winniehollings

[winniehollings]

She could see the distrust in his eyes, and at some point, she could understand him. There she was, a complete stranger, nothing to do with his life, that was sitting in front of his door trying to shimmy it open with nothing but a credit card, desperation and a dream to see her dog again, so Winnie understood the face he gave her while she spun her story. Felix bark must've caught him off guard and her eyes saw in Pollux's dad that she wasn't lying.

"Oh, don't worry, I know I don't have enough strength to kick down doors, plus these aren't really great for kicking" Windsor said with a little laugh, pointing at the cowboy boots that were now almost under her butt as she sat down by his door. Shifting a little to let him open the door, she was happy to see Felix right there, the tan labradoodle running and jumping on her lap, Win quick to get on her kneels to hug him "Hi, hi baby, hi hi hi"

Standing up, she smiled when he spoke and instinctively followed him in. She'd never seen this man in her recent memory, nor had she been in his home, yet everything felt oddly familiar "Oh yeah, I moved here not too long ago, so I've been trying things out. There's a groomer not too far away and they returned him smelling just as bad as he was when he went in, I'm pretty sure they just hosed him down and charged me forty bucks for that" She said, rubbing her dog's head as she talked "This one has been great, and I mean, now knowing that you've got him and I've got Felix, we can, like, I can pick him up and bring him over, he can stay at mine until you get home, or the same like if I have press or anything... I mean, he knows your house now" She joked, realizing she'd just invited her dog over to his house and viceversa and not even introduced himself "I'm sorry, where are my manners, I was just trying to get myself into your apartment... I'm Windsor Hollings" She said, extending her hand out to the stranger.

there's a brief moment , after she turns around to face him as she is going through with her story and trying to explain herself , where alexander is taken aback . not truly a rhyme or reason for the way his body reacts , other than the blonde's features are oddly familiar to him . living in cornelia , the chef is no stranger to recognizing those who's names belong next to the stars : actors , singers , sportsmen ; the street he lives in attracts an array of celebrities and distinguished people one happens to come across when going to get groceries or coming in from work . the possibility of a celebrity trying to break into his humble home is low , but never zero so he spends a minute trying to commit her features to memory , trying to find a matching name from the tabloids or a trailer or music video he's seen in the past ten years ; to no avail yet the sense of familiarity only rises with every second that passes and every word that she speaks .

when he is pointed at the other's home , he gives a nod . that must be it , the familiarity must come from them being neighbors , even if he doesn't exactly recall seeing the blonde in the apartment building before . he is good with faces , can commit people's features to memory in a span of seconds if he sets his mind to it ( which he does with his neighbors whenever he meets them ) , but he simply decides to let the circumstance explain itself for now . it's only as the other mentions her dog that his attention shifts from her to his very own chocolate labradoodle on a leash , looking up at him excitedly and waving his tail the way he usually did whenever he came home from work . he kneels down to scratch his ear , just as he can hear a desperate bark from inside his home . the story begins to make sense and although a part of him is still unsure , urgency kicks in as he senses the desperation on both the woman standing in front of him and the dog barking on the other side of the door .

" oh shit , wait . hold on " he muses , standing on his feet and taking his keys out from his pocket , opening the door as quickly as his callous hands allow him . " if that had been me , i would've tried to kick the door down so i count myself lucky you didn't try that " he says as he struggles with his doorknob before opening the door , allowing the other to enter his home before leading pollux in . " so sorry about the mix-up . they are really great most of the time but they get a lot of dogs daily and sometimes things get out of hand — one time they got me into walking like five different dogs home because they were short on staff . they truly are great with them, though . pol loves going , it's one of his favorite places in town . "

[winniehollings]

Winnie heard the elevator door open but was too entranced trying to jam the credit card and wiggle the knob to try and open this God forsaken door, Pollux now sniffing up and down the corridor and staying at her door. Of course, he smelled Felix "Don't worry, baby, mommy's coming, mom- What?"

She turned only to see a man speaking at her, and it took every one of her neurons to focus on his hand, and the word cops. He's gonna call the police. Her hands dropped the card and she lifted both of them up as if to plead not guilty "Oh- No, no, I-"

Pollux saved her life by running up to his owner, which made her sigh and laugh a little "I'm so sorry, I- I think we both take our dogs to the same groomer, and they're both labradoodles, and I went to pick Felix up and they gave me your dog, and they were gonna call you but nobody picked up because you're not home- Well, obviously" She said with a scoff and a laugh. The stranger looked... Familiar, for some reason. Like she'd seen his face before somewhere, way too familiar. And it wasn't like 'He's got one of those TV ads face' kinda familiar, it's like she knew him. But how?

Focus, Winnie, he's gonna call the cops and keep your dog

"So when I asked where my dog was, they gave me your address, and like, I live there, two doors down" She pointed down the hallway with a smile and then looked up at the stranger again, he looked so confused, and Windsor went from trying to explain herself to just feeling anxious, deflated, and wanting nothing more than to hug her damn dog "Listen, I just- I... I want my dog? Please, can you open the door? I- Felix" Win spoke a little louder, getting barks and whines from the other side "I promise I wasn't trying to steal from you, I just wanna hug my dog" The last phrase felt a little softer as she placed a hand on the middle of his door, her butt still planted on the ground, not really moving.

work had been complicated .

alexander loved going to 'the kitchen' two or three days every week , a high-end restaurant in brooklyn a good friend of his owned where chefs from around the city gave their costumers a new experience every day by rotating the head chefs and the menu altogether , never once selling the same thing two days in a row . it was a challenge in every sense of the word every single time it was his turn yet the chef loved every second of it , had learned to enjoy the highs and the lows , relish every aspect of the demanding job .

still , his work day had been complicated , to say the very least. they had been two men short as one of his helpers had had to take the day off and his usual sous chef , the one he always had by his side and could read his every mannerism without need of much words had had a small accident during prep time , some of the ingredients he had specifically ordered for the day had been swapped and , on top of it all , he had had a celebrity visit . certainly , for the restaurant it was an honor but it meant everyone in the kitchen had been overworked , overstressed and too starstruck to function like they normally would , causing the entire operation to delay 20 minutes from opening hour to closing time.

yet , alexander found solance in the knowledge that once he got home , everything would be alright . he would grab pollux after his own big day at the groomer and being dropped off to his home , the two would go take a small stroll from their home to the nearest park where they would run and jump and play and rest for about an hour before returning home for a nice warm bath for himself while the labradoodle rested and they would have dinner together , in front of the t.v as they often did when alex happened to work at ' the kitchen '.

however , the moment the chef walked up to his studio apartment , it became painstakingly obvious that the plans would be very different from what had been on his mind althroughout the day the moment he saw someone opening his door , using a credit card . he stood there in silence for around two minutes as he tried to register what he was seeing , unsure if his eyes were deceiving him or if he had simply gotten himself lost in his own apartment building before pulling out his phone and cleaning his throat , bewildered .

" uh ... i don't know what you think you're doing trying to break into my home but if you don't stop i'm gonna have to call the cops . "

[winniehollings]

As big of a country music star Winnie knew she was, there was something so magical about New York that gave her almost a cloak of invisibility, or at least made her unrecognizable enough to walk around. Maybe that's why she wanted to switch to pop, to become less recognizable and more mainstream, make her music get to more people, but for now, while she discovered her new sound, she could deal with this. Walking around the old record shop, she stopped at the country section and looked around, finding one of her first albums on CD. Just as she was about to pick it up, she turned to the girl behind her ruffling through vinyls "I mean, there's a lot of music that's been standing the test of time sine time first started... You'll never find an unsold copy for vintage Beatles music, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash and Elvis should never be sat on a bargain bin... I think the most important is that like, just because they're old doesn't mean they're bad, and just because they're new doesn't mean they're good... If you've got an old good thing, that's a classic. If you've got a new bad thing... That's the ones that won't stand the test of time and end up in the trash"

@corneliastarters / location ; our song

Robin sat on the counter filing through the latest batch of records brought in by some elderly woman looking for some extra cash. As expected it was full of out of date polka, Barbra Streisand, christmas albums, and of course the standard Whipped Cream and Other Delights by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass. " Do you ever stop and wonder what of our modern life will stand the test of time ? " she asked aloud to the only other person in the shop with her. " I mean, like music wise. Do you think that in like thirty years, we'll be seeing like Born to Die or Currents in every music store clearance bin ? " Man, she really needs to stop coming into work high.

[winniehollings]

She'd been navigating New York for the past two weeks, and things were slowly starting to become easier for Winnie. She'd gotten herself into a routine, found a nice gym to work out at, she'd become a regular of the cafe around the block so they knew her order before she had to finish a single sentence, and even found a nice park where Felix could play and it wasn't far away from a groomer where she dropped him off to get cleaned once every so often.

Today had been one of those days.

She'd left the cream colored labradoodle in the shop at about three before she had to go into a meeting downtown with her managers about changing her style and making herself more New York pop attractive, and it'd completely drained her energy. She was still a country girl in her bones, and even though she wanted this change, it just felt so... Forced. Ready to pick up Felix and go home, she made it to the shop.

"You're here for the labradoodle, right?" The man at the register asked as he swiped Winnie's card. "Mhm, cream colored, Felix" She said with a smile, looking at the window where she could see all the dogs. Felix wasn't there, but it was probably because he was in some waiting room, right. "Alright let me go get him" He said before disappearing into the room, and bringing a chocolate colored one that was clearly not Felix "Excuse me... This isn't.. This one isn't mine?" Winnie said after being handed the leash "Isn't this Felix Hollings- Oh.... Oh no" He was quick to check the tag and see another name POLLUX and a New York area code phone number "I'm so sorry, Felix was delivered to someone else's house..." The employee talked while calling the phone on Pollux's tag, but no answer "Here's the address, we'll go-" "Wait, that's two doors down from where I live, I- Let me take this dog and go rescue mine" She said, grabbing the chocolate dog's leash and running out the door.

She was fuming. Felix was her whole life, her best friend, and he'd been delivered to God knew who, probably had him locked in a cage and he'd never been crate trained a day in his life, he was probably so sad. All those thoughts went through Winnie's mind as she got to her apartment with Pollux in her hand, the dog knowing exactly which door to go to. "Felix? Felix, where are you?" She spoke through the door, hearing the dog barking confused "God damnit- Come here Pollux" She grabbed the dog's collar gently and put the number that was on the tag into her phone. The landline started ringing. And of course nobody was home "Fuck- I'm coming, Felix" She dropped the brown dog's leash and ruffled in her bag, picking up an old credit card and shimmying it into the lock, trying to work it into the slot of the door to open it and save her dog. (@poetrysings)

[winniehollings]

WINDSOR WINNIE HOLLINGS

name: windsor hollings nicknames: winnie, winds, windy, win. date of birth: may 26th zodiac: gemini sun, aries moon, aries rising age: 30 residence: studio apartment fc: kelsea ballerini skeleton: muse b - seven

Windsor was born and raised in a small town by a single dad who worked his arms off to give her the world, and that's how she was raised, to work very hard for what she wanted. She was kind to anyone and everyone she met, constantly bringing stray animals home, making new friends at recess and convincing everyone that kindness was the way forward.

From a very young age, Winnie loved to sing. Her dad did work on the local vocal teacher's house so she'd give Winnie lessons for free, and then did the same with the town's guitar teacher, and just like that, by the time she was 12, Winnie was singing in every chapel, performing on every stage they'd let her be at, and loving every second of it. She was destined for great things, not for this small town, and she knew it.

Her big break came at 18, when a scouter heard her play at a local bar, and offered her a recording deal. Things blew right up from there, and Winnie picked up her roots, her dad and her guitar and moved to Nashville. She'd lived there, performing all over the country, living the superstar life, with her dad as her manager and her best friend in the world.

Only now, when she tried to change her style a little, reinvent herself at thirty, did Windsor decide to change labels. Her dad had thrown down roots in Nashville, and didn't wanna move with her until she was properly settled, so she moved into a studio apartment on Cornelia Street with her labradoodle Felix.