On the Perils of Wholesome Country Living
Disclaimer: I don't own them, and I get the distinct sensation that they like me less and less each time I write A Story.
Summary: Parties are only good for two things. Wasting a lot of good alcohol, and providing everyone in attendance with Too Much Information. Default pairings, Claire/Gotz, focus on Doctor/Elli. Because I am me. And obsessed.
Parties like this accomplished only one thing, Dr. Tim Trent thought, staring morosely into his wine glass and trying to ignore the shrieks and giggles and shouted laughter and noisy chatter going on around him, and that was wasting a hell of a lot of good wine.
Although never against a glass to unwind after a hard day, or taken over some good conversation with a close friend, he had never had much use for the sort of festivities currently taking place in the main room of the town's inn, which Doug had given over for the purpose when his daughter had fixed him with huge, hopeful blue eyes that had recalled her mother's until the gruff, soft-hearted redheaded man had been utterly unable to say no.
A good deal of frenzied planning had followed, quickly drawing in Lillia's daughter, as well as Jeff's daughter over at the Supermarket, and the three girls had decided that all the town's young people would have to be there. They had so little opportunity to all be together, Popuri had asserted, that it would be a shame to waste the chance.
And that included Elli, as much as her enthusiasm for the idea had seemed to him a little feigned.
He had been perfectly willing to allow his sweet, pretty assistant to leave work early that day if she wanted to prepare; he could appreciate that she was barely past her teens, and needed a chance to unwind with her girlfriends, instead of spending every spare evening curled up on the sofa across from his desk and reading one of his books while allowing her girlhood to slip by.
But for the love of all things holy, why had she insisted that he be there, too?
It wasn't that he disliked his young neighbours. Whenever he chanced to meet one of them on the street, or on Mother's Hill, he could chat for several minutes before he became impatient to return to his work or the solitude of his thoughts. And he took every available opportunity to meet Carter when they both had a spare evening, while he was becoming increasingly fond of those evenings when Elli was feeling particularly restless and lonely and chose to remedy it by distracting him from his reading all evening with constant chatter.
A party was a different matter entirely. Even during his youth, he'd had little use for such a waste of time. They were generally hot, stuffy, and loud enough that conversation was impossible anyway.
But Elli had pleaded with him to take an evening to relax and have fun, though, and he was uncomfortably aware that he'd been having a terrible time managing to refuse her anything as of late when she asked while fixing those big sweet brown eyes on him.
If she was just a little more demanding, he had often thought, she might be dangerous.
Easygoing as she generally was, she had continued to wheedle until he had finally laughingly agreed to join her for Ann's party.
He certainly didn't feel like laughing now, even when Karen, upon noticing the few drops left in his glass, exchanged devious grins with Elli and hurried to provide a refill. Casting an imploring glance at the aforementioned brunette, he felt his irritation – along with an unpleasant tugging of guilt at his own surprisingly asocial nature – rise another notch when she missed it entirely because she was busily shouting a conversation back and forth with Mary and Gray over the grinding beat of whatever that was on Ann's turntable. Damn it all, was this really what young people in small towns did for fun in the evenings? Perhaps he had just found the downside to healthy country living.
After a glance around the room, he bit back a sigh. Mary had, through some magic, convinced Gray to come along with her, and he seemed to be observing the world through a haze of delight at the dark-haired girl's hand in his. Rick, naturally, was having the time of his life half-heartedly protesting when Karen shoved Flaming Sambuca after Flaming Sambuca at him, and nevertheless downing them right in time with the pretty blonde. Kai, just as naturally, was teasing Popuri and laughing uproariously as she tried to be outraged, collapsed in giggles, and swatted at him.
Even Cliff seemed to be enjoying himself, watching Ann's every frantic move serving drinks and chatting with guests from a chair in the corner of the room.
For God's sake, even Gotz, more likely than not dragged here by that farmer Claire, looked fairly satisfied with the world and his lot in it.
What, then, was wrong with him?
Reflecting half-viciously that he would have to think of something extremely inconvenient for the favour Elli had promised him in return for coming with her this evening, he downed the contents of his glass in a gulp, pointedly ignoring the whispers of his conscience that this was already his fourth for the evening.
---------------------------------------------------
Elli cast a furtive glance over at her boss and half-joking date for the evening, and chewed the corner of her lip worriedly.
He didn't seem to be having much fun.
When Ann had first brought up this party, and then Karen, Popuri, and Claire had shown up one by one over the next two days to promise dire consequences if she tried to weasel out of this one too, she had thought it might be good for both of them.
The Clinic had been a little hectic lately, which hadn't left much time for a social life for either of them, and what they'd had for free time had generally been spent in the sitting area in his room, going over this or that textbook. He'd been so nice about helping her with her correspondence courses, and even wasting the occasional evening telling her stories about his university days when she'd proved useless as far as studies went, but she suspected that the monotony was getting to him. Every now and then, he'd start acting a little strange, avoiding her eyes, looking as though he'd rather be anywhere else on earth, and answering her questions in curt, one-word replies.
Therefore, she had reasoned, a night out for some social contact that wasn't her might cheer him up.
Sometimes, she thought with a melancholy sigh, she wondered where her head was.
She tried to catch his eyes, but failed as he looked away from her to protest frantically and completely in vain when Ann, spotting an empty glass, zipped over with a bottle.
Elli giggled a bit. At any rate, if he kept putting the wine away like this, he wouldn't be depressed for very long.
Or if he was, she might get to offer a cuddle to cheer him up.
With a shake of her head, Elli made a solemn pact with herself not to have any more of those fruity little Honolulu shooters that Karen and Ann had hauled out of some recipe book somewhere, if these were the sorts of thoughts that followed.
She had just made up her mind to get up once and for all, go over, and either keep him company or offer to take him home, when the music hitherto making conversation impossible stopped abruptly, and the laughter grew all at once louder, accompanied by a few suggestive whoops and hollers.
Oh, dear, she lamented silently. They're airing out all the old gossip again.
"Hi, Doctor," she greeted, wincing as Popuri's trilling laugh, all the more uncontrolled for the alcohol coursing through the lovely pink-haired girl's system, pierced her eardrums slightly. "Having fun?"
"Absolutely," the doctor replied, relenting at the last minute and giving her a sardonic smile instead of the sour expression he'd been planning. "I was almost starting to forget the minute details of the time that Popuri kissed Gray by Goddess Pond twelve years ago."
"Doctor," she said sternly. "Give us a little credit. It was only eight years ago."
He laughed softly.
"Right, sorry. Eight years ago."
All further private conversation was brought to a screeching halt as a loud, disbelieving laugh from Kai caught their attention.
"No way!" the dark-skinned young man exclaimed.
"I swear, it's absolutely true," Claire said adamantly, although wobbling slightly, her beer mug tipping dangerously. "Gotz'll tell you."
"Yeah, it's true," the big bearded man muttered, casting a glance over at Elli and turning beet red.
The little nurse froze in horror, memories of an incident nearly forgotten flooding horrifyingly back.
Oh, no...they wouldn't bring that up, would they? Claire couldn't be so mean! How much had she drunk, if she'd forgotten the seventy-three or so times she'd been sworn to secrecy on the incident by both parties?
Enough, apparently.
"I don't believe it," Kai insisted. "Not sweet, innocent little Elli. There's no way."
"It happened!" Claire exclaimed. "I walked in on it!"
"Yeah, and I was there," Gotz added with an embarrassed half-cough, half-laugh, pulling the blonde farmer closer. "Those were my damn pants."
"Whoa! Okay, now we're curious!" Ann proclaimed, halting in the process of refilling Rick's glass and rubbing her hands together in glee.
"I'm telling you, man, there's no way," Kai repeated. "They all dreamed it, or something."
"It's true!" Claire reiterated indignantly. "Just ask her!"
"I-I think I'm going to go home now," Elli murmured, trying unsuccessfully to duck away as Karen made a grab for her.
"No way, li'l missy," Karen cackled indistinctly, turning the brunette back toward her table. "We wanna hear wha' this lunatic's talkin' about."
"Okay; it was about a year ago, maybe a little less, three seasons, something like that," Claire began, launching immediately into storyteller mode, seeming to come to life a little more with every pair of eyes fixed on her, until she was nearly acting out the scene as she described it. "I come out to check on the cows, and as I get closer to the barn, I start hearing these weird noises. I thought one of the sheep was sick or something--"
"Hey!" Gotz exclaimed, outraged.
Elli merely shrunk further down into her chair. It just figured, that the first time she tried to break out of her rut of the perfect lady, it ended up becoming common knowledge of the town's entire young adult population. Not that she regretted doing it, especially; she had made very sure that proper protection was in use, and Gotz was such a nice person when one got to know him. She'd known he would be every bit as gentle and considerate as he had been.
Never to mention the less-than-strictly-girlish crush she'd had for him since the week they'd spent talking nearly all day when he'd come to make some repairs to the Clinic's main room.
It hadn't hurt, either, that the weather had been so terribly hot that he had ended up stripping off a drenched white tee-shirt about halfway through every afternoon, giving her a beautiful view of broad, muscular chest and defined arms.
And it was never a bad thing, to get a little experience, for the sake of one's future husband.
But of course, she never would have dared todo something so bold weeks later in her friend's barn, had he not caught her staring more than once and told her with an appreciative grin that she was no troll herself, but it was hardly fair that he was the only one in the room working topless.
All in all, she was perfectly aware that she was in no danger of falling in love with the gruff woodsman, but she'd certainly made a good friend that week
Good enough that he'd been her first thought when she was thinking desperately, through a mind that felt clouded by fever, of any man she knew- who she wasn't madly in love with,at least, and thus terrified ofannoying or horrifyingwith her request -who might be able to...um, help.
"--so I ran back in for some medicine. Then I get to the barn, open the door, and there's sweet, innocent little Elli trying to chew through Gotz's pants while he's going for her underwear!"
"It was the damnedest thing," Gotz added with a chuckle, getting into the spirit despite a mortified little brunette sending him imploring, piteous please-shut-up glances and a dark-haired man sending both of them venomous this-had-better-be-good glares. "I'm just working on Claire's barn – damn kid can't keep a building in decent shape – and little Elli comes in. Says she was looking for Claire, but I'll do fine in a pinch."
"I did not say that!" Elli squealed, face buried in her hands.
"I'm about to ask what she needs, when the kid comes flying at me!"
"I didn't come flying," the little brunette protested, wondering why nothing was making sense in her head the way it had before all those stupid shooters. "I just said, I've been feeling really...restless lately, and could you help me out maybe?"
"Yeah, but you jumped on me before I could ask what "help you out" meant," Gotz chuckled, ruffling her hair teasingly. "Hey, don't worry about it; I didn't mind." He grinned over his shoulder at the doctor, whose brows were drawn together until they seemed on the point of merging into one. "You're a lucky man, man."
"Holy geez, everyone's drunk off their asses," Rick noted aside to Gray, swaying unsteadily on his stool.
"I'm not," Gray protested, attempting to hold up a finger and overbalancing until he ended up in Rick's lap.
Mary giggled.
"Wow, first Elli molests Gotz in Claire's barn, now Gray's trying to do things to Rick!"
Kai, meanwhile,was looking rather floored.
"Well, geez...was it at least before you and Gotz started dating?" he asked Claire, still trying to absorb this bizarre revelation.
"Oh, yeah," Claire shrugged, with a grin that nearly stretched beyond the boundaries of her face. "What do you think got me interested? Gotz looks gooooooooooood without his pants. And taking off a girl's panties. And screwing her up against the wall of my barn. If I hadn't thought it'd make Elli bolt like a scared bunny-rabbit, I'd have tried to join in!"
"Claire!" Elli exclaimed, horrified.
"What?" Claire demanded, arms crossed. "You'll attack the local carpenter, but you won't let me play?"
"I want to go home," the nurse whimpered sadly.
"I think that's a good idea," a quiet voice agreed from her right.
She cringed slightly as she turned to meet the doctor's eyes. The cold anger was hard to see, but the disappointment was worse.
And her attempts to remind herself, outraged, that it was none of his business who she attacked in whose barn was doing little to help. Especially when a tiny portion of her mind was squealing with delight that hersecret, crazy little hope wasproving correct, and he cared enough tobe upset over it.
But only a tiny portion; the parts twisting her stomach with guilt at the hurt in his eyes was taking up the rest.
With a miserable little sigh, she followed him out of the inn.
"They're cute," Popuri giggled in what seemed to Mary a remarkable show of missing the point.
Apparently it seemed as such to Karen too, because as Elli shut the door behind her, she could have sworn that she heard something sounding distinctly like Popuri yelping in pain.
But her friend's pain at her other friend's annoyance completely aside, something was telling her, through the dozy, floaty sensation of too much to drink, that this evening would not be a pleasant one.
End Notes: Okay, so Elli's probably not much of a maul-random-guys-because-she's-feeling-"restless" type of girl, but bear with me; she'll get a chance to explain herself. And anyway, who's to say that the just-sorta-pretty-but-criminally-adorable type of girl can't get her some? Why has the role of the town whore always have to be played by the drop-dead-gorgeous type? It's discrimination, I tells ya! ;)