Jed Bailey (jokerandthief) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-04-04 01:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 06, bridget mackenzie, jed bailey, | bridget and jed |
Week Six - Saturday
Characters: Bridget Mackenzie & Jed Bailey
Location: Siena Suites, rec room
Summary: Bridget wanders around and finds Jed playing pool alone. She volunteers as a worthy adversary.
Rating: C for Chillin'
Tired of staying in her suite, not interested in swimming and having already gotten a workout in earlier that day, Bridget wandered down to the lobby hoping that someone, anyone would be there and interested in talking. After weeks of being on her own she couldn't help but crave contact with other humans, even if she felt somewhat adrift with nothing to do yet. The distinct sound of billiard balls striking each other from the rec room caught her attention, and she made her way toward it to see who was there and what they were up to aside from the obvious. When she came in, the man was leaning over for a shot, all alone, his back to her. There was a battered Stetson covering a corner pocket, but it wasn't the one he was aiming for. In a clean shot, he sunk a striped ball in a side pocket. It wasn't until he straightened up that she recognized him as Jed. He'd had his hair shorn off.
As Jed moved for his next shot, he caught the figure out of the corner of his eye and immediately spun around, cue up in defense. When he saw it was Bridget, though, his free hand snatched up his hat. He stopped himself before putting it on, though. No sense hiding his head now; she'd clearly seen it.
"Hey, jeez," he said with a nervous laugh. "Snuck up on me there."
"I guess you had your hat on the whole time at the meeting the other day." Bridget observed, lips curling into a brief smile as she took in his new appearance. "Did you make your barber mad?" She cocked her head and walked around him to get a better look. "I almost didn't recognize you."
Jed felt his face grow warm; with his hair that short, it was easy to see the blush went right up his scalp. "Yeah, well, picked the wrong day to trust the wrong woman with a razor," he said, giving a smile though it didn't meet his eyes. Eager to change the subject, he asked, "So, how're you settlin' in? I know it ain't been the easiest couple of days."
"That's something of an understatement." Bridget drawled, moving to lean against a nearby wall. Of course, Jed didn't know the biggest shock to her system, though she suspected it would be obvious to anyone in a few more weeks as she didn't intend on wearing more than she had to in this heat. "It's been a little rough," she admitted after a moment, glancing down at her feet, "but I'm sure I'll be so busy I won't have time to think before long, what with everything we want to do."
This hadn't been the case in Jed's experience. There were often long stretches of not much to do, though sometimes they were under the guise of meet-ups and guard duty. In any case, she looked down enough as it was. If that was her hope, let her have it. "Yeah, 'course," he said, tapping the table with his cue. "So, you play?"
Bridget nodded. "I play," she pushed back thoughts of Jake that popped into her head as she looked at the table and tried to concentrate on less painful memories. "Friday nights when I was in undergrad, my roommates and I would go out and play for an hour or two after we finished studying for the day. By our junior year we were able to make our beer money for the week off of games about half the time."
She wandered over to the rack and inspected the cues. "We'll have to raid a store for some better cues sometime, these have seen better days." After a moment one was selected and she turned back to face Jed. "Feel like a game instead of playing by yourself?"
"I dunno," he said, squinting at her with a smile. "Playin' by myself, I'm always the one who wins. Goin' against a hustler like you, though..." Even though he trailed off, he set out fishing the balls from their pockets to set up a new game.
"I haven't played in more than a year," Bridget told him as she approached the table. "I've got a lot of rust to shake off, you should be able to hold your own. Assuming you aren't hustling me."
He grinned, centering the rack and then lifting it away. "Alright, I admit, pool's got me a fair share of free beers over the years. I ain't bad, and I didn't have your advantage of lookin' good in a tight pair of jeans. I know that's the reason why I'm lettin' you break."
"At least you're honest, not a lot of guys were." Bridget shook her head and moved into position to break, leaning over in jeans that had become considerably more snug in the past week. Putting the thought out of her mind, she concentrated on the cluster of balls on the table, the tip of her tongue peeking out of one side of her mouth. The cue stick pulled back, then rocketed forward to send the cue ball spinning toward the cluster.
Jed tried not to stare, he really did, and he partially succeeded when he distracted himself by putting on his hat. But damn. As the balls split and the two sunk in the right corner, he couldn't help but hope she'd go to the other side so he'd see another angle. It must have been his imagination, but she seemed even more filled out up top than he remembered. "Hey, nice one. Guess you got some of the old skills still there," he said.
"Thanks," Bridget felt more like she'd been lucky, but she'd take it while she could get it and it helped distract her. She didn't look at him, her attention completely on the table and where the balls had come to rest relative to one another. "Four ball, upper left corner," she called out, marking the spot with her cue stick before moving around to get a better position. She leaned down again and the cue shot out to send the white ball spinning toward her chosen target.
The ball just hit the lip, bouncing off at a right angle. "Ah, see, your trouble there was callin' the shot," Jed teased lightly. "Unless you're Babe Ruth, you can't get away with that."
His eye on the table finally, he walked around the edge a bit until he found a decent shot at a striped ball. All business as he leaned over, he aimed true and sank it easily into the side pocket. "See, that's what I mean. Just do it. Means there's less pressure if you trip up."
Bridget sniffed disdainfully at his advice. "I don't play slop," she retorted, "it's practically cheating. If you want to, go right ahead, but I'll stick to calling my shots thanks." Besides, it wasn't like they were playing for money. Not that money was worth anything anymore.
Jed gave a snort. "Pool snob." He didn't have to move far to set up his next shot, but his mind was a bit distracted. He didn't want her thinking he was cheating or anything, but he couldn't let her think she won either. Thinking too much on calling the shot, he ended up missing it.
"Oh, too bad," Bridget made a clucking noise with her tongue and moved opposite him to get another shot at the four ball. She knelt down so she was eye level with the table and viewed the lay of the land before nodding and standing back up. She tapped the center pocket and leaned over to take the shot. The ball sank in effortlessly and she moved around to go after the three at the right corner. It went in, but so did the cue ball and she stood up to back away from the table and let Jed have another shot at it.
"So Alice got you on work detail yet?" Jed asked, fishing the ball out to set up his shot. "Or you just got that book project goin'?"
"Well, I've offered to help spell the two of you on the meetups and I think she's taking me up on that." Bridget watched as he fished the ball out. "I helped garden when I was a girl so I'll probably help out once the greenhouse is done. There's also tutoring Walker, if Leo is interested in that. The book project will probably take up a fair bit of my time too."
She honestly didn't know how heavy Alice would schedule her, now that the other woman knew she was pregnant, and truth be told she wasn't sure how much was healthy either. Staying busy would be nice, but she'd already spent a good portion of the last few days catnapping. "Don't you help come up with the work details?" It was as close to asking if he just deferred to Alice along with the rest of them or if it was truly a collaboration between the two as she was going to get.
He shrugged, knocking in another ball. "Alice is good at the plannin' stuff. She makes lists. I'm more in charge of security and all." He paused lining up his next shot, Bridget's question hitting him fully. It wasn't just about who assigned what, it was about who was in charge. And he sure as hell wanted people thinking he was in charge. "We talk things over, 'course, but she's got a good eye on the organizing side. But if I disagree on somethin'," he hit the cue ball, making his shot with a clatter. "Well, then I make sure things're changed."
Bridget raised an eyebrow slightly at that, wondering what Alice would say to the final bit of Jed's response. She wasn't going to ask of course, better to just observe and keep her silence on that issue unless it threatened the group as a whole. Being new she didn't want to rock the boat and it didn't make any sense to get people worked up over nothing anyway.
"I think I was right," she opined, watching him sink ball after ball. "I am getting hustled. Good thing I didn't put any bets down."
"Ain't really hustlin' if I gave you fair warning," he pointed out. Still, he well missed the next shot. "Yeah, guess I oughta give you a chance now."
"Gee, thanks." Bridget drawled, but she'd already turned her attention to the table to figure out what was where and what her best shot was likely to be. Selecting the six ball, she indicated her pocket and took her shot. This time the cue ball had considerably less energy put into it, and it barely tapped the six, giving it just enough momentum to send it teetering on the edge of the pocket before gravity finally claimed it. She eyed the table some more, the cue ball hadn't quite ended up where she'd hoped and that would make her next shot more challenging. "If you're in charge of security, have you thought about putting a fence up? We're getting enough people here that someone's bound to notice sooner or later." Considering he and Alice had been doing the meetups for weeks now it was only a matter of time before they attracted the wrong kind of attention.
Watching her with pursed lips, he found himself nodding. "Thought about that. I was kinda afraid puttin' up a fence would juss make folks realize we got somethin' of value here. But you got a point. Ain't like we're sneakin' around, and you don't get this many people in one place without havin' enough food for 'em. Might be time for us to get that up."
Bridget nodded, pleased that her concerns were taken seriously and not dismissed out of hand. She didn't really know Jed that well yet, but she hadn't gotten the vibe that he'd dismiss her worries due to her gender. It was good to know that her instincts weren't completely off base when it came to him. She eyed the table again and marked her shot before moving to take it, having to contort herself to get the stick into position and send the white ball spinning toward the five. The move caused her shirt to ride up, and Jed eyes fixed on the flash of skin for just a moment. He missed the five bumping off the lip to go into the side pocket.
"So, fence. Got any other things? 'Cause the suggestion box is open right now but I can't always promise it will be," he said with a grin.
"Oh, well, since I've got a blank check..." She laughed, surprising herself. "If you could airlift the group to Hawaii to resettle that would be nice. Great beaches, good farmland for growing all kinds of crops including sugarcane and coffee, good climate..." She trailed off and aimed for the seven, leaning low against the table to make the shot. It went wide, hitting the middle of the bank instead of hitting the pocket and she straightened to step back away from the table.
Jed gave a laugh. "Y'know, I think a lot of folks could get behind that idea. Chris is a pilot, too. If you used to be a stewardess, then we'd be in business," he said, circling the table. Fewer balls meant fewer easy shots, and he had to lean as far as he could manage over the table to try to hit his next one. Even then, he ended up clipping the side of the cue, sending it spinning into one of Bridget's balls instead.
"Nope, I spent a year as a waitress part time back in school but never a stewardess." Bridget studied the table again, trying to find the least bad shot. "If we could find fuel for that 777 of Chris's I'd do my best to imitate a stewardess if that was what it took." There wasn't a good shot to be found and she grumbled under her breath about her lack of options. She took aim at the one after calling her shot, having to hit one of Jed's with the cue ball to cause a chain reaction to get it. The ball came within a fraction of the desired pocket, but bounced off the edge and went toward the middle of the table.
"One thing you could do," she told Jed as she straightened back up, "is talk to Jack. I got the sense the other day that she isn't very happy with her job handling the inventory room. She could use some help I think, and she admitted she'd rather do something more hands on."
Jed's brows came down in a perplexed frown. "She told you that?" Why hadn't she talked to him. Really, he could see Jack hating the job; he knew he would.
"I was just talking with her and asked her how she liked handling the inventory, and she said she didn't. I asked her what she'd do if she could do anything and she said building or getting things." Bridget wondered how much of the communication problem was due to age and gender and how much was just assumptions on both sides.
He thought a moment. "But it's kinda the right job for her. She ain't built much for the rest of it. I guess she could help out with other things. And maybe Searle could help her out. He's the brainy type, he'd be good at that."
"I was helping repair my dad's combines and tractors when I was smaller than her," Bridget told him seriously. "I'll be the first to admit I wasn't very mechanically inclined, but I was small and so were my hands. I had an easier time getting into tight spaces than he did, and he could talk me through what part to take off or put on. Jack's not going to want to do that job forever, but she'll be offended if you just take it away without making it seem like she's getting to do something more important."
Jed let out a slow breath. He always had to be ginger around Jack, and it was beginning to get on his nerves. Why couldn't she be happy with the job she got? "Yeah, alright," he said, turning back to the game. "She don't get on much with Alice, so gardening's out, but she can probably hold a hammer. I'll get her helping with building the fence."
"See if Searle is willing to help out with the inventory, or maybe Holly," Bridget suggested, returning to the game and seeing where Jed was going to shoot next. "I know Holly is looking for something to do."
That got an eyebrow raise, and a slight smile. "Jesus, not even here a week and ev'ryone's comin' to you with their complaints. Bet that'll get old quick." His mind had drifted from the game, so when he shot for the eleven, the cue ball went in right with it. "Damn."
"I guess people just open up to me, what can I say?" Bridget shrugged as she leaned in to fish the cue ball out of the pocket. "I haven't had much to do so I've been hanging out a lot." When she hadn't been sleeping or puking her guts up, that is. "That'll probably change next week, once I start helping with the meet ups and then getting the book project going."
She set the cue ball in perfect position to get the seven, and sank it into the designated pocket while leaving the cue in a good position to sink the one, which she proceeded to do. "Only the eight ball left, ready to be beaten by a girl?"
"Ah, darlin', it ain't the first time," Jed said, leaning against the table in resigned defeat. "I been hustled by many a pretty girl."
As she went to take the shot, though, Jed nudged the table hard enough to shift it slightly.
The eight ball went wild, ending up in the opposite pocket from the one she'd called. She straightened and looked at Jed though narrowed eyes. "I'll pretend I didn't feel that, so you win by forefit. If you ever do that again though be ready to have the pool cue broken over your head." She wasn't normally a violent woman, or she hadn't been before the past year, but at that moment she was inclined toward bodily harm.
Jed grinned, then gave a laugh. "Jesus, woman takes her games seriously, I'll remember that next time. Tell you what," he said magnanimously. "This time, I'll let you say you won. Fair's fair, at least. You prob'ly would've got it. Though we don't know for sure."
"Call it a draw," Bridget told him, willing to meet him halfway for sake of group harmony. She still wanted to hit him though, and settled for a punch to the shoulder on her way to put the cue stick back in the rack. A yawn escaped her lips as she put the stick back, and Bridget took that as a signal that it was time to get some more sleep. "I think I'm done for the night, but I'll want a rematch sometime soon."
"Sure thing, any time," Jed said, putting his cue away as well and doing his best not to rub his shoulder. That punch hurt more than he expected. "Been a long while since I played against anybody, and longer since I played against anybody good."
"I'm going to head upstairs, take care of yourself," her lips quirked as she took in his shaved head once again, and reached up on tiptoe to run a hand over the fuzz of the short hair on her way out. "Be careful of trusting women with razors, never know what'll get shaved off." With a laugh she was out the door of the rec room and on her way toward the outside.