Piotr Rasputin (clutteredcanvas) wrote in supernextdoor, @ 2012-04-19 13:19:00 |
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Entry tags: | #group scene, 10.05.11, arabella, lex, sam |
Salesmanship
Who: Sam and Arabella (and Lex)
What: Exhibition problems
When: Wednesday afternoon
Where: The Zeppo
Warning: None :)
Sam was stressed. In fact, Sam was almost entirely made of stress right now. The exhibition of their work so far opened in two days, and he hadn’t even taken all the pictures he wanted to, let alone chosen which ones to submit, get them printed and framed, and hung in the gallery that their class was borrowing for the weekend.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, he still had every single ticket for the exhibition that he’d been given, unsold. It wasn’t even as if they were expensive - $3 - but he was considering just giving them away and paying school himself. At least that way, he’d know that someone was coming to see them.
Needing to vent to a friendly face, Sam headed for The Zeppo, knowing that Arabella had taken on an extra shift. He was carrying a takeout coffee cup, half-empty, and nearly managed to pour it down his front as he bumped into somebody, coming in the front door. Wow, this day couldn’t possibly get any better...it hadn’t properly spilled, but there was still a few specks of coffee on his white shirt. His waistcoat was ok, at least - white shirts he could replace a hell of a lot more easily.
Sighing he drained the rest of the cup, still carrying it as he wandered around the store, looking for Arabella. He spotted her at last, helping an older guy with a serious bleach problem hang some framed posters on the back wall. Smiling a little, he headed over.
“Hey, Ari,” he called out as he approached.
Taking an extra shift was better than listening to Dan bitch at the xbox for the whole day. It was pretty bad that a comic book shop, usually full of teenagers, was quieter than her apartment with only herself and her boyfriend. The man's voice carried obnoxiously and there wasn't much she could really do about it because it always started an argument and she could never win the arguments.
She was helping Lex hang some posters, mostly having him do it and being the designated 'it's not straight' girl when she heard the familiar sound of Sam's voice. Arabella smiled before she even turned around and waved at him. "Hiya, Sam." she murmured, eyes flicking to the poster Lex was trying to hang. "A little to the left, it's a bit crooked." she commented before turning her attentions back to Sam once more. "What's up?"
Lex just sighed. He’d been trying to get this poster straight for the last twenty minutes, and no matter what he and Arabella tried, it just wouldn’t stop tilting. He was beginning to think it was possessed. Taking it down off the wall, he started fiddling with the string. He didn’t mind his staff chatting to friends, just as long as they didn’t spend hours doing it.
“Nothing much,” Sam replied, glancing up the ladder at Arabella’s coworker before focusing his attention on her. “Just y’know, pre-show stress. Nothing’s going right, as usual.” He shrugged, shifting his bag higher on his shoulder.
“Have you sold any tickets? I can’t get anyone to take any of mine.” Maybe he should have tried harder to make (and keep) friends, then he’d have more people to invite...
"A few." she told him. "Like maybe five or six. But everyone's all interested in doing other things. They have lives and too much to do and it's just dumb. People don't seem to care as much about going to things like this anymore which blows." And it did. Everyone was too busy with their own lives to take a moment to step back and enjoy a little bit of beauty for once. "I'm sure we'll figure something out. Maybe Lex'll let us put up a flyer about the show at the front desk." she commented, eyes flicking up to her boss. "What do you say, Lexy-poo?"
Lex had given up protesting the wierd and wonderful nicknames that Arabella came up with for him. It seemed to be a new one every week, which was the only saving grace with being stuck with her calling him ‘Lexy-poo’ for a while. Between that, and Katee’s terrifying habit of calling him ‘Sexy Lexy’ when she wanted something, he was starting to think his staff didn’t take him seriously...
“Hm?” He looked down at her, still fiddling with the string on the back of the picture. “Yeah, sure. Put one up on the inside of the door if you want. What’s this for?”
Sam rifled through his bag, digging out a flyer and handing it up to Lex. “It’s for our photography class. We’re putting on a showing of the work we’ve done this year so far. It opens Friday night, but you can go Saturday, Sunday, or Monday as well.” Yes, he might be giving Sam his sales pitch. He really was that desperate.
“It’s only $3 a ticket, so it’s totally worth going.” He might have looked a little pleading at that point. “Can I interest you in a ticket?”
Lex was opening his mouth to say no, then paused, considering. Katee had revealed her Plan to get him to go out with Gregory, since it had been foiled by Zack turning up. He felt a little guilty bailing, but there was no harm in just rescheduling, and taking him to the gallery instead, was there?
“You know what, I’ll take two,” he said, looking between the two of them. “One from each of you, so I don’t get yelled at.”
Arabella happily laughed and bounced in place at Lex's agreement to buy a ticket from the both of them. "You're awesome." she told the man, taking a moment to collect her purse so she could pull one of the tickets out for him. "Maybe we'll get a lot more business from here." she commented, glancing at Sam. "I can put the flyer up in the window and then even if it's just people passing by, they'll see it too."
Sam grinned at Arabella’s bouncy happiness, glad to see her in a good mood. She’d been quiet of late, and much as Sam had tried to poke and prod, she wouldn’t tell him what was bothering her.
“Yeah, I can leave some of my tickets for you to sell, if you want?” He offered, as if he was doing her a favor, rather than getting some of the tickets off his hands. “You can just give me back the money, and however many you don’t sell.” Maybe this wasn’t going to be such a disaster after all.
Lex pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, pulling out a $5 bill and a single and handing them to Sam. “There you go,” he replied, taking the proffered tickets with a grin.
"I can do that." she told him with a nod. She didn't mind helping him out and figured she'd just split the amount of tickets she managed to sell thanks to Lex's help with Sam. That way everyone would be doing at least better than they seemed to be doing just approaching people in the street or the few people they knew that might be interested in an art show.
“Awesome.” Sam dug a pile of the tickets out of his bag, handing them to Arabella. “Here you go!” He smiled at her, then gave her a big hug.
“And if you need anything, you just give me a call, ok?” He murmured, squeezing her tightly before letting go. He resettled his fedora on his head, looking up at Lex. “And hey, thanks for letting us put up a flyer. And for buying tickets.”
Lex waved a hand dismissively, hefting the poster in one hand.
“Oh, no problem. Good luck with the rest of the prep for the show.” He smiled, then turned his attention back to the wall, determined to hang this poster straight if it was the last thing he did.
Arabella hugged him in return. She'd needed that hug and she was thankful that he squeezed her just that extra bit. It was nice to have a friendly face and a warm embrace every once in awhile. "I will." she promised him. He was always so damn nice to her and she certainly appreciated his friendship.
"I guess I should get back to work." she said, smirking up at Lex. "My boss is kind of a dictator." she teased,
“Hey!” Lex stuck his tongue out at Arabella, leaning back from the poster. “Ok, is it straight now?” He really hoped it was - at this point, he was close to giving up, and putting something else on the wall instead.
“Left side up by about a centimeter,” Sam replied, looking up at the poster. “Yeah, perfect.” He laughed as Lex slumped over the ladder, clearly relieved.
“Ok, I gotta go. I’ll see you in class, Ari?” He walked backwards for a few steps, giving her a wave before turning and heading out of the store.
"See you." she agreed, chuckling and waving at Sam as he left.