Starring:
Summary: Jamie runs into Sophie yet again, and gets to meet someone new too.
Date It Happened: February 10th, 2008
I see you everywhere…
Hell's Kitchen
It is just past seven, rush hour thankfully mostly over with. Joule is coming out of an Indian restaurant with a shopping bag. Amazing the sort of service — and servings — one gets when one mentions one's shooting for a food critic who'll be by sometime in the next three or four days. Fragrant curry and spice wafts from the bag; it's still hot. Joule pockets her digicam, smirking.
The smirk is short-lived, though, because someone from inside the restaurant recognized her from her boyfriend's music video. And now there are men plastering their faces against the window to look at her. So she smiles sweetly…
…and flips them the bird.
Sophie is nobody, really she is. She has that wide eyed 'just got to the big city' look to her. She peeks in various store windows, and oohs at the ethnic restaurants. Stopping a second, she sees the woman making that gesture, and she blinks, turning to see who it is aimed at.
There's a bar just down the way from that restaurant, Curly Joe's. A dive, really, with seedy patrons and an even seedier owner. Not the kind of place one might expect to find a 10-year-old girl, but that's exactly the door that Jamie comes out of, looking bored. She soon finds a way to relieve that boredom, by doing a handstand on the back of a nearby bench.
Joule sighs. The gesture doesn't seem to have done much to discourage the gawkers. "It's a good thing he's cute," she says, like a mantra. And then, she's distracted by the blonde child doing the handstand on the bench. "Not bad," she compliments, deciding to indulge her new fanboys by putting a leg up on the bench and doing an obvious balletic stretch.
Sophie looks past the girl, and toward the kid doing handstands. She breaks into a smile, one of recognition. She moves closer, though not trying to distract her in the middle of her gymastics.
Jamie smiles at the compliment, "Thanks." She bends her legs down, slowly, shifting her weight so she doesn't unbalance as she moves to try to put her feet down on the bench, probably to attempt to stand up. She might be flexible to manage it, but her winter coat's a bit too bulky to allow it. With a sound of frustration, she brings her feet back out and lets herself tip off the bench to land back on her feet on the ground. To Joule she admits, "I'm better in a leotard. This coat makes it hard." The fact that it's a stranger doesn't seem to keep her from talking. When she sees Sophie, she gives a wave with a bright smile.
"Well, yeah, but you compensated for the extra weight," Joule adds, settling onto the bench herself. Now that she's done stretching, the oglers seem to be dissipating, as she hoped. She glances past the little girl and gives a nod to the other woman standing nearby. "'Lo," she tells the other woman.
Sophie tells Jamie, "Wow, I see you everywhere." with a wide smile. Then she gives a nod to the other woman, saying, 'Those guys staring at you, that was pretty rude."
Jamie nods quickly to Joule, smiling. "Uh-huh. Are you an acrobat too?" Then she looks up to Sophie and says, "I go all over, yep. But I live here," she adds, indicating the bar. Then she blinks, "How come it's rude? I like people staring at me. Means I'm giving a good show."
Joule shakes her hand dismissively. "It's okay. I should be a little more patient. Oh, no…no, I'm no acrobat. It's on account of the video, see." She grins at Jamie as she explains. "It's not rude if you're doing a show so people watch. But it's rude if you're just trying to live your life and enjoy a little me-time, y'know? So if I were performing, I'd be okay with being stared at."
Sophie nods, "Yeah, that's what I think. Most people don't want to be on all the time."
Jamie blinks at that explanation, and then ohs, nodding a bit, "Yeah, that'd be kinda bad. My mom used to want time alone too. My mom had a sign she put outside our tent when she didn't want anybody coming in. She'd take really long baths and stuff then. But when she was outside, people were always staring at her."
"Your mum was an acrobat, then?" Joule asks, frowning slightly at the fact the kid used the past tense. "You're …staying with relatives, then?"
Sophie nods slowly, with some concern. "It sounds like a pretty interesting life."
Jamie nods quickly to Joule and says, "Uh-huh. She was the best! We did shows together every day." Then she bites her lip and shakes her head a bit, "Don't got any relatives left. Joe looks after me now." Indicating Curly Joe's bar.
"Oh. Sorry," Joule murmurs. "I know what it's like, though. Lost my mum when I was a bit younger than you. And my dad — last year. So let's hear it for girls who can take care of themselves, then?" she offers, by way of turning a negative into a positive.
Sophie nods as she says, "That had to be hard. Mine is still around, though I'm pretty far from home right now."
Jamie nods a little, to Sophie too. "Was awful hard. Was all on my own. Met Joe when I started workin' for him. After he saw what I could do, guess he started likin' me, and now he's like my dad. But doesn't make me study, like he did."
"Good you've someone lookin' out for you," Joule observes. "Or you'd end up like me." The smile is wry. She seems successful enough. And the ogling men imply her fame is at least strong for the moment.
Sophie gives Joule a look that seems to note the same thing. But she nods, "Studying is important, though."
Jamie blinks, looking back towards the restaurant Joule left and then up to her. "What's wrong with you? You're famous! That's the best thing there is." She looks up to Sophie and shrugs, "Not for me. Don't need it for the stuff Joe hired me for. And I already know how to be an acrobat."
Joule laughs. "Famous for one appearance in one video, where everyone seems to have gotten a slightly exaggerated notion of me." But she doesn't seem to mind, as much as she's griping about it. "Plus, I already have a boyfriend who's frantic somebody's going to try to steal me."
Sophie chuckles, 'I guess that makes me pretty much a failure. I'm not famous at all.'
Jamie grins to Sophie and shakes her head quickly, "Not a failure. Just not famous. I'm gonna be famous someday." She looks back up to Joule, and giggles at the mention of a boyfriend. She starts to say more, but a man steps out of the bar, "Jamie, come on. We have to get going." The girl blinks, "Oh, yeah, sorry Switch!" She looks up to the others and says, "Gotta go. Bye." Then she turns to run to catch up to the man, who starts around behind the bar through the alley beside it.