after work blues. [open]

[Dominic Wesley Briscoe]

It was four in the afternoon, only an hour from the mall's early Sunday closing time, and hidden in a secluded corner of the building's combined Starbucks/Chapters was a quiet, determined-looking Dominic Briscoe. To his side was a worn-out Roots backpack, an earthy green shade in colour. Peeking out of the opened main pocket was a white plastic Chapters bag, containing a random book that he'd grabbed off of a table and bought for himself, deciding that since he had nothing specific in mind to read, he'd just get something random. In his right hand was a strawberry-banana smoothie that he was slowly slurping away at while his free hand scrolled him through the internet.

Dominic was waiting until closing time to go home after a six hour shift at the Gamestop in the mall. His shift had ended at two, but no part of him wished to go home immediately after, so he'd gone to the Starbucks. It was starting to get boring, though. Letting out a sigh, the nineteen year old closed his laptop and glanced around the library-like building, hoping to see something that would catch his eye.

[Jessica Nicole Bauer]

Blonde hair in a messed up bun, worn out shoulder bag slung over her arm holding the books that would help her with her homework, Jessica walked into the Starbucks without really taking in her surroundings. Her shift at Rosewood had ended hours before, but a couple of over-priced caffeinated beverages were definitely in order for tonight. She had a lot of studying to do, and somehow she had no motivation at all to do any of it. Odd, because normally Jess was almost a model student. If it weren't for her behavioral problems, anyway. And those didn't happen often in classes. Well, lately. She had gotten some studying done in her spare time at work, but Starbucks seemed like a nice quiet place to get as much work as possible done. At least, that's what she told herself. It probably wasn't the best thing – going to a place you didn't work when the place you worked sold coffee just like any other restaurant – but Jessica needed to get away.

She ordered a surprise. Anything that would keep her awake. Worst decision ever. She would learn from that one. She took a sip and regretted ordering. But she got what she had wanted, she supposed. This strong coffee would definitely keep her awake for a while. She didn't even feel a yawn coming on anymore. She glanced around the room and headed in the direction of a table.

Unfortunately, her bag broke right next to a brown-headed boy. She mentally groaned. Just her luck. Just lovely. Jess took a deep breath and gave the boy an apologetic smile, though why she was apologizing to someone who hadn't dropped his books all over the floor, she didn't know. “Sorry, old bag.” She knelt down and analyzed the situation. Just as she'd thought. The hole in the bottom of the bag had significantly widened. This was going to be the day from hell.

ooc: hope you don't mind Jess popping in.

[Dominic Wesley Briscoe]

Picking his closed laptop up from the finished wooden table, Dominic was on the verge of returning it to its black carrying case when she stumbled upon him, books falling in a cascade from the bottom of what looked like an aged bag to pile on the ground near his feet. Dominic quickly finished the process of putting his laptop away and rested it on the ground before looking over at the owner of the books, a pretty blonde, probably pretty close to his own age if his ability to guess age was anything near accurate. She looked rather disgruntled, knelt down on the ground with her eyes set on a tear in the bottom of her bag.

Dominic quickly knelt off of his chair after he placed his laptop case down on the ground, leaning against the edge of the table. "No need to be," he returned as he scooped up some the fallen contents and placed them up on to the table he'd been sitting at, moving his smoothie to the side to give them an ample amount of space. Gray-green eyes checked out the damage to the woman's bag before he scooped the remainder of the stuff up on to the table.

"Not your day, huh?" He commented in a joking fashion, returning to a standing position and offering her his hand to help her up.

((No problem at all! Sorry that my response kinda blows.))

[Jessica Nicole Bauer]

At least her books hadn't hurt anyone. Well, they hadn't landed on either of them that she knew of. That would have just been great. She mentally cursed herself for not getting a new shoulder bag, or a book bag even. Her father could afford it. She just didn't want to be her sister – always depending on their parents for whatever she needed. That just wasn't who Jessica wanted to be. She had her waitressing job, but most of that money was going toward rent and school supplies. Well, a book bag was just going to have to be the next school supply. On another plus side, she hadn't spilled her drink. Actually, that might have been a down side. As she took another sip she realized just how strong the beverage was.

She picked up one of her acting books and a script for a play she was auditioning for and gave him an acknowledging smile in response to his statement that she didn't need to be sorry. Yes, the bag should apologize. That was the real culprit. The thought almost made her laugh. She wasn't sure how to verbally respond to his statement. Yes, she knew that it hadn't really been all her fault, but it wasn't his fault and she did feel like she had caused an inconvenience.

Jessica grabbed what books she could hold in one arm and took his offer to help her up. She breathed out a laugh. “Massive understatement,” she said. “Thanks for the help. I hope I didn't interrupt your... uh...” she looked at the table he'd been sitting at. “Writing?” She decided to take a guess. She thought she'd seen him put away a lap top, but she hadn't been completely sure. “I'm Jessica.” She gave him another smile. The least she could do was introduce herself.

[Dominic Wesley Briscoe]

"No, I was just sitting around. Wasting time here instead of going home," he told her, shaking off the idea of her interrupting him. After all, Dominic had been on the verge of getting up and leaving that instant if something hadn't happened to catch his attention at that moment. That had been why he had been returning his laptop to its carrying case, his eyes on the double doors of Starbucks. At that moment, as he glanced back towards the doors, he watched the city bus come by. Oh well, he wouldn't be going home quite yet, it seemed - at least he was fortunate enough to have someone to talk to until the next bus came around. Or something.

Maybe he would walk home today - it seemed nice enough out to do that, and he loved to walk. Some people, like his roommate, did nothing but live sedentary lives and not move from the couch, but it actually made Dominic feel a lot better to be up and moving as much as possible. If he spent a day doing nothing, he'd feel bad about himself. Well, most of the time. Once in a while it was okay to laze around a little, but for the most part it would just tick him off is he wasted that much time.

"I'm Dominic," he returned, flashing her a genuine smile. Dominic found himself feeling bad for her - with a broken bag, how was she supposed to get all her stuff around? She could buy a new one, of course, but until then? She was basically screwed. "Nice to meet you, Jessica,"

[Jessica Nicole Bauer]

It was a relief that she hadn't interrupted anything important. She would have felt horrible if she'd been keeping him from doing some sort of work or something. Jessica didn't always mind being interrupted during studying or homework, but she didn't want to be the one to bother anyone right now. Especially since she seemed to have attracted the attention of a few people when she'd dropped her books. As she looked around she noticed that most of the eyes that had been on her were now back on their own tasks. It was good that she hadn't embarrassed herself too much.

Jessica looked at her bag again, emptied what was left in it, and threw it away in the closest trash can. She could carry her things home if she had to. She would make it work until she could buy a new bag. She realized she had the money on her, but she wasn't in a hurry to get out of the Starbucks. At least not that she'd run into someone who was being nice to her. She was starting to think that her bad day was turning around. So maybe she wouldn't be getting any studying done, but she could meet someone new.

“It's nice to meet you too.” She gave Dominic another smile and looked at the table. “So what were you wasting time doing before my books decided to be claustrophobic?” Jess looked back up after she asked, hoping that it wasn't something too personal that he'd get mad at her for asking. She just wanted to make some conversation, procrastinate studying just a little while longer.

((OOC: sorry it's so short and took so long))