nolan mccarthy has no idea what he wants to do (cluelessly) wrote in mnhttnprjct, @ 2010-06-06 00:38:00 |
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Alex was still a little uncertain about meeting internet guy, as she'd come to call him in her head. Regardless of the fact that it was a public place or not, she'd survived the past couple months on the streets mostly from a constant state of wariness and some luck. She didn't really want that to come to an end at the back of some bar. But he seemed like a nice guy, and she figured if he was a total douche she could just bail. A trip to a public pool had let her take a shower and get cleaned up, and her hair was still a little damp as she opened the door of the crowded pub just after the dinner hour and slipped inside, staying back against the wall so the hostess wouldn't notice her right away and looking around to see if anyone looked as she imagined internet guy would. Finally she asked where Nolan was and after being directed towards the bar she slid onto a stool, feeling self conscious and a little embarrassed about being here, because she hated looking like she was asking for handouts and she told herself it wasn't about food. She waited a moment, watching him as he moved bringing out someone's order, then dropped her backback at her feet, keeping one toe on it for safekeeping. When he came by her again she caught his eye and lifted a hand, a little hesitant. He was cute, actually, which she didn't think she'd expected, and that drove this to an entirely new level of awkward. "I hear your mom makes a really mean buffalo chicken dip." Working at his family's establishment for yet another summer wasn't his idea of fun, but Nolan supposed he should be thankful. Judging from all the complaining he had seen throughout the blogs, he had ventured to guess the job market was tough, so he guessed he should be thankful for what he had. Sure, it required working for family members (which he wouldn't recommend) and he ended up smelling heavily of fried food by the end of the night, but at least he had a pay check. He really couldn't argue with that. On this particular night, he had spent a good portion of it busy attending to customers, most of which seemed to be incredibly grumpy for some reason. It hadn't left him in the best of moods, but more importantly it caused him to completely for get that someone was coming into the restaurant to see him at some point during the evening. This is why Nolan looked slightly confused when a small brunette at the counter gave him something that could have been a wave and it wasn't until he heard the comment about buffalo chicken dip did it dawn on him it was Alexa. Internet Alexa. "That is the rumor going around the Internets," he answered once he was close enough to her via the other side of the bar. He then held out his hand, ignoring the weird look from any other members of the staff. "Nolan McCarthy." "I hear there is a lot of weird stuff on the Internets," Alex said, waiting a moment before taking his hand and shaking it a little hesitantly. "Alexa. Weber. But you can call me Al, nobody calls me Alexa anymore." She settled back on the stool and tried to look like this was something she did every day, come into pubs and talk to boys she didn't know outside of comment spam. The city and all its crowded wonder was still new to her and in many ways she was still getting used to it, even now. She looked at the dwindling crowd in the dining area and the groups around the televisions in the bar and gave a half smile. "I hope I didn't pick a bad time. If you're busy I can come back or-" Since he was on his best behavior, Nolan resisted making a comment concerning her name and a very old song by Paul Simon. "You don't look like an Al." That statement was followed by one of those looks that indicated he couldn't believe he said something that lame. "But if you like to be called Al, Al it is." At least he didn't attempt to say that Alexa was a pretty name? That could have gone in a potentially awkward way, which wouldn't help the situation. "And no, you're fine. We're normally like this." Not really, but he didn't want her to feel like she was bothering. Nolan then crouched down behind the bar for a moment, appearing a moment later with a menu that he handed over to Al. "Can I get you anything to drink while you look that over?" "Alex works too," she said. "Just not Alexa." She shrugged, not explaining anymore, but that name belonged to someone that was in the past, someone that wasn't her anymore and probably never would be. He seemed nice, which put her at ease, and the tension in her shoulders lessened a little as he offered her the menu. She looked at it, cheeks flushing slightly as her stomach gurgled in response to some of the illustrations, and after a moment she shook her head and set it aside. "Good, I don't want to get you in trouble. And I'm okay, I think. I don't want you to think I'm using you for your food and beverage cred." It was a weird thing, pride. She didn't see anything wrong with asking strangers for money but this was someone she kind of knew. Well sort of. "Water's fine? Or a soda?" "Alex it is," he answered with a very small smile. For now, he really wouldn't question why she didn't want to be called Alexa, mainly because he went through a phase in the 3rd grade where he didn't want to be called Nolan. It was at least a month he refused to answer to the name, instead insisting that people should call him by his middle name of Thomas instead. While it wasn't nearly the same reason, but at least it would keep him from asking. "Pepsi fine?" he asked as he walked the short distance to where the soda dispenser was located. "And if you start coming in everyday, I'll start to think something's up. Once a week or so isn't that suspicious. Also, can I recommend some fries? We just changed the oil, so they are coming up perfect." Alex nodded and waited for him to come back with the drink, offering a thank you as she took it and then looking up at him with a considering expression before finally nodding. "All right. Fries. Whatever you think. Like I said I don't want you to get in trouble or anything." She shrugged and offered a crooked half smile of apology before taking a sip of her drink. It was cold and sugary sweet and she savored the taste before looking back up at him. "So. McCarthy's. Dad? Grandpa?" "You're not going to get me into trouble," he answered as he went to the computer to place in an order of fries, plus a chicken sandwich since everyone liked chicken. She wasn't going to get him in trouble mainly because he was going to pay for this bill himself. It was all good, Alex. Also, the place was pretty slow after dinner, so it wasn't like he could get in trouble for not looking after the other customers. Enjoy your Pepsi and he would just stand here pretending to tidy up the bar area. "And my Dad and my uncle. They opened it a year before the bomb." The bomb. It was funny how that was a point of reference for everyone now. Before and after, yin and yang. It gave her ideas for a blog entry that she mulled over as she played with her straw and watched him pretend to tidy the bar, wondering why he was being so nice and then hating herself for automatically feeling she had to be suspicious. Some people were still nice, weren't they? It made her a little wary, like with Mr. Kim, but she wanted to trust him, needed to really. "It's nice," she said simply, looking around. "Homey. You have a big family?" It was easier to talk about him than herself, while it was one thing to lay bare parts of herself on the internet, this one on one thing was different somehow. It was a great maker for time and the perfect example of before/after. Before the bomb, life was easy and everyone could eat all the beef they wanted. After the bomb, things got difficult and he actually started enjoying the taste of soy products. Not exactly how he had expected his life to be, though he supposed lots of people had it worse than him. Alex, for example, but he wasn't about to ever say that out loud. "I'm the oldest of six," he answered while pretended to organize a stack of menus. "My parents are good Catholics like that and so were their parents. You?" "Six." She couldn't even fathom that. Not in the way of it being a large family, because some of the group homes she'd been in had twice that many kids, but of having that connection with that many people, that many people to come home to. "Only child," she said. "My parents got divorced when I was eight and my Mom and I moved to Pheonix. That's where we were when. You know. Dad was still in Colorado but they never found him. He just... vanished. I don't know what happened to him. Still don't." She said it almost matter of factly. It was her life and there wasn't any sugar coating it, and she hated it, but the times she shed tears about it were few and far between, crying didn't get you anywhere. It didn't change anything. And he couldn't fathom being from a small family, let alone being an only child. What did they do for fun? Did they get bored with no siblings around to play with or torture? These were questions he always wondered about and perhaps at a later time, Nolan would ask about it. "My Dad was in Colorado when that happened." As he said that, his voice got a bit quiet because first of all, that had been an awful time for his family, but more importantly he felt bad saying it. His father had survived while Alex had no idea what ever happened to hers. "I'm sorry," he finally said because for a day or two, he completely knew how that felt. Alex looked up at him for a moment with careful eyes and then shrugged slightly before giving him a half smile. "Thank you," she said. "It isn't very often people say that, usually they don't know what to say." She turned her attention back to her Pepsi, stirring it with her straw, not wanting him to see the way that made her feel that she knew would be reflected in her eyes. Her mother had always said Alex couldn't hide anything for long, that she could always tell what her daughter was feeling or thinking just by how she looked at her. "Your Dad was all right though? He's safe?" It seemed inappropriate to say 'you're welcome' in return to that, so Nolan just gave her an awkward smile. He didn't want this whole experience to go in a completely awkward direction, though he wasn't sure why the thought of that bothered him and decided within a second or two he wasn't going to think anymore on the subject. After all, this little interaction was brought to you buy free food and that was a happy thing. Right? Yes. "Yeah. I mean, he has a limp, but other than that he's pretty fine." Or at least Nolan was guessing because it seemed like he never saw his father anymore thanks to his job. "That's good." She wasn't sure what else to say to that, so after a moment she looked back up at him, thinking maybe they ought to change the subject. "So you go to NYU? What's it like?" She wasn't sure she would go to college, although she had thought at one point she would. Right now she'd have to finish high school or get her GED or something first, and she wasn't really certain that was going to be happening either. It was odd talking to him like this, and she wished he was sitting down, even though she knew he was technically working. "Are you really thinking about transferring?" Oh thank goodness the subject was changed. If she hadn't done it, Nolan would have come up with some random and unconnected subject in order to do the same thing. Alex's transition was much better and less random than his would have been. "Umm, it's pretty good. At the risk of sounding stupid, it's really big and can be a bit overwhelming," as he moved from the menus to restocking the straw containers on the bar. Also, the overwhelming part was probably why at the end of his freshman year he went part time. Not that he would admit that or anything, but there was a lot more to that than just him wanting to find himself or some other cheesy stuff like that. "And I don't know. I mean, I'll have to go somewhere if their funding falls through and Columbia really isn't an option." He didn't really want to work here forever. "I can imagine. I mean New York is pretty overwhelming, I can't imagine a big school like that." She leaned more comfortably on the bar now that he was nearer, feeling more comfortable talking to him. "There's a lot of colleges and stuff here though, right? I mean, depending on what you want to do?" She considered him for a couple of moments, liking that she could talk to him like she was just a girl and he was just a boy and the awkward reason for her sort of being here didn't exist, or that she could pretend it didn't for a little while. "You can't leave now, I mean we just met." Her words were teasing, trying to make him feel a little better about the situation, which had to be tough. "I grew up in the city, so that part is no big deal. But the school... man. Half of the classes are in these huge lecture halls with a hundred plus people and the professor doesn't know who any of us are. And the other half of the classes have nothing to do with anything, so I don't know." Tell us how you really feel, Nolan. "And I have no idea what I want to do." That made the prospect of transfering a bit hard. If he had no idea of what he wanted to do, he really didn't know the right school in which to transfer. Knowing his luck, he would pick a major that didn't match the school he picked, which meant he would have to start all over again. So screw you, NYU! At her last comment, he smiled and considered saying something in return, but decided on something else instead. "I should check on your order." Alex nodded, cheeks flushing a little as he went off to do that, thinking she was being stupid and ridiculous and girly to think anything beyond him being a nice guy doing a nice thing which essentially was what he was. Her long hair provided a convenient curtain to shield her from view as she sipped her Pepsi and waited for him to come back, her foot absently kicking her backpack to make sure it was there from time to time. A group of people came into the pub and took up a table near the bar, giving her something to watch as she sat, her thoughts going over their conversation and also where she'd go when she left here, whether she ought to head back to where she usually stayed or maybe she just would find somewhere closer to hear so she didn't have to go so far at night. About two minutes later, he returned with a chicken sandwich with a large order of fries in two. Nolan then set the plates down in front of her before crouching down, popping up a moment later with some squeeze bottles of Heinz mustard and ketchup. "I got you a chicken sandwich, so I'm hoping you're not a vegetarian." If she was, they had some lovely soy burgers in the back that even he had to admit weren't half bad. "And there is lettuce, onions, tomato, pickles and mayo on the plate, plus here is some ketchup and mustard. You need anything else?" She shook her head no. "Not a vegetarian. And really this is... really nice. Thank you. I'm good." She shook her head at him. "You didn't have to do this you know. But thank you." She poured some ketchup out, spurning the mustard, and took a bite of a fry. "Probably nearly as good as your dip." Don't spurn the mustard, Alex! It gave a meal a nice spicy kick! "Well. Maybe next time I can conjure up some dip for you." Apparently, Nolan was assuming this wouldn't be the last he saw of Alex. If that was all right with her, of course. "And don't worry about it. I'll just let you eat in peace here. There's probably something I should be doing." Like... wiping down a table or watching the clock until it was time for him to leave. Her mouth curved up at the corners as he acted like he might see her again, but she just nodded, knowing he probably had to get back to work. "All right. Like I said, I don't want you to get in trouble or anything if you're supposed to be working. Maybe sometime I'll have to see you out of work. I can tell you my grand business plans." "My father owns the place. I can't really get in trouble." And he was paying for it, so it was like it never existed in the first place. It all worked out in the end. Smiling once again, he grabbed a dishtowel from under the bar and started to walk a few steps before turning around to look at her once again. "I'd like that." Then he was off to actually do his job and to let herself eat her meal in peace. |