stumbled upon

Who: Ava and Jonas
Where: Outside Emily’s place
When: early evening

He’d followed her through the park, not amused to watch her talk to that guy, whomever the hell he was, but he did get some good pictures, with the large lens of course, of her sitting in the afternoon sun. That had been nice. Then she’d wandered around for a while, it had Jonas daring to drift closer, inching towards her as her mind wandered. That meant more photos but eventually she’d wandered home. He’d waited outside, just to see if she would go out again, but as he was starting to think she was in for the night he started away from her building, backing up as he watched her windows, just for a glimpse of her and he wound up banging into something.

A colorful string of curses in Russian filtered out from the person he'd unceremoniously bumped into. The surprise offense had had Ava dropping her shopping bags; bags not filled to the top with anything but actually much too large for the items they held. She'd bought a small scarf or gloves from each store and told them to put the items in their largest bag. Appearances, after all.

But right now that wasn't where her mind was. It was on this idiot that had bumped into her. "Who, exactly, do you think you are, that you can walk around like some blundering idiot?”

It took a moment before Jonas realized he’d bumped into a person and not just a thing. He turned towards her, staring at her for a moment as she swore and then accused him of being an idiot. “I was here first,” he tried feeling like that was a valid statement.

"From what I see, I was here first. You were the one walking backwards onto my sidewalk." Annoyed, Ava gathered her bags again and put them back in the crook of her arm."Keep your eyes open..."

“Do you own it now?” Jonas asked, slightly annoyed, but at the same time a bit caught up in her beauty. If she didn’t scowl so much she might make for a lovely model. She was no Emily, but better than nothing he supposed. “I’ve been here for hours. You just showed up.”

"Why are you standing on a street corner for hours? You don't look like you're...working." Ava said, eyes scanning him. And in this neighborhood no less. Who was this guy?

“Working what work would I be...no. No, no, no.” Jonas made a face and shook his head. “I was...watching. I was watching things. What’s wrong with that?”

"You were watching things?" She asked, looking back at what he was watching. "Oh...so when you say that, you mean that you were watching someone." Great, a classic peeping Tom. "You know you're old enough to afford something physical, right? And if you can pay for it, it's a hell of a lot more rewarding than staring into windows..."

“What?” That had Jonas stammering more shocked that she’d suggest such a thing out loud. “No, nothing like that. I’m a photographer. I photograph...buildings. Like this one.”

"Buildings...sure." She nodded a little, deciding that she could run with this if he was going to suggest buildings instead of women. Maybe he was actually taking pictures of buildings but she didn't quite think he was. "You were leaving. What other building are you going to?"

Jonas looked around as he shrugged. “Hadn’t decided yet. Library maybe. The burnt part always looks scary in the twilight.” Even if that was cliche and overdone, it served as a viable excuse for now.

"The library..." She laughed a little, starting on the sidewalk again. "...The library is this way then, if you're going." What a strange man. A strange, interesting man.

“I know where it is,” Jonas said, trying not to trip of over his feet as he started that way, one more glance towards Emily’s building. “Sorry,” he added then shuffled off in the direction he’d not intended to head.