she was really hoping she’d be able to help out with rent soon. 

“jesus claudia. yes of course you scared me!” she exclaimed, turning to look at claudia with an open mouth. she scrunched her nose and looked back down at the list. “it’s . . . going!” lennon pocketed the list hopefully before claudia could spy all the marked out businesses. “i’ve definitely put in some applications. i’m getting really fast at them, you should be proud.” she flashed claudia a bright grin. she still managed to have good credit, despite how much of an asshole her last boyfriend had been, meaning if she really had to, she could put her half of the rent on her card. claudia swore up and down that she wouldn’t have to help until she actually had an income, but to be honest, the guilt of living scotch free was eating her up. “i’m kind of holding out on a few really good sounding jobs . . . i mean, i would never mind waitressing or working retail, i just . . .” she flushed, almost afraid to speak about it in case she jinxed it. “so i looked online, and there are a couple of places that have dancing opportunities. i mean, there’s that one place, plan b? but it doesn’t open until four, so . . .” lennon didn’t think she’d be that successful dancing there, but it was still better than other jobs, right? “and then there’s actually a dance studio in town! where they like, teach kids! and other dance classes for adults! oh my god, even if i don’t get a job there, we should take a class.” lennon was giddy just thinking about the possibilities. “then there’s also a theater, but they’ve already started on a new musical production, so there probably won’t be any auditions any time soon.”

Day 26 at this same exact coffee shop at the same exact time, with the same exact drink. Kiara was starting to grow tired of the routine. By this point, if anyone was paying attention they’d know where she was all hours of the day. An easy target for murder, she thought to herself with a shake of her head, she let out an audible chuckle.

“Oh no- sorry” she smiled warmly. “I wasn’t laughing at you, I was doing the same just in my own head” she laughed again. “No job offers here, though good luck on that. I did see a bar down the street- uhm Church maybe? Might be worth a shot?” 

“ah, i appreciate it.” lennon was honestly just happy to know someone hadn’t been laughing at her. she scooted down the bench, just in case the friendly stranger decided they wanted to sit down. she glanced down the street, where she saw the swinging sign for church. “don’t know much about making drinks but … i could always try!” she gave the other a big smile, nodding as she wrote down church as a possibility. well, that certainly would look interesting on her resume. working at a bar called church … oh how her parents would be appalled.

“i’m lennon. i appreciate the sympathy more than anything.” she offered up her hand, ready to shake.

Allister stood outside The Grind, scratching his scalp while he took a sip of the hot coffee in his free hand, tongue immune to the searing hot liquid. After waking up at 5 am for years on his parents farm, he’d practically burned the shit out of his mouth enough to create scar tissue to last a lifetime. No amount of coffee had ever been enough though to do as much as he did there, so it was kind of a waste. He turned when he heard someone say they could let themselves rest a little longer, laughing softly at the comment after noticing the long list of employers. “Am I hirin’? No.” He took another drink from his coffee cup, surprised by how many southerners he’d come across in this town since moving out here. “I haven’t been here too long m’self, but I don’t think my line of business is similar enough to yours, otherwise I’d suggest bein’ a bouncer.” He joked, and then took it upon himself to sit down on the bench next to her since he still had some time to kill. “Where you from? I hear that familiar twang.”

lennon flushed when the devastatingly handsome (southern) man laughed and looked at her list. she quickly pocketed it with a small smile. she looked down herself, then over at him and nodded. “no, i don’t think i’d do much good as a bouncer.” she turned even pinker when he sat down. lennon scooted to the side, giving him more room. as it turns out, he was much broader than her (shocking). “oh, west virginia,” she said with a sheepish duck of her head. five years out of there, and that special appalachian accent had never really changed. i mean, it didn’t help that her sole companion during those five years was from the same area. “appalachia. one of those mountain folk. a mountain folk named lennon, that is,” she offered, shrugging a little. “um, what about you?” 

Colby worked a partial shift at a bar once ever in her life and that was just recently. She wasn’t good at it and ended up wearing more than she served. She was in no hurry to repeat that. Colby’s daddy had taught her very different lessons, but that wasn’t important. She’d come out of the coffee shop, it was a little crowded to relax, which Colby needed. She didn’t need to work but she wasn’t used to being bad at anything. She approached the bench outside just in time to hear the woman talking to herself. She couldn’t help the chuckle. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. Do you mind if I sit?” Colby smiled warmly at her, having a seat. “Sorry, I’ve worked one partial shift at a bar in my life and I think they only hired me because they thought I was hot.” 

“oh, of course! yeah, go for it!” lennon offered the woman a million-watt smile. she pocketed her list, trying to make the other feel a little more comfortable. she even scooted over to make more space for the two of them. “ah. yeah . . . i’m not sure i have those merits.” lennon pursed her lips and looked down at herself, pulling at the shirt she had decided to wear. “i appreciate it, though. maybe you could give me hot lessons one of these days,” she laughed, making her eyes crinkle at the corners. “i’m lennon. sort of new to these parts.” she offered her hand, another thing her daddy had told her. always go for a handshake, no matter how shy you felt. “i didn’t really expect to find an employer on a park bench. i’m sure i’ll find something.”

Hey is that [HALEY LU RICHARDSON]? No, that’s just [LENNON WESTON]. They’re [TWENTY FIVE], and have spent [ONE WEEK] in Dayton. I hear that they’re kind of [SINCERE], but also [INSECURE]. Did you hear their vices are [TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS & MOMMY ISSUES]? Can’t wait to see [SHE/HER] at the next party!

TW: TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS, TOXIC FAMILIAL RELATIONSHIPS