Chat: Leo - Tumblr Posts
leo-rojas·:
location: siren’s song coffee shop open to: everyone (@maywoodstarters·)
Leo understood that not everyone worked a 9-5 (he certainly didn’t) so he couldn’t expect his apartment building to be dead silent in the hours he wasn’t working in the middle of the day. But he had at least assumed people would also have the same realization and not have extremely noisy afternoon delights. With a huff he had packed up his laptop and found shelter in the local coffee shop. Granted, the noise level wasn’t a whole lot better than his apartment but at least he wasn’t having to deal with what sounded like a fairly poor attempt at faking an orgasm in surround sound.
After ordering a coffee and setting himself up at a table, Leo attempted to get to work. Scheduling was literally his least favorite part of his job. And he had said several times (in vain) that he would quite literally take a pay cut if he didn’t have to deal with the scheduling. Frustrated enough, the man eventually started to google if there were any programs that he could input info and shift needs and would spit out a schedule for him. But before he knew it, his own computer was making the same sounds he had left his apartment he tried to escape from. He wasn’t sure how it happened, if he had clicked on a bogus link or what, but for whatever reason, he couldn’t get it to shut up.
“Oh Jesus Christ. Stop. Stop. Stop.—Please, I swear. This is not intentional. I swear, I’m not the guy that goes watching porn in public places.”
To say Olivia liked coffee was an understatement. Despite having an elaborate espresso maker crammed onto the tiny countertop of her apartment, one of her favorite things to do was spend even more money at coffee shops. As someone who struggled with falling asleep and staying asleep through the night, combined with a roommate that worked nights and came home at weird times, coffee was a neccessity not a luxury.
The crowds in Siren's Song grew with each year. As a teenager, she used to take refuge at a corner table that she carved her house keey into. A part of her wondered if the marks were still there, but the table was currently being occupied. She tried to get a glance, but instead was greeted by an eyefull of unmentionables and indecent moaning. She recoiled, it was like living at home with her brother, except the guy looked ready for the floor to swallow him whole. A few more eyes looked over, a few mothers with baby strollers glared. Olivia bit back a laugh. "You don't have to defend yourself. You're into tits, I'm guessing?" she asked with a teasing smile before stretching to tap at the keyboard, "Control, alt, delete is your best friend."
leo-rojas:
Leo was not a man who cared what people thought of him. In fact, some people would say his lack of caring was a bit worrying. But all he could think of was his mother’s face when he told her he ended up on one of those ‘look at the sexual predators in your neighborhood’ sites due to some understanding as stupid as some bogus link.
“More of an ass man.” he hit back at the sarcastic comment that had been thrown his way, accompanied by a slight, unconscious roll of the eyes. His fingers continued to hit the power button to no avail, and he had already long given up on trying to find the window or pop up that was making the sound. As the curious woman next to him leaned over to hit control alt delete, he couldn’t help but look at her with what might some call a ‘resting bitch face’.
“I’m sorry, but do you really think I hadn’t already tried the most basic piece of computer knowledge that even my abuelita knows?”
At the deadpan look on his face, Olivia stared back, face shifting into an easy grin. She couldn’t say if the tables were turned that she’d have the most sparkling personality either. The light bite of sarcasm to his voice almost made her close the laptop since that would at least cut off the volume, but that would disconnect the internet. Judging by the little icons on his taskbar and that being the most basic computer knowledge she looked for the mute button with a click of her tongue.
“While your abuelita sounds very smart, I think both of us could say she probably would have thought of the mute button, first,” Olivia said with a nonchalant shrug. She settled back into her seat, eyes catching a brief glimpse of her old handiwork on the tabletop.
leo-rojas:
“Honestly, I’m not trying to be an asshole here but if I had a working mute button, don’t you think I would have tried that?” Honestly, if he was sitting there, freaking out about the noise but hadn’t tried the mute button before she suggested it, he would’ve punched himself in the face. He shoved the laptop away from himself slightly in frustration before dragging his hands down his face.
“This is what I get for constantly repairing a 8 year old lap top. It was going to turn on me eventually.” he sighed. The things hadn’t even been new when he had gotten it in school, a hand-me-down from a sibling from their time in college. At this point, so many parts had been replaced, Leo felt very much like Frankenstein, and it his monster. The thought did occur to him that all the money he had spent repairing it could have probably bought him a new laptop, but he didn’t want to dwell on that thought, for fear of frustrating himself even further.
“Sorry I snapped.” he apologized, knowing that he had practically bitten the head off a stranger who for all intents and purposes had just been trying to help. “–Can I…I don’t know, buy you a coffee or something?” Did he really want to? No, but it was hard to go against the binary his mother had coded in him in the form of manners.
A wry smile crossed Olivia’s face as soon as the word “honestly,” left his mouth. Anytime someone began a sentence with that word it was to try to soften whatever they were going to say. To his credit, the ad finally must have reached its time limit after all the time he spent grouching at her. In the process of tuning out his rhetorical questions, Olivia recognized his voice. Her neighbor. The one that Tabby Cat made it a mission to bother on a regular basis. This made the entire situation all the more amusing.
Olivia rested her chin in her hand as her neighbor rambled about an eight year old laptop. She could probably come up with a joke to say, but thought better of it, pausing to sip on her coffee to hide her grin. At least he seemed distracted from the embarrassment his laptop caused, that was something.
“It’s alright, can’t say I would have acted differently.” she shrugged. It was a lie, but she wasn’t looking for an argument. He did always return Tabby Cat to her, and she wasn’t trying to light a fire under him out of fear he’d change his mind about being a decent neighbor. Olivia looked towards the bakery counter, eyes looking down the little pastry trays. “A scone would be nice. Haven’t had breakfast, yet.”
