curiosity killed the hero (open)

[HERO OPHELIA ESCULAS]

Hero had wanted to go shopping Though it normally wasn't her thing most of the time she had just moved here and needed some more casual clothes. Her mother had packed some of her clothes and had only packed her dresses and skirts. Though wearing the occasional dress or skirt was alright for Hero she didn't want to wear them everyday. She also needed some shorts, jeans and shirts. The weather here was much different the the weather in London. Though she had only been here three days the hot weather was getting to her. There also wasn't a drop of rain that had fallen out of the sky. It was also winter, and there was no snow. It was at least fifty degree's outside. Hero couldn't even imagine what the summers would be like. She shuttered at the thought of it. In London the highest it would get in the summer was seventy. She most defiantly needed some new clothes.

Hero entered the small; shopping mall thinking it was only the entrance building. After minutes of searching however it seemed like this was the whole shopping mall. She was amazed. How could someone fit so much clothes in such a small building. Hero discarded the thought. She should be more open minded about the place after all she had only been here for three days, she shouldn't judge it so quickly. Hero pushed on and turned into a small shop that seemed to be for women her age. The store was colorful with the clothing and Hero suddenly felt bland and out of place. She was wearing her summer dress since it was so hot. The fabric was thinner and white. It reached her knees and the sleeves were small. She took a step into the store wondering around. She lifted up a shirt and stared at in in shock. This would only reach her mid stomach. Hero was appalled who would wear such thing? They could be undergarments and not a shirt. She placed it back her face in a frown. What did these people wear?

She then headed off to the jean portion of the store. She then looked at a piece of clothes than would barley cover her bum. What did were these people trying to sell to her! She then took up a pair of jeans that would reach her knees. At least there was some decent clothes.

.

[FLETCHER JAY COLLINS]

( it's about damn time to live it up )
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-- every once in awhile, if fletcher needed a crappy piece of clothing and had nothing else to do, he'd head to the sad little building that this town called a mall. and for some unknown reason, pac sun had opened up one of their stores in this mall. pac sun wasn't the greatest store ever, but it was the closest store within a twenty-five mile radius that fletch would purchase clothes from. he usually had to head to denver to get stuff he actually liked, but sometimes you ran into clothing emergencies. like today. fletch had managed to get ink on his last pair of unstained jeans. which was terrible, he always liked to have at least one pair of nice jeans around, just in case the need ever arose for him to look decent. that didn't happen very often, but you never know. so off to pac sun he went.

-- the mall was dead, as per usual. most of the stores were empty, their employees looking pretty bored. it was a wonder that any of these places stayed open. fletcher made a beeline for pac sun, not stopping to look at any of the other shit this place had. once inside pac sun, he headed straight for the guy's jeans section. there was a whole wall, so he picked out about three pairs that he thought might look decent. all skinny jeans, of course. fletch didn't wear boot-cut cowboy jeans like a lot of the dudes in indian hills. that was just straight up unattractive. fletch liked to think that he had a pretty good sense of fashion. he was an artist, after all. he wasn't content with following the same trends as everyone else. after trying on all three pairs, fletch decided on the darkest wash. they looked pretty nice. he made a mental promise to himself to never wear these to the shop. the same promise he'd made with the jeans he'd stained just today.

-- looking around the store, fletch realized that there were no employees to be found. no one was behind the counter, so he couldn't pay for his jeans. whoever was on duty must have been in the back, slacking off. the only other person in the store was a younger girl with curly blond hair. fletcher watched her as she picked up items of clothing and laid them back down with disgust. he wondered where the hell she was from. she looked pretty out of place with her summer dress on. fletch had on jeans, a long sleeve tee, and a hoodie as well. it was warm outside for winter, but not warm enough to be wearing summer clothes. the girl looked pretty confused when she got to the jeans, so fletcher decided to help her out, since none of the pac sun employees seemed to be around to help. he approached the girl with a friendly expression on his face, "did you need some help finding something?" if she did, fletch was pretty sure he could help her find whatever it was. this store was pretty small, and he'd been here so many times he knew where everything was kept.

[HERO OPHELIA ESCULAS]

Hero had laid the jeans across her forearm and scanned the store. It seemed everyone here, well the everyone that consisted of the casher was so occupied with her cellular phone that she didn't even glance up at Hero. In London nobody acted like this. They would always greet their costumers with a smile and a helping hand. What had Hero gotten herself into? Her eyes scanned the jean section again and looked at all the styles. There was dark wash and light. Shorts and long jeans, mostly shorts however.

She then felt a warm breath on her shoulder asking her is she needed any help finding something.She jumped through her skin not expecting someone to offer her help. Her heart started to race and her blue eyes widened. "Don't frighten me like that, bloody hell," she said her British accent shining through. She turned her head to face a man that seemed a little older. His dark hair hung past his shoulder stick straight. Hero wondered who would let their child have such long hair. "Um, yes. Don't they have any modest clothes here?" she asked with all seriousness.Did the store really expect her to buy this thin and well not much clothing?

[FLETCHER JAY COLLINS]

( it's about damn time to live it up )
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-- when the young girl spoke, her accent only confirmed fletcher's suspicions that she wasn't from around here. from a totally different country, actually. and from the looks of her, she was also extremely conservative. he hadn't meant to scare her, a sheepish look crossed his features, "oh, sorry." fletch wondered what the hell she was doing in a town like indian hills. she pretty much stuck out like a sore thumb. but that made fletcher admire her all the more. she wasn't afraid to be who she was, and that was super cool in his book. a curious smile crossed his lips as he answered her question, "actually, if you're looking for modest, this store is not really the place to start." his eyes quickly scanned the shelves of girl's jeans, finding the one and only kind that weren't low-rise. he plucked them from their spot and showed them to the girl, "these are probably you're best bet." he unfolded them to show her, "they are a higher rise, so your backside won't show. and they're not too tight." they were pretty much just a plain pair of straight leg jeans. hopefully what the girl was looking for. he felt like a salesman, but he was doing a better job than the people who actually worked here.

-- now that he thought about it, fletcher found himself wondering what it would be like to emigrate to america. probably a major culture shock for someone like this chick. she seemed pretty overwhelmed and shocked by the normal american clothing store. he could only imagine how she would feel if she went to a bigger city like denver. he wanted so much to ask her all sorts of questions. which honestly, he probably would end up asking her. fletch never was one to keep his mouth shut. he also wanted to suggest the thrift store for more modest clothing, but he suspected that she was against wearing used clothes. she seemed to have almost a royal air about her. or maybe she was just a snooty british girl. either way, fletch decided to keep his ideas to himself for the time being. he noticed her looking at him as if he was from another planet. fletcher was used to that look, he got it from a lot of people. his long hair, combined with his gauged ears and tattoos, tended to rub some people the wrong way. he knew he got judged left and right, but it didn't bother him one bit. if people had a problem with the way he looked, they could shove it up their ass for all he cared. it all rolled right off of him, and he was pretty oblivious to anyone's opinion besides his own.

[HERO OPHELIA ESCULAS]

Hero looked at the man with a curious eye. If he was from around here he could help her find everything. After all Hero was horrible at directions. Even in London, she would always get lost. The horrible traffic there didn't help either. She was almost getting into a sticky situation every day, stupid traffic. However here, there were less cars in the way, though she had trouble with the lines. They would always confuse her. But, they were more organized than London's horrible roads.

"It's OK," she said crossing her arms. Hero was scared easily, very easily. She would jump at a door slamming. So much for her name. She had always loved her name, however it didn't describe her. Socially Awkward Brit would be her name if it needed to be correct. Of course names didn't have to be correct, Hero was thankful for that.

"Really, the store looked good to me at first," she said with a sheepish grin. Of course Hero wasn't very good with finding places. Or judging places, she hadn't been out in the world yet. This was actually her first trip to any mall anywhere. At home clothes just appeared in her closet, her mother shopped for her. Now she didn't know what to buy at all. She didn't know how much to buy or what the prices were. Though that didn't matter much, Hero had a lot of money. She didn't know the exact amount but half a million sounded right. She took the jeans that the boy handed to her and smiled. "I think these will do just fine. I'm Hero by the way," she said with a grin. She would of stuck out her hand but they were filled with clothes.

She took another look at the man and smiled. Before she just thought he would be the stereotypical American. A rebel who hated everybody and was very rude. However this man had proven to her that not all Americans were idiots and horrible people. However her visit here most people fell into the other category. Nobody helped her with her things were they fell at the airport. Then the cab driver didn't even talk to her when she tried to start up a conversation. But, this man changed her mind, maybe this would be a good change.

[FLETCHER JAY COLLINS]

( it's about damn time to live it up )
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-- fletch was feeling an overwhelming need to help this girl out. she was obviously a few years younger than him, and extremely lost. with certain people, especially girls, fletcher could be extremely protective and caring. he chalked that one up to his mother. she raised he and his younger brother all by herself, and taught him to treat women right. fletch loved his mother with all of his heart, and would do anything for her. he could look and act tough and insensitive on the outside, but he definitely had a soft side to him. this wandering little british girl definitely brought that side out. he'd never had a little sister, but he'd wanted one for the longest time. he'd given up on getting one by now since he was twenty three and his mother never remarried after his father died. but now he was old enough to look forward to having a daughter. first he needed a wife, though. and that wasn't anywhere near being accomplished.

-- when the girl said the jeans would work, fletcher laid them over her arm for her. he smiled at her name, hero. he'd never heard that one before, it was as unusual as she was. "i'm fletcher." why he always introduced himself with his full name, he wasn't sure. pretty much everyone called him fletch. but hero would probably figure that one out soon enough if she spent any time with him. after a moment's pause he added, "are you new to town?" she obviously was, but you never know. maybe she moved here a year ago and was just super sheltered. he didn't want to assume anything, so he wanted to ask to make sure. if she was new, he wanted to help her find her way around. if she'd let him. fletch realized that not everyone was as outgoing as he was. to him, there were no strangers. only people he hadn't met yet. he never felt awkward with anyone, and he was always up to hanging out with new people.

[HERO OPHELIA ESCULAS]

This man was different than any she had seen. Though it didn't help that the only men she had seen were her father, tutor and men from formal events. They all were polite, like him but very formal. They would only make small chat and nothing else. He wasn't like her old tutor either. Who was an outgoing, cursing, adventurous son of a gun. He would always be the life of any party, he would always make fun and call Hero sweetheart. A pang ran through her chest as she thought about Hugh. She had loved her tutor with all heart, he was like the father she had always wanted. Her own father was always at parties or planning a party or doing his knightly duties. Hero didn't hate her father, no she loved him very much. However she always hoped he would act more like a father and less like well, a party goer. However, she loved him all the same, but not like Hugh. Hugh was her best friend and father. He taught her everything she knew and even was the one to request for her to live here. Though she had to leave him in England.

Fletcher, she mouthed the name and it seemed strange. She had never heard that name before, of course she didn't know many names other than Mum, Dad and Hugh. "Thats a very cool name," she said proud to use such American slang. Cool was normally not used in London and it was a very weird word. Wasn't cool used for temperature, however if it made her seem more American it would have to work. She smiled at her own work, her first American slang word. She could already feel herself turning. She wasn't shocked with the next question. She knew it was coming, that or she had a really cool accent. "Yes, I'm for Britain. It's a lot different for America. The words and I have a question. What's a strip club," she asked with curiosity. She knew she was rambling but she was curious and want to know more about this man. She had seen a sign promoting one and she didn't know what it was. She wanted to know.