I got a right to sing the [blues] (open)

[jay]

Carlo rolled his eyes. The sooner he got her out the door the sooner he could pile himself into his little beater car and go home. If he didn't need the money or the discounts on pet supplies so bad, he would have quit by now. He hated this job. Hated the constant interaction that was forced upon him. He just seemed to hate everything these days. God, he was getting as hormonal as a woman. Scary thought...

He showed no interest whatsoever as she tucked the unused bills away again, although he did look up, eyes flashing with anger, as she held onto the bill. Still, he said nothing, just waited for her to let go, which she had to do sometime, right? He let her bag her things as he counted out her change. "$4.24 is your change, ma'am," he said curtly. "And no, you cannot buy me a drink. Unless there is anything else I can help you with in this store, I think we're done here."

[jagger]

Whereas before she had been mildly irritated and acting out mostly irrationally, now she was beginning to consider her target a more worthy adversary. Plucking the bills out of his hand, she tossed the change in the 'take a penny' jar all small businesses seemed to have; shoving the bills in the top of her boot with the rest of her money clip. She was prepared to turn on her heel and walk off without another word; but that biting feminine temper was simply enough to kill. It was all she could do to keep from grabbing him by the shirt collar and punching him square between the eyes. She bit her tongue hard enough to taste blood, pinching the bridge of her nose before thumb and forefinger before beginning her next impromptu speech very slowly and decisively. It did no good to rush things.

"Look. I apologized, and I meant it. That's damn rare for me. I stooped to the lowest level possible today. I applied for a job with someone who doesn't even deserve to be breathing, much less work with animals. My dickhead ex-husband took the car and I get to walk everywhere. I covered four tracks before sunrise. I'm tired. I'm cranky. I'm self-conscious. Yeah, I'm a cunt. I took it out on someone who didn't deserve it. I know that. But make a note later while you're stewing over why you hate your life, hate this town, and hate this job; that I apologized three effing times for flying off the handle at you. And while you're making up excuses as to why you're life isn't pathetic and how you don't care about this at all, consider that I was honest with you."

She pulled her bag off the countertop and strode through the door before any further comments could be made, throwing the plastic t-shirt bag onto the embankment and collapsing in the grass. She still had an hour to kill before her ride would be around again; and now she was both on the verge of tears and homicidal. What an odd mood for Abyss; she generally only had two modes: work and sleep. Her arrival at Indian Valley had been marred by one situation after another, and she had literally nothing to show for it sans enemies and one dickhead future boss. Collapsing backward, she cradled her head in her hands, staring up at the sky with near invisible blonde eyebrows knitted together, bright blue eyes staring at the sky. She half hoped she'd go blind. Maybe she'd be nicer that way.

"Such a fucktastic time, Mr. Rogers."

[jay]

Carlo was seething inwardly. Somehow this little cagna had turned a decent day into a complete and utter disaster. He listened to her little speech without response. He just wanted her out of there so he could get home. Right now all he wanted was a nice cold beer and a nap on the couch with his three buddies. So, he basically tuned her out and waited until she took her change.

Once she was tucking her change away, Carlo locked the register again and took his name tag off the dark green Valley Feed golf shirt he was wearing. Tucking the pin into his pocket, Carlo adjusted his hat further down over his eyes and grabbed his bag from under the counter. "Thank you for choosing Valley Feed, your one stop for all your pet care needs," he said dryly as she walked away. "Have a nice day."

After she had gone through the door, Carlo picked up the phone and activated the intercom. "Paige, return to cash. Paige to cash," he said dully into the mouthpiece. He waited until she got back to swing his bag over his shoulder. "I'm off now, so you've got cash. Someone will be in soon to work out back." Without another word, Carlo headed to the break room to punch out, leaving Paige standing there looking a little puzzled.

The sunlight hit him like a brick to the face when he stepped outside. Squinting, Carlo headed for his car, tugging his hat down to further shade his eyes. As he did so, he saw that little bitch laying on the lawn. He secretly hoped that she had managed to find the only patch of horse feci in that area. "I know you enjoy staring at things you can't reach, but the clouds aren't going to come any closer," he jabbed as he walked past.

[jagger]

She hardly registered he was there as he tromped out the doors a few minutes later, lost in her own inner contemplation of life and it's pursuits. She had planned to allow him to leave in peace, but his comment brought her upright; her transclucent complexion gone pink with absolute and utter fury. She glanced around, and for a brief moment considered nailing him with a dirt clod. Her sanity took over and she settled her ruffled feathers, teeth gritted as she retorted in a calm, matter of fact voice.

"And now who's the bitch? Pull the tampon string and get over it." She'd left him alone, could he not pay her at least that respect? She stared at him a moment longer before collapsing on her back again, deeming the situation not worth salvaging, holding her left arm up over her face to view her watchface. Ugh. Forty-five minutes to go. Crossing her legs at the ankle, she stared again into the wide expanse of sky above her, silent for a moment. At this rate, she was better off spending her free time with Fergal. At least she was on horseback when she put up with that miniature asshole.

Her phone rang, and she rolled onto her hip to answer it. Flipping the LCD screen open, she stared at the caller ID before finally clicking the "Go" button, holding it briefly to her ear. A flood of obscene language came out of her ex-husband's mouth, everything from death threats to parentage claims. This was the 5th time today; and countless others just like it had come in previously in the week... the man just couldn't leave well enough alone. She didn't even bother answering, simply chucked the phone as hard and as far as she could; listening to it clatter and slide to a stop, face up on the pavement, the faint sound of her ex's voice still echoing from the receiver. Jesus. He really is stupid, he didn't even hear the phone hit the ground... Her eyes closed, chewing on the end of her damaged tongue.

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[jay]

Carlo ignored her remark and pulled his keys from his pocket. What a day. Maybe he'd hit up the bar later tonight and have a couple drinks. That would improve his mood significantly. He vaguely remembered back in New York when he'd acted this way toward people. His mother had tried to drag him to a shrink, insistent that there was some horrible thing he was repressing that caused him to act this way. Truth be told, Carlo was just like his old man. A hard ass by nature and a bastard by internal programming. It was just the way he was, and anyone who mattered just took him as he came and didn't take anything he did or said personally.

Carlo flinched slightly when something clattered on the pavement not far from where he stood unlocking his car. His head whipped around as a new, disembodied voice droned on. When his eyes landed on the phone, he looked over at the woman with one brow arched quizzically. With a sigh, he picked the phone up and flipped it closed, effectively ending the call, before tossing it lightly back her way so it would hopefully land a foot or so away and not hit her. "Why'd you bother answering?" he asked, clearly puzzled. "I mean, if you knew it was gonna be shit like that..."

[jagger]

Glancing at her watch again, she laced fingers and tucked them back behind her head, slender legs crossing at the ankle as she resumed her cloud busting. In the spirit of true Robin Williams' style, one really had to be naked to truly enjoy cloud busting; but nonetheless it was enjoyable. She envisioned each and every big, puffy white cloud shattering into a billion fragments and floating away, her blue eyes gone glassy.

She startled back to reality as her phone thumped into the grass beside her, glancing at it with mild confusion. Hazy gaze flicked to Carlo, and she sat up, shrugging. She was mildly surprised at this sudden dialogue.. her expression guarded as she raised both eyebrows to answer. "He uses a different number every time. I keep hoping it's a job." She fell silent, staring at the beat up silver flip phone. "I... eh. It doesn't matter." She collapsed backward again, both hands in the air in a "eh, whaddyagonnadoaboutit" sort of fashion.

Letting her arms fall back to the grass, she busied herself plucking strands off the mound and shredding them into pieces on her blouse. All hostility and anger set aside; she had moved on, and no longer had a reason to be upset - about anything. She was like the tides, always ebbing and flowing in a random direction. God, it sucked to be female. The hormones were killer. "Thank you. Have a nice day, Sir." She almost sounded like a little girl speaking to an adult; her tone reasonable and sincere.. no trace of the former hell kitten.

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[jay]

He watched her watching the clouds. Cloud watching was one of those random activities he just didn't understand at all. What in the hell was the point? Oooh look! It's shaped like a boat. Screw that, it was shaped like a damn cloud. Sure, it made people think he had no imagination or whatever, but he simply had better things to do with his time than sit around and stare at the clouds in the sky. He'd almost given up on her when she sat up and looked over at him, mostly due to the phone whumping into the grass beside her.

He listened to her, somewhat skeptical. It was a moderately believable story, and he was tempted to give the benefit of the doubt considering her recent change in attitude. Still, when she waved her hands in the air with a 'could care less' attitude, Carlo shrugged. Fine, if she wasn't interesting in talking, that was fine. Then again, he wasn't exactly emanating a welcoming air so it was kinda understandable why she wasn't open to saying anything else. He did deserve the treatment he was getting, and he'd probably be the first to admit it.

Carlo had just turned back to his car when she spoke again. Her voice sounded sincere, and almost subordinate, but he read it as veiled sarcasm. Yea, he was a bit of a cynical bastard, but that was just fine with him. "Yeah, whatever," he mumbled, mostly to himself, before dropping into the car and starting the engine.

ooc: Call it quits and start a new thread somewhere else, unless she wants to ask him for a ride. ;D

[/size]

[jagger]

[ agreed. she's going to smoke some reefer and chill de eff out in the park i think. ]