Apathetic Browsing (any)

[Graham Alderman]

It was remarkable just how crowded the Alderman house seemed with just one additional teen girl, but somehow Dena's presence made the house seem much louder and smaller than usual. Caitlin alone was noisy and boisterous enough for one family, but with two giggly girls Graham found he had to flee to somewhere quieter.

Quieter normally meant the the library, but the Van Nuys Public Library was closed on Sundays and the few LA libraries that were didn't open their doors until one. In fact, after driving around looking for something open, Graham came to the conclusion that far too many places were closed Sunday mornings -- until he stopped to consider that he wouldn't want to work Sunday mornings, either, so perhaps it was unfair to expect other people to want to. Everyone needed a day off.

After what seemed hours (but was only twenty minutes) he found a used book store tucked away between a (currently closed) shoe store and Subway's. He wasn't looking for anything in particular, but perhaps he'd find something interesting, something that would be hidden amongst all the best sellers if he were browsing at a first hand store.

He began pulling out books at random, flipping through them for a few pages before placing them carefully back in their appointed places. Sea-faring adventures? The writing seemed a bit dusty. Hilarious tales of accountants and their dogs? He wasn't sure accountants could be funny.

A rustling behind him alerted him to the presence of another human being, one he assumed to be an employee, though instead of turning around to check he instead asked, "So is there anything good here?"

[Hunter Lodge III]

The one thing Hunter enjoyed most about weekends was that he didn't have to spend time in the incredibly overcrowded prison his mother had dubbed the school. He was absolutely free to enjoy his solitude if he so desired, which most the time he did. Today, however, he was getting a bit restless. He had gone through his DVDs and books and was unable to find a single one that interested him. They had all been endlessly read or watched and Hunter was not in the mood for a replay. He was almost tempted to take Anderson up on the invitation to roleplay, but it was only D&D. He might have been convinced if it were a game set in the World of Darkness.

Thus it was that Hunter found himself outside on a wet Sunday morning with little to no goal for the day. He didn't mind the rain so much, getting soaked was simply a part of nature. His shoes splished and sploshed down the sidewalk, but he soon found it difficult to keep his eyes open. The rain relentlessly pounded at his face, and though he didn't mind the wetness he did mind the blindness.

Refuge was a small bookstore tucked between some other store and a Subway restaurant. The baking bread smelled good, and that alone almost lured Hunter in, but he decided to wait a while for lunch. Instead he asked the clerk in the bookstore for the restroom so he could dry up a bit before handling any books. It would be a pity if he ruined anything accidentally.

After a quick paper towel rubdown and a sit beneath the air blower, Hunter proceeded out into the small store, hoping to find a book he hadn't read that might actually be good. As he was scanning the cover of a book entitled “Moon Dark Night,” a voice called his attention away from the depiction of two werewolves battling beneath a waning gibbous.

Hunter paused, not knowing what to say. The longer he waited, the more difficult it became for him to reply and not feel stupid, so he tried to pretend as if he didn't hear. He did spare a glance at the speaker, however, and discovered it to be Graham Alderman, close friend of Annie Holmes. Hunter's mind immediately drifted to a pair of eyes filled with kindness, and a smile that truly had been for him. His chest began thumping. The poor boy had no idea what was happening.

He was curious to find out if Phil had accosted Annie anymore, and Graham would likely be someone he knew. Igniring the original question, Hunter decided to speak.

“Umm, hey. You're Annie's friend, right? Annie Holmes?” Hunter paused, his hands fidgeting with the book. He wasn't sure how to ask about Phil without it being awkward. “I was, uhh, just wondering how she was doing after the thing... that happened.” His gruff voice trailed off, and he glanced up enough to see that Graham was now realizing he had not asked a question of some random employee.

[Graham Alderman]

An extended silence seemed to follow his question, and Graham was beginning to feel a bit guilty over his wording -- he'd probably offended everyone in the entire store with the insinuation they didn't carry interesting books. They'd never allow him to step foot inside their doors again! -- when the other boy finally spoke, but instead of answering the original question he fired off a query of his own.

"Annie? Yeah, we're friends." He conceded, surveying the shorter boy more closely now that it was apparent his initial assumption that anyone in Refuge on a Sunday would be an employee was incorrect. While the other boy clearly recognized him, Graham couldn't for the life of him recall when they'd met. Obviously Annie had been involved somehow, which wasn't surprising as everyone knew Annie. The next inquiry pointed to the park clean up; Graham was sure he hadn't seen his questioner at the park, but there had been quite a number of people there, and once events got derailed he obviously hadn't been paying much attention to who else was around.

"She's...okay." He answered hesitantly, not entirely sure how to explain. Annie was about as well as could be expected for someone who had lost a long-time friend over what should have been trivial matters. "She's been staying busy, taking cupcakes to shelters and soup kitchens." Distracting herself from the pain. He understood, though, he'd have wanted to distract himself had he been in her shoes.

"Losing a friend is tough, but Annie's hard to keep down for long. She'll be okay. And everyone loves her, she has a good support system." Including her fathers, her older sisters, and Iman and David. And Cera, he was going to give his girlfriend credit for being an awesome friend. Not that he was biased at all.

After a moment of further silence he decided to ask the most burning question on his own lips -- "Sorry, I don't remember your name. You're part of the Gould's Environmental Club?"

[Hunter Lodge III]

Losing a friend was tough, something Hunter knew firsthand. It had been a few years now since he and Sidra Cotton had ended their friendship, and it still hurt to think about. If only that stupid bloodsucker would take a moment...

No. Hunter pushed all thoughts of the vampire girl from his mind and returned his focus to Graham. “Umm, n-no. Not in the group.” His hands slid into the pockets of his jeans, palms scratching against the denim as they lowered. He was starting to feel less and less comfortable talking to this boy, and he wondered if perhaps it was a bad decision to respond. Still, he was too invested in Annie's well-being to just walk away.

“I'm just a friend, I guess,” Hunter shrugged, finding no better word for what Annie was to him. The girl he almost attacked? Someone who didn't think he was a complete freak? Hunter didn't really want to try to explain himself to the boy. “I'm glad she's okay. I had a talk with Phil, and he won't bother her again.” This was something Hunter took pride in, and his voice went a long way in expressing this. He was glad he could do something to help out Annie, and knowing that Philip Lim would never cause her any grief was the best he could do.

“I guess, uhh, just let her know I'm looking out for her.” Hunter's feet shuffled against the bookstore's thin carpeting, more signs that his comfort level was decreasing. He didn't like having feelings, let alone informing others of them. “I'm Hunter, by the way.” He extended his hand, glad he had decided not to wear his teeth today. He needed this guy to not be frightened, and hopefully take him seriously.

[Graham Alderman]

Graham accepted that Hunter was merely a friend of Annie's he hadn't met yet -- there were plenty of students who called Annie friend that he didn't know personally; Cera would probably know them all, she was closer to Annie and also more outgoing than he was.

"Oh?" He asked, worried that the rougher looking boy had attempted violence against the other boy. Not that Phil didn't deserve to be ostracized, but Annie wouldn't be pleased if anyone physically harmed someone she cared about, even if that person had rejected her friendship. "Umm....what..." He began nervously, then swallowed his question. "Hunter. It's umm it's nice to meet you, Hunter. I'm Graham, Graham Alderman." He shook the other boy's hand quickly, somewhat anxious at the thought that this Hunter person might be violent.

"Sure, I'll let her know." He promised. He just wouldn't say anything about his suspicions that Hunter may have overstepped his bounds and roughed Phil up, though. "She'd probably like it better if you texted her yourself, though. She wouldn't want you to start avoiding her over this, too." He opined, figuring that Annie was an amicable enough person that she would prefer her friends show support in person rather than using proxies.

[Hunter Lodge III]

This was one of the very rare moments when Hunter actually wished he had a cell phone. He usually stayed away from high tech gadgets and doodads. If there was anything he hated seeing, it was a person walking down the street listening to their iPod or Zune or whatever crap companies came out with. Nine out of ten of those people would be completely oblivious to the world around them, as if only their music existed. They bumped into people, walked into streets without looking, and were generally a menace to the world outside their music induced coma. But still, if Hunter had a cell phone he might actually be able to get Annie's number and text her directly. As it was, he could not.

“I uhh... I don't really have a cell phone,” Hunter admitted, hands still hiding in his pockets. He shrugged, which only made him look more sheepish. He didn't want to admit that he didn't have her number, or that he wasn't even sure if Annie would want him to approach her. He'd scared her once before, he didn't want to do it again.

“Wait,” Hunter paused, confused by Graham's comment. “Why would I start avoiding Annie?” A puzzled look crossed his face as he considered the implications of what Graham had said. Was that specifically directed at Hunter? Had Annie mentioned him to her friends? And if she did, what did she say about him? This whole endeavor was starting to become quite mind-boggling, and Hunter was starting to regret broaching the subject. The only problem was, now he was in too deep, and he had to know what Graham meant.

[Graham Alderman]

"Oh." Graham was mildly surprised by the knowledge that the other boy didn't have a cellphone; they were so ubiquitous it was unusual to meet anyone who didn't have one. There were a few people, however, mostly people whose parents were luddites who didn't understand the usefulness of their children owning a device by which they could get in touch in case of emergency. "Yeah," He sympathized, missing the point that Hunter didn't want a cellphone. "My parents weren't too keen on me and my siblings having, them, either, but we're all over the place with our activities, so they relented eventually."

He wondered if he'd misunderstood the other boy's request, however, when Hunter asked why he would be avoiding Annie. "Well," He explained in evident confusion, "You asked me to talk to her for you. So doesn't that mean you aren't planning on talking to her yourself? She's already lost one friend, I think she'd be upset if everyone else started tiptoeing around her. I guess people think they're giving her room, but I mean, if I lost a friend, I'd want to know everyone else cared, if people started not talking to me I'd worry. So...you know." He finished.

Not that everyone had ignored Annie; those who knew of the fight had been encouraging, for the most part, but he was sure that Annie would appreciate the sentiment more if it came directly the source, even if the source was this awkward, strange, uncivilized boy before him. "She doesn't bite, you know."

[Hunter Lodge III]

Hunter wasn't sure what to tell Graham. The older boy was much closer friends with Annie than Hunter, wouldn't it just be easier for Graham to talk to her? Not to mention Hunter wasn't even sure if the quiet girl wanted to see him anyway. “S'okay, I don't wanna crowd her or anything,” Hunter replied, his mind drifting back to the sight of her buried in the arms of Greg Meyers. She was busy enough.

The hairier boy was taken aback by Graham's last comment. How did he know Hunter had gotten in trouble for biting a kid? And why would he start to taunt Hunter now? Perhaps he had been mocked the whole time, and was just now realizing it. His eyes squinted slightly as he began to scrutinze the older boy. The cell phone dig, the avoidance remarks, and now the bite comment. It all made sense.

“Ha ha ha, you're so funny,” Hunter growled, his anger growing, “I will fuck you up, okay?” He stepped closer to Graham, and though he was tallre by a number of inches it didn't matter to Hunter. He was ready to fight at the drop of a hat. “You're Annie's friend so you're lucky this time. But you talk shit to me like that again and she won't be able to save your face.” Hunter paused, about to say more, but decided against it. Damn, Annie probably wouldn't like this. But he couldn't just let this ass make fun of him right to his face.

Deciding the words were enough, Hunter turned around, slamming the book he held back onto a shelf, not caring that it was out of place or that he probably damaged both it and some other books. If Graham was going to reply, he had scant little time before Hunter was out of the aisle and through the store's glass door.