Quentin James (stillhaunted) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2021-12-29 22:30:00 |
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Entry tags: | #june 2018, quentin, quentin x tessa, tessa |
Who: Tessa and Quentin
When: Late, late night, Saturday, June 23rd
Where: Out!
Status: Complete
If there was one thing Tessa really liked in Point Pleasant, it was the bars. Not that there were many, but they all had very different atmospheres, which was good for her ever-changing mood. Since finding out Caius had paid for her room for the foreseeable future, Tessa had been more spending money than she thought, and so she had been bouncing around town, wanting to see everything she could… meet people. Since she had no idea how long she would be there, it felt necessary to try and acclimate herself to the area so she could get more comfortable with it. Anthony had come to see her earlier that day and needless to say, it hadn’t gone terribly well. His wife wanted her gone and Anthony had even quoted a ridiculous amount of money for Tessa to go home. But… fuck that. No. She had family here - well, a half-brother and half-sister, and even if her dad and his wicked witch of a wife didn’t want to get to know her, those two did. Or, at least Caius did. So no, she was staying put for the time being. The stubborn side of her wanted to stay forever, just to piss everyone off, but Tessa knew her own limits.
So to cope with her sour mood, Tessa had visited the Back Porch and had a few drinks, fending off a couple of men who hit on her and then calling her mom as she left close to midnight. Her mom had been sleeping, of course, but Tessa left her a voicemail to let her know she was okay and that she missed her.
By the time she was in her rental car and driving back to Juniper, the wind had picked up considerably and Tessa had to hold onto the steering wheel a bit more firmly. She hadn’t had that much to drink but it still felt like she was having difficulty controlling the car.
As the rain began to splatter heavily against her windshield, she flipped on the wipers and tried to do her best to peer out the front window. A red light was ahead, but just as she was about to hit the brake, she saw something large and dark just outside of her driver’s side window. It was gone as quickly as it appeared but it startled Tessa enough that she completely forgot about the traffic light ahead, and the lights from a car already stopped in front of it.
With a gasp, she managed to hit the brake, but not quick enough and she rear-ended the car in front of her.
“Shit,” she exclaimed, staring ahead as the rain continued to fall, distorting her view. It was darkness but for the traffic light, that had just turned green, and the rearview lights of the car she had just hit. Panting, Tessa looked out her window again, but there was no dark figure standing there. Just some yards and houses and… “Fuck,” she muttered before throwing the car into the park. Thunder rolled as she pushed open the door to see the damage.
It was one of those days that felt like it would never end. Joyland opened early, on account of being a coffee shop, and stayed open later on Saturdays to cater to the foot traffic that naturally came later when there wasn’t snow to deal with. The movies showing in the park kept the customers coming until a good half hour past close, and if anyone else had been working, Quentin would have told them to go, but it was just him, unexpectedly inundated with teenagers who thought it would be a good idea to have a latte at ten at night. It was good for business, just not for his sanity. Once the doors were closed and locked, he cleaned up shop and prepped for the morning, so caught up in his work that he was startled to hear thunder outside.
By the time Quentin got in his car the rain was coming down hard and he quietly hoped it would continue through the morning. He liked sleeping in the rain and rainy mornings at Joyland were typically slow, even on a Sunday. He rubbed at his eyes as he headed towards home, exhaustion beginning to settle in. The sudden summer storm made visibility poor, but there weren’t many people on the road this late. He pulled up to a stoplight and waited for it to change, lulled into a daze by the music on the radio, until he was suddenly, forcefully pulled back to reality as someone slammed into him from behind. Quentin jerked against his seatbelt at the impact, then glanced up into the mirror before putting the car in park. “Fuck,” he snapped, hitting the steering wheel with the palm of his hand before climbing out of the car. This would suck on a normal night, but in the rain? It couldn’t have been worse.
It really did suck, especially since she felt like a drowned rat mere seconds after climbing out of her car. But as she pushed her hair back from her face to bend over and get a better look at the damage, she felt slightly better. Her rental was all dented in, but the guy's car wasn't too bad. Maybe those scratches had been there before. Looking up, she saw the guy approaching and grimaced, though that had more to do with the rain in her face than any real guilt, though obviously, it had been her fault. It didn't help that he looked kind of pissed. "Hey, sorry. The rain tripped me up," she said before gesturing to the bumper. "Doesn't look too bad though. I think I got the worst of it."
Quentin scowled as he looked from the woman to his bumper and back again. She was right, it wasn’t too bad, which made this more of an inconvenience than anything else, but his mood was still sour. It was late and they were getting soaked. He sighed heavily, biting back the inclination to snap at a stranger. “It’s fine. I mean, it is what it is.” He looked to her car then, noting that the damage was worse on her end, but that wasn’t his problem. Fox would be happy to have their business and he was sure insurance would cover his. “Can I get your information?” he asked, brushing a wet curl out of his face, then looked back at his car. “I’m gonna see if I have an umbrella.” It would be nice if there was a drier place to do this, though it wouldn’t do much good at that point. He was already soaked to the bone.
"Well, I mean, it's a rental," Tessa said, frowning. "I, uh, didn't get the rental insurance. I really didn't think I needed it." She was generally an okay driver, though back home she generally took public transportation for the most part. Brushing her hair back again, she was starting to shiver from standing out in the rain. It was summer but Maine wasn't exactly tropical weather. "Look, your car is more or less fine. Do we really need to get the insurance company involved?" Thunder cracked above them and Tessa glanced up, immediately regretting it as a thick rain drop fell in her eye.
It’s the sort of response that leaves Quentin speechless, unsure how to move forward. His brain demands he get her information, that he can’t even assess the damage properly with the rain coming down as it is, while societal expectations state that he’s making something out of nothing and should just let it go. It’s probably just a scratch in the paint and, with as old as his car is, won’t even be noticeable among all the other scratches. “Can I— Can I at least get your name and number? Just in case? I can’t see shit in this rain. It’s probably nothing, but…” But he didn’t want to completely lose the option when he couldn’t see the damage. “Are you okay?” he asked, suddenly realizing this should have been the first thing out of his mouth, but it had been a long day and his mood wasn’t the best.
Was she okay? She didn't feel any soreness. She hadn't hit him that hard. It was more the strange feeling she'd gotten right before the accident, spotting something dark and creepy right outside her moving car. But Tessa shook that off, not wanting to sound crazy. "Yeah, I'm definitely okay." Despite the annoyance of the weather, Tessa grinned, folding her arms beneath her breasts. Her clothes were clinging to her now and she knew her nipples were hard from the chill. It was likely that the guy couldn't even see her properly through the downpour, but fuck it, it wouldn't hurt to try and use her body to get out of this. The weather was just making it all very inconvenient and very unsexy. "Name and number, huh? I see where you're going with this. Honestly, I'm more of a if it's meant to happen, it'll happen kind of girl. Look, it's raining and I just saw lightning. Can't we just put this to bed for tonight and then, you know, see where fate takes us?" Tessa was bullshitting her way through this, but she was hoping he was feeling miserable enough in the rain to let it go.
Unbelievable, Quentin thought, appalled by the direction things had suddenly turned. Maybe she was attractive when she wasn’t resembling a drowned rat, but with his hair in his face and the rain coming down Quentin couldn’t tell and even if he had, he was determined not to give a shit. All he wanted was her information so he could get out of this God damned rain. “Seriously? You’re gonna pull that on me?” he asked, fingers running through his hair, pushing back the dark curls. Lightning struck uncomfortably close and he jumped, able to feel the charge in the air as the thunder roared immediately after. It was close enough he could smell it, like something burning where the lightning had touched down. “We should—we should get out of here,” he said just as lightning cracked again, so bright he was momentarily struck blind. His ears rang from the sound and he wondered what exactly had been hit. It felt like the storm was on top of them, swallowing them whole.
Tessa shrugged a shoulder, wishing he could just agree to let this all go so they could go their separate ways, out of the storm. The lightning was getting worse and Tessa heard a cry leave her lips as it struck close. Too close. The wind was getting worse too and all Tessa could imagine was getting back to the Inn, where her room was warm and comfortable and dry. She wanted to get out of her wet clothes and forget the last ten minutes. "I think we should--" Tessa had begun to agree, taking a step back toward her car. The lightning that struck next was blinding, momentarily blocking out the man, the cars and the rain. A jolting, excruciating pain surged through her until she found herself flat on her back on the road, unsure as to what had happened. Tessa gasped for breath, then choked on the rain she had inhaled before rolling onto her side to cough it out. That was when she caught sight of the man on the ground too. What the hell had happened?
It happened so fast that Quentin didn’t have time to process what had happened before he found himself lying on the ground, pain radiating throughout his body. It was like someone had set his nerves on fire for an instant, and then it was gone, leaving him feeling burnt and bruised. The fall itself hadn’t helped things and he thought he’d be lucky not to have a concussion from it. He cringed as pushed himself up onto his elbows, then brought a hand to the back of his head. If he was bleeding, there was no way to tell, the rain was coming down much too hard. When he spotted the woman on the ground as well, he turned towards her, offering her a hand as he climbed to his feet. “Are you okay?” he asked again, though this time he was much more worried. A fender-bender was one thing, but he had the feeling they’d just been struck by lightning, or at least been close enough to be knocked to the ground by it.
There was a strange ringing in her ears and Tessa cringed before instinctively taking the man's offered hand to get to her feet. Her knees felt weak so her free hand moved to rest against her car. What the hell had happened? "Was that..." Her voice was dry so she swallowed and tried again. "Was that lightning? Shouldn't we be dead?" Sure, people survived getting struck by lightning, but surely they would be... bleeding? Burned? She felt nauseous and her body ached, but it didn't feel like she was seriously injured. "I'm... fine, I think. Which... I don't know." She coughed again and pulled her hand from his. "Are you okay?"
“Yeah,” Quentin said, not entirely sure which of her questions he was answering. He burned from his head to his toes, a searing pain that burned brighter the more he moved, and yet he seemed whole. There was no blood, no actual charring despite the feeling of being set on fire, and no broken bones. “I don’t know what that was,” he admitted as a point of clarification. He leaned against her car, suddenly feeling drained and weak and wanting nothing more than to get home and sink into bed. As determined as he’d been to get some kind of information from her, it no longer seemed worthwhile. “That was weird, but, I think—I think I’m okay.” Just badly shaken, and he assumed she was too. “Don’t worry about the car. Just… forget about it.”
Weird was such an understatement of what that was. Tessa felt like she had tiny sparks pulsing beneath her skin and she wasn't sure what to do about it. She knew she ought to go to the hospital, but what would she do there? She didn't have health insurance and since she wasn't bleeding out of her ears, it didn't seem worth the bill that would be coming to her doorstep in a few weeks. Pushing her wet hair back from her face, Tessa was eager to get into her car. Would she be able to drive properly? Would he? He looked as much as a drowned rat as she was sure she did. Despite being completely unnerved, Tessa snorted softly. "I should get struck by lightning more often." Especially if it got her out of dealing with a very minor fender bender. God, what a strange night. How was she even still standing? Maybe it hadn't been lightning, maybe it had been something else. What that could be, she had no idea. "You look like you're about to pass out," she told him. "You should call someone to come pick you up."
Quentin snorted softly and rolled his eyes, then immediately regretted it. It made the headache that had suddenly come on that much more intense and his hand gripped the car tighter, ensuring that he didn’t fall over. He knew that he should probably got to the hospital and get checked out, but a trip to the ER was costly, even with insurance. He was in pain, but nothing felt broken. He was breathing. His heart was beating. He might have a concussion from the fall itself, but he felt like he was going to survive. More than anything else, he didn’t want to explain to anyone what had happened because he honestly wasn’t sure. “I’ll be fine,” he said, eager to get out of the rain, take a few painkillers, and crawl into bed. The world was still spinning a bit, but he was certain it would clear any second. The last thing he wanted was to ask someone else to come out into the rain to get him.
What a ridiculous thing... I'll be fine. Would she be fine? How could anyone be fine after what just happened? It felt dreamlike, almost. "What if we go to sleep and die?" Tessa asked, more to herself than to the man, but it was still a fear. A rational one, if you asked her. "I mean... we should be on the pavement still, right? Was that lightning?" God, her skin was freezing down and another crack of thunder made her jump where she stood. She could still feel tingles throughout her body and Tessa rubbed her hands up and down her arms. "I should have your name, at least. That way if I read that you died, I can let someone know why."
Every fear she named was legitimate and it made Quentin’s head hurt to try and argue. They should probably be dead from whatever it was that had hit them. He wanted to say it was lightning, but he could never be sure, not around here. He flinched as thunder cracked again, then swiped his hair out of his eyes again, his teeth starting to chatter. “Quentin,” he said. “Quentin James. I’m the manager at Joyland Coffee. If it’s not open in the morning, you’ll know I’m dead.” Morbid as it sounded, it was the truth. He lived alone, so the first person to notice his absence would probably be the early risers, cranky without their caffeine fix. “You said it’s a rental. Are you… visiting someone? I mean, is there anyone… in case something happens?”
Tessa had been to Joyland, though she couldn't recall seeing this guy there. If he was a manager, he probably wasn't stuck behind the counter making coffee all day. She could feel a bit of a headache coming on and Tessa hoped that wasn't a foreshadow of impending death. "I'm... my... brother..." It felt weird saying that, but it was raining too hard and this night had been too strange to try and explain her relation to Caius. "Caius D'Onofrio. So maybe I'll check on you in the morning and you check on me? We can exchange texts or something." If one or both died in their sleep, there was nothing they could do about it, but hell, at least this guy could tell Caius about it. Jesus, she really ought to go to the hospital, but would they even believe her if she didn't have any noticeable injuries?
Both of Quentin’s brows raised, surprised to hear the D’Onofrio name on her lips. He didn’t know Caius personally, but his father owned half the town. As a local, it was impossible not to know who he was. And yet, he didn’t know Tessa, didn’t know Caius had a sister… It was a thought for another time, when he was feeling like a half dead drowned rat. “So can I get your number now?” he asked, leaning against the car. “It’s not a pick-up line, not about the cars, just to make sure you’re alive?” It was probably stupid of them not to go to the hospital, but they both seemed to be avoiding it, and the decent thing to do would be to make sure she was okay. “Or you can just show up at Joyland,” he offered, since she’d avoided giving him her number twice already. “If we survive the night, you can have a free drink.”
"Wanting to make sure I'm alive definitely sounds like a pick up line," Tessa said. She was joking, but it was hard to really project that in her tone given how she was feeling. "I don't want to get my phone wet, so I'll just... drive by tomorrow and make sure you're alive. And if you don't see me, call Juniper and have them make sure I'm alive. I'll definitely want that free drink though, so I'll try to stay alive tonight." She started for her car door. "You stay alive too... or at least let someone at the coffee shop know my name so I can get that free drink even if you die."
Despite the pain and exhaustion he was feeling, Quentin gave her a small smile back as he nodded. He was equally uninterested in getting his phone out in this rain, so he’d just have to hope she showed up at the shop sometime tomorrow. If not, he supposed he’d be calling Juniper. He didn’t want to think through that scenario, how sketchy it would look if something did happen to her. He didn’t want to identify a body, or even try to explain what had happened to them. Needless to say, if she didn’t show up, he was going to be pissed. “Glad you’ve got your priorities in order,” he snickered, heading for his own car. No reason to rush, since he was already soaked to the bone. “Stay safe.”