A Peaceful Afternoon (Open)

[milesmaynard]

"Al?" Miles tried not to show how much he didn't like that name. Wasn't that a boy's name? It must have been short for something else he figured but it seemed like she didn't want to talk much so he didn't ask her what it was short for. He listened easily to what she had to say though. He was a good listener! Well, sometimes he was. When he didn't have anything distracting him but there was that lady outside with the funny hat! She was still out there and his eyes kept glancing in her direction but would eventually come back to the girl again.

"Well Al its very nice to meet you! I'm sorry you don't want more friends. That's funny because you can never have enough friends! But I understand." He nodded with a big grin on his face and took another sip of his chocolate milk, getting to the very bottom of the glass and making a slurping noise with the straw. He set down the glass and looked at Al again, still grinning like a little boy. She might have wanted quiet but she DID come over and sit at his table so that had to mean something, right?

"So what are you working on? Is it for College? Are you taking classes at the College? I go there sometimes. Last fall I took a class on astrology! It was kind of boring though because all they did was describe stars in textbooks instead of going outside and looking at them. Maybe they did but I didn't stick around. I dropped it after the first day." Miles liked taking classes but if they didn't hold his interest he would drop them quickly. If he dropped a class in the first week he could usually get his money back for it, too! That was always a bonus!

[ALYSON MONTGOMERY]

She was glad that Miles was understanding that she didn't really want to be her friend, and his sulking had stopped, which was an added bonus. Now she could feel less guilty about her bitchiness and leave the little cafe with a clean slate. No harm done!

Only he kept the conversation rolling.

Alyson tried not to sigh, realizing she was suddenly trapped in conversation with this kid again. What was his deal? Maybe he was autistic? He didn't strike Alyson as being autistic, but that didn't mean he wasn't, it just meant he was better at hiding it or maybe it was a kind where it made the person super friendly? Or maybe he was just a goofy guy. Either way, she was antsy being stuck there with him, and uncomfortable.

"Yeah, it's for college." She told him in a soft, hesitant voice. She didn't feel much like talking about her assignments though. Not with this guy, anyway. She had a funny feeling Miles would want to add his two cents, which didn't interest Al in the least. It was her paper and her thoughts, so she would have to write what she wanted. She didn't need someone influencing the way she wrote, and he wouldn't likely no the subject matter anyway.

"Do you mean astronomy?" She asked, not wanting to put him down completely. "Astrology and Astronomy are different. I don't think the university offers a course in astrology. That's horoscopes and tarot cards and zodiacs... Astronomy is the stars." She explained, "And they do go outside later in the semester. You have to learn about the stars and what you're looking at before you go look at it. In that course anyway." She shrugged. Al hadn't taken Astronomy herself, but her roommate freshman year had and had thought it was boring. "You should give the classes some time.."

[milesmaynard]

"Yeah Astronomy. Did I say astrology? Oh." Miles laughed at his slip-up. He knew the difference between the two and didn't need a lesson from Al. "I did some astrology too but it wasn't in college. So I did both of them but yeah they don't have astrology as a class there. Or else I would have taken that too! Do you like tarot cards? Or how about stars? Do you like looking at the stars?" He asked her and raised his brows at her, his attention completely on her so she would know that he was giving her his full attention. He was really interested on what her answer would be!

"They DO go outside?! Well that's how they should start the class then! They should go outside FIRST. Do the fun stuff first and then the boring stuff after. Besides I already knew enough about the stars I didn't want to sit in the class. It was too boring and the professor is really old. I don't think he can see the stars anyway. His glasses are thicker than... than.. this glass!" Miles held up the empty glass that he'd been drinking from. He laughed a little and then put it back down and grinned.

"So where are you from? Where do you live now? You're definitely not from around here I would have met you before! And you don't sound like you're from here. You have a cool accent! I wish I had an accent. Like a distinct one, you know? Something that stood out in a crowd so that if you heard it you'd be like, 'man, listen to that accent! That must be Miles!' Huh? Huh?!" He nodded again, almost like he wanted her approval. Miles talked a lot. Especially with his friends. He was just an all around friendly, happy person!

[ALYSON MONTGOMERY]

Not only was this kid completely stupid and rude, but he was ignorant as well. The things that spewed from his mouth not only made little sense, but sounded stupid. To Alyson, anyway. Class wasn't always about being fun. It was about learning things. What was the point of wasting the first class looking at the stars if they didn't know what they were looking at? That's how Alyson saw it. She agreed with the professors; their reason for teaching things the way that they did was methodical and intelligent and she respected that. What she didn't respect was someone who bashed those intelligent professors because they were "old" and had thick glasses. If anything, Al thought his age made him more credible. After years of teaching a topic, he surely knew what he was doing, making him more respected in his field. Miles couldn't comprehend something like that.

"You're very opinionated." She remarked softly, deciding then and there debating any intelligible topic with this kid would be a waste of time. He would insist his thoughts were right, that somehow he knew better, when clearly he did not. It would only frustrate her.

Alyson pursed her lips when the questions started. Why did he need to hear her life story? Why was she entertaining the idea of even talking to him? She didn't want to talk to him! Did she? No! He was ignorant and stupid, which seemed a little ironic to he considering the people where she was from were considered ignorant and stupid. To be fair, many of them were.

"You know everyone from the city?" She asked cocking a brow, but there really was no way to hide her accent. Even when she tried to talk like someone from Oregon, she always fell back into the slow drawl. It was so ingrained in how she spoke that she couldn't even help it. "I'm from Texas." She explained softly letting out a slow sigh. "Don't bother with the southern jokes, either. I'm not a fan." She'd heard it all, and she had others assume certain things about her because she was from the south. She wasn't racist, she wasn't narrow minded, and she certainly didn't run around shooting things. "But now I'm from Scriptor Bay. I plan on staying here."

[milesmaynard]

"Yeah I've got lots of opinions!" Miles began to eat again while talking, trying not to be rude and talk with a full mouth but he took bites of his fries when Al was talking that way they wouldn't get cold. Cold fries were just gross! "My family thinks I talk a lot because I don't like awkward silence. They're right I don't like when its quiet! Unless you're playing hide and seek or marco polo but we're not playing hide and seek and we're not in a pool we're in a cafe!" Miles laughed like that would be such a silly thing!

"I don't know everybody but I like to meet new people all the time. I know lots of people. None of them are really close enough to consider really good friends, but where ever I go I know I can count on knowing at least one person there. Take the park for example." He picked up a fry and started to wave it around while he talked. "At the park? There's Carl, the hot dog cart man. He has three daughters, one going off to college and he's working two jobs and helps his elderly neighbor for a little extra cash so he can give them a good education." He liked Carl. Carl was always nice and would give him extra relish on his hot dogs and Miles would always make sure he tipped Carl well.

"Or how about over there?" Miles pointed with his fry towards the window to a little kid that was skateboarding down the sidewalk across the street. The kid stopped, kicked the end of his skateboard so the other end would be forced into the air and he caught it with his hand and sat at a nearby bench. "That's Johnny. His mom works at that store over there and he'll sit there for half an hour and wait for her to get off work. Her name is Nancy and she's really sweet."

He'd heard her mention she was from Texas and wondered what she meant about the jokes. Why would he make a joke about where she was from? "That sounds cool! Texas? That's a big state! I hear they have lots of ranches there in the country parts with horses? I always wanted to go horse back riding!" Miles thought horses were so cool! He also wondered if they did a thing called cow tipping, but he wasn't about to ask that because he knew that it was mean to the cows. But it sure sounded funny!

[ALYSON MONTGOMERY]

Alyson found herself suddenly a little intrigued by Miles. She hadn't expected him to know so much about the people of the town. When he mentioned he knew people at first she thought it was a little weird and creepy, but the more he spoke of the people he knew and that knew him, she realized he just genuinely liked to get to know people. Alyson couldn't really relate to that feeling or understand it completely. Coming from a town where everyone knew everyone whether you wanted them to know you or not, made it difficult for her to understand why anyone would want to be known, but in a place like Scriptor Bay where there were hundreds of thousands of people, it actually sort of made sense. Especially if you were friendly and outgoing as Miles seemed to be. Well, out going for sure. Friendly? Maybe friendly wasn't exactly the word she would use to describe him. Compulsive? She supposed compulsively friendly sounded pretty good.

"You really do know a lot of people." She noted, not wanting to know many people herself. She did in a sense admire the fact that he wanted to, and not only did he want to know people, he took the time to remember things about them. It was cool and stalker-ish all at the same time.

She was just starting to warm up to Miles a little until his dumb Texas comments about horses. She knew they actually did have a lot of ranches, but it wasn't what Texas was all about. "Trust me, horses aren't all that great." Even as she said it she didn't really mean it. Alyson actually had enjoyed horseback riding, especially as a little girl. It meant freedom, but there were rodeos and she didn't like those rodeos. She found them to be cruel, but the ranches weren't always so bad. The horses were majestic in a way, and you could see into their souls when you looked into their big, black eyes. "They'll kick you right off if you're not careful. Trample you and even bite if they want to." She nodded, liking toying with him a little. She didn't know why, but teasing him in this way just seemed like fun...

[milesmaynard]

Well Miles didn't want to get thrown off a horse or trampled! His eyes grew wide and he stared at Al as if this was all new to him! "Really? Maybe a pony then. Can you ride a pony? I don't want to get thrown off!" He let out a laugh that was almost childish in a way, his smile big and bright like someone who didn't have a single worry in the world except being thrown off a horse.

"I bet Texas is really cool though! Being a cowboy would be cool! Did you have a cowgirl hat when you lived there? You'd look really pretty with one on. Especially with your curly hair? I bet you could pull it off the best!"

Miles looked down at his empty glass and wondered where the waitress went. Hopefully she would know that he wanted another glass of chocolate milk. "Are you hungry?" He asked and glanced over at the table that Al was sitting at before she headed over to his table. "You should eat something. Can't run on just coffee! You want some of my sandwich? It's really good! Nom nom noms!" He made eating noises and rubbed his stomach playfully with a big smile.

[ALYSON MONTGOMERY]

"...." Every word made him sound less and less intelligent but she did her very best not to judge him. "Ponies aren't..." She stopped herself deciding there was no point in trying to describe the difference between ponies and foals and horses. Most people just assumed baby horses were ponies, when really they were just sort of midget horses. Not really very good for riding. Well, some were, she supposed. Maybe he did know? Probably not. Alyson got the feeling Miles didn't know much about equestrian.

Her cheeks flushed when he mentioned her hair looking nice under a hat. He was such an odd little bird! Ugh, the very thought of herself calling him an odd bird like one of her Texas old biddies made her inwardly cringe. "I...have a few hats." She admitted softly, not commenting on how she looked. Of course she looked nice in them, most girls, at least in her opinion, did but that was a little biased. She grew up in Texas, they were sort of a fashion statement there. As were bows in girls ponytails for the first 18 years of their lives.

Despite how dumb he was she actually cracked a smile when he made the eating noises. "I ate lunch before I left." She informed him softly and shut her notebook. "The drink was just an excuse to sit here, and a little caffeine jolt. I was up late studying." She wasn't sure why she was confiding this information in him, or what he would do with it, but she had. She was beginning to warm up to the idiot a little. Why? Who even knew. His stupidity was maybe just a little endearing, if not completely obnoxious. "Thanks anyway. Actually... maybe I should head on out anyway. Class soon and it's not like I'm going to get much more done here." Her tone was calmer now as she rolled her shoulders.