Untitled

[lisbethhjerpe-blog]

instantlyfamousrunaway:

Ray hadn’t ever thought of college as even a possibility for himself. Of course, Lisbeth didn’t need to know that, and he kept such comments to himself. He hadn’t needed to, but he could’ve gone for something as trivial as a business degree. Running the mafia and underground trading system was different than whatever could be taught in a university, “Maybe, but if I ever get the chance to, maybe I will. I hear it’s a whole lot of fun,” he gave a half smile, looking at the food when it was placed in front of them. He picked up a few fries, not noticing until Oakley basically jumped up to place her paws on Lisbeth’s lap and take the fry whole. “Oakley,” he sighed, giving the dog a look and a light tug on her leash to put her front paws back onto the floor.

Lisbeth shrugged her shoulders and hoped her curt little answer hadn’t made Ray feel like she was insinuating he ought to go. If she had noticed one thing about Americans lately it was that plenty of them seemed a bit pretentious about college educations. Her parents had picked up on that particular Americanism as well. But they paid her tuition, and part of the exchange was that they selected a narrow field of majors she could select. Compromise wasn’t an option, though she had decided that not informing them she’d picked up a music minor shouldn’t count as a lie of omission. She was an overachiever. “It’s fun if you go for yourself,” she responded, knowing she had to give some sort of feedback to keep the conversation going. “Some classes I hate. Some classes are classes that get me out of bed. Half and half, right down middle.” She shrugged her shoulder. “So is life, you get good and you get bad.” 

When she felt Oakley’s paws slip off her lap she looked at the dog and shrugged. Lisbeth leaned down slightly and muttered something in Swedish that sounded like an apology. She’d gave it her best, but the dog hadn’t been sneaky enough. She’d try to “drop” a few fries on the ground by the end of the meal to make up for Oakley’s lack of stealth. 

[lisbethhjerpe-blog]

instantlyfamousrunaway

Ray didn’t want to talk about himself, finding getting his questions dodged and barely picked apart at by Lisbeth much more appealing then talking about why he had done the things he had. Like ending up in Colorado. He loved it here, really, and would’ve preferred to live out his life as a mountain guy up in Vail, but now he was stuck in the city by the college, hoping this was the last place his brother would look for him. “I can’t,” he said flatly, trying not to come across as rude. “I just can’t. I don’t have any money for it, and taking care of my apartment and Oakley and working…that’s all I can really afford right now,” he smiled a little at her to show there weren’t any hard feelings, however the lie felt as right as everything else Ray had done in his life. Even if he hadn’t gone by his actual name in months, this wasn’t that bad.

Lisbeth thought about arguing that he could go to college if he was willing to go into some pretty serious debt or put in the elbow grease required to scrounge up grant and scholarship money. But that would be a lot of talking, and she really didn’t feel like it. She remembered similar sit downs with her parents explaining how little she wanted to go to college herself. She wanted to invest all of her time and energy into her music, which her parents insisted was a foolish decision and one they refused to support her on. Instead of lecturing or trying to tell him he was wrong in assuming college wasn’t an option for him she simply shrugged. “Sometime it is better not to go,” she finally said, pulling a few french fries off the tray that had just been delivered in front of them. She bit off of one and then side eyed the rest of it between her fingers as if it were the offending party. “No one can make you put off what you want to do because it is the safe thing. Better to go when you have enough control to do what you want with the education.” 

She slipped one of her fries into the hand she was letting rest in her lap, trying to be sneaky as she held it under the table for Oakley to lick the salt off of.  

[instantlyfamousrunaway-blog]

With Oakley comfortably by his side, Ray held open the door for Lisbeth, raising an eyebrow as she walked by and into the place. He nudged the dog in as well, glad he’d come here enough to where they’d allow Oakley in from time to time. He smiled a little at Lisbeth, “She doesn’t bite much, which is funny, considering how most dogs like to play like that.” He found it easier to talk about the dog than himself, as well as any other conversation with the woman. He wasn’t really sure if he was desperate for a friend or not, and it was hard to tell with how little of an effort he’d received in return. “She’s only torn up one of my shirts. Can’t remember why, but she did.” He followed Lisbeth to a table, sitting down, “A little,” he admitted, biting his bottom lip in thought, “I mean, I would’ve liked to go to school, but right now it’s just the perfect place to hold a job.”

[lisbethhjerpe-blog]

Lisbeth uttered something in a low tone to Ray as he opened the door, a quiet “thanks” that was just barely audible. She felt a little self conscious when she realized how careful she was being in line not to step on the dog’s paws. She didn’t know if that some something other people worried about or if she just looked odd. “Too grown up,” she decided, rubbing the velvety fur of the dog’s snout.  She peered back across the table at the boy across from her as she sat back up from giving Oakley a little more attention waiting for their food. “She probably had good reason,” Lisbeth said with a shrug. She considered making a joke that she might put kibble in any shirts of Ray’s she found ugly, but that would assume access to his home and closet, and she didn’t want to make things awkward in that way. Her eyes narrowed slightly as he bit his bottom lip, but she wouldn’t admit it later on. “My parents wanted me to live at home,” she told him, trying very hard to relate to him and keep up the conversation she had started herself. “I like it here better. I don’t like the dorms, but I like it here better.” She paused for a moment deciding whether or not to push him a little further in his answer and decided ultimately to take the leap. “Why don’t you go to school? You can still work bar and take classes during the day. Only time for homework or sleep, but I think that’s supposed to be part of the experience. Pass classes or go to hospital trying.”