from dust;

• Connor Isaiah McKinley • 24 • Traveler • Virginia Native • "Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving."

[connor-x]

gracerivers:

The dog approached her and she smiled, reaching her free hand down to pet her. The second Orion breaks free to jump at her food she holds it a little bit higher, laughing. She didn’t spend much time around animals, or anyone really. It was mostly just her and her boyfriend. They spent almost every second of every day together. Grace was bored of it, bored of getting yelled at and pushed around, bored of only seeing him. She wanted other friends, she wanted to do other things but she was stuck and she would be stuck for as long as he continued to want her there. Which, from the looks of it, was going to be forever.

So she cherished things like this, interactions with customers and talking to anyone else. It was almost like an escape. “That’s alright.” Grace smiled, watching the dog begin to eat his food. “He’s adorable.” She said, continuing to look at the dog. She found herself smiling, it felt odd. “Oh–no problem, just doing my job.” She told him with a shrug. When he complimented her name she found herself blushing, not used to receiving compliments from anyone. “Thank you, what’s yours?” She asked, looking up at him, not wanting to go back inside.

Connor smiles when she comments about his dog being adorable. “He maybe getting up there in age but he’ll always be my little pup.” His smiles grows a little, leaning against his car. “You’re welcome. Mines Connor.” He states lowly. “Connor  McKinley.” He shakes his head a little. Unsure as to why he just gave her his last name. “Not that you asked for my last name....that is...” He wrinkles his nose, rubbing at the back of his neck for a minute.

 “So, are you originally from here? Because I could totally use a local to show me around. I mean if you want to that is. If not I could totally do it myself?” God he felt like he was rambling and making an utter fool outta himself.

[connor-x]

gracerivers:

Grace watched him while he spoke, he seemed actually interested in talking to her and that was a first. She was used to people ignoring her, not caring about what she had to say. She was timid and quiet and honestly just afraid of being yelled at. So she didn’t speak much. She kept to herself and tried to keep her mouth shut. If she talked too much, especially around her boyfriend, she would always be in for an earful. There were days that she could handle it, that she could listen to them yell at her, and she could take it. Today was not one of those days. Today was the type of day where she just felt broken and completely beaten down. “Alright, well those should be right out for you.” Grace nodded, turning around to the computer to type in their order. When he said they would be waiting outside she nodded her head and got back to her work, waiting for the burgers to be done. 

“Order up!” One of the cooks from the back yelled, signalling to Grace that her food was ready. She packed the two burgers into a box and looked out the front windows to the diner. It was a slow morning, and no one would miss her if she just…stepped out for a second. He wouldn’t hear her calling for him if he was outside. She slipped out of the diner and walked over to where he was parked, “Excuse me.” She said politely, holding his food into the air. 

When Connor opened the car door his big was quick to dart out of it and sniff heavily at Grace. “Orion stop. Relax buddy.” He chuckles a little as he reaches for the dogs collar but he wiggles free from him and jumps up towards Grace, mainly the boxes of food she had. “Orion!” He snaps at the dog before being able to finally wrangle  him in and get him back in the car. Thankfully she didn’t drop the food or else  Connor would have to buy another meal because the dog wouldn’t have saved anymore him. 

“I’m sorry about him. He gets a little out of hand when it comes to food.” He takes the boxes from her, opening one of them and setting it in the car for the dog. He knows that Orion would make a mess with all of it but he’d deal with that later. He sits his food on top of the car before looking over at her. “Thanks for all this,” He leans forward to look at her name tag. “Grace.” He adds with a smile. “I really like your name by the way.”

[connor-x]

gracerivers:

It had been a long day. She had spent the morning with her boyfriend, and he had spent the morning yelling at her. After that she headed directly into working, feeling more sluggish than usual. She didn’t know what to do with herself when she felt this way, so beaten down and broken. As soon as she got to work her boss had an earful for her, yelling at her like everyone else in her life, it was starting to seem like she couldn’t catch a break. 

Her shift had been fairly boring before someone started talking to her. She looked behind her just to make sure he wasn’t talking to anyone else. “Oh, hi.” Grace murmured, her words were rather silent as she was used to people talking over her. “Um, the burgers are pretty good.” She offered with a shrug of her shoulders, it had been a really long time since anyone had asked her opinion. “But you can have a menu if you’d like.” 

Connor listens to her speak, nodding slightly at her words. He shakes his head a little when she says something about a menu. “That wont be necessary. You said the burgers were good so I’ll go with that. One medium-rare and one well done. With like the largest order of fries.” He digs into his back pocket pulling out two twenties and setting them on the counter. “I think this will cover them. Oh and before i forget, can I just get some water with that?” He glances behind him to make sure that Orion was okay in the car.

“If you don’t mind I’m going to wait for them outside...” He pauses for a second, looking at her name tag. “Grace.” He smiles. “Love your name by the way.” He adds before stepping outside to be with his dog. “Hey bud, I just ordered our food. It’s gonna be a little bit so I’m gonna need some more patients from you.“ He chuckles lowly, patting at the dogs head before letting him out of the car to take care of his business.

[connor-x]

Being out on the open road was something Connor loved more than anything else. Well other than his dog, Orion. He never went anywhere with out him. He felt like his dog was the only one who understood him. “Hey, buddy..” He smiles as he pat his dog on it’s head. “I’m gonna need you to stay here for a few minutes, okay? I’m gonna grab us some food.” He smiles again before giving the dog another pat before exiting the car.

He steps into the restaurant, walking over to the counter. “Hey there.” He smiles at the girl behind the counter. “I’m new in town, basically just stopping through really,” He wrinkles his nose with another smile. “And I was wondering what’s good here? I’m going to need two of them. Or at least something big enough to feed me and my dog. We’re both pretty hungry.”

[willbvcrs]

*screams* i want a plot where a guy goes on a roadtrip just wandering around the state trying to find meaning of life with his big ass doggo and one day he comes to diner where this shy young woman works and like her boss is always yelling at her and she has abusive boyfriend and her father used to be abusive as well and this guy he is the first man who ever treated her nicely and he just asks her completely out of the blue if she doesn’t want to leave with him and she’s like “why not?” so she takes all of her things and leaves with him. pleaseee!