Tired

[intriguess]

Mackie was very tired, tired of working, tired of life, tired of being dumped, tired of being alone. She plastered on a smile as she tried to enjoy lunch with a few friends from work. They began talking about the men in their lives which only reminded her of how she'd found her boyfriend in bed with two women. She had felt stupid and used for a while, hell they'd been together for a long time and living together had been a big step for her. She had quickly found a new place to live and had quietly moved on. Her friends had no clue, they just figured it was another break up.

They had not pried, and she wasn't the type to share the grusome details. It was probably why they were still friends, despite being friends for about a year Mackie was still a fairly private person. So she listened to them ramble on about the lousy lazy husband, or the bum of a boyfriend, or the horrors of dating. It all led to the same conversation, what the ideal man would be like.

Suddenly she noticed they had fallen silent and were looking at her, she'd been sipping her cocoa and dreaming up the perfect guy only half listening.

Then one repeated the question, "So Mackie tell us what your ideal guy would be like."

Mackie shoke her head and after a little prodding finally gave in, as she shared so little about herself and this was fairly harmless. "Nice looking, clean, sense of humor, good with his hands, romantic, not one of these everything is about sex guys."

They all laughed and one of them glanced over to see a table of business men. "So what do you think the chances are that one of them is anywhere near a perfect guy for any of us?" Dessert followed as they continued sizing up the men across the room.

 

[DrStein]

OOC: I hope this is okay.

IC:

Rex prayed to whatever deity might be listening to be merciful and strike him dead right there before he proved it was medically possible to die of embarassment.

"Waiter!" To say that Mister Jameson was a weird one was kind. The simple fact was that the man was an asshole, a spoiled brat of a man-child. He irritably bellowed for a waiter again and tried to flag one down.

"Um, sir?" Rex tentatively chimed in. "People are staring."

"Not my problem, O'Reilly," Mister Jameson huffed.

"Uh, it's O'Crowley sir. Rex O'Crowley." This was the third time he had to correct this blowhard. Jameson had just told Rex to settle in in his office when he suddenly paused and declared he wanted to take a lunch break. He then grabbed up Rex's portfolio and ordered him to follow as he strode out the door, downstairs, and into the restaurant across the street.

It was bad enough that Rex had to get dressed up. Polo shirt, slacks, and dress shoes with his blonde hair in a tight ponytail. So uncomfortable as opposed to his walking shoes, jeans, and T-shirts that made up most of his wardrobe. Now this pompous windbag was making a spectacle out of both of them in public.

The waiter eyed them both critically and Rex just rolled his eyes. While Jameson ordered a full meal, Rex just ordered a glass of water. He was flat broke and he didn't trust this suit wearing swine to pick up both ends of the check.

"Now sir, about my comics," Rex insisted.

"Right, right, right," Jameson replied imaptiently and opened the portfolio. He flipped through them one-by-one, saying the same thing about each of them. "I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't get it."

Rex restrained his hand as he felt it inching toward the salad fork. "Sir, please, you're not really meant to speed through those."

"Don't tell me how to do my job, son," Jameson snapped back. "If I don't get your comics, we can't use them. Nobody will find them funny."

"Nobody-" Rex bit his tongue before the furious tapestry of obscenities could fly out. He snatched his portfolio back and took one of the comics out. He glanced around and saw a table full of women laughing and chatting. He strode right up to them and cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, ladies." He held out the comic to them. "Do you think this comic is funny?" It was inked black and white and depicted an old lady with short curly hair wearing shades and grinning smugly as she drove down the street in an old Ford. Bold musical notes were coming out of the car along with the lyrics to the chorus of Beethoven's Ode to Joy. Standing in the foreground were two teenagers dressed like MTV rapper wannabes scowling at the old woman's car and shaking their fists. One had a speech bubble over his head saying, "God damn old people and their music!"

 

[intriguess]

Mackie

The whole table took the interuption in stride, in fact more than one of her friends was sizing up the man and his work. Then they began giggling and someone mentioned hearing aids and how her mother always had the TV cranked up.

Mackie was giggling and her eyes travelled back to where he had come from seeing a "stuffed shirt" type with his forehead all wrinkled up and nodding as if he'd just realized that his idea of funny was not universal. She smiled at the graphic artist and as the giggles subdued tossed out, "I doubt he sees the humor in anything, but hopefully he will see dollar signs." Mackie always had an odd way of seeing and speaking the truth it had gotten her in trouble and out again more than once.

She had discounted him as not being her type, the blonde hair etc, but for some reason she decided that was extremely prejudicial and smiled at him trying to indicate her interest without being obvious.

 

[DrStein]

Rex gave a traditional Chinese bow. "Thank you ladies."

He looked over at Mackie and winked. "It's a shame we don't have more people like you to support starving artists like myself."

 

[intriguess]

Mackie

One of her friends raised an eyebrow and took another look at him. "That's right, you have an art degree right Mackie?"

She gave her friend one of those looks and responded to his query. "It's unfortunate that artist don't get the support they deserve, so many end up barely able to support their art, much less get paid for their talents."

 

[DrStein]

Rex looked at Mackie for a minute. "Don't go anywhere. I'll be back in a second."

Rex took his sketch and went back to his table to close the deal. He downed his glass of water, payed for his end of the check in cash, and tossed off a salute and went back to Mackie's table the instant he had gotten a yes.

"Mind if I pull up a chair?"

 

[intriguess]

Mackie

The guy had guts as he finished off the business and paid for what little he drank. She was glad when their waiter sweeped by, clearing out salad plates and bringing entrees. It was silent for a while and she had taken her eyes off the of him for the moment and didn't see him swinging back around and then he was asking if he could sit down and she refrained from giving her friends THE LOOK as they made a spot for him next to her.

Then again she had started it all, but sometimes when something important is happening you feel as if it's the last place you want to be. If all else failed it would be a great story to tell.

"Looks like he saw dollar signs after all," she finally said wishing she had picked something that was neater to eat than pasta.

 

[DrStein]

"That," Rex said with a nod, "and apparently he thought you all had really nice tits. Don't know why he felt the need to bring it up, but..."

He placed his portfolio on the table and leaned forward on it on his forearms. "My name is Rex, by the way. Rex O'Crowley."

 

[intriguess]

She wasn't quite sure how to respond to the tit comment, it seemed both a compliment and another comment on the crudeness of his new boss. It was oddly refreshing to meet someone who wasn't afraid to make that kind of comment and he pulled it off without seeming crude himself. When he introduced himself she realized she had not bothered to tell him her name and as she was eating at that moment her friends introduced themselves as they were able and by the time it got back around to her she had wiped her lips and said, "Mackie Bosen," she found it charming the way he 007ed his name. She almost asked to look at his work but feared that her food would find it's way onto the pages and she knew the pain of having some spoil a treasured piece.

For a moment she was thinking of how his name rhymed with sex, and was smiling at the thought as she tried to keep her food off her "shelf" as the women in her family referred to their breasts. She had a few t-shirts that had some interesting stains, but luckily she had opted something with al fredo sauce instead of marinara.

"Do you work from home?" for some reason she pictured him walking around an appartment in boxers and a t-shirt, hair rumpled, a good sized dog lying around while he sketched.

 

[DrStein]

"Yup," Rex beamed. His voice had a unique cadence to it. The best way to describe it was a cocky drawl. "I turned my attic into a really nice studio about three years ago. I spend most of my time at home up there."

He released his hair from its ponytail, giving his head a quick shake so that his blonde locks would fall forward. "Anyway, how about you ladies? What are your stories?"

 

[intriguess]

Her friends quickly related that they worked at various places around town and when it cam back to Mackie she could feel the expectations upon her. Especially when none of her single companions did any sort of flirting. "I just started a new job as a financial advisor, my friends think I'm nuts but I've always had a head for numbers and the people are great and the pay covers my costs." She was being modest her job paid more than just costs, and she did not live paycheck to paycheck.

 

[DrStein]

Rex arched a brow. "Oh come on. It can't be that simple. Anything with the word 'financial' in it immediately implies labyrinthine rules, laws, and codes and usually requires some sort of college degree to successfully navigate with your sanity in tact."

 

[intriguess]

OOC my apologies real life has taken it's toil on me, recently moved in with my elderly grandma to take care of her as she can no longer take care of herself. Being a full time caregiver is a great way to kill a sex drive. So my replies may be more sporadic.

IC

"I try and make it simple, I don't confuse people with big words or small print. I simply help them get out of debt faster and fund their dream retirement at the same time." She loved the people she worked with but at the moment she didn't really feel like discussing her job.

"It's not exactly the most creative thing in the world, but I get paid to help people and I like that."

 

[DrStein]

OOC - Don't feel any pressure. Real life should always be the top priority.

IC

Rex got up out of his chair and dropped to one knee, taking Mackie's hand in both of his and bowing his head. "You almost made a religious man out of me. Someone who works with number and money, but isn't a crook or totally sour. Finding someone like that is like catching Bigfoot and Elvis in downtown LA headbanging to an Anthrax concert... Damn, that has to be the weirdest analogy I've ever come up with."

Rex climbed back into his seat, laughing bemusedly at his perception of his own antics.

 

[intriguess]

Mackie

"Well it's nice to be able to help others, in fact most of my church is a client as I donate a portion of my pay back to the church. It's really cool to write out a donation check each month without worrying about making cuts to afford it." The kneeling made her nervous at first but she did see the humor in the gesture.

He seemed too charismatic to be single, then again people said she was too good of a friend to be single. "I thought our leader making a million a year at thirty and being one of the nicest and approachable guys I know was a contradiction."

 

[DrStein]

Rex had a very cocky slouching posture in his chair. Despite his semi-formal attire, he looked very much like a rebellious slacker-type. He thought for a moment about Mackie before opening his portfolio and pulling out a small notebad from one of the pockets along with a pen.

"You've got e-mail right?"

 

[intriguess]

"Doesn't everyone between the ages of 10 and 50?" she laughed slightly pretended to be inspecting his card. She was about to pull out one of her business cards but decided to pull out a piece of paper instead and jotted her e-mail down. "And most of them have multiple accounts, I only check my business e-mail once a week on Mondays, so here is my private e-mail." She held her breath for a moment before handing it over. The bills had come and her friends were calcing the tip as she smiled at him. "I'd love to see more of your work."

 

[DrStein]

Rex held the card out back to her. "If you could put your phone number down there as well, that would be great." He wore a smile the whole time, clearly unwilling to take no for an answer.

 

[intriguess]

She jotted down her cell number and joked, "My cell is almost always on vibrate so as to not interupt what I'm doing." She recalled one day when she'd set it on table and it had vibrated off the edge. She usually kept in her pocket so she could feel incoming rings. "That way I don't have to remember to turn in off in public places." She almost thought it made her sound kind of forgetful, then again it was a pain to turn it to silent every time she was in a meeting, at lunch, sleeping, and such.

 

[DrStein]

"Are you sure you don't put it on vibrate for... other reasons?" Rex gave her a quick wink at that as he pocketed her card.

"I'll see ya around, beautiful." With that, he stood up and strode out the door. A quick drive home found him at the little townhouse he had moved into a few years ago. He opened the door to nearly be tackled by his Great Dane, Capone.

"Hey boy! Did you miss me?" He set his portfolio on and end table and kneeled down to hug the massive dog around the neck, noogying him behind the ears.

"I met a new friend today, boy. I think you'll like her."

The dog barked in respnose and bounded off into the yard to empty his bladder all over the gate.

"Am I to assume that means you want to go for a walk?" Rex joked.

The very mention of the word "walk" got Capone fired up and he galloped back into the house, snatched his leash off the kitchen counter and ran back to Rex. "Okay boy, I get it."

He hooked the leash on and proceeded to be dragged around the block by the massive hound. In between bouts of trying to keep control, Rex let his thoughts drift to Mackie. Wait a day or two to call her so he wouldn't sound desperate. Then, casually ask her to meet him for coffee or something... Well he had time to plan. Not like he was doing anything else today or tomorrow.

 

[intriguess]

Mackie

She laughed at the implication, and watched him walk away. Mackie paid her bill calcing her tip in her head, math had always come easy to her which had assisted her in a great many things besides her work. One of her favorite things was to design something from scratch, and then figuring out how to make it the size she wanted. Right now her apartment was bare of decoration as she had left most of them in storage when she had moved in with her ex, and she hadn't much time to create something new.

By the time she got home the answering machine was blinking. She listened to the messages, her mother asking when she was going to pick up her stuff, and inviting her over for dinner and reminding her to visit her grandmother. The next message was from one of her friends at the Humane Society gently prying about her social life and asking for a visit.

Mackie realized her appartment was pretty empty, not even a plant to water. She had felt so empty she had not wanted anything else, and now she felt energetic and set down to unpack her art supplies and in moments she was sketching and eating leftover pizza and before she knew it, it was 2am and with a sigh she stood up stretched and was glad it was Saturday. She pealed her clothes off and tossed them in her hamper and feeling naughty opted to sleep au natural, as she slipped into her bed and easily fell asleep.

 

[DrStein]

Rex waited two days to call Mackie. He filled in the time by working on more of his comics. In between the one-panel cartoons, he started the sketches on his newest project: Tone Death, a comic book about a super hero heavy metal band.

Once he had settled on images for the characters, Rex flopped down on the bed in his studio and picked up the phone. Mackie's card was tacked up to a corkboard beside the bed along with a few flyers for concerts and other events. He punched in her number and waited patiently for her to pick up.

 

[intriguess]

Mackie

The weekend was a blur of a couple of appointments that went very smoothly, her latest trainee was a quick learner and she was enjoying her work more than ever. She was also making a mess in her small appartment as she had finally set to work on something to hang on the wall. Her living room was taken over with fabric and her sewing machine and various pieces were clinging to the flannel she'd tacked up to the wall.

It had been a long time since she'd felt so...creative and she ran errands Monday morning and was glad she set her own work schedule for the most part. She was so engrossed in what she was doing she almost didn't notice her phone, as her sewing machine vibrated the table a little.

"Damn it I should have turned it to ring," she murmured as she snatched the phone up and a quick glance confirmed who it was. Mackie hated looking for phone numbers and programmed most into her phone so it came up as "Sexy Rex" on her display. She answered and cradled the phone between her shoulder and ear so she could find her day planner.

"Hello," she almost said his name. Certain of her friends didn't get that she could see who was calling on her cell and it was fun to mess with them.

 

[DrStein]

Rex wondered whether or not she would pick up the phone. He hated leaving voice mails. There was something weird about talking to a recording. He wan in luck however when Mackie answered at last.

"Hey, beautiful. Remember me, the crazy cartoonist?" he asked playfully.

 

[intriguess]

"of course, how could I forget the Daring Doodler?" okay so maybe that was lame, but she was laughing already. It was nice to laugh, and she found a fairly empty chair and stretched out with her day planner opened in her lap. "Did you have a productive weekend?" She pictured him relaxed, the dog asleep at moment and all sorts of drawings and such surrounding him. She could almost smell his aftershave and reminded herself not to put too much onto him, the less she expected the less he could dissapoint.