arag0rn2931

[arag0rn2931]

The Nice Guys (a love story) - part two

Julie Healy (replacement of Jackson Healy) beats people up for money. When her job leads her to P.I. Holland March, her relatively simple life turns into something more dangerous and messy. She ends up having to work with Holland in order to find a missing girl named Amelia. Together, they uncover a government conspiracy whilst slowly falling for each other along the way. This is basically the plot of the movie The Nice Guys but I've replaced Russell Crowe's character with a woman, changed the dialogue a little and made her a love interest to Ryan Gosling's character.

Warning!! Fluff, pining from Holland, lots of bickering with flirty undertones, enemies to lovers tropes, and more…

This story can also be found on wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/story/348465727?utm_source=ios&utm_medium=link&utm_content=story_info&wp_page=story_details&wp_uname=cat_n0ir15&wp_originator=Q3ak6Nr2TwScSd1AF%2B0jeVcPp4VnqeK%2FFpG8h883%2ByZYGgU2PIxfNxKTA3u%2BJh01ac%2BkLHewo5ojbj06hTeBHh%2Fja2ZQ5QiF8Wa9pnTlj39KKAEKnk2wfWhkb8ga8dTF

Holland March sat on the toilet of the bowling alley restroom reading a magazine and smoking a cigarette. Julie's mark on him still remained in the shape of a white cast with a drawing of a goose on it. Every time he looked at it it reminded him of her.

The door to the restroom slowly creaked open, causing Holland to look up, his face full paranoia. Ever since his attack his heart would run wild at the slightest sound. He watched the floor as two boots, suspiciously small for a man's, stopped outside of his stall. To his relief they walked away from his stall. Holland took a drag from his cigarette and tried to look under the stall door again, confusion etched on his face. A knock sounded on his door.

"March. Julie Healy. Don't get upset. I'm not here to hurt you again. I just wanna ask you a question."

Holland opened the door with his foot, a look of anger on his face as he pointed a gun directly at Julie.

"Hey, no," Julie reasoned, pointing a warning finger at him.

"How stupid do you think I am?" Holland said, a cigarette between his lips. "I got a license to carry, motherfucker. Ever since your little visit the other day, this little baby's gonna stay right here", he gestured to his pocket. He then struggled with the position of his magazine as he tried not to expose himself to her. "Fuck, fuck," he said to himself. Him and the door then had a vigorous battle for about 10 seconds as he tried to keep everything in place whilst still having Julie in his direct line of sight. Holland decided it would be best if he just got off the toilet. He tried to get up but the same battle with the door threatened to resume. "Look away", Holland pointed his gun at Julie.

"I've seen it all before, dude," Julie chuckled whilst turning away. However there was a mirror in front of her meaning that she could still see Holland. "You know there's a mirror here, right?"

"Close your eyes. I said close them you pervert," Holland threatened, pointing his gun at her again. Julie made a point of covering her eyes with her hand reluctantly, a small smirk playing on her lips. The struggle continued. "Fucking damn it. Forget it. You know what? Turn around." Julie turned around with her hand still covering her eyes. "Fuck. You can take your hand away now." Julie removed her hand but kept her eyes closed. "Open your eyes goddammit!" Julie opened her eyes and chuckled at Holland's desperate attempt to hide himself. "What do you want?" He said very seriously, his gun firmly aimed at her.

"I want you to find Amelia."

***

"So you think these guys are gonna hurt Amelia?" Holland asked. The pair had found their way to a booth in the dining area of the bowling alley.

"Sure, after they're done killing her," Julie said seriously. Holland raised on eyebrow. "You know, I asked around about you. There's a couple of people I trust that say you're pretty good at this."

"Well, that's surprising. I would have thought your job ended with breaking my fucking arm," Holland raised his arm, annoyance in his voice.

"Well, you know, technically it did," Julie chuckled. "I'm off the clock. This is a separate situation."

"I'm not buying this nice girl act, sweetheart. I've fallen for it before," Holland clicked his tongue and leant across the table towards Julie. He surveyed her for a second. "She owes you money, doesn't she? You're coming to collect? You want me to finger her so you can throw acid in her face? Well, no."

"No, she paid me up front, actually, you know. What it is, for me, is I like where I live and I don't wanna move. So, two days in advance. $400," Julie showed him the money then placed it on the table. They paused for a second. Julie sighed. "Plus whatever the old lady's giving you."

"Old lady? Fuck you, old lady. You broke my arm. I quit, remember?"

"So call her up, get back on the case. Get paid twice."

"Wow, that is very telling. I'm a detective and we have a code. We don't do that. But interesting. Good to know," Holland nodded sarcastically.

"Okay. You were looking for Amelia, right?"

"Yes and no."

"Excuse me?"

"My profession is very complicated, okay? It's nuanced," Holland said whilst putting a cigarette in his mouth. Julie practically drooled at the site of it. The cigarette. Not Holland with the cigarette. Definitely not.

"What does that mean?" Julie asked, confused, but also very distracted by the deliciously bitter smell of the smoke. "Hey, can I borrow one of those?" Julie reached her hand out, a fake smile on her face as she tried to hide her growing annoyance at this man.

"Oh yeah, of course, sure," Holland said overly nicely and took out another cigarette. "You want one? You want it?" He dangled it in front of her face for a few moments then chucked it across the room. "Go fetch it." Julie just stared at him blankly for a second then sighed overdramatically. They sat there in silence for a few moments.

In a rushed moment, she grabbed his lit cigarette, completely catching him off guard and took a long drag from it. She blew the smoke out right into his face. "Well, okay, great," Holland huffed. "Give that back." He reached across the table to try and take it from her but she pulled it away teasingly.

"You're not getting this until I hear more about this complicated career of yours", Julie took another drag. "Or you can go and fetch that one", she raised a challenging eyebrow and gestured with her cigarette in the direction of the one that he'd previously thrown. He scoffed.

"Fuck it", Holland sighed. "Last week this old broad comes to me and she asks me to find her niece, Misty Mountains."

"Misty Mountains? The porno actress? The one that died?"

"The young lady. The porno young lady," Holland paused to put another cigarette in his mouth and lit it. "But, yeah, she died in a crash and then two days later, her aunt goes to her house to clean out the place, and lo and behold, alive and well, Misty Mountains. She sees her through the window. She sees her get in her car. She sees her drive away. Bullshit? Bullshit's right. She's dead and then she's alive. That's what I'm talking about. It's very fucking complicated. But I persevere, you know. I run the tape through and I think, 'Okay, maybe there was a girl there.'"

"Amelia? The old lady saw Amelia?"

"Well, look who decided to show up for class. Yeah. There's a gate guard, he keeps track of all the cars that go in and out. So I checked with him. I ran the plate. I got the name".

"And?" Julie leant forward a bit. Holland held up 3 fingers, a cigarette balancing between his lips. "Three. Three what?"

"Three days in advance if you want the rest of the story."

"Isn't my company payment enough?" Julie smiled fakely. Winding him up was fun. Holland gave her a look that told her it clearly was not enough. "Fuck you. Come on, $600? That's fucking robbery. I've only got $400."

"Well, it's early. So, you can go rob a bank if you hurry," Holland maintained eye contact with Julie, a sassy look in his eyes. Suddenly, Holly came out of nowhere and scared the both of them by clapping her hands. "Jesus!" Holland exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Giving you a rim job," Holly said sweetly as she sat down next to her father.

"What? Rim shot," Holland shouted so the staff could hear, "Rim shot", he repeated almost to himself. Julie gave him an amused smirk.

"Whatever. Hey, can we go one more game before..." Holly lost her train of thought as she laid eyes on Julie. Her face dropped in sour recognition. "You're the one who beat up my dad." Julie just smiled at her.

"Hey. No. Sucker-punched your dad. Big difference," Holland tried to defend himself. "But, don't worry. She just did it for money."

"You beat people up and charge money?" Holly chuckled.

"Yeah. Sad, isn't it?" Holland answered for Julie.

"That's really your job?" Julie nodded back. "No way... So, um, how much would you charge to beat up my friend Janet?"

"What?" Holland protested.

"How much you got?" Julie leaned in toward Holly, a smirk playing on her lips at the kid.

"30 bucks."

"Look, apple pie," Holland slid some apple pie in front of Holly in an attempt to distract her.

"Is she a big girl?" Julie asked.

"She's tall. Super annoying. She's always mean to me," Holly complained over her father's desperate attempts to distract her with pie.

"No problem," Julie winked at her. Holly smiled at her.

"This conversation is over," Holland cut the air with his hands.

"We're just talking," Julie replied childishly.

"And it's over," Holland said. Holly had finally given in and started eating the apple pie.

"400, that's all," Julie tapped the money.

"400. Two days. We find her earlier, I still get to keep it."

"Done," Julie shrugged.

"Deal. Great. Cause I already know where she is," Holland said. Julie reached out her hand for him to shake it but he didn't take it, Holly shook it instead. "No, honey, don't touch that you don't know where it's been." Julie responded to the insult by stealing the lit cigarette between his lips, again. "Hey!" He exclaimed but it was too late for him to get it back.

hope you enjoyed!! 🤭

[arag0rn2931]

The Nice Guys (a love story) - part one

part 2

Julie Healy (replacement of Jackson Healy) beats people up for money. When her job leads her to P.I. Holland March, her relatively simple life turns into something more dangerous and messy. She ends up having to work with Holland in order to find a missing girl named Amelia. Together, they uncover a government conspiracy whilst slowly falling for each other along the way. This is basically the plot of the movie The Nice Guys but I've replaced Russell Crowe's character with a woman, changed the dialogue a little and made her a love interest to Ryan Gosling's character.

Warning!! Lots of fluff (not in this part though… she’s beating him up), pining from Holland, enemies to lovers tropes, and more…

This story can also be found on Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/story/348465727?utm_source=ios&utm_medium=link&utm_content=story_info&wp_page=story_details&wp_uname=cat_n0ir15&wp_originator=Q3ak6Nr2TwScSd1AF%2B0jeVcPp4VnqeK%2FFpG8h883%2ByZYGgU2PIxfNxKTA3u%2BJh01ac%2BkLHewo5ojbj06hTeBHh%2Fja2ZQ5QiF8Wa9pnTlj39KKAEKnk2wfWhkb8ga8dTF

*I don't own any of the characters or events that happen in the movie this is just an adaptation*

"Love. Wonderful, isn't it? The intimacy of being understood. I was in love once. But you can never be wise and be in love at the same time. Remember that.”

Julie woke up to the radio, the same thing she did every morning. She hadn't gotten much sleep but that wasn't an uncommon occurrence. Her watch sat on her bedside table which she picked up. She then put on her shoes. Usually she would sleep in her clothes because no one was around to tell her otherwise. It saved time. Time for what? She didn't know. Her flared jeans were tight on her body and they usually left marks along her stomach, but they were hidden by her jeans. Solve the problem by hiding the problem. The top she wore however looked a little off colour so she decided to wear a different, more colourful one, maybe dazzle her next target a little.

She made her way to the sink, got out her toothbrush and vigorously started brushing her teeth. Her fish tank sat close by and she went over to examine it as she brushed her teeth, sprinkling a bit of fish food inside. All her little fish bobbed their heads up and began eating the multicoloured specks of food on the surface.

"Equanimity," Julie said to herself, reading the 'Word of the Day' for October 26th. "The quality of being calm and even-tempered." She spat out her toothpaste then looked into the mirror as she spoke: "She accepted his betrayal with equanimity".

Julie grabbed her keys and her sunglasses then made her way out of the door, shimmying her long brown coat on as she switched the power off and closed the door behind her. She drove in her car to Holland March's house, her next target. Sunglasses on for this encounter. As she drove up to the house, she noticed a blonde girl around 13 years old counting her steps as she walked, pretending to open a door then sit down on the grass with a book that she began to read.

She pulled up to the house and got out of the car, surveying the area. It was a nice house, pretty big. The guy had a nice car too. She checked the paper Amelia had given her one last time to confirm she was definitely at the right house. An incident had occurred once where she beat up the wrong guy (7s and 1s look the same). After walking up to the door, she rang the doorbell and waited patiently. Sometimes she would get a little nervous before a job but today wasn't one of those days, she wanted to beat this guy up after seeing how scared he'd made that poor girl.

"Who is it?" Holland called from the other side of the door impatiently.

"Messenger service. Is Holland March home?" Julie responded.

Holland opened the door with a hint of annoyance in his eyes at being disturbed but that emotion was replaced by another as soon as his eyes landed on Julie. Damn it, Julie hated when they were attractive, it hurt her a little to damage pretty things. She moved her sunglasses to sit within her hair, her eyes surveying his with no barrier.

"And who might you be?" He leant against the doorframe with a smug little smirk on his face, his eyes slowly making their way up and down her figure. Never mind, Julie thought, this guy was an asshole. And with that she punched him hard in the face, making him stumble backwards. "What the fuck?" He muttered, then slammed himself against the wall and slid to the floor.

"Mr. March, we're gonna play a game." Julie picked him up by his arm aggressively. His bicep felt hard and strong against her hand. Not that she noticed.

"I think you have the wrong house," Holland gasped. Julie didn't like what he was suggesting with that comment so she chucked him across the room, sending him flying.

"It's called, 'Shut up unless you're me'," she kicked him which led to him being flung onto his back. He desperately tried to wriggle backwards away from her but a barricade soon blocked his progress.

"I love that game," Holland wheezed as he rested against the barricade. Julie took his wallet out of his jacket pocket that had come off him in the scuffle.

"You're a private investigator?"

"Look, there's 20 bucks in there, all right? Just take it."

"No, I'm not here for that. I told you, I'm a messenger," she said. She then made a point of looking around his house. "You can afford to live like this as a P.I.?"

"What's the message?" Holland asked angrily.

"Oh, right, right," Julie remembered, leaning down close to Holland's face, making direct eye contact. She cleared her throat. "Stop looking for Amelia, all right?" She smiled sarcastically as she poked his chest for each word, ending with a tap on his nose.

"I'm not even looking for Amelia. She's a person of interest, man," Holland responded with the air of a petulant child. "Fine. I'm done. Put a fork in me," he said, looking and gesturing to anything that wasn't Julie. He then realised what he'd just said. "Don't really put a fork in me," he pointed at her, resuming the direct eye contact. Julie lifted herself away from his eye line but his eyes followed her.

"Amelia is gonna be so happy that you got the message so quickly. It's gonna make her smile. That's good." Julie looked around the house again then back to Holland. "Now, ahem, I got one more thing I need to ask you before we're done here."

"You wanna know who hired me," Holland groaned.

"Bingo. Yeah," Julie smiled broadly, "Now we can do this the easy way or we can do it the hard way."

"Glenn."

"What?"

"Lily Glenn. Two N's. Old lady hired me to find her niece on Tuesday."

"You just gave up your client."

"I made a discretionary revelation," Holland said as he pulled himself up again.

"No. No, you just gave her up. I asked you one simple question. You gave me all the information... What little respect I had left for you is now gone," Julie rolled her eyes.

"I though that's what you wanted," Holland replied. He then quickly leant over the counter to grab a gun from the cookie pot but Julie had already noticed. She punched him before he could shoot her. He dropped to the floor and the gun left his hand.

"Now, I'm very sorry that you didn't get the message," Julie said as she leant against the counter looking down at a groaning Holland.

"Me too," he sniffed. "But I get it now. I get it. I dig it." However he obviously hadn't as he began determinedly army crawling across the floor toward his gun. Yet Julie managed to kick it away from him before he could grab it. "Shit!" Holland lay his head on the floor in defeat.

"What about now?" Julie lifted up his chin so that Holland was looking at her, "You get the message now?"

"Yep," Holland nodded vigorously whilst looking into Julie's dark, brown eyes. They looked unnervingly cold.

"Are you sure?" Julie asked him as one would ask a child.

"Yeah. I'm-" Holland began to say but Julie dropped his chin from her grasp and his head hit the floor, hard.

"Alright then," she brushed herself off as she stood up tall. She walked around his tense body that was still on the floor. "Give me your left arm."

"Huh?"

"Your left arm. Give me your left arm. This one," she grabbed his left arm but Holland began to struggle.

"No!" He struggled under her grasp.

"Yeah, come on," Julie managed to grab Holland's arm and pulled it back behind his body whilst Holland screamed many refusals. "Did you cut yourself?" She asked, an ironically worried expression on her face. The cut looked very deep.

"I'm dealing with an injury," Holland responded childishly.

"Right, look, when you're talking to your doctor, just tell him you have a spiral fracture of the left radius," Julie held his left arm firmly.

"No. NO!" Holland shouted.

"Deep breath," Julie said, then twisted. A satisfying crack followed. A not so satisfying shriek came after as Holland reacted to the damage. "Do you mind if I have an apple?" No reply. Julie took one anyway. "All right, Mr. March. You have a good day, okay?" She took a bite of her apple then left.

As she walked to her car, apple in hand she was stopped by the same blonde girl she'd seen acting strangely before she'd met Mr. March.

"Hi," she smiled at Julie, a bag of groceries in her hand.

"Hey," Julie responded as she opened her door.

"Want a Yoo-hoo?"

"A Yoo-hoo? Are you kidding?" Julie turned around, chucking her finished apple behind her. She looked into the bag and took out a Yoo-hoo. "Oh, yeah. You know, I haven't had one of these in about 20 years."

"Are you a friend of my dad's?" The blonde girl asked with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah... we're um-"

"He never has girls over," the girl said with a sly sort of expression.

"Oh no, sweetheart. Your dad and I, we're, uh, business associates. He's inside, resting..." Julie confirmed with a small smile which the girl returned sweetly. "Didn't I see you crawling round a vacant lot a couple of blocks over?"

"Um, maybe," the girl looked behind her, slightly awkwardly. "I read there sometimes."

"Right," Julie nodded. "Thanks again for the Yoo-hoo," she said as she got into her car. The girl smiled and walked towards her house, completely unaware of her fathers' agony on the other side of the door.

"Bye," the girl said.