So far it had been a weird day for Laura. It had started off as normally as any other day could. She ate breakfast, went to the zoo to check in on some of her favorite animals, said hi to Augustus, and then ate lunch at the gift shop cafe like normal. These days were the best days since there was no school to go to or teachers to obey. Summertime didn’t last nearly long enough, but she tried to make the most of it. After her time at the zoo, though, she started heading back into town and probably would end up stopping by the precinct to see what Cat or Dyson were up to or if they needed her help. Sometimes they gave her little odd jobs to do, mostly to keep her out of trouble, but it was nice to feel useful when she was there.
But instead of going straight to the office, Laura caught sight of a man she’d seen arrive recently and had noticed on the network a few times. She’d also seen him a couple of times at the base shortly before the last mission. She often went there to watch people train or to challenge a few people herself even though not many took her up on her offer. They either didn’t know better and thought she was just a kid who had no business being there or they knew a lot better and knew she could kick their ass. She liked the ones who were somewhere in between.
From what she remembered about the man she was now following from a safe distance seemed strong enough, kinda gruff, and he didn’t take anyone’s crap. Like her. She was strong, not always the best at communication, and she didn’t like taking crap from people either especially if they talked down to her. She suddenly wanted to find out more about him. Maybe talk to him, but for now she was following him.
When Marcus - she thought that was his name - stopped in a shop, Laura waited outside on a bench to wait for him to come out. She swung her legs back and forth and watched the birds fly around, and it wasn’t long before he came back out with a drink in his hand and continued walking. So, in turn, Laura hopped up from the bench and resumed following him, this time a little closer. Soon, he made a second stop - Cava was the name of the place - and she waited outside again only this time he took a lot longer, and Laura soon grew impatient. Rather than continuing to wait, she walked into the wine bar herself and looked around. It wasn’t long after lunchtime, so the place wasn’t very busy which meant that a twelve year old in a bar stood out as soon as she walked inside the doorway.
She had no idea why she couldn’t stop following him, but she shrugged off the thought and hopped up on one of the stools near where he was behind the bar. When he looked at her, she just stared for a moment.
“Hi.”
The single word caused Marcus to halt in the midst of wiping down a glass, and he turned to look at the owner of the voice. So he did have a shadow. He first noticed her when he left the convenience store with a pack of cigarettes, but originally shook off the notion that she might be following him. Now that she was sitting at the bar across from him, he had to acknowledge the possibility.
“Hi?” he offered back, brow furrowed slightly as he wondered why she was talking to him.
Laura was an observer by nature. Since she wasn't always comfortable striking up or maintaining a conversation with someone she didn't know, or even sometimes with those that she did know, watching and listening helped her learn bits and pieces about people and how she might be supposed to act.
Still, though she didn't always pick up on normal social cues such as, for example, how Marcus was clearly confused by her being there talking to him for no apparent reason.
“What are you doing?” she asked him curiously. Her legs casually swung back and forth from her high perch on the stool, occasionally hitting the paneling of the bar that separated them. “Do you work here?”
Marcus glanced around the room to see if anyone else was paying attention, but no one among the small day crowd seemed to notice the girl sitting in front of him. “Yeah, I work here,” he answered as he looked back at Laura. He held up the glass in his hand as evidence as he added, “I’m drying dishes.”
He returned his attention to his work for a moment, putting away the glass before turning again to look at Laura. “Are you s’posed to be here?” he asked. It wasn’t that he cared either way, but he felt like it was what he should say.
“Oh,” she said and watched him dry, taking note of where he placed the glasses when he put them away. Sometimes she helped Dyson and Cat wash and dry dishes, but she’d also dropped a few and broken them early on before she knew how gentle to be. Before she trusted them as much as she did now, she’d been surprised that they never got upset at her about the broken dishes.
At his question, she shrugged. The door wasn’t locked, so she didn’t see why she shouldn’t be allowed. It wasn’t like she was going to order something she shouldn’t - even though it would have taken a whole lot for it to have made any difference.
She had no idea why, but for some reason she liked talking to him. Or at least she did so far in the little that she’d been here. “What’s that taste like?” She asked and pointed to a bottle of red wine behind the counter. She didn’t expect him to give any to her, but she’d always been curious. People around here drank a lot of it.
He wasn’t about to tell her to leave, so Marcus simply returned returned to his tasks, going through the motions of drying and shelving more glasses as she spoke again. Glancing over at the bottle she was pointing at, Marcus made a face. He far preferred whisky or beer to the bottles they served at Cava. He had a glass of wine every now and then, and it was OK, but it was definitely lower on his list of drink preferences.
With a shrug, he glanced back at Laura as he answered her question. “It all mostly tastes like spoiled juice to me.”
The face Laura made was probably similar to the one Marcus had made at his description of the taste of wine. She liked juice. Sometimes it was sweet but it also usually had a tangy flavor to it that she liked a lot. Orange juice was her favorite, but apple was pretty good too. Why would anybody drink something that tasted like bad juice? That was dumb, and she wasn’t that curious about drinking it anymore.
She was mostly content to just sit and watch him as he worked. Silences were normal for her, so the lack of chatter never felt that awkward like it did for some people who constantly felt like they needed to fill the gaps in conversation. She simply asked questions when she had them.
A minute or so passed, and she watched him lean over to put something in one of the spots under the bar, so she leaned over to get a better look. When she did, she spotted a picture of a pineapple on his leg. Laura scrunched up her nose and pointed. “Do you like pineapples?”
“Eh?” He halted in movement, following her gaze down to his leg before he realized what had prompted her questioning. “Oh, uh, I dunno, I guess. I got that in Honduras.” Marcus continued with his routine for another beat before deciding to elaborate. “There’s this whole philosophy thing behind pineapples being symbolic of welcoming and I’ve met a lot of decent folk in my travels who’ve been more than… hospitable,” he stumbled over the word a little before continuing, “so I guess this is just my way of sayin’ one good turn deserves another, or somethin’ like that.”
She wasn’t sure why a pineapple meant people were nice and welcoming, but she just added it to the list of things that didn’t always make sense to her. Why he got it on his leg didn’t make sense either. She was still looking down at it when she spoke again. “So, does that mean you’re welcoming too?” Or should it have been the other nice people who got them instead?
She supposed that he was being nice to her in answering her questions, but she thought that maybe ‘welcoming’ meant more than answering questions when people asked them. Maybe she should get Dyson, Cat, or Bella a pineapple. They’d always been the people to welcome her when she first got here.
Marcus turned his arms outward as he shrugged. “That’s the idea,” he offered in response to her question. He was sure that there were some people who wouldn’t agree to that assessment, and a lot of those people seemed to be on Atlantis, but that didn’t mean he lacked the ability to be kind, even if he was a bit rough around the edges. “Guess it doesn’t always work, though,” he added as he finished off the rack of glasses he had brought up front.
Laura shrugged. He seemed nice enough to her, so the pineapple on his leg seemed to be working or doing whatever it was supposed to be doing. There were a few kids at school that she could think of that probably needed them if it would help them be nice. Then again, the same could probably be said for her but she was nice to people she liked. And she liked pineapple man.
“I’m Laura,” she said, having no idea if he knew her name or not. That was the first step in being nice and welcoming, right? She guessed so, anyway. Staring at him, she suddenly felt weird. It was like her stomach was hurting, but it wasn’t hurting like she’d eaten way too much candy in one sitting. It was a different kind of feeling that made her feel a little nervous. He had a nice face. ….Wait, why was she thinking that?
Holding up her hand, she used her index finger for the ‘come here’ sign to beckon him over. She had no idea what she was doing, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself from doing it.
“Marc,” he offered in response to her name as he cleaned up the space around him. His brow furrowed once more when she crooked her finger at him. He didn’t know why she wanted him to come closer, but he made his way over to the bar and leaned on it near her anyway. “What’s up, you hurt or somethin’?”
She didn't know why she'd called him over. She didn't know why she didn't just ask some other question like she had been since first sitting down. She didn't even m know why she'd followed him around town and camped out while watching him work. But what she really didn't know? Was why she leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
Laura's eyes widened as soon as she'd done it. Her fingers gripped the edge of the bar, and when he pulled away she could feel her cheeks flush. She sat there frozen in place and had no clue what to do or say.
Marcus likewise froze in place, leaning on his elbows with his head inclined slightly. He blinked a few times in confusion. He was about to ask her why she’d kissed him, when he glanced over and saw her flushed cheeks. Thinking back to the previous month and and the weird kissing sleep spell that happened, he wondered if this were something like that.
Deciding that it was the most likely thing based on her expression, Marcus just said, “Uh, thanks,” and rubbed the nape of his neck as he stood up again. He was pretty sure he remembered some cans of a fizzy non-alcoholic drink for the staff in one of the back coolers, so he offered. “You want a pop or somethin’?”
The thank you caused Laura's cheek to flush even more. She'd kissed anyone let alone someone she didn't know. She knew his name, that he'd been to Honduras and gotten a pineapple on his leg. That was about it. He was nice, but she didn't understand why she'd done what she'd done or why even afterwards that weird feeling in her stomach hadn't gone away.
Her first instinct was to bolt especially when he offered the drink to her, but for some reason and partly because he'd offered the drink, she nodded. “Yes.”
He nodded in response, and retrieved the empty rack before heading through an archway that led to the back room. While in the back, Marcus got a can of some lemon-lime type drink from the fridge, and grabbed a full rack of recently cleaned glasses to bring back up front with him. After finding a spot for the rack, he pulled one of the globe shaped wine glasses from it, and wiped down exterior before setting it on the bar in front of of Laura. Popping the can, he poured some of the soda into the glass before sliding it and the can across the bar to her. He didn’t say anything as he returned to his duties, although he did glance over at her as he wiped down a new glass.
“Thank you,” she said quietly while he poured. Even if it was some kind of soda, Laura felt pretty grown up drinking it out of a wine glass. It was still fizzy and tasty, and she sat there silently but content while he got back to work. She didn't dare look over at him again yet so not to risk her cheeks turning red again.
She sat there a little while longer, and finished off most of the can pouring the remainder into the glass and finishing it off too. Once she was finished, Laura glanced his way and saw that his back was turned. Not wanting to risk embarrassment again, she quickly hopped off the stool and speedily left the shop. What a weird day this turned out to be.
Marcus glanced back just as Laura passed through the doorway. He retrieved the dirty glass and empty can, thinking with a small smile that it was kind of nice to receive a kind gesture from a stranger, even if it was a little weird coming from a young girl. He shrugged to himself and headed into the back to clean up.