New Player In Town

5

"Pleasure to meet you," he grins up at you.

"Well, Vincent," you couldn't help but smile. "My name is (Y/n). It's a pleasure to meet you too," you shake his hand.

Jas jumps up and down in her seat. "My turn! My turn!" She grabs your hand from Vincent and starts vigorously shaking it. "I'm Jas, it's nice to meet you." She lets go without waiting for you to reply and looks at the copper haired woman. "Was that good Miss Penny?"

"Excellent, both of you," she replies.

Satisfied, the two kids took their seats. Penny looked at you. "These two can be a bit rowdy sometimes, but they're great kids. I'm Penny," she smiles shyly.

"(Y/n)," you smile back. "Well, I'll let you get on with handling these two. You kids be nice to Miss Penny, alright?"

They nod enthusiastically and you wander through the shelves to find a book. You could hear Penny quizzing them and their confident answers.

After a while of searching, you found a book that grabbed your interest and headed to the front desk.

"Do I need a library card or anything?" You ask Gunther, sliding the book across the counter.

"Nope, but," he opens the book and takes out a little slip from inside the cover. "I do have to put your name on this."

And so, with your book properly checked out and hidden safely inside your shirt to protect it from the rain, you headed back outside. The rain had eased up a little bit, but there was no safe place to read outside. So instead you headed over to the saloon. It was early in the evening, so you figured not many people would be drinking just yet.

It was basically empty, which is what you wanted. "Good afternoon," a friendly voice calls from the bar. "Gus is in the back, can I get you anything?"

It was the blue haired girl who helped Gus. She had a big smile and seemed really nice, but something about her seemed different from the others.

After setting your wet umbrella beside the door, you took a seat at the bar in the corner next to the wall. "Can I have a soda?" It was too early to drink.

"Sure thing," she grabs a glass and starts putting ice in it. "I'm Emily by the way."

"(Y/n)." you pull your book out and settled against the wall. It was more comfortable than you had expected it to be.

Emily slides your drink over. "Enjoy."

You smile at her. "Thank you."

For the next hour or so, you read in peace, getting refills every now and then. Just when you thought business here was almost nonexistent this evening, a woman with blonde hair walked in.

"Gimme the usual," she calls out, taking a seat on the other end of the bar. Gus, who was finished working in the back room, poured her a cold one. After she guzzled down about half of it, she looked up and seemed to finally notice you were there.

"What's a youngin like you doing hanging around here so early?"

"I wanted a quiet place to read out of the rain," you reply.

"Don't expect it to be that way for long," she looks you up and down. "You might want to move soon, kid."

You close your book, deciding that it would be easier to just give her your full attention. "Why?"

"Us bar dwellers don't like it when our favorite seats are taken," she holds her glass up to you as if to toast. "Just warning ya."

Favorite seats? What? You shake your head and open your book back up. You were here first, why should you move for somebody else?
Your question was answered, however, a half hour later.

"Move." A gruff voice says.

You look up from your book, meeting the glaring green eyes of, who else, Shane.

"I'm sorry, what?" you glance across the bar at Pam, who had a sly smile and an 'i told you so' look on her face.

"Are you deaf? Move." He looked worse off than usual. His shadow of a beard was now a scraggly mess, he looked a bit pale, and the circles under his eyes were much darker than they had been last time you had seen him.

"Bruh," you close your book. "There's like four other seats. Why do I have to move?"

He takes a deep breath in as if to control his anger, running a hand over his face. "You're in my seat. Now, be the 'nice' person you say you are and fucking move."

Sitting up a bit straighter, you glare at him. "Fine." you make a show of picking up your drink and moving all the way across the bar next to Pam.

"Finally." He takes his seat and orders a beer.

You weren't letting him get away with it though. You pick up the bar stool next to Pam and walk all the way back over, setting it down right next to Shane.

Pam starts cackling. "I like this kid, give her a drink on me!"

Shane glares at you with the most hatred you've seen from him. "What the fuck."

You tilt your head to the side. "Oh, I'm sorry. Was this not enough for you?"

"No, it's not. Fucking move."

"I gotcha," you scoot your stool closer. "This better?" There was now only three or four inches between the two of you.

"God fucking-" he stops, seeming to just give up. Downing the rest of his beer, he orders another one.

Gus brings over his beer and the one Pam had gotten for you. Speaking of Pam, she was laughing her ass off, enjoying your interaction like it was live entertainment.

All was quiet for about 15 minutes.

"Seriously, can you fucking move now?"

"Damn, you want to be that close to me?" you scoot over another inch. "I didn't know you were this straightforward."

He slams his cup down on the counter. "What the fuck is your problem?"

"Aww," you mock. "How entitled are you? You think this is personal?" You say, using his own words against him, gulping down your beer haughtily.

"Jesus christ, just leave me the fuck alone."

"How close do you want me to get?" you prop your feet up on his lap, knowing this would probably send his temper over the edge.

And you were right. He shoves your legs off of him, storming out of the saloon and slamming the door shut on his way out.

It felt good in the moment, but now you kinda felt bad.

Staring down into the dregs of your glass, you decided you'd caused enough chaos for one day and went home.

A/n: 200+ reads already?? Let's fucking gooooo!! Thank you for reading I hope you've enjoyed it so far. Early update since I'm going out of town this weekend. Seeya in a week! : )