#charlotte x lindsey.oo1

[lindseyxgallagher]

There was very little that Lindsey forgot. Secrets were her currency and she was tight fisted with them, only bestowing them to those she’d deemed worthy, which was few and far between. Most days, Lindsey observed, and filed the things she learned away into one of the many folders in her brain, safe and secure for the day that they would be profitable. And they always were. Lindsey was quite good at ensuring that. But there was no need to say any of that to Charlotte. Though the other woman also served as a board member for Obsidian Holdings, their positions required different things of them and Lindsey hardly concerned herself with the job description of the others. She would do her job until it ceased to entertain her. After that… well, that was a decision for her future self.

“I don’t require a reminder, Charlotte.” Lindsey had been born into wealth and status, had spent her formative years learning how to traverse parasocial relationships, how to glean them for her own benefit. She was intimately aware of the way names could open and close doors. “But thank you for it, anyway.” It would be so easy to make enemies of any number of her fellow board members. They were each powerful and arrogant in their own right, and while Lindsey knew that the tentative truce between them was volatile, at best, while it served the company’s interest, she was not interested in severing these alliances. At least not yet. So, she bit her tongue and allowed her lips to lift slightly at Charlotte’s performance.

Because that was what this was — a performance. For her benefit, she supposed. A reminder that she was an outsider, that she had not grown up among these people, and was not privy to their secret pains in the same way that Charlotte was. Not yet, Lindsey mentally added. She did not need the convenience of generational ties to ingratiate herself to the locals. All Lindsey needed were the things already in her arsenal — her smile, her attention, her body, even, when the moment called for it. “Brava,” she cheered, fingers tapping lightly against the glass. “That poor boy will be thinking of you all evening long.”

“You forget that I grew up here.” She laughs and it's lovely and low, attracting the passing attention of several patrons around them despite the current of underlying cruelty. Lottie continues, voice soft enough for Lindsey alone. “It doesn’t matter how visible and personable you are – small towns are just like the rest of the world, it's all about who you know and looking the part.” She leans back, smile intact as if they are the closest friends sharing a bit of fun gossip, or maybe plans for latter. Dark eyes drift up and down her fellow board member’s outfit – too east coast, too clearly moneyed, maybe later if she feels generous, Lottie will offer a few suggestions. Instead – she needs another drink.

“Tequila soda, pretty please,” she’s switching tactics and drinks, smiling at the newer bartender then canting her head to the side. “You know, you look so familiar –“ her voice is more honeyed, a warmer, richer tone than she uses for business, and she taps a manicured finger against her nose as if remembering. Time to see what Queen Bee Lottie can pull off. “Are you Libby Mitchell’s little brother? Jackson?” He lights up at the recognition, the slightest flush painting his cheeks as he realizes who she is. “Charlotte Ross, they said you went to New York.” She smiles over at Lindsey playfully as he pours them both drinks, rambling on and on about his sister and how he used to have such a crush on Lottie when he was a freshman and she was a senior ( who didn’t ).

“It was so great to see you –“ she cuts him off after a moment, sliding cash across the bar as she gathers up their drinks. “Please tell your sister I said hello.” Mercifully he gets the hint, or maybe he’s still a bit afraid of her in the way all teenage boys feared their big sister’s hot friends. That, and rest of the bar was several people deep waiting for service. Lottie shrugs at Lindsey, taking a sip of her drink. “Like I said.”

[lindseyxgallagher]

Lindsey stifled a smile, gaze meeting Charlotte's over the edge of her raised wine glass. The other Chief Officer was, in her opinion, rough around the edges. It was clear that Charlotte Ross was brilliant and talented, but unlike Lindsey, who trafficked in dulcet tones and soft touches, Charlotte's public persona seemed to lean a bit more heavily on the side of powerful and in charge.

"Nothing of import," Lindsey replied when Charlotte's attention had returned to her. She waved away the apology with one hand, her gaze taking in their surroundings. "I was simply noting that it's good practice for us to be out in the town like this. More visible. More personable, if you will."

who: Lottie & open where: the backyard bus

“I don’t care what time is in New York, when I ask you to do something, I expect it done.” Lottie speaks into her phone in that lilting cadence she’s adopted since leaving this ghost town the first time, the only sign of her annoyance the tiny pucker between her brows. “Well then wake them up.” She closes her eyes, tapping her ring against her glass of shitty gin – god she forgot all anyone drinks around here is whiskey or fucking moonshine. What a goddamn cliché. Lottie sighs. “I’m hanging up now, you have until 6am my time.” She misses the drama of being able to slam a flip phone shut – fuck, now she was getting nostalgic for high school? She downs the rest of her cocktail and returns to the bar.

“Sorry,” she’s not, but that dazzling smile is distracting enough to be convincing. Flagging down the bartender, her attention returns. “What were you saying?”