Who: Zayne and April What: First day of work When: March 9th, morning Where: Coffee shop
Zayne was in a bit of a tizzy. His thoughts were on tonight and the plan and those kids and worrying about Remy and worrying about Thursday and worrying about Phobia and wondering how little Phoenix was doing and wondering how Daryn was doing and worrying in general about everything and wanting to stay positive and did he mention that he was worried? Zayne was in a tizzy.
He almost dropped the third cup of coffee that morning and once he got that safely to the customer, he turned to who he was working with and announced, “I need a break. I’m plunking myself over there before I plunk another coffee on the floor.” He tugged off his apron and found a recently abandoned armchair and flopped himself there. Okay. Calm down. Focus and be normal. Yeah. Like he was going to be able to do that. He should have grabbed some paper. Maybe if he could draw some while he was trying to untizzy. He didn’t want to get up. He closed his eyes. Okay. Untizzy. Go.
April was still very unsure about this whole working thing. But it would give her something to do, other than wait for people to be unhidey, or wait for times when people were free and she wouldn’t be a pest. Yet when she walked into the coffee shop, April got this weird sense of dread that she was going to be in the way, or cause problems without meaning to. Maybe she wouldn’t ask about working here, and this was just a visit. Spotting Zayne, April approached him with a smile which quickly faded when she saw his eyes closed. She wanted to say hello, but maybe he was asleep? Or sick, or upset? That wasn’t good, at all. “Um, hi?”
Zayne heard the small hi and mentally cursed. He did not forget that April was coming in today. He really didn’t but he must have forgotten what time. He opened his eyes and smiled at her.
“Hey April. Sorry. I’m with you today,” Zayne said quickly. He stood up, “How are you today?” No, this was good. He would stop thinking about the kids and the breakout and focus on other things. The world still spun and while that stuff was important, he had to play along with everyday stuff too. Besides this was important to April so it was important to Zayne too.
April tilted her head, watching Zayne curiously. “Are you okay? Am I bothering you? I can go and come back later, if you want.”
“I’m okay,” Zayne said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t sleep well last night and it has me all discombobulated and I’m not entirely sure if coffee is going to make it better or worse. So if you can put up with a slightly zany Zayne, I’m all yours.” He offered her another smile. He’d get this together. He had to.
April blinked and studied him quietly before nodding. “Okay. If you’re sure. Is there anything I can do to help?”
Maybe he was being weird. He shook his head and said, “Shall we get you started? Get you an apron and go over things? I was thinking of having you help out here. Keep things clean and organized, refill the napkins, etc when they needed it.” It was early enough that throwing her behind the counter would be mean. Besides, this is what he did with Avery too. Started her with the easy stuff and then slowly taught her more.
April shrugged and smiled a little, hoping he really was okay and she wasn’t just worried for nothing. “Okay, that sounds good.” She waited for him to lead the way, eager to be helpful and learn new things about the coffee shop.
Zayne walked around the shop with her, showing her things as they went. He showed her about cleaning up the cups people left behind and where to put them in the kitchen. He scored them both a cookie from the baker, who was finishing up for the morning.
Once he was done, Zayne leaned against the wall and asked, “Everything sounds okay? Seems easy enough?”
April listened very carefully as Zayne explained everything, asking questions when she wasn’t sure if she had it right. She happily accepted the cookie, but still kept a close eye on Zayne throughout the tour and explanation. When they finished, April nodded and glanced around. “I think so. I hope so. If not, you or someone else will be here to ask, right?”
Zayne nodded and said, “I’m here a lot so you can always ask me anything. But if I’m not here or if I’m drowning in coffee, anyone who works here will be willing to help. I promise none of my employees bite.” He actually liked his crew that worked the cafe. If they were anywhere else, this would be a really good job. Well that and he still needed a morning manager. Dreams.
Feeling reassured, April smiled. “Okay, that sounds good. I am nervous, but excited too. I don’t think I ever had a job like this before. I hope I don’t mess up or let you down.”
“You won’t,” Zayne promised, “Well, there is one way you could but I know you won’t. Just do your best and you’ll be awesome,” Zayne reached out and squeezed her arm lightly, “So do you want to get to work? Or shall we hide out here some more and chill a bit? You need to update me what’s going on with you.”
Still concerned about Zayne, April made the easy choice. “Can we hide out some more? If that’s okay? If not, then I can go get to work.”
“Let’s hide out more,” Zayne said, “I’m probably not setting the best example on the first day but I don’t really care right now. So. You didn’t answer. How are you? What’s new with you?”
April shrugged a little, trying to remember what they talked about the last time they hung out. “Um, nothing too much. Oh! Rose is going to help me learn to dance again. And I think I am going to paint the walls in my place. Yellow.” Because obviously. “What’s new with you?”
“Again?” Zayne asked. He didn’t know that April knew how to dance before. He wondered if that was in her file. He hadn’t looked at it, choosing to respect her privacy. Plus he didn’t want to accidentally say something that he knew and wasn’t supposed to know. “You know how to dance? What kind of dance do you know?”
He smiled and nodded, “Yellow walls sounds wonderful. Do you need any help with that? An extra pair of hands?” He realised he asked her a bunch of questions. He would answer hers the next turn around.
April realized the slip and just shrugged it off. She hesitated before just answering truthfully. “I used to be a ballet dancer. But I don’t remember any of that now, so Rose is going to try to help.” April thought about his offer to help and smiled, but she was unsure. Rose offered to help, and she’d asked Phobia to help. But she kind of figured the more people involved, the less likely Phobia would want to paint with her after all. But she didn’t want to avoid her other friends either. “I don’t know, maybe? I will let you know. It would be fun to have you come help.”
Zayne smiled and said, “My sister took ballet for several years. Actually, all my siblings and I took a bit of dance growing up. That’s really cool, April. Maybe it will come back to you. Like muscle memory or something.” He was going to be hopeful for April.
“Let me know,” Zayne said, “Maybe you can have a painting party since your last party went so well. You may even outshine Remy as the party person around here.”
April blinked, surprised. “You took dance lessons? What kind of dance do you do? I hope it comes back to me.” April didn’t know why exactly, but it just felt like dance would still be really important to her, even though life here was very different. “There’s such a thing as a painting party?”
“Our mother wanted us to learn a bit of everything,” Zayne said. It was so they could dance on stage, which Zayne had hated. He wasn’t bad at it but he didn’t like doing it, “It was mostly, like, modern and whatnot. Florence loved it and wanted to do more ballet.” He wondered if his sister still danced.
Zayne shrugged and said, “Why not? Maybe not a big party like you had but you and your friends? Isn’t that a party of sorts?”
“That sounds like fun. Who is Florence?” April liked hearing about Zayne’s family, they sounded nice. “I guess having friends over is kind of like a party, but I don’t know if everyone would like to paint. Maybe after it’s all pretty though!”
“Florence is my oldest sister. I have one older brother and two older sisters,” Zayne wondered if April would recognize the names if he said them. His siblings had pretty old names but then again April may not remember trivia like that. He nodded, “It was. Florence was the only one who continued with the lessons. The rest of us had other passions.”
Zayne smiled and said, “That’s true. Maybe once it’s done. I know I’ll love to see the finished product.”
“What were your passions? What are passions?” April bit her lip, figuring she should know what the word is.
“Passions are the things… that fire you up inside. Things that you are born to do,” Zayne tried to explain. He hesitated then said, “For the longest time, it was music for me. Playing music completed a part of me, it filled a hole in me that I didn’t know I had. I wonder if dance was that for you before.”
April listened carefully, she think she understood. “Maybe. It was my job, so that would be good if it was. But what is your passion now?”
Zayne thought for a moment. The Faction was a huge passion but he couldn’t say that. He liked to draw but it wasn’t the same as music.
“I want to say music still,” Zayne admitted, “But I don’t play like I used to. Hell, that recording I did on the network the other day was the first time I’ve done something like that in a long time,” he smiled to her. “I really hope that is for you.”
April blinked in surprise. “Wait. That was you singing? I thought it was just something you found online. That was amazing.” April wasn’t sure what else there was for her if dance wasn’t her thing, so she hoped so too.
Zayne smiled and said, “Yeah, that was me. I’m glad you liked it.” He hesitated. He was pretty sure that she was one of the few. No one else commented. “So when do you start your dance lessons?”
April smiled. “You should sing all the time!” April shrugged at his question. “Soon, I hope, whenever Rose has time. I know she was looking for a good place to dance so it didn’t have to be in her living room.”
I used to, Zayne almost said but instead said, “It’s a work in progress.” He nodded and said, “I’d offer to show you a few things but if you remembered anything, you’d think I’m terrible at it.”
April smiled and shook her head. “I don’t think you would be terrible at anything. Maybe just not as good as you are at singing.” She shrugged and chewed on her lip again. “Are you sure you’re okay? I don’t want to be a pest, but something seems off. Maybe it’s just me, I feel like everyone is off.”
“Thank you, April,” Zayne said. When she asked, he wanted to reach over and hug her. He would love to tell her what was going on but he couldn’t. So he said, “I think it’s just the stress of people disappearing. People want to do things and it’s hard. Especially lately, we all just want everyone to be safe, you know?”
April frowned and looked down with a nod. “Yeah, I think you have a point. I just don’t like it when people are upset, I want to help but I can’t ever seem to do it right.”
“What do you mean?” Zayne asked. “Why don’t you think you are doing it right?” Immediately, Zayne wanted to help her and, he wondered if she could help with the Faction. He thought she could but it wasn’t just his decision.
April shrugged, now feeling badly that she even brought it up. After a moment of hesitation, she shook it off and looked back up to Zayne with a smile. “Nothing. I just try to help when people are upset, but I guess I can’t make people feel better all the time even when I want to and try really hard. It’s not important.”
“Of course it’s important,” Zayne said, “I can tell, just how you said it now, that it bothers you,” Zayne reached over and gave her a hug, “But I know what you mean. I want to make everyone happy too but that’s impossible. I think, sometimes, the only thing we can do is be there for people. That helps more than we’ll know.”
April returned the hug with a sigh. “It doesn’t feel very helpful, it just feels like I’m being a bother.”
“I promise you aren’t,” Zayne said, “Maybe what we need is a moral boost, something to look forward to and celebrate.” Zayne sighed softly. He didn’t know what that was but they needed something.
April nodded a little. “Like another party maybe? But is there anything to celebrate?”
“Being alive is a reason to celebrate, isn’t it?” Zayne asked, “Or having our friends. Or,” he paused, trying to think of what else, “Do we need a reason to party?” He smiled softly. Maybe he was spending too much time with Remy but he didn’t think that was possible.
April thought about it for a moment before shrugging. “I guess not? I just thought parties were supposed to be for a reason. Like birthdays or holidays. Is it someone’s birthday?”
“I don’t think there needs to be,” Zayne said. He thought again, “My birthday was a couple of weeks ago… when is your birthday?” He realised he didn’t know and he hoped he hadn’t missed it. If he did, well, he was going to bake her the biggest cookie ever. Ever.
Blinking, April shook her head. “It was your birthday and there was no party? I’m sorry, I didn’t know! I’m a bad friend.” She gave him a quick hug, knowing it wouldn’t really make up for it. “My real birthday? I don’t remember, but I have it somewhere. I think it’s in May? But I woke up on April 14th.” Because, her ‘name.’
Zayne held back from saying he had a party with Remy. That probably would need an explanation and did not want to get into that right now. He hugged her back and said, “You aren’t a bad friend. I didn’t really tell anyone. Birthdays… I love other people’s birthdays. Not so much my own.” He thought for a moment, “You could have an early birthday party?”
While April liked parties, the idea of her own birthday party just didn’t feel very good. She didn’t know why. So instead, she just shook her head. “I’m sure someone is having a birthday, or has something good to celebrate. Or we could just have a party. But… people are sad, do you think they will come?”
“I think they will come,” Zayne said, “Misery loves company and misery loves a reason to party and forget why it’s miserable. They will come and it will probably be awesome.”
April frowned a little and suddenly felt like she was going to cry. Trying to hold it back, she just nodded a little. “Do you think someone want to have a party? Or, maybe I could throw one again, I guess. Maybe.”
Zayne saw April’s face crumple and he immediately pulled her into a hug, “Hey. Talk to me. What’s wrong?” He didn’t care about the party too much. He wasn’t even sure if that was enough to cheer people up. They needed real solutions and a party wouldn’t do that.
April hugged Zayne back but just shook her head. “Everyone here is so sad, it feels bad.” April had somehow figured out how to turn her own negatives to positives, but being surrounded by people who were upset, in a not so great place, was starting to get to her. She tried to push it down as she stepped back from the hug and put on a small smile. “It’s fine, it’ll be okay.”
Zayne nodded to her and said, “It will be okay. I know just because people are sad… we have each other. I think that’s the biggest thing we all need to realise, that no matter what happens, we have each other and that makes us strong. I have you and Remy and others and that makes me happy. That helps a lot.”
April nodded again. “Yeah, you’re right. Thank you. And I’m very sorry I missed your birthday. I should make you cookies or something. Or, I have candy! I always have candy.”
Zayne shook his head, “Don’t be sorry. I didn’t advertise it. I can’t be mad at you for something I didn’t tell you about. But,” he grinned at her, “If you bring candy next time, I won’t say no. I’m just saying.” Maybe he shouldn’t encourage his sweet tooth so much.
April smiled a little and nodded. “Okay! What kind of candy is your favorite? I have lots of kinds, but I always like to know what people like best so I can get that too.”
“Sour Patch Kids are my favourite,” Zayne said without hesitation, “And though not a candy? I can never say no to Oreos. I’m pretty sure I tried to live on Oreos when I was first living on my own. That and Krispy Kreme. Which was a terrible idea.” Which then got him into learning about foods and cooking for himself. The second week had a lot of mac and cheese.
April nodded a little, she knew she could get some Sour Patch Kids and Oreos. She was going to make sure to get a lot so that she could bring them to Zayne. And not just because she’d missed his birthday, but because he was her friend and gave her a job, and nice people deserved nice things. “What’s a Krispy Kreme?”
“It’s the devil’s donut,” Zayne said, “It is wonderful and so sugary and, argh. I do not eat them anymore. But I highly recommend trying them once.” He had read once that someone used a Krispy Kreme as a burger bun and put a burger patty in the middle. He couldn’t even stomach the thought of it. Such horrible sinful wonderful things they were.
April was curious now. “The devil’s donut? That sounds scary. But sugar is always good. Can we get those here?”
Zayne laughed lightly, “It’s not scary. It’s just really really good.” He paused, “I don’t think I’ve seen them here but I haven’t looked either. Maybe we can try to order some in? I’m not sure how…” he would try to figure that out for her.
April nodded a little and smiled. “I guess we can just try, the worst they can say is no, right?”
Zayne grinned and nodded, “Absolutely.” So maybe she should ask since he wasn’t about to get any favours. Guess that meant he wouldn’t get a pet anytime soon. “So shall we go back? Ready to work?”
April nodded and smiled. “Okay. I think I am ready to work. I will try hard.”