decaffeinated & discouraged -- scarlet

[SCARLET OPHELIA GARLAND]

A pet peeve of Scarlet’s was when people spoke too quietly for her to hear them properly, it wasn’t something she’d go postal about it just caused her to feel something she didn’t like feeling – insecurity. Why would someone say something so quietly unless they didn’t want you to hear it for some reason, maybe he took one of her jokes seriously and thought she was some kind of slutty green card digger. Which she wasn’t she had a perfectly good work visa “what’s that?” she asked trying to sound aloof, which she felt she was pulling off quite well. If there was anything Scarlet had a true talent for it’d be pretending not to care or have any interest in anything. Not that she truly lacked interest in everything life had to offer, just, caring set you up for a letdown as far as she was concerned and showing someone you care about something gave them power over you.

“Why? You don’t love high school? craziness” she said with sarcastic surprise, allowing a grin to form on her lips she sipped her coffee. Scarlet for one hated high school and wouldn’t go back if someone paid her too. Stepping foot in a high school, any high school made her stomach do jumping jacks. Logan’s next comment took her by surprise and caused her to laugh rather loud and genuinely. Even if she knew he was a teacher already, she couldn’t help but imagine him sitting at one of the tiny desks. Course, since she hadn’t been in a high school since her own years in hell she wasn’t sure if the desks were still the same. “are you really pushing thirty?” she asked disbelievingly. She wasn’t ever very good at guessing people’s ages, but Logan seemed to still have a boyish vibe about him. Scarlet rolled her eyes as she shook her head “damn those pesky teenage hormones” as she made a slight gagging noise “please tell me they aren’t quoting their reading material back to you” she laughed

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[LOGAN IAN ELLIS]

"Hm?" His attention broke and his eyes grew a bit wider. It was a terrible habit to mumble to himself. It was rude and unattractive. In general, it was comforting to know that most people just ignored it. In fact, being ignored was a comfortable place for Ellis. It caught him off guard when Scarlet interjected and as such, his heart began to race. "Oh, I..." Was it creepy? Should he even repeat himself? His hands choked at the cup before him, rotating it idly as if trying to swindle an answer out of it. "I just said that I could help you out with that. The green card thing." Yes. It definitely came off creepy. He picked up his drink quickly and took a sip, placing it back down again and returning to rotating it in it's place. "It was a joke. Obviously. I..." He looked up to her, felt his heart rate increase once more, then looked back down. She was so cool and aloof. He was just a mess.

As conversation continued, he felt more at ease. Granted, his pulse was still pushing the speed of light but it seemed to slow down once she laughed. It was genuine and incredibly attractive and some how calming; the man himself smiling widely. EJ always told him he had a great sense of humor. After all of the times he had brushed it off due to her favoritism, it was nice to have some proof. "Unfortunately, it's true. I'm about one year short of a decent midlife crisis. Most people put it off until they're forty, but I like to look at it as an early birthday present," he laughed as he spoke seeing how humorously true the statement was and continued. "I'd ask how old you are but I hear it's taboo. I'm just going to assume you're over 21 for my own sake." Once again, he laughed at the truth. Finding women interested in him his own age was a trying task. His only fan base was his dog, EJ, and high schoolers. "I wouldn't mind if they quoted it - at least it'd mean they'd read it. It's mainly just creepy notes with hearts, giggling in the hallway and a lot of awkward staring. It almost makes me all right with the fact that I was the outcast in High School back in my day."

[SCARLET OPHELIA GARLAND]

A smirk crawled over her lips “I bet you tell all the foreign girls that” she said as she feigned a pout before allowing another smirk to replace it. She chuckled lightly when he clarified it was a joke “I just thought you had a penchant for asking strange women to marry you” She knew she was mean, the poor guy was obviously squirming and she just kept driving the hook in deeper. Though, in her own defense some people responded well to being teased, it set them at ease, but it didn’t quite seem that Mr. Ellis was one of those sorts. Instead he seemed to be the eternally awkward type. Which, in all actuality was perfectly fine with her, she didn’t mind so much, not everyone found it easy to pick on strangers. Though as their conversation went on she could feel his nervous energy fade a bit, maybe she had put him at ease somehow. If she did she had no idea how she did because she just made up that whole teasing makes people comfortable thing.

Sipping her own coffee drink she snorted lightly in amusement at his comment, then furrowed her brows at him saying “I thought you weren’t allowed to have one of those until you were fifty?” she smiled at him before raising an eyebrow “though the thought that you’ll live ‘til a hundred is a bit of a reach so I’ll let you have it” she shrugged, he didn’t need her permission to have a midlife crisis, in fact most people don’t even ask their families first.

“though, I’d say sixty is selling yourself a bit short” she smiled as she took another sip of her coffee. Shrugging she spoke simply “twenty six” she nodded “but it’s true most women wouldn’t like that” she laughed. Scarlet hadn’t been on a real date since she moved to Capeside, if you can even count a date with a married man as a date if not, she hadn’t been on one since high school. She couldn’t decide which sounded more sad. It was never something that was important to her – having a man in her life. “that would be comforting” she said in response to having proof they were doing their homework. Shaking her head “youth is so embarrassing, I’ll bet you anything in a couple years they’ll be mortified they didn’t have more tact” she laughed “avoiding the dumpster might be worth the unnerving attention though” she smiled.

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[LOGAN IAN ELLIS]

"No, not all of them," he stated with a small laugh on his lips as he shook his head. Leaning forward, he enjoyed the site of her green eyes before he continued, "Just the ones that I find genuinely interesting." Believe it or not, he hadn't had the luxury of meeting a lot of attractive foreign women. Then again, he rarely had the luxury of meeting woman at all. Vegetating in your house in sweatpants didn't exactly lend a man an available crop of new faces to get to know. Neither did possessing the social skills of a middle-schooler. If the situation had been reversed and it had been him to spill his drink on Scarlet, Ellis knew that he wouldn't be capable of having the courage to sit down and have a conversation with her. If anything, it would be him swatting away his drink, shouting that he found she was pretty, and running away to hide in the nearest shop until EJ walked by.

Ellis considered what she said about selling himself short, sliding his jaw out of position and giving a nod. Maybe sixty was a bit young. DeNiro was in his sixties. So was Jeff Bridges. Samuel L. Jackson, too. Then again, to use either of those three as comparison for what he had achieved, it almost seemed like a sick practical joke. There was very little glamor in writing. "Good," he stated with the tiniest bit of relief as she revealed her age, "It's not that I'd run away if you were younger. Or older for that matter. But I would if you were old-old. I wouldn't run though. I'd just...I dunno." Feeling awkward for a brief moment, he forced himself to muscle on through. It was time to do something daring (considering he had just spent the past few moments of his life acting out of character - why not continue?).

"So, on the topic of having tact..." He began, sitting back in his chair cooly and picking up his drink to have something to grip for support, "Phones. Any particular opinion on them?" It was the best he could come up with - and while Ellis knew that there was a time in his life when he could have come up with way better, he stood true to his lead in.

[SCARLET OPHELIA GARLAND]

She smiled, instantly softening her generally stoic “genuinely interesting huh?” she couldn’t help but allow her eyes to fall on her drink. Scarlet had never been called interesting in such a nice way before, usually if people said it at all they said it as a masking technique for calling her unsavory or strange. Men said it least of all, she got attractive and pretty, but rarely did male strangers comment on her personality or general appeal. Something about this scruffy man was causing her to feel bashful, something she didn’t often feel. She was quite honestly feeling a bit embarrassed by his comment, which was completely ridiculous, it wasn’t as if given her a dozen roses and serenaded her right there at the coffee shop. Now that would be cause for embarrassment. All it was, was that he said things she wasn’t used to. She was used to obvious pickup lines from smarmy guys who thought goth chicks were easy and that she fell into that category.

Scarlet laughed as he approved of her age and then began to try to explain. He was cute in his own awkward way and he definitely wasn’t an asshole like most of the men she went home with. The assholes wouldn’t call you though and Scarlet didn’t ever want any of them to. She simply wanted one night of inhibition and then go back to her normal man-less life. She was perfectly happy that way even if most wouldn’t believe her, she honestly didn’t feel the want for a man in her life. Yet, she suddenly caught herself wishing she did. Nodding she answered “uh huh” as he began about tact, though moments later she found herself furrowing her brows in a slightly confused way as he asked her about her thoughts on phones. “well, land lines are fine though annoying when telemarketers call you during dinner and cell phones are abominations, unfortunately my job won’t allow me to do away with them though” she rolled her eyes “I’m like a doctor, always on call” she smirked lightly. She could guess what he was actually getting at, but she figured she just continue to be her mean old self and not make it easy for him.

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