callmeemily | (no subject)

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"You have got to be kidding me! Seriously? Seriously?!" Raleigh's standing outside her bakery, hands on her hips as the delivery box truck pulls away. Pulls away.

Leaving a full, wrapped pallet of 50lb bags of flour on the sidewalk. Almost blocking the front door to her bakery.

She doesn't really want to have to pull in favors. Not for this, not for a stupid stack of bags of flour that normally is delivered through the back and the delivery guy brings it in and oh, hey! No problem!

But her usual guy's apparently sick, and this guy just vanished and when she refused to sign for it - because she did, what's she going to do with a literal half-ton of flour on the sidewalk? - he just shrugged. He shrugged.

And left.

He left, and he left the flour here, and now Raleigh's just-- The thing comes up to her chest, and she doesn't have a pallet jack, and besides, she's not going to drag the thing around the block or anything. Her leg's throwing a fit today, and it's just--

It's rare, for her to be so flipping angry. She's going to call her supplier, that's for sure, but they're not even open right now, and she just throws the pen that the guy left her with in frustration, not expecting it to bounce off the flour and land at the feet at the person behind her.

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Lena almost walks into something enormous on the sidewalk, but something launched at her (she catches it, it's the useless cat things that still seem to linger inside of her) makes her look up.

At first she doesn't even understand what she's looking at. Cement? Soil? At least she recognizes the angry woman, the one from the lovely food ago. "Raleigh?" That was her name, wasn't it? "What's going on?"

She turns around as she throws up her hands in frustration - only to find herself face to face with the girl from Christmas. The nice one, who'd been standing outside looking at everything until Raleigh'd reassured her that she should come in and have something to eat.

"I-" Her anger sort of diffuses - not entirely, not completely, but enough, enough that she's just sort of left looking back at the pallet in bewilderment. "Oh, you know. Half ton of flour delivered onto the sidewalk in front of my bakery instead of into the kitchen." She huffed out a breath, rubbing her forehead with a hand. "How're you?" That seemed to be a good thing to ask, because obviously her day? Not so awesome.

"Oh. Ah. That's.. weird. Was there something wrong with the delivery man? Maybe in a hurry? Or a .." Lena didn't want to be rude. "Kind of a jerk?"

Half a ton of flour was a lot of flower. No clue how she could help here, which meant she was taking up Raleigh's time. "Eh. Do you maybe have ..some kind of wheel cart? And uh - strong people among your friends? Because this will break your back, I'm sure."

"He's not the usual guy, and definitely kind of a jerk," she says as she makes a face.

Lena asks her if she's got a cart - and she doesn't - and Raleigh kind of doesn't want to call in a favor, but... "I think I know somebody I can call," she says after a second. "Do you want a cup of coffee, or something?" She's not going to leave Lena just like, standing outside for no reason, but Raleigh's got a couple of flagged contractors on Angie's list, and sure, it'll really cut into her profits for the day, but... she just needs it moved. And she needs it moved like, now.

"Oh, oh I don't want to be in your way. I mean-", she chuckles, "you already have plenty of things in your way. And you were going to call someone?"

Lena tries to come up with something helpful, instead of just pointing out the obvious things. "Did you already call in a complaint about this driver?"

"You're not in the way! You're-- You're totally welcome. Always," she says with a nod and a smile. "And yeah, I'll call them, but they're closed for complaining, but I also like," she said with a shrug. "But I'm going to just call somebody off Angie's list so that I can get this stuff moved out of the way."

Flashing a smile, Raleigh nodded back to Lena. "I'll look up the phone number, we'll have coffee, and then the guys will show up and take care of it. C'mon in?"

"Closed for complaints? That's an easy way to run a business, isn't it? That's just rude, who are these g- gu- people?" She was surprising herself, getting all judgmental about some stranger's business.

"Really? Because I'd love to take you up on your offer, if your coffee is half as good as your pas- I mean, yes, sure. We'll have coffee." Lena exhales. "Fun!"

"I mean, they're just straight up closed-- the guy's a contractor, the people will be around tomorrow morning - they're open from seven to four, it's just... apparently I was the last delivery of the day or something. It just... sucked." She shrugs, and moves into the bakery to look up the number for the Angie's List people on the phone. She knows they'd send someone to move the damned thing, and then she wouldn't have to worry about it.

"And yeah, really. Coffee, and I think Iv'e got some leftover pastry," she said with a smile - it seemed like Lena really did like her pastries, and Raleigh's not going to judge her for that - that's her business, after all!

"Ah." Lena could be so simple sometimes. "That makes much more sense than the thing I was saying. Of course. I just never had to deal with contractors and big bags of flour before."

"You are really very sweet towards strangers, Raleigh. I just wanted to say that. And not because the near pastry-holding future. Or it being a joke about you baking. I mean .."

"Oh, believe me, it's not all it's cracked up to be," she said with a laugh, shaking her head. "I wish, you know? That I didn't know about contractors and big bags of flour, but otherwise I'd have to buy 19 million tiny bags, and that's not really the kind of thing I have time for." She flips through the stack of papers she's stuffed behind the register - the important, don't lose these papers.

"Eh, I mean--" Lena says she's sweet, and Raleigh just makes a face because she doesn't know how to deal with her saying that, a little. "I mean, thanks, I guess I just.... to me, it's normal?" She shrugs, because she's not exactly sure what else to say about it. "You just try and be a good person, and then other people pay it forward. Makes the world a better place, all that stuff. You know?"

"Right."

Can she really only talk normally with just her family and Dylan? It's so frustrating all the time, knowing how much development she missed, wondering if it's her awkwardness or her magical past that makes her a beacon of 'mwah'. Lena sighs and tries to think of something that the both of them can at least agree on.

"People should definitely support each other more without demanding result or payment or a compliment for it right away." Wow, didn't she blow people's minds.

Edited 2015-04-27 11:44 (UTC)

She was only so awkward just because she's not sure how to take the compliment, not because of anything Lena's said wrong. Lena's sweet, and Raleigh likes her a lot, but then-- Raleigh's not sure if Lena's agreeing with her, or if she's just been through some hard times with jerkface people who did demand those things, so she just--

She goes with it. "Exactly. Now, what kind of pastry do you like? I've got apple, strawberry, and cinnamon right now." She grins at her, and she finds the number so she can call the guys in a minute, but it's more important that she just get to know Lena better - it's a good thing to get to know new people. "You should totally come around more often, you know? You're always welcome."

"Oh, decisions, decisions." She bites her lip, because Lena loves her pastries but also knows she can't ask for a taste of all three of them. "Which one is your favorite?"

Maybe the cinnamon one. She can dip it into her coffee. "I need to get a job first, so not to bum for free food every time. And I'm looking into getting back to school again, so I'm sure that will take up free space. But I know, Raleigh. Thank you."

"Uh, I like all of them? I'm a big fan of apple, but I'm out of them." She rolls her shoulders in a shrug, but then chews on her lip. "People really like the cinnamon rolls? So we could do that - I haven't had anybody say they don't like it, at least." She smiled wider, shrugging her shoulders as she pencils down the number.

"What are you looking for? I can keep an ear out for jobs - you never know when somebody may need someone." She shrugs as she says it, because you never know-- she always hears this and that about what people are looking for.

"I was thinking about cinnamon as well, yes. I like to dip in my coffee and coffee and cinnamon is probably a nice combination. Vincent always puts cinnamon in his hot cacao, so I'm sure ..although there's a difference between hot chocolate and hot coffee, of course. Vincent is one of my brothers."

She thrusts her hands in her pockets and reminds herself to breath. "In a perfect world I'd love to have people paying for my photographs, but until then ..some weekend job in retail, I guess. I mean, I didn't even finish high school. Yet."

"Oh? Is your family from town?" She's trying to get a real conversation going-- Lena seems sweet, and Raleigh can always use more friends. She talks about the photography, and Raleigh's brows shoot up.

"Do you have photographs framed to sell? If they're pretty okay for all ages, I'd be happy to have you hang them in here, with your contact information. A lot of people will buy all sorts of stuff, but only if they've seen it, you know?"

Raleigh surprises her with her enthusiasm, because usually - usually it's nothing more than 'How cute' coming from family and family friends. "Eh."

"Yes, I definitely know you have to show your product for it to get noticed. What you said. I - most of my work is landscapes and objects. Cut outs. Still working on portraits, but I don't have a lot of ..models, for that. My brothers hate it, you know. Sitting. Can't even sneak up on them anymore. Not that I'm a sneak, you should never make a picture without asking if you're allowed to but - yeah. Yes, we're local. Just less present, I guess. Than some families, you know?"

"Well, if you want, you can totally hang them up here, and if anyone wants to buy them, I'll send them to you. I've seen other people do that, put little like... cards? Next to them." She smiles at her, but then when Lena says that they're less present than some families, Raleigh just shrugs. "I haven't been in town forever, so I don't really know all the families anyway, if I'm being super honest. So one's the same as the other. Maybe you could put up a post on Craigslist? About the models, I mean. Sorry." She realises she's verbally jumping around, and it can be a little confusing.

"I absolutely never thought about something like that." Lena was flabbergasted. How was she ever going to be a serious photographer (talent or not) if she couldn't even come up with something simple like this?

"Yes, yes, I know about the little calling cards. Or however you call them. Sometimes it's only title and taker, sometimes motivations and stories ..no matter how or what, I have a nice hand for writing at least." She clucked her tongue. "I think I have at least one series from last y-" No, when she was eighteen. Which wasn't last year ago, only last year in being human-ness.

"Don't apologize, Raleigh. You're being incredibly helpful."

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