Another Day (Open.)

[Miranda Suery]

Miranda had been so busy with school and work, she barely had enough time to think. Instead of taking more shifts at the club like her manager had asked, she took off extra time in order to do well on her exams. She wanted desperately to win some scholarships for next term, so she wouldn’t have to work at a place she hated. The pay was minimum and the customers were chatty beyond belief, but she knew that going in. It was just so exhausting pretending to be interested in them in order to acquire tips. Her manager also didn’t appreciate her new hair style and piercings. Her customers seemed intrigued, but she doubted she would be here much longer before she quit or was fired.

“What’s with the hair, and,” the man seemed to struggle for words as he gestured in her general direction, “and the face?” He asked her. Miranda smiled at him, one of her many regulars. The brunette took his empty drink, “You’ll have another,” she guessed instead of asking, and he smirked at her, almost proudly. This place and everyone in it was disgusting. Walking behind the bar, a blonde co-worker of hers nudged Mira touched her pierced naval, “This one I don’t mind, but the lip piercing? And I thought you had no sex appeal before.” She walked off with her hips swaying, a tray full of drinks in one hand. Tramp Miranda thought to herself as she fetched another beer.

With nothing but the start of the new term on her mind, Miranda made her rounds to the regulars, and picked up the generous tips. She smiled to herself as she approached a newcomer who had just sat down. You didn’t need to show off your breasts in order to get worthy tips, but if that blonde wanted to be a show off she could, it was a free country after all. Taking out her pen and pad of paper, Miranda glued her grey eyes to it as she asked the person what she could get for them without looking at them. “Beer, cooler,” she glanced at them, finally making eye contact, “shots?”

[Hart Kenney]

This place was a dive, not to put too fine a point on it. Not a particularly nice restaurant, but they served beer and the sorts of finger foods that tasted well enough to people who had been drinking. The food and drink both were inexpensive, putting it in the affordable range for the two police officers and their barrack clerk.

More importantly, it was close to the station. Close enough that as soon as they were off the clock the three had agreed to go for dinner, leaving Renee to man the station alone.

As the waitress came over Hart suppressed a grimace at her attitude. Not exactly Ms. Congeniality, was she?

He gave her his best smile, hoping to coax one out of her in return. "Do you have Sweetwater by chance? If not, Miller is fine."

He glanced at his two companions. "We want any chips and salsa while we're deciding?"

[Sloane Deveraux]

Sloane would have to agree with Hart's deduction of the place and like him, couldn't argue with the fact that it was convenient. With Thomas out somewhere and her other house mate being weird and locking herself up in her room, Sloane actually craved for some noise and what better way to get it than with Hart and Charlie as her dinner companions?

Dressed out of her uniform in a maroon leather coat and jeans, with her hair tied up in a low ponytail, Sloane ventured out with her two co-workers for dinner at this rinky-dink eatery with a sullen waitress at their table.

"I'll have the same," she ordered before nodding at the suggestion of chips and salsa. "Cheese dip for me thanks."

[Charlie Davis]

"Yup, same," Charlie said, more out of an unwillingness to make decisions than a particular preference in drink. Really, Charlie wasn't picky. And at the moment, Charlie was sort of wiped. Pilot Ridge was a strange little town, and a lot of weird things happened and even though he was overall really happy here, it was sort of tiring. Which was mostly why he agreed to come down with Hart and Sloane down here. It was nice, sort of relaxing, and he really needed to wind down with some work friends. He had a disappointing time making actual friends down here of late. True, he and Sean hung out and watched sports, and that was nice. And true, he had...whatever very nice thing he had with Elaine. But he was used to having far more people to hang out with. Oh well.

He noted the weary long-day expression on the waitress and gave her a friendly, commiserating grin. "I'll just scavenge chips from these two, thanks." He tilted his head to the side, "Long day?" She just looked a little sullen, and Charlie felt bad for her. However, he would understand if she just told him to shut up.

[Miranda Suery]

Mira wasn’t trying to win any awards, to put it lightly. She smiled back at the man who seemed to be trying too hard and glanced at the other two. “We have Sweetwater.” She glanced at the other man. “It’s been a long day,” she looked the three of them over and came to the conclusion that they were police officers, “I’m sure you understand. Nachos with the works then?” She gave the group a parting glance before going back behind the bar to fetch the things they wanted.

Miranda put up their appetizer order and grabbed their drinks before wandering back to them with tray in hand. Her boss stopped her and told her to be a bit friendlier to the customers, especially cops to put it in his own words. She rolled her eyes before carrying on. She hated using the trays, it accentuated just how skinny her wrists were, and they popped out enough without the added weight of the tray.

Placing their drinks in front of them, Miranda settled the tray against her hip and stared at them. “Chips will be up in a few minutes. Is there anything else I can get for you?” She addressed the group as a whole and waited with her pen and paper in her apron if they chose something else to have.

[Hart Kenney]

Hart felt a twinge of guilt as Charlie put his finger on precisely why their waitress wasn't full of rainbows and sunshine. Oops. He should have considered that; waitressing wasn't exactly an easy job.

Or so he'd been told. It wasn't like he knew, he'd never had to work in the restaurant business. Although if his job with the police didn't work out he supposed he couldn't rule it out.

"Thanks." He nodded as she informed them she had Sweetwater. That was unusual up here, but he wasn't about to complain about finding his favorite alcohol brand up in Vermont.

When she wandered away he leaned back in his chair, letting out a sigh. "I'm starv--" He began, but before he could finish, the waitress had returned.

She seemed like she was trying to be friendlier.

Maybe.

"Awesome." He replied to the remark regarding their chips. "So are there any specials today?"

[Sloane Deveraux]

Sloane didn't care for the waitress' sullen nature but she kept her thoughts to herself. After being told off by Thomas that her comments tended to be hurtful and brash, Sloane was trying to lessen the blow a considerable amount by shutting the hell up.

Good thing Hart and Charlie were nice people and they were more than willing to take full control of the situation.

She grabbed her drink and took a sip of it, letting Hart order for them. She was a little too tired to think for herself so it was nice to just sit back. See, she wasn't a total control freak.

[Charlie Davis]

Charlie winced slightly. "Poor kid," He commented to his colleagues once the waitress was out of range. He felt a little bad for her, since she didn't seem to be enjoying herself at all. However, that was also just what happened when you took little jobs that you had to take in order to finance yourself before you can take real jobs. It happened.

While Hart was ordering, Charlie turned to Sloane, "So how's life been treating you?" She seemed quieter than usual and Charlie was a little concerned. Although he secretly kept expecting the acerbic younger woman to just tell him to be quiet. But that was okay.

[Miranda Suery]

Miranda looked up at the first man, who she dubbed clueless. "No, just what's on the menu." She said dully. She had tried living off tips, like her co-workers had told her to do, but between school and real life it just wasn't worth the effort. Miranda wasn't sorry for the lack of specials. They were cops, they made a good living. The specials were only a dollar less and whatever was cold in the back, so they should count themselves lucky tonight.

A glance was cast over the woman who seemed as bitchy as Miranda. This made the brunette smirk for a split second before returning to their impending order. She was just thankful it wasn't a busy night and that others were waiting on her, these three would probably be a while. She wasn't thrilled about that, but she wasn't about to let them know either. Her shift would be over in fifteen minutes anyways and she wouldn't have to deal with them anymore, and vice versa.

[Hart Kenney]

Hart supposed he shouldn't be surprised by the lack of specials; after all, waitresses were supposed to state those immediately, which she hadn't done. But he didn't think he could be blamed for asking when Miranda looked like she was trying to get by with the bare minimum effort.

He liked to know what was different, those little menu items that would be there for a day and then maybe never again. Or at least not for another month, or week. But not every restaurant operated that way.

"Okay." Barely any time was spent scanning the menu before he handed it to her. "I'll have ten lemon pepper wings, please. Oh, uh, can I have a water on the side, too? Thanks."

He added that thanks in peremptorily, hoping that would prevent her from telling him no or otherwise acting like she might dump it on his head.

"Guys?" He asked, turning to his colleagues. Sloane was being very quiet, but she was an introvert; he remembered how freaked out she had been when they'd gone Christmas shopping. Maybe asking her to join him and Charlie was just too much.