Fated To Pretend

Aspen. The Workaholic. Nurse. 33.

[conspiracvvvvv-blog]

Nathalie Kelley Russh Magazine, 2018

[aspendaniels-blog]

nyejames:

James texted furiously, bitching at anyone who could listen about how he had to work over the weekend. Grumbling to himself, he dropped his phone on the counter and motioned for the bartender to bring him another drink. He fished out his wallet, dropping a few bills on the counter as the woman sitting next to him turned on her stool. “I dunno, I guess they were invented by people who want to ruin them,” he said, putting his wallet away and grabbing the glass the bartender set down in front of him. “What do you mean?” James didn’t understand her predicament at all, and gave her an odd look. “You can do anything you want, I have to go to work,” he said bitterly, and downed his drink.

There was a certain cynicism to the man that she appreciated, albeit from a distance. Her mother often warned Aspen as a child that pervasive negativity was a dark hole down which anyone could fall without a secure way to climb out. "That sounds about right,” she smiled half-heartedly. “I mean that I feel completely useless right now. Idle hands and all.” Oh, how she envied his situation and would have rather possessed it over her own. “I suppose it’s weird then that I’d prefer being work than sitting in a bar tonight. What do you do for a living that you hate so much? If you don’t mind my asking.”

[aspendaniels-blog]

gradymurray:

Now that they were engaged in conversation, Grady made a point to adjust his positioning so he was facing the other woman fully, one arm resting on the bar to prop himself up. “By all means, if you prefer to do things alone, far be it from me to stop you,” he chuckled, having a feeling that there was no chance she actually felt that way. Perhaps it was his ego speaking, but he was quite positive that his company was far preferable to anyone being alone. His fingers were drumming against the bar, then, his face a mixture of thought and amusement. “That fellow over there in the corner has been eyeing you all night, he’s probably got some ideas,” he teased, head nodding towards a particularly creepy looking guy whose leering eyes were on the woman as they spoke.

"I’m so glad I have your permission to be on my own,” she volleyed back without effort, attempting to ignore how positively confident the man appeared in his endeavor. “Would you mind calling my mother and advising her to do the same?” Not that Aspen didn’t appreciate her mother’s concern, but work kept her busy enough as it was; no need to add romance to the mix. The prospect of a happily ever after or giving her mother grandchildren simply fell to the very bottom of her goals list and she didn’t quite have the capacity to reinstate them. At the gesturing towards a stranger she half-anticipated not actually being there, the brunette spared a quick glance only to be met with the most invasive pair of bedroom eyes imaginable. “Oh Jesus... No thanks. Hard, hard pass.”

[kev6425]

[aspendaniels-blog]

gradymurray:

It was just another day in the life for Grady after work, finding himself at a bar to blow off some steam. It had been something of a rough day, with a few particularly nasty cases on his load that he was in the middle of investigating. Luckily, alcohol did wonders for doing away with the worries of the day, especially when there was a pretty bartender to chat with. He’d been so busy with that, that he was quite surprised when he swiveled over towards the voice next to him only to find another, just as beautiful, woman at his side. “Well now, that’s just not true at all. There’s plenty out there to do, you just have to find the right person to do them with,” he countered, offering a charming smile her way.

In Aspen’s defense, she hadn’t honestly given the other individual much of a glance before opening her big mouth with such an impromptu complaint about life. That was simply what people did in bars, right? Vented to the nearest inebriated patron? Now, as chestnut hues leveled on a man whose jawline alone should have been outlawed, she began to mildly regret her decision. The disarming smile painted across his lips simply became the cherry on top. "Okay, correction: things I might actually want to do.” Were she not rooted to the stool, Aspen might have done a better job of shifting the smallest fraction away; chiseled men and alcohol were a dangerous combination. “And what makes you think I don’t prefer to do things alone?” She didn’t. “Find me a volunteer with a decent idea and I'll believe you.”

[aspendaniels-blog]

gracedurand:

“Oh, I am so not asking you to catch this cat,” Grace said with a snort, rolling her eyes. “It looks like something out of the exorcism, I’ll handle the cat.” She had, admittedly, kind of forgotten about the whole cats land on their feet thing, but she still hesitated. “Mm..I don’t know, it’s relatively high up. I don’t want it to break a leg or something.” Grace knew if she just dropped from this height with no one helping her out, something would hurt. And she was bigger than this cat. “Dude, I don’t know how cats work, I’m a dog person. Just – make sure I don’t break my back or something, cool?” The cat took another swipe at her then, and Grace let loose a sigh. Dropping down a bit, Grace tucked the cat up into her chest, feeling the claws dig into her exposed skin. She managed to get down the tree enough to drop safely, yowling cat still angrily swiping at her. “Here you go,” she said dryly to the small child, holding the cat out, before switching her gaze to Aspen. “Orlando’s finest, right?”

"Then I should... Catch you? What are you asking from me here?” The child began whimpering at the sight of her beloved pet dangling in the air and she squeezed her shoulders in comfort, though even Aspen was skeptical about how this might turn out. “Trust me, I had a cat growing up,” a stray that she fed without permission, but semantics didn’t really matter, “they always land on their feet because they’re built for it.” Yet despite her advice, the police officer continued to scale down the tree with the feline in hand, forcing even Aspen to wince at how painful it must have felt. Once both parties were safely on ground level and the child had received her pet, she could only offer a sympathetic smile to the other woman. “Need me to check those scratches out? A couple of them look deep. That’s not a line or anything, I’m a nurse. Promise.”

[aspendaniels-blog]

sage-durand:

Sage got it, she got it completely. Having no work to do, an actual day off, was not generally something she got too often. A whole weekend was unheard of, and she was already beginning to feel the itch to do something. Granted, she’d probably spend most of it sleeping, because when did she ever get to sleep, truly. Swirling her whiskey around in her glass, she glanced up, smile bright and wide as she noticed Aspen sitting next to her. “Tell me about it,” she drawled out, tipping her head back, “I never thought I’d miss the hospital as much as I do when I’m gone from it.” Drumming her fingers against the bar, Sage thought for a moment. “You could always do the parks though! Disney and all that. It’s…well. It’s something to do at any rate. Hi, by the way.”

It felt more than relieving to see Sage’s familiar face and the mutual misery which came from them both being unable to occupy themselves with work at the hospital. Perhaps Aspen should have been more thrilled to relax in this rare downtime, but instead it grated on her every nerve. "Disney by myself? I might as well put a sign around my neck that says Perpetually Single and call it a day.” She cut a half-hearted smile at the other woman before an idea struck that turned it into a genuine grin. “You should come with me. We’ll have a girls day or whatever. That’s at least eighty percent less pathetic and I know you’re off when I am so no excuses.”

[aspendaniels-blog]

"Alright, well just let me know if anything comes up. I’m not far, I can be there in twenty minutes... Thanks, Kristen... Bye.” And just like that, her only excuse to come into the hospital vanished with the tap of a button. Tossing her phone onto the bar counter, the brunette drummed slinder fingers along the outer edge of a half finished glass of some overpriced tequila concoction. A loss of how to continue the evening without work to occupy her mind weighed heavy on the brunette’s thoughts before she finally pivoted her bar stool to the unwitting person beside her. “Who decided that weekends were a thing? I hate this. There’s nothing to do.” 

[aspendaniels-blog]

beauaquila:

Beau spent nearly every waking moment he had involved with soccer: if he wasn’t training he was playing, sitting on the sidelines learning or breaking out several years of FIFA games to pass the time on his days off. Occasionally, on those days off, he found himself at the park near his apartment running through drills on his own. Or impressing the local kids with a drill he enjoyed that involved little more than juggling the ball on his feet and kicking it up to his knees. He was in the midst of doing just that when his foot caught the ball at an awkward angle, sending it flying, and Beau shook his head in vague exasperation as he sprinted off to retrieve it, grinning crookedly at the person the ball had stopped in front of. “I hope I didn’t hit you?” His smile widened, “I was trying to give the kids something cool to see and it totally got away from me. You’re okay, yeah?”

The rarity of a morning to herself had long since been lost on Aspen, her hands felt idle with no work and a usually overworked mind couldn’t quite handle the quiet. So she wandered out of her apartment building to the local café, then headed in a mindless direction when she stopped at a park to watch some children playing soccer. Peaceful innocence, how wrapped up in the scene was she that the ball rolling in her direction utterly escaped the brunette until someone approached. "No, you didn’t hit me.” She offered the man a reassuring smile before nodding at his question. “I’m fine.” Nodding towards the kids, she lightly kicked the ball back to him. “Are you a coach or just entertaining the local youth?

[aspendaniels-blog]

gracedurand:

There was a god damn cat in a tree. Because Grace’s life was one huge fucking cliche, there was a crying little girl, and a fucking cat in a tree. She was tempted to just call the fire department, but no, the family had called the cops, and Grace had been the unlucky one responding to the scene. So now, here she was, with shrill cries of a kid in her ear, and a growling cat glaring down at her. “Oh my god,” she grumbled, before deciding to just clamber up into the tree herself. It was a fucking cat, how hard could it be? Hard, it turned out. She finally had the yowling creature by the scruff of the neck, angry paws swiping outward, leaving thin lines of blood over Grace’s hand, neck, face, any exposed skin, really. “Oi!” she called out, straddling a branch with the most done look on her face, “Dude! C’mere for a second, I need your hands!” Pulling in a civilian to help was probably unprofessional, but this cat was a demon, and Grace couldn’t clamber down with a literal demon attached to her hand.

Originally it had been the sobbing child beside a tree which caught the nurse’s attention, until she noted the police officer shouting from above with a frantic feline in her grasp. Cats were fickle creatures as is, but under duress they became absolute lunacy. "Yeah I’m not going to catch that thing,” Aspen replied from her position below the tree, hues trained with utmost caution on the stressed animal before taking a step away with the little girl at her side to provide room. “Cats always land on their feet, just let go.”

[rihenna]

[aspendaniels-blog]

ASPEN DANIELS is a THIRTY-THREE year old BISEXUAL CISFEMALE that hails from LOS ANGELES, CA. She has been in Orlando for TWO YEARS and is making a living as an ER NURSE. Some people say she looks a lot like NATHALIE KELLEY and it’s been said that she’s fated to end up with (THE CASANOVA)

THE WORKAHOLIC

Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA to a single mother, Aspen knows the very definition of fighting for everything she has in life. 

Aspen’s mother working two jobs might have just barely prevented them from eviction, but the hard times never dampened the immense love between the Daniels women.

Her work ethic has always remained firm throughout the years as a testament to her mother’s priceless teachings about determination and making something of oneself.

She always knew the medical field was her calling, but could never afford the long term tuition to achieve her goal of becoming a surgeon so instead settled for a small scholarship to attend nursing school.

Discovered early on that she works well under immense pressure and upon graduating, she moved to the ER without question.

The work isn’t glamorous and often rather messy, exhausting, and sometimes baffling, but Aspen feels as though she can make a difference and truly save lives there.

So many years being dedicated to her job and following that pesky work ethic of giving 150% has cost her the ability to form romantic relationships and her friendships are sparse at best.

She desires more out of life now that her mid-thirties are approaching, but cannot quite figure out what that is or if she even has room for it with the current status quo.

[aw-2040]

Nathalie Kelley ( bloodorangemoon ) by Amie Alvarado.

[parasoli]

nathalie kelley by neil krug.