"That was - hands down - the funniest fuckin' thing I've ever seen."
Glaring up at Emma, Josie gave a rude hand gesture before going back to cleaning the blood from her shredded palm after that young teacher from earlier had knocked her to the ground. Just thinking about those blue eyes made her feel weak and it had nothing to do with the blood loss. Although…the pain in her hand was starting to outweigh the affect those stupid eyes had on her body.
"At least I wasn't scared off after some little shit spit on my shoes like someone we all know." Glancing up at Emma, Josie saw her usually calm, pale face turn bright red and she knew she'd struck a nerve in her usually cool-headed friend.
"OI, fuck off – those were new, beautiful, kid-skin Manolo Blahniks and I had to attend to them immediately." After seeing the look of humor sparkling in Josie's eyes, her face immediately returned to the pale, haughty aristocratic look it usually held with only a hint of color from her outburst remaining.
Smiling devilishly at the blonde, Josie wrapped a bandage around her hand, pleased with the care she had taken in cleaning it all up. As she did so, she caught sight of the watch on her slender wrist and shrieking at the time grabbed her bag, "Shit, I gotta get outta here – I start that bartending job today down the road from my place. I'll see you tomorrow!"
"Bye bye Josie posy, hope you run into your lad again, he had quite the eyes for you!" Flipping her blonde hair aside, Emma laughed as Josie once again flipped her the bird as she ran around the corner and down the hall, heels clicking loudly then falling into silence.
Running through the station, desperate to get to the District line in time, she glanced again at her watch, noting that she was glad she'd had the foresight to bring along a bag of clothes in order to change there. Josie had been a bartender since she was about sixteen and when she'd moved to London she'd immediately began looking for jobs – quickly finding one in a pub called the Abbey just down the road from her new apartment, or flat she thought in her mind. She was always trying to fit in with her new surroundings and she found herself changing her American slang for the British counterpart in the hopes she wouldn't feel so out of place – it didn't seem to do much good, especially since her vocabulary was quite limited.
Josie had moved to London about a month ago and March was a cruel time to be in a new city. Trying to settle into her new, dream job, attempting to find side jobs to afford to keep said dream job as well as preparing for graduate school in September was overwhelming to say the least. But this was what she had worked so hard for through the past 23 years of her life. Unfortunately, there were suddenly cracks starting to show in the carefully laid foundation of her life. And they seemed to lie behind the blue eyes of a man she had only just met.
Finally reaching her train, Josie settled into the lulling ride – attempting to will the train to somehow move faster so she wasn't late for her first day of work.
Breathing a sigh of relief as the Abbey came into view at the corner of the road, Josie hurried her step, heels clicking loudly in the empty street. It was eerie in a way, not another person in sight and she moved faster trying to reach the pub before a zombie could jump out at her. Shaking the ridiculous thought from her mind and feeling her nerves tingle at the thought of another new start, she looked up at the sign and pushed open the heavy bar door.
Lucky for her the pub was nearly empty and the face behind the bar met her with a grin rather than a scowl for running late.
"A'right there lady? You're lookin' a little too fancy for this place, eh. Hope you've brought some grub cloths cause you won't be wanting to ruin that pretty lil skirt o' yours." Giving a smile to Terry, Josie made a beeline for the bathroom, slamming the door shut and locking it just in case.
Glancing in the dingy mirror, Josie gave a sigh at the tired face that stared back at her. What made her think she'd ever be able work two jobs as well as go to school? And the school portion hadn't even started yet. Quickly digging into her large bag she grabbed her makeup purse so she could attempt to brighten her dull eyes and add a little color to the white sheet that was her face.
As she brushed a little more bronzer over her face and pulled her hair in a loose ponytail, letting her bangs fall slightly into her eyes, she decided that was as good as it was going to get. Smilingly slightly to herself, she noted her eyes seemed a little brighter and her freckles weren't so stark against her pale skin. Pulling on a pair of faded blue jeans and a plain white tee, she completed the outfit with some sneakers and she rushed out of the bathroom, already having taken too long.
Terry gave the young brunette a grin as she ducked under the bar to come up on the other side, "Ok Yoda, show me the way of the force and by force I mean show me around the bar." Bursting out in laughter Terry looked down at Josie who was wearing a serious face, "Come onnnn, I'm serious!" she whined, "I don't want to look like a doof when people get here and the keg kicks and I don't know where to go to change it and what if we run out of glasses or ice and what…"
"Oi, relax Joze, you know yer shit, that's why I hired you. You'll learn where everything is as it goes. Now go," nudging her slightly to the opposite end of the bar, "you've got your first customer of the night." Nodding towards the nearly toothless man at the end of the bar, already holding on to it for dear life, she once again wondered if she was ever going to be able to pull this off. Lucky for her, Terry seemed to have taken an instant liking to her when she'd come to interview last weekend and since then she'd been coming in after work each night for a quick chat to try to get a little more comfortable in her new surroundings and to possibly make a few friends.
Pasting a smile on her face she nearly ran to the end of the bar quickly asking what he'd like.
"Esk oi 'int." The man replied, the stench of booze so thick on his breath she could almost taste it. Feeling a momentary wave of nausea she stared back at him blankly.
"Erm, what?" Josie's mind was no where near comprehending what he'd said and she was mostly questioning if it was even English. He repeated his request, albeit a little gruffer this time since she wasn't grasping what he was saying.
"He'd like a pint o' Fullers, that one over there." Glancing behind the older man, Josie saw another customer who looked to be a few years older than her and throwing a grateful smile in his direction she scurried over to pull the pint and hopefully get rid of this man without further issues.
The pint glass finally filled, Josie brought the drink over to Mac (as she'd heard him called by the younger man behind him) and took whatever coin was thrown her way just wanting to be done with him as all her senses were assaulted by his mere presence.
"Alright there love? I'll be havin' onea the same. Names Dave and your's gorgeous?" Feeling her face burn a little at the pet names Josie glanced up at the slight smile on his face deciding he didn't seem too dangerous, "Josephine."
"A Yank in the Abbey? I never thought I'd see the day. So Josephine ya say? Wha' sorta dodgy old-fashioned name is that?" Josie felt a grin pull at her mouth as she set the pint down in front of him.
"Dodgy? Is that how you get all the girls? Insult their name right off the bat then give 'em a little grin? Lucky for you, no one uses my full given name – just call me Josie or Joze or Jo Jo or something to that affect. I'd even answer to 'you' which I'm sure I'll be gettin' all night. Most likely from the 'dodgy' lookin characters waitin' for you in that corner." Nodding towards the end of the bar, Dave followed her gaze and saw the rest of the boys had arrived while he was chatting her up. Giving a wave to the boys, he turned his attention back to Josie.
"OI, you better be gettin' all of us one o' them pints, bruv, I aint gettin' paid til the end of the week."
"Swill, you twat, it is the end of the week." Dave shouted back and Josie's face burned again, this time at the language. She'd never been used to the more colorful word choice the Brits seemed to have – her vulgarity seemed to have a short range in comparison to the rest of the Island's population. Dave turned back to Josie, "We're gonna need a few more o' these, love. I'd say make it an even 5, yeah?"
Returning his slight smile she turned to fill a few more pint glasses looking up when she saw the one that'd yelled out standing directly in front of her. "Hey you pretty little bird, what's a place like you doing in a girl like this?" Josie glanced up at his pale, slightly chubby face, noted he was swaying slightly and immediately burst out laughing. For fucksake, it was just gone 6 and this man was already stumbling over sentences.
"You might want to be working on your sentence structure there pal, it's not quite up to par right now." Turning on her heel, Josie placed the 5 pints on a tray and walked the length of the bar to deliver them to Dave's mates. She glanced over her shoulder to see the slightly drunk guy digging in his pockets for a pack of cigarettes only to get distracted by a gaggle of girls that'd just entered the pub and were flirting heavily with Terry while he was getting their drinks.
"Eh, Dave you might want to be checking on your buddy over there, he's lookin' like he's about to boot on that girl's shoes." Blowing a wisp of bangs out of her eyes, the rest of the boys looked down to see Swill nearly miss the bar stool, seeming to recognize he wasn't going to be successful at sitting on the high stool, he finally decide to retreat to the back of the pub giving up the hope of pulling a girl tonight.
Dave winked up at Josie, "Nah, not to worry, he'll find his way back. Now you put those pints down and say a proper 'ello to the boys. This here's Ned, Ike, the fat one stumbling over is Swill and the bloke hidin' in the corner is Keith. This here's Josephine but please, call 'er 'you'"
"Thas a bloody strange nickname you got der you." Swill slurred to her. Laughing slightly, she took the bank note from Dave and with a wink ducked back under the bar with five sets of eyes trailing her backside.
"Fuck me, I'd give my left nut if she'd just lick the right one." Groans of disgust resonated around the table at Swills rather graphic description of desire and chose to ignore him outright.
"Oi, when's Pete gettin' 'ere, he finishin up with the little ones then leggin' it over here?" Ike looked to Dave for the answer and the answer came with a shrug and a nod towards the door as the tall, blonde man strutted through the door of the Abbey nodding towards varied people as he made a beeline for the back. After the day he'd had all he wanted was a cold beer and a laugh with the boys and to maybe start to think of a plan to get Josie into his life in a more permanent manner.
"Shit mate, what happened to yer head? One o' them little twats knock you out finally?" Ned called with a laugh. The sizeable bruise on Pete's head made him cringe and with a knot forming in his stomach he thought only of what damage he could have done to Josie after their little tumble. He recalled a good amount of blood coming from her hand as she'd been ushered quickly inside by the blonde bird that one of Paddy's boys had spit on.
"Nah mate, I tackled one o' the tour guides at the end of the trip." With a smirk he gratefully took the pint offered to him and took a seat, loosening his tie in the process.
"Fucksake, what'd the geezer do that made ya tackle him?" Looking round the table at the questioning faces, Pete debated whether or not he wanted to make Josie fodder for the boys jokes or not. Deciding against it he desperately tried to think of another excuse, stalling by taking a long gulp of his beer.
"I ah, just, uh…" Lucky for him a loud crash distracted the boys from the question and they all turned their gaze to see Mac being shuttled out of the bar by his wife who was fit to be a linebacker, screeching the entire way about the amount of drink he'd had.
Hearing laughter from the bar, Pete looked up and felt is heart drop to his stomach. There. She. Was. Standing there, talkin' to Terry and pulling pints like she'd been here forever.
"Ah, so I see Petey boy's spotted our new bartendress, she's called you, ya know. Weird fuckin' name, but dem Yanks have always been a bit dodgy." Looking back at Swill, Pete wondered momentarily just how he managed to get so loaded so fast but quickly brushed off the thought and stood up.
"Anyone need another pint?" Downing his, he didn't even wait for the answer, instead he made a straight run towards Josie, taking in her small frame, the plain white t-shirt could have been a cocktail dress as far as he was concerned, she looked even more gorgeous than she had at the museum. Her honey brown bangs fell into her eyes and she kept blowing them out of her face while she was getting the next customers drink. Standing there taking her in he waited patiently for the crowd to thin.
"Hey Dunham! What can I get ya mate?" Pete cringed as he looked towards Terry, his stupidity sinking in as he realized of course, Terry would want to get him a drink quickly.
"Eh, I'm, uh, not sure. Can't decide it all looks so good." Motioning to the different taps in a comical manner, Terry gave him a questioning glance that Pete didn't even see as he'd already turned his attention back to Josie. Terry smiled knowingly and turned to attend to the other end of the bar.
"Alright gorgeous, how's the hand?" Josie looked up with a start at what was already an all too well-known voice. Confusion clouded her brown eyes and she tilted her head as though trying to determine whether she was really seeing him or not.
"You, uh, what are you...? How is this...? Um, so pint, yeah?" Deciding no question was suitable for the situation she instead turned around to grab another glass from the shelf, reaching on her tip toes and exposing just the slightest hint of skin to Pete's hungry eyes. His gaze never left her, watching her every move trying to come up with something witty to dazzle her with and make her his.
"Hey there, you best be gettin' bout four more of those things down, our boy Pete here is buyin', a sight we've never seen and we want to take full advantage." Inwardly cringing, Pete shrugged off the arm Dave had draped around his shoulder and reached for his wallet, wishing Dave would just piss off and let him chat up Josie.
"Eh, sure. I'll just, um, bring 'em down to your table again." Dave looked with confusion between Pete and Josie, starting to feel the tension between the two and decided he'd just bugger off. Besides, he'd seen the look Pete was giving him right now many times before, usually directed at members of opposing firms and it was usually followed by a beating that Dave would rather like to avoid so he turned to leave the two alone.
Pete waited until Dave had reached the table again before turning his attention back to Josie. She was just setting the third filled pint glass down and was about to grab another when Pete reached towards her and gently took her bandaged hand in his. Running his hands gently over her knuckles they locked eyes, neither one knowing quite what was going on, the situation was just too surreal. The manner in which they had met and now, only a few hours later finding each other in a pub miles away from their first meeting place – it was the stuff of stories, not reality.
"I'm so sorry about knocking you down, I wasn't paying attention and you're just so short and I didn't see you and…" Pete Dunham tongue-tied and rambling? Oh shit, you had to be fuckin' kidding me, he thought. "And I was going to come back to the museum to find you or send flowers or do something, but you just took off inside and that was that." Trying desperately to look confident, Pete smiled down at her but faltered when he saw her face furrowed in thought.
Cocking an eyebrow at him his heart pounded in his chest, wondering if he'd bottled it before there even was anything to bottle. Instead, she just smiled up at him tilting her head again before speaking, "Well then, I guess that just means you have a lot to make up for, seeing as you severely wounded me by tackling me to the ground. Now, you can start by helping me bring these pints down to your mates."
Letting out a laugh, Pete grabbed two of the pints and dutifully followed her down the length of the bar, occasionally glancing over at her and wondering just what he was getting himself into.
Like it? Hate it? A review would make me happy :)