falling into routine {Leaf

[jomcalister]

TABLE MADE BY SOCKMONKEY OF CAUTION 2.0.

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px; background-color: transparent;true] the same old fears, wish you were here More often than not, Jo McAlister found herself stuck in a rut on Monday mornings. She didn't have class today but she had other things today --things she was strongly considering blowing off so that she could get that extra hour of sleep in. But naturally, being the energetic and never satisfied with staying put girl that she was, the feisty red-head quickly talked herself out of that one. All she needed to get her up this morning was an old fashioned black coffee, nice and strong to wake her up. And so what if she was only eighteen years old. She had known adults to ridicule her for needing coffee to get going in the morning. 'You're just a kid, you have all the energy in the world.' they would say. And they were right, partially. She did have all the energy in the world but she was most certainly not

[/u] a child. That was thing she would never own up to being. Because Joanna Leigh McAlister had not been a child for a very long time. She was a perfectly mature and adult individual who just so happened to be lucky enough to be younger than most people who possessed the maturity she thought she had.

Slowly, with a groan of protest against her decision, Jo pulled her lanky frame from between the sheets of her bed and into the bathroom to make herself look at least half decent before going into public. Jo wasn't a fashion conscious zombie --like she considered most of the rest of her gender-- but she did know what was appropriate and what was not. Going out in public with her thick, red hair poofing in just about every way possible and in the baggy t-shirt she usually used to sleep in was not acceptable. However, quickly brushing through that mess of hair and then braiding it before pulling a new shirt on her head and a pair of jeans, was acceptable. So Jo did just that. She clothed herself and groomed herself and even brushed her teeth (though she knew she'd be doing it again when she got home) before grabbing her keys, phone and wallet and heading out the door.

Once safely inside her battered and beaten beetle, Jo felt her natural navigation kick in and before long, she was parked just outside the Pony Espresso, which (she had to admit) was a clever name for a coffee shop. Once the emergency break was engaged and her car was safely parked and locked, Jo shoved the keys into her pocket and walked in to order her drink. It didn't take long. It must have been later or earlier than she had imagined because the amount of costumers was scarce. Her dark blue eyes scanned the shop as she waited. Other than herself, she could count three others.

First was an older man, probably in his sixties, with a nice little fedora on and a vest. He sat alone, sipping his coffee by the window while he read the newspaper in a way that made Jo smile. She liked old people and she liked that they were fairly predictable. To her, there was no other place the old man could have been pictured. Dressed in that fashion doing that exact thing, it was almost cliche and for a second, Jo decided that was why she loved it.

The other two were some teenage girls who were chatting loudly in the back corner between sips of their blended drinks. Jo decided quickly that she didn't like them. they were younger than her, maybe sixteen or so and dressed head to toe in trendy trendy trendy outfits. She had nothing against their clothes or their drinks, but she supposed that their loud conversation was just rude considering the old man by the window who was trying to read his paper i peace. Then again, he probably was unable to hear them anyways, so why should it matter so much?

Jo was getting so caught up in her mind that she almost didn't hear the barista trying to catch her attention to collect her money and hand her the coffee. Startled, but only slightly, Jo exchanged the cash for the coffee and considered sitting with the old man.

Of course, she ended up sitting alone and sipping her coffee in peace but she couldn't shake that feeling of being that pathetic kid who has no one to hang out with, sitting alone in a coffee shop. Jo rolled her eyes though. It was a dumb thought and she knew that if anything, she was not pathetic. If she really wanted, she could get right up and sit with that old man. But, it was too early for that. Despite the fact that it was probably around eleven in the morning.
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807 words for hazel/leaf. wearing this. muse is decent.

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[leyton]

i h at e t h i s t o w n i t's s o w a s h e d

up and all my friends don't give a fuck they'll tell me that

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=style,background-image: url('http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Juliart/background_black.jpg');,true][cs=2] I T'S J U S T B A D L U C K

[atrb=width,240] Working in a coffee shop all day, surrounded by the overpowering aromas of coffee beans and artificial flavorings, one would think that Leaf would be sick of the drink. To some extent, he was. There were some days when he'd walk into Starbucks and wish that he could leave straight away due to the sickening scents. There were other days when he'd wake up and wish he could be at work just so that he could get a free drink. On that particular day, he found himself waking up, as usual, feeling as though he was still asleep. For that exact reason, he knew that going to get a coffee was the only option, unless he wanted to spend the day in the familiar zombie-like state. He was planning on going out that evening, so he'd have to wake himself up somehow. Usually he'd choose to stay in to drink a coffee, but since he was running low on pretty much everything, his only option was to head out. He got up and performed the usual routine of "take a cold shower, blow dry and wax the hair, shove on some dirty clothes and look in the mirror for two minutes". Today he'd chosen - or found, rather than actually chosen - to wear some moss green corduroy pants and a loosely-fitting white shirt with the words 'bad religion' written across the chest in a barely comprehendible font. Given the cold weather, he searched for some time for a brown jacket with patches on the elbows and pulled on a pair of doc marten boots. Feeling that he looked respectable enough for the purpose, he left his apartment. Going to Starbucks would mean he'd be greeted by the usual "Leaf! You're not due to work today, are you? Why don't you work anyway - earn a bit more cash, eh?" and he'd feel unable to decline the offer and would spend yet another day wishing he hadn't bothered to get out of bed. He stood outside his door for a while, having a genuine debate of where to go. Finally, he came to the conclusion that Pony Espresso was the safer option. It also took less time to get there from his apartment, so he could probably walk it and save a bit of money on petrol. He smiled as he opened the door, happy to see that it wasn't very populated, so he could just pop in, get the coffee, and leave. He ordered a black coffee and turned for the door. As he turned, he saw a flash of red hair that had him doing a double take. It was Jo, sat alone, drinking her coffee. He hadn't wanted to make any stops, but he did like Jo. She was interesting, and he found her inexplicably humorous. He turned back around on his heels, trying his best to ignore the obnoxious conversation between two teenage girls in the corner, and sat down in the chair opposite Jo. Hopefully she'd be worth the time he was wasting in going to talk to her. "Don't mind me joining you, do you?" he said with a smirk, and leant back in his chair, taking a sip of the coffee, which was rather too hot to drink at that moment. He set it back on the table so as to allow it to cool for a while. "It's so cold outside. Seriously, I can barely hold that coffee cup, my fingers are so numb." He rubbed his hands together and blew on them, then wrapped his fingers around the coffee cup, which was radiating a fair amount of heat. At least the heat was coming to good use rather than burning his tongue. "Anyway, what brings you here? Don't you have class or something?" He pulled his sleeve back to look at his watch, but found that he wasn't wearing one. "Actually, I have no idea what time or day it is, so you probably don't." He made to grab his phone from his pocket to check there out of pure curiosity, but alas, he'd forgotten that too. Organization had never been a strong point of his. "Hm. I thought I didn't have work today, but now I'm having doubts... Oh well. They won't miss me."

[atrb=width,100] words , 709 words tagged , jo notes , ~~~

TEMPLATE BY THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE MIKEY @ CAUTION 2.0

[jomcalister]

TABLE MADE BY SOCKMONKEY OF CAUTION 2.0.

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px; background-color: transparent;true] the same old fears, wish you were here Jo had been almost completely immersed in her own little world when she was pulled from it by a familiar face taking the seat across from her and asking, though he knew he didn't really need permission, to sit with her. A small smile cracked onto Jo's slightly chapped lips as she allowed him to finish his small babble of words. That was one of the things that the tiny red-head liked about Leaf. He talked a lot and usually something caught her interest, that way she could let her livelier side perken up to converse properly. His first topic was about class, which she didn't have this morning. And truly, that was one of the things Jo loved about college, She had classes when she chose to have them which meant that she could be up and out and about for a decent amount of time before lugging herself off to write and write and write. Then the boy mentioned whether and Jo had to think for a moment. She hadn't been too bothered by the cold in her t-shirt and make-shift capris but then again, she could tell that a cold was fevering it's way to her which meant inevitably that her judgement on simple things such as weather was slightly warped. After his string of small sentences, Jo smiled and took a hefty sip of her coffee. "I guess I didn't notice the cold when I left the house this morning but thanks for letting me know, Leaf." she began, mustering up a bit of sarcasm in it. "Now, I can blame you when I remember you said that and I suddenly feel an icy chill." she finished with a smirk before taking a second, smaller sip from her cup and then resting it on the table, smirking at him to show she was only joking. "Anyhow," she continued, "I don't have class til three today so I figured I would grab something to wake me up before then. And I was thinking about heading to Starbucks but you know, the coffee here is just as good and cheaper." she looked down to the nearly black liquid in her cup, adding more to herself than to him, "And stronger." Carelessly, she glanced behind Leaf to catch a peak of the old man who had been sitting alone before he'd arrived but to her slight dismay, he had already taken off without her even noticing. Silently, she wished it would have been the noisy girls in the corner who seemed to have found amusement in Leaf and Jo's company. A few whispers were shared between the girls as the quickly looked back forth from Jo and Leaf to each other. For a moment, Jo considered asking them what was so amusing about the two of them sharing a morning and coffee but she decided against it, opting for the more flattering and inconspicuous rising of her middle finger in their direction, which in turn caused them to hush. Her smile reappeared at the lovely sound of silence before she disrupted it again. "So what about you, babe? What brings you 'round these parts?" she asked, folding her hands at the fingers and resting her chin in them as she eyed him and raised her eyebrows playfully. Why? Well, Jo didn't really know. She mostly just went with what popped into her head and seeing as she was in the company of someone she thoroughly enjoyed being around, she didn't find it necessary to edit her thoughts or actions. 601 words for hazel/leaf. wearing this. muse is decent.