DC: The Brave and the Bawdy

JSA: New Girl

"Courtney!" called Barbara, "Courtney, where are you, hon?"

"Over here," replied Courtney lazily.

The young blonde woman was lounged back across a sofa, the only article of furniture in the large room filled with empty boxes. Courtney's long wavy hair hung down over the arm of the chair that she was using as a pillow. She wore a red T-shirt, blue denim shorts, and matching red high tops. Her eyes remained fixed on her phone, typing messages to her friends in Coast City.

"Courtney," sighed Barbara, "What are you doing in here? Come out and meet the neighbors."

Courtney suppressed an eye roll as she sat up and got to her feet. Her face remained otherwise expressionless as she joined her mom walking out the door.

Barbara looked a great deal like her daughter, down to the style of dress. Although Barbara opted for light blue instead of red and wore a pair of old gym shoes instead of high tops.

"Please be polite," requested Barbara, "Let's avoid an embarrassing first day here."

"Have some faith, Mom."

Courtney Whitmore and her mom Barbara had just arrived at their new house in Blue Valley, Nebraska. Courtney was enrolling in Blue Valley University within the week. It wasn't Courtney's first choice of school, but she was getting reduced in-state tuition now that they were moving in with her step dad.

"-anyway I must have been at that railroad crossing for twenty minutes!"

Pat Dugan laughed forcefully at the end of his joke, a wide open grin on his face. That quickly melted away when his only audience responded with just blank stares.

And Mom's worried I'LL embarrass her? thought Courtney, She's the one who married THIS dork.

Pat's disinterested audience consisted of a family of three. The father was a tall, broad shouldered man with a buzz cut and a square jaw; even Pat, a tall and broad shouldered man in his own right, looked somewhat scrawny compared to him. The mother was a short woman with lean muscles and an intense face. The daughter looked a lot like her mother, but with her father's height and shoulders.

Pat turned to see Courtney and Barbara walking out to join them.

"Court! Barb!" he smiled, "Meet the Crocks! This is Lawrence, Paula, and Artemis!"

"A pleasure," smiled Barbara, shaking hands.

"Hi," offered Courtney along with a minimal smile.

"Court," continued Pat, "Artemis is starting at BVU next week too! Small world, huh?"

"Yeah," said Courtney.

"Tell me, Pat," said Lawrence, "What do you bench?"

Courtney caught Artemis smirk out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh, me?" chuckled Pat nervously, "No, I haven't- I'm not-"

"I could see him doing 45," offered Paula.

"45!?" croaked Pat before clearing his throat, "I- I can do 120."

"Yeah?" chuckled Lawrence, throwing Pat into a headlock, "Is that so!?"

Paula and Artemis both let out short laughs. Barbara froze up with uncertainty. Courtney smothered her face with her hands in a vain attempt to escape the second hand embarrassment.

"Pat..." she groaned.

"Hey!" laughed Pat uncomfortably, "Very funny! Now let's- Hey!"

Lawrence had already begun the application of a meticulously painful noogie. Pat gritted his teeth to keep from yelling out in pain.