|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 8:46 pm
He would otherwise have called it a normal day, he got there early, stocked the worst 'offenders' of the understocked candy, did the things the other employes tended to pretend they didn't 'see'...like the fruit-slices. He hated stacking them but someone had to do it.
He filled the pretzels and the caramels, made sure the lid on the rock-candy stick jar was firmly in place so that enterprising parents wouldn't blithely stuff their un-gloved hand in... mostly.
All that was normal... what wasn't normal was Her... Normally a ray of sunshine, Her hair was down, messy, it barely looked tended, her shoulders were slouched and she just looked...
"....Who did what and where do you prefer I hide the body...maybe we can candy it and sell it to the children who scream the loudest and slap the glass."
It was a rather pathetic attempt to make her smile tacked on at the end but that...look. That was just so 'not her' at all.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 9:01 pm
It certainly was a change in her. Daphne, for the first time, had come to work looking like a normal person. No adorable pigtails with curly ends, no brightly colored t-shirts and shorts with strappy sandals. Daphne was remarkably like her high-school counterpart Audrey these days. All she wore was a pair of old sneakers scribbled on with numbers all over in permanent black marker, a typical pair of jeans just a little too big for her petite frame, and a DCU t-shirt. Her ring was conspicuously absent and the pendant she played with every day was tucked well under her shirt, invisible to anyone.
Dull eyes looked up and quirked a corner of her mouth at Zac. "Long story, you don't want to hear it I'm sure." Who ever wanted to hear your personal problems? Not some kid that she met and worked with at the candy store. Bitterness almost came off of her in waves and if she were as magical as she sometimes thought, it would have curdled the candy then and there.
"Also it's hot."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 9:08 pm
"Believe me... if I wasn't willing to listen I wouldn't ask, I'm neither that polite or that patient unless I have some... ulterior motive but... well I'm not planning world domination today so you're in luck."
The irony was how very close he had come to being pure honest just then, regardless of how... very silly it had to have sounded.
"Talk to me... I'm... worried ok?" he sounded awkward about it,, god knew in some ways she reminded him of 'Linarite' but he couldn't exactly say that, hell imagine being told you reminded someone else of a 'terrorist'. Really not a good impression to be making.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 2:38 pm
Fingers twiddled at the end of her hair, considering Zac with her flat eyes for a few long moments. She didn't bother to hide the fact that she was weighing his sincerity, what it would cost for her to tell him, or even what she could tell him. You couldn't exactly tell someone that you threw out your supposed husband because he was hellbent on killing all of your old friends.
Fingers touched the chain around her neck and she sighed before leaning on the counter. ******** fingerprints, it would give her something to do cleaning them off later. "I threw Elzo out last night." It was meant to be a statement as flat as her eyes. Yet like so many things lately, Daphne's control on her emotions was slipping away form her, the sound of her voice softly forlorn.
"I guess you could say I'm single now." Which is something she never wanted to be again. Stupid men.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 2:52 pm
Funny how those words made him feel all twisted up inside, too easy to imagine Lina tossing Castor out on his ear, though he'd not yet met her "Elzo", he thought he might like it better that way, far easier to imagine him in the roll of 'castor' perhaps.
"... And you... need to get your mind off it because even though you were probably...justified you feel bad about it." He filled in the unspoken blanks and looked thoughtful. "... Did you want a... 'day out'? Like... go... to the Raptor reserve...the beach... the bookstore, somewhere not the candy store and not... 'home'? I'll take you to the movies if you want." He offered.. dancing around the other words that could have been used for such an offer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 1:03 pm
All hope was, apparently, not lost. Daphne perked up a bit when Zac told her that she was, in all likelihood, totally justified for what she had done. Sometimes she wondered if this grip on her emotions was loosening, causing her to make mistakes and follow on impulses she'd rather not give in to. Of course he didn't know the whole story or even why Daphne'd tossed her husband out on his a** but...he was a smart kid.
The word 'beach' had everything in her going on high alert, head swiveling to look him dead in the eyes. "Beach? You'd want to go to the beach?" The fact that he was tapdancing around the idea of taking her newly separated self out on a date wasn't something she noticed. Zac wasn't into her like that. He was gay and stuck on some girl who didn't even notice he was a nice guy.
Some girls were dumb like bricks. Daphne was one of them.
"I love the beach."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 1:29 pm
Beach... she latched onto the beach. The idea of the rolling sand dunes, peppered with footprints and littered with colorful beach towels and umbrellas was significantly less appealing to him now than it had been...half a year ago.
It wasn't the crowds or, the occasionally horrifying sight of someone who by all rights and purposes should be fined for letting a speedo climb quite so deeply up their personal areas in public. Nor was it 'Mister Banana Hammock'
who seasonally sported a bright yellow... thing, that slung over his shoulders and hoisted odd things to new heights, though that was enough to give nightmares.
It was the fact that if he took his shirt off, he had a lovely set of scars that would be damned hard to explain short of 'I wrestle large cats in my spare time.'
"Beach..." he repeated. "Ah...yeah! Awesome... beach, um... yeah!" He said trying to sound a great deal more enthused than he was. He forced on the same kind of enormous grin that he sometimes beamed at customers to convince them he wasn't quite the hostile little b*****d he really could be. "Um...where do you want me to pick you up?" He asked nervously. "And um, S...Saturday ok?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 9:07 am
In the space of time that Zac had been contemplating his bodily defects, the pigtails had made a reappearance. Daphne could, apparently, move quickly when she chose and was braiding them into two neat tails of hair on either side of her face. They were just a little on the bushy side, frayed and fluffing in her hands as she beamed at her friend. The beach! Elzo had always promised but somehow things had always got in the way.
Her being in the hospital for a month had helped that along and then she had lost everything and well...that was not worth contemplating right now. Zac could use the sun anyway, poor kid was so white you could nearly see through him!
Daphne never considered the fact that her body was also a mish-mash of scars that couldn't quite be explained away. Nobody really believed that you were stabbed twice for no real reason, especially when your kidney was mangled with glass in it. But Zac didn't know that. There was a safety in her anonymity that could be chalked up to some awful sob story about a terrible childhood.
Feeling suddenly remorseful about that thought, she offered up a soft apology to her parents in her mind. She missed them terribly but...it was better to just stay away. Tanz had taught her that.
"Saturday is amazing. We're both off for a change which is weird." Eyes appraised him. "Were you messing with the schedule?" The teasing grin was wide as she whipped out her phone. "Give me your number so I can text you my address. Just hit the Xanis buzzer and it'll call me down."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 1:22 pm
“Who me?” He said innocently and grabbed a pen to hid it behind his back as though he had in fact been messing with the schedule “No idea what you’re talking about!”
His look of feigned innocence could have swung either way as to the truth of if he –was- guilty or innocent of such behaviors.
“You look more cheerful already.” He said thoughtful, a small but real smile at the corners of his mouth. He did fish out his phone, not even trying to hide the small swinging panda charm that it sported. It now also included a rather odd but hilarious ‘angler fish’ charm he’d found. Some poor sod probably missed it but it wasn’t worth the money to post a lost and found add.
He glanced up from the LED screen ready to read off his number, which he had in fact double-checked. After all, it would never have done to give her the trac-phone number that he used exclusively for ‘work’. “Ready?” He promoted just to be sure, before reading it to her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 3:27 pm
Daphne pursed her lips and gave Zac a look that said, clearly, 'Are you kidding me?'. Her fingers were poised over the numbers on her touch screen with an intent focus on the shorter boy in front of her. "C'mon, spit it out buddy. We might get caught with our cell phones out and the world would end." She didn't even try to understand why texting during downtime was frowned upon. If there was nothing to do were you supposed to just stare forlornly out the window like an unbought puppy?
Apparently.
Unfortunately the bluenette's lost puppy look made her look so depressed that she'd gotten hit on. More than once. So she had stopped looking forlorn and simply pulled out her phone to flaunt conventions, happily slicing fruit like the pro ninja she was.
Sadly, Daphne had no one to send text messages to. Sometimes Elzo got a rather sappy little message about how she loved him but that wasn't really an option anymore. Just thinking about him had her shoulders slumping a bit. It was painfully obvious that she was quite affected by the whole situation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 3:44 pm
"Hey..." He said as her shoulders slumped. He meant to distract her, the threat of tears seemed far too present. “Do you want me to bring a picnic?” He asked suddenly realizing that he was at a loss for what to say. He couldn’t very well just leave it at ‘hey’ now could he?
“I um… I mean I can go… ‘Home’ and cook something.” He said realizing after a moment that that was his only option. Really he was digging himself into a rather spectacular corner. “Or I could uh… I could get one made up, I know good places if you like certain things, and theirs less risk of my ‘mother’ eating it.” He added with a sort of flickering smile, like a candle caught in a strong wind. Too fleeting to be believable.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:04 am
Reaching out with a playful hand, Daphne pushed at his shoulder a bit. "I'm the girl, I'll do the cooking, okay? I had a good teacher and I haven't had an excuse to cook for anyone in awhile. My diet runs high on whatever I can find lying around. I have the metabolism of a deity or something like that. I can't ever gain weight. It's ridiculous." As if to prove this point, the bottom of her university t-shirt was hoisted to show off her flat, scarred stomach.
Forefinger and middle pinched at her skin, pulling it a bit, before releasing and watching it spring back into place. "See? Not an ounce of fat. We both need a good meal and a ton of junk food. I might even bake a cake." Had it been anyone else that might have been a threat. But she could cook! Shelly Collins' daughter couldn't not know how to cook.
"Now c'mon. Phone number. Don't be shy, I promise I won't drunk dial you at 3am."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:11 am
The red that crossed his cheeks clashed horridly with the color of his hair. “D… defiantly a deity.” He said staring at his phone trying so very hard not to stare, not to wonder at the scars that traced her otherwise sculpted curves. “Uhh…” He read the number hurriedly, almost forgetting to be polite enough to make sure that she had it in the right order.
“I don’t… really mind if you call at odd times. I, I um… I’ve slept through phone calls before though.” He said. It was a lie, at least half of one. He seldom slept through noises so much as he left ‘this’ phone behind while he was out living the ‘better’ life.
Still, it was so nearly like knowing Audrey again, she fit so neatly into that hole it almost hurt. “I do call back though…if that helps.” He added. “Unless you say not to.” He rushed the latter words out to cover the fact he’d been bold enough to offer at all.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 3:55 pm
Zac was so odd. Odd but cute. Even Daphne wasn't oblivious enough to not notice that her pulling up her shirt to even show that little bit of skin was flustering her candy store companion but it wasn't...weird. It was actually pretty cute for a guy who was almost eighteen years old to blush when a girl lifted her shirt a bit. It wasn't like her ginormous Cosmos-granted boobs were hanging out for him to admire. Nor would they ever be! That thought had her nearly missing the number as it was rattled off, old practice sending her fingers flying over the keys.
Daphne routinely sent about a hundred texts a day. Perhaps maybe ten of those went to someone other than Elzo. Actually, the phone company would probably send her a fruit basket now that they were broken up. She could stop hogging the airwaves or whatever the hell text messages did.
"Just assume if I don't leave a message, it's not important and I was just calling to call. That always baffled me people that called, didn't leave messages, but then were upset that you didn't call back because it was omg important." It was clear in her voice that this had happened more than a few times with the bluenette. "I mean you didn't leave a message! How was I supposed to know!" Parents were hugely guilty of this.
"So, gonna go bikini shopping before Saturday? I bet you don't even fit in last year's little two-piece."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 4:03 pm
BIKINI?? The red of his cheeks deepened as he stammered around something to say about that. He managed to stumble out an “Oh, that’s too bad? I think? “ It shouldn’t all have been raised as questions but it very much came out that way in the bout of uncertainty and blushing.
“I uh… I think mine still fits, I mean I haven’t” he stammered “I mean it’s been a while, I don’t swim a lot but it’s not like I got taller, well not much.”
“I guess guys don’t worry so much about that huh?” He said and gave a small nervous laugh.
“I um… I’ll try to call back if that’s alright, I mean sometimes people say it’s not important or act like it’s not but it really is and it’s hard to tell that with phones and texts. Not that you’d do that, but I mean my mother does and she goes a little crazy when you don’t guess right.” He paused thoughtful. “Actually she goes a little crazy even if you do it’s just not as much, short trip fir her…going crazy I mean.”
He stopped himself appalled. “I’m babbling.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
