Lucy Barton

Kindergarten teacher at Alphabetz. 30. 

[lucy-barton-blog]

jacoblindhxrdt‌:

                                 “I don’t know, do you?” He asked childishly, well aware that he was being just that; childish, yet not ashamed enough to reel it in. Before all of this, before she’d cheated on Callum with his brother, Jacob had actually liked her—- he could definitely see why Callum had fallen for her, and subsequently Henry too, but that far from excused her behavior. 

                      “Bingo.” He made a quick swipe with his finger in the air in front of him, indicating that she’d certainly gotten it right when she breathed his name. Even though he knew it wasn’t just her fault— that she’d probably had her reasons to stray in the first place, it did little to appease him, his dad’s infidelity too tightly wound into his spine by now, the damage done to his mom too many years ago but still there in her eyes when he looked at her. 

                       He couldn’t blame Lucy for defending herself; he would’ve been surprised if she didn’t, but he wasn’t one to eat his words again unfortunately, and instead he turned and looked at her as she was turning away, his lips parting. “You reap what you sow, Barton— don’t forget.”

Lucy was not a person of confrontations. She was an escapist at its best and she tend to run away from her problems almost always - which was how she ended up in so deep of mistakes and more problems in the first place. But it was times like these that she found some unfamiliar fire in her to stand up for herself, to try and defend her own doings no matter how wrong or how unexplainable they were. Especially when she was being accused by someone who was biased.

She turned around to face Jacob again, taking back the steps she took to leave and standing in front of him. “I reap what I sow? What about everyone else? Can’t they have had gone through things because they reap what they sow too?” she asked, too daring for her own good. She wasn’t trying to say her cheating was entirely Callum’s fault but she could see that her words could easily be taken to that direction. She tried to think of something else to add without backtracking. “You don’t know everything, Jacob, no matter how close you might be to Cal. You just don’t, okay? So stop trying to scare me off! You all, all of you need to stop this. I’m not going anywhere. I’m from Lanford as much as you are,” she snapped, remembering the conversation she recently had with Callum where he made it clear that he wanted him and Henry out of here.

[lucy-barton-blog]

callum-reynolds‌:

Us. Want us gone… Whatever sense of good nature he felt drained as he heard Lucy refer to her and Henry as an ‘us.’ “Why, are you offering?” he asked, his tone stiff, maintaining the same calm civility that she was. If there was one thing they still saw eye to eye about, it was not wanting to cause a scene. “Didn’t think that was an option, but yeah, that’d be great.” 

Lucy shook her head as if she couldn’t believe the conversation they were having. “No, Callum, I’m not,” she said, trying to stand her ground. It was involuntary how she switched from Cal to Callum as she grew more frustrated with him. It was an old habit she couldn’t fix and she hated how much history they had, and how much she still missed it no matter how hurt they both were. 

“Look, I’m sorry we are an inconvenience to you and I’m sorry that time to time we run into each other. Trust me, I’m uncomfortable as much as you are. But we can’t go on with this hostility. Please, Cal. I understand if you don’t want to see me, but Henry is your own brother. Don’t be too harsh on him. He doesn’t deserve it,” she said quietly, well knowing that her words must have meant nothing to the blond, but she couldn’t not try when she had the chance to talk to him.

[lucy-barton-blog]

ceciliaxtorres‌:

A sincere smile parted her lips warmly, and Cecilia quickly grabbed the notepad from her apron, pulling out the accompanying pen to scribble down Lucy and her friend’s order. “It’s been pretty slow, but it’s going alright,” she replied and shrugged before her nose wrinkled at the mention of her brother’s crazy ex, a hint of a grin protruding on her lips. “Yeah, I just managed to avoid her. I guess she won’t be having pizza tonight — Don’t tell my boss.” She would definitely get in trouble for turning away customers, or letting them wait to the point of them leaving, but Cecilia was never really one to follow those kinds of rules religiously. “What about you though? How’s everything?”

“Isn’t it good that it’s slow? You deserve some peaceful shifts, your boss is making you work a lot!” she said, looking at the place which in her opinion was swarming but apparently Cecilia has seen worse. She laughed at her words about the ex, making a zipping motion with her hand over her mouth. “You can trust me - not a word,” she chuckled. “Me? Not much. Back to school craze and all the same things!” she said waving a hand around. “Though today a funny thing happened where a student’s uncle came to pick him up instead of his dad, and he was very bluntly hitting on me. Mind you, every woman likes to know they can get the attention of others, but he was a freaking high school student! He still had his English homework in his hand. It was ridiculous,” she told the story with a good laugh while one of her co-workers made a bad impression of the said boy in the background.

[lucy-barton-blog]

aoifeobrien‌:

Aoife nodded her head, a soft laugh slipping from her lips. “Apparently so,” she responded. “Just keeps on happening lately…” She meant nothing by it, of course, she’d always been a regular customer at the Bread Basket and would continue to be so. “Yeah, that is true, at least I’m prepared for the rest of it, I guess. Even if I wish I wasn’t. Not in the mood for it,” she chuckled. As they made their way out and down the street, she glanced to Lucy and flashed a smile. “Pretty good on the whole, nothing much to tell,” she answered. “How about you?”

“Coffee can usually be a great comrade when it comes to stressful days,” she bargained, raising the two cups in her hands for emphasis.  “More or less the same for me as well. Excited for the new school year but we’ll see. I applied to few places but I’m likely to be in Alphabetz for this year too,” she said, seemingly not that bothered by her unsuccessful applications.”I was trying to convince Henry for a vacation before school starts but it seems unlikely. Maybe during Christmas, I hope,” she said with a chuckle. 

[lucy-barton-blog]

alexisslaterx‌:

“You sound like you are speaking from experience.” She couldn’t help but notice and wondered if she was in the same situation too. “I know. I used to engage and argue but I just don’t do that anymore.” Not that she didn’t have anything to stay, she was just tired of having the same conversation over and over again. 

“Well, aren’t we women all have been there at some point?” she asked cinycally but the other woman really wasn’t far off from the truth. “You can’t change their minds and you’re not very likely to be able to explain yourself to their judgmental little heads, so don’t waste your breath,” Lucy shrugged. “Indeed speaking from experience, it didn’t really work out for me at least,” she said, almost muttering. “Do you want to leave? I know a really pretty cafe down the street. It’s on me. From one bullied woman to another,” she smiled as she offered.

[lucy-barton-blog]

callum-reynolds‌:

Callum was in need of a caffeine boost. He’d been out late the night before, but that didn’t stop him from getting in his 6am run. It had been a struggle, sure, but Callum was not the quitting type. 

He made his way to the coffee shop, checking his emails on his phone as he walked, barely paying attention as he ran into someone leaving the store. “Oh! My apologies, I-” he stopped himself mid sentence as the voice and the face clicked in his head just a split second too late, and fuck. 

Lucy. 

“I, uh, Sorry. Guess this town isn’t big enough for the two of us…” It was the kind of mundane comment that could have come off as a joke, and if it were a stranger he’d just collided with, it very well could have been. But Lucy came with history, and history was seldom very funny… 

For a second there, Lucy didn’t know how to take his sentence but her mind quickly decided on the much more negative explanation behind his words instead of taking it as a joke. The town was maybe relatively small but they both knew it wouldn’t matter how big of a city they would be in as long as she was with Henry. One way or another, eventually, they were bound to see each other, surely Callum must have known it. So Lucy decided that he was trying to subtly imply that he didn’t want her in Lanford. 

“I’m already banished from Kingsgate, Cal,” she said softly, not wanting to argue with him out in the open. “Do you want us gone from Lanford entirely now?” she asked, her eyes staying on him only for splint of second before escaping to focus elsewhere. God, she was terrible at confrontations. 

[lucy-barton-blog]

aoifeobrien‌:

“Just help with these coffees if that’s good,” Aoife responded with a smile, picking up a couple herself now. “It’s totally turning into one of those days, even though it’s only just started.” She chuckled very softly, a shake of her head following. “I only need to take them around to the clinic.”

“Yeah, of course,” she said, reaching for the other two cups. “They ran out of carriers again, huh?” she tsked. She loved the place and their coffee but they needed to check their inventory for sure. “If it’s going to be one of those days, it always starts at the beginning anyway,” she said jokingly, hoping to lighten up the other. “So how is it going?” she asked as they stepped outside. “I haven’t seen you for a while!”

[lucy-barton-blog]

alexisslaterx‌:

Alexis’ brow raised in surprise, she didn’t expect other woman to understand her – most women would just jump on the slut shaming train. This was a nice change. “Yet they still talk. People in Lanford love commenting on the issues that have nothing to do with them.” Well, if the situation was reserved, Alexis would certainly make few remarks too, though she wouldn’t take it this far – not because she would feel bad for the other woman, she just wouldn’t care.

“That they do,” Lucy muttered in agreement. She had her fair share of that fact. “You don’t have to listen to them though,” she shrugged. “I think there’s nothing wrong with walking away when they get too nosey,” she shrugged. As an escapist, that was what she always did at least - to run away from the problems.

[lucy-barton-blog]

lunabelmonte‌:

                “Oh, so it open to the public? I wasn’t sure honestly, I mean, you never know with those gated communities, right?” She’d been to Malibu a couple of times, and though it wasn’t a gated community, and everyone had the right to use the beach fronts, the public was usually chased off. 

“Hypothetically yeah,” She laughed lightly and looked off towards the island, calculating her next move. “You wanna go with me there?” She asked then. “I mean, hypothetically. But hypothetically right now.”

“Well, they are a little uptight there and I am sort of exiled even, but yeah, technically it is open to public,” Lucy shrugged. 

“Go there? I mean... I don’t know. We might get into more trouble with me tagging along if someone recognizes me. Hypothetically, I mean,” she added, keeping up with the joke. “Right now?” she asked, turning her head to look back at the island. “Eff, it. Let’s do it. It’s been a while since I’ve been there.”

[mararichardscn-deactivated20220]

‘She is such a slut. I can’t believe she is still living in here. What a nerve.’

The lady’s remarks caused Alexis to roll her eyes, she wasn’t surprised of course. Town gossip wasn’t something Alexis was stranger to. At this point, she was sure some of the soccer moms didn’t even know her real name, they would just call her a slut or a whore. “Just ignore them,” Alexis said, looking at the two women over her shoulders before turning to the person who was standing next to her. “They shut up eventually.”

[lucy-barton-blog]

Lucy stiffened when she heard some woman talk in a way she heard before. She immediately thought it was someone who knew her, who knew her history with Callum. She tried to not pay attention and look straight ahead and drew in a sharp breath. It was a second later that she realized another woman also got offensive about the same thing. “Oh...” she said, realizing that, really, this time it wasn’t about her. “It’s alright, I’m sure it’s none of their businesses anyway,” she said with an assuring smile. If someone knew how it felt to be called names, it was Lucy.

[aaronhirsch]

Aoife wasn’t entirely sure how it had happened. Her day off and following a misguided trip into the clinic she’d been entrusted with the morning coffee run. She’d had plans for today and this definitely wasn’t among them. To save a trek across town she’d made her way to the Bread Basket to grab the drinks, along with a handful of pastries, but really didn’t have enough hands for the task. As everything was placed before her, they broke the news they had no carries left, something she really didn’t want a hear. A heavy sigh escaped her, eyes rolling up towards the sky, but then she spotted a familiar face. “Oh, hey! You don’t have two minutes spare to help me with these, do you?”

[lucy-barton-blog]

“Hey Aoife!” Lucy smiled. “Oh sure, I do,” she nodded, approaching her. “What do you need?” she asked with raiased brows. She was just about to exit the place to meet up with her boyfriend but she could just give him a call if this took a little longer than expected. 

[ceciliaxtorres-blog]

Having hid in the backroom at Uncle Louis’ for a few minutes to avoid her brother’s ex-girlfriend and whatever complaints she had about him, or about her life in general that tended to take up the better part of half an hour, Cecilia came back out again slowly and smoothed her hands down the little apron tied around her waist, complete with fresh tomato sauce stains and a hint of oregano. She cleared her throat quietly and walked up to a customer that had arrived in the meantime, probably wondering why she had left in such a hurry. “Sorry about the wait,” she mumbled, looking up at them a moment later. “What can I get you?”

[lucy-barton-blog]

“It’s alright, Cecelia,” Lucy smiled. “We were just chatting anyway,” she shrugged and she and her friends gave their orders. “How is it going? Managed to hide from the crazy ex?” she chuckled.

[lucy-barton-blog]

It was terrible. She had a job interview and Lucy was almost certain that it went horrible and she wasn’t going to get the job. She and Henry wanted to move to a better neighborhood so despite loving her old school, the brunette was going to apply for a few private kindergartens in better areas of Lanford but it was the second interview that went bad. 

She mindlessly entered the nearest coffee shop, ordering a latte herself and stepped out, only that she really wasn’t paying attention and she collided with a person who was about to step in. 

Horrified, she took a step back, “Oh my God, I am so so sorry! I- “ she was apologizing and she looked up for a second and whatever she was going to say just evaporated from her mind. There was a sudden lump in her throat and she felt like she was unable to say anything.

@callum-reynolds

[lucy-barton-blog]

jacoblindhxrdt‌:

                                        “Good,” Jacob said in an assertive tone, bordering on condescending. He knew Lucy— or rather, he knew of her, and what he knew so far, was that she’d never been to Lammar’s, and that she’d cheated on one of his best mates with said mate’s brother. “I figured Henry might’ve taken you to Lammar’s by now,” he added flippantly, standing by his statement even though he knew it was cheap of him to bring up her guy when he was clearly not a fan.

“Excuse me do I know you?” Lucy asked, growing defense instantly. He clearly knew Henry and her. So he knew her name too probably but she couldn’t quite remember him at first. “Jacob?” she asked a moment later, now figuring out why he seemed and sounded so familiar.

“Look, I’m just waiting for a few friends, okay? I’m not here to treat me like this,” she said, turning away from him. She wasn’t sure if he knew the details of how she got together with Henry but she hoped he didn’t. Because being mad at her over a relationship with Callum’s brother was one thing, but if he knew she cheated, she knew she’d never hear the end of it.

[lunabelmonte-blog]

                     “On a scale from one to ten, how much trouble would a person get in if they crossed the bridge to Kingsgate Island to have a look around, and maybe take a couple of pictures of the view from the beach?” Luna asked the only other person around within ear-shot, an old vintage Olympus camera sitting in a worn leather strap around her neck. 

“Strictly hypothetically speaking of course. I mean, it’s not like I’m not content with the view from here, I was just… wondering.”

[lucy-barton-blog]

“Uh...” Lucy scratched her head. “I don’t know - non at all?” she guessed. “I mean, just pretend to be a tourist if you get in trouble,” she giggled. “Hypothetically, of course.”

[jacoblindhxrdt-blog]

                                      “I don’t care what they say on that fucking island—- the liquor here is just as good as at Lammar’s,” Jacob scoffed, tapping a finger on the rim of his heavy-bottomed glass, the bartender quick to top his single malt off for him. Truly, he had no problem with Lammar’s, and on a good day he didn’t mind Kingsgate either, he was just exhausted and in a bad mood. It wasn’t anything a couple of drinks couldn’t balance out though, or at least that was the plan when he’d walked into Drink half an hour earlier. He’d been on his own for the better part of it, but after someone had claimed the seat a couple away from his own, he eventually felt inclined to break the silence. 

[lucy-barton-blog]

Lucy was waiting for a couple of friends to show up as she ordered herself a glass. The man next to her was talking, well, complaining, about something and at first she didn’t realize she was being addressed. Slowly she turned her body around a little to face him. “Oh? You were talking to me?” she said with an apologetic tone. “Well, I guess? I do like it here but never been to Lammar’s, actually,” she shrugged.

[lucy-barton-blog]

sofie-gardner‌:

“Do you need the ball and chain to agree to just go on vacation?” Sofie pondered aloud, “This is why I’m never getting married.” She said succinctly and assured with a flutter in the pit of her stomach that felt more like a tidal wave. “I’m here to reflect and relax and maybe work.” Sofie flipped her hand dismissively, “And nothing more…and of course waste my days with your beautiful face.”

“He’s just busy,” Lucy quickly stepped in to defend her boyfriend but deep down she was upset with the situation as well. “You need to learn to compromise, Sofie,” she chuckled. “Reflect?” she asked with a raised brow. “I thought you were here to have fun!” she exclaimed, her voice light as she chuckled. “You didn’t leave much with that short but to-the-point list,” she pointed out but nodded along. “Waste? I wouldn’t call it a waste,” she said in a feint, offended pout.