"Send the ones that aren't into girls to Carver."
Who: Garrett and Bethany What: Bethy pays a visit and checks out Garrett's new digs. Then it's prank plotting time. Where: Garrett's home/office When: Yesterday! Status: Complete! Rating: PG-13 for baldness
Garrett's neighborhood wasn't too hard to find, and there was a bus stop close enough that Bethany felt comfortable enough walking. Even if she walked cautiously, because her ribs still hurt. Her face too but that was healing faster than she expected. She wasn't going to think about scars. Maybe she could make up a convincing story about high speed chases. Hoping this was the right address and that he was home, she knocked.
Garrett tilted his head. He hadn't been here long, and that was the side door to stairs up to the apartment, not the door to the ground floor office. Not a customer. Which really meant it could only be one person, unless someone else had gotten lost or something ridiculous like that. Garrett bounded over to the door and found that his guess had been correct. "Bethany!"
"Garrett!" She wrapped her arms around him forgetting about her ribs momentarily, "Are you really doing private detective work?"
Garrett hugged her tight, lifting her off the ground. He'd have spun her around, but there wasn't really room for that. "Yes. All by myself this time, too," he said. "No more working as the junior leg-worker."
Bethany squeaked, mostly in pain but also a little surprise, "Gentler! Ribs!" Oh god she'd forgotten his bear hugs!
Garrett frowned and set her down. He gazed down at her. "What happened to your ribs?"
"I got hit by a cah," Bethany replied, using him as a makeshift wall to lean against. She cleared her throat, "I'm okay though! Don't tell mother! She'd fly out here and never leave." That wasn't entirely a bad thing, she missed her already, but yeah. No use worrying her! "I guess my face isn't so bad then." Relief!
"You got hit by a--did they get the bastard?!" No one hit his little sister with a car and got away with it. "And of course I won't tell mother. She'd be in all our business 24/7." He sighed and looked at her with concern. "Sorry about making the ribs act up."
"I'm sure you only cracked one or two," She replied, grinning. "I haven't heard anything. The jerk took off. I don't even remember what the car-" And she tried to pronounce it properly, "looked like. It all happened so fast!"
Garrett made a clucking sound with his tongue and gave Bethany a much gentler hug. "Well, you're in one piece. Can I get you anything to drink?"
"Water would be great?" She squeezed past him to check out his apartment, "The house was so empty with just me and our parents. And father was away so much..."
Garrett smiled and followed her up the stairs after locking the door. The apartment was a sparsely furnished. There was a square table with two chairs, and three chairs at the bar/counter top island area. Beyond that was the livingroom, with a tv and a couch and a lamp. There was a screen separating the bed from the living room.
"This place is tiny! do you uhm..." She almost asked if he brought girls or guys home like Marian did but that seemed kind of inappropriate.
"I haven't been moved in that long so..." He shrugged.
Bethany nodded her head, "Well you've been here a bit longer than me, so..." She shrugged a shoulder, "You....need some things for the wall." She smirked, "Like incriminating photos."
Garrett laughed. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." She giggled. They were going to get Marian GOOD. But she still wanted to tease Garrett a bit, "It's not like there aren't things about you that might scare away the customers."
"I think they'll manage to see past most anything they find out, if they really want to find things out." He grinned and got a bottle of water out of the refridgerator.
'If they're finding things out they don't really need you, do they!"
Garrett laughed and handed her the bottle.
"Thank." She took a long drink then wiped her forehead, "Have you had any cases yet?"
"Not yet," he said. "But I haven't really done any advertising to speak of yet."
"Get hopping to it!" She clapped her hands together and grinned, "You have to beat Big Sis at something."
"My cool factor is definitely higher," Garrett said.
"I don't know about that," Bethany hedged, though there was a sly grin on her face. "I have to maintain my impartiality. Definitely cooler than Carver, or me."
Garrett grinned. "I'll take that as a compliment anyway."
"Fair enough." She poked him in the shoulder. She was so happy she had access to all her siblings again. It had been so...lonely, "If you meet any cute boys you scare off, send them my way."
"Only if I don't think they're too old for you, Bethy. And only if they're also into girls, naturally." His eyes twinkled. "No sense in sending you the ones that don't."
Bethany grinned, "Send the ones that aren't into girls to Carver."
That got a belly laugh. "Can you imagine his face?"
"It would be priceless!" Bethany giggled, "I'll snap photos!"
"Excellent." Garrett smirked. "That means I'll have to do it sometime."
"I'm trying to outprank Marian. She sent father a strippergram at work. I figure impressive amounts of embarrassment should do it. Especially in front of that hot bouncer of hers."
Garrett snorted. "That's sort of impressive. The strippergram." He scratched his beard. "She have a thing for the bouncer, or he just uptight for a bouncer?"
"They argue like cats and dogs." She lowered her voice, "If you ask me she should sleep with him and get it over with." She could hardly believe she'd actually said that.
That got a chuckle. "This should be interesting."
Yes, it will be so very interesting! Bethany bounced on her heels a bit, then said, "Show me your office?"
Garrett nodded and led her down the stairs to the office. The office was much more furnished than the apartment above. The consultation room had a desk, a computer monitor, a dock for a laptop, and a keyboard and mouse. "I'll be carrying the laptop around with me when I'm not in the office," he said.
"As a weapon? I've seen some laptops that are really more like blunt instruments."
Garrett grinned. "Mostly so no one can steal it."
She grinned back, "So walk me through an average case."
"Mainly I get 'I think my spouse/lover is cheating on me'," he said with a laugh. "Which means I learn where this potentially cheater usually hangs out, where they live, what they drive, what they look like. And sometimes I get told who they hang out with that might be the other party. So then I follow then around for a while and figure out if they probably are or are not cheating."
"And this is more exciting than the force, how?" Bethany perched on the edge of the desk, glad to actually sit down.
"I don't get calls from IA if I knock someone out."
"....you worry me sometimes."
"Can't let Marian get all the credit for that, now can I?"
Bethany laughed, "Between the two of you I'm going to go prematurely grey. Add in Carver and I'm doomed to baldness."
Garrett smiled.
"...now that would be a great prank on Carver..."
"Shave his head?"
"Yes." Bethany grinned.
"Now about these incriminating photos..."
Garrett winked. "Let me show you what I have so far..."