WHO: Max Black and Haymitch Abernathy WHAT: Late night diner convos WHEN: Backdated: Saturday, May 11th. Late Night WHERE: Ruby's Diner RATING: PG STATUS: Complete
Max leaned on the counter, flipping through a magazine, her dark hair falling over her shoulder. It was late and there was currently no one but a small group of teenagers in a corner booth and one car outside. To say it was a slow night was an understatement. It wasn’t really unusual for a Monday night, but that fact didn’t make it any less boring. She had about an hour or so left of her shift and if it stayed like this, she was going to wind up reading the magazine at least five more times and she wasn’t going to have any energy to make cupcakes once she got home, which would suck a lot because then she’d have less income the next day. She was lucky that her boss, not only let her sell her cupcakes in the diner, but also let her keep any money made off of them, because he knew how much she wanted to open her own cupcake shop someday and this got her name out there as well as gave her some extra money to save.
Sighing, she flipped the page, a spread of photos of various celebrities doing everyday things greeted her just as the bell over the door chimed.
Haymitch sauntered in and immediately scanned the place before him. It was as quaint as it was empty. He had almost forgot it was Monday. Then again he wasn’t sure he remembered what day was what for the past few days. The dreams had come back with a vengeance and it had taken its toll on him. Mostly in the form of alcohol but he had decided that it wasn’t going to do anyone any good if he kept drinking so he had poured the bottle down the sink. Now he needed food.
“Oi, sure you have room for me or should I make a reservation and come back?” He said to the waiter as he flopped into the nearest empty seat. She looked like she could use a hungry customer or two.
As the man walked in and took a seat, Max stood straight and pulled her hair back into the ponytail it was supposed to be in while she was at work then grabbed the pad of paper from the pocket of her pink uniform and approached him, "Not sure. Might be pushing the maximum occupancy." She smirked and tapped a pencil against the pad of paper, "Can I get you something to drink to start you off?"
Haymitch shot her something resembling a smile at her comment but said nothing further. “I don’t suppose I can get what I want to drink so about about a coke?” It wasn’t a beer but he was supposed to be giving that up. If only the dream would let him do that. “I promise I will have my order ready before you get back so I don’t distract you from all your other customers since you were so nice as to squeeze me in.”
Not needing to write that down, Max slid the pencil behind her ear, “One coke coming right up. Well, it might take awhile.” She glanced around the diner, “After all, the kitchen is sooo very busy tonight.” Still smirking, she went into the kitchen to get his drink, which literally took about a minute. When she returned, instead of just putting the plastic glass down on the table and asking if he was ready to order, she set the glass down then slid into the booth across from him before taking the pad of paper out of her uniform again. “Okay, so what’ll you have?”
Haymitch raised an eyebrow but said nothing as he watched her slide in across from him. He didn’t mind the company. “I will have a New York strip, rare, and bake potato...” He only got half his order out before laughing. “Kidding love, just give me a burger and fries. I am a simple kind of man. I mean I wouldn’t want to work any of you too hard and add to your stress.”
Max liked this guy already. She scribbled his order down, but didn't move to get up just yet, "Are you a well done or medium kind of guy? It's very important." She had thought that the rest of the night was going to go by without anything exciting happening and while one more customer wasn't exactly anything to write home about, the fact that he wasn't an obnoxious teenager was definitely a plus in her book.
"Medium," he said with a nod of his head. "Ruins the flavor if you over cook anything. That's the secret of being a good cook." Not that Haymitch would know as he could hardly cook a thing himself. "Unless we are talking pancakes and then I am your guy."
“Well, I have been looking for a guy who can make good pancakes.” Still smirking, Max finally slid out of the booth, “One burger with fries coming right up.” She turned and headed into the kitchen to put his order in then came back out and resumed leaning against the counter as she’d been doing before he came in, but this time her attention was no longer on the magazine and instead was on the man who was only sitting across from where the counter was located, “So what kind of pancakes are we talking?”
He gave her a grin when she brought up pancakes. Despite what Portia said Haymitch still thought they were the best food ever and if you ate them with fruit they could be considered pretty darn healthy. “Well, depends on what kind of mood I am in. You can make chocolate pancakes, pumpkin pancakes, banana which aren’t very good mind you, and then you can put all kinds of fruit on them.” He explained with a wave of his hand. “I mean blueberries are good as are raspberries and they taste pretty good together. Chocolate chip and raspberries especially.” Yeah, he really did spend too much time making pancakes now that he thought about it.
Max couldn't help but grin as she listened to him. He sounded like her when it came to cupcakes. "Personally, I prefer chocolate chip. Although, Ihop has these red velvet ones that are like amazing." Her eyes widened slightly as if to emphasize how amazing they were. "So, you enjoy making pancakes or just eating them?" Her arms were folded on the counter and as she leaned over, Haymitch would be able to catch a glimpse of her cleavage, not that it was a glimpse when it was more or less impossible to hide it.
“I prefer eating them can’t you tell?” He joked as he patted his non-existant belly. With his job it was hard to put on any weight because he was so active. Not that he minded because it meant he could eat whatever he wanted without a worry. Haymitch cocked an eyebrow at his “view” but said nothing. “Not really a red velvet fan, love. Whatever works for you though. Just as long as you have real maple syrup. Expensive but worth every bit.”
“If you ever find yourself around here in the morning, we have awesome pancakes.” Max might have been a bit biased when it came to the pancakes they made at the diner. “And that’s just because you haven’t tried my red velvet cupcakes.” Max’s red lips stretched into a grin. She hadn’t actually made any red velvet in awhile and was now thinking that, that was what she was going to make when she finally got home that night.
Haymitch shot her a skeptical look. No one’s pancakes were better than his but he might have to try just so he could properly brag that his were better. “I am not really a morning person darling.” He pointed out with a grin. “I am more one of those annoying people that come in and ask for breakfast at lunchtime because I was far too lazy to get my ass out of bed.”
Max laughed and stood up straight, stretching her back, "Lucky for you then that we serve breakfast all day." She smirked and glanced towards the kitchen, but his food wasn't up yet. "I'm Max, by the way." She pointed at her name tag. Technically she should have introduced herself when she first approached him.
“Then I am a very lucky man for finding this place, huh?” He said with a smirk knowing there were different chain restaurants but they weren’t the same. “Haymitch,” he said offering his hand up for a shake because well, isn't that how people properly introduced themselves. “Just your average breakfast loving handyman.”
Max moved around the counter so that she was standing in front of Haymitch now and shook his hand, “Handyman, huh? Bet you must be really good with your hands then.” She smirked as a bell dinged to indicate that his order was ready. She went to get it and placed it down on the table, “Anything else I can get you?”
“In more ways than one sweetheart,” Haymitch told her without skipping a beat as he took the plate from her. “Nope this should hold me over until I’m ready to want to eat dinner. This is simply a snack” he joked lightly.
Yeah, Max definitely liked this guy. “Alright. Well, if you need anything else just let me know.” It looked as if the group of teenagers had finally paid the bill, which she’d given them half an hour earlier and left, “I’ve got to get to cleaning up after a bunch of stoned teenagers now.” Whether they had actually been stoned or not she didn’t actually know, but they’d ordered enough food that they might as well have been.