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Geoff tells Lily she shouldn't be such a pushover; she tells him it's nice to be nice. |
Everyone needs a snack fix sometimes. There's a young waifish-looking woman standing by the slurpie machine, very solemnly contemplating which flavor to get. She furrows her brows at the machine and watches a small child help himself. The process seems to confuse her, but hesitantly the curly-haired woman steps up to the plate and begins to choose blue coconut from the machine, watching the concoction flow into her small cup. She seems a little out of place for the convenience store, with her curls pinned up in a loose bun at the top of her head, wearing a silk blue spaghetti-strapped dress, and brown cowboy boots; but it's not her attire that sets her apart, it's how she carries herself.
Geoff comes in from outside and grabs himself a basket, apparently here on a mission for multiple items. He gets a bag of Doritos, a two-liter of Coke, a six-pack of beer, and a chapstick. This quest takes him more or less through the whole store. He eyes Lily, but says nothing.
After carefully capping her slushie off with one of the domed lids and big red straws inserted, Lily moves away from the slushie machine, blushing as an atypical rude New Yorker clears his throat behind her and says, 'Thanks for bein' so fast, toots, that's a valuable three minutes of my life I can't get back.' The woman blushes at his remark but says nothing in response save for a murmured apology as she darts off to the back of the store, moving nimbly almost into Geoff's direct line of fire. "Sorry, I… Sorry." Thankfully her slushie hand was not outstretched near him, else there could have easily been a nasty blue spill.
Geoff frowns, overhearing that rudeness, and puts out a hand to encourage Lily to slow down. "Hang on there, Audrey," he says, "If you let New Yorkers push you around, they ain't never gonna stop." He certainly doesn't sound like he's from around here, with his Carolina accent. "You foreign or something?"
"S—" The woman stops herself just short of apologizing once more before she smiles at Geoff. "Not exactly. My father was Greek-Italian and my mother was Brazilian, so… in a manner of speaking. I'm just still not at home in New York even after three years." She lets out a quiet laugh. Her voice doesn't have any trace of a detectable accent. "I'm used to people like that. I know he's not upset at himself, anyway. He's probably just overcompensating…" The woman eyes the man's toupee in particular before shooting a knowing glance back to Geoff.
"That's a pretty long time, honey," Geoff says. "I've only been here two months." He laughs, though, at Lily's visual sign. "Well aren't you just the picture of politeness, not even saying anything about it?"
There's a brief nod from Lily before she smiles at Geoff. "It's easy to pick at someone else's shortcomings or insecurities. What's hard is being the bigger man and letting it go." She takes a sip of the blue slushie, and if she's realized that it's subtly turning her mouth as blue as a Smurf's, she doesn't seem to remark or care. "I find it doesn't pay to get angry or upset at every inconsiderate person that you meet. You waste so much energy that way. And most of them only seem to look for confrontation, whereas when you ignore them… well, sometimes that seems to rile them all the more." And clearly this amuses the young woman somewhat, judging from the laugh that she tries to hold in. The slurpie man stares at the two from the register with an odd look, as if he's sensed that he's been the topic of conversation recently.
"You sound like my mother," Geoff tells Lily. "Good job, though, I guess. Bein' the bigger man and all." He puts a donut in his basket, the weight of which does not seem to bother him despite all the liquid in it.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Lily smiles at him and looks at the donut for a moment before she gets one of her one, a longjohn with maple frosting. "I'm Lily. If you ever need a jeweler, I'm your woman. I have a shop called Diamandis Creations downtown… my stuff isn't cheap, but it is more affordable than what most artisans charge these days. I cut people a deal when I can. It was nice to meet you." She doesn't bother to offer a business card, but instead moves up to the register as if she cannot possibly support the weight of her mere donut and slurpie combo any longer.
Geoff smiles. "My mother's not a bad lady," he agrees, but he looks doubtful as she tells him about her expensive jewelry shop. "I don't really make 'artisanal jewelry money,'" he says, "But nice to meet you. You go ahead," he says, gesturing to the register and getting in line behind her.
Lily smiles back at Geoff as she pays for her purchases, taking her money from a side pocket that's housed on the side of her dress. It looks handmade. "Like I said, I'll cut someone a deal. And I'm willing to accept trades of services too. I think it's a good thought to keep going." She wiggles her fingers in a small wave at Geoff as she heads out the door and starts to walk down the street, taking a dainty bite of her longjohn.
"I don't wear a lot of— Well, okay, bye," Geoff says as Lily promptly makes her exit, lifting a hand before he puts his purchases on the counter. "And a carton of Marlboros," he requests.
