Hope Davenport (have_hope) wrote in btvsal, @ 2010-07-25 19:32:00 |
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Current location: | Chloe's Sugar Shack |
Current mood: | curious |
Entry tags: | hope davenport, kaitlin 'mouse' crowe, place: la |
How Does She Really Feel?
Who: Mouse and Hope
Where: Chloe's Sugar Shack
When: Friday Afternoon, July 23rd
Another day, another need for a massive caffeine boost. Hope had actually spent most of the past few days working on a new art project that someone was actually PAYING her to do, which was massive in a way because people didn't usually pay you to do squat for art these days. BUT someone had seen some of her work at the college and had asked her to do a mural outside of their restaurant of all the foods that they served inside. Not exactly quality art, but it paid, and she could take pictures and stick it in a portfolio, and THAT was important. Today she had come in the shack wearing a pair of paint stained over-alls, a red shirt, and her hair tied back in a bun. She looked more like a house painter than an 'artiste.'
Once again, Mouse was puttering quietly around the Sugar Shack, practically blending in with her surroundings, as she HATED attention. She picked up a few tips that had been left for her, and shuffled over to the counter, straightening out that little white skirt that was part fo her outfit. Why Chloe found the need to dress the waitresses here in 50's style get ups with a more modern, sexy flair? Mouse would NEVER know. She could just thank God that she at least had the body to pull it off.
When Hope spotted Mouse, her face broke into a grin. Of course, who else would be working here right now? The only other person she had seen here other than Chloe and Mouse were a dark haired girl named Nica and a new, kind of surly blond chick. "Hey, Mouse!" she said as she got up to the counter.
"Huh???" She squeaked, broken from her little reverie as, really... who the hell ever ACTIVELY initiated conversation with the girl? She spun around and grinned, when she saw Hope there. Oh dear. The crush was in FULL effect, and she felt that dreamy little smile threaten to take over her face, her eyes taking on a sweet, almost anime-like look.
Hope waved at her. "Hey. Remember me?" Of course Mouse probably did, but Hope had a weird sense of humor that she couldn't always control.
"O-Of course! You're Hope." Duh. Like Mouse was going to forget that face, that voice... UGH! She had it bad. Already. Maybe it was the girl's looks and personality combined with the fact that nobody else really paid her any attention... "C-Can I get you something?" She just assumed the Watcher wanted her to get her a drink or something, because really. Who ever purposely STARTED a conversation with her?
"Well, a coffee would be great," Hope said like it was nothing. "Hey, can you take a break for a few and hang out with me? Kind of sucks to be drinking coffee by myself, even if I happen to smell like a hardware store right now."
"R-Really?" She asked, honestly shocked that Hope wanted to actually spend MORE time with her. "I... sure! I... I was supposed to go on lunch like... a h-half hour ago...." And could she THINK of a better way to spend that lunch than with this beautiful girl? DUH. Rather than call out and actually, you know, bring ATTENTION to herself (perish the thought, right?), Mouse waved frantically until she got Chloe's attention, and mouthed the words 'going on lunch' to her, before skittering off to grab her lunch. She'd brought a lunch with her, one that kind of brought her heartbreaking financial status to the forefront: all she had was a peanut butter sandwich and an apple. Sure, she COULD get her lunch from the Shack any day she worked, but she always felt weird taking what she saw as charity. Well... on an everyday basis, anyway (hey, sometime she just craved their food, ok?).
Hope smiled. "Great!" she said. It was always better to hang here with friends, after all. Mouse might be a little on the shy side, but she was still really sweet and adorable, so Hope couldn't help but want to get to know the girl more. After getting her own coffee, she sat down at a table and waited for Mouse to join her.
Mouse sat down soon afterward, with that little lunch of hers (and a big cookie... the one thing Chloe was able to talk her into taking today), but a sweet smile on her face regardless. Say what you will about Mouse... but her poorness never got her down.
"How can you stand to work in a coffee shop full of sweet treats and NOT take your break as quickly as possible?" Hope asked her quickly. She wasn't sure if she could handle working in a place like this.
"I guess... I just f-focus on my paycheck." She admitted with a nervous chuckle, taking a little bite of her sandwich before sort of catching herself staring at Hope. Damn it... she probably looked like a freak or something...
"Yeah, I guess that probably helps," Hope said. She started to pour some sugar into her coffee cup. "I don't know if I could work here, though, well, and not eat everything in the store on my first day of work, anyway."
"Well... I c-can't really afford to buy much here. And Chloe offers to g-give me anything to eat that I want, but..." She blushed, finding that she'd never told ANYONE outside of Chloe this much about her private life. "I don't like feeling like a charity case."
"Well, I'm sure she doesn't mean it that way," Hope pointed out. "She'd probably offer the stuff to anyone who worked here, no matter what their situation might be." Chloe just kind of seemed the type to do that sort of thing.
"I'm kind of happy though... I worked enough overtime that I actually got a couple of extra bucks I can spend on me for once..." She smiled with a heartrending amount of triumph there, looking like someone who just announced they won the lottery. "I'm gonna buy a CD I've been wanting. I know it seems silly, but sometimes music is all that keeps me going."
"Hey, I don't think it's silly at all," Hope said to her. This girl really had to stop worrying so much of what other people *might* think of her. Actually, the only thing that Hope could picture anyone thinking about this girl was how adorably sweet she was, but Hope just *might* be biased on that fact.
"Thanks..." Those big, doe-like eyes blinked cutely at her as a sweet little smile threatened to break out on her face again. "I feel a little bad spending anything on me when I could get something for my mom or my sister, but... my favorite band has a new album out and I havent taken their last one out of my CD player for like a year." Aw, how cute! She glared then, as she noticed, AGAIN, Chloe kind of grinning over at them. This time? Mouse actually spoke up. "Chloe!!!" She squealed, blushing. "Please don't do that! You're embarrassing meee!"
Hope briefly thought about hucking a napkin dispenser at Chloe. She had noticed the staring the other day as well, actually. What was up with that? "It's OK to spend some money on yourself once in a while," she pointed out to Mouse. "You wouldn't want to feel TOO budget concious all the time. Sort of takes the fun out of life." Not that Hope ever had to worry about that. With a trust fund set up in her name from her deceased birth parents and somehow being an excellent investor herself, Hope would probably never have to worry much about money.
"Don't mind her..." Mouse said with a little blush. "She means well... she just wants to see me happy." Chloe was like a great big kid, really, and sometimes, like now? It showed. Still, Mouse loved her all the same. Best boss she could ever ask for, really. And not exactly hard on the eyes either. "Any word on your..." sweetly, since she didn't wanna say it aloud in a public place, she gave a cute little staking motion with her hand.
"I'm sure she does mean well," Hope said with a slight laugh before moving on. "I haven't actually heard anything on that yet," she told her. "I think they actually have to *find* a slayer first before they can assign one to me, you know?"
"Oh..." The meek waitress said with a blush. "I guess that makes sense..." Of course it did! Now she felt all kinds of lame. Gah. "I think it's SO cool, you know? That you get to... to help with something so important..." Mouse only dreamed of being able to do something so important with her life. Instead? She served coffee to people. Like the guy who sat at the table by the far corner all the time. She hated that guy and grumbled when she saw him walk in. That meant when she was done with lunch, she'd be stuck waiting on him. All he ever did was make sexual advances at her, and while she COULD tell Chloe and have him kicked out... he always left her big tips. And she needed those far more than she needed her dignity or her personal comfort.
Hope reached across the table and gave a brief squeeze to Mouse's hand. "I'm the person who works behind the scenes with these people, true, but we can always use more volunteers with other stuff if you really want to help out." Most of them were ridiculously overworked. Maybe if they had a few more helpers around then maybe it would lessen the load a little for a few of them like Mr. Giles? It was certainly a thought, at any rate.
Just as Hope said that, the guy sat down and shot a really flirty, skeezy wink at Mouse. Gah. She really hated this guy. Ok, so maybe Mouse didnt really HATE anyone... but she REALLY disliked him. So there.
"Would it... would it pay? I could use a second job..." because then? She could actually tell Chloe about this dumbass and not have to worry about his tips anymore.
Hope actually didn't know that. "Probably, but I'll have to check on that one," she admitted. "None of us get paid a whole lot, though. I think most have second jobs." She was just lucky that she didn't have to.
"Hang on a second, ok?" Oh brother. She hated this part. She got up for a second, skittering over to where that guy had sat down, and in that shy, quiet voice, said to him, "I'm almost done with my lunch, but if you can wait I'll be over in about fifteen minutes..." She knew she was his favorite waitress. Something about the quiet innocent ones must appeal to him. She turned, and he actually whistled at her while taking a lonnnng look at her backside as she walked back to the table. She rolled her eyes and grabbed her apple, taking a comically angry bite of it. "That guy? Is a POOPHEAD."
Hope arched an eyebrow and nodded, watching the exchange that took place b/w the skeevy looking guy and Mouse. She had to bite back a smile at Mouse's insult, because it came out much more cute than she probably would have liked. "Most men are pigs," Hope said to her simply. Not that Hope had done a whole lot of dating, but one night in any club will lead you to believe that.
"At least he hasn't looked up my skirt or tried to touch my butt yet." Yet? Seriously? Jeez. "He's creepy, but he tips well... so I don't say anything." One thing Mouse hadn't noticed, that was somehow fascinating... the more she talked with Hope? Her stuttering almost totally vanished. Sure, she still stammered occasionally, but for the most part? Being around Hope somehow calmed her.
Hope shook her head. "I really wish that you didn't have to put up with creeps like that just to make some decent money," she said. Now she knew that she was going to find Hope some sort of job so that she didn't have to put up with that at all. That just wasn't right.
"He told me I'd make a lot more money from him if I worked at Saints & Sinners. Then I looked it up and... yeah. NOT the kind of place I'd work at." She actually blushed furiously just at the thought. "I don't even like seeing MYSELF naked. I don't think I'd want other people seeing that. But it shows where his mind goes when he sees me." Then? Just because she was being honest: "I don't see why he hits on ME all the time. Chloe's here a lot, and she's just GORGEOUS, and Nica's beautiful too... that new girl is really pretty... and ohmyGOD have you seen Chloe's little sister?!? How can anyone even NOTICE me around them?"
Hope made a face. She *had* already heard what Saints & Sinners was, and, as something of a feminist, she really didn't like it. Not like she could do anything about it, though. LA was FULL of strip clubs. The next part of what Mouse said, though nearly broke her heart. "Oh come on, Mouse, have you ever looking in a mirror?" she asked. "You're gorgeous. I'd be more amazed to hear that more people who came in here didn't hit on you."
"You're really sweet..." The pale girl said with a tone that made it apparent she thought Hope was just humoring her. "My whole life I've only dated one person... and she kinda had to bail." Sure, Marlowe had a family emergency, and Mouse felt bad for that... but the girl hadn't contacted her even once since leaving. To her? That made it pretty evident how things were.
Thing was, Hope really wasn't humoring her. Hope had never been attracted to another girl before but, with this one, things were just starting to feel...different. "Then that person was a fool to leave you behind," she said simply to Mouse.
Oh. My. GOD. Just when you would think Mouse couldn't get more adorable? She gave a sweet little sniffle, her bottom lip quivering lightly. She was trying not to cry! "Marlowe was the only person I ever... ever..." she blushed as well there, "did ANYTHING with... and I feel so lonely sometimes now..."
Hope held the girl's hand again, wrapping one of Mouse's in both of hers. "It'll be OK," she said to Mouse. "You're going to meet someone new, OK? Someone new who won't have to leave or run off or whatever happened with this Marlowe. You just have to trust that."
"I dunno, Hope..." She sighed, looking at her watch. "Darnit. I gotta go... my lunch is almost over and I have some pride-swallowing to do so that I get some good tips."
Hope bit back a sigh when Mouse said that she had to go, especially the part about the 'swallowing the pride.' "I'll talk to Mr. Giles and see if he needs some extra help, and, since I know he does, I don't think it should be a real problem."
"I'd appreciate it, Hope." Mouse gave her a bright, if somewhat sad, smile, and stood. By now, she'd started to figure that this was going to be another in her long line of unreciprocated crushes, and was...growing accustomed to it. "Maybe, if you have some free time, we could talk again sometime?"
"I'd love to," Hope said to her with a smile. If only Mouse knew the somewhat confusing feelings that Hope was starting to have about Mouse, she wouldn't feel like this might be such an unrequited crush, but that's foreshadowing. So SHHH!!!
"Time to get my pale butt ogled..." She grumbled, and walked over to that leering guy, forcing that bright smile back into place.