First Impressions

[Brooklyn Fisher]

If she were to be completely honest, Brooke didn't want anything to do with the formerly sleepy, little town of Kallispell, Montana.  If she had her way she never would've left the bright lights of the Big Apple.  Life had been good in New York.  She had an expensive condo, a good job and a free, almost liberating existence.  But that was in the past.  Now she had been forced to make the decision to relocate and while she didn't regret it she would always be a city girl in a town she got the feeling was only trying to be more important than it was.

Brooke stood, a practical yet elegant blue dress falling about her long, lean form as she watched the burly guys of the moving crew lug her belongings up the flights of stairs and into her new apartment.  Despite being inside a pair of large sunglasses hid her features, though not enough to prevent the look of utter boredom from showing through.  She lazily twirled the keys to the apartment around her finger, her shrouded gaze studying each of the guys of the crew, silently wondering if any of them would be worth a little 'overtime' before movement from the corner of her eye pulled her back to the present.

"Oh!"  Brooke exclaimed happily to the redheaded woman who was keying her way into the apartment next door.  She turned with a flourish and sauntered over toward Bell Connelly .  "Hi there."  She said, giving a cheery wave.  "It's Bell, right?"  Brooke issued a light, airy laugh and playfully batted at the redhead's shoulder.  "Of course it is.  I convinced the property manager to tell me who my neighbors are.  You're the only one that's not ninety and dying."  She rolled her eyes a bit before tacking on her bright, red lipped smile.  "I'm Brooke, by the way.  Once I finish up here we'll go for some coffee, okay?  I'm new in town and I have yet to find a place that makes a good latte."  A sigh came from the energetic brunette as she turned her still shielded gaze back to the door of her apartment where one of the younger movers was struggling to fit a particularly heavy box in.  "Be careful with that!"  She called, her tone still light and cheery.  "It's my wine rack."

[Bell Connelly]

Busy Busy Busy…

That’s what Bell was these days, This is how she was a lot of the time during the winter’s mouth. There was often the hardest for her especially after the death of her sister, christmas was often a intimate family affair for the Connelly family so as you can imagine it was tough going for Bell during this time of year so she tried her best to keep herself busy during the months of November and December, she had papers to grade, People to visit,.. Volunteer work and tonight was book club night and there was a lot of preparation to get through today before hand…..

Bell lightly guided towards her apartment door in her usual attire that makes her look like a librarian from the 1950’s Frizzy red hair tied up in a tight bun, bottle neck glasses and homemade bright sweater. No one could ever accuse Bell of being in danger of making a fashion statement. With papers under her arm she scrambled for her key when she was taken by surprise by quite a tall woman slightly put off by her overly enthusiastic manner but still tried to return a friendly smile back “Yes it i-” Bell was cut off once she started laughing and flinched a little once the girl patted her shoulder “Oh well I-...It’s nice to meet yo-” But Brooke seemed to be motoring ahead of everything Bell seemed to be saying which naturally enough caught Bell on the backfoot but once Brooke ….”Offered” to take her out to coffee, even though it didn’t seem like an office, more of a demand. Bell just had to but in pushing her glasses back on her nose “Well, Actually, I’m a little busy today, I need to stay at home today and get ready for my bookclub meeting, but thank you very much for the kind offer”

[Brooklyn Fisher]

Brooke tended to breeze through life with a light, almost airy demeanor. Everything seemed easily brushed off or tossed aside in lieu of keeping up the appearance of being in complete control, which she was most times. Bell had been spotted and singled out as the potential foothold Brooke would need to get used to her new surroundings. It was almost unfortunate Bell wasn't being given a choice in the matter.

"Oh! Humor. Funny!" Brooke exclaimed cheerily as she lifted a hand to pull the large sun glasses from her face. "I'll come by when they finish moving in my stuff." She said with a curt, almost demanding nod. "Give me thirty minutes." Her eyes shifted to a well built young man with sparkling blue eyes and a swath of dirty blonde hair atop his head. Brooke gave the guy a mischievous grin before glancing back to Bell. "Make it an hour." She said before pulling away to follow the mover into her apartment.

[Bell Connelly]

Bell certainly didn’t breeze through anything in her life, She was too wrapped up in her own head to breeze through everything, everything was meant with a sensible and measured not to mention well thought out approach she’s never taken a decent risk in her life? Why would she she was a sensible person and certain rules were put in place for a reason, so why break them?

Clearly this is an approach this that Brooke did not agree with….

Bell….Bell wouldn’t lie, she was slightly caught on the back foot at the moment...she was no expecting the whirlwind of personality that was Brooke, and she didn’t know how on earth to deal with this….was this..was this normal? This couldn’t be how people invited others out...could it? Bell did everything bar sending an engraved invitation to who she wanted to go out with,

Bell winched a little at the sudden burst of amusement at the part of Brooke. She didn’t see what was so funny...and she was very confused about her attitude didn’t she just hear her? She just said she COULDN’T go out with her….she was sure she just misheard her and Bell was about to repeat herself and maybe ask if she needed any help…..when she proceeded to walk away back to her house leaving Bell there standing confused….

“What an odd person…” Bell muttered to herself as she went and entered her home, already pushing the incident out of her mind, Clearly that woman just needed rest and the act of moving was tiring...So Bell set about her preparations for the night ahead making sure she looked presentable...She needed to wipe her face, maybe a change of clothes...But first maybe a shower was called for

[Brooklyn Fisher]

Much to Brooke's chagrin, the hapless mover who had caught her eye was just that, hapless. The poor guy was gorgeous but dumb as a stump and Brooke wasn't in the mood to deal with that right now. She hurried the crew along, directing the influx of furniture and boxes like an air traffic controller. Once all of her belongings were in, she signed off on the job then turned to look out over the chaos that was her new living room. She was glad she'd found someone to go out with because she was not in the mood to unpack.

After some searching Brooke located a few necessities, namely a bottle of gin and two glasses, and happily made her way out into the hall and down to the adjacent apartment. She knocked on the door with the gin bottle and waited. Unfortunately, Brooke wasn't known for her patience. She let only a few moment go by before checking the door handle and, upon finding it unlocked, let herself inside.

Finding the living room empty, but hearing the shower running, Brooke stepped in and looked around. Eyes narrowed as they swept across the modest furnishings. A mental vow was made to redecorate at some point while Brooke headed into the kitchen and started digging through cabinets in search of ingredients to mix with the gin she'd brought.

Of course Bell didn't have a cocktail shaker, necessitating a quick trip back to her own apartment, but Brooke remained in high spirits. So much so, that after mixing everything she hadn't noticed the shower turning off or the sound of unwitting footsteps approaching until it was too late. "Hey!" She said the moment she caught movement in the corner of her eye. She held up the cocktail shaker. "Gin Rickey?" She asked enthusiastically.

[Bell Connelly]

“Moon River, Wider then a mile I’m crossing you in style someday……”

Ah, there was nothing like a good shower was there? Personally it was a force of effort for Bell to be able to get out of the shower some nights. There really wasn’t anything like piper hot water now was there? Bell found it to be the perfect stress relief after a long day her hair sopping with water and soap her hair knotted and maimed against her finger tips as she massaged it into her scalp as usual singing her favorite song at the top of her lungs a rare smile reaching her face,

But as it always seemed to do reality called to her, and despite herself she reluctantly turned of the shower and set about drying herself off, wrapping herself in a towel she looked to the mirror and began to begin the arduous task of combing her hair, Which may have been a simple task for most people….but Bell happened to suffer from an ailment that plagued her for her entire life; “Impossibly Curly hair" And that made it so that no matter how much she brushed or tried to straighten it, the curls just rebounded back like coiled springs. After a few moments of futile bruising she eventually gave up and clad in just a towel she made her way to the main room looking to pick out clothes for the book club “Waiting round the bed...my huckleberry friend, mo-Ahh!” Bell stunned scream echoed through the house shocked to see Brooke standing there as if it was normal for her to break an entry, but Bell shouldn’t wasn’t expecting it, and the moment she saw Brooke standing there, her wet feet lost her footing and she fell on the floor stumbling on her butt…

Thank God the towel didn’t move...

[Brooklyn Fisher]

The bright, red lipped smile that contrasted so drastically with Brooke's dark hair and pale skin never wavered. Even as the redhead shouted and flailed her way to the floor, Brooke acted as though nothing was wrong. It was as if this sort of thing happened to her all the time and Bell's reaction was either expected or simply wasn't being acknowledged. All the tall, slender woman did was round the kitchen and moved into Bell's living room, carrying one of the glasses of the cocktail in one hand and the entire bottle of gin in the other. "You're out of limes, by the way." She commented idly as she took up a spot on the couch, pulling her feet up beneath her.

"So." Brooke said, emerald eyes shifting to focus on Bell as another smile was turned the redhead's way. "Where's this coffee shop you want to show me?" She asked. "Maybe we could turn it into a late lunch if there's someplace decent nearby. And don't worry, it's on me." She let out a short snort of a laugh. "Well, it's actually on my ex-boss, but who's counting?"

[Bell Connelly]

This was very hard for Bell to rationalize and come to terms with, her idealized vision of the world that seems like a sitcom set in the fifties where everyone were all terribly well mannered and sensible she couldn’t fully wrap her head around Brooke’s actions. People...People didn’t do this, did they? Why would she do something like this? Was she confused? Did she have some mental illness? Did she think this was her house?

It was like explaining string theory to a hamster she just didn’t have the mental faculties to understand why someone would break into her apartment and then make drinks.

Sh...should she call the police? It seemed like something she should call the police about….

Bell could only stare as Brooke made herself at home as if this was a normal situation which it’s most certainly wasn’t, Bell scrambled to her feet making VERY sure that her towel wasn’t about to come loose. any time soon noticing that she never answered her question about how she got in “Coff-Coffee shop?” Bell frowned confused did she agree to that? She told Brooke no she was pretty sure….right?

Despite how vulnerable and exposed she felt being clad only in a thin towel she tried to be as assertive as possible “Brooke” She started in her usual tone she used when a child was misbehaving “Ok, first off: Could you please get your feet off the sofa? I prefer to keep things neat Maybe I didn’t make myself clear last time, while I appreciate the offer, I have a book club meeting to organize and I don’t have time for coffee, if you’d like we can arrange something this we-well this month some time I need to get changed an-Are you drinking? Isn’t it like midday?

[Brooklyn Fisher]

Brooke continued on blissfully unaware (or uncaring) of much in terms of personal space or boundaries. Brooke was at home wherever she happened to be with little regard to much else other than her own comfort. "We don't have to do coffee." Brooke said with a casual shrug as she eyed the cocktail glass she held in one hand and then the partially full bottle of gin held in the other. "Where's the nearest diner?" She asked, glancing up to Bell as the redhead gathered herself. "I'm hungover anyway, I should probably eat."

At Bell's request, Brooke shrugged off her heels, sending them clattering to the floor though she barely even registered anything else Bell had said. "You keep saying that." Brooke replied with a short huff. "What could you possibly doing at a book club that could be as fun as going out and meeting new people?" She asked, presenting the question to Bell before finally making a decision and lifting the bottle of gin directly to her lips and tilting it back in silent answer to Bell's last inquiry.

[Bell Connelly]

It wasn’t like Bell had any particular attachment to her personal space. No she would never be so rude to close herself off to people in that manner, but rather she just wasn’t used to have it exposed and prodded in this fashion. She was Mr Mole in Wind and the Willows and she’s just had her hole in the ground yanked out from under her. by...by….Who even was this strange girl?! Couldn’t she see this was a terrible time, considering Bell was just clad in a towel?

There was so much that she didn’t understand about this?

Bell winched a little once the heels clattered against the ground, frowning. That’ll leave a scratch no doubt…. “Well, it’s not about having fun, but I have a responsible to attend these meetings. and I take that rather seriously and besides-” Bell paused her eyes going wide in surprise once she pulled out the bottle, something that was so remote to her, it was like showing an i-pod to a mouse and asking it to understand what it was, and once she down her drink Bell actually let out a gasped and clutched her neck quite daintily “Goodness….”

[Brooklyn Fisher]

Brooke's eyes narrowed some as they focused, once again, upon Bell. She studied the still only towel clad redhead for a long, silent moment. Watching her as if she was some subject on a documentary. Brooke inhaled with a little huff and leaned over to set the gin bottle on Bell's coffee table. There was something mulling about in Brooke's mind that didn't sit right. "If it's not fun." She presented, working through Bell's response slowly. "Then why are you so adamant to go?" She reasoned. "Shouldn't you do something because you enjoy it and not simply due to some weird sense of obligation?"

A hand then came up, waving dismissively as Brooke settled comfortably into the couch, the cocktail glass held in both hands. "Anyway. I'm sure your book club people will understand if you skipped one, little meeting in order to help a girl who's never been to Kalispell find her way around." And with that there came a bit of pouting and wide eyed innocence directed from the dark haired woman.

[Bell Connelly]

At first, Bell was having trouble really understanding what Brooke was talking about she blinked at her for a few seconds in a few seconds, -What not enjoy? does she think- A loud and somewhat dramatic gasp escaped her mouth as she placed her hand against her mouth trying to muffin it (The other hugging the top of her towel to preserve any form of dignity for herself during the course of the conversation “Of course, I’m not saying I don’t enjoy it, Who honestly doesn’t enjoy reading and discussing books” She answered honestly, somewhat embarrassed she made herself seem like she didn’t enjoy the act of reading when really there was very little that she enjoyed more.

Despite how stupid, she felt talking to Brooklyn, -and she did- She couldn’t really poke any holes in that logic, really when you get right down to it, Brooklyn was just asking for help. She was new to the town and she was looking for friends…..

...Damn that puppy dog look…..

“Well...I suppose I could make a few phone calls….do you….Ummmmmm…..Mind if I...get dressed?”

[Brooklyn Fisher]

Yet again Brooke waved a hand dismissively as Bell spoke. The dark haired woman's brow furrowed as piercing, yet bored (if such a combination was possible) green eyes focused upon Bell. The bottle in Brooke's hands came to rest on her lap. "Uh, everyone?" She answered quickly without missing a beat. "Honey, sweety, you're young, you're hot, you should be living experiences to write in your own book. You shouldn't be sitting around talking about what other people have done. You need to get out there. Live a little." The words came out in an even, flat tone as if Brooke was merely stating the obvious. She gave a short little shrug of her shoulders and lifted the bottle to her lips for another swig of gin.

Brooke didn't seem to care one way or the other if Bell ultimately accepted the not-invitation to go out mostly because she hadn't thought for a moment she wouldn't be able to coerce the redhead into coming along. After all, who wouldn't want to pair up with a hot chick from New York and hit the town? Who cared that they had just met? And that Brooke and, for all intents and purposes broken into Bell's house. To make cocktails. And that it was just a little passed noon.

"Nah, go ahead." Brooke said with another wave of her hand. She shifted a little bit and got more comfortable on the couch, obviously not intending on going anywhere while Bell changed. Instead, she pulled her phone from her purse and started idly tapping on the screen.

[Bell Connelly]

She was certainly a curious bird this Brooke was what she was saying….well it didn’t seem like it was harmful, or at least too taxing on the part of Bell. But the way she was going about it was, well it was a little stunning for Bell, who was so set in her ways and conservative and gentle how no way to truly rationalize the blunt and terribly forceful way that she was going about it. It was…..shocking, she never really gave much thought to Brooklyn points…..

“Well, I suppose….” Bell began not really not knowing where she was going with that point, Why was Brooklyn so concerned about her personal life….

She was waiting for Brooke to leave once she declared her intention to get dressed...she stood there in silence with her arms held behind her hands a silence descending on them as she waited for her to move until eventually Bell sauntered to her room casting  bemused glances behind her “...Please, make yourself at home”

[Brooklyn Fisher]

Brooke gave a little smirk, pleased that she had gotten her way. It wasn't as if she doubted it would happen, though. After all, women like her always got their way, didn't they? There were few people that couldn't be persuaded by a bright smile and overbearing (if not misguided) logic. She gave a short nod as Bell finally realized this and moved out of the room in order to go get dressed. Brooke's eyes didn't lift from her phone, rather she finished tapping out a message to someone before checking her Twitter. It was crucial for someone like her to keep up on her social media. She smirked a bit to herself at a few of the re-Tweets and comments she'd received on her recent posts about her move and settling into the new apartment.

After a few moments of sitting on her phone Brooke grew impatient. She had been raised under the bright lights of the big city. Where everything was open 24 hours a day and gratification was instant. She frowned, huffed, shifted a bit on the couch before grumbling to herself and getting to her feet. She left her heels on the floor and moved across the living room and down the hall where Bell had disappeared. It didn't matter to Brooke that it hadn't even been a reasonable amount of time for anyone to fully get dressed, let alone someone who had just gotten out of the shower. She traipsed down the hall, checking each door she found in turn until she came to what was most assuredly Bell's bedroom door. "Are you ready yet?" She burst in as if she belonged, utterly disregarding Bell's personal space. She stopped in her tracks, though and her eyes widened. "Oh my god!" She exclaimed as she caught a not quite dressed Bell. "That's what you're working with? Why aren't you swimming in hunky pool boys?"