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Post by brandy on Feb 17, 2009 11:07:52 GMT -5
He was not sure how long he had been sitting there, on the stone bench facing the fountain, but it felt like quite some time. It was the end of summer, and a warm breeze rolled through Grant Park. Jake pushed the sleeves of his black shirt up to his elbows, the heat was starting to get to him. He was wearing a pair of tan cargo shorts, but he sort of forgot to do laundry yesterday and was currently stuck with long sleeves. The park was not too far from the Jade complex apartments where he had been living the past few years, so he spent quite a bit of time here when weather permitted.
His black acoustic guitar rested on his lap as he strummed a few different chords. He was completely alone, for some reason no one else was out today. Although that could be because it was seven in the morning, Jake liked to get an early start on the day. Of course, he may just time it so whenever he came outside to play he knew he would be alone.... The man tried to convince himself that he had not put so much thought into his schedule, but he knew he had. Playing any of his music in front of even the smallest audience seemed like a grueling task. Therefore he sat alone on the bench, quietly strumming a tune he was currently working on. Jake hummed the melody quietly, trying to work out the lyrics in his head. Nothing really popped out at the moment though, so he was content with just playing his guitar in the warm summer air.
This would be his last day of relaxing like this, work started tomorrow. He was not exactly looking forward to it either. Going from your dream job to some crappy grounds keeper was nothing to be excited about. He would be working for some private school, and they had to get everything 'prim and proper' a week before the school actually opened. However he tried to keep a positive attitude about it. Too bad old Louie went bankrupt, otherwise Jake would have been taking over the antique body shop when he retired. Jake shook his head, frowning as a bit of gloom overtook him. The sound coming from the guitar switched to a sad note, it was a familiar song he had played numerous times. He quietly hummed the words to himself as he played, lost in his own world for the moment.
[done]
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Post by sarah randall on Feb 18, 2009 21:29:44 GMT -5
It was only just the beginning of the new semester and yet the pile of work Sarah had to do for her class was as large as it was near the middle of the semester. She had spent most of the weekend locked in the copy room just running off assignments for all her students. Not only that she still had a day left to work through the roster for each class, having three full lists to memorize. Matching names with faces was always the hardest thing for her to master, but eventually there were the select few who took their places in the classroom. The clowns, pets, and slackers were usually the names she memorized first since they were the ones called on most. She always felt bad forgetting the quiet students or the ones who just went day to day, but they didn't always stand out as much.
Slinging her bag over her shoulder that held her lesson plans, rosters, and a bunch of other useful and useless items, Sarah wandered through Grant Park in the early morning toward the Buckingham Fountain. The quiet early morning was Sarah's favorite time of day, along with dusk when everything started to get quiet again. She wasn't much for the "loudness" of the middle of the way and was sometimes glad that she often taught right through it, breaking for lunch. It ended up going fast enough. It might have been around seven in the morning, but Sarah didn't check her clock before she left the house.. It was early and that was all she really needed to know. When she woke up it was still dark outside and her alarm clock read 4:45am. That was exceptionally early for most, but not for a teacher. She often had to be in school and setting up for class no later than 6:30am, usually making it to school with her large coffee and egg sandwich by 6:00. But to make up for the early rising, she often went to bed early, around 8:00pm most nights, except for Friday and Saturday.
However, her internal clock was still on summer time and she found that she had more energy later at night instead of being drained by the end of a long day in classes. Yet, she still woke up so early. After a week or two of watching her students doze off and wanting to do so herself, she'll get back into things again. Until then, she needed to step up her game and make things interesting for both herself and her students. She had already planned the typical first day routine of going over the same rules the students were going to hear in most of their classes and playing the 'Name Game' which she knew everyone dreaded but did it anyway. What she had yet to do was come up with something interesting to do after all that. She didn't like getting right into the curriculum, knowing that almost none of what she was teaching was being retained.
Coming around the path to the fountain, Sarah could hear someone was already there, playing a guitar by the sound of it. Her eyes scanned for the person until he came into view on the other side of the fountain that was just beginning to trickle water as it was turned on. Pausing on the path, she looked around at the other benches, empty of course, before adjusting her bag on her shoulder and continuing around the fountain passed the vacancies toward the man with his guitar. About halfway between an empty bench and the occupied one, Sarah stopped and retraced her steps to the empty space and sitting down. She didn't want to intrude on the man by saying something that would break his concentration. Instead, she removed the strap from over her head and unzipped her bag to pull out the binder with her lesson plans and a pen. Crossing her left leg over her right, she propped the binder open on her thigh and looked down at it, bringing the end of the pen to her teeth and nibbling on the end.
`WORD COUNT 710ish
`LYRICS none
`AVATARS none
`OOC no graphics 'cause im on my laptop and don't have any saved on here x.x lol. so this will be a rather plain thread pour moi. |
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Post by brandy on Feb 19, 2009 8:51:42 GMT -5
He continued to strum different chords, eventually switching back to the original melody he had been playing. Something about it just did not sound right. The song was missing something, but Jake could just not pin point exactly what it was. He sighed, and continued to play mindlessly anyways. It was not like he was going to be going professional with his music anytime soon, or ever for that matter. Sure he thought about recording some of his stuff, but he knew none of his music was really good enough to bother. There was always something off about each song, some reason he found not to play it in front of an audience. He did not need to do that either, his music should just be for himself right?
Many of the thoughts going through his mind seemed pointless to even bother thinking about, so he decided to forget about music for a little while. Eventually the sound from the guitar grew softer and softer, until it completely stopped. What would it be like? Working around a bunch of prep school kids and their parents? All the students lived there from what he heard, so it was not like there would ever be a time at work when it would be peaceful and quiet. He tried to remember his own highschool days, but for some reason he could not find a way to compare his mere public school experience with this high end Arts school.
The area around the fountain had grown extremely quiet without Jake's guitar softly thrumming in the background. The sun had risen higher in the sky, and along with it came another wave of heat. Golden beams filtered down through the vivid green summer foliage that clung to the branches. In some of them he could see the last bits of pollen and dust floating in streams through the air. Birds still chirped loudly in the trees, taking advantage of the lack of human life to scamper across the ground in search of crumbs. It was then he heard another sound, like a pen clicking? He slowly turned his head, his dark eyes settling on a young woman sitting down not too far off. He looked back at his guitar for a moment, debating on if he should greet her or not. She might have heard him playing, and he usually avoided anyone who heard him play. Well... she might have just gotten here, and he had not been making a sound for at least five minutes. Yea that was it... He told himself, and his usually easy going demeanor took over. Jake looked in her direction, offering a friendly smile.
"Hey there, guess your a morning person too?"
While he waited for her response he slowly stood up, turning the guitar so it looked more like it was strapped to his back. He enver carried a guitar case around, the fountain was too short a walk to be lugging that thing with him.
----done
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Post by sarah randall on Feb 21, 2009 18:04:28 GMT -5
The music coming from the man and his guitar was a soothing noise, one that eventually melded into the background. It was like a man-made sound of the ocean, you know it's there but eventually get so used to it its like any other noise, or it's just that calming. This was like both for Sarah, but because she was so relaxed her brain turned to mush and all she was doing was staring at the lesson plan instead of figuring out what to do. All the while, she bit down on the end of her pen, occasionally clicking it against her teeth. When the music suddenly came to a stop, Sarah jerked out of her trance, blinking rapidly for a few seconds. Then her mind went to work again. What would be a fun activity that would get her students to warm up to one another and enjoy her class? She wasn't all fun and games, but she didn't want her students to think English was lame either.
Removing her pen from her lips and dropping it in the crack of her binder, she leaned into her bag and began digging through its contents in search of an idea. What she pulled out was a roll of masking tape. What it was doing in her bag she didn't bother to figure out. If she were to find a sandwich stuffed inside it wouldn't surprise her. Although she was more careful than to forget about putting food in her bag. Sliding the tape between her fingers she searched for the end of it, she wondered what could possibly be done with a roll of masking tape, or maybe just a few pieces of it. Before she could form an idea, she was startled by a break in the once quiet morning. Jerking on the bench slightly, she turned her head toward the direction of the voice, noticing that it was the man with the guitar.
Sarah returned his smile, nodding in the process. "Early morning, early evening." They were both similar times of the day, except one being at the beginning and the other at the end. giving up on the masking tape, or at least deciding to go back to it later, Sarah dropped it back into her bag and quickly snatched her pen just before it rolled off her lap. "I wake up when it's still dark to take full advantage of the morning," It was the most productive part of the day in her opinion. Morning was when many people went to the gym for a workout or out jogging, when the kids went to school, and when there wasn't as much traffic. Things were done faster and with more energy then at the end of the day when you were just ready to go home and crash until tomorrow.
Sarah's position shifted slightly so she was facing him rather then her backside, not a few moments later folding her binder closed over her arm and holding it against her side so she could stand up. Taking the couple steps toward him she extended her hand in greeting. "Sarah Walker." She smiled, awaiting him to take her hand.
`WORD COUNT 547
`LYRICS none
`AVATARS none
`OOC sorry that took longer than expected. xD |
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Post by brandy on Feb 23, 2009 19:33:19 GMT -5
Jake shoved his hands into the pockets of his cargo shorts, feeling a little out of place as he stood there waiting for her to respond. His dark brown eyes wandered down to his sneakers, and he examined the dust on the black fabric of his Nike Shox. He let his eyes wander across the sidewalk, following the particularly slow progress of a snail. The tiny creatures seemed to be headed for a large leaf beneath the bench, but at the pace he was going it would take him quite awhile. Jake wondered if moving backwards would be faster.... He certainly felt like his own life was going backwards at the moment. He had the perfect job, and had been looking forward to work everyday before. Working on old antiques had been amazing, a couple times he even got to work on a few old bikes some guy brought in for repairs. One was a really old Indian, now that motorcycle he wanted to buy for himself for sure. But of course that was impossibly expensive.
The young woman's voice broke through the crisp morning air, and he quickly refocused on her. She was standing up now, facing him with a binder tucked beneath one arm. The woman was shorter than him by about two inches, maybe a little more, with a simple beauty about her. He took another look at the binder, she certainly looked too old to be a student, maybe she was a teacher? On the other hand she could look older and actually be in college still. Either way it did not matter, it was not like he was planning on asking a stranger out on a date or something. Jake was simply a friendly guy interested in a good conversation, why not spend part of his last vacation day meeting someone new? "Ah, good reason I guess. I just sort of wake up but I like the quiet, can't find it any other time of the day." She seemed nice enough, not shy but at the same time not overbearing. Some people were too outgoing and way too much personality for a first meeting. She took another step closer with her hand outstretched. He smiled again, this time his lips pulled back enough to see his teeth, rather than the simple grin he had given her before. "Jake, Jake Eastman" He took her hand in his, which was surprisingly soft, with a small shake before gently pulling back. He had no idea how women always had smooth skin, that certainly was a mystery.... or a heck of a lot of lotion. "Nice to meet you Sarah, you heading to work or something?" He asked, gesturing towards the binder in her arms.
[Complete] |
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Post by sarah randall on Feb 24, 2009 17:09:55 GMT -5
Jake's hand was light in her own when he shook it lightly. It was nice to have a nice, relaxed hand-shake for once. Usually guys were about ripping her arm out of its socket with the force of the shake. In the world of business the firm and serious handshake was just about mandatory. It was also very common in the teaching profession. It showed power and usually those who wanted to prove their power shook tighter and longer. Sarah didn't have the need to show her power, mainly because she didn't have any. She was only a twenty-five-year-old junior English teacher slash model, where did the power lie there? Maybe the power of persuasion if she ever needs it, but it's a rare occasion.
"Same." She replied simply when Jake said it was nice to meet her. It was nice to meet him too but the repetition of the same phrase would seem redundant and she wasn't a fan of repetition unless it was in poetry. Like if she was giving a set of directions and someone wasn't listening then asked like five seconds later what they were doing, she would just ask them to ask someone else. She might repeat directions twice, but once she hit the third or fourth time it just got annoying. It was the number one reason that she always wrote things on the board.
Seeing Jake acknowledging her binder she tipped her head down to look as well, bringing it from her side to her front between them. "Oh, no. Well, I mean not until tomorrow." Actually she probably would have been on her way to work if there would actually be someone there to open the door for her, but the school was usually empty on Sundays, except for this particular Sunday when the students would be arriving and settling down into their dorms. So, actually maybe going into work would be an option. Maybe if she couldn't find anything else to fill her day with, although she was sure she was bound to find something. "I'm a teacher at the arts school downtown. English, nice and original." She laughed lightly. If she was the only English teacher at a performing and visual arts school then maybe she would feel awkward and out of place, but it was a regular high school with extra "umph" to it, so therefore all major subjects were required and there was a need for staff in those subjects. Although teaching English wasn't as exciting as say teaching a dance class or acting, but it was all she was qualified for.
Now it was her turn to comment on something and she focused on the guitar strap across his chest. "Are you, uh, do you play professionally? Or just as a hobby?" She would guess hobby but this was Chicago, so one could never know for certain.
`WORD COUNT 501
`LYRICS none
`AVATARS none
`OOC nada |
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Post by brandy on Feb 25, 2009 22:20:40 GMT -5
The air was getting thicker around them, the August air was heavy with humidity as the sun rose higher in the sky. His eyes wandered up between the canopy of green leaves above them, and he noticed by the placement of the sun it was a little later than he expected. It must be around ten AM now. Jake had not realized he was playing for so long. All that time certainly had not passed while talking to Sarah, it must have been five or ten minutes since they started talking. He was unsure of why he even cared about the time, it was not like e had any place to be until tomorrow.
He nodded in agreement with Sarah when she mentioned she had work the next day, but he was surprised when she mentioned the arts school. "Really?" She probably thought it was odd he questioning her like this, but he was not trying to indicate she was lying or anything of the sort. More he was shocked that he had already met someone from his new job before starting. What were the chances of that?"English..." He shook his head slightly, a grin still present on his face as he remembered trying to read poetry without falling asleep. "I hope you don't torture your students with endless hours of poetry, god I can remember hating that." A short, deep chuckle left his lips, making his shoulder shake slightly. "Oh, and since you mentioned it, I think I work at the same place as you. I just got a job as groundskeeper at that school" Well, at least now he might have someone to talk to once he got there... Jake was at least happy about that.
At first he was unsure of what she was asking him about now, he had completely forgotten about his guitar. He looked down, seeing the black strap still cutting across his chest. Now he even felt a little embarassed, maybe she had heard him playing... "Uh, no... just something I do in my spare time." He certainly was not good enough to make it as a professional. That was something he was confident about at least, if not much else in his life.
[done]
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Post by sarah randall on Feb 28, 2009 20:34:19 GMT -5
Sarah wasn't really sure what to expect Jake's reaction to be. It was a proven fact that males did significantly better in the maths and sciences rather than English, that was reserved for the girls. Of course, preference was your own discretion. When Jake began shaking his head, Sarah's eyes narrowed in suspicion. She was silently daring him to rag on her choice of teaching. Not that she would get upset and whole-heartedly try to defend the subject, she was equally as interested on his take of the subject. Even she had to admit that there were some things she preferred teaching over others, but had to follow the curriculum. She might deviate just a bit by making the lesson a bit shorter than others, especially once she saw her class drifting away. You could tell a lot about something from the reaction of students, and it was always best to get the data straight from the source. Most of them won't lie when something is boring or stupid and even if they did, it was all said through their body language. Now, Sarah wasn't an expert profiler, but it was plain to see that when the heads began to bob, the eyes wandered to the window, the bathroom pass started to get worn down, and suddenly the most interesting thing was what was under the desk or in the hoodie pocket, it was time to change things.
Sarah laughed with Jake then stopped, but there was still a smile on her face even if her voice became somewhat defensive. "Now listen. I don't bore my students with endless hours" She over dramatized the 'endless hours'. " of poetry. The class is only an hour and a half long." Not to mention if she had to teach more than that in a row she would probably have a nervous breakdown. She knew form experience that teenagers didn't have the greatest attention span and once the halfway bell rang they were already on the edge of their seats waiting to dart out. There were those who moved slowly, apparently their next class was much worse then Miss Walker's English class, which she found to be uplifting. Her class really wasn't terrible, but she knew she was biased. At least she didn't think it was that bad, her students seemed to have fun when she wasn't just giving a lecture; which she hated doing anyway. Always try to stay positive.
When Jake mentioned he was the new grounds keeper, Sarah jumped slightly in recognition. "Oh! You're Jake Eastman!" Yes, I think they already established that. Until he mentioned it though, the name never clicked. "Yeah! There was talk of you at our most recent faculty meeting." She stopped, realizing how that must of sounded and held her freehand up in front of him to clarify. "Nothing bad though. Well, I mean I didn't really pay attention a whole lot. Staff meetings are unbearably boring." Her hand fell and she slouched slightly for emphasis. "But what I did hear wasn't negative. I don't think." She pressed her index finger to her lips and furrowed her brow in thought. Now that she thought about it she really didn't remember much. "I'm sorry. I'm...just...going to shut up now." She laughed nervously, her babbling got the better of her again. Usually it just came up when she was nervous, but she wasn't nervous. At least, not before now. Now she just felt embarrassed.
Looking to Jake's guitar strap she took the moment eagerly to change the subject away from her word vomit. She still wanted to disappear, but pushed through it to regain her esteem. "Well, you're pretty good. If you trust the opinion of a babbling buffoon." Oh. She mentally slapped herself on the forehead, biting her tongue to prevent her from actually doing it. Swallowing hard she tried again, feeling even more ridiculous. "I took lessons when I was younger, but uh... had to stop." She didn't much like dwelling on past memories, most of which were dark and depressing, but sometimes it was hard to help it. There were those little things that reminded you of such things, maybe a dream; they were the worst; or just seeing someone else who acted or looking even remotely like someone in your past. For Sarah it wasn't so bad, only have real memories with her grandmother before she passed. Her parents passed before her grandmother, but Sarah was too little to remember them much. She remembered certain things, like her mom always smelled like this perfume and her dad always jingled when he walked because of a handful of change in his pockets, but nothing more than that. Sometimes she remembered glimpses, but again not much else. It was harder to remember her grandmother, whom she had more memories with. But she didn't want to go there right now.
`WORD COUNT 860
`LYRICS none
`AVATARS none
`OOC woo! yay muse! lol |
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Post by brandy on Mar 1, 2009 16:46:28 GMT -5
He had not thought about the fact that Sarah might get defensive about her chosen subject to teach. He brushed off the minor concern though, she seemed pretty laid back. That was certainly a trait he enjoyed in other people since he did not worry about too much in his life. Of course he had the usual stress of making enough money and stuff, regular life situations everyone had to deal with. The only thing Jake ever got extremely anxious about was dating, but usually he kept well away from that so life was quite easy going. He had good reason to keep away from women, what had happened in his past seemed beyond repair. Anyways,some people freaked out over everything, he supposed in the high school they would be considered the drama queens. Even then though, Jake knew he would still be kind and keep up a conversation with whoever it happened to be. He just could not find a real reason to be truly mean to someone.
When Sarah spoke up she was standing up for herself, but she seemed to take his comment as the light hearted words they were meant to be."oh only and hour and a half" He said sarcastically, as if an hour and a half was the longest amount of time ever. The smile remained on his face though. Jake hoped he was going to run into Sarah at work sometimes, he enjoyed joking around with her. Then she started to talk quite fast, and he had to really pay attention to keep up. So apparently they were talking about him at staff meetings? just great.... did she think he was a lazy guy already or something? However his worries quickly left him as she continued to babble on, clearly a little uncomfortable now.She was sort of cute when she was nervous.... He quickly erased that thought from his mind. First she was way too young for him, and second he knew he did not want to go there. Jake cleared his mind, a sloppy grin returned to his face, his dark eyes watched her with amusement as she searched to find her bearings again. "No, go ahead, keep going, I like listening" He said, laughing again as she told herself to shut up. "Well I'm at least glad you didn't hear anything too bad"
He reached up with his left hand, running his fingers through his already messy dark brown hair. He was not exactly concerned with it though, hair was not the first thing on his list of important priorities. When the subject once more turned to his music, it was he turn to feel somewhat bashful. He did his best to keep his composure as he spoke. "Uh, thanks but...not that I think your a buffoon or something, but stage fright tends to get in the way of a music career." 'And I suck!' But he kept that part to himself, she did not need to hear his own self esteem issues when it to his music. Without noticing Sarah's somewhat gloomy expression he grabbed the chance to change the subject."Oh, too bad. Why did you stop?" Normally he would have noticed she was uncomfortable and not asked, but he was too eager to turn attention away from his own musical career to realize it.
---
ooc: YAY for your muse!
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Post by sarah randall on Mar 7, 2009 22:26:57 GMT -5
The awkward pause. Sarah waited for it nervously. She hated when it decided to sneak it's ugly head into conversation, especially one where sh was just meeting someone new, like right now. It would be a great time for something out of the ordinary to happen, like something falling from he sky. Or even a more conventional approach; a dog getting away from its owner and running past. At least something to jump-start another topic again. However, there wasn't much of a pause this time and Sarah was relieved. She was supposed to be good with words, being an English teacher and all, but it was very oxymoronic that she wasn't so great. Writing an essay? Sure! She'd zip right through just about any topic given to her. But to speak to another human being without hitting the wall at least once would be a sheer miracle. Prepared speeches were right down her alley as well. The writing part was easy, it was the impromptu she had troubles with. Most of the time anyway, more so when she wasn't expecting it.
She felt her face heat up, praying her face wasn't blushing for him to see it. "No, nothing bad." Her head shook just a hair, turning away from Jake to the fountain that was going full blast and drowning out most of the other sounds in the park. She wasn't sure if she should feel embarrassed or relaxed by his amused expression. It was better then him thinking she was a total loon and would talk his ear right off. Although, given a decent foot-to-mouth moment she just might; trying to clarify herself over and over until she was blue in the face. It happened before, although not from a foot-to-mouth moment. She had just been hyped up on caffeine or something and had an incredibly urge to talk. She ended up jumping from topic to topic randomly until the person she was talking at cracked and told her to shut up. It was a laughable moment later, but at the time she felt ridiculous.
When Jake began talking again, Sarah let her gaze remove itself from the fountain and back to him. It was hard to look at his eyes now after that fiasco, so she let them wander to the guitar strap across his chest, since that was what he was talking about. Not the strap... the guitar. Well, the music he made with it anyway. She felt herself redden again at the buffoon thing, flinching in her mind. God, she wanted to erase that. Jake's comment of stage fright, brought her attention back though. "Oh. I suppose that would be a significant complication." Fear of performing doesn't make for good fans. He could always rent out studio time and at least record a CD, maybe sell it. She opened her mouth to suggest the idea, but before the words came he had already turned the subject back to her."Oh, uh..." She didn't want to start a pity-party in her favor so stayed away from specifics, sticking with a general, yet truthful, excuse. "Just some family, uh, difficulties. It kind of got lost in the shuffle after a while." First she would miss one lesson, then two, then weeks at a time until she stopped going at all. At the time she didn't really mind much with everything else happening, but now she kind of wished she had went back to it.
`WORD COUNT 601
`LYRICS none
`AVATARS none
`OOC im sorry it took so long! busy busy lately x.x |
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Post by brandy on Mar 12, 2009 14:59:45 GMT -5
He nodded silently, leaving the subject of stage fright alone for now. It had messed up his life enough, no need to focus on it now. Jake wondered how Rick and Logan were doing these days... if they were still playing music. He focused his attention back on Sarah, realizing she still looked a little uncomfortable. He wondered if he had said something wrong? Or maybe it just took her a little while to recover from admitting the staff was already talking about him. It did not bother him though, he assumed faculty would be talking about the new employee, wondering if they would be useful or complete bum. Jake had no plans of becoming that!
A group of three men zoomed by particularly fast on bikes,dressed on the full cycling attire which included spandex pants. He had no idea how anyone found that comfortable, why not just wear gym shorts? His dark brown eyes turned back to the young woman in front of him, now speaking again. Sarah seemed to want to leave talk of her musical career behind as well. Whatever it was, it seemed personal, not something you told someone you met fifteen minutes ago. Therefore Jake decided to leave it at that and tried to think of something else to talk about. "Too bad." He started, however the only thing he could think about was lunch, he was getting hungry already. He stepped to the side, his eyes wandering to the street he could see through the trees lining the edge of the park. "Say, you wanna get some lunch?" He asked, not thinking much about it. But then he decided to add on to that. "Don't feel like you have to though, it's ok, I just have an open day and wouldn't mind some company." He stated, shrugging his shoulders. He did not want Sarah to feel like she had to be polite and say yes, if she said no he wouldn't think twice about it, and would be just as friendly the next time he saw her.
[done, sorry for the wait...so busy!]
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Post by sarah randall on Mar 14, 2009 20:49:12 GMT -5
Yeah, too bad. Sarah didn't speak this thought out loud, just simply nodded in agreement. It was too bad she didn't go any further than lessons. They were fun and she enjoyed them. It was the one time a week she actually looked foreword to something. She never thought she was even very good at the guitar, never having time to practice. Since she didn't actually own her own guitar, there was no way for her to practice her finger placement and actually creating notes without holding down too many strings. The instructor was patient with her, but it was like starting from square one every time. She would remember things better when she went to all her lessons, but once Sarah began canceling them it was all lost. Now, she felt sorry for wasting her grandmother's money like she did. But that was what grandparents were for right?
When Sarah noticed Jake move, she shifted her binder to the other side of her body and followed his gaze as it wandered out of the park. "Oh, um." She hadn't even thought about eating since she left her house, planning on working the whole day. She wasn't even aware of the time anymore, had it really been that long since she arrived? Must have been if it was getting to be near lunch. Sarah didn't wear a watch and her cell phone was laying in her bag somewhere that she didn't feel like getting it. Her eyes wandered briefly to the sky, looking for the sun. Now that she took the time to notice, it was a lot brighter out with the sun nearly overhead.
When Jake quickly added that she was not obligated to accept his offer she crinkled her forehead to dismiss the idea. "Oh, no no, I'd like to join you." She turned away to close up her things and return them to her bag. "A girl's gotta eat." Not to mention she might be skipping dinner this evening to be sure she is one-hundred percent prepared to the start of classes tomorrow. By accident of course, but she was still anticipating it. Sarah smiled, zipping up her bag shut and lifting the strap onto her shoulder. "And I could use a second set of brains to help me, if you don't mind." She slid her hand around the strap on her shoulder to keep it from falling off, stepping back in front of Jake. "You have a place in mind?" Cause she didn't, although if he were to ask she could probably think of a place.
`WORD COUNT 455
`LYRICS none
`AVATARS none
`OOC ---- |
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Post by brandy on Mar 15, 2009 12:23:05 GMT -5
He could feel his stomach grumbling, man was he starving! Jake tried to think of something that sounded good right now... pasta? steak? Nope, neither seemed appealing. Pizza, not that sounded like something he could go for right now. Sarah seemed a little surprised by the invite, but her face did not take on that glassy expression of someone trying to figure out an excuse to to ditch, or thinking about how one would endure the next forty minutes or so being miserable. He immediately too that as a good sign, and smiled as she agreed and gathered up her things. "Great" He turned and started heading down the walk slowly, waiting to make sure he did not leave the young woman in the dust. "Oh, I dunno how much help I'll be, but I guess you could see if the random facts in my head are actually useful" For some reason he knew plenty of random, not very useful information. Like how elephants would mourn the loss of their family and know where the bones were in the desert. Or how throughout a person's life they would on average walk the equivalent to five times around the equator. It was probably those shows he watched when bored on a Sunday, too much of the National Geographic channel.
They started down the winding path that lead away from the fountain and into the main part of the park. Already it was easier to hear the sounds of Chicago, the bustling hum of the city that was unavoidable unless in the deepest portions of Grant Park. "I was thinking Alberto's that pizza place, but I'm up for anything since I'm practically starving." He added with a sarcastic grin. Sarah certainly was good company, Jake was pretty sure he had found himself a good friend already..
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Post by sarah randall on Mar 25, 2009 20:19:06 GMT -5
Jogging a few quick steps to be able to fall in pace with Jake, Sarah took a last glimpse of the park as they passed by the grouping of trees that really opened it up. There were a lot more people gathered now than when she first arrived and noticed the picnic tables being taken over by families and sporadic places on the grass claimed by couples. Her eyes remained on the couples more than anyone else, hoping that one day she would be on those blankets sharing a surprise picnic lunch. Being a romantic was rather disappointing sometimes as not many guys were spontaneous and secretive, in a good way. She loved the idea of being dragged to God knows where, reluctant and complaining, until they arrived to a card table and fold-up chairs set up on the bluff overlooking Lake Michigan with a single red rose, bottle of wine, and cold spaghetti (hey, can't always get what you want). Wishful thinking on her part, but her fantasies and romantic movies were what she lived by.
A little too late she pulled herself from her daydreams and answered Jake somewhat randomly. "I'm sure you'll be of help. Useless knowledge is sometimes more interesting than useful knowledge." Which she really did find to be true. It also happened to be the facts and statistics that stuck with a person the most. She was lapsed into silence when the siren of a police car blared on the main road and horns began honking to make room for the car to pass. Through the trees the flashing blue lights would be seen for a few seconds before they faded along with the siren. It was then that Sarah again noticed Jake speaking and was glad she hadn't been zoned out just temporarily deaf to miss what he had said. She responded with a slow nod. "I could go for a slice or two of pizza." Sarah raised the strap to her bag off her shoulder and slid it over her head so it was putting the weight on her other shoulder and crossing over her chest. It was a lot easier to carry that way, especially when walking. "If we cut across Oak Street we can take the alley between the mini-mart and Dreamland." She pointed between the gap in the trees toward the outside world.
`WORD COUNT 406
`LYRICS none
`AVATARS none
`OOC hm. short >.< wanna end it here and start a new thread or just end it and chill? lol. Dreamland is a tattoo place btw. heheh! |
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