Alex (clockwork) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-09-25 09:52:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | #november 2017, alex, alex x fin |
Who: Alex and Fin
When:Tuesday, 14th November, elevenish.
Where: Joylands Coffee
Status: Complete
As Fin walked down the street and pushed the door of Joylands Coffee open there was a wide smile on his face, the same smile had appeared on his face that morning after waking up curled up in bed with the man who had gone on a date with the night before, it was crazy and impulsive but he had enjoyed every moment of it. After saying their goodbyes earlier Fin had ducked over to his cottage where he ended up spending a few hours doing some more painting, the trims around his bedroom and the adjoining bathroom were finished and he hoped that by the weekend that he would have time to do the walls and at least have part of the house finished.
He was still smiling when he saw Alex was working that day, they had seen one another in passing several times but other than a quick hello there wasn’t time for conversation but at the moment it seemed to be pretty quiet. “Hello again stranger.” Fin joked as he walked up to the counter. “Can I please get two ounces of loose leaf Earl Grey, a pot of Darjeeling and one of those delicious looking croissants?”
The morning rush had eased off several hours ago and the lunch rush hadn’t really begun yet so Alex was glad to see a familiar face walk in. He hadn’t had much time to actually talk to Fin properly and even though he didn’t really know his local barkeeper, he enjoyed their friendly chats at each other’s work places. “Hey there, you know we don’t serve your kind of stuff here don’t you? You should try that bar in the bookshop, I hear they’re okay.” He grinned as he rung up Fin’s order and paused the conversation long enough to grab the order. He set them down on the counter and read out the total before he continued. “So how are you anyway?”
Fin still had some time until he had to be at the store so wasn’t in any rush. He did laugh when Alex joked “My kind of stuff? And what exactly is that, the books or the booze?” Tea was always his prefered beverage, though now he was branching out into trying different non alcoholic drinks if he was having a quiet night in or dropping into somewhere like Dragonfly. Handing over the cash and a bit for the tip he picked at a bit of the croissant while Alex got the change. “I’m going pretty good, how about you?”
“Whichever, both? Either way, it’s not tea,” Alex said as he sorted the money into the til. He liked Fin, he was a nice guy, a good kind to talk to when either of them had the time. They didn’t know each other to have a deep friendship, yet, but that was okay. Sometimes you just needed somebody to ask how you were without needing a proper answer. “I’m not bad, it’s been pretty quiet for a bit so that’s nice. No troublesome kinds asking for tea. Well…” He gave Fin a pointed look them smiled. “So what’s on for your day?”
“You know I got a new batch of cider in yesterday, if you want to come up and try my stuff when you finish here.” Fin said lightheartedly, he liked that Alex had a sense of humor and they could joke about things, including their jobs. So far they had only ever talked when either of them was working, either here when Alex was working or at Books and Beer when Fin was on duty, but they got along well and he was sure there was a friendship building there. “My day? Just relaxing a bit before I go to work, enjoying a quiet cup before I have to go and deal with those troublesome customers wanting books.” He joked, thankfully he rarely had issues with customers, well those who were pretty much sober at least.
“Oh, phew, for a second I was worried you were talking about me there but I don’t really read,” Alex laughed. He didn’t mind reading but it wasn’t really his hobby of choice. He much preferred to watch the screen adaptation instead. It was faster, not that he had too much of a social life standing in the way of reading these days. Fin’s day sounded better than his own of working and home to… well. Nothing, really. He needed to get out more. “You know, I might come by one day soon, after work or something. I haven’t really had time to do that lately.”
“Na, you’re easy, give you a cider or two and leave you alone.” Not that Alex actually bought much, other than his drinks. Fin knew not that everyone liked and enjoyed books as much as he did but to each their own, he did enjoy movies and television but always fell back to his books. He didn’t have much of a social life either, work didn’t just end when he shut the doors at night, hours were spent each and every week doing paperwork, putting in orders to his suppliers, paying his staff and everything else that goes with owning a business. “Please do, whenever you get time.” It wasn’t like he’d be going anywhere, though he was thinking that he might start swapping a few of his evening shifts for day ones if he was going to have any more dates with his neighbor across the hall. “I’ll be sure to keep a bottle of cider or two for you.”
“You talk to me occasionally too, that’s probably worse than anybody looking for a bit of help on the shelves.” Alex considered making a suggestion of which day he would be there but he wasn’t sure and, honestly, where he went after work really depended on how exhausted he was. There was no point making any promises. “Are you on every afternoon this week? I mean, I dream of the day I go there and there’s a hot bartender waiting for me but you’ve got the drinks so I guess you’ll do in the meantime.”
Fin chuckled at the thought that Alex would be a hassle in the store, he was no problem at all. “You’re not as bad as those vague customers who come in wanting that ‘book by that author who wrote that other book’ but can’t remember their name.” Not that he had a lot of those kind of customers either, most people knew what they were after and the author, or at least the title. “I’m there every afternoon and evening for the rest of this week, as for the hot bartender all I can offer is me, Sally Nat or young Jade. Sorry if we’re not hot enough for you, guess you might have to find another bar which has hotter bartenders.” It was a joke of course, Alex was free to drink wherever he wished and Fin knew a lot of people prefered the atmosphere of the other bars in town compared to Books and Beer, which was much more relaxed and quiet than all the other bars.
“Yeah, people who read are the worst,” Alex replied with a smirk as he grabbed a couple of loose sugar packets somebody had left on the counter and tucked the full ones back in with the rest and scrunched up the paper of the used ones. He had met the other bartenders Fin mentioned but none of them had really caught his eye. Maybe Mike was right, maybe he was broken or something. “Well, none of you are completely ugly but she’d have to be really hot before I ruined my welcome there. You don’t want to piss off the one pouring your drink.”
“Oh they are! They sit in my store, reading their books and behaving most of the time like decent adults. Terrible, just terrible!” Fin’s tried to keep a straight face but there was a hint of a smirk playing at the corner of his lip as he ripped off a corner of the croissant and ate it. Up until two weeks ago Fin would’ve thought of himself the same way, that he was broken because he hadn’t had such a good track record of late. Though now he seemed to have someone showing quite a bit of interest. “You’d be one of the smart ones, I can’t tell you the amount of people who have pissed me off over the years and as long as you behave you won’t ruin your welcome.”
“Don't worry, I don't intend to,” Alex said. It wasn't like Books and Beer was the only place to get a drink but it was his favourite. It was quieter than the other bars and usually had time to chat. Which reminded him of something he wanted to ask… There was no subtle way to change the subject so he decided to just go for it. “By the way, have you heard of any news about missing people lately? Everything kind of stopped on the Lucas girl so I assume she's been found.”
The whole quieter vibe of Books and Beer was one that Fin was happy with, he didn’t want to be like the other bars in town and his customers were probably happy with how the Haynes had set up years ago, Fin’s worst fears were of something happening to his little store, he’d be lost without it. “Not a thing. But you are right, they had the searches and nothing since.” They did the same thing with Danny, lots of searches at the start and then nothing, but he expected that looking for a missing nine year old would’ve gone longer and he hadn’t heard anything, not even any gossip from nosey customers, if she had come home Fin didn’t know about it.
Alex hoped that no news was a good sign but in a town like Point Pleasant, it probably wasn’t. They could have found something and kept it hush-hush or everybody could have just lost interest. It wouldn’t have surprised him if somebody found extra valium in the town’s water supply one day. It was unnatural how calm people stayed in the face of all the weird stuff that went on and, worse, he could feel himself dismissing some of the stranger things sometimes too. “Well, maybe they found she was hiding somewhere with friends or it was a custody dispute or whatever,” he said slowly without much conviction. “Is she the only one you’ve heard about lately?”
As long as they hadn’t found a body there was still hope, at least that’s what he was thinking when it came to Danny, it was selfish of him but others probably felt the same way about their missing loved ones. Valium in the water supply wouldn’t surprise him either, Fin was used to weird stuff - hell he has his own ghost and knowing that would freak most people out but so far nothing bad had happened and in fact his spirit had helped him several times over the years. After glancing around to make sure there were no other customers Fin then continued talking, in their discussions Fin had told Alex about his friend Danny had gone missing so at least he didn’t have to talk about that, it still hurt. “I saw some posters up for a guy who disappeared last weekend but that’s the only person I’ve heard of lately. But then again I’m not a cop and don’t know every single thing that happens in town.” It would be nice to know everything, sometimes.
“Yeah, I saw that one but I don’t think…” Alex trailed off. He hadn’t really mentioned much about AIR to Fin and he still wasn’t sure if he was ready to change that. He had already shared so much to Dylan Bailey that he was sure the former cop thought he was some crazy crackpot. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Well. Even if you were a cop, I don’t think you’d know much more than we do. I was talking to a teacher who used to be a cop and I don’t know if he was a total skeptic but the case we were talking about isn’t as easily solvable as I think when you need actual proof to show people.”
Fin was born and raised in a town where ‘weird’ was pretty much the norm, hell up until about two months ago he was fuckbuddies with a werewolf so anything Alex could have said Fin would’ve taken with a grain of salt. “Proof is important, people won’t believe you without it. Though honestly even with proof staring them right in the face, some refuse to believe, but if we were all the same it’d be a boring world indeed.” He couldn’t say he was ever a skeptic, he had seen and gone through too many things to dismiss everything as a hoax or dream or whatever the powers-to-be wanted him to believe. “You going to the Christmas Tree Lighting on Friday night? I’m thinking of shutting the store for a bit to go down see them turn it on, if I’m not overrun with customers that is. It’s usually a nice event, see what theme and colors they’re going to light it up with.” Christmas was still five or so weeks away but if he was honest to himself, he was kind of looking forward to it.
Alex wasn’t sure if he accepted that one could so easily dismiss the way everybody seemed to just naturally accept the town’s weirdness as just differences making the world go around but he didn’t feel like debating it with somebody who clearly did and let Fin change the subject instead. “Maybe? I’m not sure. I don’t think I’ll really be celebrating Christmas this year.” His mother had loved Christmas, it was the one time of year that was guaranteed to get her out of any depressive funk and he couldn’t imagine doing it without her. He didn’t really have anybody to celebrate with anymore. At least it’d be easier on his budget. “It’ll be the first one without my mom so…” He trailed off with a shrug. It had been getting easier but the big holidays just brought it all back.
They could argue all day about the weirdness that was Point Pleasant but the present time wasn’t really a good time to talk about it. Fin could understand not wanting to celebrate Christmas, he wasn’t overly into the holiday season, though he was looking forward to Christmas day itself, while he could only take the public holiday off Fin would be working to let his workers enjoy a few days off. When Alex mentioned it was his first holiday without his mother Fin wanted to kick himself for bringing it up, he couldn’t remember what it was like having the first lot of holidays without his father because he was only three when it happened and had no real memory of him other than what he saw in photos and was told. “Sorry Alex, I didn’t know. I can’t blame you for not wanting to celebrate. But if you want to come over to Books and Beer, I’ll shout you a drink.” Not that it’d make up for his loss or anything, just sharing some holiday cheer and Alex could use it.
“I might take you up on that,” Alex said with a small smile. He was relieved Fin didn’t want to dwell or do anything stupid like feel obliged to offer him a place to go for the holidays. A couple of friends back home had offered for Thanksgiving and while it had been tempting, he had eventually decided to stay at home instead. He almost wished the bar would be open on Thanksgiving but he doubted it. Fin had a life outside of his business to go to instead. “Though after Halloween, are we sure any big, public event like that is a good idea?”
“Guess I better keep a few more bottles of that cider aside.” Fin returned the small smile, taking a sip of his tea as they talked at the counter. His plans for the holidays included a big Thanksgiving meal at his new cottage with his friends and as for Christmas he wasn’t sure as yet but it was probably going to be the same, good food with good friends. Once in the past he had kept the store open the afternoon and evening after Thanksgiving, thinking that maybe some people would come around for a drink afterwards but no one showed up so from that time he hadn’t bothered opened again during holidays. “I’m going to be keeping myself way back at the lighting of the tree, not touch anything and I’m buying all my food for the holidays well in advance.” And try to keep away from anything magical.
Alex nodded. That sounded like a good idea to him too. “Still braver than me,” he said but he wasn’t completely sure if he was joking or not. Mike had lost a friend, a friend around their age, in the Halloween riots. That had hit too close to home. Maybe he should have headed home for a few days. “I’m sure it’ll be fine though. Don’t they always say the safest time to fly is after an air disaster?” It wasn’t quite the same but it was reassuring. “I’ll have to come in on Saturday though to make sure you’re still here.”
“I’ve got my turkey breast roast in the freezer, it’s just all the sides that I haven’t got around to getting yet.” He’d try to get them on the weekend, it was just over a week until Thanksgiving and it kind of made him nervous, would he have everything ready to move into his cottage by then? He really should start packing boxes and moving things from one place to another, who knew how hard it would be to move things once the snow started to fall and settle. “I wouldn’t know, I’ve never flown in a plane. But I do appreciate you coming to see me to make sure that I don’t disappear on Thursday.” Fin smiled, though honestly he didn’t expect anything to happen to him.
“You sound way too organised,” Alex said but his grin made it clear he was only joking. He was glad he didn't have to prepare a family meal because he knew he'd leave it until the last minute to do everything and he didn't know how to prepare a turkey. “My mom was like that too. One year she was too sick - the flu, not her usual - to do all that kind of stuff and I didn't realise until the night before that it'd be up to me and you know how the shops get so there wasn't much left. We ended up eating frozen dinners and watching the TV specials instead. It wasn't terrible but she made the best stuffing.” He smiled, it was a happy memory and he pushed away the twinge of sadness that threatened to wreck it. He'd have to try to find her old recipes but he guessed they were still in a storage locker with everything else. He glanced down at Fin's purchases and gestured to the tea. “But, hey, you've got your essentials already sorted.”
Fin grinned as he took a sip of tea. “I’m crazy, didn’t you know that already?” He said lightheartedly, well he wasn’t exactly the sanest person on earth and he liked being organised, especially when it came to food, his freezer was testament to that - filled with containers of meals that just needed to be defrosted and heated up. Alex’s memory of frozen dinners with his mother sounded like what he had done several times over the years when he couldn’t be bothered cooking, though usually the frozen meals were his own cooking instead of brought from the store. “If you want me to, and I’ve got any leftovers I’ll bring you in some on Black Friday.” He was sure that he’d have food left after his friends had eaten their fill and taken their own leftovers home with them. “And yes, tea is an essential for this cooling weather, I don’t know how many cups I go through a day but it’d be nearly a dozen.”
“That actually sounds awesome, thank you,” Alex said. He was momentarily surprised that somebody would offer but then again, it was Fin and that was the kind of person he was. Their friendship wasn’t a particularly close one and neither really saw each other outside of their respective jobs but that had been enough to know that if anybody wanted to bring leftovers, it would have been Fin. And he couldn’t deny the idea of a home-cooked meal that he didn’t have to cook had an appeal to it. “But only as long as you promise not to save me the burnt end or leave it out long enough to give me food poisoning. I might be an annoying customer but I still pay my tab at the end. You’d miss me for that alone.”
FIn made the offer because he felt for Alex, the young man had moved back to his mother’s hometown and from their few discussions he was here alone and now going through the first lot of holidays without her. Even though Fin and his own mother were having a bit of a rough spot with their relationship lately he still couldn’t imagine life without her. “It’s no problem, and I promise no burnt end bits or salmonella, I’ll be at the store for virtually all of Friday for the crazy ‘Black Friday ‘sales if you want to come up and get it then. And you’re right, I would miss you for being a decent customer and paying your tab on time.” He finished off his croissant and the last sip of his tea. “That’s me done, I better let you get back to doing some actual work before the bosses come back.” Fin said with a smile, as nice as it was talking to Alex they were at his workplace and other customers would be coming soon, he was actually surprised they talked this long without interruption.
“Yeah, I guess I better get ready for the lunch rush.” Alex made a mental note to put ‘Books n Beer’ on his calendar when he got home. It was less about the food and more about the good company after what he expected to be a tough day on Thursday but if somebody was willing to feed him too… He wiped his hands on his pants and looked around the store. “I’ll see you Friday though, thanks for the chat.”