Stay Afloat (tags Alex)

[Cera Lamprey]

Cera leaned against the table with a pout. Another night, another venue that had told them to never come back. Apparently it was too much to ask that their guitarist show up to shows sober, which was beginning to grow old. It wasn't as if there were that many venues in Pilot Ridge or the surrounding areas, and word was going to get around. 

It probably already had. 

She had floated to Graham that they might want to sever ties with Shane, but he refused to confront anyone at all ever. 

She had parted ways with the rest of the band, too annoyed to really want to spend time in their company if they weren't going to be professional about their music. It wasn't as if she expected them to become more than a fun hobby, but it was hard to have fun if they couldn't actually play anywhere. 

She scanned the crowd at Kali's in boredom until her eyes fell upon someone cute. Tattoos, dark hair, piercings, glasses...

he was also a little shorter than her, but she was willing to overlook that. She twisted a lock of pink hair around one finger before weaving her way towards him. 

"Do you think it's too late for coffee?" She asked, gesturing towards the counter where the owner was busy at work. Kali also had pink hair (although not quite the same shade) which was another reason to love this place.

[Alexander McKenzie]

When Kali had promoted him to assistant manager, Alex hadn't known what to do with himself. He'd gone from dishwasher to line cook to server and just about everything in between since he'd first started back in Hammel. Kali was also helpful in that she worked around his school schedule. As such, he tended to work a lot of weekends and evenings, sometimes taking his schoolwork with him to review when things were slow.

Tonight was one such night, though Alex had hit the floor several times when they'd been slammed at the dinner rush to help take orders and bus food. Just because he had been promoted didn't mean he couldn't help out when it was needed.

Now it had quieted down again, he had tucked himself in the back of the serving floor with a mix of paperwork for the Kafe and his own homework. Though he had donned a short black apron during his time serving, he had since ditched that. The sleeves of his dark blue button down shirt were rolled to the elbows, letting his tattoos show. His dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail, his piercings also showing. Whenever he shadowed at clinics or at Maddock, he pulled them out, but at Kali's she didn't mind them in, so he left them.

Between the spreadsheet for the Kafe and his pharmacology homework he was slowly going cross eyed. Maybe a break was in order. He thought about going into the kitchen to grab a snack and maybe a drink. Anything to get him away from papers for a few minutes. He was just crossing the floor when a very pink haired girl approached him.

He thought he recognized her from the group that had been talking to Kali earlier. He had been in the middle of helping the servers, so he hadn't paid much attention. But she had his attention now, as it was only polite.

"No, of course not. I can go get it myself, if you'd like. How do you take it?" He knew Kali wouldn't mind him helping out on the floor for a few extra minutes before going back to the sheets she's given him earlier.

[Cera Lamprey]

Cera felt a thrill as the cute guy offered to get the coffee for her; she hadn't quite realized yet that he worked here, nor had she noticed the engagement ring he wore.

"That would be wonderful," She gave him a wide eyed look of appreciation. "With milk, if they have it."

Maybe her stupid fellow bandmates had screwed up their show. Again. But she got to chat with a cute guy instead of singing, so the night wasn't a total loss.

[Alexander McKenzie]

Alex didn't quite know what to with the wide doe eyes he was being given, but he smiled regardless. He was nothing if not polite, especially to customers.

"Sure. Give me a moment?" With that he slid behind the counter and gave Kali a quick wave. While he was back there he also grabbed a few cookies and a coffee for himself before heading back out to the floor. "Here you are," he said as he offered her the pink mug. He also placed one of the two large, iced sugar cookies beside it. It was rude to not share. "Can I get you anything else?"

[Cera Lamprey]

"Thank you so much," Cera fluttered her eyelashes. Aw, he even noticed how much she liked pink. That was so thoughtful of him. And he brought her a cookie!

This was definitely turning into a better night than she had anticipated when the guitarist had shown up high as a kite. Cute emo boys, sugar cookies, what more could a girl want?

She tried to think of something else she might want, in order to keep him present.

"I could use some company," She suggested, hoping that would be enough.

[Alexander McKenzie]

Still not quite catching on, Alex smiled sweetly at her. "You're welcome. I didn't catch your name. I'm Alex."

With her looked after, he could take his coffee and cookie back to his table and go back to working and studying. Yet when she posed her second request, he arched a pierced eyebrow. "Company?" .... Well, he was technically working, but Kali was casual and probably wouldn't mind. "Sure. I don't mind. Let me just bring some things over." He set down his own coffee and cookie before returning to his table. Gathering his books and papers, he carried them back to Miss Pink Hair's table and set them down again before sliding across from her. "Sorry," he apologized quickly. "I'm working and studying at the same time. Full time student, part time worker." He honestly wasn't ignoring her.

[Cera Lamprey]

The fact that he was working put something of a damper on how politely and quickly he had helped her. Ugh, was she going to have to pay for this cookie, now? She could afford to do that, but she hadn't asked for a cookie, just coffee. 

But she didn't say that. Instead she said, "Oh! Where do you go to school?" 

Maybe there was a chance he went to Greenview. She hadn't ever seen him there, but she was sure she hadn't seen every other student. 

[Alexander McKenzie]

If Cera was worried about the cookie, she shouldn't have. Alex hadn't thought to tell her, but he got a lot of free food from working, and slipping a cookie to someone now and again wasn't a huge deal. He'd been grabbing some anyway for himself, so why not share? At the end of the night it wouldn't be on her bill, in any case.

"University of Vermont. I'm a second year nursing student." Almost third year, which was sort of scary. "What about you? What do you do?"

[Cera Lamprey]

Drats, he went to UVM.

"Aw, you're going to be a nurse?" She cooed, hoping that even if he was working, he might still be receptive. "You must really like to take care of people. I'm going into elementary school education, myself. I just love kids."

She took a bite of her cookie and all but fluttered her eyelashes at him.

[Alexander McKenzie]

Alex smiled and nodded. "That's part of it, yes." He didn't routinely divulge the other reasons to strangers, though his support ribbon on his arm often did it for him, if people clued into it. "I'm hoping to go into a pediatrics division. Kids are great." He hoped he could do a good job with them, at least.

"How much longer do you have left in your course?" School was sometimes a long haul, especially when you switched majors partway through.

[Cera Lamprey]

"Oh, I only just started," Cera admitted while mentally doing a little dance that he liked kids. "It's so wonderful to meet guys who like kids. So many of them think kids are nuisances." 

She nibbled some more of her cookie, then wiped her mouth before trying to give him her very best seductive smile. 

[Alexander McKenzie]

"Oh. Well, I'm sure you'll make a great teacher when you're finished." He may not have known her for long, but she seemed like she had the personality to suit the career. "I've always liked kids. My mom swears up and down that I was the only male babysitter in our area." He'd liked doing it when he'd been younger, and even in high school he'd sat for some of the staff at Hammel. Now he didn't have the time, and he found he actually missed it a little.

He also missed the smile he was given, his attention briefly down on his pharmacology homework. He'd thought he'd seen something about pediatrics, and the talk of kids made him double check.

[Cera Lamprey]

"Thank you," Cera took a sip of her coffee as he turned his attention to the papers in front of him. Darn, was she really less interesting than paperwork? That hurt a little. 

She allowed her gaze to wander to his tattoos and jewelry. 

"I like your ring." 

She didn't wear much jewelry herself, but this looked relatively simple as far as rings went.

[Alexander McKenzie]

"You're welcome," he answered with a little smile, his attention back on her. No, he wasn't going crazy. He'd seen some pediatric notes.

Her compliment about his ring made him smile in a loving way as he glanced down at it. He'd always been one for jewelry, and as such had a massive collection of rings, necklaces, and earrings. But his engagement ring was one he'd taken quickly to wearing daily. It had been perfect - simple, durable, and smooth so that it didn't get caught on anything.

"Thank you. It was a gift from my fiancée." Just the thought of Ann made a dopey look appear in his face. "She thought it was only fair to get me an engagement ring too if she has to wear one." Ann was funny that way, but it didn't bother him. He wore it with no complaint.

[Cera Lamprey]

Fiance.

That one simple word caused Cera to mentally kick herself. She'd been trying to flirt with a guy who was engaged. She was disappointed (he was so cute! And friendly! And he liked kids!) but she was also a tiny bit angry at herself.

You weren't supposed to flirt with guys who were engaged.

"Does she work here too?"

She decided that the best reaction was to pretend she wasn't disappointed, and instead keep being friendly. Maybe he wouldn't say anything about how she had obviously been hitting on him.

And maybe, if she was lucky, the fiance wasn't around to kill her.