A Typical Tuesday Night (Open)

[Maya Hidalgo]

Maya’s eyes squinted as she looked into the window of a clothing store. It was a small boutique, it had just opened, and she wasn’t too sure if she should enter. The grip on her purse tightened, and she softly bit her lip. On one side, Maya never bought anything for herself, on the other; she had to pay some bills soon. She had never expected that living on her own would be so costly. All her life her parents had provided for her, and although they were not anywhere close to being rich, she had never wanted for anything. But that was in the past now, she was an adult, and she couldn’t spend her time regretting her choices. With a tiny sigh, she moved along. Maybe she would come back in a few days; she knew if she went in at this very moment, she would be tempted to buy half of the store. She could afford to take a walk at least that was free. So okay, she wasn’t broke, but she didn’t want to spend money on things she didn’t exactly need.

Her legs moved her along the sidewalk, her eyes taking in the scenery. This town always seemed so peaceful. In the ten months since she had moved here, she had yet to witness any problems. Well, any serious problems. It was around six o'clock, the sun was just about to set and the streetlights started to turn on, one by one. Maya felt the cool breeze sweep through her, a smile forming on her face as she felt it.  Taking a walk was a thing Maya simply had to do, especially after a long day at work. She had started her morning in the bakery, her favorite out of the two duties she had at the market. People were mostly polite, though there were some she wish she could have said something to. Except, they weren't as bad as her afternoon costumers. After break time, Maya had to switch from the bakery to the cosmetics department. After that, well, let's say that dealing with stuck up teenagers had not been in the job description. She had to deal with a particular blonde girl who had whispered to her friend, "Are you seriously going to take make up advice from her?" It wasn't a whisper at all, actually, Maya could hear her every word. She had to mind to tell her off, but she didn't want to get in trouble, especially not at work.

Maya knew that she had to let it go now, it had been a couple of hours since, she needed to enjoy her night now. A young couple walked by, holding the hand of a toddler as they passed Maya. There was a sense of longing in her, but she wasn’t sure what she was longing for. Then an old man, one with a nice, warm smile, followed suit. He was being pulled along by a small, white poodle.

Maybe I should get a dog, she told herself as she watched people walk by. Then she realized she didn’t have time for that, though it would be nice to have some company sometimes. Maya’s legs had started moving her along again, but her pace was fast and she was too distracted by her own thoughts to realize that she was about to slam right into someone.

[Feliciano Vargas]

It had been a pleasant day thus far, though the day was almost over. The light of evening was just about to fade and he felt a little guilty for having slept so long - he had meant to take a short nap but it had lasted about three hours, as usual. Fishing through his pocket for his cellular phone, he let his attention shift to the street lights flashing on in tandem. Sure enough, when he checked his phone it was about six o'clock. Damn, it was a bit late. Ideally, he would have liked to stop by a café or store a few hours before closing time, he would have a chance to slack off and chat around with whatever customers were present at the moment, but it looked like he would have to take his walk without those embellishments tonight.

Sighing, he slid his phone back into his pocket and surveyed the area. It was fairly lively for a Tuesday evening in his opinion, there seemed to be more people going about some business or the other than returning to their homes. It may or may not become livelier later and while he would like to stick around to find out he had a walk to continue – well, not necessarily, after considering the idea Feliciano decided to pause his trek and observe the different people passing by. Raising his arms over his head he stretched out the kinks he earned from sleeping haunched over his desk again, perhaps he should have stayed awake and used his time 'wisely'. That thought left him feeling a little mopey, maybe he should make up stories about people who catch his eye to forget about it.

A couple holding a toddler's hands walked by, they looked like they were having their own little celebration, independent of the world around them. Maybe they had a great day out, just the three of them in their own carefree world – it sounded similar to Feliciano's day in a way, without the aftertaste of wasting too much time. Moving on, there was a Mexican girl who looked wrapped up in her thoughts, maybe her day had not been as carefree as his day, or maybe she was just distracted. He considered her for a while and realised soon enough that she was indeed distracted; they would have collided had he not sidestepped a moment before. The girl's pace had not changed in the slightest and Feliciano got the idea that she would end up walking right into a group of thugs like most people did in the movies, except there would be no hero to dramatically swoop in and rescue her.

With that thought he jogged after her, grabbing her shoulder when she was within arm's reach. “Signorina! It's not safe to walk around distracted, you might walk into a lamppost or something!” He wasn't one to talk but he did pride himself on being quite the runner, but not much of an athlete, if he got into trouble he could run away just as quickly.


[[ I hope you don't mind my taking this~ (｡･ω･) ]]

[Maya Hidalgo]

Maya was usually never as distracted as she was at the moment. Her mind kept going back to her job, no matter how many times she told herself to forget about it. Tomorrow would be a new day, with new costumers that, maybe, wouldn't be as horrible to deal with as today's. She didn't even look up and didn't realize that a young man had taken a side step to avoid collision. She kept on moving, probably looking like a complete loon to anyone who had witnessed it. It wasn't until she felt the weight of somebody's hand on her shoulder, that she finally snapped back to reality.

She made a quick movement, stopping her tracks and turning her body to face whoever had touched her. She was surprised to find a young, non-menacing looking, man instead of some pervert trying to get fresh with her. Maya half-listened to the boy, not sure why he was talking to her. "A lamppost?" she asked quietly, trying to get her mind completely back to Earth. She realized how distracted she really was and felt the embarrassment begin to flush her face. "Oh... thank you... I'm so sorry for that. I guess my mind is still at work."

Maya smiled at the boy, studying his face. There was something familiar about it, but she couldn't place her finger on where exactly she had seen him before. After all, it was kind of a small town and she did make a habit of watching people while taking her evening walks. She surely could have seen him around while doing that. Then she had the fear that maybe her parents had sent someone after her and this man could be on a mission to take her home. Of course that was crazy and she tried to get rid of the thought as soon as possible.

[Feliciano Vargas]

It was a relief he had managed to get the girl's attention and she looked to be less dazed, he supposed it had been a good idea to people watch after all. With a grin he let go of her shoulder, "Unless you have a night shift, you should forget about work now!" In Feliciano's opinion, the girl didn't look like a workaholic and though he didn't judge a book by it's cover he couldn't help but notice that distraction didn't exactly suit the girl before him.

Then again he had been wrong before. The girl's face scrunched up with time and a worried look replaced the smile she had donned so readily moments ago. It wasn't his place to feel guilty for having bothered her in the first place but he couldn't find it in himself to just turn on his heels and leave when she was starting to look just as distressed as before. That was when he took it upon himself to cheer her up for the time being. Granted, he never met the woman before so he had no excuse or way to go about this without coming across as pushy or weird, but those words described him rather well.

"Hey, if I took you out to dinner I bet you would have your mind off work in no time." It made sense to him, what could be more distracting than delicious food? In retrospect, not everyone thought in the same loops he did so perhaps dinner was not the best option. "Or maybe I could just treat you to something?" As long as it was nothing too expensive, he would like to think he could offer that much to a distraught fille. Weighing his options, the realisation that most people would be wary of strangers came after his suggestions and he deduced an introduction was necessary. "By the way, I'm Feliciano and it's my hobby to cheer people up, up and away!" He should also make it a hobby to buy a joke book, though those things were useless, he wasn't a jester at heart after all.

[Maya Hidalgo]

The man's offer caught her off guard, just a bit, but she didn't let that show at all. Strangers didn't ask her to join them for dinner very often and she didn't know how to respond. She didn't want to come off rude, so she let the smile slowly return to her face. She felt a bit more at ease when he introduced himself by his name. Feliciano looked like a nice enough young man to her. And he seemed very energetic, the complete opposite of Maya on a regular basis.

"Do you walk around town cheering people up on a regular basis?" she tried to joke with him, then realized she had yet to say her name. "I'm Maya, by the way. Unfortunately, my hobbies are nowhere as helpful as yours."

She looked away from Feliciano for a minute, setting her eyes on the ice cream parlor on the other corner of the street. She had to options; go straight home or finally make a friend. As tempting as going home and being lazy one more night was, she was tired of going home straight from work. What did she have to lose anyway? But if she was going to spend some time with this stranger, she felt the need to repay him from bringing her back to reality and making sure she didn't bump into any sort of trouble. Her weight shifted from one foot to the other as she directed her attention to Feliciano again. "I think it should be my treat," she said, hesitating before grabbing his arm. "You did save me, after all. So what do you say? Do you like ice cream?"

[Feliciano Vargas]

There it was, his efforts to restore that smile may or may not have worked but it was back in place either way. “I try, if I have money,” he joked. Admittedly he did attempt to cheer up the sulky passer by when the thought occurred to him, so maybe it was done regularly. Maybe. “Maya, I like that name.” With a grin he shrugged, “This is the only helpful hobby I have, trust me.” Unless sleeping all afternoon recently became helpful, he's sure he was useless most of the time.

Briefly following Maya's gaze, he hummed when he noticed the ice cream parlour – had it been there the whole time? Maybe he should have offered ice cream instead – after all, everyone loves ice cream. Her offer to treat him was unexpected but he wasn't one to turn down any offers, especially not one of having ice cream with a pretty girl – why on earth would he turn that offer down? Maybe it was careless but he didn't see anything wrong with it; he offered to treat her first. He made sure to fist pump with his unoccupied arm, “Yeah, ice cream's great!”

While was grateful for the offer, it would be rather parasitic to let someone you just met treat you – of course, he already had a compromise, “Except I'll treat you and you'll treat me, how's that sound?” In his opinion there was no better solution, not that he would allow any protests, he should be the navy's strategist with his newfound skills. As he glanced at the Mexican, it finally struck him how small she actually was and patting her head felt like a natural reaction. “By the way, how old are you? You seem really small, you're not a child right?”

[Maya Hidalgo]

Maya regretted grabbing on to Feliciano's arm, she often did things without considering how other people would react, especially when she was nervous. She was always nervous when strangers talked to her. What if in the middle of the conversation her mind went blank and she couldn't come up with something to say? Or what if she had too much to say? Her worries almost all faded away when the boy didn't scold her for the physical contact. His fist bump made her smile once more, getting her energy pumped up. It had been a while since someone so cheerful was around, it was nice. When he suggested that they should treat each other to ice-cream, instead of her or him paying for both, she nodded in agreement. "That's a good solution, I didn't want to have to fight you for it," she joked, letting go of his arm.

She felt his hand on her hand and his question didn't surprise her at all. She looked like a teen, maybe around sixteen, and other people were always assuming she wasn't of age yet. She'd been asked, countless times, by customers if she was even old enough to be working at the market, they never believed her when she revealed her age. Maya grinned at him, standing on her tip toes. "Is that a problem? You're not backing out on the ice-cream now are you?... I'm actually twenty-one. How about yourself?"