The Showman [Jopper fanfic] |•|FINISHED|•|

Part 2

It had been 3 days since Joyce was in that bar, and she nearly forgot that experience. Her head only sometimes wondered about that man, Jim, but she didn't make hard head because of him.
She was having afternoon shift in her little place again, mostly being alone there. Today only 3 people came there, two of them reading, the other one was sitting on the computer and minding his own bussiness. Joyce learned not to ask people what they were doing on the computers, it was better to not know that.
She looked around, and then she continued reading her book again.
Right now she was reading a tragic book called "Hamlet", for 5th time now.
She was in love with books by Shakespeare. A lot people judged her for it, and she felt embarassed by it when she was younger. But no one trully took her passion away.

Suddenly someone bumped their hands on her desk. She startled and looked up angrily.
"Hey!", Jim said, smiling. He was wearing a casual clothes, different from the 'show' ones he had when she saw him firstly. He seemed, well, more  average to her now. He had black T-shirt and blue jeans.
"Oh, hey", Joyce whispered, looking behind her, "what are you doing there, showman?", she asked, landing her eyes on him again.
He seemed nervous to her. He looked away and murmured something, then she looked back at her.
"Well I was trying to find you, your friend didn't even tell me where you work", he said, sitting on her desk. From behind Joyce's back, the three people said "SHHHHHHHH" to them, and she rolled her eyes.
"Wow, it's really empty there", Jim joked and looked at Joyce.
"Yeah. Boring, how people say,....for me, it is very lovely place", she whispered, looking down.
"I see,...it isn't THAT bad, as I thought", he laughed.
"SHHHHHHHHHHHH", the three people said again, angrily looking at Hopper.
Joyce needed to chuckle.
"Oh are your guardians like that always?", Hopper murmured quietly.
"Not guardians for first, for second, Library= QUIET place", she whispered.
Since they were whispering now, Jim leaned closer to Joyce. It had a weird impact on her, she suddenly felt weaker, but she didn't mind it.
"Oh I am sorry I forgot!", Jim chuckled.
Joyce just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
"So this is all your work-?", Jim asked quietly in disbelief.
"Yeah, what's so bad on it?"
"It's so,....-"
"Booring?", Joyce mimicked.
"No! Not- boring! I mean- so silent. I would loose sanity if it was that quiet in my podium", he whispered.
"Yeah well, maybe it's because your work involves sounds like falling and laugh", she giggled, trying so hard to keep being quiet.
Jim just rolled his eyes with smile and looked away.
They were sitting there in silence. Then Jim slipped from her desk and took a chair to her.
"So, how boring you are?", He asked in joke, knowing that he gets an angry face from her.
"I am not boring! I am just- in- into culture and uh- I-"
"Karen says that culture is boring, yeah", Jim said with a smile.
"Yeah I know"
"But culture isn't that boring, I think", he giggled nicely and leaned closer to her visibly, but she didn't mind.
"Yeah, it's interesting actually"
Hopper murmured something, and he turned pink suddenly.
"Well, I think I will go! It was nice to see you Joy-"
"Cut it out 'Showman' and tell me the reason why did you came here?"
"Reason?", He questioned.
"And also how did you know where to find me?", Joyce said a little bit loud, crossing her hands.
"I uh- that's my magic", he winked playfully and chuckled.
Joyce chuckled with him. He was a nice guy, she could tell.
"But really, I need to catch bus", he sighed and got up.
"See ya?", Joyce asked.
"Definitely", Jim answeared, pointing his fingers on her, "see ya Joyce!", and he walked away.
Joyce giggled quietly and she focused back on her book.

She was walking back home, her mind wondering over the book she just read, thinking of it. Hamlet was pretty tragic story, that learnt her that 'karma' wasn't always the best option we could choose.
She was living in a small white house, that she got after her parents died. She sighed and looked up.
She never judged her house, she trully loved it there. After all she was born there, she had spend there her childhood.
She smiled from her silly memories and unlocked the doors. She walked in her home and closed doors behind her, locking it for sure. Joyce immidiently went to make herself dinner, and then she headed to bed. Normally she would watch a movie or something, but she felt somehow sick. She didn't felt like that before. It started after Jim showed up. But why? Could he have an impact on her? She shook her head and layed on her bed.
Of course not, he just wanted to meet her.
She closed her eyes and wondered. After a while she fell asleep.

She woke up by loud knocking on the doors and shouting. She looked up alarmed, for a while not sure where she was. Shen she releazed that she was laying in her bed, she quickly got up and ran to her front door. She unlocked them ans opened them, meeting Karen.
"MY GOD JOYCE! THE HECK?!", she shouted, pulling her into deep hug.
"I THOUGHT SOMETHING HAPPEND TO YOU!"
Joyce hugged her back, not sure what she should say. When she releazed that Karen was waiting for her answear, she quickly said that she just fell asleep.
Karen blinked several times before she started laughing.
"I didn't expect that", she said after while.
Joyce just rolled her eyes and let her friend in. They sat in kitchen and Joyce made them coffee.
They were talking for hours, and their chat slowly turned to the bar.
"It's not that bad place, what do you think?"
"Hmmm,...", Joyce thought for a while, then she admitted it. It was pretty nice place, after all,...or did she thought it because of a certain thing?
"Fred owns that place, I met him only once and I am glad for that", Karen murmured, "he seem so unrespectful to the others, especialy to the 'Catastrofy magnet', as he likes to say"
"Don't tell me that the owner calls Jim like that", Joyce gasped.
"Everyone does", Karen sighed and sipped from her coffee. She looked out of the window, clearly thinking.
"You know, I actually get it why they call him like that"
"What do you mean?", Joyce asked, raising her eyebrow.
"Well he kinda is bad luck itself. If I wasn't his friend I would propably use that joke too-"
"That's unbelieveble! How can you even say that? It is not his fault that he has a bad luck!"
"But you admit the fact that he HAS bad luck", Karen said, crossing her arms.
Joyce thought.
"I don't believe it. It doesn't mean that some bad things happend to him that he has a bad luck."
"Joyce, you haven't seen him in action yet"
"I DID. I know what I saw. He just,..."
"Hm?"
Joyce looked away. He just what? He had a bad luck, no way it wasn't truth. But bad luck didn't mean anything, did it? Even people with bad luck could be famous and well paid, right?
"I am just saying that,...even people with bad luck can have their luck"
"So you are admiting it"
Joyce slowly nodded.
Karen shook her head with a smile, thinking of what Joyce said. She never trully standed on men side, so her action surprised her.
"So where are you going to see him again with me?", she asked.
"Uh- I- I actually met him today", Joyce said, smiling from ear to ear.
"You what-?"
"He came to the library", she said.
Karen blinked few times before she clapped her hands.
"Wow! You have a lover there!"
"What? NO- god damn it-"
"Joyce don't say that~ He likes you if he searched for you in library!", Karen said, laughing.
"HEY! That doesn't need to mean anything!", Joyce blushed, looking away.
But for her, it did. No one ever cared for her to go to the library and see her, if we don't count Karen. It was sweet from him.

When Joyce went to sleep, she was thinking about him for long time. She had troubles to fell asleep, because he was on her mind. It was weird feeling, but on the other side, pretty nice feeling. She cursed herself for having silly thoughts of a boy she just met, and finally fell asleep.