❝ SELIN TÜLAY ÇAKAR —

Carmen wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting at the bar, but she did know that she'd been listening to the man three stools down hit on the the poor woman who'd only walked in ten minutes ago since she'd sat down. There was a part of her that'd been itching to get up and slam the man's head into the bar top since the woman's first 'not interested', but she wasn't that person anymore. And none of this was her business. It'd stay that way until the ghostly pale man made a move that had the former agent's already thin resolve snapping.

To keep herself distracted from doing anything she'd regret when she sobered up or got kicked out, Carmen ordered another round from the bartender, unable to stop herself from staring at the train wreck of an interaction as she finished off her drink.

You'd think the man would have the common sense not to be a predatory prick in a female owned bar, but— "Some people really are just that stupid, aren't they." It wasn't a question so much as a stated fact.

Just, you know, one she hadn't actually meant to say out loud.

Now that she had, Selin's eyes lifted from the remnants of liquor in her glass to the woman she'd been giving space (conversationally) ever since arriving.

"He really has a lot of audacity and an alarming amount of confidence for someone who tucks his polo into a pair of belted khakis, huh?" It was never a good look, on anyone, and she was willing to die on the hill of that opinion.

The edge of her mouth cracked with a grin before she hedged, "How long do you think it'll take before one of the bartenders catches on and hits him with a blast of coke to the face?"

Christmas itself had only meant something because of Ashlee.

As much as the Bostonian would have enjoyed Selin's company at his attempt to throw some decoration on a tree he'd randomly bought, there were some feelings of being grateful that the pretty brunette had been too busy to actually come by.

When Sey had accepted his invitation for a date the disgraced former policeman had been a little shocked, and then he'd convinced himself as he'd gotten ready that evening that the antique shop owner had accepted on the interpretation of this being a friendly thing.

Which, it was.

And Jesse was happy to let it slip on by that way because his track record bullied him into believing that he shouldn't attempt to reel her in.

Before they'd been seated he'd complimented how beautiful she looked, and was glad he'd gone for black dress pants and a black dress shirt sans tie and with the sleeves rolled up his forearms to give off the desired look of 'I care but I'm also casual'.

"Oh, so we're playing two truths and a lie," the barista smirked. Ocean eyes flicked up and down Sey's face, reading her expression, then his vision panned out some and he scrutinized her body language. This was a good game to get to know someone, but her tease ignited something with in.

A challenge.

A test of his abilities.

Was he the cop he thought he had been?

It was silly - whether he guessed right or wrong didn’t mean anything, not truly - but she was curious about his perception of her. Curious about which pieces he thought fit the best. 

Upon discovering the answer to that she released an unbidden laugh. “You’d think, but nope.” She could, in fact, request tacos in a variety of different, albeit useless, tongues. 

“My favorite color is blue. But not just any blue.” No, as with most things, she had an oddly specific preference. “It has to be that melancholy blue the sky turns right before rain hits so hard you think it’ll wash the world away. Or a really angry blue.”

Sey paused to sip from her drink again, as if associating feelings with different shades was a perfectly normal thing to do. “You know—” a tiny divot furrowed between her brows while she thought of how to explain it— “like late at night Mother Nature is working her shit out on the ocean, and for a split second lightning strikes and illuminates the waves."

Which, okay, was a really weird thing to say. But she'd always thought there was something more appealing about the things most people usually shied from. Had always thought the world was most beautiful when it was raw and real, sad and broken, and wholly unapologetic about that fact.

Still, the soft flesh of her lower lip found itself trapped between her teeth while she blinked over at Jesse. A tinge of pink warmed her cheeks.

"As for the tacos, well." The laugh that escaped was much quieter that time. Sheepish, if not a little self-deprecating. "Once we were hit with my diagnosis it's like life just... stopped. My parents were terrified of everything. Never let me do anything." Or go anywhere.

"I promised myself once I had the chance I'd travel as much and as far as I could. Even taught myself how to ask for what might be my favorite food of all time in a few different languages, too, just in case."

English and Turkish were a given, she already spoke those fluently as it was, but Spanish, French, Italian, Greek— She rattled off the list. "Not that I ever ended up using any of it." She got married. Her goal to go everywhere, see everything came to a full stop. "Turns out Boston was a lot of the same."

A cushy life spent trapped in a cage.

"Thank you," her cheeks warmed with the other's compliment. Motherhood did suit her, even through the sleepless nights, Dilan wouldn't have changed it for the world. "She's doing amazing," her smile brightened with the thought, "we've got over another bout of sleep regression, which those are hellish," she admitted with a laugh, "but Jacob is a great help." She shook her head, "Enough about me, tell me about you. What's new in your world?" @selincakar

Did you still go through those once the baby was born? Hell if she knew. Postpartum symptoms, sleep regressions— They were all things she'd heard about in passing coversation over the years but hadn't experienced personally.

Not that she was experiencing much of anything these days.

With a quiet, self deprecating snort she leaned against the edge of the kitchen bench. "I think you'll quickly realize I don't have much to contribute."

Work, work, more work...

"Taking over at the antique store hasn't gone as smoothly as I would've liked it to. Turns out I'm great at organizing the inventory, not so much the actual running-a-business side of things."

The left edge of her mouth hinged a little higher than the right, setting her entire smile off kilter. "That's cute, though. How much she loves it. I've honestly never thought about having kids," not really, not in any way that could be considered serious, "but I think we could all probably learn a thing or two from them." From their innocence, sure, but mostly from the lack of fucks the gave at any given moment.

Kids were uninhibited. Carefree. Their lives weren't yet burdened by opinions or insecurities.

"You think you guys will have any more?"

Raking slim fingers back through the touseled waves of her hair, she cast a glance of her own out the window while trying (and failing) not to smirk. "It might be. Assuming you think you can keep up."

With her appetite, that is.

A beat or two of silence passed before she snickered, allowing her shoulder to knock against his when she leaned across their shared backseat. "Of course it was an invitation. I wouldn't have told you where I was going if I didn't want you to join me."

"So, what you're saying is, you think I look like a walking wet dream?" With a palm splayed over the left side of her chest Sey cracked a grin. "Why thank you. I accept." But the soft laughter that spilled over her lips ended rather shortly when her attention drifted down to the little girl again.

Whoops. What were the chances she actually understood what any of that meant?

A wince briefly tightened Sey's eyes, but she carried on, figuring if the girl's mom made comments like that her own was probably fine. Again, her attention drifted south, though, trying to guage exactly how old her daughter must be. Two? Three?

"Well, I don't know if I'd go that far." Amusement pressed Sey's lips together in a curving line, trapping the laugh that wanted to break loose inside. "Half of it is from Lunch Box, and the rest—" the portion that she made herself-- "Well, I'm no Michelin star chef."

As Jesse moved a clean dish towel around a couple of mugs and put them away where they belonged under the counter in wait for the next order that would inevitably come in and put them to use, he smirked a little to himself. "Hmm," a gruff sound in his throat filled the space momentarily as he considered Sey with her decaf as she used the mug to hide, "would it be considered polite to ask a human lie detector to not do what comes naturally?"

What the antique shop owner across from him didn't know was that he'd learned his lessons the worst way possible.

Fine was a generalized and passing response yet very rarely ever meant so. How many times had his late wife said she was fine before everything wasn't and it was too late?

Perhaps he was too sensitive on this now, but Jesse just preferred the ugly truth.

The slip of humor prompted a chuckle to bubble up his throat and his ocean eyes shot a glance to Selin at the counter. He appreciated her visits, the way she checked in without checking in, and stood with the weight on his chest of everything they didn't say to each other. All the history that laid between here and Boston. "It's in a stand, upright, but off to the side, pretty much up agains the wall in the room." Thick shoulder's shrugged as he added, "my mom was Jewish and my dad Muslim. Christmas wasn't a thing for us. We were very much nondenominational in my house. I don't know how to do all this stuff." A hand gestured wide at nothing then fell back to his side.

"I could buy you dinner, though... and you could help me," he suggested, a charmed smile directed at the unsuspecting green-eyed, brunette. As attractive as he'd always thought Sey was, Jesse left out the whole naked and waiting part in belief that he wasn't even a blip on her radar. Plus, there was always that image of her and the husband in his head.

Given his track record anyhow, it was probably for the best.

"I've been here—" Forehead crinkled as he thought back, counted the months and years in his head, of his tenure in Providence Peak. "Nearly three years, I'd hope the right now would eventually fall away." Mostly because he kept himself convinced that there was no going back east. "Yeah," he nodded at Sey's suggestion, "maybe that'll help." Plus, it would be nice to not only see more of the city while also spending time outside of his few usual haunts.

The fancy iPhone was retrieved from his pocket and set on the counter in front of the shop owner. "It's unlocked, have at it," Jesse offered. There was a chance that she might be the only person in town that wouldn't question the nearly $1,500 device in the hands of a barista.

"Is that your way of saying you'd rather see me in... nothing?" Another smirk ghosted his lips but the jest aside he nodded in agreement. They'd only seen each other in very specific settings and in the effort of growing this friendship with the only person really in the know about his former life and who he really was, the disgraced former policeman considered that it would be nice to know Selin beyond the usual four walls of their unspoken connection.

"Aside from Target employees does anyone actually wear khakis anymore?" Brow creased, he tried to think on it while simultaneously giving the brunette a difficult time. "Would you be mad if I wore a belt with my jeans?"

       ↳       the comic lab    :      jaden   &   @providencepeakstarters .

Even now in her thirties the same could probably be said. 

Shelving her intention to track down the manager and unburden herself (and her store) of the old comics carefully tucked inside of her bag, Sey smirked. “I’d also bet she’s played with that thing every day since, making your current predicament well worth it.”

location: leaving Holy Spirits, around 12:15 am on New Years Eve/Day open to all : 0/3 @providencepeakstarters

As Daniel settled into the backseat of the UberShare on New Year's Eve, he couldn't help but feel a sense of relief the chaotic New Year's Eve shenanigans at the local bar --overenthusiastic dance-offs, questionable karaoke performances, and the general frenzy that accompanied the countdown.

“I was reluctant to leave,” she confessed as the car eased out onto the street, “but my body demanded more sustenance than booze.” The Teacher’s Lounge and a plate piled high with food— that’s where she was headed next.

“Are you already calling it a night?”

Not that it mattered. 

“I’m not an expert,” she admitted, focusing only on the important bit of the request, “but I spent enough time here over the years that I can probably help you out.” With a soft smile cast at the child clinging to their mother’s side, and then another to the younger woman herself, she started off in the opposite direction. 

Alas, that was wishful thinking.

He was about to comment on the fact that she hadn't gotten the pleasure of seeing a cute little bird all dressed up in an equally cute, miniature cowboy hat — which certainly was a travesty, she was right — but got too sidetracked by the thought of a 'field trip' to do so. Whatever that meant, he was intrigued. "Oh, shit? Really?" As Spider continued to get comfortable, he continued, "Thinking outside of the box is like, totally my jam — I'm game. Where's this elsewhere? You're not secretly an intense dog lover who's all pissed I was raggin' on 'em, so now you're gonna take me out of the back exit and bludgeon me to death with that big ass bag of food, are you? 'Cause in that case, I feel obligated to let you know I will fight back."

And it was on their way to the checkout lane that she added, “They’re cute and cuddly and at least fifty-percent likely to claw your eyes out.” Why that made her more inclined to the species was irrelevant. 

Once she’d paid for the food and hefted the bag into the trunk of her car for later, she gestured for him to follow along down the block. “I own an antique store close to here.” Pottery, furniture, vintage linens, tiny porcelain clowns— She hadn’t done much with the place since it passed down to her, so you could find just about anything. 

“I’m pretty sure I have a bunch of old dolls and stuff to go with them somewhere. You could probably find a hat small enough in the mix.” In fact, she was almost positive there was a cowboy from some bygone era or another that would fit his criteria (and size requirements) perfectly. 

“Just don’t blame me if you forget to cleanse that shit first and end up with a pet snake and a pet ghost on your hands.” (@sebvora)

Snorting a bit, Kat pushed the plate of cookies away from herself and over close to Selin. "I think that's a great idea for a Christmas present," she agreed, absolutely in on the idea. "Though, if it encourages her to burn my kitchen down any further I may have to send you the bill for repairs."

Kat's house was by far the sturdier of the two, much more Austin proof. Plus, realistically, Kat was always going to be happier with people living in the house with her, so it wasn't a role she wanted to give up ever.

"I do love your place, I'd feel guilty if I let her burn it down," Kat hummed back with a soft chuckle. "Also, you know me, living alone isn't good. I'd go nuts having no one to cook for."

A girls night would be absolutely perfect, something they'd been lacking in recent months with all of their schedules somehow never finding time to align. "I've got two weeks out of town filming this month, but otherwise I'm around town. Some editing stuff in the studio, but I'll make time."

Sey’s mouth cracked wider with a grin. “In fact, if I hadn’t seen her in action for myself I’d almost suspect she’s not hopeless in the kitchen at all, and just trying to see how far she can go before we break.”

For all their differences they each had more than enough of a mischief streak to back up the suspicion. 

“I can’t foot that kind of bill, though, so maybe I’ll rethink my present choices this year.” While it was true she had enough money from her parents to probably never work again and remain comfy, the Çakar kids were raised to work hard and earn for themselves. 

She still hasn’t found a worthy enough reason to dip into her so-called inheritance and, no offense to Kat or Austin, covering renovations and repairs didn’t feel like it. 

Happy enough with that answer - Sey was a firm believer that the best plans were the ones you didn’t actually plan that much  at all - she tilted her head to the side. “Yeah? Where are you off to this time?” (@katerinadelarosa)