Vivian Moore

Frank had been real dumb to imagine he wouldn’t run into Vivi but to do some in his first week there was some karma that he had going on. He thought about leaving the place, going away, and not stepping foot at the place ever again. But how rude would that be? Frank was many things but rude wasn’t one of them. He didn’t want to make small chat with Vivi either. The day that he signed the divorce, last time they saw each other, he told himself that was it, they were done. He didn’t want to see her again, but he had moved all the way from California to her town so if that didn’t say something… Well, there wasn’t really running from it.

“I’ll have the house brew, medium, please. No sugar.” How douchebag was that? Even Frank felt bad that the first words he was telling her after this long was a coffee order. He tried to look away from her as he fetched for his card in his wallet. “I should have known I’d end up running into you…” He says quite ironically.

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting him to say, but she wasn’t expecting that. And that hurt more than she thought she could take. Her eyes began to burn as she fought off the urge to cry at his impersonal and condescending tone. But she tried to let her expression stay loose and calm.

“Yeah, definitely.” Her hands shook as she input his order into the register. “I’ll get you a to go cup.” She swallowed past the lump in her throat and grabbed one of the cups next to the register.

“Really? You didn’t expect to run into me in my family’s shop?” Maybe she was angry and hurting, but Vivi couldn’t really bring herself to care. Her chest felt like it was on fire, and she could barely keep her hands still as she flittered about behind the counter, trying to keep her hands busy so he wouldn’t see how badly she was shaking.

Brayden shook his head and held up a hand to her to stop her from thinking anything more of it.  “Sometimes I think it’s better not to talk about things.”  He took a sip of his coffee and finally looked up to meet her eyes.  “I can’t change anything in the past and talking about it doesn’t make it go away, so why even waste the energy?”  That was probably not a great philosophy but it was the one that he was currently operating under anyway.

Something about his words resonated in Vivi’s chest as memories of herself telling herself the same thing as things began to get worse and worse surfaced. “I told myself the same thing, Brayden.” She looked down, shame pulling her gaze towards the counter. There was a small coffee stain on the counter, and Vivi pulled a rag from her apron pocket. “I won’t say anything if you don’t want me to- but you can talk to me with no fear of judgement.”

WHERE: Moore Books + Coffee Shop WHEN: Early morning WHO: Frank + @vivimoore​

The perks of being the director of photography were that he got to show up on set a bit later as opposed to some of the camera crew that was working on setting up the equipment. Maybe out of habit though, Frank was up bright and early to go over the shots of the day. Filming sitcoms were so much different than when you had an actual film, even if they didn’t follow the old sitcom format. He liked to get detailed on his work but at this hour it was hard to do so with no coffee. His flat was still packed up, boxes everywhere and his coffee maker nowhere to be found so he went on yelp to search for nice coffee places in town. Moore Books + Coffee Shop was the highest reviewed one so he went for it, even if there were others closer to his home. It’d be nice to sight some of Asteria as he jogged there—trying to get some morning exercise in.

Inside the place, maybe for the hour, it seemed still setting up and starting to get warm with the few people occupying the tables. He was looking over the menu and didn’t pay attention to the barista until he actually had to order. But when he finally settled to try their house brew and walked up and gazed the woman behind the counter… Frank got whiter than he was—if that was even possible. To say he was shocked to see Vivi before him was an understatement.

“Oh,” was all he could utter out, still in awe that he had moved to her town thinking he wouldn’t run into her and there he was, week one, running into her.

It hadn’t been her greatest night. She’d woken up several times in a cold sweat, her hands shaking so badly she’d spilled her water all over herself as she tried to drink some water. Her father had noticed the bags under her eyes in the morning, and he’d tried to give her a way out of going to work, and while Vivi appreciated the gesture, she needed to go to work and be busy and not think.

And thankfully, work was busy, and Vivi found herself with no time to ruminate on her past.

At least, until her past literally walked through the door.

He was... exactly like she remembered; tall, devastatingly handsome, and filled with an incredible sense of purpose. He looked... at ease, and Vivi felt a small piece of carefully mended heart start to break. She wasn’t sure what she’d have thought she’d felt when she saw her ex-husband again- if she ever saw him again. Maybe part of her wished he’d shown even a hint of the turmoil she’d felt herself go through, to show that maybe he still loved her despite everything she’d done to him.

Her wish was... sort of fulfilled when she saw him finally register just who was at the register. Frank definitely didn’t look happy to see her.

“Oh.”

She didn’t know it but Vivi was touching on just about the only sore subject he had right about now.  Brayden pursed his lips and let out a sigh before shaking his head.  “Actually no.  It’s not.”  Brayden dropped a sugar cube into his coffee and stirred it around, refusing eye contact.  “Not anymore.” He knew technically Emmi never was his girlfriend, but for a moment there it had felt like maybe someday she would be.  Now that was all out the window.

“If it’s bothering you then it’s important,” Ana contradicted, before nodding, “I know… it’s hard to adjust when your life changes in a way you weren’t expecting. But it will get better.” She put her arm around her and squeezed her for a moment and took her hand away again. “If people knew then I you’d know they did already.”

“You have to head out a bit before water is swimmable but it‘s not too long of a ride out before you get to any kind of wreck.” He knew if he was more landlocked then he spent his life now he would be going crazy but being from a town where any nearby body of water was a chance to swim she must be struggling more than he would have if he hadn’t moved his life in the direction he did. He saw her take a scrap of paper and begin to write her number which to him made total sense if he was offering a trip out on the boat he couldn’t very well just come to the corner one day and hope she was on shift. “Don’t be silly of course need to be able to contact you some way other than smoke signals or when grabbing coffee.” He smiled at the blonde placing a hand on her arm gently for a second. He let out a happy laugh at her description “Had you stopped av astrology i would have said well someones got to believe in it but it went into so much more, i wasn’t even aware we had that much mythology other then yetty sightings”

There was a fluttering in her stomach, a feeling she hadn’t experienced in nearly five years, as he placed a hand on her arm. “ Uh- yeah, ” She finished writing her number and left it on the table. “ you’re right. I don’t think I remember all my smoke signal lingo, so maybe I should stick with texts. ” Vivi giggled, a girlish sound that had a blush creeping up her neck with embarrassment. “ But yeah, I usually work in the mornings, so when I get a day off, I’m good to meet up pretty early. But yeah, Eden’s got some weird people- and I lived in Hollywood, so I know what I’m talking about when I say weird. ”

Vivian Moore had been a force to be reckoned with back in the day and her sweet voice made Dylan realize how much years and life events could change a person. He knew there was something different about her but he also felt like he probably shouldn’t ask. He was so bad with words. “You’ll have to show me because the stuff my dad plays in his office is not something I’m partial to.” He teased. Always the tease. “Thanks. It’s all the lotions and creams and gunk I put on this beautiful face every night.” He chuckled since he was only joking. “So what the hell are you doing back here? You in town visiting?”

“ Well, when there’s a hot summer evening, you’ll have to come over so we can drink some iced tea on the porch with some playing in the background. ” What could be better for her mental health than reconnecting with an old friend while listening to jazz and drinking her mother’s famous sweet tea? ” You’re going to have to send me your skin care regiment, because you look fantastic. ” Her smile faded slightly, more melancholic than happy. “ I actually moved back, I’m staying with my dad for a while. Just... needed a break. ”

“if they start digging, then they need to get a life” he replied with a shrug, stalking someone online was something he never saw the point in doing. “You really think I care what a few people with too much time on their hands think? I don’t like bullies and besides, my business, my decision, and I couldn’t care less what you’ve done, long as you do your job well” he replied with a shrug. Hell, if this town knew what he had done, what he did… things would be very different. “Isn’t stupid, but you don’t need to worry about the store. I have thick skin”. 

He said it so casually, so matter of fact in his lack of care of how others viewed him and his business. Vivi wished she could hold even a fraction of his nonchalance- her life certainly would have been easier... Certain choices would have never been made. “ I told you it’s stupid. ” She turned away, setting up the coffee machine to make her boss some coffee. “ I just need to work through these... insecurities. ”

“You can’t survey everyone in town.” Then again it was Vivi. She probably could figure out a way to do so. Hell she could do one of those tip jar choices where the one labeled troublemaker would be overflowing from those who agreed with the blonde. “I am not touching that one.” She took a sip of her coffee, knowing how dirty people could be when their mouths were on before their brains were. “You know that I am going to have to facetime you first thing in the morning to see this.” 

“ Trust me, Em. I don’t need to survey, we have a monthly meeting about you. ” Vivi laughed, leaning over the counter. “ Please don’t, I don’t need you to see behind the curtain. It takes time to look this good. ” She flipped her hair, feeling significantly lighter than she’d started out when she’d first clocked in.

Jacob sighed, he was only out of the house to try walk Hades, which always proved to be a nightmare given that the dog wanted to greet everyone, or smell everything. Frankly it was exhausting, but the dog needed exercise and that was the main reason he had left that morning. Not the best one, but all he had. Which didn’t go over so well when he started barking at the girl, great. “Hades stop that. Sorry, he’s harmless but loud”. @vivimoore​

She was no stranger to dogs barking, her neighbors had had some of the loudest dogs she’d ever heard- but most of the ones she’d interacted with had been small lap dogs... not... a large dog.

There was a chance that Damian had exchanged alcohol for coffee. It was better to drink when he was exhausted, the last thing he wanted was to feel like he had been hit by a truck, and what other option was there. The Grind had felt a bit too far away, and he had ended up just going into The Corner Books, knowing that they had a place there. Better than nothing. “This place is still open? Figured it would have gone bust years ago”. @vivimoore​

The weather was perfect, the sun was shining, and the swim suit she hadn’t worn in nearly a year fit just a tad bit snugger than she remembered. But it was a good snug, the kind that made her realize just how much healthy weight she had gained since going clean, and for the first time, Vivi felt good about how she looked.

Nicholas also looked good- and Vivi had to turn her head towards the open water as the thought flittered through her mind. He looked comfortable on the boat, like he was in his element, and it was almost reassuring to be around him.

It was a busier day than she had been expecting, and Vivi found herself too busy to feel anything but fulfilled. By the time the lunch rush had ended, Vivi was all but panting against the back counter. But she was smiling, wide and genuine, something she hadn’t really done in a while.

The bell above the main entrance gave its little tinkle as a wonderfully familiar face walked in.

It wasn’t a good day. She’d woken up with a pit in her stomach, feeling like she was missing something important to her. It was only when she’d gotten to work, twenty minutes later after several mishaps with her wardrobe, her car, and various other appliances, that she remembered.

It was her wedding anniversary.

She’d forgotten many times over the last few years, as her addiction had truly begun to consume her life, but today... It was the first anniversary they’d had after the divorce.

And so she found herself sitting on the curb outside of tappin’ boots. She hadn’t gone in- she knew what would happen if she did- but Vivi couldn’t say she wasn’t tempted.