Potential Excitement Who: Avery and Gabe Where: The park When: Afternoon Warning: None
There wasn’t a ton of time between when Gabe got out of class and before he went to work, but he was determined to make the best of it. He headed straight down to the center of town, where people were helping with the decorations for the upcoming film festival. He wasn’t sure which was more exciting-- the festival or what it represented, that they were going to get a movie theater in Delphi. Granted, it wouldn’t be showing any new movies, but any movies were better than none. Arriving at central park, he began to circle the area, looking for where he could best be of service. Perhaps hanging lights, since he wasn’t going to build a booth. Gabe stood before the decoration instructions, trying to decide where to start.
Avery didn't have to help out at the bar for a while yet, so rather than return home where she would no doubt be bored, or nagged by various members of her family, she decided to follow a few friends to the park where they were setting up for the weekend festival. As much as she tried not to show it, she was excited. It was something to do that wasn't school or work, and it was hard not to get her hopes up that this weekend might actually be fun.
After a while, Avery was busy hanging lights, thankful to have something to do that didn't include nails or wood and potential splinters. She was doing an okay job of it so far, but she slipped a bit on the ladder, releasing the strand of lights from her grip to keep from falling over completely. Unfortunately, the weight of lights falling to the ground threatened to pull down the ones she had already hung, but Avery reacted quickly, reaching up with one hand to keep them in place. With her hand currently occupied, Avery had trouble pulling the rest of the lights back up and she cursed softly under her breath before glancing over and spotting Gabe. Gabe who looked decidedly not busy. "Hey," she called. "Little help?"
Gabe turned and immediately spotted Avery struggling with the lights and the ladder. Rushing to her side, he began to lift the lights back up to her, preventing them from breaking on the ground. “I was just wondering where I should start,” he said, pleased to have an answer there. “You okay up there or do you want me to hold the ladder?” Deciding that he probably should anyways, he placed one hand on it to stabilize her. He knew Avery from school, but they hadn’t talked as much. He’d also seen her in the bar. Even if he was allowed to drink, it felt weird to be there sometimes.
Initially she wanted to just take the string of lights and say thanks, but the last thing Avery wanted to do was tumbled over and break something. That would put a damper on her weekend for sure. She regained her footing, breathing easier once she lifted the string of lights to where the others wouldn't pull away from where they hung. "If you can hold the ladder, that would be aces," Avery said, despite the fact that Gabe was already doing it. Her lips quirked into a small grin as she began the process of clipping the lights up again, feeling more steady with Gabe below her. "Once my arms start to get sore from the exercise, we can switch, how 'bout that? Then you can be both helpful and useful."
“Sounds like a plan,” Gabe smiled, putting his bottom foot on the ladder for extra weight. “Though I’d like to point out, if I’m preventing you from falling, then I’m still being useful.” Not that he had a problem with such a small job. If he wasn’t doing it, someone else should be. He was pretty sure that the hospital didn’t need to add festival related injuries to their ER que. “Any guesses as to what movies they might show this weekend?” He had some personal favorites, but he had no clue what the town council would approve for public viewing.
"Yeah, but it's more like you're lowering my chances of falling, not preventing it completely. So that's only, like, being partly useful. Not that it's not appreciated," Avery added with a small smirk, just in case Gabe might decide to let go of the ladder. She focused on the task at hand, but considered Gabe's question, recalling with some amusement, the text messages she had exchanged with her brother earlier. "Uh, if I had to guess, something PG? You know, since I guess families will probably be there. Would be cool if they had like, a horror movie night or something later, though." Avery glanced down at Gabe curiously. "You going?" She assumed so, because what else was there to do? And PG rated or not, it had been a long time since anyone had seen a movie, right?
“If you fall now, it’s your own fault,” Gabe pointed out, a smile on his face. “I can make up for the ladder being wobbly, but I can’t stop you from being a clutz.” If this had been him and Claire, he would have made her get off the ladder and switch places with him. There was almost a hundred percent chance that she would fall or drop something. With Avery, he was hoping those chances were a bit less. “That’s what I think, but maybe the rating will go up as the night goes on. I don’t know how many movies they have in the line up, or if it will be just one. I hope once the theater’s in place we get a good circulation, horror movies and such, but the festival’s likely to be PG.” He’d watch about anything, as it was something new and different to do. “Yeah, I’m going. What about you?”
Avery was no klutz. But hanging lights while leaning over a ladder could be potentially dangerous for anyone, right? She stuck her tongue out at Gabe briefly before pulling the string of lights up and leaning out to the left to try and snap it into place without having to climb down and move the ladder. "Yeah, I'll probably go. Might as well check it out." She had promised Lochlan that she would. Besides, Avery figured she would have to work after. People would probably want to drink and continue their night of fun once the movies ended. Ugh. "It'll be nice to have something more to do than school and work." Avery clipped the light quickly before grabbing the side of the ladder to stay upright. "What do you do around here?" Avery asked, stepping down the ladder to where Gabe was. "I only ever really see you around school."
“I rotate through the farms,” Gabe said. He knew that wasn’t very exciting, but it was important work. If people didn’t work on the farms, there would be no food. Even if he had big plans for after he graduated, he liked to think he’d put in his work now, that he could contribute if they ever needed him. “Sometimes I’m out at the cattle ranch, other times I help with the vegetables or the fruit, or even the corn. It pretty much depends on where they need me.” And some days they didn’t need him at all, which mean Gabe had free time to spend. “When I’m not working, I’m just kind of around. Sometimes I go to the library. You work in the brewery, right?”
Avery listened to Gabe as she bent over to pick up the last strand of lights that needed to be hung. At least she could say she had been useful today, because she doubted she was going to do much of anything at the bar later. Except maybe annoy her cousin. That was always a good time. "Kind of around or the library. Exciting stuff." Avery straightened and then offered the string of lights to Gabe with a grin. Her arms were tired and she didn't feel like climbing up the ladder again. And if he was a farmhand, he had the muscle to do the rest for her. "Not really the brewery part, but I help out in the bar, doing whatever. My family runs it, so whatever they ask me to do, I do." Sometimes. If she felt like it, or showed up at all. There were a lot more exciting things to do around the dome than wipe down tables.
“I don’t know that there’s a lot of excitement to be found around here,” Gabe pointed out. If there was, he’d be all over it, but so far there was nothing to do but hang out with friends. He also asked if he could help out in the brewery, because how much fun would it be to make beer, but she said she didn’t work in that part of the pub. “That’s got to be fun sometimes,” he said, taking the lights from her and climbing up the ladder. “Do you get free beer out of it?” With no drinking age in the dome, he could technically drink whenever he wanted to, but Gabe rarely took advantage of that. It wasn’t all that fun to drink alone.
Since he had held the ladder for her, Avery supposed she could do the same for Gabe. It would have probably been rude to just walk away while they weren't talking anyway, so Avery stepped forward and placed her hands around the ladder to keep it still. "There's not a lot of excitement, no, but that's why you have to get creative and make your own," she pointed out with a soft shrug of one shoulder. "But yeah, I guess working in a bar can be fun, depending on the day and who's in there at the time." And if they got drunk or not. Avery tapped her nail gently against the metal rung of the ladder before she looked up at Gabe and grinned at his question. "I guess I could get free beer, but it's kind of pathetic to drink by yourself, so I haven't exactly tried. Why, you want to get a beer sometime?"
“Yeah? So what do you do to make your own excitement?” he asked as he strung up the lights. The festival was something to look forward to, but outside that, Gabe wasn’t as creative as he could be. He’d considered having a house party sometime in the future. Maybe that was what she was talking about, though if she’d been having parties, then he wasn’t invited. “See, that’s the only reason I don’t find myself drinking!” he grinned down at her. “I don’t think I could turn down an invitation like that. You just let me know when you’re free.” He could be free anytime; he just wouldn’t get paid if he didn’t show up. Evenings were free, though. No one worked on the farm after dark.
Avery couldn't get away with house parties while she was still living with family. Some of the O'Reilly's were a rowdy bunch, but Avery was still seen as the baby, and sometimes treated like one, at least within her own immediate family. But that didn't mean she couldn't go off and do her own thing without the ever watchful eyes of authority following her every move. "It really kinda depends on the day, who I'm with, and what I'm in the mood for," Avery explained, feeling somewhat amused. If Gabe had been boring her, it was possible she would have just wandered off to see what else there was to do, but hey, the prospect of finding someone willing to have a drink with her was too good to walk away from. "Like right now, I'm creating potential excitement by inviting you to have a beer with me sometime. And once we do that, we'll see what happens next. There could be an evening of epic excitement about to happen, and you won't even know it until it does."
“We’re on then,” he laughed, already looking forward to it. It was something to do and that made it different, just like the film festival this weekend. That would be another good time to drink beer, while watching movies. “Tonight or tomorrow night?” he asked, clipping another light into place. “I’ve got to go to work soon, but I’m free in the evenings.” He knew there was a curfew in effect, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be out and about. It just meant he couldn’t be outside, as far as he was concerned.
It was encouraging that Gabe seemed eager to do it, because it was easy to tell someone they were cool to hang out and then flake. Avery had done it herself a few times. Even better that he wanted to do it soon . As in tonight or tomorrow. Avery tilted her head to the side, lips twitching to the side thoughtfully. "Hmm, Well, I'll be at the bar tonight. If you want to come around whenever you're done, I'll be there. But tomorrow is okay too, if you're too tired from all that exciting farming you do." Avery patted her hands against the ladder. "Plus all the light hanging. I wouldn't want you to be too exhausted from your extended usefulness today."
“Let’s do it tomorrow night,” Gabe suggested. “Then if we get hammered, at least we won’t be skipping out on school the next day.” Not that Gabe needed a reason to skip school. He was doing well enough as it was, and they weren’t going to kick him out for missing too many days. It would only be a problem if he was failing. “I never get tired of being useful,” he grinned, climbing down the ladder and brushing his hands off. Only one string of lights was done, but it was a start, and it was probably all he could do before heading out to work. “So are you going to be able to enjoy yourself at your family’s bar?”
Avery stepped back when Gabe began to descend the ladder. She was totally on board with waiting for the next night. It would be more fun to drink when she hadn't been working beforehand. Plus, like Gabe said, no school to deal with the next morning. Though, Avery didn't really care if she missed class. But she recognized that not everyone viewed school the way she did. At Gabe's question, Avery hooked her thumbs in the belt loop of her jeans as she shrugged. "Sure, because for one, I won't be there as an employee, and two, there's going to be beer involved." Smiling, Avery glanced over her shoulder before returning her attention to Gabe. "Are you going to be able to enjoy yourself with a girl you barely know?"
“Why wouldn’t I?” Gabe grinned back at her. Sure, he knew nothing more than Avery’s name and that her family owned the pub, but that was enough for him. It wasn’t like he was in danger of her drugging him and dragging him off. It would be nice to make a new friend and Gabe was counting on the beer to relax him enough not to care that they barely knew each other. He could hang with Avery Friday night, then go to the festival with Claire on Saturday... he just had to ask her. “Should I be scared or something?” he teased. His experience with girls was far less than he preferred, but he wasn’t going to get anywhere with them if he didn’t try.
Avery lifted a brow, smirking softly. "It's possible. We'll see how the night goes once booze is involved. But I promise to get you home safely, and if I end up scaring you, in a bad way, you can find a new drinking partner. How's that?" She usually didn't have any trouble talking to people she didn't know that well. Having Irish blood in her veins, and working in a bar, socializing was sort of expected of her. Sure, she didn't always like who she socialized with, but Gabe seemed like he had potential to be interesting.
“That sounds like a deal to me,” Gabe smiled. As one of those people who could talk to almost anyone, Gabe wasn’t worried about her scaring him off. It sounded like a fun time, and an interesting one, and that was enough for him to look forward to. If nothing else, he might come away with a story to tell. “So, let’s say I’ll meet you there around 8 o’clock?” That would give him time to get home and shower, then eat a bite so he wasn’t drinking on an empty stomach. Last thing he needed was to look like a light-weight, even if he had no tolerance to begin with.
"Yeah, that works for me." At least that way she could get to the bar first and make sure her family, or whoever was working at the time, knew not to embarrass her. Not that Avery had any interest in Gabe like that, but no girl wanted to be teased by people she knew in front of a boy, right? Or any friend, for that matter. Avery lifted her hand to motion behind her. "I guess I should go see if I can find my friends. Have fun farming," she said, grinning.
“Thanks,” Gabe laughed, rolling his eyes. “See you Friday!” he waved, then headed off to work. He might not have anything exciting to go tonight, but he had tomorrow to look forward to, and the night after that. And it was just possible that maybe he had a date, which he didn’t consider until he was already walking away from Avery. Did he even want a date with her? They could still have a drink and be friends, right? It was too much to think about, since he didn’t think she was interested anyways. The point was to have a good time and he was pretty sure he could do that, no matter what she thought about him.