Re: Bar Log: Penny and Cris
Penny watched as Cris made his way to the bar, and she listened and took it in again. This was one of those afternoons, one of those days where she was going to say the wrong thing no matter what it was and his hackles were raised enough, things were bad enough and he was bad off enough that she was attacking and he'd attack back. She supposed she should have seen it, but she tried soft with the people she loved first, always. It was why her house was varying degrees of full the past month with people who sassed her up one side and down the other.
She didn't particularly care for Cris' rising ire, and she really didn't care for it being aimed in her direction. And she watched him, her expression hardening and her eyes boring holes into his while he drank his whisky, she took a sip. Out of character but she wasn't stomach-ing anything just then, least of all him. She wasn't going to try and argue with him, to tell him different, to clarify what she'd meant. It was useless, he wasn't going to hear her. Or he'd pick it apart until it was a personal attack. He knew better, everything he said he knew better. And she wasn't going to pile on top of it anything else. So she'd let him keep on going if attacking her and being mad at her made him feel better. If it helped to get it out on someone who would still be there later, then fine. And there were times she'd egg him on, and fight right back with him, there were times they'd yell and holler and part ways angry as hell. She'd push those buttons, she knew where they all were, and he'd push right back. But this wasn't one of those times. Sofia. Elena. This new girl. The jail time. The man with the camera. Punkin. All of it. She wasn't going to push him further. She couldn't stand to.
She didn't want to say anything bad about the girl Cris had found himself, she had no reason to. Everyone had problems, she had her fair share and Cris had his, they all had garbage that followed them around and wouldn't stop stinking up their lives. Olivia didn't approve of day drinking, it was a major point of contention, and it made Penny defensive and grumpy, and she'd be just as quick to fly off the handle about that on a day off. Her ex-husband had hated her army life, and her backwoods redneck family, and she would fly off about that. She'd gotten in fights in the army, spent nights in the brig, she'd snuck off to have an abortion, she'd been arrested even when she'd become a cop for getting into trouble of her own and falling in with the wrong people. It wasn't like she was perfect.
She was not judging Cris, or his girl, she was worried - and if Cris loved this girl now she was worried for her too. Drugs, suicide, it was no joke. And if Cris was worried about her, she was double worried, and that was the story of her life. When she spoke she was serious, but her voice was calm, no condescending, but firm. She wasn't joking, she wasn't trying to sass him or continue the argument. Where he was all little kid lashing out, she was not. She didn't have kids, but she had a mama. And she was something of a mama bear. So every now and again, the voice showed through.
She leaned toward him. "Turn it down a notch and remember who you're talkin' to, I'm not gonna try and argue any of that because once you hush for a second and do like I said you'll figure it out yourself what I meant. I'm not gonna sit here and fight it out with you.'Less that's what you want. I've got a little bite in me just now, but I don't want to do this. I want to help, you, your girl, whatever I can do. But you know that already. So yeah, lets start somewhere. Please." She didn't touch him, she wanted to, either to shake the crap out of him, or put her hand on that shaking leg, or just take his hand. Instead she just put her hand on the table, palm up. And waited. "Come on, honey. Please."