Enter Sandman (Juliet)

[Brendan James]

Still the hardest, and by far the least interesting part of Brendan’s day, was being away from Vincent. But he needed to concentrate on work. And that was hard to do with the young man around. For multiple reasons. Having somebody around who always had different ideas for getting them into trouble, when Bren was all too willing to do so in the first place was a little, was sometimes too much to resist.

So when worked demanded his attention, he’d leave the apartment for the day. He’d tried different places. Like the coffee bar, Kali’s. But that was too distracting too. Alcohol. That rarely allowed him to work. So to avoid temptation, he changed locations. Today it was Kindness Café.

Plus, being out and about usually helped in trying to design sets when sketching them out. Sure, they had to be related to the play that was going on. But he often took inspiration from people watching and listening to music. Or arguments he’d had with loved ones. Such as his most recent argument with Vin. The one that made Brendan realize that sometimes he really truly could be a huge douche for absolutely no reason at all. Which wasn’t a lesson that he’d been all too willing to learn, but did nonetheless.

And sketching different lines across one of the multiple pages spread out across the table in front, they looked angry. The lines, that is. Their angles were harsh and the lines dark with the force that he was pushing down on them. But Brendan himself was not angry. Not really at least. And the very slight of anger he felt was only directed himself.

To anybody around him, it might’ve looked as if Brendan was having a seizure. His body was rocking back and forth to the music that played through his out of date headphones. Not that he particularly cared how he looked to anybody around really. This is Brendan we’re talking about after all. But he was most definitely making a bit of spectacle of himself.

[Juliet Michaels]

Today had been a very, very good day. After achieving a 35 mph wind on the training field at around four am, Juliet was in a really good mood. Which was rare. Rarer than rare. Of course, that had required a five hour power nap and about a galleon of coffee, but it was worth it. Then she had decided to celebrate her achievement by going to Pilot Ridge, maybe get some lunch and go shopping. She should be doing homework or studying for tests, but she was in way to good of mood for that. All she felt like doing right now was running, and not in circles in a boring gym with the same faces and scenery. That was partially the reason for going all the way into town, for the jog there.

Jovi wore a sports bra and basketball shorts, her dark hair pulled up to a high pony tail and her ipod blasting into her ears. It was a nice day out. Nicer than you would expect in March. Slung over her shoulder was an old brown bag, which she was never without. It had all the necessities. Water, protein bars, money, and of course a change of clothes, because walking around town showing so much skin was bound to attract a few creeps.

When the town came into view she slowed to a walk, tugging her ear buds out and shoving her iPod into her bag. She pulled out an old faded blue college T-shirt that used to be her mother's. She remembered wearing the over sized thing to bed as pajamas, since when she was that young it would reach her knees. Smiling slightly at the vague memory, she slipped it over her head and entered the town, trying to decide where she would go first. It hadn't occurred to her until now that she really didn't need anything, except maybe new running shoes. But she wanted to go somewhere a little fancier than what stores were here. Yes, fancy. The most valuable things she owned were her shoes, of course! Nice and comfortable and expensive. Her current shoes were her babies, but her babies were getting old and worn and now giving her uncomfortable blisters when she ran long distance.

As her stomach rumbled, she decided that it would be best to eat first and shop later. Last time she was in Pilot Ridge she'd eaten at that café with that stupid name....what was it again? Oh, kindness, she reminded herself with an amused smirk. Juliet Michaels eating at a place called Kindness Café. How ironic.

Finding it was not difficult, since it was a small town and she had a relative idea of where it was. When she entered she was surprised that it was kind of full. There weren't any tables open and Jovi was not the kind of person to associate with strangers, obviously, but just as she turned to leave she saw a movement in the corner of her eye. She didn't think anything of it as she glanced toward the head-bobbing motion, until she saw who it was. She did a double take.

Truthfully, it did not surprise her to see her old art teacher in this crazy state of mind. He had always been a bit on the odd side, at least that's what she thought. She had taken his classes a few times, enough to know what he was like. It was also interesting that he had 'resigned'. She knew the real reason of course, being a very observant person, and she sort of admired it. Why the hell shouldn't you be able to have the relationship you wanted? It was ridiculous.

Without really thinking about it she strolled over to the ex-teacher and sat down across from him, taking advantage of her own good mood. He seemed really into his music and she wasn't sure if he noticed so she decided the best way to approach this was to yell. Yelling always fixed everything, right?

"Careful, you're gonna get whiplash."

[Brendan James]

The young girl was right. Brendan hadn’t even the slightest idea she was even in the restaurant, let alone sitting across from him. He’d been to focused, his work grabbing his attention in a way that it rarely did. It was just lucky that the dark lines and harsh angles would fit the script and what he and Eugene had discussed for it.

And the more entranced he became with his work, the more his danced in his seat. His body no longer being the only thing moving as his head began bobbing in a way that most probably weren’t used to seeing in public. Somewhere between bobbing and head banging, landing somewhere closer to the latter. Also, he quietly, as to not disturb the people around him, began singing along with the lyrics.

The yelling though startled him out of the trance that had fallen on him. His body jumped as his head shot up, his hands quickly snatching the headphones from his ears. “Holy Christ, you scared me.” He said with a chuckle as he placed his heart on his chest as if to settle it.

Almost immediately though, he felt awkward in the presence of his former student. It hadn’t been quite a month since he’d been fired from Hammel. And he wasn’t sure who exactly knew the actual reasoning behind it. Of course, like all schools, Hammel was not above the rumor mill. And it wasn’t as if he and Vin and Fifi discussed such matters. Because unless faced with a situation, like this one, the fact of who knew and who didn’t wasn’t an issue to him.

He recovered quickly after a moment of awkward silence. “It’s a pleasure to see you again Juliet.” He looked away from his ex-student for a moment, only to turn off his music and remove his headphones from his neck.

When he looked back up at the girl, he took in her appearance. Which made things slightly more awkward. Only because he wasn’t used to seeing (ex) students so bare. Minus a very obvious one. But given the clothes that she was wearing, it was easy enough to guess what her previous activities had been. “Did you have a good workout?”

He began reaching around the table, collecting the papers he’d had spread out all over it to give the girl some room. “Hey, you should join me for lunch. I haven’t ordered yet. You interested?” Yes, despite feeling as if this situation were incredibly awkward, he still wouldn’t say no to company. Besides, he actually kinda liked awkward situations. If nothing else, they were amusing. Not right away of course. But later on, after some time passed. Like when Dr. Neville had caught Vin and Bren kissing in the hall? Brendan was sure he’d be able to look back on that and laugh. Eventually.

“My treat.” He said with a wink, then made eye contact with the waitress, not bothering to wait for the girl to accept or reject his invitation for lunch.