Day 2: 3333 words

Sally had been going good on this, keeping up with the words. She was ahead of schedule and happy with where the story was going. Yet, when she had come back from her morning outing to the nearby beach, she realized something was missing.

"Honey, isn't there a Write In that you need to be going to?" Her mom, Rochelle, asked as she sat in the quiet kitchen on this Saturday morning typing away at her Surface tablet.

"Yeah, but Daniel took my car." She said. "He didn't ask me."

Sally's mother groaned. "He was grounded from driving. He took your keys?"

"Yeah, I think so. I came down from my twenty minute writing session and my car was gone, the keys were gone from the hook. Dad's not here to give me a ride."

"And you want to still go, don't you?"

She shrugged, saving her document. "I can't leave if I'm feeling, feeling, disturbed."

"Okay. Um, how about going to Stephen and seeing if he would take you?" She suggested.

"He wouldn't want to hang around the library with a bunch of teenagers for hours on end."

"At least let him take you to the library and pick you up afterwards, or if you feel overwhelmed."

"Okay." Sally finally sighed, packing up her Surface.

Stephen lived two doors down from the Gallagher house. They were a nice family but had the one daughter that David Gallagher doted on. He had just gotten finished with her arm exercises for the day when there was a knock at the door. He didn't think twice about answering it shirtless, but then again this was a shy girl that stood there, turning as red in the face as his hair.

"Sally, what are you doing here?"

"My brother took my car, I can't get to the Write In at the Library today. Mom suggested that maybe you could give me a ride." She looked up at him, trying to focus on his face.

She wasn't dressed to impress. She wore simple jeans, a green shirt and her long hair was free falling down her back. Her features were as simple as her cloths, but she did have a beauty hiding within her.

"Sure, lass, come on in. I need to change first." Stephen said as she stepped aside to let her in his home.

There had only been a handful of times when Sally stood in his home. She always stood and looked at his mantel where he kept his King of the Ring crown. Once he had even caught her running her hand over the edges of the crown, mesmerized by it. And he did catch her doing it again as he came back from getting dressed five minutes later.

He smiled, watching her hand graze of the faux wooden crown. It was made to look like something from an Irish fairytale. He specifically asked for it. Even his so called shillelagh, the walking stick thing that went with his outfit, was up there for her to look at.

"Impressive, aren't they?" He asked, making Sally spin around, dropping the shillelagh to the floor with a clank.

"I'm so sorry."

"Oy, lass, it isn't a big deal. I've dropped them so many times it isn't funny." He said smiling. "Come on, mustn't let you be late."

The drive to the library was uneventful. Sally always remained quiet, anywhere. The library was no different.

"Well here we are." He said as they approached a conference room on the fourth floor of the library.

She froze, he could see it. There were kids in there, kids her age but she wasn't moving. She grasped her Surface tablet carry case to her and stared at it.

"Want me to come in with you, lass?" He asked.

"Um, are you sure? They are just a bunch of teenagers, what if they know who you are?"

"No big deal. I'm here for you." He touched her shoulder reassuringly, and this time she didn't flinch from him. "Home schooled or not, you need to be around people your own age."

"Okay. But as long as you're with me." She said, adjusting her large glasses on her nose.

The ML of the group, the Municipal Liaison, looked up and smiled at Stephen and Sally as they entered the conference room. "You two are right on time for the Write In." He said.

And the room went quiet when the group realized that it was Sheamus from the WWE, standing in the room with his good arm draped around some girl's shoulders.

"Hi. I'm Sally." She said, fidgeting with her bag. "I think I can handle it from here, Sheamus. I'll call you if I need to get a ride from here."

"You sure?" He asked, catching why she had called him by his ring name.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She smiled tightly, not a happy smile in the least.

"Well okay, have fun. Call me." He gave her a one handed hug before leaving the room.

The moment he left the room he could hear the screeching and cheering of the kids within it.

Needless to say, when Stephen came to pick up the lass a few hours later, she was happy.

"All we did was talk about you." She told him.

Well it was a start for her at least, Stephen thought as he drove her home.

"Did you get some words in for your word count today?" he asked, making a conversation with her.

"I'm ahead of schedule. I somehow knew that when they saw you all they wanted to do was to get information out on you. But because I don't really know you all that well…" she trailed off.

"You know me enough, lass. You also know I would never hurt you. Why, my Granny would be rolling in her grave if she knew I hurt you."

"Sorry to hear that."

"Hear what?"

"Your grandmother being dead."

"That's what old people do, they die. We just have to learn to live with it and move on with our lives."

They got back to his place in relative silence. As they got out of Stephen's SUV, he caught sight of Sally's little Ford Focus just up the street, parked in her family's driveway.

"So your brother brought your car back in one piece." Stephen stated.

"Yeah, but is he in one piece? I don't know what's up with Daniel, he thinks he can do whatever he wants. And he's nineteen, he's older than me. He shouldn't be taking my car." Sally shook her head. "He should know better. Anyway, thank you for the help today, Stephen. I'm going to be out at the beach early tomorrow, if you want to meet me there."

"Maybe. I'm trying to get back in shape."

"Okay, I hope you don't hurt yourself again. Stay safe." She waved before walking down the road towards her house.

"Stay safe, Lass." He said quietly before returning to his own home.

Yeah, how did you like this update?