why do i put myself in these situations?[Murray]

[domonic kessler]

"Hold on...I should have some quarters in here somewhere," Nic muttered, his hand struggling to slip into his tight skinny jeans. Nothing but lint in those pockets. The fifteen-year-old running the register snapped her gum and arched an eyebrow. Nic was clad in expensive neon clothing as usual...and yet he couldn't pay for a two-dollar vanilla ice cream with fudge and whipped cream in a dish.

"Wait...just wait," He said, now getting desperate as he searched the pockets of his bright red hoodie. "Ah-ha!" A triumphant smile crossed Nic's face as he pulled out two shiny quarters. "There!" He said happily, slamming the two quarters on the sticky counter.He stood tall, his chest sticking out with pride from his accomplishment.

The girl stared blankly at the quarters. "Sir...That's fifty cents. If you add that to the dime and two pennies you gave me earlier, that makes sixty-two cents. You still owe me a dollar thirty-eight." She said flatly.

The smile on his face froze before disappearing completely. Nic deflated like a balloon. "But...that's all I hav-...hold the phone," He would not face defeat. He kicked off his shoe and picked up his bold footwear. He turned it over and shook it, hoping for cash to fall from his sneakers. No luck.

He sighed and took off his trucker hat (the fourth one). "This is embarrassing," Nic Kessler said, raking his hand through his messy brown hair and scratching his scalp. He reached into his hat and pulled out a credit card.

"Thank you," The girl said sarcastically, taking the card. She swiped it and Nic prayed it would go through as he picked up his sixty two cents. Thankfully, it did. He wordlessly took back his card and stuffed it back into his hat. Having to use a credit card to buy a cheap sundae. Pathetic.

He took his already-melting treat to one of the small tables and sat down. He was by himself, which wasn't unusual. He put his feet up on the seat across from him in the little booth and shoveled a spoonful of vanilla, fudge and whipped cream into his mouth. He smiled slightly. If heaven had a flavor, Nic was pretty sure this was it.

This would have been a normal afternoon for the ninteen year old, but then...

Nic saw color.

Nic saw red, orange and yellow.

And like a moth to the flame...Nic found himself attracted to the colors and distracted from his ice cream.

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[lauren roy]

mckenzie felt eyes on the back of her head. she winced immediately, and she found herself frozen. it was a pretty awkward position in all of it's entirety. like, she was starting to get used to those kind of feelings. phantom gazes. the only way to know who exactly it was googling you was by turning around. she was a little less than willing to voluntarily do such a thing, because knowing herself too well, she'd make a big, messy scene out of it. and it would be obvious as hell, and then it would be even more awkward. if it were possible.

she scolded herself as she rose from her spot at one booths. she slid out cautiously, mentally hitting herself for deciding to want to stand out, and dye her hair, and wear bright colors, and be in a band, and become famous. couldn't she have just stayed a normal twenty-year-old? or stayed in canada? that sounded wonderful. the small shake she'd just drank had barely helped to cool her down, and she was dreading leaving the oasis of air-conditioning that dairy queen provided. even if she was wearing shorts - her favorite black cotton pair, to be exact - it was still ridiculously hot. too much for her liking. but what could she do?

she sighed slightly at herself as she shuffled along the tiled floor - her black, cheap dollar-store flip flops dragging along. she did a quick once-over glance of the place as she tossed her empty cup into the trash. no sign of who had been looking at her... but then again, there were only like, a total of three customers in the place, and the staff. so she narrowed it down from the couple in the corner whispering to eachother, and focused on the one guy with the hat. she was horrible at pretending to look past someone, and not at them. and, it was only made worse, because she had to actually walk past him. and when she did that? nearly tripped, not that it was noticeable to anyone but herself. which was also pretty bad.

she sighed slightly before offering the guy a nod. if she thought about it, his face looked pretty familiar. like, she'd seen his face before, but never would remember the name to the face. she thought of an excuse to make this a little less awkward, and tried to make conversation. kind of. she leaned on the edge of the booth's table with a dainty hand - elbow bent as she found herself smirking slightly. "is that what they do in california?" she asked before nodding - elaborating on her probably meaningless jibe. "buy two dollar's worth of ice cream with a visa?" you could have fooled her. she flicked hair over her shoulder, actually pretty proud of her little introductory greeting.

kind of.

words – four hundred and seventy-eight
listening to – i caught myself , paramore
status – done
notes – lmfao i told you it was bad
tagged –mickey and nic
outfit – click

[domonic kessler]

Nic couldn't bring his hazel eyes back to the ice cream in front of him. Colors > Food. And that's saying something. Usually, nothing topped food for Nic. But the walking first three colors of the rainbow was an eye-pleasing distraction for him. She was also kind of pretty...which definitely helped distract him from the ice cream he had to charge. However, he couldn't help but feel like a moron when she caught him staring. She gave in a nod and he gave her a slanted grin and a nod in return. He brought his eyes back to his melting sundae, putting another sweet spoonful in his mouth. The icy treat cooled him down almost instantly. It never got this hot in Indiana and Nic had yet to get that fact in his head. In Indiana, he could get away with wearing a sweatshirt everyday. It was not the same here. duhhhhh

A smile and a nod. He thought that was that and there would be no more between him and the pretty girl with firey hair. However, he was wrong. And, this time, he didn't mind being wrong. Nic saw her hand on the table and his hazel eyes slid up her arm to her small face. He smiled again and said, "Howdy."

She smirked at him, "is that what they do in california?"

"...Huh?" He inquired, arching an eyebrow and stupidly tilting his head to the side. What the hell was she talking abou-

"buy two dollar's worth of ice cream with a visa?"

Oh. Yeah. Well...

Nic looked down at the cheap plastic dish he held in his hand and chuckled. "Naw...I think that's only a habit for people who are completely broke," Nic answered, looking back up at her.

He sat up from his slouching position and took his feet off the seat before him. He inclined his head towards the now free seat, offering it to her. Sitting was a hell of a lot more comfortable than standing.
As he looked at her, Nic realized something about her flame-red hair was familiar. Had he met her before? Hopefully, he hadn't met her when he was drunk at some party. If he did...his reputation was massacred. "But that'll all change soon," He continued, still talking about money, "Once I get used to California and everything." After he figured out 'the system', he hoped to beat it. Nic shoveled another cherry red-plastic-spoonful of ice cream into his ever-active mouth.

He couldn't exactly recall meeting this girl before. An introduction wouldn't hurt him. If she already knew who he was, she'd probably just say, "I know" or something and they'd move on. With the spoon sticking out of his mouth, Nic offered his hand to her for a hand shake.

"I'm Nic, by the way," He said, his words slurring together with the Diary Queen spoon between his teeth, "Nic Kessler." He gave her a slightly apologetic look, "And, I'm sorry...you are...?"

He hoped he didn't sound like a broken record and was truly meeting someone new. Nic liked meeting new people. That's part of the reason why he moved to a big city. Lots of people to meet and see. Perfect for an out-going guy like him.

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[lauren roy]

she withheld an obvious laugh at his greeting. it only took a minute for her to realize then, that he was either faking an accent - which would be pretty random - or, he was from the south or south-midwest area. she read about these kinds of dialogues on the plane rides from vancouver to cali, and often times, she made fun of those different dialects with the boys in her band. she was just thankful she didn't have much of an accent at all, with news anchor-like precision to make sure people thought she was a local.

she raised her hand in a slightly lackluster wave, eventually, though. she wasn't exactly surprised by his slightly dumbfounded question. it practically begged to repeat herself, but she refrained. it would sink in soon enough. she just waited - tugging down on the edge of her golden shirt, and the dark scarf loosely draping her neck. the sound of his chuckle soothed her - only because she wouldn't have to repeat herself, and seem like a dumb ass for saying a stupid joke.

kenzie nodded in agreement at his explanation. clearly, he was no true californian. still, it brought questions to the front of her wild imagination, and she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "so does that mean you're completely broke?" she just wanted to reiterate. his response seemed like a joke, but one could never be too sure. not that she actually cared, or that fact alone would matter. she sat back down when offered the seat, smiling at his kindness. it was getting hard to find genuine people like that. atleast in her opinion.

"what do you mean, once you get used to it?" mickey asked, slightly narrowing her eyes. that made no sense to her. "once you get used to it, won't you just wanna spend more money?" that's what she was struggling with. mckenzie wasn't a big fan of shopping, but with all the great stores out here? it was hard to resist. but maybe that was just her.

when he offered his name and hand, mckenzie deemed this a worthy way to spend a portion of her day. he seemed nice enough. she took his hand, but instead of shaking it, did a makeshift 'personal' handshake, which turned into a game of thumb-war, and then a final slap of a high-five. "mckenzie murray," she said matter of factly, carrying on with equal poise. "but if you call me that, i'll kill you. mickey or kenzie is much better," she suggested casually.

words – four hundred and twenty-five
listening to – wonderwall , pierce the veil
status – done but shitty
notes – bleh
tagged –mickey and nic
outfit – click

[domonic kessler]

She gave him a small wave and waited for him to understand the meaning of her words. Nic found that rather kind of her. Not many people would have that patience. Normally someone would repeat themselves and make themself look stupid and the person they're talking to would feel stupid. And it would be only big chaotic circle of stupidity. And that's no fun. how does he come up with this?

When he finally understood her and gave her an answer, she nodded, but soon after arched an eyebrow. Oh great. Did he say something that didn't make sense? Was their ice cream on his shirt? Sharpie on his face? What was with the eyebrow raising action? "so does that mean you're completely broke?"

Oh. Hadn't he stated that before? Maybe he hadn't been clear enough. Nic nodded and said 'sadly', "Alas, yes." Then he paused and corrected himself, "Well, not completely broke. I do happen to be carrying sixty two cents. That's enough to buy me my dinner." A candy bar from the gas station close to his condo.

Once again, he cheerfully returned her smile – a wordless 'you're welcome' to her silent 'thank you' as she sat down. freak. he smiles too much >.< And, once again, after she sat down and made herself comfortable, she had a lot more questions for him. That was fine, though. Nic liked the company and didn't mind the curious questions. "what do you mean, once you get used to it?"

"Once I get used to California?" He repeated for clarification, "Well, y'see, I'm not actually from around here," If she couldn't already tell by his accent, "I just came here from Indiana. So, I'll probably be pretty tight with money until I make my way here in the west." Nic. Tight with money. What a joke.

"once you get used to it, won't you just wanna spend more money?"

He paused and mauled that over. A guilty grin slowly spread onto his face. Nic laughed softly and nodded, his hazel eyes looking straight into her light blues. "Yeah," He said, still keeping up his bobble-head nod, "Yeah, I probably will. I mean, have you seen the size of the Journeys store they have here? Can you honestly blame me? Everything is super-sized here in California, alright?" bahaha, attack of the 'alright' "And I dunno if I can ever go anywhere else to shop after being here in Cali. Except maybe New York...but I digress."

He digressed a lot.

Nic figured that upon taking his hand, he and this girl were going to exchange a civilized, normal handshake. Yeah...nope. Thumb war and a high five. That's what he got. He laughed slightly when she had finished her bizarre gesture and took his hand hand to push his hat out of the way and scratch his head, confused. "Is that how they shake hands here?" He inquired, re-adjusting his hat after he was done with his confuzzled scratch.

"mckenzie murray, but if you call me that, i'll kill you. mickey or kenzie is much better,"

"Well, I am a fan of being alive, so Kenzie it is," Nic chimed. He removed the plastic red spoon from his mouth so he could get another bit of ice cream in. "So," He said after swallowing the ice cream in his mouth, because, after all, talking with your mouth full is rude "Are you from around here?" He gestured to their surroundings with the plastic spoon, "Or is California new to you, too?"

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