S T R E S S! [ onzy ]

[Sync]

Hayden flinched when the annoying shriek of the phone sounded from the office once again. Their receptionist was ill, so he and Libby had to man the front desk, as well as work out in the shop. Thankfully the owner had offered to go on the call out that had just been rung through, and had just left. Hayden hoped, for his own sake, that this caller wasn't the impatient driver that had just called. If it was, he didn't know if he could keep himself in check. This person was rude on the first call, and Hayden was getting more and more worked up. He didn't need someone shouting down the phone at him today. Libby rolled herself from under the Volvo estate beside him, her expression bordering furious. Oil splashed over her pale face, her hand clasping a spanner so hard that her knuckles were bone white. "Answer the damn phone before I throw this at you." she seethed. Hayden held his hands up in surrender, and then flipped her off before storming into the office. Normally they weren't this tense and angry, usually the shop was a pleasant place to be working. Neither had they anticipated how hard office work was. Never again would they take Elizabeth for granted. She better get well soon, or Hayden and apparently Libby would go insane. Well, more so.

Hayden slammed the phone back into it's holder, his lips pulled into a grim line. Not only was the caller the irate driver from before, as soon as he'd hung up the phone someone else had called. "LIBBY! You're going on call. 20 minutes north out of town, man in a blue vauxhall vectra. Joe's still attending to the other guy, and I'm not going." he told her swiftly, ducking as she threw a spanner at him. She looked as if she was about to argue, but let her shoulders sag in defeat. She actually felt a little better after throwing tools at Hayden. "Fine. Sort out the estate for me then. What's wrong with the car?"

[/color] she asked, and then growled when he shrugged. He obviously did know, just wasn't telling her for the fun of it. Shoving past him to get into the office to get the keys for the other call out van, she swung her hand out to catch the back of his head as she passed again. "Oops' Slipp-" before she could finish, he tripped her up. Managing to keep herself from falling, she whirled around and shot daggers at him. "Sorry! Leg spasm." he chuckled, and then ran off toward the back of the shop. Libby debated on following, before thinking the better of it and continued toward the call out van.

Peace settled over the shop momentarily after Libby left, Hayden settled into work and rolled himself under the estate. He soon found the source of the oil leak, and quickly put a stop to it. He wondered why Libby hadn't seen it so quickly, but put it down to stress. God knows that there was a lot of it lately, especially in his life. Rolling himself out from under the vehicle, he fumbled for the cloth to wipe the bit of oil from his face. Just as he was scrambling back up onto his feet, the phone called out once again. Snarling in frustration, he threw his rag at the ground and stormed back toward the office, face like thunder. There goes that brief moment of peace. "Hello. Joe's Garage, how can I help you?" he grumbled, sounding not helpful nor friendly in the least. He wondered how on earth Elizabeth did this every single day. A new found level of respect appeared for that woman.
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[Onzy]

Simon padded along quietly in the second hand book store that he had discovered a while ago. The smell of aged paperbacks and old world stories filled the shop. Too bad the owner reminded of rat, otherwise he might really have enjoyed being in the store. Finding a copy of Jane Eyre, Simon proceeded to pay and left. His own copy of the book was somewhere, presumed lost. Then again, it could have been left at Hayden's sometime or in the park. It was one of the more sunnier days, and the air smelt of spring. Simon was dressed for the part. With his black jeans, lime green button down shirt, black dress shoes and a messenger back slung over his shoulder, Simon definitely gathered stares as he went. Not that he cared. He rolled up his sleeves until the elbow, and his aviators was on the bridge of his nose. The picture might have been complete with a latte in one hand and a cell phone in the other, but Simon wasn't big on coffee and his cell was at home.

He took his time wandering the familiar town, taking in the new store displays, and pondering what could make a good gift. Not just was SJ's birthday coming up, it was Connor's as well. He always excluded himself from birthday celebration mentioning's as they were usually big affairs. Thinking back, he didn't have a proper birthday celebration since he turned ten, and that was a year he usually chose to forget. After that it was all about how much his mother could snort in one night, and how much his step-father could drink. Later it would be all that plus how many bruises he could rack up or worse.

Simon saw that his favourite shop was coming up, and he made a beeline for the garage. The atmosphere was remarkably tense, and he pondered what was causing it. The answer was soon apparent when he found Hayden on the phone, a face like thunder. Libby and Joe were nowhere to be found, and were most likely out on a call. Another absence was that of Elizabeth, the friendly receptionist who always had time to have a conversation. It was seen that Hayden wasn't one for telephone relations, and Simon had an amused look on his face as he entered the office.

Wrapping his arms around Hayden's waist, he waited until his boyfriend was finished with the call. Missed you, he whispered, and turned to actually face Hayden. Slowly but surely Hayden was picking up condition again, but at a time Simon was worried that his love was going to end up in the hospital sometime in the near future.