2019-11-02 - Pizza And Conversation

Friday night? Saturday morning? Take your pick. The night is young or already dead depending on one's standards, but Blake isn't the only one who thinks pizza sounds good at this hour. He is in one of the booths by a front window that looks out over the sidewalk. He sits alone in a black zipup hoodie and leather jacket left open, a dark sweater on underneath, charcoal colored jeans, and some all black high tops, canvas and black rubber soles. Next to him he has a backpack, but there's no pizza to be seen yet. He stares out the window watching the spray of the night collect against the pane.

Somewhat damp from the drizzle, another pizza-lover walks in. Juniper is in her usual blue jeans, a green knit top and some sneakers, her hair tucked away under a bandana. To the counter, to order a veggie special, and then once she's paid, she takes a few moments to look around the room at the few people in here at this hour, gaze pausing on each one in turn, including Blake.

Blake doesn't have the most joyous resting face known to man. He looks like a guy who should be holding a flask or something. He's got a little scruff at his chin, a tuft just below his lower lip and an equally unimpressive mustache, but at least none of it is patchy. After having his fill of watching the rain, he leans back into the booth and squints at the other people getting their fill of pizza. When Juniper gets around to looking at Blake, he's already looking at her. No grin, no real expression at all. His pizza interrupts it all, a personal sized white pizza. The young man mutters a thanks to the employee. Realizing he forgot napkins though, he pushes up from the table and walks to get some.

While her resting face is quite neutral, Juniper's expression brightens with a smile as she finds Blake looking at her, friendly without being over the top. When he wanders over towards the counter for napkins - a counter she's still stood by, she ventures a, "Hey honey." Again, friendly, without subtext, even as she begins to turn towards an empty table.

Blake almost seems lost in his own world as he walks up to the counter. He doesn't look anyone in the eye, his gaze slightly downward cast as if especially angled to somehow avoid all contact ever. It could only be foiled by a child or a dog. Still, he sneaks a glance to Juniper just before he steps closer. "Hi." The word feels stunted when it comes out. As he waits for her to get a certain distance from the napkins, his phone buzzes in his pocket and he pulls it out to tap out a reply to someone.

Hmn. Head tilting a little, Juniper asks, "You okay?" I mean he could be naturally shy, or having social issues, or maybe even just high on something, but it never hurts to check. Or at least, doesn't normally hurt. She doesn't press the issue, moving to the nearby table but keeping her attention on Blake, until she's satisfied he's not about to trip over the counter or something.

Blake squints back at the woman with a hint of confusion. "Uh..yeah." Hardly convincing, but Blake doesn't seem like he's about to have some sort of mental break. He swallows and steps forward to claim some napkins once the coast is clear. It's one of those damned holders that forces you to pull out one at a time, or that's the idea. He sticks his fingers inside, pushing the napkin load up one one side enough so the other side droops down. Then he drops the stack and starts pulling out small stacks, doing this all with the same hand, never lifting his other arm from his side. He looks back Juniper's way and then tentatively approaches her table. "You need some?" He begins to offer, but his phone goes off again and it breaks his gaze from her.

Hmn. Well, if he's not about to break down, that's a good thing. "Yeah, please," Juniper agrees to the offer of napkins, since he's handling the napkin dispenser like a pro, nodding. "And maybe some company?" she then suggests, nodding to the chair opposite her own, the offer open and without pressure.

Blake doesn't answer the offer at first. He looks back up to her and chews the corner of his lower lip a little. "Okay," he finally says, "I'll get my stuff." Then he retreats back to his booth to pull his backpack up onto one shoulder, grab his drink, and his pizza. Then he returns, slowly unloading everything. Pizza, drink from the less mobile hand, backpack, then sit. "I'm Blake....what-pizza did you get?" He has one surefire line of questioning for small talk and he blows it right out the gate, but there's effort.

"Nice to meet you, honey. I'm Juniper," the woman replies as he comes over to her table and settles, her friendly smile returning. "Veggie supreme. Feeling in the mood for garden peppers and sweetcorn and red onions," she replies regarding her order, sitting back and glancing to the counter. "Oh, and a soda. Which should be here soon." She hopes. She's thirsty.

"Like the tree?" Blake asks as he pulls his phone out of his pocket to set it on the table. There's still a message hovering on the screen, but he hasn't cleared it. He makes no comment on the tastiness of what she ordered, just an, "Oh. Okay." In the meantime, he sets a napkin out on his lap and waits. "It should all come out pretty fast. Veggie supreme they make a lot of...for the the bar hoppers."

There's a nod and Juniper confirms, "Exactly so." She glances down to his phone just briefly, though not for long enough to see or read what is shown, looking back over to Blake a moment later. Her drink is delivered and she takes a sip, one corner of her mouth curling up into a smile again. "Don't need to wait for mine to come out, honey. No sense letting yours go cold."

"It's a pretty name. Do you use a nickname or just go by Juniper?" Blake keeps glancing up to Juniper and sometimes off just behind her shoulder. "It's okay. It won't be long...I'm working up my appetite." He offers a ghost of a grin against the onslaught of Juniper's smiles. After a moment of, possibly, awkward silence, "What do you do?" Like an old engine warming up in the cold, Blake seems to be warming up to the socialization, but he's certainly not smooth about it.

That smile warms somewhat. "Thanks. Mostly just Juniper, sometimes June. I'm not so picky about what folks call me as long as it's friendly," she notes, taking another sip of soda before setting the glass down. "I'm a landscape gardener. And yeah I know, the tree name probably predicted it, but." Her pizza arrives, all cheesy and delicious, and she spends a bit of time cutting a slice out and into smaller pieces with knife and fork. "How about you?"

"I do computer stuff. Networks, programming. Security vulnerabilities." Blake nods with a half grin that doesn't quite reach his eyes. "So you work on rich people's yards?" Once her pizza arrives and everything is settled, he picks up a slice of his own and takes a bite.

"Not usually the super rich. But some, yeah. And parks, and things," Juniper confirms, beginning to eat bits of her pizza using her fork, a contented 'mmm' her only further contribution to the conversation for now, since food is here and they're both chowing down.

"Oh." Blake shuts up to eat, just like Juniper. He seems content with the lull in the conversation, eyes wandering back to that spot over her shoulder, and then trailing them closer to them, to his phone. But it doesn't feel restless. More like a tour of the mundane things as he somehow inhales three slices. "What's your favorite gig?"

Working her way through quarter of her pizza, Juniper pauses to sip soda and murmurs, "Some of the jobs are basic, like removing ivy from trees or helping fix a mistake someone made. The best jobs are a blank canvas, giving me the opportunity to design rather than just building to someone else's blueprint," she comments quietly. "So, why computer stuff?"

Blake nods, drawing his drink close. "Do you get to do that often?" When Juniper asks about computer stuff, Blake tilts his head to the side a little. "Kind of hard to explain. My father was an engineer. It's like asking someone why they played with legos as a kid. I don't know. It was a part of me before I was a part of it. But, later, easier than...people I guess." He takes a sip of his drink and goes back to focusing on his pizza.

"Uh-huh. People suck," Juniper commiserates on the latter point, even sounding like she means it despite her clear tendency to talk to strangers. "It's good that you've got something you like? I assume you do like it?" she muses, then shakes her head. "A full landscape design? Not often. Maybe once, twice a year, but it's worth the wait."

"Yeah," Blake's gaze droops down to the last of his pizza. He nods. "Yeah. I mean. I like the feeling of being able to find the holes in things, peek under the cover. Sometimes it's not so great...People," he mutters the last, but doesn't expound freely. "You live around here? Or just come to Elm for the pizza?"

This is the point where Juniper doesn't pry into that mutter, eating more pizza and then sipping her soda before shaking her head. "I live in the trailer park, but I was craving pizza. Could've got delivery, but I figure walking here and back will absolve me of some of this calorific sinning."

"Cool. I went there for a housewarming party once. I live in one of the houses down the street. I walk everywhere. Be careful though. I got mugged a few months back. Stole my laptop." Blake sips his drink primarily now, not bothering with his remaining slices. "You like it there?"

"It's actually really nice. The people are neighbourly," Juniper notes, sounding modestly surprised at her admission. "I always just assumed trailer parks were dives, but I've been proven well and truly wrong." There's some suggestion of experience with shitty trailer parks in her tone, but she moves on to, "Mugged? That sucks, I'm sorry to hear it."

"It's fine. I carry a knife now. No one's messed with me since then. I guess they figure I don't have another laptop." Blake tilts his head slightly. His eyes twitch off to the side sharply and then he offers an uncomfortable grin. "It was nice meeting you," he says suddenly, a breath caught up in his throat. "If you want my last slices..." he offers before grabbing his backpack and heading straight for the door like someone heading to the surface for air.