Sally Hopkins's Story

Benjamin Simpkin
The brunette, or Rose as she introduced herself, or McDunn as he had chosen to call her, put on a good hostess act, smiled when she was supposed to and said all the right things. She might as well have been talking to a deaf though; all Ben really cared about was the key to his room that she handed him. When the doorbell rang he couldn't help a smile as McDunn straightened out her clothes and hair before answering the door. Someone seemed to care way too much about looking professional.

The woman who had rug the doorbell was actually rather attractive, she introduced herself as Diana and McDunn introduced him. "Nice dress" he said simply to Diana, before dismissing her and turning back to McDunn. "I guess I'll be seeing you around then, Mcdunn." He gave her a light nod before heading off in the direction she had told him, though he hadn't listened very well and so it took him a few goes to get to his room.

Ben was impressed with his room, he liked the colours and everything looked clean and well it was pretty amazing after he had dropped is bags in the middle of the floor he tried the bed and discovered it was what he imagined lying on a cloud to look like. He then rummaged through the basket of goodies that he found lying on the end of his bed, he didn’t care very much about the bottle of thing to use in the bathroom, and left them scattered across the floor, same with the water bottles and housecoat; he might get around to using them eventually. However he shoved some of the snacks into his pocket while already munching down on one.

Not one to hang around alone in his room all day, Ben, after dropping off his bags and stocking up on snacks headed out to check out the entirety of the B&B.

Sally Hopkins
It was the first time Sally had ever left England, even though it was only Scotland, she was completely enchanted. It wasn’t all that different from England but Sally still kept her face staring firmly out the window taking in all the surrounding greenery. She was even more amazed as she got closer to the B&B, the drive way was stunning with the canopy of trees over the top, Sally was almost disappointed when the driveway came to end and revealed the actual place. It was massive, and there was a gorgeous fountain, she couldn’t wait to find out what was waiting for her inside, including the other guests.

Before entering the B&B though, she made sure to flatten out any creases in her clothes that were caused by the journey. She was wearing a cute light pink dress with a floral pattern and a tan jacket. She also made sure her hair and make up still looked nice and fresh, touching it up where she could. First impressions were always deadly important and she wasn’t going to let the other guests’ first impression of her be bad. She took a deep breath, preparing herself to be charming and friendly and she moved towards the entrance.

Entering the lobby Sally’s attention was drawn to the number of books on the bookshelves that lined the walls. She moved over the desk that was across the room when she saw a woman sitting there. “This place is absolutely amazing,” Sally said sincerely as she looked around the room, her usual sweet smile plastered on her face. She was sure the woman in front of her would love her. “I mean I’ve never really been out of England before, so I don’t exactly have any standards, but I think I’ve fallen in love.”

Sally laughed lightly as she lent against the edge of the desk looking after at another girl who was sitting on a leather couch opposite her. The girl's hair was dressed to perfection, it was really quite impressive, almost intimidating. Sally suddenly felt very plain and like she hadn't made much of an effort. She smiled in a friendly manner and gave the girl a small wave.

Rose saw her next guest enter the house and she smiled a real smile, the girl seemed to be radiating happiness and she stood and offered her hand. "thank you." she shook the woman's hand and said "I've got a lot of pride in this house. It is a great honor you do me by falling in love with it." she chuckled lightly and then took down Sally's information. "I'm hoping you'll enjoy your stay even more." Rose handed her the key to her bed room and said "the woman over the is Diana, she's a guest here as well. There is another man upstairs named Benjamin as well. You three are the first to arrive. Feel free to go where ever you like and if you need anything like transportation or want to know where the best spots are around I am more than happy to point you in the right direction."

Rose felt she was doing well so far, 2/3 of her guest so far seemed tolerable, save for that Benjamin who just seemed like a bit of an airhead and an arse to her but she pushed the thought away and stood. Just as she was standing the door opened again and a man came stumbling through. He had tripped on the step up and in his misstep one of his bags dropped to the floor. He was a handsome man with dark hair and tanned skin from being out in the sun. "blast it." he muttered to himself as he picked up his bag and walked in. He gazed around and his frown from tripping was immediately replaced with a charming smile when he noticed the three women. "well hello." he tipped his baseball cap at the woman sitting and walked up to the front desk.

"good day." he spoke his Australian accent come through loud and clear. "I'm Garret checking in." he looked over at Sally and he leaned towards her a little "suppose you won this nice little trip as well? I didn't think I had a chance in a million years of winning but low and behold here I am. The flight was a bit of a new experience of course but I made it just the same." he didn't realize he was talking so much but rather was quite comfortable with himself. He looked back at Rose and the two grinned at each other and she introduced herself and the other two to him and then handed him his key. "thanks darling." he took the key in a calloused hand and looked over at Sally "can I walk you to your room? Since we're going to be here together might as well be friends eh?"

Sally Hopkins
"Well I'm certainly planning on enjoying my stay," Sally replied taking her key off of Rose, giving her a short word of thanks. She made a mental note that the woman across the room was Diana and that there was another guy somewhere named Benjamin that she would make a point to meet. Sally wanted to make sure to make nice with everyone else staying at the house, she didn't want anyone having a negative view about her. She also didn't want to be caught in an awkward situation where she forgot someone's name; it always ended bad for everyone involved when a name was forgotten.

Rose explained a few more things, but before Sally could respond a guy cut her off by literally stumbling into into the Lobby. He talked with Rose about checking in, in a strong Australian accent before turning to Sally and talking to her. Sally smiled along as he talked to her, she would have done so to anyone out of politeness, but when he was talking she smiled sincerely as she found how comfortable he was to be endearing. He received his key and then asked to walk Sally to her room.

"As if I can say on to an offer like that," Sally flashed Garret her polite friendly smile as she started leading them away from the lobby. "Though I heard chivalry's dead, I'm guessing you didn't get the message." She joked grinning widely, quite proud of her little joke. Light humor was always good when meeting new people, and she was never the most quick witted person.
"About what you said before though, it was actually my sister who signed me up for this competition, she got a little excited and signed up all of our siblings." Sally said laughing lightly at the memory, her sister had acted like they were all going to win, she was surprised that her sister hadn't started packing. "-and it was no surprise that I won, I'm just lucky like that I guess, I mean every since I was little I was always winning raffles and things. Must be a talent." She paused to give him a sarcastically smug look before continuing. "I tried to give the trip to her, claiming I really didn't need it but she wouldn't hear of it. She packed me up and sent me here whether i wanted to go or not."

Rose watched the two walk away and she settled back down writing a few things down, she often made notes about her guests just so that she could remember what they liked and how they acted so she could try and serve them better. She was humming a soft tune as she worked away.

Garret snorted when she told him chivalry was dead and he said "No sorry, I haven't yet gotten the message but now that's you've told me I guess I can be on my merry way." He glanced down at her and shrugged she seemed proud of her joke and he said "But I think I shall walk you to your room just the same." He lifted his hand that held his bag and adjusted his hold on the heavy bag and listened as she spoke of winning most of the contests she had entered. "Certainly seems like a talent." He mused softly. "Mind sharing some of the luck over my way?" He looked and saw her room and gestured to it. "I consider myself a kind person but no way would I give a trip to Scotland away." He set down his bags at her door and said "Open it then, I want to see these world famous rooms." He rolled his broad shoulders and looked at her expectantly.

He wondered for a moment about the woman in front of him. She seemed interesting, perhaps they would be good friends. He was also curious about the other people who would be staying at the B&B, he was really looking forward to the next few weeks.