Coincidental help

Who: Billy & Jules
When: Afternoon, 3ish
Where: Hardware store

After loading her car with bags upon bags of new clothes from the mall, Jules decided to drop by the hardware store while she was out and about. The mirror above her bed needed to come down. Paranoia from the shadows was working overtime and after her freak out with Sasha, it was time to pull it off the ceiling. It was better not to have it up there should the shadows decide to make another appearance. She wasn't about to live out her nightmare if she could help it.

So she parked in front of the hardware store and headed inside. Unfortunately, the one thing she didn't manage to pick up growing up was her father's handyman skills. She was pretty much in uncharted territory as she walked through the aisles trying to figure out exactly how to go about getting the mirror down. For twenty minutes she walked around aimlessly. Flustered, she shook her head. "Damn. Maybe I shoulda asked Sasha first..."

Billy had the opposite problem. He knew exactly what he was doing and he'd come to the hardware store with a list a mile long of just what he needed for the new house. But he was also exacting - nothing less than exactly what he had down would do. So, he'd been here for most of the afternoon, a cart full of supplies before him as he continued his sweep of the cavernous store for just what he required. Currently he was in the tools section, looking to replace some of his older, more worn out tools. Only the best was good enough for the new house, and Oz had generously agreed to bankroll this little shopping trip.

"Tools... I need tools I guess... but what kind of tools...?" she muttered to herself as she headed down yet another aisle. Stop talking to yourself she commanded when she saw the man in the aisle looking over tools. She turned her attention towards the shelves of just about every tool you could imagine. She looked pretty out of place in the store. Her outward appearance screaming everything but do it yourselfer. Not only was she out of place, but she was baffled. She'd had someone else put the mirror up, but she wasn't sure calling the same handyman would be the right choice. He'd probably think she was off her rocker. Then again... maybe not. If he had run ins with the shadows as well then he'd understand. She shook her head. "Just do it yourself." she muttered.

Billy was distracted from his contemplation about what he really needed by the woman muttering to herself and he looked over, raising an eyebrow. "Are you okay, miss?" he asked her, politely. "You need some help?" She wasn't the first person he'd seen looking totally lost in a hardware store, after all.

Shit. she thought, realizing she must have mumbled aloud. Turning her head towards the man's voice she nodded. "That would be spectacular. I'm not exactly a handywoman, at least not in the way I need to be right now." she chuckled. "Um... I need to take a mirror down and I haven't the foggiest idea how to go about doing so."

"How big's the mirror and where is it?" he asked her, abandoning his cart and heading over towards her. "I mean, I'm assuming that it's not just hanging on the wall by some string," he joked with a grin, not making fun, just lightly teasing.

"Um... It's pretty big... almost as big as a king sized bed... and it's... on the ceiling." she told him. She waited to see the look pass his face that she figured would. Not everyone in this tiny town had a ceiling mirror. In fact she was pretty sure she was the only person in the town with one.

Billy's expression didn't change, not a bit. The first thing you learned when you were surviving dreams was to not show your emotions outwardly unless you were really certain of your surroundings. At least, that was the first lesson Billy ahd learnt. But he grew up in a town of many nightmares. He'd learnt the hard way. "I see, well, that's going to be quite the task to get down," he told her, as though this was a perfectly normal, every day occurance. "Technically, not difficult, but the weight'll be the thing, see? Have you got people to help you with it?" he asked her.

"I could probably talk my friend Sasha into helping." she told him. "Don't think he'd be opposed to getting the thing out of the house." She didn't elaborate on why she wanted it out of the house. She wasn't entirely sure who might have had run ins with the shadows. For all she knew, the man could have been out of town when hell descended upon the city.

"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea, or gravity's really gonna fuck your shit up," Billy told her, easily. "Unless you're very good at jumping out of the way and don't mind a huge hole in your ceiling from that last screw," he added. He could guess why she wanted rid - he wasn't planning on mirrors featuring very highly in the new place. Not after everything they'd been through with the whatever they were.

She nodded. "Yeah, no holes in the ceiling and I'd much rather not be cleaning up glass from now until I'm thirty." she said. "I had someone else put it up, but I have the feeling that putting it up was a lot easier than taking it down will be. Maybe I should hire professionals."

"Broken mirror - seven years bad luck, if you believe in that kind of thing," Billy pointed out. "You hire someone to put it up for you?" he asked her, knowing that he didn't do it and, really? If this girl didn't, then he was assuming that her boyfriend had done it for some kinky sex shit. Mirrors on the ceiling - it generally went that kind of a way.

"Yeah. Hired someone after I moved in and everything. Kinda feel weird asking the guy to come back and take it down so soon after he put the damn thing up." she shrugged. "So... I'll do it myself... or weasel someone else into taking it down. Maybe I can find a handyman around here. I'm sure Marquette at least has one of those."

Billy laughed at that. "Okay, so as much as I hate taking business away from a competitor - if you're set on not going back to him, I can do it for you," billy told her. "Name's Billy - and coincidentally in a weird quirk of fate, I happen to be a handyman," he laughed again. Because, seriously, how often did work just fall into your lap like that? And, okay, he was working flat out between patching up the nightmare that was Oz' house and fixing up his own, but he could take a few out to take down a damn mirror, couldn't he?

"You're kidding." she said with a little laugh. "Well then, sure. That'd be amazingly helpful. Do I like need to buy anything in here for ya? And I can pay you for helping me out. I'd much rather you do it than have to get up on the ladder myself." She hadn't really been looking forward to taking the mirror down. The more she thought about it the more of a hassle it seemed to become. "I can probably talk Sasha into helping out too, if need be. I'm far better at overseeing projects than partaking in them." she laughed again.

"If you really want to hire me, then no - you don't need to buy anything here. It's just a matter of taking out screws, getting the whole thing down and making good. I can even bring my own help along," he added. "Unless you'd prefer me to enlist your friend." Normally, he'd rope in Oz, but in the guy's absence, he thought he could talk Dean into it.

"Okay then, less hardware shopping for me then. Lovely." she smiled. "As for help, if you want to bring your own along, you're more than welcome to. Not sure when you could squeeze me in and what not and Sasha works as a mechanic. So I guess it'd probably be better for you to bring your own."

"Not a problem at all, miss," he assured her. "When would be convenient for me to call round?" he asked her, knowing that with the fact he was working almost exclusively for his best friend at the moment, he could be flexible with his hours.

"Um... I work Monday through Friday, nine to five, so anytime after about 6 I'm around and anytime on the weekends. Let me write my number down for you." she told him, sifting through her purse to find a piece of paper to write her name and phone number on. "I put my cell on there too, you can call that anytime really, always have it on me. If I don't answer you can just leave a message. I'm Jules by the way. Think I neglected mentioning that earlier." she smiled and offered out her hand for a shake and the paper with the other.

"Yes, I was going to ask, if you hadn't said," Billy told her with a grin, fishing around in his pocket and bringing out a card, handing it over. "And this is me, if you need anything. I could probably come round tomorrow, if it suits - I'd call beforehand, of course, to make sure that you'll be there," he told her.

She grinned. "Thank you. Like I said, not very handy. I could use a hired 'man around the house'." she teased. "I really appreciate it. You have no idea how much you've made my life easier."

Billy chuckled. "Well, glad I could be of help - must have been fate. or, you know, total coincidence that I was hanging round a hardware store. Probably that - I'm in here a lot," he joked.

She shrugged. "Nothings coincidence in this town." she told him. "But, I'll let you get back to your hardware shopping. Thanks again, Billy." She took the card he'd given her and tucked it away in her purse, turning away from the man and heading back down the aisle towards the exit. She gave him a little flicker of a wave before disappearing around the corner. "Well, at least I don't have to do any manual labor." she said to herself as she exited the store.

Seems like a good end to me!