Boarding House. (A Jack White x reader fic)

Ch. 1 / What a drag.

January was a really shitty month for you. The weather was terrible, everyone around you was busy with their families and you had to stay at home, in your small apartment with no plans and felt absolutely abandoned by your own friends. I mean, sure. The holidays were an understandable reason as to why they were busy, but Christmas was only like two days and New Year's is basically another two days. You were bitter about it but were reasonable enough to pick up your small group of friends from the airport now that the holidays were finally over. February was here and now the next holiday was about to make you feel even crankier than the last. "You look ugly when your face looks that blank." Your childhood best friend Bethany glanced over at you whilst she drove through a snowy, rocky road. "Was that supposed to cause me to react because it didn't." Your response was monotone and you were too busy browsing your social media platforms to care. It took awhile for you to realize that Instagram was a shitty place to check when every person you follow, from icons to actual friends just make posts, even memes about valentine's day.

"You lookin' for a valentine's card meme to send to all of your pals, (y/n)? Bless your soul, i'm so glad you're thinking of us even though we're all single and miserable." Bethany took a peek at your phone while you were attempting to scroll past anything pertaining to the holiday. "Listen, as much as I care for you guys, I hate valentine's day and i'd never waste my time trying to look for a card for each and every one of you. It's fucking dumb." You let out a breathy chuckle and rubbed your temples as a way to cool off before you went onto a full blown rant. "Why are you so damn cranky today holy shit, valentine's isn't till saturday hon. Relax." Bethany legitimately sounded surprised. But she knows, she definitely knows how you feel about every holiday. There's always something bad that happens to you and you were starting to believe that it's a curse. Your friends didn't believe you when you tried explaining it to them as well as providing proof of each terrible problematic experience you had every holiday. And here you were, taking a road trip to Nashville, Tennessee with the gang for valentine's day. Great. "Can I ask you something Beth?" You turned over to her and narrowed your eyes as she drove. "Why did you guys suddenly decide to spend valentine's day together? As a group, to be more specific." You were starting to question everyone participating in this road trip. Out of all places why Nashville, and why was this all planned out so spontaneously? "Well, all of us are single and I mean if you think about it, every friend group always goes to some cliché location for a road trip. You know, like LA, Houston, Chicago, et cetera you get the point." Bethany sighed and adjusted her grip on the wheel. "Nashville just seems.. sorta far and the environment as well as the local music is different. Plus, I dunno, this year instead of us all trying to find a one night stand or crying alone in our homes we should just hangout and cry together at some gig instead." Beth looked over and grinned at you. "Local music, in Nashville? Isn't it all just like.. country here or something?" You rolled your eyes and put your hands in your jacket pocket. "That's so disrespectful and naive of you to say but we're almost near the place we're staying at and I don't give enough shits to try and argue with your salty ass today!" Beth winked at you and pulled out her phone to dial the rest of the gang that was following right behind you.

"Hey, you guys doing alright? We're almost here just keep following my car and park near me." She eventually hung up and started slowing down the vehicle to carefully locate where the destination was. After passing by a few thrift stores and a weirdly placed record store, Beth parked her vehicle at a large house. "Uh, question. How'd you afford this giant house again?" Your tone raised questionably as you got out of her car and opened up the backseat car door to grab your bags. "Babe it's not a house, we all know i'm not rich enough to afford a friggin' house." Beth laughed and adjusted her black raybans on her face. "We talkin' houses now? If you guys wanted a house we coulda' gone to my parents' beach house in Acapulco." Your other friend Edgar swooped into the conversation once he got out of the black jeep parked next to Beth's car. "We get it, you're rich. Nobody cares Ed." As much as you hated hearing financially stable people talk about the things they have, you secretly wished you were at Ed's Acapulco beach house instead of fucking Nashville. "Hey now, it's way too early for you to be this salty. What's up with her? God damn." The fourth member of the gang suddenly appeared. Shane raised a brow at you and looked over at Beth for an answer. "It's 5am, we're in Nashville for valentine's day, or week. Let her feel it out, she's sensitive." Beth teased and lightly pushed you against the car. "Okay but seriously though, where are we and if this isn't a fucking house then what is it?" You groaned irritably and adjusted your backpack carefully before closing the car door. "It's a boarding house! I heard these are a lot more comfy compared to a hotel or like, a pricey beach resort." The fifth member popped out of nowhere and stared in awe at the massive house covered in snow. "This is starting to feel like a sitcom. First you guys swoop in and now Drew just fuckin' pops up out of nowhere." At this point you just wanted to get this over with and start planning this uneventful week.

As you walked ahead everyone else into the boarding house, the first thing you noticed was three packed guitars in the corner of the living area and a few black bags. "Welcome guys, how can I help you?" A woman who looked like she was in her mid 50s appeared and started walking towards you and the group. "Oh! we're looking to book just two rooms for the week. We're kinda on a budget." Bethany chimed in and began walking with the woman towards the front desk. Ed watched in amusement as Drew fiddled around with a porcelain baby on the front desk. "Do you think if I collected these porcelain babies i'd get enough street cred to be called Baby Boy Killer?" Drew joked and looked over at Ed and Shane. "Okay now that's just... yeah no please stop." Shane snorted at his question. Drew received a strange glance from the woman at the front desk, "Oh no, don't worry. The only baby boy getting killed would be me." Drew smiled awkwardly and put back the porcelain baby in its place. "I hate you sometimes." Ed laughed quietly and pressed his fingers against his forehead.