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Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
The laughter was joined. ”Guess so. it’s a great way to test your patience, I’ll tell you that.” It was also nice to be able to really test themselves. Like Emmett said: it was some kind of skill. Usually if the client liked it- or despised it -they’d make it known pretty quick.
She chuckled along to Emmett’s answer until the question came. Then the noise simmered down into a groan. The short answer was yes. And judging from the grimace Deb suddenly wore, the example immediately sprung to mind. ”Ugh, yes. Yes I have.” She grumbled. She drank some of the hot chocolate before answering, as if that would get rid of the sour taste that just came to her.
”Girl came in with these amazing curls. Lovely long ones. She wanted to cut them all off. Go with some tiny pixie cut she’d seen that she wanted to try. Only she had, you know, really curly hair naturally. I tried to warn her it wasn’t going to be as easy as cutting off her hair and boom- perfection 24/7. She didn’t want to listen.” Deb scowled with a huff. ”Felt like I was cutting off my own arm with each snip I made. It looked good when she left, but she had a lot of work cut out for her maintaining that. Basically turned her hair into a fuzzy afro. Last I saw she’d grown it back long again anyways.”
Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
Stories that started with couples tended to be amusing. So Emmett definitely had the bright haired girl’s attention. once she was done, Deb immediately laughed. ”That’s one way expensive way to learn a lesson.” She snickered, shaking her head. ”You’d think someone who came in for help on their car would actually listen when they got it, right?”
It was ridiculous, but Deb had encountered her fair share of wild customers. ”I’ve had some customers come in like that, but I think the craziest I’ve ever seen is around prom. You wouldn’t believe how particular people are. They want everything just so and as soon as possible.” She laughed recalling it. ”Our salon turns into a chaotic hole when that comes around. Funny enough though. I actually enjoy it. It’s a nice little challenge, so long as you don’t mind the sheer panic of some of the customers.” Prom had never really been that big of a deal to Deb, but she could understand wanting to look good for it. "They usually come back though. Did your guy? Or was his embarrassment enough to scare him off?" Another smirk quirked her mouth upwards.
Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
Deb could understand that easily enough. She nodded her head, careful as she took a sip, before raising her mug in something of a salute towards the other girl. ”Here’s to having found pretty much everything we need. Somehow.” She said with another crooked smirk. Thinking on it, she really was lucky. They both were from the sounds of it.
Whether or not the gesture was returned, Deb went back to drinking more of her hot chocolate. She loved the stuff, maybe too much. But as she drank, another question came to the forefront. With it came a grin.
”So you’ve told me about the craziest things you’ve done, but I’m sure you’ve met plenty of people coming into your garage. I’ve got to ask,” Her head tilted to the side slightly. ”What’s the craziest customer you’ve ever had? Besides me.” She threw in jokingly.
Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
To be honest she didn’t need to think that long on her answer. The smirk turned into a warm smile. ”I do, actually. Love it here too. Even minus everything else, I’ve already got a steady job assured and an awesome landlord. Doubt I’ll find anything as good right off the bat anywhere else. Plus, if I’m being honest, I’m probably too lazy to move again even if I wanted to.” The last part was a complete joke, but the rest had been sincere. Deb was content here. Unless that abruptly changed, she’d probably stay.
”What about you? That cozy garage going to be your home for a while?” There certainly wouldn’t be any complaints from the bright haired girl if that meant she might get to meet the mechanic fun enough- or just crazy enough -to let Deb take the wheel a few more times.
Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
Ah. Hometown it was. Sort of. Regardless Deb gave the mechanic her attention while more of the hot drink in her hands disappeared past her lips. She could understand wanting to settle down around here. It was pretty peaceful. ”I’d have to say I agree with him.” She wore a smirk followed by a shrug. ”Though I might be a little biased now.”
As for her? ”Originally, yeah.” She admitted freely. ”Had to come here for Bellefonte once we found out I was a discount superhero. But I didn’t hate it there or here, so I decided to stick around and get my degree through it.” Deb never had an issue revealing she was a mutant. She’d been fortunate enough that she hadn’t run into many that really disliked them, and the few that she did usually were easy to just ignore and avoid. ”Then I got my job and my apartment and figured, hey, why not stay? They’ve got good roads, nice scenery, the people usually aren’t assholes, and I mean the mechanic in town ain’t half bad.” She grinned as she said it. ”Though that was a later discovery. But yeah. Guess I’m here for a few more reasons now.” Maybe even permanently. She’d have to see.
Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
A laugh escaped her almost immediately at that response. ”It’s one thing to seek out a thrill,” Deb returned with a grin. Of all people, she should know something about thrill seeking. ”And another thing to just not think about asking for something nicely.” She teased with a wink, taking a sip. Only to then pause. Her head tilted to the side in consideration.
”Although I don’t think I’d want to chance doing something here. Fun as that might be. I actually like this place.” God forbid she get kicked out even over a pretty face. Her stomach would never forgive her.
Now that the whipped cream was all gone, Deb was content to just sip at the rest of her hot chocolate. A wonderful warmth settled into her stomach as she drank. She hummed in satisfaction before returning her attention to Emmett. ”So I’ve got to ask: why’d you set up shop here in good old Oregon? Hometown? Map marker roulette? Saw a garage and thought ‘you know what, I’ll take it?’” A hint of a lopsided smile played along her mouth as she finished speaking. Sure it was playfully asked, but she was genuinely curious.
Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
Though her hands had gone still, it was all too evident that she was going to try again. Deb could recognize that sort of expression far too easily. It was one she often wore herself.
She couldn’t help but be a little satisfied in the answer she received. They’d both given as good as they got. Deb was certain she’d discover her own marks once she got home and actually took the time to look.
However that thought stalled as the hand once again reached out to steal what was left of her whipped cream. By this point hardly any remained- Deb was actually able to drink the hot chocolate underneath. But she wasn’t about to give up the remains so easily. Emmett had been warned.
The hand managed to scoop up some of the cream before the cup dropped lower. In a quick movement, her teeth had trapped the thieving digit. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough so it wouldn’t be easy to escape. The stolen whipped cream was swiftly licked off the finger that had taken it. Only then did Deb let go and lean back in her seat. A somewhat smug look soon followed as she sipped away the rest of the cream. Though her eyes didn’t leave Emmett. ”I warned you.”
Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
She openly joined in the laughter. ”Oh sure. I challenge the ocean waves all the time.” She teased with a lopsided smirk before her attention was grabbed by the drinks.
Deb worked on the whipped cream while Emmett ordered first. Though her stomach was demanding a more protein-filled meal instead. So when it came her turn, she ordered. ”I’ll have a ham and cheddar cheese omelet with home fries too. And extra ham in the omelet if you can.” She found it never hurt to try.
The waiter was just finishing up the order and moving away when blue-grey eyes turned back towards her. Or, more importantly, the stray hand reaching forward to steal some of the whipped cream off her drink. An eyebrow arched upwards immediately as Emmett sampled the lovely fluff. When she was this hungry, there were only a few who’d dare to chance a steal like that and think they’d get away with it. Deb could count the number on one hand.
Yet she found the corners of her lips twitching upwards regardless. Looks like the number just might have grown. For now at least.
”Usually my sister’s the only one who’d dare doing something like that.” Deb chuckled, going back to her drink for a moment to appreciate what was left of the quickly disappearing cream. Then blue-grey eyes glanced over the rim towards the thief with the beginnings of a wicked smirk. ”I do bite, you know.”
Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
She at least had the grace to grimace a little when she realized how that might sound. And answering her little question would only make it worse. For once Deb wisely kept her mouth shut and moved on.
Luckily that seemed easy enough. While Deb continued with her absent-minded swirling on the canvas, blue-grey eyes glanced over towards the sketchbook. What scenes were within were actually fairly pretty. Nice sketches of the older parts of town. That or images of the natural wildlife that Deb herself was drawing -albeit a lot less abstract.
She took her time to look. Again, they really were pretty. ”Well I’m always a sucker for nature, so I’d have to say those are probably my favorite. Though the other ones are really good too.” She admitted with a shrug. ”Tell you what: how’s about you tell me what your favorites are and we go from there? Especially since you were the one that remembered we had to work together on this.” It was as much of a repayment as Deb felt she could give at a moment like this. That, and working well on the project so they both would get good grades from this.
Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
The laughter didn't bother her. After all, she'd already admitted the decision had been downright foolish. One with a happy ending at least.
Now it was her turn to listen. As Emmett took her time thinking up her tale, Deb patiently waited. When it did actually start, blue eyes went wide. Getting swept out into the ocean was pretty damn scary actually. Riptide didn't really care who you were- it took you out all the same. But she'd survived, hadn't she? Barely by the sounds of it. Still made for a good story though.
"Look I can appreciate the dedication to the search, but hasn't anyone told you mermaids aren't real?" She teased even as she laughed. Though blue eyes were quick to spot the approach of their waiter, drinks in tow. Eager hands snatched the hot cup topped with a miniature mountain of whipped cream. "That's crazy though. Here's to surviving our bad decisions so far." The mug was raised in Emmett's direction before Deb sampled some of the whipped cream. Drinking wasn't really an option until she got through most of it. "You ready to order though? Because she sure was.
Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
She had a feeling that question was going to come up. "Nah. Came close though: got third place. Not the gold, but pretty good considering most of us had no idea what we were doing. Bet I'd actually win now that I'm not completely green behind the wheel." She probably would do it again, that was the thing. It would be a pain to get all of them together again though. Ah well.
Blue-grey eyes narrowed accusingly at the blonde, but Deb didn't actually look offended. After a moment, a smirk cracked the non-heated glare. "Oh alright. Now let's see..." Out of the car shenanigans, huh? Her expression turned contemplative as she shifted through memories. There was plenty more of these, ranging from typical pranks to stuff she wouldn't want on her permanent record. However, her mind finally fixated on one.
"Oh I know. So a bit of backstory: my sister and I go on these long road trips during the summer. Experience the grand ol' American countryside without a destination in mind. Really fun. Anyways, this one trip we were making our way down from Illinois towards Florida and were playing some road roulette in Alabama. Ended up in some small little town and had to stop for gas and some snacks. Well my sister ended up chatting with this one guy inside and they hit it off. So when she came back she brought him along and introduced us. His name was Randy- I still remember -and once he'd found out we were new to the area, he offered to show us around." Caught up in remembrance, Deb laughed.
"It was pretty stupid. Hell more than that: we were two random chicks far away from home and some stranger offered to give us a tour. We took him up on it though. Alex had a good feeling about it and I wasn't getting any bad vibes from him either. Turned out to be our best idea yet. Guy was a local to the area and, get this, part of a biker gang. Had the special jacket and everything. So clearly we'd fallen in with the right crowd. Anyways, he showed us tons of little gems he and his friends frequented. Dive bars, restaurants, stores: you name it. We even went to some little bowling alley at some point. Those guys could really play, surprisingly. My sis and I ended up staying a few extra days in the state just to hang out with our new friends. Even got to go to a small concert with them for a few local bands. It was a blast, but Dumb. As. Shit. on our part. We were lucky we didn't end up on the front of a newspaper. Worth it, though."
She took a few seconds to relive the memories before sighing and looking back to Emmett. The smirk returned. "Now spill."
Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
The falter to what was becoming a fairly familiar grin caught blue-grey eyes. Looks like she wasn't keen on icebreakers either. Little uncomfortable attempts to learn more about someone else. From Deb's experience they rarely ever worked. Or yielded the actually interesting information like what was being described right now.
Her eyes went wide as her mind mapped out what the story must have looked like. Once the image played out she couldn't help but laugh. "Damn. I would've paid to watch something like that! Though somehow I'm not so surprised." The grin had quickly returned before she rested her elbows on the table. Head in her hands, Deb went back through her memory of bad decisions. It was a pretty long list. "Car craziness huh? Hmmm..." A finger tapped in time to her lips before halting abruptly. "Oh! I was in a street race once." Now there was a memory.
"Wasn't a huge one, but the other kids from my old high school got together one faithful weekend night. Lots of us had just gotten our license. I was one of them." A nostalgic chuckle left her as she shook her head. "We figured 'hey, what better way to use them than to do something just stupid enough they might get taken away?' We were all idiots, but damn if it wasn't fun. Course, we had to get the hell out of there afterwards. Wasn't exactly the most legal of activities, but I mean no one got hurt so..." She shrugged but there was a wicked grin on her face.
"Couldn't have been that bad, right? 'Sides, I learned just how much I liked riding dirty. And learning's a good thing, right?" With a laugh she shook her head again and leaned back in the booth. Her gaze was back on the mechanic. "So how bad've you been out of your car?"
Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
"Well tell your heart goodbye, because the coffee's good too." She responded with a laugh. It really was a lovely little place. If you were a person who really loved breakfast food, that is. Fortunately Deb fell into that category. She'd try just about any dish once.
With that she placed her menu aside, already familiar with it. Blue-grey eyes were much more interested in observing the woman across the table. Things yesterday had escalated quickly. Very quickly. While Deb wasn't at all bothered by how things had turned out, it had still been the fastest she'd ever gotten along with someone. Which could be thrilling in its own right. However, it meant there were plenty of holes.
Mainly who exactly this gorgeous mechanic across from her really was.
But she held her tongue until the waiter had come back for their drinks, ordering her typical hot chocolate with far too much whipped cream before turning her attention back to Emmett. "So I'm guessing this is the part where we try some awkward icebreakers to actually learn something about each other past the fact that we both fell in love with cars and know how to drive them dirty." She said it with a dry sort of tone, though the corner of her lips tugged upwards into a smirk. "But~" The word was playfully drawn out as she similarly rested her forearms on the table, smirk stretching wider. "Considering I always hated those I'd much rather skip past that and get down to the juicy stuff. Because someone who doesn't immediately jump out of the car when I'm trying my downhill stunt is definitely my type of fun. So I've got to ask: what's the craziest thing you've ever tried?" Other than trusting the bright haired girl behind the wheel, of course. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."
Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
An hour or half. She could work with that. "Let's not waste any time then, huh?" With that she started off again, gesturing for Chandler to follow with a smile. It was a departure from the tour she'd promised, but this was proving to be a far more entertaining situation than continuing to show the girl around.
As she started making a beeline for their new destination, she called back over her shoulder. "You got a shirt or a jacket you aren't particularly worried about messing up? You know, clothes for when you're just bumming it." Because for the particular exercise she had planned, they definitely weren't going to want to use a good article of clothing. "Otherwise I'm pretty sure I could find us something." After all what were friends for? That or the blank canvases in the art classrooms. "You ever tie-dye anything before?" She chanced to ask while they got closer and closer to the dorm section of the school.
Have I gone mad? I'm afraid so, but let me tell you something: The best people usually are.
Emmett was pretty good at making Deb laugh in return. Though it was followed by a somewhat playfully intentional, and certainly obvious, once-over that left her grinning all over again. ”Careful, or I just might be tempted to try doing that again. And, well, I think you've seen how that goes.” Or felt, rather. Fortunately her stomach was there to remind her of her current priorities. "Food first though." It would allow no less.
Once they parked, Deb took the keys and put them in her pocket. Since she had already said she was going to pay she retrieved her wallet from the glove box. Then it was off towards the waffle house. It was a quaint little place, and fortunately didn't seem quite so busy at the moment. And oh the smells. Her footsteps instinctively quickened to bring her inside faster, flashing Emmett a thankful smile and joking bump with her hip as she passed through the held-open door.
The bright haired girl was a familiar sight to the employees there. Once she was spotted by one of the passing waiters, they changed course towards the two. "Table for two please! A booth if you've got one." With a nod, the waiter turned right back around and led them off towards one of the booths. Deb was all too happy to slide into one side, gratefully taking one of the menus offered to them both- though honestly she didn't need it.
"The waffles here are, of course, amazing." She said once their waiter had walked off. "Though the omelettes are nothing to scoff at either. You can build your own if you don't like any of the ones on the menu. Oh: get the home fries for the side. They are the most delicious little things you'll ever try. Seriously." Deb said, glancing up towards Emmett with a wide grin. "Incredibly loaded with calories but-" She shrugged her shoulders before a familiar light came to her eyes. "I think we earned it."
