Don't I know you? (Quinn)

[Quinn Collins]

Quinn couldn't help but chuckle to herself. She hoped he wouldn't be disappointed with the turn out. yes, there were usually one or two familiar faces but even then most of the Hammel students they went to school with were long gone and out in the world. She was personally looking forward to their reunion. That's when they'd really see fireworks.

"You wouldn't believe what being a pediatrician comes with... i treat the mothers more than the kids... psychologically." SHe chuckled wishing it wasn't true.

Quinn took note of his manners, funny, suave, polite, handsome... jeeze what was this a romantic comedy? She laughed when he made the comment about her having to get them free drinks. "You might do well yourself.. i've come to notice that Pilot Ridge has a very large gay community and with your nice little outfit there you look like you can fit right in." She teased. But he did look dapper. If she were a gay man.. or even a straight man she'd try to tap that. IN fact... she had hopes. Dirty girl.

"Sorry for the boxes... unpacking, not my strong suit." She said going to the kitchen first to feed the cat so he'd stay off of Brendan. SHe then went into the bedroom and threw on some clothes. She didn't put on anything too special, she wasn't the dressing up type. Just a pair of dark skinny blue jeans and boots paired with a low cut deep scarlet colored v-neck shirt that showed off her cleavage... but that was more for Brandan to be honest than the other men who would undoubtably be there.

[Brendan James]

Scrunching his face in disgust, Brendan shook his head at what she described. “Honestly… I wish I could tell quite the number of parents to shut the hell up.” With a large smile on his face, he turned to glance at her. “I know! I’ll give you the numbers of my annoying parents and you give me the numbers to yours and we’ll each tell the others to shut the hell up and let us our jobs.”

“Hey now… Straight men can have absolutely flawless taste too.” Brendan said, immediately moving his hands behind his back. No need for her to see his freshly manicured nails. It was either that or constantly have them stained different colors and what not from art class. “Plus, I mean come on… I make a suit look damn good.” He said with a straightening of his tie, a smile on his face as he said it. There was a fine line between confidence and being pompous.

Once in her apartment, he made no secret of looking around. Not actually snooping, of course. He’d never do that. Not in front of her at least. More just taking in his surroundings and her many boxes. “Don’t worry about it. The boxes make the place look bigger. They add a certain… Je ne sais quoi.” Brendan teased as he thoroughly enjoyed being a complete and utter smartass… Or even just a regular ass.

After being sure he had safely disappeared, he inspected a little more. Still not actually looking in anything. But taking a closer look at things that were already on display around her place.

Turning when she came back out, Brendan found it hard not to stare. Seeing her actually dressed, in something other than scrubs, was like seeing her differently. Of course he’d been able to tell she was beautiful before. But not all women could go from being beautiful to down right sexy. Quinn though had made both, the idea of beautiful and sexy, her bitch.

Smiling at her, he gave a low whistle, appreciating how she was dressed. “Well hot damn… With all the drinks we’ll be getting tonight, there won’t be a drop of liquor in the place.” He said, allowing himself to look her up and down one more time…… Pausing a fraction of a second so he could appreciate certain assets she was showing off.

[Quinn Collins]

Quinn chuckled at that idea. Now wouldn't that be something? She could only imagine the faces of the real housewives of Piolet Ridge (as she liked to call them) answering the phone and then shitting their velour pants. It'd be priceless. If only they wouldn't get in heaps of trouble for that, not that she ever minded trouble, not really at least. But she WOULD like to keep her job.

She smiled listening to him. She liked the way he talked, it was so similar to how she talked actually and that was... satisfying. Really. It was quite amazing and she was loving it. She'd already noticed his nails, she did wonder for a split second if he was gay but was happy to hear the word STRAIGHT in his vocabulary... not that she'd mind if he wasn't... well she would.. she wanted him! But she herself wasn't straight, not fully at least so she wouldn't have minded if he swung both ways too... in fact... it was kind of a shame he didn't. She could only start to imagine the fun times they could have.... She was getting ahead of herself.

She did a little turn when he whistled showing off just a little bit, a big smile on her face. She hadn't smiled like this in a long time and was starting to really like it even if it was just an hour or so in the making. She could already feel strange butterflies starting to develop in her stomach and that was actually really scary.

"i'm glad you approve." She said grabbing her leather jacket and bag. "Okay lets get to this bar and rob them blind." She led the way out the door. Damn she really wished she'd unpack a bit more, she really needed to make this place more presentable especially if she wanted to maybe.. come back here later.

[Brendan James]

In all honesty, no. No Quinn was not getting ahead of herself. Not in the slightest. Actually, she was faaar behind Brendan. If she were to ask him, Bren would be completely honest and tell her he’d let his mind run wild the second she’d stepped into coffee shop. He was just grateful she hadn’t asked. That would definitely kill the mood. Because somehow, this chance encounter had turned into more of a date. Not that he was complaining at all! Being on a date with a beautiful, crass woman? What the fuck was there to complain about after all?

“Approve?” Bren shook his head, walking over to her. “I do not simple approve. If you hadn’t already assured me that preeetty much everybody there were balding and beer bellied, I’d be legitimately worried that I’d have to fight for your attention.” With a smirk he leaned closer. “Unless balding and beer bellied is what you’re looking for.”

Once back outside, Bren opened her door for her. And after following her directions to the bar, he did it again. Perhaps that’s why it was feeling like a date? While his manners were on par with just about everybody else’s, door holding was something he always did. Something his mother had driven into him. That, and when crossing a one way street, Brendan walked so that he would be the first hit on impact. But that only started after his sisters were born. And now it just stuck for all women.

Before walking into the bar, he rubbed his hands together. “Hot DAMN I’m excited!” Another door held open for Quinn, and they were inside.

[Quinn Collins]

The bar was just as she had told him. The door handle was nearly falling off and she had to tug on the door itself several times before she managed to get it open. They were met with a deep fog of smoke from cigars. Inside were mostly men, big fat old men with beer bellies eyes glued on the one tv in the back corner watching the game. The tv was as sad as the door, old, broken, fuzzy picture and the speakers were even worse. On the stereo system was playing Hold On by Wilson Phillips, a song that definitely did not fit the space, which was precisely why Quinn liked this bar.

Quinn lead the way to the bar saying hi to the old corpse of a man standing behind it. They'd become friends and he got two beers for them, delivering them with a smokers cough. "Dont you love it here?" She asked actually seriously. It was such a dive.

Quinn took back some of her beer and then chimed into the choros of the song VERY LOUDLY. "Some day somebodys going to make you want to say goodbye! Untill then baby are you going to let them hold you down and make you cry!"

Quinn was laughing so hard tears were coming out of her eyes. "this was our PROM song!" SHe was dying now that she made the connection and nearly fell off the stool. Once she gained her balance back she grabbed Bren's hands and pulled him up onto the bar. They had to dance to this. It was too good.

[Brendan James]

Smiling, Brendan followed her into the bar. And immediately, he felt at home in this bar. The smoke, the stereotypical men watching the sad tv, and the ridiculous music that made him laugh so hard he almost peed himself. “Holy damn… I love this place!”

And even the ancient man who was almost withering away before their eyes. He’d be damned if he wasn’t going to start coming here most weekends. While they waited for their beers, Brendan pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket along with a lighter, pulled one out, and lit it. Of course, manners and all, he offered one to Quinn. Smoking wasn’t something he did regularly. He was a strict social smoker. Well, and when he had really hard days.

“Next round, we’re doing shots.” He said with a smirk and a wink. Not being much of a beer man, he preferred the hard stuff. Maybe a shot of whiskey. Most girls couldn’t or wouldn’t do shots of whiskey… But Quinn was turning out to be so entirely unlike most girls. So he wasn’t gonna make an ass out of himself by assuming a single thing about her.

He took a long sip of his beer, almost spitting it from laughter when she began singing. “Oh shit, I’m embarrassed for you for knowing the words!” He shifted his eyes around a little bit. Then he belted out a few lyrics too. “Don’t you know? Don’t you know things can change? Things’ll go your own way! If you hold on one more day!”

Stopping when she nearly fell he reached out for her. “Woah there… You damn light weights!” He teased. And now he was on the bar. Things like this only ever happened to Brendan. Of course… He put himself into situations where things like this happened.

Dancing and swaying, out of step with the music mind you, he took a drag off his cigarette. Blowing out the smoke, he belted some more, “Hold on for one more day!” And with the small guitar solo, he strummed on his finely tuned air guitar.

[Quinn Collins]

When he said he was embarrassed Quinn just sang louder and horribly out of tune. She could sing, really, when she wasn't at a bar being an obnoxious dinosaur she could sing quite well. But today she was a t-rex and wailing away on her air guitar and head banging to Wilson Philips on top of a bar with Brendan James whom she thought she'd never see again after she graduated.

Quinn chuckled when he called her a light weight and continued. As they rocked out she knocked back the beer. She didn't even know she'd done it she must have been thirsty. THe next song came on and it was just as bad and Quinn insisted on staying on the bar. By now the bartender had gotten used to Quinn and knew stopping her was wasted energy. She owned this joint and was damned proud.

Quinn watched him dance and smiled. "I have to say... you are quite the dancer." She chuckled letting him order some shots for them. "Bren... I have to say... and don't laugh!" She said laughing. "But i want to say this before i'm too drunk for you to take seriously... I'm really happy that i ran into you today... and really pissed we weren't friends sooner." She was serious when she said it, it was perhaps the only serious thing she'd said all night but she meant it. She didn't know what it was about Brendan... But she really.... kind of... felt a little something between them... which scared the shit out of her... she wasn't sure she was ready to let go of Ian and her past... Jeeze what was she doing? She'd just met him! BUt... she hadn't just met him.

Quinn picked up the shot and raised it to him. "To a newly... oldly... new friendship!"

[Brendan James]

Singing and dancing on the bar with Quinn… Had you asked him, before he left New York, what he thought living in Pilot Ridge again would be like, what he would’ve described was not anything similar to what was happening right now. He’d made peace with the fact that moving back was the necessary thing (in his eyes) to do after his mother’s death. He’d also made peace with the fact that it was Pilot Ridge and after living in New York for so many years, it seemed very much similar to moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

And for the last year and a half, it had been. It had been a learning experience for him though. In an attempt to try to make the new dynamic better for everybody, he hadn’t been working, instead opting to take over what his mom had done, taking care of his sisters, dad, and the house. Though he chose not to pick up her part time work at the diner. The learning part was that he discovered he would’ve made one hell of a fifties housewife. He liked shopping for groceries, cooking, and cleaning even. So it wasn’t all complaints.

But compared to drinking and singing and dancing on a bar… Hell, it almost felt like home. Well New York. And almost. If he were drunker and squinted his eyes… Perhaps he could pretend he was somewhere those ridiculous shore kids went. Except, ya’ know, awesome and not incredibly ridiculous.

“Oh I know! I’ve got mad skiiiiills yo’!” And he pulled a Michael Jackson, grabbing of crotch pelvic thrust combo. Because that’s totally ok to do in appropriate places.

Taking his shot, he listened as the girl spoke. And he smiled. He couldn’t be in more agreement with her. “Seriously! Why the hell did we have our heads up our asses that we couldn’t manage to somehow meet and be friends then? All the times we coulda been drinking, hooking up, hanging out, hooking up, doing stuff, hooking up!” He threw the shot back, and chuckled. “Did I mention hooking up?”

[Quinn Collins]

She was relieved when he didn't just laugh in her face for being a sentimental loon. That was the last thing she wanted, she hated those assholes, overly sentimental and with their heads stuck in the past. Granted, there was a big part of her that was like that, especially when she thought about her mother, or where she would have been today if she hadn't found Ian fucking some chick upside down... But those were thoughts for another day and not ones that mixed well with alcohol.

Quinn burst out laughing even harder when he expressed his own feelings on the matter. "Well I can see your mind is in the gutter already." She chuckled throwing back her shot. She handled her alcohol nicely and could drink a man drink with no shame. She prided herself on her scotch and whiskey drinking abilities. Her brothers had trained her well.

"Can't say my mind isn't already in the gutter too though." She said dancing a bit closer to him. Their sexy dancing was embarrassing between his MJ move and Quinn's sprinkler. But she found humor sexier than anything else and was having a damn good time. She ordered more shots, whiskey, and then looked at him. "Oh what the hell." She said and jumped onto him pulling him into a deep kiss. After a few minutes she broke it. "Have to make up for lost times." She laughed really not sure where she was going with this. The alcohol was starting to take effect and she could feel a buz coming on. Oh, the woes of a lightweight.

[Brendan James]

“Biiiitch please! My mind was in the gutter the second you walked into the coffee shop.” He said with a smirk. And it was true. The moment he’d spotted her, even in her scrubs, he knew just how hot she was. And just how much hotter she’d be out of them. He liked to think he was good at guessing the underwear of woman. Because that’s what he imagined them in.

Quinn, to him at least, didn’t seem like a thong girl. Those things just seemed uncomfortable. It was ridiculous. But he imagined her in something lacy. Black too. Maybe red. And those booty short things. Ya’ know, the ones that let the bottom of a girls’ butt cheeks hang out? Yeah… Those. Brendan liked those. And that’s what he imagined Quinn to be wearing.

An almost devilish smirk set on his face when she said she was in the gutter too. And he was grateful. It meant it their time wasn’t for nothing. “Well thank damn god! Otherwise I’d feel like a total jackass!”

Catching her, he almost fell off the bar, but quickly regained his balance. And almost immediately he began kissing her back. Of course, he couldn’t quite get the hold on her that he wanted. He was too concerned with holding her up. What the hell kind of mood killer would it be to start making-out and then drop her flat on the bar?!

Laughing with her, he nodded. “Fuck yeah! Lost times!” He wasn’t quite sure what she meant by that… But… Oh well. He set her back on her feet and this time got a proper hold on her, one hand behind her head and the other sitting on her waist, and then he began kissing her deeply.