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 Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 11:19 am
Studying was possibly the worst past time ever invented. Not that anyone would actually want to study, or find it fun to do so, but inevitable in the week of the exams the library and cafeteria were full of people with noses in their text books, trying to get any last bit of information crammed into their heads before they took their exams, and then promptly forgot everything again.
Aubrey was no exception, she found a nice little niche in the coffee shop on campus and had various text books sprawled out in front of her, and a double espresso caramel coffee by her right hand. Her left hand absently tapped a random rhythm on the table as her booted foot kept time with it as she attempted to focus on the theories behind physics and Calc 3.
Suppressing a yawn Aubrey took a gulp from her coffee before rubbing her eyes and glanced around the cafe wondering how many other people were worried about failing exams due to excessive work hours. She had little to no time to study earlier in the week between normal day stresses and night time work.
Aubrey hoped it would all be worth it in the end, but for right now she knew that if she didn't have this third double espresso working through her system she would be passed out on the table, using her advanced mathematics book as a pillow.
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 11:46 am
Grant Caudwell worried about very little. And on the rare chances that he was worried, he was usually aggressively optimistic in his concern. He was always determined to see the good side in things, regardless of what they were.
Recently, he had been dealing a lot with his work for the Dark Mirror Court, and his place in it. He was pretty sure he had figured that out, though, so he was once again feeling pretty good about everything!
Grant was the kind of guy that did not know how to frown. The only thing he hated was seeing someone else upset, and he did everything in his power to make people who seemed upset smile. Give them something to smile about, really.
He wandered into the coffee shop and it didn't take him long to notice that the place was a den of misery. But with big tests coming up, it was the general feel of the entire campus. He saw a girl who looked like she was in dire need of a nap and scooted toward her.
"Are you okay, miss?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 12:03 pm
Find the derivative of X in blah blah blah blah blah, the words on the page started to swirl a little and the numbers bunched up together where she could barely read them, then she heard a voice.
Aubrey glanced up as someone spoke to her and peered at him blearily until her vision cleared, it was a boy who looked to be around her age, asking if she was okay. It seemed odd someone caring about a random stranger but she shrugged it off.
"Yeah, Just a little tired, lots of studying and all that." Aubrey responded with a small smile, she tried not to be as grumpy as she felt, but the coffee was not working as well as it should have.
"Not that I'm any different from the teeming masses of people who are also trying to study." She added with a small humorless chuckle, she really just could not wait until this semester was over and she would have a short rest before diving back into her studies.
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 12:51 pm
"It does seem to be the mood of the school right now! But that's very understandable, finals are tough and there's a lot to worry about! But seeing everyone working so hard makes me think they will be just fine." He smiled brightly.
How could they not, when they were studying so hard? Hard work always paid off, in one way or another, and everyone who was sticking their noses to the grindstone would make out well for it when everything was said and done.
Because that was the way the world worked!
"I'm sorry! Am I interrupting you? That can't be making it any less stressful! I didn't mean to do that, I was just wondering if you were okay because you look exhausted!"
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 1:16 pm
Aubrey smiled wryly at him. "You are certainly a cheerful sort, isn't it exhausting?" Aubrey questioned, when she was at home she tried to keep a cheerful disposition for her sisters, to make them think everything was okay and that more than anything left her drained at the end of the day.
"I suppose some people will do fine on their exams, but there are others that this was the first time they've opened their text books all year, but I suppose you get out of classes what effort you put into them." Aubrey mused with a shrug.
"As for interrupting me I could use the distraction right now, I'm good at math and this stuff doesn't make sense to me right now I've been staring at the pages too long... its been a rough couple of weeks." She admitted before shrugging and taking another gulp of coffee, why couldn't this stuff work like it used to? Maybe she would have to start getting triple shots black.
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 1:37 pm
"You know, a lot of people think that and have asked me that before but it's not as hard as it must seem! I am never tired, unless I have a bad night or work too hard but not from being happy! It's actually a really healthy thing."
He smiled brightly and, of course, completely missed what she might have meant by exhausting. The difference between Grant and most people who tried to be cheerful all the time was the fact that he really didn't have to try: that was just who he was. It made him simple, in a way, because he did not understand motives behind malice, and did not anticipate such things.
It put him in bad positions, quiet often, but he never stopped believing in the good side.
"Well, hopefully you do well in your exams! It's always good to take a rest and give your brain a chance to relax, stress won't help on the test! I don't want to tell you what to do, but I hear that doing something relaxing, something you like to do, before a test really helps lower your stress levels!" Had he heard that or had he made it up? He never lied: he always said what he believed to be true, but he was also a gullible sort.
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 1:56 pm
Aubrey smiled at him, it seemed his cheery attitude was a bit infectious, it was a nice change at least. And while she was talking to him she was able to ignore the piles of math problems and physics equations in front of her, which was also a plus.
"Well as much as I'd love to do something I enjoy, I'm working all this week, I have very precious few hours that I can actually spend studying between work and things I have to get done at home and so the physics exam will most likely kick my a**, but I'll try." She shrugged lightly.
"Don't you have any exams to be stressing out over?" Aubrey questioned as she sat back against the plush booth and watched him, giving her eyes a chance to rest before she dived back into studying.
She also took the opportunity to drink more coffee, there can always be more caffeine coursing through her system, Aubrey only hoped she didn't crash during an exam... Again.
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 2:16 pm
"Oh, that sounds terrible! Where do you work? I'm sure it is important that they have you there, and it's really impressive that you're working though finals! I can't imagine how much work that has to be, all together. That's really good of you!"
Because people worked out of the goodness of their hearts, and not because their bosses told them to, obviously. Grant had not yet gotten a new job, since losing his at the grocery store due to alien abduction. But he was not too worried about it, at least not yet!
"Well, I have a couple of tests, but I don't think I took very difficult classes this term. I was trying to figure out what field to go into, so I took a lot of different electives to try and get a feel for things." Really, he was just not a stress kind of guy and while he was doing his best to prepare for all his tests, all he could do was his best and accept what grades came of that.
"Do you come to this place a lot?" he asked, tilting his head. Maybe he could do something nice for her during her stressful week, and leave her a present here. It might be a nice surprise, after all.
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 2:28 pm
Aubrey grinned as she listened to him talk, he reminded her of her littlest sister, with the same openly cheerful absolutely nothing could ever go wrong sort of attitude, it was adorable on an 8 year old... a little saddening on a college kid.
"I work at the Ace of Spades sports bar, this is apparently the busy time of the year and any other college going employees already asked off, I'm the newest employee so I get the joy of working extra shifts, but hey, it's good for the money at least, I'll be able to afford what needs to be paid." She shrugged lightly, Aubrey didn't need to be boring people with the every day to do list of what she went through, though she was under the impression this boy would gladly listen to everything she said.
"Yeah, I'm in here almost every Tuesday and Thursday between my classes, and obviously now to get any last bit of studying time I can manage." She smiled and rubbed her hand across the table lovingly, she almost always sat at this booth too, it was like a nice comforting oasis of coffee scented bliss.
"I'm Aubrey by the way." She added, figuring introductions were in order.
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Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 11:02 am
"A sports bar? That sounds fun!" He liked bars, if only because people seemed to have a lot of fun in them. Albeit drunken fun, but if that was what they liked to do then he couldn't say anything bad about it.
He smiled and listened, nodding his head. It sounded like a good job, though busy if everyone else was taking time off. He hoped she wasn't working too hard, on top of finals.
He committed Tuesday and Thursday to memory, nodding his head. That meant she was probably regular enough for the people who worked there to know who she was. The next time she ordered a coffee from them, they would hand her a free cup of coffee and a bouquet of paper flowers, which Grant made in his free time to make people smile. It was a simple little gesture, but that's what friends did, right?
And of course she was his friend from talking to him one time. Definitely not in a creepy way.
"My name is Grant! It's nice to meet you! Aubrey is a very pretty name!"
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Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 11:22 am
This kid really was extremely cheerful, but Aubrey supposed it wasn't too bad, it was actually kind of a nice change. She had seen so many grumpy people lately that this kid's innocent and happy attitude was growing on her.
"The bar usually isn't a bad place to work, I really enjoy working there, most days, just right now its all rather stressful because I feel like I'm running out of time with studying and what not." Aubrey responded shrugging lightly.
Aubrey smiled at Grant, "My mother seemed to think so." she responded as to her name. "Though my father only wanted boys." Her eyes darkened momentarily then shrugged mentally blowing off whatever was bothering her as she took another gulp of coffee.
"So do you get coffee often or just scoping the place out for sleepy or sad looking people?" Aubrey questioned with a grin.
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Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 11:38 am
He saw the darkness in her expression and made a mental note not to mention her father again. he did not like bringing up painful topics on purpose, and would much rather stick to happy and pleasant things in conversation.
He was not, really, the best guy to go to if one was seeking a debate, or a challenge.
He laughed at her question.
"I was hoping to get a cookie or a pastry or something, I was kind of hungry and thought I might as well swing in here if I was nearby anyway. I haven't really been in here before! But I'm very glad I did come in!" He smiled brightly.
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Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 11:46 am
Aubrey smiled back at his relentless cheer. "Well the danishes are pretty good, as are the cinnabuns, but personally I come here for the espresso." Aubrey informed him tapping the top of her cup with her pencil for emphasis.
The coffee here wasn't necessarily the best she's ever had, but it was definitely strong and usually worked well, though she was probably pushing her body too much at this point and even the double espresso wouldn't work like it should.
"Though I suppose you don't need any more energy right about now, you seem pretty well stocked up on the hyper." Aubrey added with a grin as she watched him.
Grant really seemed like a genuinely nice person, and as she thought that her natural mistrust of people kicked in and she wondered whether or not he could really be that nice, or if it was just a front to get people off guard, and she wondered what it was that he was hiding under that cheerful expression.
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Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 11:54 am
She mentioned cinnamon buns and he looked thoughtful. That suddenly sounded very good, and he was hoping he could get one. His decision had been made, which just added to the ever growing list of good reasons why he was glad he'd come into the coffee shop that day.
Life was kind of easy when one appreciated literally everything.
He never had a lack of energy, and he chuckled, nodding his head. Whatever store of it he had, it seemed to be endless. Much like his good cheer. The two were likely one and the same, as he was always his most energetic when he was happiest.
Most people thought he was some kind of psychopath, especially when he was powered up and talking to senshi. But there was nothing more to Grant than what he showed: he was just a nice guy that didn't have an off switch.
"Well, I'm going to go get that cinnabun! I hope your studying goes well, and you get a chance to take a nap!"
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Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 2:50 pm
Aubrey smiled at him, there couldn't be anything mysterious with this boy, he appeared to be an open book of friendly innocence so she pushed back her feelings of suspicion and tried to accept that there may actually be a genuinely good person.
"Make sure you get icing on it!" Aubrey suggested with a grin before opening her physics book and started reading again, this time with a smile on her lips.
This random encounter made her day, she could only hope the rest of the day was as nice and stress free, unlikely, but she could hope.
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