grantmiddleton | Outside the Condo {OPEN}

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Outside the Condo {OPEN}

Grant glanced up from his phone when he felt a shadow hang over him and found a giant, behemoth of a man who didn't speak much but grunted a lot at the other two movers. "Hmm? Oh, just put everything in the living room. I'll take care of it all later. Thanks."

He went back to his phone, typing rapidly as he replied to text after text from his mom. He grinned to himself. She was a worrier, always had been, always will be. And this was the first time her only child lived further than an hour away from her. So he was distracted when he heard a crash and looked up to see a hundred year old dresser on the ground.

"Hey! Careful! That dresser is worth ten times your pay today!" The movers all grunted, which Grant assumed was an apology. He swore under his breath, immediately tattling on the movers to his mom who was, unsurprisingly, pissed at the thought of any Middleton furniture being treated so carelessly. He shook his head. It was a shitty old dresser that belonged to his uncle and really not worth getting angry over. He hated the thing anyway - it was fifty shades of ugly. He hated most of the things coming out of the truck. But appearances are key, and if any of his family happened to come for a visit, they'd expect to see certain key pieces on proud display in his home. Even if the crap clashed horribly with his home.

He sighed and asked how much longer the move would take. When he got a "One more hour" out of the movers, he groaned. Moving sucked. Moving really sucked when you were slightly hung over and wanted a nap.

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“Thanks.” Accepting the water, he took a quick swig, before nodding. “Yeah, I hadn’t heard of it at all, but I saw a job advertised at the lodge and resort outside of town. Looked like a really nice place, pay was pretty good and the owner seemed like a cool guy when I called. So he made the offer, I took him up on it. How about yourself?”

"You work at the lodge? That's a cool place. We used to hang out there a few weekends during the summer." He jumped up and sat on the kitchen counter. "I guess I wanted to get away from my family but get away to a familiar place. I haven't been back to Siren Cove in a decade, so I figured it was about time. I guess my biggest motivator was a job, like you. I'll be starting with SCPD tomorrow."

“Yeah, pretty awesome job. Meet lots of people and get to be out in a beautiful landscape. I certainly can’t complain. Jealous I didn’t have somewhere that nice to hang out when I was younger but plenty of time now.” Alfie nodded as he listened to Grant speaking, taking another swig of his water. “Ah, well, if you’re a cop then I should straight away state that I am over 21, I just have a baby face. But that’s a pretty important job, serving and protecting. Least it’s not somewhere really dangerous like New York.”

"You'll definitely have plenty of relaxation time out there." He laughed. "You do look much younger. I'll be sure to keep that in mind if I ever see you drinking. Sire Cove is quiet when it wants to be. But it can be just as bad as New York at times. Depends on everyone's moods."

“Thanks, the cop back home always forgot. I swear he ID’d me every time he saw me near a bar. Never my younger brother though, he always remembered he was of age.” Shaking his head slightly, Alfie shrugged as if to say ‘what are you gonna do about it’. “Really? Anyone in particular I should be avoiding or looking out for?”

"I'm going to take a gamble and bet I have a better memory than that cop. Or maybe he just didn't like you. No worries, I have no reason to dislike a guy who volunteers to help move furniture for me."

He scrunched up his face, thinking. Glancing Alfie over, Grant wondered if he knew what really went down in Siren Cove or not. "Ever see that creepy castle at the edge of town? That's the Grimhilde manor. Definitely stay away from that place and the people in it." He chuckled a little. "Haunted house stories and all that. We would avoid that place like the plague on Halloween."

“He’s definitely a lot older than you, so it’s a distinct possibility he kept forgetting me. The unofficial Deputy liked me though. His name was Rusty and he was the cutest Jack Russell I’ve ever met. Anyway, I should probably get back to moving furniture.”

Unaware of the thought process going through Grant’s head, he finished the water. “Someone lives there? Wow, I just assumed it was abandoned now, looked like it needed some repairs when I last past it.” Huffing out a slight laugh he tapped his fingers against his leg, “Yeah, I can imagine the local kids all try and get each other to go in and things.”

"May be abandoned now? But I doubt it. The Grimhildes have a long line of history in this place. I bet someone still lives up there. I wouldn't put it past them to purposely make the place look dilapidated, they always loved the creepy, dark decor."

He hopped off the counter, dusting off his hands with a sigh and headed back toward the truck. The movers were finally making progress. "I'll be more than happy to go to work tomorrow. Moving is such a hassle."

“Well, I suppose house that big on your own may be a bit of a handful and might fall into disrepair. Can’t say I’d like to have to run it solo – but then I’m not a huge fan of keeping myself at home for extended periods of time.”

Following Grant back outside to the truck, he moved to pick up another item of furniture. “I totally get it, I barely had anything when I moved and it still felt like an effort unpacking it. Just wanna crawl into bed I bet.”

"Outdoors guy?"

"Exactly how I feel. I just wish I could open the door and have everything all placed and unpacked for me." He sighed dramatically. "But I'm an adult and all that now."

“Yeah, I’m not really one for being stuck indoors. Get kinda antsy.”

“If only. About now I wish I’d got an acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Just sort of zap everything into place, right?” Unaware of anything potentially uncomfortable about the statement, he rearranged his hold on the piece of furniture in his hands and started moving back towards the house.

"Siren Cove is a damn good place for you then. It's beautiful out here."

"If only things worked like Hogwarts, right?" He grinned, a little tense but still a grin. Be careful what you ask for. Grant picked up another piece and followed Alfie. "So you don't know any of the history about this place?"

"Yeah, definitely have to take a camera out there one day, but for now I'll just enjoy actually seeing it."

"Yeah, although hopefully without ghosts. I imagine they'd be kinda weird." Alfie didn't notice any change in Grant's attitude, too busy setting down the furniture he was carrying. "Not really, my boss told me there are a lot of historical myths around, but then he's the one telling guests to beware of bigfoot so..." Smiling, he gave a slight shrug.

Grant laughed, a little out of breath as he lifted a large piece. "I can promise you I've never seen a bigfoot out there, but if it keeps the guests rolling in, whatever floats his boat tben. But he's right about the other myths. There's a lot of history here. Bad blood between families." He smiled. "But they throw great parties."

Nodding, Alfie stated, "Believe me, they love that stuff. Probably the kids more than parents. But they've had a few bigfoot enthusiasts before apparently. Got some printings on the wall of articles written about it. Blurry picture of what I think is one of the cherry pickers, but is apparently the legend himself."

"Ah, one of those 'trying to out do each other' type things?" He asked, watching a pair of movers shuffling in the next room.

"You maaaay or may not have a picture of me in a bad suit hanging on a wall somewhere." Grant laughed. "Teens, you know."

"Oh yeah. Who can have the best charity event, who hires the more talented celloist, who has the nicer tableclothes. Sometimes the town wins, most of the time it doesn't." He shrugged, peeking inside a box because at this point he had no idea where anything was. "Lotta expectations around here."

There was a moments pause before Alfie burst into laughter. After a moment he took a deep breath before suggesting, "I would have liked to have seen that. But hey, maybe next time we've got some bigfoot fans in, you could do it again."

"Can say I have some experience with that. Not on a big scale, but my Mom and Mrs Jenkins back home were very competitive at the Church bake sales. The house would smell of cookies and brownies for a solid coupla days before and we weren't allowed any. Hard times."

"I'd love to help out. You know, for the kids," he winked.

Grant laughed at that. "Moms, man. I don't know why they get so competitive, but if it means more baked goods for me, I'm happy."

"Awesome, I am definitely holding you to that. For the kids."

"If only we got them afterwards. It was who could sell the most, so we'd usually get a cookie or brownie if there were any left over. Two if we were very lucky. Funny the things parents do."

"See that's just torture. For a good cause, I'm sure, if you were selling them, but I would've been very upset if I didn't get to eat my share of sugar." He grinned. "At least around here, it's more bragging rights so they ask everyone to sample everything and pick whose family recipe is better."

“Exactly, can’t begrudge a good cause but when you’re a kid you’re just upset that you’re missing out on a good sugar rush. Least I can buy all the brownies I want in the world now. Like the responsible adult I pretend to be.” Alfie added. He’d be the first to admit he had days where eating a whole bag of cookies was a thing that happened.

"Hey, I was only promised that adulthood means making your own decisions, even the tough ones. Like, do I eat this entire tub of ice cream or this whole cake? Or both?" Grant winked.

"That has most definitely happened before. If you ever see me in the store staring at ice-cream, I will no doubt end up with multiple tubs." It had definitely happened in the past. The greatest upside of having such an active lifestyle was that he could indulge himself in all his favourite foods when he probably shouldn't.

"If I see you in the ice cream aisle, I'll whisk over like an angel from above and whisper 'Get the strawberry' like the good fairy godmother I am." He smiled. "Or cookie dough. My answer will vary, gotta keep it interesting."

"My very own ice-cream fairy godmother - I don't think a man can ask for more in life." Alfie acknowledged with a grin, "I will let you know I have a dislike of bubblegum ice-cream though."

Outside the Condo {OPEN}

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