The next morning, Violet dressed really nice, pulling her long raven hair back with a headband to keep it out of her eyes. She put her purse together and drove downtown, keeping her eyes peeled for the office. She smirked when she saw what she was looking for: Pinex Computer Company. She grinned. It was a cute little store. There didn't seem to be much money into it yet, she assumed it must be new.
She walked in the door that let out a jingle as it opened, and looked around. It was all one color: white. There was a reception desk in the front, another desk further back and a work station with computer parts spread out all over it. There was a door in the back that she figured lead to a back room. But her eyes were drawn to the work station. She smiled and bit her lip as she walked over and began looking at the pieces scattered around the table. She smiled. Putting a computer together was like a puzzle. She hesitated before picking up a piece and setting it in it's proper place. She picked up the screwdriver and screwed it in very carefully. She smirked at it.
Suddenly, a voice from behind her made her jump.
"I see you couldn't wait to get your hands on it," the voice chuckled.
She spun around and dropped the screwdriver. She faced what would hopefully be her new boss. He was quite young – late twenties, maybe early thirties, he was well built – very muscular. He wore a long sleeve, plaid, button up with a pair of jeans and his bright, firey red hair was gelled back. Violet blushed out of embarrassment, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to- I just saw it and-"
He held up his hand to quiet her, "It's alright," he chuckled, "You must be Violet," he smiled.
"Yes," she chirped nervously, "Violet Parr, and you're Mr. Pine," she held out her hand.
He let out a laugh, "Please, that makes me sound so old, call me Buddy," he smiled at her, taking her hand.
She smiled, "Buddy. Okay,"
Buddy smiled at her, "So, what exactly did you do to this computer?"
"Well, I just put the disc drive back into place," Violet responded, pointing to her work.
"You seem like you really know your way around a computer," he leaned against the table with one arm to look at what she'd done.
She smiled, "Mhmm… I also know some things when it comes to programing… and some other things…" her voice trailed off, trying not to sound too much like a nerd. She curled her hair around her ear – a nervous habit.
Buddy's blue eyes fell on her face, he smiled, "Not bad,"
Her eye brows raised and she smiled at him, "Really? Thank you… although an intern job probably doesn't require me to know a lot of that," she rubbed her arm nervously.
"Well," Buddy chuckled, "It certainly doesn't hurt anything…" he looked at her again, examining her a bit.
She smiled, "So… what would my job entail?" she asked, still trying to shake her nerves.
Buddy walked over to the reception desk, "I need someone to work up front. I'm not really much of a people person…"
Violet found that incredibly hard to believe.
He continued, "And your job would be answering the phone, taking appointments from whoever comes in," he listed.
She nodded, slightly disappointed there wouldn't be much touching the computers and equipment.
He looked at her, reading her face, and smirked, "And maybe a bit of helping me out from time to time,"
Her grin lit up, "Excellent!"
She startled herself a bit at how loud she got, she blushed, "Sorry,"
He chuckled, "You've got a lot of energy, I like that, I think we'll work well together,"
Violet smiled, "I hope so,"
She and Buddy shared a smile for a moment before he rubbed his hands on his jeans, "Well, how about while we wait for someone to come in, you can show me how you went about fixing this computer,"
They spent the continuation of the morning working on the computer together until they had it fixed. Business was rather slow, only a handful of people showing up all day.
The next day was virtually the same. Violet, being of intern status, offered to go get lunch. Buddy chuckled, "It's funny, it's almost like you think we'll miss a customer if we leave for an hour,"
Violet half smiled, "Is it… always this slow?"
Buddy nodded, "I only just opened this place up a few months ago, I'm still trying to let people know we're here," he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.
Violet looked around the room. The walls were white and virtually bare. It didn't surprise her at all that customers were few and far between. There was nothing to draw them in. Buddy was wearing a light blue button up today, and Violet couldn't help but notice how well it brought out his bright blue eyes.
"So what do you say we close up shop for an hour and go get some lunch?" Buddy offered.
Violet grinned, curling her hair behind her ear, "Alright,"
Buddy walked over and turned the open sign to closed and locked the door. Violet followed him out the back door to his car. It wasn't necessarily the nicest car she'd ever seen. She looked over at his face to study it. He seemed slightly embarrassed by his car but tried to hide it.
He turned the key and the engine stalled at first. His eyes narrowed, "Damn it…" he muttered, turning it again. The engine turned over and his shoulders relaxed.
They went to a Chinese place and picked up some take out, getting a booth in the restaurant. He'd gotten quiet when they arrived at the restaurant. "So, Buddy," she smiled at him as she ate her food. He looked up at her.
"Where are you from?" she asked.
He gestured his hand to signal, "around here".
"You're from Mr. Wang's Chinese Restaurant?" she teased with a grin, "Wow, that's a story you'll have to tell me later," she chuckled.
A smile tugged at his lips and his eyes narrowed slightly, almost impressed she'd gotten a grin out of him, "I'm from around here," he grinned, his eyes falling back to the table and his food.
"Have you always lived here?" she asked, "I just… I've lived here all my life, and I see a lot of the city since I went to school here in the city, and I've never seen you around here before,"
He glanced up at her a moment and smirked, before his eyes falling back down to his food, "All my life,"
She smiled gently, wondering how she'd never seen him around before.
"Went to school?" he spoke again.
"Huh?" she asked.
"You said went. Past tense. Why don't you go to school anymore? I mean you're young. You can't be 20," he spoke, putting some food in his mouth.
She smirked and crossed her arms, "I'll be 21 in August, thank you."
He sat up a bit and smirked, "Wow, I never would've guessed that,"
She grinned and put some food in her mouth as well, taking a sip of her water.
"You know, you still avoided the question," he smirked at her.
She frowned a bit, "I don't know, why do people think we need a piece of paper to be successful? I know plenty of people who never went to college or who dropped out of high school and they went on to have great futures, so why do I need to right?" she huffed a bit. She shook her head and sighed, "Sorry, I didn't mean to get all preachy…"
"You're not," he replied, a serious look on his face.
She looked at him.
"You have bigger plans for yourself than other people do, good for you," he told her, his face unchanging, "I didn't go to college,"
She half smiled.
His face fell and he put a small smile back on, "Sorry, now I'm being cryptic,"
She half smiled and shook her head.
"But I'm serious," he spoke, "Do what you know to be best for you, not what others want you to do,"
"So… you're whole life?" she asked, "Metroville isn't that exciting,"
He chuckled, "Yeah… I mean I grew up in Municiberg," his smile faded as he stared out into space a moment, "But I hightailed it out of there when I was 16,"
"Before you finished high school?" she inquired, raising an eyebrow.
Buddy shook his head, "I didn't finish,"
Violet blinked, "Really?"
Buddy shrugged, "It was always so easy for me," he took a sip of his water, "I have an IQ of 150. My mom died when I was 16 and I left. I didn't need school," he explained.
Violet frowned, "I'm so sorry…"
Buddy connected eyes with her a moment, "About my mom? Don't be, it's been years,"
"Still…" Violet spoke, "That must've been awful…"
Buddy didn't speak for a moment. He pulled out his wallet and stood up, "Well," he put a small grin back on his face, "Let's head back to the store,"
Violet pulled some cash out but Buddy stopped her, "Nope, I got it," he offered.
"A-are you sure?" Violet asked, her cheeks tinting pink a bit, "I don't mind-"
"Consider it my welcome to the team," Buddy offered.
Violet grinned, "Thank you,"
"The team of two?" Violet teased as they walked back to the car.
Buddy chuckled, "Hush,"
