While normally, Mouse would be a little sluggish and tired at the very prospect of the double-shift she was going to be working today, instead, the pale redhead was perky and smiling. She was going to go visit Hope after she got out tonight, and the thought made her giggly and full of smiles.
Wearing that silly-yet-cute outfit the waitresses there wore, she sat down at a small table near the counter to take her first break of the day.
Just as Mouse was sitting down to enjoy her break, Mac found herself wandering into the Sugar Shack. She didn't visit the place all that often, but like she was trying to do with Avarice, Mac was working on remedying that. Something that was mostly encouraged by her room-mate, Brayden. And deep down, though she wasn't all that keen on admitting it, Mac knew she needed to get out more rather then just lounge around the suite she shared with Brayden Bale.
After ordering a coffee mixed with cream and sugar, and a chocolate muffin, Mac turned to glance around the place to find a table that was nearby that was unoccupied as well.
"Ohhhh, crap!" Mouse squeaked loudly as she accidentally knocked the little sugar-holder to the floor, scattering tiny packets everywhere. This was all she needed, to spend half of her break cleaning up.
Mac had just started her wander over to the empty table adjacent to the one Mouse was seated at with her coffee and muffin when the teen came to a sudden halt as a sugar holder tumbled to the floor just inches in front of her and heard a squeak spill out from the red head seated at the table.
"Accidents happen, right?" Mac offered with a light smile. The teen then set her things down on the other table before making a move to help clean up the little spill of sugar packets.
"Th-thank you SO much... I'm not usually so clumsy..." Mouse mutter, embarrassed. She just wasn't usually so... distracted by thoughts of a certain other redhead. "Wanna have a s-seat at my table? We're really busy and it's the l-least I can do..."
"I wouldn't want to impose." Mac said straightening up with a hesitant glance between the two tables after all the sugar packets had been collected up and placed back in the holder. She could have easily said yes, but Mac felt a little awkward in accepting the offer.
"Impose? No way! Nobody's exactly bowling people over for a chance to sit with me, ya know." The redhead said sweetly, shocked to find someone as shy as SHE was.
"If you're sure." Mac said with a little bit of hesitancy before collecting her things from the other table to move them over to Mouse's. "I'm Mackenzie." The teen offered as it was the polite thing to do when she joined the red head at her table. For most people it would be easy to sit with a stranger and strike up a conversation. Mac, though, wasn't like most people, so this was a major step for her.
"I'm Mouse." She said with a little grin, as really... more people called her that than called her by her given name. Chloe gave it to her and... it just stuck. "Don't worry... I know how you feel. I'm... really shy, too." She sighed with a little bit of annoyance at herself. "Seriously. People I don't know talk to me? And its like I'm a deer in headlights."
Mac smiled softly to the girl then. It was nice to finally meet someone who was as un-outgoing as she was. "I can barely get two words out when someone talks to me for the first time." The dreamwalker admitted with a light, half laugh remembering the first time she met Brayden. That encounter probably had to be her most awkward, and now look at how their relationship had ended up.
"I know what you mean..." Mouse laughed, as both seemed unaware that this was making BOTH of them be more talkative. "The girl that just asked me out... first time I met her, I stutter like I was touched in the head or something. I can't believe she didn't think I was 'special' and walk away..."
Mac sipped her coffee slowly while listening to Mouse talk. "The first time I met the guy who became my best friend here I barely said two words to when we first met," the teen shared breaking off a bit of her muffin which was promptly popped into her mouth. "I guess they saw something in us that we've neglected to see." Of course Mac wasn't about to share with the red head the reason why Brayden wanted to get to know her in the first place. That really was a mute point at this moment in time.
"I don't see what's not to see with you..." Mouse mumbled, blinking a little. "You're SO pretty! And you seem very sweet." Ok, so maybe Mouse just had an affinity for fellow shy-types. Still! "You know... it's kind of weird. I've lived here my whole life, and never had one real friend. Now, in the last few months, I've had and lost my first girlfriend, seem to be on track to possibly have a new one, and now I have like... two or three people I call friends. Maybe... you could be one of them..."
"Brayden keeps telling me the same thing. That and I need to get out more." Mac relayed to the red head. "And I've never had one of those. A boyfriend that is, not a girlfriend. Not that there's anything wrong with that. One of the few friends I have likes girls too." And this was where Mac clamped down on her speaking so she wouldn't keep rambling on making only semi-sense.
"It's nice. The... having someone part." She smiled, for once actually talking about her recent relationship. "The girl I was with... she was really kind of abrasive, but she seemed to love me. She was beautiful, and ohmyGOD did she know how to make me feel...." she cut herself off there and BLUSHED. "Anyway... she had to leave... some kind of family emergency, she said. She's never contacted me again though. I guess.... that's a guess-work way of being dumped. And that HURTS. But trust me... the hurt you go through is worth it when you meet someone else. The girl that just asked me out... she's SO sweet. She's kind of like us... just not QUITE as shy."
"I'm sorry about that. Maybe she just got caught up in the family emergency." Mac offered as a possible reason for the lack of contact. "But I'm glad to know you've found someone else. And though Brayden keeps saying I'll find someone someday I'm doubting that will ever happen." That low self esteem of hers kept Mac from seeing the good about her. Had her only noticing the bad qualities. Though that was slowly changing.
"Oh man... no way!" Mouse said, almost squeaking a little there. "You're so pretty! And really nice, too. You and I are just too... quiet to attract much attention. I know some lucky boy'll notice you soon." The waitress said with a sweet little smile. "Hey... what kinda stuff do you like to do?" Uh-oh... sounded like Mouse had some ideas... was she hoping for someone new to hang out with here?
"I don't like shopping that much, well not the way some girls like shopping. Couldn't do it as an everyday thing." The teen smiled lightly slightly amused by Mouse's enthusiastic response. "I like going to the beach. And there's horseback riding, which I haven't done in a while. I must sound like the dullest person on the planet." Mac joked lamely with half a laugh.
"Are you kidding? To me, an exciting day is sitting in my bedroom reading a book and listening to my favorite CDs. That's about it. Compared to that, you're the most exciting person alive!" Mouse giggled, glad to have found someone to bond with that was seemingly almost exactly like her. Sweetly, Chloe noticed her having so much fun, and motioned to her that she could take longer on her break, which made the redhead feel warm inside. Chloe really WAS the best boss ever. "What kind of music do you like? Maybe we could just... listen to some CDs together and talk or something?"
"I like listening to Lifehouse, Chris Isaak, Faith Hill, The Corrs and the BoDeans. Just to name a few." Mac smiled over to Mouse. It was nice to sit there with someone who was similar to herself. Someone who she seemed to be instantly bonding with. Most of the time it took Mac a while to be this open with people. Mouse though seemed to be different. And Mac was liking the thought that she had made a friend in the red head.
"Ever listen to Eternal Embrace? Goth-slash-rock band... they're my favorites EVER. Although I *do* like Chris Isaak a lot, so awesome choice there..." She giggled and sighed, feeling, for the first time in ages, like a normal girl her age. With friends. And a potential girlfriend. And things to actually look FORWARD to.
"I think I've heard of them." Though the band's name wasn't ringing familiar with Mac. It was possible she had heard them, but just wasn't connecting the name with the music.
"I'm not usually real into rock and stuff, but ohmygod... they just move me on so many levels. Natalie's voice is just.... it turns me to mush."
Catching herself gushing, Mouse blushed and waved it off.
"ANYWAY. We could do anything you want, really. You're just the first person I've met in years who I feel like I can REALLY relate to, you know?"
Mac smiled. "I'd like that. And I feel the same way." Buffy and Mere were her friends, but Mac didn't feel she could relate to them the way she seemed to relate and connect with Mouse. "Maybe on your next day off?" Mac wasn't sure what Mouse's work schedule was like, and with herself not having a job it would really depend on when her new found friend had free time to hang out.
"I... I dont really have those." Mouse admitted, blushing. "I work seven days a week. But... but maybe we could do something after work one day?" She hadn''t thought of how that sounded... poor thing made it sound like Chloe was some kind of slave driver!
That astounded Mac and it showed on the teen's face when she responded. "You don't have a day off?" She questioned not quite able to wrap her head around that concept. Sure people worked for a living, but not seven days a week. Poor girl must suffer from pure exhaustion more often then not.
"I... Chloe lets me work extra hours, because I really need money. My mom's sick and my sister is too young to work. We're... really struggling right now."
She blushed again, not really ashamed of her status, but still feeling sort of second-class compared to everyone else.
"What about your father?" Mac normally wouldn't even think of prying into someone else's personal life, but Mouse was so easy to talk to that the teen found herself wanting to learn more about the girl. She just hoped asking wasn't pushing things which might result in severing the start of a good friendship.
"My papa passed away a few years ago, actually. It's... just the three of us. I don't mind though... My mother did a lot for me as a child.. now its my turn to take care of HER." Well... looked like Mouse had quite the stressful life... somehow, she was still sweet and kind, and hadn't grown cynical and cold.
"I'm sorry." Mac was able to sympathize with the girl as she had suffered through a similar loss. "My parents died a few years back." Mac found herself saying before a sip of her coffee was taken to keep her voice from cracking with remembrance of what was probably the saddest moment of her young life.
"Thank you. And I'm sorry for your loss as well." Damn... these two really DID have a lot in common, hm? "Ok, so... happy thoughts!" She laughed, trying to get BOTH of them to not burst into tears right here at the table. "Have you lived here your whole life?"
"Yes." The teen answered truthfully, though not that whole stretch of time had been filled with happy times. "Have you always lived in L.A.?" Mac asked back hoping to not go into much of her background. Well, at least not the past three years. Before and after that time period the teen felt she wouldn't have a problem talking about.
"Yeah... just haven't gotten to do much. I'm hoping as I can save some money, I can change that." She wanted SO badly to be able to do a lot with Hope, and didn't want the other girl to have to pay for everything. "Chloe's really good to me. She let's me work as much as I want, pays me for all of it, offers me all the free meals I want... I just don't usually accept the meals. I don't like feeling like... like someones charity case."
Mac sighed as she listened to Mouse. The teen then took to nibbling silently on her moment as thoughts swirled through her head. She had never thought of it that way when she started living with Brayden after her cousin went back to England. It just seemed right, and Brayden had never asked her for anything. The last thing she wanted was to be someones charity case. The pitied orphan girl who someone felt need to be taken care of.
"Chloe sounds like a really good friend to have." Mac finally said with a faint little smile.
"She is. Even if we don't, you know, hang out. Or talk much. Or anything." Mouse sighed, realizing that, Jesus Christ, she really DIDN'T have any traditional friends. "Wow. You know? We REALLY need to do something." She giggled.
Mac smiled back with a little giggle. The teen found Mouse's giggle to be infectious and couldn't prevent herself from letting a little giggle of her own spill forth. "When does your shift end?" Mac asked quietly. They might not be able to hang out for all that long of a time if Mouse was working long hours that day, but maybe they could do something.
"Well, let me see. I was gonna work a double today, but... That was more for me than for Chloe. Hang on."
The redhead got up, and shuffled cutely over to Chloe, and the two had a short conversation that ended with Chloe giggling and ruffling Mouse's hair with a laugh and an audible "will you go finish up and get the heck outta here, ya goober?"
A few seconds later, Mouse came back over, laughing. "Ok... I figured I wanted to go see Hope later anyway... So I dropped out of that second shift. I get done in a liiiiiittle over an hour if ya wanna just stick around and have something to eat..."
"I think I could manage to occupy myself with something for that little bit of time." Mac smiled when Mouse found her way back to the table. "When you're done we can do whatever you want."
"Alright!" Mouse said, trying (and failing) not to seem too excited. "Soon as I'm done, we'll go find somewhere more peaceful and just talk for a while. And hope I don't scare you off with probable gushing about the girl I'm gonna go see later."
"Will you get yourself back to work." Mac found herself giggling softly at the other girl's exuberance. The teen had a feeling that Mouse would most likely be doing most of the chatting once they left Chloe's. Once the red head departed the table Mac contented herself with the slow consumption of her coffee and muffin.