we're all fighting growing old

HOLLIS REDFORD - 34 yrs big human bear of a man tbh old man and the sea, doin' what you were born to. shrapnel in my knee, i can't walk and i don't care to.

[bagelgay]

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a beginning song // the decemberists

i am waiting, should i be waiting?

i am wanting, should i be wanting?

i am hopeful, should i be hopeful?

[nestyanyan]

[kinghardy]

[theseflightlesswingsx-blog]

"you’re not seriously still trying to convince me you’re a vamp, are you?"

[brennageirdottir]

To (Re)Build a House || Brenna & Hollis (closed)

[brennageirdottir]

She could see the changes in his face, could smell it in his blood. The anger… it hurt. She knew she deserved it; she deserved tenfold of it. But it was still like a stake to the gut, or silver to the throat. It wounded her, made it hard to think or see straight. Brenna wondered briefly if he’d figured out what she was, and if he had… She wondered if he understood how hard it was to make a vampire as old as herself as weak and vulnerable as he did.

She doubted he knew these things.

"I…" she started, her voice soft as if it were to break any second. What was she here for? She was here to see him. But she doubted that was an answer he wanted to hear. She was here to apologize, but she doubted he wanted to hear that either. After all, what were apologies but empty words? She’d left him with two words on a paper. Nothing would ever make up for the agony she’d surely caused him. Not even the torture and pain she’d gone through would suffice.

"I came to…" she started, taking a breath to steel herself, "I came to tell you the truth." That seemed a good place to start. The truth would encompass it all. It would reveal the white lies she’d told, it would reveal why she’d had to go, and why she’d not been able to return until now. But also, it was all she’d ever known how to do. Truth was Brenna’s guiding light in life. And of all the people she’d ever known, she wanted Hollis to have every bit of her truth. She’d tell him every detail of her miserable thousand years if he wanted. She believed - even to this very second - that she was made a vampire simply to be alive long enough to meet him. To know him, to love him.

Brenna believed with her whole heart that the man in front of her was her soulmate. And for a woman who was a cynic at best, that was a big thing for her to admit.

"If you’ll listen, I’ll tell you everything," she told him, her eyes never once leaving his, "And then… You can tell me to go. Whatever you want, it’s your choice… But you deserve - at the very least - the truth."

Please, Hollis, please. Let me tell you the truth.

[hollisredford]

Hollis’s jaw stiffened, his gaze breaking slightly from her own intense hues. In fact, he had only just realized what she was wearing — not that he had always had too keen of an eye on that sort of stuff. Coming from someone who didn’t have that large of a closet, she could have probably been wearing a rainbow parka over polka dot parachute pants and he didn’t think she would look any less beautiful. He didn’t think he’d be any less angry, either. She was finally in front of him. After years, she was finally at arms length. Hollis could still run his hands down her arms and trace her skin in his sleep, but it all meant nothing now. At least, it felt like nothing. As his blue eyes met her hazel, he knew he would let her in long before he even spoke; long before she even finished asking. Maybe some things would never change, even after these three years. Maybe he’d even jump in front of a car right now if she asked him to; maybe his anger, his sadness, his frustration… maybe it would make it easier. Hollis shut his eyes as he let out a soft sigh, reaching both hands up to rub down his face, over the scratchy stubble before he finally stepped back and stepped aside, dropping his hands helplessly back to his side. “Fine. Come in.” He opened his eyes in time to watch her over the threshold, an almost pained expression making his way onto his face as his back turned to her to shut the front door behind her. Hollis never expected to see her again, let alone have her back in his home. He almost immediately regretted letting her in before his conscience finally managed to convince him that he did deserve the truth — whatever she managed to give him of it. Maybe he didn’t even need to talk. Maybe she could leave here after and leave him in whatever peace he’d found after she left. He turned to step into the living room, his hands digging deep into his pockets when he saw Piper sniffing happily at Brenna’s legs, almost wondering if she recognized the vampire. He knew she probably did. Unfortunately, Hollis didn’t have much time to want to sit and watch his traitorous dog wag her tail happily. “Piper,” he snapped his finger as he walked by, pointing to her bed beside the couch. “Lay down.” As Piper begrudgingly moved to sit, Hollis hesitated as he stood in the middle of his living room, watching her. “Have a seat.”

[brennageirdottir]

To (Re)Build a House || Brenna & Hollis (closed)

Brenna felt like she couldn’t breathe. Not that she needed to. But she was also a woman who’d literally been buried alive, and thrown into water with weights tied to her ankles; she’d never panicked in those situations. However, today… As she stood before a mirror, she was having to give herself her very first pep talk. She knew that this wasn’t going to end well for her. She had never been one to believe in fairytales. She knew that people didn’t just forgive and forget. And 99% of the time, honest explanations weren’t enough.

She had to face the facts: She was probably never going to get Hollis back.

As she stepped out of her front door, she remembered easily the way her maker’s arms had wrapped around her. The way her arms had been pinned to her body so she couldn’t resist. The way Kol looked at her with such pity as she kicked and screamed for them all to stop, for them not to do this to her. Blood red tears had streamed down her face, dripped onto the ground. Brenna had never cried as a vampire; not once… Until that day. Hollis had been the man to show her how to make silly faces; and the first to cause her to cry real tears.

With each step forward, she thought of the past three years she’d lived in hell. Even though she’d never told Hollis of what she was; she’d endangered their kind by staying past her age in one place. The Authority had deemed that an offense worth punishment. But as she stepped up to Hollis’ front door, she felt that familiar swell of hope in her chest. She could smell him, hear his heartbeat, hear his breathing and his voice.

For a moment, Brenna leaned against the door, just soaking in those familiar things about him. She nearly cried again just standing there as her hand flattened against the door. She’d missed him so. But she wasn’t here to cry on his doorstep, she was here to see him again. And so, she pressed herself up from his door and ran a hand down the long, elegant black dress she’d picked for this occasion. Just because she had to come to terms with the fact that she couldn’t have Hollis back didn’t mean she couldn’t look nice, right?

And so, she raised a hand and knocked on his door, listening as his feet shuffled across the floor (followed by the pads of his dog’s feet). And once he had opened the door and stood before her, she felt that familiar sting of tears again. “Hollis,” she whispered, it sounding as if his name was a fresh glass of water to someone who had been stranded in the desert. She wanted to touch him, to wrap her arms around him and weep and beg his forgiveness. But… This wasn’t the time for that.

[hollisredford]

"Well tell Toby that he’s an idiot — I know he knows how to fold socks, his mother taught him better than that," Hollis rolled his eyes into the phone, reaching down to pat Piper on the tummy from where he lay lazily upon the couch. He chuckled as he listened to Brett yell at Toby over the phone and Toby yell something back, but before he could think up another response, Piper was up on her feet, letting out a soft bark in the direction of the front door. Hollis frowned, narrowing his eyes at her. "Alright, I’ve gotta let the dog out. Have a good night," he hung up, sort of doubting Brett even heard his goodbye. She was probably still yelling. Hollis pocketed his phone before sitting up, still staring questioningly at Piper who had turned her gaze almost expectantly to him. "What?" he huffed at her, reaching to rub behind her ears — but Piper only dipped away from his touch. "Do you need to go back outside?" he asked, hoping that would trigger a reaction. Pregnant ladies peed a lot, right? Did that work the same way for dogs? He should have asked Brett. He stood, hoping she’d follow him to the back door, but he was save from the fruitless attempts of figuring out what was wrong by a knock on the door. "Ahhh," Hollis turned knowingly, making is way around the couch to answer the door, Piper in tow at his heels. Damn dog. Hollis didn’t think much as he opened the lock and turned the knob. Unexpected guests wasn’t really unusual when most of your friends were Belfronts, but no matter how expected the unexpected were, he would have never expected — "Brenna." To say she left him breathless was an understatement. She had left him with a note — a note of apology without even a followup call, text, email — hell he would have even taken a letter. She left him. God, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. It had only confirmed his suspicions, of course. She was a vampire. She looked the exact same as the day he met her. She could have been hundreds of years old, thousands even, and here Hollis was. Aging. Growing old. There had been a time he thought they’d do that together. He hadn’t uttered her name since she left. Granted, Hollis never talked much anyway, but she had been something he’d kept most sacred. He thought about her a lot, though. It was hard not to. She might have left him clouded at first, but as soon as her storm cloud cleared and the vampire revelation came about, Hollis could piece the rest together for himself. Hollis was almost surprised that he hadn’t broken his door handle at this point. His gaze was locked on hers, the only expression on his face coming from his eyes; turning from shock, to confusion, and finally to something like anger. No — it was definitely anger. He took a breath and narrowed his gaze at her. “Been awhile, Bren. What do you want?”

[paulsimonons]

[hollisredford]

vampires and bearhugs | hollis & sonia (closed)

[sonialacroix]

She listened to his words, staring at the remnants of the peanut she had all but obliterated. She couldn’t help but compare the peanut, or what was left of it, and the crumbs to the crushed up crumbs of her life. A crumb broken off the night of her accident when she’d died. Another crumb chipped off during her time locked away in Eric’s dungeon. Several more each and every time Eric had experimented on her, cracking her open and chipping away at every little piece of her that was… her. To be honest, she wasn’t sure what was left of her anymore. 

Could time really change that? 

She finally drug her gaze up to meet his at his suggestion, a short laugh escaping her lips. “I suppose that does have its perks. 'What do you mean, you won't let me crash at your place? I was dead for five years, remember?’” she added. 

She supposed he’d had a lot of practice talking to people, being a bartender and all. He had people come in all the time (well, maybe not all the time considering the bar he worked at) and spill their guts to him whenever they could. But, there was something else besides the practiced people skills of a bartender. Something that made Sonia feel like he was really listening, like he truly meant what he said and actually cared about her problems. Why would he do that? Especially to her, who he’d never even met before. It didn’t make sense to a person like Sonia who’d given up caring about people anymore, let alone complete strangers.

She tried to fight the grin that threatened to spill over her features, biting down on her bottom lip when he ended with that line, but she couldn’t help it. He was smooth for sure, real smooth. “Keep throwing out lines like that and it won’t be too long before I walk through your door again.” She tried to sound flirty and smooth and like she was teasing, but she couldn’t keep the sincerity from her voice. Besides Eva and Dante, Hollis was the first real conversation Sonia had had since arriving in Oxford. And so far, her time in this crummy, little town was off to a pretty great start. 

[hollisredford]

"See?" Hollis chuckled, shooting her a small smirk. "You're doing great already. I'd maybe throw in a soft tear for extra measure," he nodded, as though he was such an expert on suckering people. Which he was not. He was a bartender, so most of the time he was the one getting suckered.

"And, I mean... you aren't dead." Which was definitely saying something nowadays, considering there was a good percentage of the population that were vampires. But vampires didn't drink, obviously. "That has to count for something, right?"

Hollis may or may not have been (but totally was) flirting with her the entire time she was here, but his wide grin and shifting gaze didn't distract from the fact that there was still something else about her. Something that made him actually give a damn about their conversation. Sometimes people just needed somebody to talk to -- easy enough for a bartender -- but sometimes people needed something more.

Like another drink.

His eyes shifted away as he chuckled; rubbed the back of his neck; tossed the rag he'd been holding over one shoulder. "Well, good, I like to think my charisma is what keeps big Earl coming back for more," he teased lightly, looking back up to her with a small, sideways grin. "But if my one-liners stop working, how about I throw in a drink on the house? I think you might qualify for our back-from-the-dead discount."

[becausepine-blog]

[kinghardy]

[hollisredford]

vampires and bearhugs | hollis & sonia (closed)

[sonialacroix]

Sonia gladly took the opportunity he’d basically given her, to look him over again. “I’m feeling generous today, I think I’ll be able to over look it.” she teased. To be honest though, Sonia wasn’t sure that a “better shirt” would actually make a positive difference.  Hollis seemed to have a sort of lived in, comfortable with himself, if somewhat rough, air about him and so far, it seemed to match his personality pretty well. And the shirt matched all of that perfectly. It was a nice change from the polished, always put together-ness of Dante who was the only other male she had spent much time with in the last two years. And Sonia liked it. 

She reached for the bowl of peanuts that he had offered her, picking one up and turning it over in her fingers, if only to have something to do as she contemplated how detailed to get with this guy.  When she glanced up briefly at him, his head was cocked to the side in a way that somehow resembled a puppy when it cocked its head. She tried not to smile too much at the thought, but as she brought her gaze back down to the peanut in her fingers, the traces of a smile were definitely pulling her lips upwards, if only for a second. 

She chewed on her bottom lip as she watched him lean over the bar. Some detail couldn’t hurt, right? She could explain some of her situation to this man who was not only a great bartender but a pretty fantastic listener as well without it coming back to bite her in the ass, right?. As long as she left out the part about where she had been for those years after the accident, how Eric had held her captive, she’d be okay. Oh, and the part about how she had actually died. She’d have to leave that out too. She couldn’t let word get back to Eric in any form about where she was. She and Eva had had to learn that the hard way over the years their years on the run. 

Bracing herself, almost as if she were preparing for a fight, Sonia let out a breath, “I do.” she began, “I’m just… not so sure if they’ll want to see me. It’s been a long time.” she explained, her eyes falling to her drink once more. She hadn’t actually drank from it in a long time, maybe she should to keep up appearances. Lifting the glass to her lips, she swallowed some of the liquid feeling the burn, like acid, as it slid down her throat. Looking down immediately after setting her glass down, she tried to cover the wince as her body screamed at her for consuming something it couldn’t digest.

Finally, when she’d managed to stuff the pain away, she looked back up at him. “And a lot’s happened since I saw them last.” Like her getting killed and then brought back to life by a psycho vampire, getting held captive and experimented upon for 3 years by said vampire, and then being turned into a vampire by said vampire’s brother and being on the run ever since. How do you explain that to your family who thinks you’ve been dead for the last five years? “Also, they may or may not think I’m dead.” she added, almost as an after thought, her eyes flitting over to his, briefly meeting his gaze before letting her own fall down to the peanut she’d practically crushed in her hand. Why was she telling him this again? 

[hollisredford]

Hollis didn't know too much about having a complicated family -- which was saying a lot, because Hollis was practically an honorary Belfront -- but he did know a little bit about not wanting to be seen by people who he had thought were his family.

He would never forget the day he and his mother had ended up spontaneously driving to Jackson that rainy day at the age of 7. He had been young, but yet old enough to know that his grandparents didn't want a single thing to do with him. His mother had wanted to come and invite them to her wedding and see if they had wanted to get to know Hollis -- and his grandparents had all but slammed the door in their faces. He'd never felt so bad in his whole life.

But luckily he had found some pretty inviting family members with the Belfronts. Ever since, home and family just felt a little bit like wherever he made it.

He didn't know her family -- true; at least, he didn't think he did. She hadn't given a last name. Hell, he had only been here talking with her upwards of 15 minutes, she could have estranged herself by setting her parents house on fire or attempted murder (not that he would have believed any of it, even if she outright admitted it) (She was too cute). Hollis didn't believe in a lot, but if he knew anything, it was that everyone, within reasonable capacity, deserved a second chance.

Especially if they thought she had been dead.

She wasn't meeting his gaze, and he let her silent thoughts sit as he took another drink of his beer. His gaze drifted down to her drink, still sitting idly, waiting to be finished, and then moved to her fingers as she crushed the peanut. "Sometimes, time changes things," he pointed out, digging his bottle cap into the ridges of the bar as he spoke lightly. "And if they thought you were dead... That's definitely a reason to be happy to see you." Hollis' mouth turned up slightly in his next attempt at humor. "Honestly, it's a pretty smart card to play: 'You aren't happy to see me? I was dead!' 'You don't want to spot me money? I was dead!' If I came back from the dead you could bet your ass that I'd play that card every birthday, holiday, christmas, family event..."

That wasn't too soon, right?

Hollis let her crush the peanut in silence a moment longer before he spoke again once more, giving the bartop a small tap with his knuckles. "Granted I don't know you, but you seem like somebody I'd be happy to see -- no matter how often or far apart I saw you walk through a door."

[awhiteshirt]

[lizzizle12]

[christophrnolan]

[hollisredford]

vampires and bearhugs | hollis & sonia (closed)

[hollisredford]

Hollis gripped her cool hand, thinking nothing of the heat radiating from his own. It had been a cool Mississippi night, after all.  And, ok, he was still pretty happy about the fact that he had a pretty girl flirting with him. “Sonia,” he repeated her name to keep for memory, his eyes crinkling slightly as he smiled. “Welcome to Oxford. And probably the shitiest bar in town that you could have walked into,” he teased lightly. "Our version of customer review cards is usually, um, people will leave nasty notes for us on our napkins," Hollis took his hand back and held up a napkin with a logo from an Irish pub that wasn’t even in the state of Mississippi let alone the United States. They usually just scrounged up the cheapest napkins they could find instead of making their own napkins with their own logo on it. Hollis winced as he laughed lightly. “But, uh, if you’d like to do a verbal review I promise I’ll pass along the message to my manager,” he nodded, seemingly very serious even though he was very much kidding. Nobody left reviews except for some old guy who had complained that they didn’t have his very eclectic beer on tap. Fucking Oxford. Hollis moved to grab a beer behind him, hitting the cap off on the side of the counter before taking a short swig. He’d almost missed the look on her face as she took a sip of her own drink. Almost. He could probably chalk a lot of it up to being curious about her — for other reasons than the obvious being that she was probably the prettiest person to walk through the doors in months. She was different, somehow, and Hollis couldn’t quite put his finger on how, or why. Hollis might not have been much, other than a college dropout from Oxford, Mississippi, working in a shitty bar making a sub par living, sometimes not even waking up until the afternoon. But if Hollis was anything, it was observant. He could watch people for hours — and being a bartender, he honestly usually did just that. Sonia wasn’t any different. And he noticed her scars. He noticed her hesitation when he asked why she was here. He noticed the almost painful way she swallowed her liquor. Hollis’ smile softened as he watched her finger dance over the rim of her glass. She seemed so lovely, and yet… Something else was there. All he could really do, in the moment, was look up to her and nod. “Family already getting to you?” he asked with a laugh, not fishing for an answer as he pulled over a bowl of peanuts and offered them to her. “Or do you usually just gravitate to the weirdest bars in town?” Hollis smirked cheekily. 

[sonialacroix]

"Thanks, Hollis." she replied, her eyes practically sparkling as she looked up at him. She hadn’t enjoyed flirting with someone like this in a long time. Hell, she hadn’t actually flirted with anyone at all in a long time. "And if you keep saying my name like that, I think I’ll be able to ignore the fact that this is the shitiest bar in town.” she added, glancing up at him with a small, flirty smirk on her lips.  Truth be told, he could say her name any way and Sonia was fairly certain she’d still enjoy it. He hadn’t even said it any special way, she just liked the idea of him saying her name… over and over and over again. 

She glanced from Hollis to the small napkin he held and then back at him again, an idea coming to her, as she reached for the napkin he held. She looked it over, chuckling a little at the Irish logo, especially at the fact that the name on the logo didn’t match the bar she was currently in. Eclectic had been a good adjective to describe this place, for sure. “We’ll see how well you do.” she teased with a wink of her own. Sonia had no intention of actually writing a review, but the napkin would come in handy when she did eventually leave. 

She let out a breath at his question, all flirting and joking aside. “Actually,” she began, once again looking down at her glass before finishing her sentence. “They don’t know I’m here yet.” Why was she telling him this? She had no obligation to him. She sure as hell didn’t owe him the truth, she didn’t even know him. But something about the kind way that he smiled at her had her feeling not only like she could tell him, but that she wanted to. “I kinda ducked in here to put off going to see them.” she admitted, her shoulders raising slightly as she did so. Now that she’d actually said it out loud to someone else, she realized how ridiculous it must sound. If she was here to see them, why wouldn’t she go straight to see her family as soon as she arrived? 

[hollisredford]

Hollis bit down on the inside of his cheek, shaking his head as he turned his blue hues away from her brown ones, pretending to pick at a chip on one of the glasses he began to clean. When he came to work this afternoon he honestly thought the most interesting conversation he would have would be with the mailman. His mailman wasn't nearly as fun to talk to or pretty to look at. When he looked up again, it was only to laugh at the shitty napkin she had taken, holding it up to look it over and wink at him. "Oh, man, if I knew I was going to be reviewed I would have worn a better shirt," he groaned his mock disapproval of his outfit; an old, simple t-shirt underneath a plaid button-up with like, six holes in it. Oops. Unfortunately, this was pretty much standard attire for Hollis. He couldn't honestly say he owned much that was really truly, by definition, nice. He put the rag and glass on the counter behind him, turning back to her only to find that her smile had faded. Did the room get darker as well, or was that just him? His brows furrowed as he watched her look as though she was inwardly debating over something with herself. He cocked his head, almost questioningly before he stuck with a nod of his head instead. "Nothing's ever really simple when it comes to your family, right?" he offered up with a small, half grin, rubbing at the back of his neck before rolling up his sleeves and resting his elbows against the counter as he stood in front of where she sat. Hollis looked down to her drink before looking back up to her with a soft sigh. "You don't want to see them?"

[colleenwing]

intelligence is a very valuable thing innit, my friend? usually it comes far too late

[hollisredford]

vampires and bearhugs | hollis & sonia (closed)

[sonialacroix]

She grinned as he spoke and then prepared her drink. And then there came the wink and Sonia could tell already that she would definitely be frequenting this bar while they were in Oxford. ”What good customer service! Do you have those customer review cards?” she asked, unable to keep the playful grin from her lips. “If a bartender like yourself can multi-task, well I’d have to write a pretty awesome review. You don’t see many bartenders these days who can do more than one thing at once.” she teased, the slightest hint of sarcasm making its way into her voice. All in good fun, of course. 

Her eyes fell to his hand and slowly, though it wouldn’t have seemed slow to his eyes, she placed her own hand in his. Being on the run and all for the last couple of years, Sonia couldn’t remember the last time that she’d actually shaken someone’s hand. Before Oxford, they never really stayed in one place long enough to actually meet people. And the physical act of shaking someone’s hand seemed so foreign, almost intimate to Sonia. Since being turned, she’d never actually cared enough to get to know someone new. They never stuck around so what was the point? But it seemed like she would be around for a while, so why not get to know some people. It didn’t mean she had to care about them, right? 

"Sonia." she said as she finally brought her eyes back up to his, a small, almost proud-of-herself smile on her lips as if she’d accomplished some sort of feat by simply shaking his hand. "And you should probably get a name tag so you can put that on it." she added then laughed at his questioning. So he was attractive and funny, chalk up two brownie points for Handsome Bartender Guy! "God, what a relief to know I’m distinguishable from Big Drunk Earl!" she teased, wiping away an imaginary bead of nervous sweat. Normally, people couldn’t take their eyes off of the long, ragged scars along her neck. But this guy hadn’t even glanced at them, and yet he still said she was distinguishable. Another brownie point. "I’ve gotta be honest with you, when I came in here, that was really the only thing on my mind. So thanks, you’ve helped answer a lifelong dilemma for me." she teased again, shaking her head with a small laugh and then took a small sip of the drink he’d poured for her, grimacing slightly as she did so. Usually, she’d down her drink and be over with it, leaving quickly to experience the pain and the not so pleasant side effects of consuming something other than blood. But Sonia didn’t want to leave just yet.

"I’m uhh…" she paused and looked down at one of her fingers as it traced around the rim of her glass, considering whether or not to tell this guy the truth. She didn’t know him at all. But chances were, in a small town like this, that he could know Shea or her father and had heard the story about the LaCroix tragedy a few years back that had killed the rest of their family. If he knew that she died, then he’d suspect something was up. Even if he didn’t figure out that she was a vampire, there were bound to be a lot of questions. Sonia weighed her options, but eventually, for some reason she couldn’t quite put her finger on other than the fact that besides being incredibly sexy, something about the man standing in front of her reminded her of a big teddy bear. And everyone could trust big teddy bears. "Yeah, I’m new to town. I’m visiting some family." she finally answered, only looking up at him after she’d finished as if to measure his reaction and whether or not she needed to bolt. 

[hollisredford]

Hollis gripped her cool hand, thinking nothing of the heat radiating from his own. It had been a cool Mississippi night, after all.  And, ok, he was still pretty happy about the fact that he had a pretty girl flirting with him. "Sonia," he repeated her name to keep for memory, his eyes crinkling slightly as he smiled. "Welcome to Oxford. And probably the shitiest bar in town that you could have walked into," he teased lightly. "Our version of customer review cards is usually, um, people will leave nasty notes for us on our napkins," Hollis took his hand back and held up a napkin with a logo from an Irish pub that wasn't even in the state of Mississippi let alone the United States. They usually just scrounged up the cheapest napkins they could find instead of making their own napkins with their own logo on it. Hollis winced as he laughed lightly. "But, uh, if you'd like to do a verbal review I promise I'll pass along the message to my manager," he nodded, seemingly very serious even though he was very much kidding. Nobody left reviews except for some old guy who had complained that they didn't have his very eclectic beer on tap. Fucking Oxford. Hollis moved to grab a beer behind him, hitting the cap off on the side of the counter before taking a short swig. He'd almost missed the look on her face as she took a sip of her own drink. Almost. He could probably chalk a lot of it up to being curious about her -- for other reasons than the obvious being that she was probably the prettiest person to walk through the doors in months. She was different, somehow, and Hollis couldn't quite put his finger on how, or why. Hollis might not have been much, other than a college dropout from Oxford, Mississippi, working in a shitty bar making a sub par living, sometimes not even waking up until the afternoon. But if Hollis was anything, it was observant. He could watch people for hours -- and being a bartender, he honestly usually did just that. Sonia wasn't any different. And he noticed her scars. He noticed her hesitation when he asked why she was here. He noticed the almost painful way she swallowed her liquor. Hollis' smile softened as he watched her finger dance over the rim of her glass. She seemed so lovely, and yet... Something else was there. All he could really do, in the moment, was look up to her and nod. "Family already getting to you?" he asked with a laugh, not fishing for an answer as he pulled over a bowl of peanuts and offered them to her. "Or do you usually just gravitate to the weirdest bars in town?" Hollis smirked cheekily.