Log: Laurie and Julio

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Set midday on Sunday.

Laurie finds Julio studying in the library and decides to keep him company.



Laurie sat down across from Julio with a huff of breath, placing her English homework in front of her. She was meant to be doing a book report but she'd only just managed to finish the book. She couldn't believe anyone still read this stuff to be honest. Still, it was schoolwork and it needed to be done, no matter how boring she found the actual topic.

"Have you done the book report yet?" she asked, smiling.

Normally, if this had been a public library, or even a library in another school, she'd have kept her voice to a whisper. However, this being Xavier's, she knew she'd be okay as long as she wasn't shouting. Besides, she'd since learnt that whispers carried far more then a simply lowered voice did, and thus had changed her habits to accommodate this new knowledge.

"Mmm," Julio grunted, tapping his pen against the book in front of him without looking up. His hair was obscuring his face, and for some reason he decided to not look up at Laurie.

Laurie's eyebrows raised slightly as she noticed the wordless comment, and somewhat crouched set of Julio's shoulders. She wondered what was bugging him, and if she should ask, sometimes people got a little annoyed at you if you just blurted out every question you could think of all at once.

"You alright? You need any help? I could help." Laurie said, trying to see his eyes through the mask of hair. "Well, as long as it's not English homework. If it's English then you'd be better getting a crack adled monkey to help then me."

Julio snorted. "I am better at English than you are," he said, still not looking up at Laurie. "And yet, how many languages do I speak? I rest my case." From the set of his body language it was clear he was trying to hide something.

Laurie poked her tongue out at him, such a mature young lady that she was, but then realised he wouldn't be able to see it and reached forward to push his hair out of his face with a triumphant expression as she poked her tongue out again only to have it stick there in surprise.

The boy jerked back sharply, scattering his papers in an attempt to escape attention, only to realize he'd been caught. With the greatest of dignity, he smoothed his hair back, reshuffled his papers, and pushed his new glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Laurie drew her tongue back into her mouth with an attempt at dignity, and then quietly straightened the books in front of her for a moment while she tried to contain the grin that was trying to have its way with the muscles of her mouth. Julio would never forgive her if she laughed at him, and yet the fact that he seemed so embarrassed about wearing glasses was so damn...cute, she almost couldn't help it.

"So, new glasses then?" she asked finally, having gotten herself under control.

"Yes," Julio said shortly. They were black and square-framed, and actually quite fashionable, as he had been assured when he picked them out. The first eye exam he'd received in the summer had worried the doctors, and they'd had him take a second one 6 months later. Confirming that he needed glasses. He also had contact lenses, but the thought of putting something on his eyeballs made him squeamish, so he would make do with the glasses. For now any way. "Do you have a problem?" he said after a moment

"Noooo." Laurie replied, drawing out the word as she studied Julio's new 'look' as it were. It wasn't bad, although the glasses would take a little getting used to. He actually looked quite distinguished, she thought. It would be terrible for her to tease him now, when he was obviously extremely self-conscious about the entire thing. She should resist, she really, really should. "Have you had them for long?"

"All of three days," he said, head ducking down and returning to his English homework and pointedly ignoring Laurie. He knew he was going to get all manner of shit for them, and Laurie was proving that theory right.

"Hey." Laurie said, frowning before she leaned forward again, pressing her hand against his shoulder to get him to sit back up. "They look good, silly. Definitely...you know, sexy." She said this with a small flush, because she didn't often tell men they looked sexy, even when she thought they did because it just wasn't something she did. Still, she'd always thought Julio was good looking, and the glasses didn't do anything to take away from that.

At that, Julio raised an eyebrow at Laurie, but said nothing. He literally didn't know how to respond to that one, so he decided to say nothing.

Silence stretched for a moment as Laurie dropped her hand from his shoulder and blushed even hotter if that were possible. "Sorry, didn't mean to...Um, that is. So! Did you see the 'Help wanted' sign in that coffee shop in town? I've been thinking about applying."

General mundanities, that was the ticket, you could never go past them for getting you out of awkward situations.

Julio was torn. He honestly didn't know what it was with girls, he couldn't fathom them at all. He rolled his eyes. "Are you thinking of applying?"

"Didn't I just say that, doofus?" Laurie said, grin returning now they were back on safer ground. "Although, I'm not sure what sort of coffee making person I'd make. I'm not really a fan of coffee."

"Then why are you trying out to be one? If you do not like what you are doing, then you should not be doing it," Julio said, returning to his books. The comment had him on edge for some reason. Laurie was nice. Laurie was on safe ground. Laurie did not confuse the ever-loving hell out of him. Until today that is.

"I need the money, and sometimes when you're young, you don't really get to choose who's going to give you a job." Laurie explained, shrugging slightly. "Thus, coffee shop work, or whatever other dull as dishwater job they let teenagers do in town."

It wasn't entirely true that she 'needed' the money, she could always ask her mother or father if she'd been truly desperate. She wasn't yet sure her Dad would give her money, of course, but she knew as long as she had a good enough argument to present her mother was fairly good at that. But she wanted her own money, money she didn't have to explain things to get.

"That is not a very good attitude to have," Julio said. "You should do something because you want it, otherwise you will hate it."

"Of course I'll hate it, although, you never know."Laurie said, playing with the pen she'd placed on the table near her homework. "Work, unless you're really, really lucky is never about loving what you do. It's always about how much money you can make, and what you can do to get a better job, so perhaps, just perhaps you'll like the next job. Besides, it's not like I'm going to be doing it all my life. I want to be a doctor, but that's a lot of study and years away, so I need something that pays in the meantime."

"See, that is a very strange attitude to me. Work, for my father, for my grandfather, for my family, was always about doing what we had to do to survive, yes. But we also supported the ones that we loved by doing it. My grandfather is a house painter, and he loves doing it. It never seemed to matter that he did not make very much money or was it respectable, he kept his family fed, and he did good work. I think, when I am to find a job, I will only work for something that gives me the same sense. Going to something that I hate every day, it is just not worth it. There are many jobs out there that will be better for me."

Of course, not like Julio really needed money. But while his father insisted he not work until he was out of college, Julio's morals were starting to kick in about being supported fully by a man who sold weapons for a living.

"I suppose it's a case of 'what can I do within this geographical area'. Till I get my license, I have to walk to work, and I really don't want to give up any of the other things I love doing just so I can earn some money. Although, there was that florist job I saw recently as well. I just don't really have much experience with working in a florist is all." Laurie said, tapping her pen absently on the desk as she mused possible job options. She would be happier working with plants, rather then dealing with non-caffeinated unhappy people all day.

"So? People have to get experience from somewhere, do they not? You will never know unless you give it a try," Julio said, flipping through his book to find the passage that he wanted. "You owe it to yourself to do things that make you happy, si?"

"Yeah." Laure said, the ghost of a smile twitching her lips upwards as she made up her mind to apply for the florist job. After all, plants and flowers, what could she possibly do to make something go wrong with that? "So, Mr knower of all things, want to make a bet as to which teacher is going to hold a pop quiz this week?"