Emily (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
iluvroadrunner6) wrote2019-12-22 03:37 pm
iluvroadrunner6) wrote2019-12-22 03:37 pm
Entry tags:
tumblr prompts { 2020 } prompt-a-palooza
Basically, I've been saving a bunch of writing prompts and when I went to clean out my likes and I've decided to write something for each of them at some point in 2020. Probably after I do the next draft of Paladin? Don't know yet!
Anyway, prompts will be linked with the fics, feel free to track if you're interested, IDK who is even following my journal anymore but enjoy.
#011 ~ and don't you come back ~ original ~ 1,320
People packed themselves into the Garrison so entirely that there’s barely any room to breathe.
From one side of the bar to the other, it’s people as far as the eye can see. That’s not an uncommon happening at the bar on Eagles’ game night. The room is a sea of green and white, and the clientele is rowdy and excited, pounding lightly on tables and shouting their praise from various portions of the room. If Cassie hadn’t known at least three-quarters of the patrons since she was old enough to bus tables, she might have felt a little cramped or even claustrophobic, but if anything, these familiar sights and sounds make the bar feel like home.
“Hey, Cass! Can we get another round of beers over here?”
“Sure thing, Manny, just give me a minute.” Cassie glances over at her mother, off settling the tab of another customer to her left. She pulls out bottles from the fridge under the bar and passes two off to the bar's customers. “You’d think the Eagles won the playoffs or something.”
Madeline Miller laughs as she slams the cash door closed. “They only went to the Superbowl a couple of years back. You would think they’d know better by now.”
“Easy there, Maddie,” Bodie Wellington spoke up from his usual stool in front of the bar. As one of the regulars, and an avid Eagles fan with deep superstitions. “I won’t have you slandering the boys in my presence. That’s bad luck.”
“Sorry, Bodie,” Madeline grins as she grabs him another beer. “But would you rather I talk out my ass saying they’re going to win and jinx it?”
Bodie considers as he takes a long pull from his beer, and he shakes his head. “No, you’re probably right. Shit talk is better than getting my hopes too high.”
“Smart man,” Madeline winks at him, and Cassie laughs before shaking her head and taking the beers over to one of the back tables.
The Garrison is her mother’s baby, having built it from scratch in the southernmost reaches of New Jersey, where there’s often nothing for miles but highway and the Pine Barrens. Remote and isolated, Cassie never really understood how they managed to get so many people night after night, but Cassie also doesn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. It allows her and her mother to support themselves, and for them, that’s enough. It keeps their tiny little family together, which is a lot more than most people have.
Sometimes the men around the bar ask her about college or moving out to one of the nearby cities and making her friends, but Cassie never honestly considered it. She wanted to be with her mother, so her mother is where she’ll stay.
By the time they reach the end of the fourth quarter, the customers start to trickle out, heading back to their homes, families, and wives. Bodie is still sitting on his stool, counting out cash for the beers and food he bought throughout the evening, but Madeline isn’t rushing him. Cassie’s making her way between tables in the back, collecting the remains of drinks and food plates to run back to the dishwasher.
Bodie pays the last of his tab, and Madeline counts it out before glancing over to her daughter. “Hey, Cass, I’m going to run this up to the cash box. You good to finish closing up.”
“You got it,” Cassie grins with a mock salute, before getting back to work.
“You want me to hang out here with you?” Bodie asks, turning on the stool to face her.
“Don’t you have a wife to go home to?” Cassie asks, raising an eyebrow.
“I do,” Bodie admits. “But it’s unclear if she’s ready for me to be home.”
Cassie laughs, before waving him off. “Go home, Bodie. Maybe the Eagles luck will rub off on you.”
Bodie laughs before waving and heading out to the door. Cassie’s not watching him leave, but she hears the soft jingle of the bells on the door as it opens and closes, leaving the entirety of the bar in silence. Cassie goes back to work, gathering the various dishes around her until the bin is full before running them to the dishwasher in the back. As she’s loading them all into the massive machine, she hears the soft jingle of the door again, and she frowns, before making her way back out to the space behind the bar.
“You forget something, Bode?” She stops short when she sees who it is, eyes widening in confusion, as this is not a man she knows. He's more rugged, about six feet tall than the blue-collar workers that feature their usual clientele. His hair is a salt and pepper blend, and he has a scruffy growth of stubble on his chin. He’s dressed in flannel and denim, but that’s the only typical thing about him. She swallows hard before putting on her best smile. “Sorry, sir. We’re closed.”
“I’m not here for a drink.” He firmly states as he looks her over. There’s something hungry about his gaze – but not in the way she’d typically expect. She’s twenty-one years old, and she knows the ways a man’s eyes go hungry when they see an attractive girl. But this is different. This moment is like she’s water and he’s stuck in a desert, only he doesn’t want to devour her so much as treasure her.
“I understand, but we’re still closed. You’ll have to come back in the morning.”
“Madeline will understand.”
“Well, she’s not here right now. I am. As I said, you’ll have to come back tomorrow.” She does her best to keep her voice firm, but she doesn’t move out from behind the bar. Whoever this man is, he’s undoubtedly putting her on guard, and she doesn’t know how to combat that. She’s about to force the issue and threaten to call the police when her mother’s voice carries into the room from the stairwell.
“I gotta say, even when the Eagles win, we still do well. I’m certainly not –”
The cashbox hits the floor with a heavy clang, and Madeline’s eyes become fixed on the man on the other side of the room. When he looks at her, there’s something equally hungry as there was for Cassie, but this is different. This hunger is the one that Cassie is used to, and she’s grateful that not to be the target.
“Hey, Maddie.”
“Jack,” she manages to spit out. “What are you doing here?”
He glances over to Cassie like she’s trying to assess what she might know. “I was in the area. I thought we could talk.”
“You agreed to stay gone. You said you wouldn’t come back until …” Madeline’s voice trails off, and she glances between him and Cassie, before moving to her daughter’s side. She wraps her arms around Cassie, pulling her in close and squeezing her tightly. “No. It can’t be time already.”
Jack’s face fell slightly, before nodding. “I’m sorry, but it is. We agreed, Maddie.”
“She’s too young.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think they’re going to care.”
Cassie gently pushes herself away from her mother, extracting herself from her mother’s arms before glancing between the two of them. “What are you both talking about? Mom, who is this guy?”
Madeline glances between Jack and her daughter before swallowing hard. “Cassie, this is Jack Riverstone.” There’s another long pause, almost as though she doesn’t quite want to fill in this blank, but she does anyway. “He’s your father.”
Cassie stumbles backward, the words hitting her like a pile of bricks. She reaches to grip the shelf as her vision begins to swim in front of her. Somehow, her voice manages to remain calm as she states:
“Oh. Is that all?”
But after that, everything turns to darkness as she passes out onto the floor.