click
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Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination. ~Mark Twain
Posts: 103
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Post by click on May 26, 2009 20:11:54 GMT -5
The bus rumbled down along the darkening New York street, Tyler watching as their surroundings became more and more familiar. The bus stopped a couple of blocks from his street--or, rather, his friends' street. He didn't have any permanent residence there, just open invitations and lumpy couches he was welcome to sleep on. The neighborhood wasn't very pretty. In places, it looked downright grungy between the strip clubs and the bars and the little corner pharmacy that housed one of the toughest convenience store clerks this side of the Mississippi. That didn't mean he wasn't robbed often enough.
He stood up and glanded down at the cute young girl next to him with a grin. "Here we are," he said, offering her a hand up. He liked Jasmine. He liked her a lot. If she knew him better, she probably wouldn't think too much of it, though. He liked everyone a lot.
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Post by Jasmine Leigh Markus on May 27, 2009 17:56:51 GMT -5
Jasmine watched out the windows. This was her first real look at another country. Sure, she'd spent a bit of time in the Canadian forest- she shuddered at the thought of what had happened there. She turned her mind from the subject and smiled at him, taking his outstretched hand. She stood up, waiting to follow his lead. She sure didn't know where to go!
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click
Full Member
Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination. ~Mark Twain
Posts: 103
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Post by click on May 27, 2009 18:39:20 GMT -5
He led her off the bus and headed south toward his street without letting go of her hand. "This is my neighborhood," he told her. "I know all of the good bars around here."
The city really had taken Tyler in as a kid. He'd shacked up in the motel they were passing more than once. The bar next to it used to have kareoke on Wednesday nights, and he went almost every week when he was twelve. When he was fifteen, he woke up behind the bar with no shirt and beer soaked into his hair. There were good memories on this street.
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Post by Jasmine Leigh Markus on May 28, 2009 21:51:33 GMT -5
Jasmine nodded. It was very different to where she had grown up. There had been one pub at her old town, and that had been a family venue- a place everyone would go on Friday night's. This was different. She smiled anyway, interested.
"I've never been to a bar before." She admitted, wondering what it would be like. "Is it fun?"
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click
Full Member
Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination. ~Mark Twain
Posts: 103
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Post by click on May 28, 2009 22:04:31 GMT -5
"Lots of fun," he agreed readily, "but a friend of mine owns one on my street, so how about we go there?"
He led her down one more block until they were on his street. It looked about the same as the rest of the neighborhood, but this was his home. Donnie's tattoo parlor was a few storefronts down from them next to a beat-up old apartment building. Across the street was his friend Joe's bar, windows shaded, but light seeping through them nonetheless. At the end of the street was a strip club where a number of his friends and aquaintances worked. They were only a yard away from the spot on the street where Tyler had passed out when he first got here at eleven years old.
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Post by Jasmine Leigh Markus on May 30, 2009 2:18:31 GMT -5
Jasmine smiled eagerly. "Yeah, that's be great!" She exclaimed happily. She could feel something a little strange with Tyler's emotions. There was something there. Like he was keeping tight control over his emotions. It was strange, as if he had to work hard to be happy. She didn't like it. She wanted it to be easy for him to be happy.
She noticed the strip club, but ignored it, not registering what it was. She looked around and noticed the bar. "Is that it?" She asked.
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click
Full Member
Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination. ~Mark Twain
Posts: 103
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Post by click on May 30, 2009 13:08:07 GMT -5
"That's it," Tyler agreed. With his hand still gripping hers, he tugged her across the street in a rather childish manner, grinning and excited to see his neighbors. Over the past couple of years, he'd gotten used to seeing them every day. It was weird being at school now, so far away from them. Not that he didn't love the school! Of course he loved the school as much as he loved everything.
He pushed open the door to the smoky bar, revealing a good sized room with a long, badly varnished bar on one end and a few rickity tables on the other, a couple leveled out with magazines under a leg. The place had quite a few customers, but wasn't exactly crowded. A song that had been on the radio a lot recently could just be heard over the hum of conversation.
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Post by Jasmine Leigh Markus on Jun 1, 2009 18:02:40 GMT -5
Jasmine enjoyed his childish excitement. It was refreshing. She just smiled as he led the way into the bar. It was different than she had expected. It was a bit smoky- she coughed a little before she adjusted. She could feel a few very lonely, sad people sitting around, and someone was obviously very depressed. She had the feeling they were thinking about killing themselves. Without even pausing to consider it, she reached her power out and sapped his emotions. She had to work to keep smiling. The man's depression had been bad, yes, but she could feel it twice over. She squared her jaw and worked to stay happy.
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click
Full Member
Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination. ~Mark Twain
Posts: 103
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Post by click on Jun 1, 2009 19:47:33 GMT -5
"Alright, take a seat," Tyler instructed, guiding her over to a barstool. "I'll show you how us Americans do a night out."
He leaned over the bar to get the attention of a middle-aged woman with a low-cut shirt and too much make-up. "Lucy!" he shouted. She grinned when she saw him and started fussing over him immediately, asking about school. He was the neighborhood puppy. "School's fine. Can you get us some drinks? A rum and coke for me and..." He turned to Jasmine. "What do you want?"
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Post by Jasmine Leigh Markus on Jun 2, 2009 18:08:47 GMT -5
Jasmine laughed and sat on the stool where he guided her. She laughed a little as Lucy began to fuss over him, asking questions and that. She looked delighted to see him. She didn't seem to be his mother, so she wondered what she was to him, surely too old to be a good friend? His question caught her off guard. "Oh, um... I don't know. Whatever you think." She answered, going slightly pink. She didn't know anything about alcohol. Neither of her parents drank.
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click
Full Member
Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination. ~Mark Twain
Posts: 103
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Post by click on Jun 2, 2009 18:28:08 GMT -5
The barmaid smiled at her. "How about something fun and fruity," she suggested. She slipped away to make their drinks.
Tyler dropped down onto the stool next to her and grinned at Jasmine, flicking some hair out of his eyes. "She'll get you something good," he told her. "Lucy's got good taste."
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Post by Jasmine Leigh Markus on Jun 4, 2009 19:39:55 GMT -5
Jasmine smiled. Drinks could be fun as well as fruity? She was curious as to what the heck was going on. She glanced at Tyler, one again getting the niggling feeling that he was repressing something. She didn't like it. Bad things could nibble away at the good if you just ignored them. And one day, only the bad would be left. She didn't want that to happen to Tyler. He was so nice, so fun, so happy. She didn't want to darken his mood, but she had to say it. "Are you okay? You seem to be trying really hard to be happy." She paused, then frowned. "I'm boring you aren't I? You just want me to go away..." She said in a small voice.
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click
Full Member
Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination. ~Mark Twain
Posts: 103
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Post by click on Jun 4, 2009 20:26:21 GMT -5
"No!" Tyler insisted, eyes going wide. "I like you! You shouldn't go. Really, I'm having fun!" He laughed and grinned at her. "I like hanging out with you."
He leaned on the bar. "And I don't know what you mean about trying to be happy. I am happy." He was. Of course, he was repressing a mess of other crap, but Tyler was always, always happy. "Why shouldn't I be?"
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Post by Jasmine Leigh Markus on Jun 5, 2009 0:55:08 GMT -5
Jasmine frowned again. "Maybe i said it wrong. I just mean that there's something else. I don't know what it is. I don't know, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up. I'm just being stupid." She gave a little laugh and pretended to slap her forehead.
"So, what now?" She asked, glancing around the bar
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click
Full Member
Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination. ~Mark Twain
Posts: 103
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Post by click on Jun 5, 2009 1:03:39 GMT -5
"Now..." Tyler said, grinning as Lucy brought them their drinks--a rum and coke for Tyler and a fruity martini for Jasmine. "...we drink!" He took his glass and held it up to the barmaid in thanks before taking a sip.
"So do you go to school with Tyler?" Lucy asked her, sounding amused by the idea of Tyler going to school.
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