After the darker update to Hazardous, I got to thinking about a lighter themed storyline. This came to be in part thanks to listening to 'The Man' by Taylor Swift during my work commute (it's not a songfic, so it's not really necessary to listen to the song beforehand). Stumbling upon the Italian superstition of Friday the 17th (think Friday the 13th vibes) was the other nudge to get this written.
Let me know your thoughts on this kooky one. Would S&R learn more about themselves if they saw each other through the other's eyes? Reviews help the muse.
Disclaimer: The Plum universe belongs to JE. The typos are mine.
With a sigh of utter defeat, I kicked my front door closed. After re-locking it, I decided it'd be a good idea to chuck my ruined jeans in the foyer. That makes the second pair this week, leaving me with just four jeans left to use for skip tracing. Ugh!
I wiggled my blue and white stripped sock clad feet, smiling at the little French fry drawings above my toes, before I moved deeper into my apartment. At least my socks are still salvageable.
Carting my loot into the kitchen took less than a minute. With another sigh, I tapped the glass aquarium to announce my arrival. Rex scurried out of his new soup can, his whiskers twitching in anticipation as he pressed his tiny paws against the glass. My roomie was standing at attention, ready for dinner.
"You're not going to believe the day I've had." Tossing an assortment of goodies into his food bowl earned me another whisker twitch. "Yeah, it's been an eventful day even for me!" I shared. Looking down and finding my lower half practically bare should have been alarming. But not today. Nope. Standing in my kitchen in a navy stretchy T-shirt, a bright red thong and my animated socks seemed perfectly acceptable to me.
Busying myself with putting away my groceries didn't use up nearly as much time as I wished it would have. It doesn't take long to restock a fridge and cabinets when they're empty. Of course I left out some snacks to close off my shitty day. Butterscotch Krimpets and an enticing bottle of cabernet? Sign me up! Tastykakes and wine? The dinner of champions. Or so I told myself.
"Wow, this is so good." I murmured mostly to myself since I was pretty sure Rex was enjoying his own version of a food comma. Squinting my eyes in order to be able to read the worn label on the bottle was my cue to slow down. The letters on the label seemed to swirl, making it impossible for me to decipher the title. Bummer.
Fridays tend to be a hit or miss in my line of work. If someone misses their court date on a Friday, I won't get a file on them realistically until Monday. This Friday ended up being one of the busier ones this month, landing me five skips. Four low bonds and one medium one. Most of them were Vinnie regulars, which gave me somewhat of an advantage. Knowing their usual hanging spots and routines, had me delivering three of my low FTAs before eleven am. Three skips in under two hours was definitely a personal best, so I'd decided to stop by and treat myself. The Tasty Pastry is busy from the moment they open to the moment they close and today was no exception. I'd been happily selecting my must haves in order to fill the usual baker's dozen special when none other than Grandma Bella had to butt in. I'd rolled my eyes, doing my best to ignore her now that I had no ties to the Morellis. Because of her pestering, I kept instructing the teenage girl behind the counter to continue adding pastries into my box. I certainly wasn't keeping count, but Grandma Bella sure was. She went off, talking about how getting seventeen donuts on Friday the seventeenth was just bad luck. Horrible bad luck. The Burg and their superstitions can be exasperating, torturing you when you least expect it. I'd been minding my own business, just getting myself some sweets. Obviously even that is something that loser Stephanie Plum can't accomplish. I'm such a fuck up that I can't even complete a simple pastry order. Ugh!
In the end, I walked out of the bakery with a free box of donuts and a fresher dose of Bella's evil eye. Yay!
As much as I don't want to believe or fall into the Burg's superstitions, I'm sufficiently buzzed to admit that my day went to shit after the whole Tasty Pastry incident. In the end, I was successful in capturing all of my skips. At what price you ask? Well, by the time I marched my medium bond FTA into the TPD my jeans were coated in questionable alley gunk. Once again I was the laughing stock of Trenton's supposed finest. They all seemed to ignore the fact that I hauled in five skips in one day, instead only focusing on the fact that I was a little dirty by the end of my productive day. Typical.
"M-make a wish..." It was low key embarrassing how long it took me to make out the partial slogan below the title I still couldn't make out of the worn label on this superb wine. I've never had it before and would have never been something I would have bought on my own without a recommendation. My last stop of the day was the Shop N Bag before they closed. The little old lady, whom I've never seen manning the register before, urged me to get this specific bottle. I declined at first, thinking I wouldn't be able to afford the luxurious looking wine. The sweet older lady assured me I could in fact afford it, effectively closing the sale of said lone bottle of wine.
"Sometimes I wish I was a man." I mumbled as I chugged the remainder of my glass, debating if I should pour myself some more wine or not. "Huh, Rex? What's it like being a male?" I giggled when he poked his head out of his soup can, his little beady eyes focusing on my tipsy self. Without sharing any intel, Rex ducked into his little mancave. "I see how it is." I accused, grabbing the still nearly full bottle to move my solo party into the living room.
"Maybe I should have seventeen glasses of wine. Ha!" My laugh echoed in my otherwise silent living room as I planted my nearly bare cheeks on my soft couch cushions.
S&R
I was awoken by an incessant shaking motion. With a groan, I swatted at whatever or whomever was trying to shake me awake.
"Go away!" I huffed, flopping onto my left side to face away from the sleep terminator.
"Stephanie, you need to wake up." A voice that sounded faintly familiar ordered as the shoulder shaking resumed.
"No." I grumbled, pressing my face more firmly against the pillow. "Leave me alone." I pleaded, whimpering so they would feel bad and let me sleep a little longer.
"Stephanie!" It was shouted right in my ear, making it known that I wouldn't be left alone to resume my blissful sleep.
"Whaddayawant!" I growled, swatting at the hand still shaking my shoulder. "Yo!" I whimpered, exasperated. Is it too much to ask to be left alone when you're sleeping?
As I opened my eyes I came face to face with... me?! It was my face staring back at me. It took my groggy brain several moments to process the scene before me. And once it finally dawned on me, I bolted out of bed while screaming at the top of my lungs.
