A bright red truck pulled up to the end of the lane, in front of the produce stand. The three men by the produce stand stood and looked at the truck, waiting to see who would step out. As the door to the truck open, before they could see anyone step out, Katy flew out of the house with a happy squeal and tackled the person driving the truck.
"It's so good to see you Ellie-bird!" Katy smiled, pulling a petite girl with wild red hair out of the truck. The girl threw her head back and gave a throaty laugh, hugging the taller brunette. Katy drug her childhood friend over to her brother and his friends.
"Hey Wayne." The red head nodded at the stoic man. "Hello Ellie. How're ya now?" He nodded back. "Good n' you?" She replied in the slang she learned years ago. "Not so bad." He stood and ruffled her hair like he use to when she was younger.
"Ellie, you remember Daryl right?" Katy pointed to the man in blue coveralls who gave the girls a nod. "Yeah a bit." She shrugged a shoulder and they turned to the burly man in the group. "That's Dan. We call him squirrely Dan. Don't ask." Katy waved in his direction and the man nodded to them.
"Well Katy-cat, not much seems to have changed except y'all's age." The red head gave a smirk, putting her hands into the pockets of her denim cutoffs, her thick southern accent slipping out. Around that time a red jeep pulled up the lane, stopping beside her truck.
"That's Reilly and Jonesy." Katy stated as two typical jock looking men in tank tops and board shorts, one with shoulder length dirty blonde hair and one brunette with shorter hair, jumped out of the jeep and headed for Katy. "Those things yours?" Ellie smirked, cocking an eyebrow at her friend. "Yeah. It's great, right?" She asked, going off with the two boys that stared at her until they were out of the driveway.
"So boys, how's about a beer?"
•●•●•●•●•
"So, Ellie, what're ya doin' here?" Daryl asked, taking a swig of his puppers beer as the small redhead lounged in Katy's typical spot. "Well ya know ol' man Walker? That's my gandpappy. His health's slowly goin' south and since I was the only person unattached back home, I packed myself and my hound up to come help." Ellie shrugged as the trio exchanged looks.
"You're getting help doin' chorin' right?" Dan asked, looking genuinely concerned with the thought of this small girl running a farm by herself. "Oh absolutely darlin'. Grandpappy wouldn't be havin' me doin' it without help. A few hands here and there. It's all going good." Ellie waved his concern away, smiling all the same, taking a sip of her own beer.
She had never had this kind before, but it wasn't bad. Ellie didn't care much for the beers back home. "Ya know, Ellie comes from a town with less people than Letterkenny." Wayne spoke, opening a conversation about her hometown. "Really? Well what is there to do there?" Daryl asked, confusion clear on his face.
"A whole lotta nothin'. Most people there either do meth or hangout at the only gas station that's open all night." She shrugged, a scowl on her face. "Lost a whole lotta decent people to meth. They were promised a helluva lot only to get sucked into a life of pain." Ellie stated angrily, the others shifting in their seats. "Yeah, we've gotta skid problem here too." Dan nodded, becoming more and more confused by this girl.
"Have you even grown any since I saw ya last?" Wayne joked in his monotone-like voice. "I'm a whole five foot now, thank ya very much." Ellie stuck her tongue out at him, rolling her eyes. "Yes and you're how old? Fourteen?" He joked again, the other two listening in curiously. How was it that he was still such good friends with this girl that they barely know and hasn't been in town for at least seven years, if not longer. "I'm twenty six you ass." Ellie snorted, quite unladylike, and took another swig of the beer that was growing on her.
"Oh, so you're the same age as Katy." Daryl chimed in, curious about the girl her only has one fuzzy memory of. "Yeah, it's what made pappy decide to send me over here to make friends when I was nine. Figured Katy and I would get along." She nodded, smiling at the fond memory.
•●•●•●•●•
"Gail. This is Ellie, mine and Katy's old friend." Wayne introduced her to the woman bartending at the bar they walked into, Modean's. Gail made a hushed comment to Wayne, Ellie not paying attention and looking around. She sat at the edge on the other side of Wayne, not wanting to break the boys apart.
Before she could even sip the beer offered, Katy came in, Jonesy and Rielly trailing behind her. Katy grabbed ahold of her arm and pulled her over to a table with them. Ellie barely had enough time to grab her beer. "So, Ellie, having fun?" Katy smirked as the boys went to go get themselves and her a drink.
"Ya left me with your brother and his friends for a whole day. It wasn't bad surprisingly, but it has been enough." Ellie stated as Katy laughed at her statement. "Well that's my big brother for you." Katy smiled, taking a drink of the beer the boys brought back for her. The four of them sat and talked for a bit.
Suddenly Jonesy and Rielly stood up quickly, their chairs scraping the floor violently. They started an argument with a group of men that just walked in, all dressed in black jeans and black shirts. "Skids. That's Stewert. Devon and Roald. Those two are Darien and Conner but they never really talk." Katy pointed to each as she named them. "Oh. What's your boys' problem with them?" Ellie asked, watching the arguing in front of her.
Katy shrugged as her boyfriends started off closer to the group of so called skids. Ellie rolled her eyes with a snort. "This is ridiculous." She stated, standing up herself. She went to move between the two groups but Wayne stopped her with a hand on her shoulder and a shake of his head. "Oh come on now. They're blocking the exit." She pointed out, making the two groups stare at her.
"Make them at least take this outside Wayne!" Ellie complained to him, aware of what transpired with Angie, just hopeful that he was back to his regular self.
Wayne only walked away.
YOU ARE READING
A Different Kind of Soft
Fanfiction*Strong Language* Elowen "Ellie" Tate is from the southern part of the US but moves up to Letterkenny to help her aging grandpa with his farm that she use to visit in the summers when she was younger. She had been friends with Katy and Wayne since s...
