On Night Shift (Open)

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Weekdays were usually slow, especially at night. But they were rarely ever this slow. Angie wondered if maybe there was something going on specially that prevented people from coming out for a midnight coffee. Usually the night crowd were people from bars, the patrons trying to sober up and the employees catching a late(very late) dinner, or from night owls like Percie who had unsteady schedules with their work. Between 3 and 4 was usually the slowest time, but it was still only 2 and the whole diner was....empty. With only the hum of the refrigerator and the cappuccino machine to keep her company. Well, there was also the cook, but he was being a grumpy puss and was hiding out in the break room. Angie always wondered what he did in there during the slow nights like this.

Angie trilled her lips, blowing a single golden strand from her face only to have it come back down every time she stopped to take a breath. She was going for a record; how long could she keep the strand floating in the air while trilling her lips instead of merely blowing out like a whistle. Angie couldn't whistle anyway.

Uggghhhh!! Angie dropped her head into her arms as she draped herself over the bar counter and let out a frustrated moan. If something didn't happen soon, Angie was going to literally die of boredom!! Or at least cry of boredom.

[Sienna Reid-Estrada]

Everybody would tell you that the least eventful time of the day for a twenty-four hour diner was the middle of the night, Sienna included. But lately the redhead had been working less and studying more, and so she assumed her coworker at the Diner had very few, if any, customers during the night. And thus, with a craving for coffee and overly greasy food, Sienna decided to head out to her workplace at 2 am.

The ringing of the bell indicated her arrival, and the sleep deprived college student grabbed a menu from the pile, even though she didn't have to. It was sort of habitual, though Sienna knew exactly what was on the menu and their prices (it was a part of her job description, anyway).

"Hey," The redhead offered the blonde a smile, hoping to catch her attention with her words, or rather, word. "Looks like you need something to do."

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What. Should. She. Do?

Angie rose her head and rested her chin in her palm, rolling her eyes to the ceiling. Guess she could…..count the ceiling tiles? That could take up…a good hour or so. Last time she only got to 214 tiles. Maybe she could get farther this time before someone came in?

1..2…3..4..5…..

The bell made her lose count just as Angie was really getting into it. And was she irritated? Maybe…

Angie snapped her head down from the ceiling and towards the entrance, expecting to see one of the regulars or possibly a new face of someone just passing through. She didn’t expect to see Sienna.

“Hey!” she gleed, her smiling brightening. Angie laughed. “Oh, my gosh, you have noooo idea!” she whined, draping her arms across the countertop like the proper lady she was. Angie cocked her head. “What brings you by tonight? I thought you had the night off?”

[Sienna Reid-Estrada]

"If you could consider studying until my brain was absolute mush a night off, then yes, I did." Sienna gave the woman a laugh and a smile, very much happy to see a familiar face. The woman was a little less than ten years her senior, and yet she was just as energetic and youthful looking as Sienna. If the redhead had to guess without knowing the Blonde, Sienna would say she was maybe 25 at most.

"Figured I might as well get some coffee and the greasiest food I could find," The idea probably would have disgusted her if she weren't awake at 2 am and just wanting a break. Sienna wasn't an organic freak, but an excessive amount of grease on a meal definitely didn't appeal to her... most times. "Plus, I know if I didn't get here, you'd probably be counting the dust bunnies under the booths for entertainment."

Sienna stepped forward, taking a booth and sinking down into the faux leather cushion. This felt so much better than her barely cushioned island chair. She could have sat on the couch to do her work, but many times she ended up falling asleep right there, and so she just stopped doing that all together. But this... at this point, she could fall asleep here.

"Oh Angie, Save me." Sienna said weakly, waving her friend over.

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Angie bubbled up into a laugh. “All right, hunny, you got me beat there. The worst I have to do is…maybe convince the cappuccino machine to stop breaking.” They really needed to get that fixed one of these days. Angie didn’t no anything about how to fix those blasted things. The most she could do was shake it around a bit and hope to the good graces that it decided to work again.

“Honestly, I don’t know how you do it with all the studying. My brain was just about ready to explode with just the high school stuff.” Which was supposed to be easy apparently. College was just far far too out of the young mother’s reach. Even if she did have the smarts, Angie didn’t have half the motivation. She’d probably fall asleep through most of her classes while staring at the grease on the tip of the professor’s nose. She giggled again and sent her co-worker a smart smile. “No…I was working on the ceiling tiles this time. Got all the way to number five before you came in. Now isn’t that something?” Angie was proud of herself, for having held off this long from some of her boredom-alleviating games.

Angie circled around the counter to her friend and crouched down to give her a sideways hug. “Right away, sweet-pea. What’ll you have? I’ll bring it to you right quick.” She rubbed her hand into a few consoling circles over Sienna’s back as she waited for an answer.

[Sienna Reid-Estrada]

The one thing Sienna absolutely adored about Angie was her natural maternal instincts. She treated everyone kindly and with a respect that was very hard to find these days, especially in a town where it was divided in two groups, meta's vs. Humans.

But while Sienna appreciated it, she didn't think she could be able to handle too much of the back rubbing or light touches because that most definitely would lull her to sleep. "Bring me some coffee for now, and then maybe a burger? You know how I like it." Medium-Rare, Lettuce, Tomato, and Onions.

God, that sounded good right now. But then again, so did pancakes, but she wanted greasy, not sweet. Actually, she could have both even though her wallet couldn't.

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Angie’s tendency to take care of others was likely attributed to just extending her “super momma” skills out to others. She didn’t always have a chance to take care of her boy, he was holed up on campus for most of the week, so she had to outlet it somewhere, right? Other than that, Angie just naturally wanted to do things to help others. She loved being appreciated, especially genuinely, by her friends and acquaintances. That was, unfortunately and unbeknownst to her, likely attributed to living in an environment for so many years where barely anything she did was acknowledged, much less appreciated.

The blonde gave her poorly drained co-worker a sharp nod. “Right away, hun. I just have to go get Mr. Grumpy from the back room,” she said with a irritated smile. “Lord knows what he’s doing back there all by himself.” Angie released a lighthearted giggle, then gave Sienna a light pat on the shoulder as she left to go fetch him.

She got Mr. Grumpy(she didn’t really know his name thought that one suited him best) out of his hole finally, not without a few scowls and grunts, and before either of them knew it, the grill was sizzling up with Sienna’s burger. Meanwhile, Angie filled up a thing of coffee and brought it out to her, pot and all. “You feeling any better, hun?”

[Sienna Reid-Estrada]

Mr.Grumpy was the very irritable cook they had, and was even more so on the night shift. They had about three different chefs throughout the week, but Grumpy-kinz was typically the one who took the nightshift. She thought his name was Aaron or something, but Sienna never asked. The redhead only gave the orders and picked them up. None of the cooks seemed to eager on talking to her much, which saddened her at times, but she remembered it was simply a job.

Not everybody would like her.

Angie was a doll, she truly was, bringing out the coffee pot and handing her an already poured cup of coffee. Two sugars, a little milk, and some creamer was how she liked it. "This coffee is probably going to do me wonders," She mused, giving the blonde a very tired but genuine smile. "Im almost done, Angie. I'm almost done, and then I can free my time of studying to search for a job in education."

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“Smells good, Mr. Grumpy,” she called back to the man who only, as expected, grumped back at the two girls. It was better that he was out here anyways, the morning crowd was going to be coming in soon and it was always better have the grill already fired up. Cut down on the wait time.

“It works for the customers, so I don’t see why I can’t help you too.” Angie giggled again. It was true, they did have some pretty awesome coffee to go with that pie they sold. It wasn’t the mass-produced stuff that they always had at the commercial places, like at the convenience stores. The owner ordered it specially from one of those gourmet coffee bean distributors or something. Angie didn’t know much of what it was, but she did know that it was quite excellent.

“A job in education? You looking to teach high school? Or are you going for a younger group?” Kids were nice. Sienna would make a good elementary school teacher, Angie thought.

[Sienna Reid-Estrada]

"While the food is really greasy, I can't complain about the coffee." Sienna laughed lightly, trying to suppress the yawn that was forming and trying to work past her lips. "Or the pie. Never the pie."

She worked on her concoction of sugar, creamer, and coffee, taking the first sip as the blonde asked her about what level of schooling she wanted to teach. Elementary had crossed her mind, but she had ultimately decided high school for the time being. It'd probably be a learning experience, especially considering she had been a high school student roughly five years prior.

"High School. I'm not technically certified. I have to intern for about a year, and then afterwards I can take the exam."

It would be an interesting year, but Sienna thought it might be well worth it.

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“Never the pie,” Angie repeated, taking in just a bit of pride about that. Everybody loved Angie’s pie.

Angie always admired those people who went into education. She didn’t know if she could do it herself. She’d like to say that the kids would drive her bonkers, but the truth is that she was more likely to join them and be a kid herself instead of getting on with the lesson. Ohh, if she did end up doing that, Angie would love to teach elementary school. She loved children just so much.

Angie felt sometimes like she was just born to be a momma.

“Sounds like you got a rough road ahead of you,” she commented. “I wish you good luck.” Angie giggled and gave Sienna a playful bop on the nose. “So, Sienna-hun,” she started, a coy little smirk on her lips. “Anything else gossip-worthy going on with you? Like…maybe in the dating department?” Angie just loved a good love story.

[Sienna Reid-Estrada]

It wasn't as if this profession was something that her family didn't fully approve of, but they felt it was better than the original music career idea that she had wanted to pursue. That was how she came to pilot ridge - a full scholarship to UVM. It was nice, and it allowed her to explore new places.

"I bet I do," Sienna offered a laugh, "Thanks, I appreciate it." The coffee was helping her sort of wake up, despite the fact that she was awake at such an ungodly hour. She should have really been going soon, but the fact was that she didn't want to. It was nice being waited on and not the other way around. Sienna shook her head at the dating comment.

"Nope, sorry to say. Still single, and I don't think that will change for a long time. Guys haven't seemed to be very interested in a girl who is younger than them and has a higher college degree."

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“It’s no problem, hun. This is what I live for.” Making other people feel better. Giving them a reason to relax. People say that bartenders should come with a degree in counseling or therapy, but Angie thought that it was just as true for a simple diner waitress. It wasn’t a big job, but sometimes the littlest things going right in a person’s day can make all the difference to them. Or maybe Angie just liked taking care of people, because she didn’t see that kind of performance at other places. Angie always was considered the black sheep of the ‘family’.

“Oh nonsense, I’m sure there are plenty of good men out there who can appreciate an accomplished lady.” Getting as far as Sienna had in schooling was something that Angie really admired about the red-head. “You just have to find them.”

Though… Angie helped herself in the seat across from Sienna and reached across to take one of her hands. “I’m thinking that your schooling is just so important to you, that you just haven’t been thinking to look. Not on purpose, of course. But I’m willing to bet that as soon as you get all that done and away with, you’re going to suddenly find yourself with someone who likes you for exactly who you made yourself to be.”