New Comer
Location: The Hallway on the First Floor
Interacting With: A New Comer
Tasha slowly stepped out of her room and closed the door behind her as she slipped on her sandals, she couldn't help but smile to herself, cupping her own cheek as she felt it warm with a soft blush. Things were taking a turn for the better it seemed. Her and Dominic were going somewhere, where that was she wasn't sure yet but after last night and that morning she had hopes that things were going to be very worth coming all the way out to Jaipur. Granted her work was going great and she loved what she did there but with her job she could go anywhere in the world and there were plenty of places with a lot better weather and better pay than India.
Lowering her hand she skipped down the stairs, taking them two at a time with her hand on the railing just in case the stairs decided to give out underneath her. She wouldn't put it past the establishment if that did happen. Everything was going great until she started day dreaming and remembering how it felt to have him kiss her. Her tongue slipped out and ran over her lips as she turned the corner without looking once she reached the bottom stair. Her face planting right into someone's shoulder and her yelping out a bit, what was it with her lately and being so clumsy? Grunting she grabbed the person by the chest as she caught herself.
"Shit! Sorry ab...." she started as she looked up to see who it was; figuring it was Murphy or Alc, or even Desh. It wasn't any of them and the face right in front of her caused her to freeze in her place.
"Natasha?!" A rich and deep voice spoke out with the hint of London in his voice masked by the mild American twang he had gained while living and working in the States. Tasha's eyes widened as she just leaned against the man slightly, still unable to move. She thought she was hallucinating but as she heard her name from that mouth she had no doubts who it was and that he was in fact right there.
His jaw dropped and his eyes widened as he stared at the woman in front of him. He knew she stayed in the city but he never expected her to be in the same hotel as him. He'd imagined he'd have to hunt her down before meeting her again after all these years.
"You-you look well. What're you doing in a place like this?" He swallowed down the lump in his throat and glanced down at the hand grabbing at his chest before giving a crooked smile, the same crooked smile he'd given her when they'd first met so many moons ago.
God that smile, it melted her every time; it always had. Shaking off the feeling she swallowed the lump in her throat and quickly righted herself and stepped back from him as she stood there.
"I live here," she stated quickly as she crossed her arms over her chest as she always did when she got defensive.
"I should be asking you the same thing," she said as she motioned for him to answer the obvious question; just what in the world was he doing there, in India, in her hotel, right in front of her?
She was doing it again. Shutting off and withdrawing into herself. Lincoln crinkled his nose and shut one eye as he scratched the back of his neck to hide the sudden awkwardness that he felt; the smirk still on his face.
"Well damn. Seems we've missed the turn for awkward and driven straight down to uncomfortable. I'm gonna be living here too." He swallowed again, the dry itch in his throat causing him to cough slightly, his right hand dropped his bag and he covered his mouth as he coughed and cleared it.
"Ah, sorry 'bout that, not used to the air yet." His eyes looked her over and, despite her hard and cold exterior, he knew what warmth lay beneath and he yearned to reach out and hug her but he knew better than that. Tasha's brow arched dramatically when he said that he was going to be living in there; oh this just kept getting better and better. She was just moving on with her life, had move half way across the world; not to mention she had just started something potentially wonderful with Dominic. Now he was here, her ex-fiance!
Taking a deep breath she looked around for a minute before looking back over to him.
"No, I mean what are you doing here; in Jaipur?" she asked quickly. It seemed a little to convenient that he would just show up, like this, in her hotel, after everything they had been through.
Lincoln gulped inaudibly before opening his mouth to answer.
"I'm gonna be working here, in Jaipur. Security for Apex to be specific." Tasha's eyes narrowed even more,
her hospital. He wasn't sure what else he could say that didn't make him sound crazy and stalker like. He hadn't been prepared to run into her so soon. I mean, what were the damn chances of this happening?! He took a deep, calming breath. His chest rose and fell as he repeated the process. He shouldn't be this worked up, should he? He wanted to see her, didn't he? Why was this meeting so uncomfortable feeling for him and, from her body language, for her? He thought he'd be more relieved and happy than this but it was being clouded and destroyed by the surprise of seeing her here and now. This wasn't how it was supposed to be!
Tasha glared a bit as she watched him. Something was off. She knew this man, intimately, and he knew her. He knew what she meant when she asked why he was there; it was her way of asking him
"are you fucking stalking me?". She drummed her fingers against the side of her arm as she gave him a look he knew all too well, the one that let him know she knew something was up. He took a half step back and prepared to defend himself. There's no way she knew anything. She was about to say something when she heard someone sliding down the railing from the floor above and suddenly felt arms wrapped around her from behind.
"Top of the mornin' to ya Lass!" Murphy explained as he planted a big kiss on Tasha's cheek, right before she grabbed him arm and flipped him over her shoulder. Murphy landed sprawled out on the floor with Tasha straddling him and her finger poking the tip of his nose.
Before Lincoln could even decide on whether or not to admit the truth, their reunion had been interrupted by a very energetic and vocal man that... Did he just kiss her on the cheek?! Well of course she'd moved on, it was stupid of him to even
think that she hadn't found someone else, someone better. It didn't stop his blood from boiling. Not necessarily from rage or jealousy, but just from the fact that this man had essentially attacked Tasha from behind. He shifted forward some, as if moving to step in and break things up. His messenger bag slipped from his shoulder as he started forth.
"How many damn times do I have to tell your Irish ass not to come up on me like that?!?" she growled, to which Murphy's only reply was a cheeky grin as he tried to bite her finger as she pulled it back. Murphy lay there grinning from ear to ear at Tasha as she got up and swiftly kicked him in the ribs.
"Fucking potato eating bastard," she snapped before dusting off her knees.
Blinking as he stopped in his tracks, Lincoln wasn't sure what to make of the situation now. Apparently this man wasn't allowed to act that way so they must not be an item? Relief washed over Lincoln as he hiked his messenger bag strap back up onto his shoulder before clearing his throat some and speaking in a clear, confident voice.
"Hey. Name's Lincoln, nice to meet you." He held his hand out to Murphy, either for him to grab to pull himself up or just simply to shake it made no difference to Lincoln, he just wanted to be friendly. Murphy grinned over to the guy and took his hand, using it to pull himself up and jump in his place a few times.
"Oh yeah, you're the new comer. Saw yer name on the reservation list. Names Murphy, Tasha's punching bag," he said in his thick Irish accent before dodging a right hook from Tasha as she growled. Lincoln let out a bit of laughter and smiled some at the comedy of the situation but it was short lived.
"Oi, you be feisty today Lass! What? Old Mountain Man not quench that Russian temper of yers last night?" Murphy teased. Tasha's eyes narrowed towards him as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"None of your fucking business what happened between Dominic and I last night," she hissed coldly but the redness in her cheeks gave away clearly that
something had happened.
Feeling his heart dropping into the pit of his stomach, Lincoln almost forgot to breathe. Okay so she wasn't with this guy, Murphy, but she clearly was seeing someone. Someone named Dominic. Well... There it was. His face dropped slightly and he took a second to pull himself back to normality. He knew it had been a long shot but it was different to know that she was with someone else. He felt like it had been no time at all since they'd been together but obviously his mind was remembering incorrectly. His hands gripped the strap of his bag and he bent down slightly to grab his other case he'd set down earlier.
"Well I don't want to intrude on any personal discussions. I best get my room key and directions. Excuse me..." He was hesitant in leaving, he'd only just found her again, but his mind was telling him to get the hell out of dodge before it got even more awkward than it already was. He needed time to process the fact that he'd turned out to be living in the exact same place as his Tasha. Being around her was already making his head feel fuzzy and his heart pound quicker in his chest.
"Yeah, see ya Moya zhizn'," Tasha said without even thinking before she froze and went wide eyed over what had just left her lips. She hadn't spoken those words in Russian since before they had broken up; her pet name for him, my life.... Swallowing hard she turned her back to him and looked around a bit, which only caused Murphy to take note of how nervous Tasha had gotten in the blink of an eye.
He froze midstep and felt his body turning to lead as he heard her speak the name he hadn't heard in her voice in so long. His foot landed with a thud as he glanced over his shoulder and saw her turned away from him. Maybe he'd just imagined the words, that lingering hope that maybe she still felt something and her running away was nothing to do with him. Perhaps that was just wishful thinking on his part. He heard Murphy continuing to talk to Tasha and Lincoln licked his dried lips and lingered some, adjusting his grip on his baggage as an excuse to stop for a moment.
"So... how do ye know that one Lass?" he asked as he leaned in and grinned mischievously. Tasha groaned slightly, that wasn't exactly something she wanted to admit but Tasha wasn't one to lie about anything no matter how uncomfortable it made her. Biting her bottom lip she sighed, she might as well get it out now. She would have to tell Dominic anyways and he and Murphy were friends.
"He's my ex-fiance," she choked out in a whisper to Murphy.
Before Lincoln could react to Tasha's words, Cass came bounding down the stairs with Claire hot at her heels, laughter peeling out from the pair of them along with a few choice swear words.
"I ain't apologisin' for shit!" Cass yelled out to Claire and she bounced from stair to stair, her foot steps thumping on the floorboards. Lincoln blinked and turned to see what was happening, his eyes catching sight of Tasha again and his mouth going drier than it already had.
"Bitch, get yer ass back here," Claire barked as she bounded after Cass and she caught her, but it wasn't because of her grace. The stair gave out underneath her as the railing fell off to the side. Claire fell forward, slamming into the Cass's Backside, which sent Cass spilling forward and slamming right into Murphy's chest as he turned around to see what was going on. Murphy's arms flailed out and knocked Tasha to the side, which sent the poor doctor tumbling right against Lincoln in the process.
"Bloody hell!" Claire yelled as she laid sprawled out on top of Cass and her brother. Murphy grunting a bit as he was buried beneath two women currently and gave a cheeky grin towards Cass. Cass was balling with laughter and saw Murphy's little grin and gave him a cute little wink as she wiggled her backside as she felt Claire laying on top of her back.
"If ye wanted to dance, could have just asked." "I prefer wrestlin' if I'm bein' honest." "Yeah, well if you two are going to wrestle, let me get out of it first," Claire muttered under her breath before rolling over onto her back and groaning slightly.
"Need help up, or just gonna lay on ol' Murphy for the rest of the day?" Murphy chuckled with a sly smile on his lips as he rested his head back against the floor and looked up at Cass.
"Ugh," Tasha said as she gripped onto Lincoln's shoulder as she reached down and gripped her thigh, the same one she had hurt the day before. The day just couldn't get any worse, or so she thought until Mr. Clops came barreling through the hallway and rammed her in the rear once again, sending her right back against Lincoln and yelping out in pain before the goat bounded off like nothing happened.
Lincoln was dumbfounded and looked around at the spectacle in front of himself as he caught Tasha, dropping his bag in the process, and held her upright. He saw her clutching her thigh and he frowned.
"Do you want me to give you a hand? Maybe carry you to a chair or just let you lean on me? Normally I wouldn't ask and would just carry you, but considering our history I didn't want to be presumptuous. Can I even get someone to help you?" He wanted to help her out and wasn't planning on leaving her alone but he knew she'd thump him one if he just manhandled her. He knew better than that. He hoped she'd be receptive to the offer of help at least, he'd been polite enough after all.
Tasha let out a short breath and shook her head as she slowly righted herself, keeping her hand on his shoulder as she finally put some weight on her one leg. She cringed some but brushed off the pain.
"No, I'm okay," she said quietly before looking up at him. God, why did he have to be here? Why now? Feeling his arm around her she froze for a moment before backing away and hobbling off down the hallway towards the dining room. The last thing she wanted right then was for Dominic to come down the stairs and see her in the arms of another man; especially considering that man was her ex-fiance.
