| Drive |
[15 Feb 2006|03:48pm] |
Terri was feeling tired, as if every muscle in her body was weighed down by some unseen force. Of course, she was working a long shift and damned if she was going to show any sort of fatigue on the job. She enjoyed her job, and every quirk it brought her. She grinned at one of the regular attendants of the Haeven, and watched the door absently for new people that might come in. Her skillful eye didn't distract her from the conversation, though, and she kept talking as she cleaned glasses and served drinks.
The Haeven wasn't too busy that night, but she didn't mind the lack of drunken bastards screaming and hooting at everything that walked by with a pair of C’s and a nice ass. Even when they were there, Terri was stuck behind the bar, so she couldn't quite understand how it felt to have your ass feeling like a pin cushion at the end of the night.
And for that... she was grateful.
Terri arched an eyebrow when she heard someone call her, and turned her attention to the person with a smile. "Jus' a second, sir." She bid her farewell to her first conversationalist, and headed over to the second man, talking as she served him his drink. "Here y'are, sir." She set the drink down in front of him, and moved down the bar, checking on everyone sitting there.
The waitresses had the tables. She had the bar. It worked out nicely that way, because she didn't have to deal with that damn awful Danielle. She was just... ugh. The girl was snotty, and it was amazing how she kept her job. But until she was fired, Terri'd have to deal with it. And she'd do it with a smile, too.
It was the end of a long day. Or at least, getting closer to it. Simon had been on family duty which he enjoyed more than he cared to admit, but it was getting damn tiring. The whole ‘big brother’ thing had grown on him over the years; truth be told, it was kinda cool to have someone looking up to him. For most of his life, he’d been rejected.
The demons didn’t want him. He wasn’t completely one of them. The beings of light – be them what they may, angels, Slayers, fighters for good and truth – rejected him as evil without so much as a second glance. He felt slighted. Smited. But waltzing around as Simon Wilde and not the nameless fallen soul he had been for years had changed all that.
There were people who cared about him. Loved him. It was weird, but kinda cool. He’d spent the day with his youngest sister, Maggie, who was still upset over her new braces but getting use to the idea, once she saw Simon’s own geeky eighth grade photo and laughed over it for an hour or two. Bowl of popcorn, a couple Bruce Willis movies later, and Mom and Dad were home, Maggie asleep and Simon free to go his own way.
He smiled at the name of the bar as he entered. Haeven. How fitting.
Terri looked up when she spotted the man who entered, and she looked faintly amused. She didn't call out to him, though. She wasn't a welcome wagon, and if she didn't have to act peachier than usual, she wouldn't. That was that. Terri continued to serve drinks, and waited for him to come to the bar.
The conversation she was having was getting interesting, but her attention was on the mystery man who just entered Haeven. She was amused, mostly because he was new and she bet he'd be uncomfortable if the waitresses treated him like they treated the regulars. She managed to get a waitress and warn her, "Think that's a new guy. Take it easy."
The answer was a simple "'Kay Ter.", and the waitress was off to serve tables again, not too worried about the new man. Terri, however, couldn't quite get over it. She wanted to know who he was, damnit!
Simon sidled to the bar, just barely whistling a tune. Damn Maggie and her Bruce Willis fascination. That was one thing about the kid he had never understood – though he didn’t object most of the time, cos movies where something or other got blown to hell a few times were his favorite kind. They’d finished with Hudson Hawk and he’d been whistling ‘Swingin’ On a Star’ ever since.
He smiled at the bartender, took a seat and absently drummed his fingers on the bartop in a habitual manner.
“Hey,” he called in his usual cheerful manner. “So is this place meant to be ‘heaven’ or ‘haven’? Cos I could pronounce it either way the way you got it on the sign.”
Terri looked over when he neared the bar, and smiled, wandering over after she served another drink. "Hey there." She greeted, smiling at him. Then she thought, and grinned. "Haven. It's pr'nounced Haven." She nodded to him. "So, what can I get'cha?" She asked clearly, smiling at him as she worked on cleaning a few glasses that were sitting there waiting for her.
Terri watched Simon curiously, and smirked. "You're new here, aren'cha?" She asked. "I mean, I've never seen you in the bar before, an' I've worked here and awful long bit'a time." She smiled at him. "So this is your first time here, innit?" Terri looked curious as she eyed Simon, judging him absently based on his looks. And his voice, which wasn't very unpleasant to her ears.
Of course, when you haven't been with a guy in ages, you aren't very picky when you see a good-looking one. Of course, Terri didn't say anything, she simply waited for his order.
Simon was tempted to tell her he’d been in many times and they’d spoken before, knowing that she just might believe if he used the right tone and the right smile, but something stopped him. He knew exactly what it was: he always felt a little less like lying after spending time with the family.
“Well I live in the city,” he explained. “I just keep finding my way out here, I guess. And I’ll take an MGD with a sambuca chaser, if you don’t mind.”
She smiled a little bit and nodded. "Sure thing, sir." Terri worked on the drink patiently, and looked up, smiling. "No reason why you just keep wanderin' out to our little slice'a New York?" She asked gently as she made the drink, before sliding it to him. Most people had reasons for escaping the city.
Even she did, really. Sometimes she just forgot what it was for a little while. Especially after working at Haeven and realizing there really was no place like the bar after all.
Simon shrugged, a slow easy gesture. Springville was an odd little town, that he knew. It was different. It made him feel different, on occasion. Like the other night, in the strip club, acting like a cocky little bastard. He knew better, really. The type of guys who gathered in the back room were the type to get angry over a few gambling losses.
The type to take it out on the winner, or the girl trying to smooth things over. But that was all over now. Maggie had her braces, so why dwell?
Still, Springville had a reputation. He had heard a whisper here and there.
He smiled and lied through his teeth; “No idea. Maybe it’s all the pretty bartenders.”
She smirked slightly at his comment, and rolled her eyes. "Flattery's said t'get'chu nowhere, hon." She pointed out in amusement. "I'm Terri, by th'way." She held her hand out, smiling as she watched him. "You're usually from Buffalo, though?" She frowned. "What's it like?"
Of course, she knew what it was like. Or, what it was like, in any case. She left years ago, after the fire, and didn't come back to Buffalo. It'd be her luck that the one time she did go back, she'd run into her parents. That wasn't something Terri looked forward to. She hardly entertained the idea, and she'd be damned if it actually came true. Parents weren't good for Terri's health.
Simon shrugged again. “Eh. It’s Buffalo. Nothing to write home about, unless of course you live there, in which case its nothing to really talk about. I got a place downtown, most of my family still lives in Sloan. It’s just home, I guess.”
There that word was again. Family. Something inside of him sparked and fizzled at the thought; he had been worshipped once, and now he was more concerned over a few bags of meat and bone he’d been thrown with. He sighed to himself; those thoughts came once in a while, and always in Springville.
She sighed and rubbed her eyes, amused. "I wouldn't know. Haven' been there in a damn long time. And I don't plan on bein' there any time soon." Terri grinned at him quietly and shook her head, watching him. "What's th'family like?" She looked curious. Family was a prospect she didn't know like everyone else. Her family was two guys who shared the house with her and her "cousin", and a dog who died when she was seventeen.
Terri moved away for a minute or two, and was back again, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry 'bout that." She nodded to the patrons of the bar. "I'm the only one workin' the bar most nights, so." She grinned at Simon, and worked on cleaning a few glasses that she gathered as she walked down the bar and back again.
Simon chuckled and nodded, vaguely remembering his own stint as a bartender a few decades back in his old body; it’d been hell and a little bit rowdy, but fun enough in its own right. The body itself had left something lacking. He found himself a little too well suited to the new set of skin on occasion.
“Yeah, they oughtta get you some help. How’s a guy like me supposed to get anywhere if you keep walking away?” Remember his beer, he picked up the bottle, slick with the sweat of condensation, and downed half of it in own pull before knocking back the sambuca. “The family? It’s fucking crazy. Pardon the language. I got five sisters and three brothers. Crazy Catholic parents. And an ancient cat named, I kid you not, Onion. The cat still lives at home. I don’t.”
She laughed quietly and shook her head. "I don't mind it, Haeven don't get too busy. When it does, I just have a few waitresses helpin' out behind the bar for a little bit." She grinned at Simon. "And I'm sorry that you don't seem to be gettin' anywhere with me walkin' away." She smirked at him and rolled her eyes playfully.
Terri listened to his little bit about family, and snorted quietly. "I had... a mom, a dad, and then I left." She shrugged. "Went to Cali, lived with my cousin, two guys who shared the house with us by livin' in the two extra bedrooms, and a dog named Cody. He got hit by a car when I was seventeen." She smiled sheepishly. "Then I moved here to Springville, an' I've been here an' on my own since." Terri smiled and shook her head. "Can't complain, though."
“I’ve been to California,” Simon mused, finishing off his beer as an afterthought. It had been a long time since he’d been out west. Long time. Old body, old days. One day he’d have to write a book about it. “Been awhile, though,” he relented.
“So, Terri,” he began, than paused. “Uh… I’m Simon, by the way.”
She smiled. "It's been a few years since I was in California." She shrugged slightly. "I left my cousin's place and didn't look back." She snorted, rubbing her neck.
Terri arched an eyebrow and eyed Simon, smirking slightly. "Simon, cute name." She smiled at him, and watched curiously, faintly amused. She was curious as to what he was going to ask her. You didn't begin a sentence with 'So, Terri' without being ready to ask some sort of question...
Simon nodded, half a smile playing on his lips before his head and gaze dropped to the bartop, eyes closed and short chuckles escaping him. He raised his head back up with a half-apologetic smile and a sparkle of amusement in his eyes.
“You know, I think it was a question. But I completely forgot what the hell it was.”
He was always doing that. Walking into rooms, forgetting what he was there for. Forgetting his point mid-sentence, forgetting a question as he asked it. He’d found himself so often pausing upstairs, sitting at the top of the steps and thinking, as a kid after hurtling up the staircase for his bedroom on a quest for some unknown object that his brothers had jokingly drawn a square on the top step in red permanent marker and wrote in it ‘Simon’s thinking spot’. Of course, his parents had been thrilled. The mark was still there.
His smile grew. “Sorry. Did I mention I’m a moron?”
She laughed quietly and shook her head. "I see." Terri smirked at him, and shook her head. "No, I don't think you did." Terri replied with a gentle dryness to her tone, eyes dancing with amusement. "But that's okay. You're cute enough to get away with it." Terri blinked at what she said, and smiled sheepishly, shrugging at him.
Terri watched him, and shrugged. "It's alright, though. If you remember it, tell me, hm?" She grinned at him, and shook her head. Then she gave him a curious glance. "So what brought you t'Haeven tonight, anyway?" She asked after a thoughtful pause, her brown eyes dancing as she watched him.
“Well, I was looking for adventure on the high seas, but the Navy ain’t in town recruiting and I don’t think the little sailor hat would work out for me anyway, so I decided to settle for adventure in a small town bar,” Simon told her, rhythmically tapping his fingers on the bartop without really noticing he was doing it.
Would you like to swing on a star…
He shrugged. “Truthfully, though?” A few old acquaintances would’ve cringed hearing him say the word ‘truthfully. “I don’t really know. Get in the Jeep, pick a direction, drive. That’s about it. Whatever catches my eye.”
She smiled slightly and nodded. "That's how a lot of the regulars started out. Just picked a spot on th'map and wound up here. Fate'n all that." Terri grinned at him and shrugged. "That's how I got workin' here too, actually." She rubbed her neck sheepishly and laughed. "What can I say, fate deals us damn weird cards."
Terri watched him and shrugged slightly. "It isn't always that bad though." She grinned. "Fate, I mean." Terri shrugged. "Sometimes it deals really weird cards, but... It works out. Usually." Well... Most often. Terri thought bemusedly, grinning and shaking her head as she cleaned another glass expertly.
“I don’t put too much in the cards we’re dealt,” Simon replied with half a smile. After all, card games were his forte. “Even if you get dealt a shitty hand, you can always bluff your way out, right?”
Terri grinned and shrugged. "Yeah, you can. But sometimes you can't avoid gettin' caught." Terri smirked at him slightly and got herself a drink, writing something down and stuffing the paper into her pocket to keep track of the drinks she was having, so she could take the money out of her check.
"But anyway." She grinned at him. "...." She looked amused. "I forgot what I was gonna say." She shook her head and laughed quietly. "Seems to be contagious, huh?" Terri smirked at Simon in amusement.
“Nah, not contagious. It’s just my astounding wit and magnetic charm,” he replied with an overdone seductive look and comical wiggling of his eyebrows. Inwardly, he wondered how old she was. She looked young, but since she was tending bar he knew she’d have to be over 21. Which was always a plus.
She laughed quietly and shook her head. "Right, I'm sure that's what it is." Terri gave him a dry, skeptical look, arching an eyebrow to match. She couldn't quite help the giggle that escaped her lips, though, so she let it out quietly, shaking her head. "Y'want another drink?" She eyed him curiously, crouching down below the bar to put glasses away and organize the bottles subconsciously.
“Ya know, I would, but I can’t. Gotta drive home, right?” Simon replied. On the air he’d caught the scent of a very, very bad liar… very nearby. Trying to bluff through Black Mariah with nothing but pocket twos. Idiot. “I should go. Maybe I’ll run into you again sometime?”
Terri smiled. "Well I'm here most nights, so I'm sure if you wanted to run into me, you could just find y'way back here." Terri grinned and shrugged. "And even when I'm not here, y'just ask one of the girls. They always know where I am." Terri was slightly scared by that fact, because they really did know she had no life. She was either at work or at home. Never anywhere else.
Simon laughed, standing up as he peeled a few bills out of his wallet and dropped them on the bar to cover his drinks and leave a generous tip. He leaned forward and said in a somewhat conspiratorial manner, “See, that’s what I was thinking, I’d just come in looking for ya, but I was trying to make it sound all cool and nonchalant.” He pulled back and winked. “See ya around,” he called, and headed out the door.
Terri smiled at him, and then looked down. She blinked at the money, and smiled slightly, shaking her head. She put the tip in her pocket, and the money under the bar in a safe. And then she was off, serving people again and thinking about Simon, curiosity peaking.
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