“Cassidy, at least take a shower and put on some actual clothes.”

Of course the middle Bolton ignored his mother and stepped out of the house with his flannel pajamas that were too big for him, slippers and a grey robe wrapped around his thin frame and headed to the down the pavement towards the corner market for a pack of cigarettes.  When he reached the corner store, he bought his pack of cigarettes as a few people eyes made their way towards him, silently judging his attire and probably the fact he has not showered in over a week.

As he headed back down the sidewalk with a cigarette hanging between his lips, he mentally groaned when he saw someone he recognized.  Fuck my life, went through his mind.  And it never failed the person came up to him when he looked like complete garbage.  “What are you doing here?”

Feet stomped along the top of the bar, patrons hurriedly moving their drinks out of the way as the couple of women dancing atop the bar scuffled along in a line dance to a Jo Dee Messina classic. “You’ve really done it this time, haha, my give a damn’s busted!” Cass sang aloud and punched the air as the last strains of the song echoed through the bar to the sound of raucous cheers. God, she was having fun. Hopping down from the bar, her cowboy boots clattering on the floor, the brunette immediately went back to work, feeling like she was 21 again. Done up as stereotypically country as could be, she had donned her cowboy boots, her daisy dukes, and a plaid, red, flannel shirt that she had mostly unbuttoned and tied up to show off her midriff. The white cowboy hat that had topped her curls was lost somewhere in the crowd, but she figured it’d either make its way back eventually, or she’d just buy a new one. She heard as much as felt someone step up to where she was at the bar. “Hey, what can I get for ya?” she drawled without glancing up from the drink she was already mixing, her voice coming out twangy and flirty.

Instead, a familiar voice appeared next to her, tossing an order to the bartender. Lark turned, observing the new presence, before a hint of recognition clicked in her mind. “Oh, hey!”

While his eyes were focused on nothing in particular, his mind was racing and it had been all day long so he’d figured some fresh air wouldn’t hurt. Nathan had avoided checking his phone ever since his mother’s number had flashed on the screen earlier that day, along with a text message from her which was enough to leave him spiraling but he wouldn’t let himself. He’d promised himself that she wouldn’t hold that power over him anymore but he still needed to drown out his thoughts somehow so he did in the only way he knew – through avoidance and distraction. With a sigh, Nathan stubbed out his cigarette and just as he turned his head towards the entry of the bar, he jumped a little when he finally realized that another person had joined him. “Shit – how long have you been standing there? You almost gave me a heart attack,” Nathan complained halfheartedly, his words accompanied by a faint smile that didn’t quite seem to reach his eyes.

“One second.” Owen muttered while trying to fumble with Bear’s harness but his fingers weren’t functioning well. A numb tingling from the tips up to this elbow that caused the simple task of reattaching the leash clip on Bear’s harness to be embarrassingly difficult. The German Shepard pup wasn’t making it any easier for him either, wiggling about at each passing person. When work lined up for Sage to not give her anymore free time then enough to go between jobs she asked Owen for a favor. Just take Bear out if he had spare time to do so. A walk in the park was ideal and never something Owen would deny Sage or Bear especially if he had the time. All he’d done for the day was a few hours of physical therapy and like always he was eager to fill up free time. They’d only started on their walk though and Owen had just gotten the leash untangled from the web Bear had weaved around his legs. Holding Bear in place with one hand while his other tried to fasten the clip. But as one of his hands struggled to do as he wanted it allowed the dog to bot right out of his grasp. Taking off as a blur of back and copper fur right to the nearest person that happened to be knelt down. Straight at their face with wet exuberant kisses. Owen couldn’t run fast enough to them, scooping up Bear in his good arm and going straight into apologizing, “I’m sorry he got away from me.”

where: Johnny Brenda’s bar.

There were only a few reasons why Josephine would find herself in a couple of beers down in a local bar, tossing darts lazily at the nearest board and whispering drunken nothings to herself. One being she had a horrible day at work and needed to let off some steam and two, if she and her husband had gotten into another fight, the woman would shlep to the nearest place that would serve her. Tonight, and most nights, it was Johnny Brenda’s bar. Some of the regular patron knew her as the Chief of Police because, despite her better judgement, she had stopped in once or twice in uniform with some of her fellow officers. She knew better now than to do so again because most people didn’t like law enforcement officers stopping in when they were trying to drown their own sorrows, which Josephine understood, unfortunately.

But tonight, she was wearing a very lax pair of leggings and one of her oversized sweaters she had gotten from her time in the military. It was navy blue and had her former surname (Montgomery) written on the right sleeve, just above her elbow. Everything about her appearance said she was in need of someone to cut her off from getting too far into the bottle, and luckily for her, that person was about to come her way – or so she thought.

“I’m fine,” she spoke, waving her hand loosely as someone came up beside her. “I have incredible aim, I won’t hurt anyone.” After her words fell from her lips, the woman tossed another dart and hit the bullseye without much effort, taking another drink from her beer bottle as she looked at her companion. “See? Told ‘ya,” she commented, her eyebrow raising curiously as well.