“I think you look like a guy who should reconsider asking a teenager a preference to ice cream or nachos. What are you, twelve?” he retorted, looking at the man with a slight sarcastic glare. He was in a mood tonight, but then, when wasn’t Alex? He was known to most as being grumpy.
Julian rolled his eyes at this kid. “Oookay, somebody clearly pissed in your cheerios, kid.” Julian still was looking between the two options. “You didn’t need to answer. You could have just walked away or ignored me.”
Talking about it made it appear as if they were trash, biker bar mother, biker tattooist father- if the social ever got involved for sure it would raise red flags. But she couldn’t imagine a better life, she was loved and had people around her she loved and the south had its own way of life. She was proud of her bar and her community and hearing that someone like Julian was in it for his first time made the pride only double.
“Don’t cause trouble and trouble won’t find you, that’s all I advise. Most of the crowd though….they’re good people. We all are. I’m sure if you’re sticking around for a bit and you decide to come back, you’ll see for yourself. And SP might be rah rah Southside but he’s a great guy, I’m sure you’d like him if you did stick around.” maybe she was biased, but she’d seen the dark side of him and the light side he now embodied. He certainly wasn’t the broken mess she initially found those fair few years back.
“And don’t take it personally, there’s a vibe here and pretty close knit. We know townies to outsiders. I’ve been here since birth, a genuine ‘Meda and never left once and I don’t think I ever will. Andromeda grows on you. What’s the business here if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Oh I’ll be back if you keep making drinks like these for me.” Julian smiled. He wasn’t one for alcohol so the less he could taste the better. As the blonde described the father of her child Julian got the feeling he didn’t really want to meet this “SP” guy. “I’m guessing Southside is rough and tough and bad?” He gruffed up his voice as his descriptors went on.
“Close knit isn’t bad. And I don’t take it personally. I wish I knew more than movie set level closeness.” The man shrugged. “It grows on you, huh? Would you say that all people of Andromeda would say the same?” Julian couldn’t help but start his research now. It was in his blood to kind of want to get the full story - see the big picture of what he was working with. “Oh I don’t mind. I’m looking into directing a movie about a generic small town feel. I figured the best way to to do that is submerge myself into a virtually unknown one and see where it takes me. No offense.” Julian finished off, not wanting to be offensive, but going for a little honesty.
Julian was out and about at the Rosewood Pier trying to decide if he should get ice cream at Palmer’s or go in for a drink and some nachos at Seaside Sports. When he saw another person approaching the pier. “Just out of curiosity, do you think I look more like a guy who’d enjoy ice cream or nachos and a sports game?”
it was important to stay busy, it was. and the flagship store needed a makeover, it just did. what was brooke’s solution? to move the entire operation down the block while she renovated the building. duh. what else would she have done? she was directing traffic just then – c.ob. employees and a flurry of contractors and construction managers, all with questions, and all needing her attention – but when she heard the tinkle of the bell above the shop, she dropped everything, moving to meet the newcomer at the door, words tumbling out of her mouth before she even bothered to register who was walking in. “i’m so sorry, we’re actually closed today. we’re moving down the street, and everything’s all .. crazy right now, but if this is a fashion emergency, you know, just .. say the word, and we can make some magic happen.”
Julian had heard more so than seen the commotion going on at the local Clothes Over Bros shop when he was getting his morning coffee. He decided to go and check it out. He hadn’t expected the actual owner/CEO to be heading this situation. But he was impressed. “Well when Brooke Davis claims she does it all, she does in fact do it all.” Julian whistled.
It was only when Julian entered the shop that he got the full magnitude of the scene taking place in the high end clothing shop. “All you need is a hard hat and I’d swear I was on the set of a movie.” He shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “No, no fashion emergency. Though I could use a new one of a kind C.OB. designer suit at some point in the near future. I’ve got a pretty big project I’m working on that I think will garner some red carpet appearances.” He smirked his signature smirk. “You think we could set something up soon? When all of this,” He motioned to the ciaos going on. “Is finished, of course.”
“Hah, the one with Reese Witherspoon right?” she couldn’t remember the last time she’d simply stopped and had time to watch a movie, it most certainly wasn’t after Ember was born. She preened at the compliment, not bad for something she’d come up with on the spot. “Please, it was the only thing I could genuinely serve you without painting a target on your back. Something told me you weren’t a beer and chaser guy when you arrived.” she said with an amused smirk. She could read customers, new and old very easy nowadays.
Gazing around the room though, her smirk remained as the sense of pride flooded through her. A laugh escaped her lips, shaking her head slowly. “Nah, SP is currently at work, a bar might not be the best fit for a baby but its certainly better than a tattoo parlor. But if you stick around he’ll be here later….are you staying in town or is a fleeting visit?”
Julian turned his attention from the baby being handed around to the blonde bartender, smile of gratitude on his face. “As a not-so-tough and definitely not a biker guy I appreciate the sentiment of you having my back.” His face scrunched up at the thought of beer and straight alcohol. “Yeah, you’re right. That’s not me.”
“Booze and tattoos? Wow. What a combo.” He drank some more of his admittedly fruity concoction. “Again, no judgement whatsoever. Just never thought I’d find myself in a true biker bar.” He chuckled at the fact that the father, the tattoo artist, would be back later. Of course he would. “The real question is do I want to stick around to meet the presumed biker tattoo artist?”
Her question to him through him off guard. He hadn’t really talked about the reason for him being here to anybody. So, why was he about to share it with a virtual stranger in a bar. He shook his mind out of it. It was the alcohol. “Am I that noticeable as a out-of-towner?” He joked. “I’m staying for a bit, yeah. I have some business to take care of. I’m guessing you’re from these parts?”
“- she regularly gets passed around whilst she’s napping, it’s like having a bar full of burly biker nannies. It’s almost amusing seeing them all holding her like she’s the holy grail.” she mused, sliding over the drink she’d just poured for her customer. “I trust all my regulars and it does make work easier so stop looking like that.”
Julian handed the bartender a $20 for his drink and a tip. “Oh I’m not judging. Baby-in-a-bar-esque, very Sweet Home Alabama, Neil H. Moritz, of you.” He took a drink of the fruity two-strawed concoction. “This is good.” He complimented. He looked around the bar. There were heaps of strong appearing, burly men sprinkled around. Some playing darts, others pool, some cards, all loud and rowdy, but the lucky one that was holding the new bundle of joy had a different affect all together. They would be quiet, gentle and affectionate.
“I think it’s better to have too much love than too little.” He took a bigger gulp of his drink as he thought to himself that this baby had more love around it and displayed toward it in this one day than he did growing up in total. He shrugged at the shorter blonde woman. “Are any of these fine gentlemen the dad?”
Full Name: Julian Andrew Baker (Born Julian Andrew Norris)
Age: 30
DOB: December 11 (Sagittarius)
Residency: Andromeda, California
Birthplace: New York, New York
Occupation: Film Producer
Sexuality: Bisexual
Martial Status: Single
Height: 6′3″
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Julian was born to Sylvia and Paul Norris approximately six years into their marriage. They’d been trying for a child, but with his hefty work schedule and her presuming to be barren. Julian came just as Paul, his father, was starting up his own production company - his “baby”.
Growing up, the Norrises were very well off - having their main home in East Moriches, NY with a private entrance beach, a pent house just outside the heart of the city, for when his father was on site, and a few vacation homes scattered throughout the world. While money was in abundance, love and affection wasn’t really there. Julian’s mother tried to give him a “normal” childhood, but with Paul pulling away from them both, her “wifely” duties (appearing on his arm at award shows, important travel, and dinners) became a priority for her to not lose her connection with her husband. Eventually that connection did snap and she turned to the bottom of the bottle for the comfort she was no longer getting in her marriage.
Julian was a quiet and shy boy growing up, speaking only when spoken to. He’d had many an etiquette class from the finest after all, but as he aged and his mom was no longer the nurturing mother from the past and his father’s form of love was cold hard cash or plastic cards he went through a spending spree. When he’d bought all the things he could think of wanting, he turned to getting friends by flaunting his wealth. He got many girlfriends and boyfriends that way.
It was only when his mother developed liver poisoning and had to be hospitalized during his third year of college that he was brought back to his true self. Flaunting money, using money that wasn’t really his, he hadn’t earned it, and just being an all around jerk wasn’t him. He had a coming to moment and he talked his mother into moving from his father’s house in New York to a smaller, yet still lavish, house in a California. She semi-reluctantly agreed. He still had a year of schooling left to complete and an internship at his father’s company, but he made sure to get her settled and swore to visit.
In the six years since he got his mother out on her own he only visited her a handful of times, but he made sure she was okay. And she was florishing. Which made him happy. He now worked at his father’s company though many people didn’t know they were related. Paul didn’t really talk to anybody on his staff - his son was no different. Julian thought is was for the best. About a year into his work at P. Norris Productions he started going by his mother’s maiden name - Baker.
Now, what brings him to Andromeda, CA are two things. His assignment is to find a place for the latest movie pitch and his mother had been begging him to visit for over a year now, so why not kill two birds with one stone?
