"I Guess You're Partially Right. I Just Wish I Had Actually Read These Instead Of Just Hauling Them Home

"Ah, there we go. That's the attitude I was looking for," she laughed, relaxing considerably now that they were no longer talking about work. She could be fun, right? She had certainly once been. "Can't judge a place by just one dish, right? So better try a few. Besides, all of this looks way better than the bowl of cereal I had earmarked for my brunch." The amount of food options was one of the things she really loved about New York City, especially now that her creativity had ran dry and she couldn't bring herself to try anything new in the kitchen. "So, definitely the eggs and the pancakes. Anything else catches your eye?"

Violet snorted at Zahra's attitude, completely understanding. She was happy her school days were behind her, though she did miss having all those people to play with. Her eyes perused the menu again, before locking onto her friend's with glee. "Ooh, maybe they have a sampler or something? Like you can order 3 different things to try? That sounds like a great idea. But if not, I'm hungry enough to eat more than one thing. I just started a new exercise, so I'm starving."

"It does sound nice, and I'm glad you liked it. I don't think I'm much of a beach person myself," she admitted with a shrug, "not that I've really tried being one." She wasn't entirely sure when she had decided she didn't care for lounging around in the sun but apparently she had done just that at one point in her life. "Luckily there are some beaches not too far from here. So, you know, you can still enjoy that even if it isn't quite the same."

"Well, this is my second time around living here. I first moved here to do a PhD program ages ago. Finished that and worked elsewhere for a bit. Now I'm back." She looked down, almost embarrassed for sharing something that felt both meaningless and hugely important at the same time. "I guess you could say I liked the city enough to move right back."

As they sat down, Matt picked up the menu as well and looked over the pasta section of it. "Can't go wrong with a good pasta, right?" he gave a small nod and chose what he was going to eat before he looked up, putting the menu down to answer her questions.

"Honestly, I loved LA, yeah. The weather is great and living near the beach is not half bad." He chuckled. "And I loved my house there too. I never imagined moving back to the East Coast but a really big work opportunity came up so I was happy to take it." Matt trailed the edge of the menu with his fingers, lost in thought for a moment before he looked up again. "What about you? Why did you move to New York?"

"They really should include a portion for late fees on research grants," she mumbled, wondering just how much cash she had funnelled to various library systems. While she would usually consider it money well-spent, her current state of annoyance and frustration made her wish she had done just about anything else with those hundreds of dollars. Still, there were bigger problems in the world and Zahra couldn't help but notice the shift in Ryan's mood. It was evident his work-life balance left something to be desired. "Oh? That bad?" she asked, wincing internally but hoping the look on her face didn't betray her. "Is there anything you can do about it?" She paused for a moment, nose crinkled up in irritation at herself. "I'm sure you've already gone through all your options. Sorry." She remained silent for a moment, not sure she wanted to shift the focus back to herself. "Not really," she admitted after a lengthy pause, "but I'm teaching a class in the fall. I guess that's fun."

—he smiled at the comment a little; turning to her when she responded to his query. “certainly not,” he agreed with a nod —frankly, those were a lot of books to pay any fees. Nodding a little at her response, he could agree. working had been his priority as of late. very wrongfully so. “same…” he muttered; work kept her busy and he was, in fact, keeping busy with work, rushing to complete a set amount of hours each week that were a lot more than his usual shifts, prior to the move. “I have and Neva is not happy about it…” he admitted, laughing a little, but it was a humorless sound. Neva was pissed, not just not happy. they made their way inside and his partner went further in to talk to the manager, while he accompanied Zahra towards the front desk. “have you been working on anything new?” he inquired.

“ur so quiet” its so fucking loud in my head

"I can imagine. Did you like LA? I mean, I feel like it would be vastly different from New York. Never been," she admitted. While she had nothing against he West Coast, California or even Los Angeles, she had never had any real reason to visit. The family she had in the states lived mostly in the Midwest, and she had spent her adult years in the Southeast and East Coast. "Different vibe, right? I guess you could say the weather is nicer."

Zahra didn't have to open the menu to know what she wanted. She could be a creature of habit, often frequenting the same restaurants she had once deemed good. Still, she took a look as if trying to make recommendations. "All of the pasta is pretty great. Can't say a lot about the meat since I don't really eat it."

They took a turn around the corner and he followed her to the place she knew as they continued chatting. He found it really easy to talk to her even though she seemed very serious and wanted to shake him off at the beginning, she warming up to him apparently and it felt nice. Uncomplicated. "I've lived in LA so I'm pretty used to having options of things to do. Too many options actually. When I first got there at eighteen, I wanted to do everything all the time. The last couple of years I was in bed by ten." He laughed at himself. Thirty-nine hit pretty hard.

Once inside the place, he rubbed his hands together, looking around. "Okay, what's good here? I'm actually starving." he chuckled.

Zahra noticed the way the man studied their surroundings and nodded as if agreeing. “It’s pretty impressive, isn’t it?” She had spent a good chunk of her life in libraries and the Main Branch of the New York Public Library was easily one of her favorites, even if her last few trips there had been less than fruitful. When she hadn’t been able to concentrate on her writing, Zahra had spent hours people-watching and wandering around the building, desperate for any sort of distraction.

An unintended yet quickly contained laughter escaped her as he described his sister. "I have to keep that in mind. Hopefully I won’t be needing any legal counsel anytime soon, but it's good to know there are options." She turned to glimpse at the books, a look of faint disgust spreading across her face. "I guess they are. Didn't read most of them, though. They're for work."

He grabbed the bag in his arms when he noticed it was about to hive out any moment now and followed her into the library. He hadn't been in here since he moved to the city and started working so he looked around the beautiful building for a moment as he walked. He almost bumped into her even. "I'm sorry." He left out a chuckle.

"Oh yeah, my sister is a nerd but hey, if you ever have some legal troubles she's amazing." He looked at the mountain of books in his arms and back at her. "Are all these yours? Someone's been busy."

Zahra smiled briefly as she nodded at Eleanor. "A wise choice. I am not entirely sure I could explain what's going on here," she admitted, almost cringing as she studied the contents of the bag. While she had checked out the the majority of the books with the best of intentions of actually reading them, Zahra now had real trouble of even remembering the titles or why she had picked them. "But I guess carrying these around constitutes a workout. So, it's not all bad."

Eleanor had spent the better half of an hour searching for a particular book that the library said they carried. It wasn't where it was supposed to be on the shelf and she had almost given up on her search when she just happened to see it on the shelf. She found a spot to sit and read the first couple of pages before deciding she wanted to check it out. Getting up, she made her way to the check out line only to be joined by Zahra a few moments later. Eleanor smiled at her, glancing over to see the huge bag of books she was carrying. She was about to ask what was up with that when Zahra spoke up. A small laugh escaped her lips and she shook her head. "Fine," she said. "I won't ask."

Zahra was grateful Violet had reached out, mostly because she was evidently excited to see her, but also because it forced her to turn her attention to something less daunting than the pages of subpar writing she had been managed to produce in the last few weeks. Sitting down, she reached for the menu before letting out a sigh. "I guess that's adulthood in a nutshell. Can't imagine how people with big friend groups ever find the time to meet up." The idea of trying to find a day that worked for ten or so people sounded nothing short of hellish. "Anyway, how are you doing? It really has been a while."

Closed Starter for : @ofzahras

Location: Bluebird's

Violet had just taken a sip of water when she spotted her tall friend walk out onto the patio of the restaurant. She raised her arm up in a wave to get their attention. "Zahra darling, it's so good to see you. I feel like I've been so busy lately and I've missed hanging out with you. This place does eggs so perfectly, light and fluffy like you wouldn't believe." She said, catching a waiter's eye that they were ready to order drinks.

Zahra studied the cover of the book that had caught her attention for a moment before thumbing through the pages as if trying to catch a word or a phrase that would solidify her decision to purchase the book. However, a voice clearly addressing her made her stop.

"Oh yeah?" she glanced at the young woman before turning her attention back to the book. "Just how annoying are we talking about, though? Is it a pain to get through it?" As much as she wanted distraction, she was of the opinion that life was far too short to be reading bad books. Besides, she certainly had a fairly handsome collection of unread books at home. "Thank you, though. It's good to have recommendations. It did seem pretty interesting."

who: ( open !! ) @bhqextras location: cover to cover

often times when maddox found herself with nothing to do, she would go to the bookstore. it was a knee-jerk reaction, fuck knows she had too many unread books already. but who couldn't resist the excitement of a new book? besides, it was commonly agreed upon that just being in the presence of books was fulfilling enough. she was so enthralled by the stacks, she almost didn't notice the person beside her until she'd wandered far too near to them.

"if you're debating on whether or not to get that one, you should know it's my favorite. though, i'll be honest, the main character is a bit annoying at first. have faith in knowing it is an integral part in the story. i promise she gets way less insufferable."

please stop asking me how i'm doing, idk i'm ignoring it