This is a little long for a oneshot, but it is just something that popped into my head one day. Hope you like it, the story focuses a lot of the oc. Sorry if it seems out of character at all. There may or may not be more to this later though, so you never know.
Please take it easy on me, this is unbetaed so read at your own risk.
Elizabeth sighed as she tapped her heels against the pavement, it had been a half an hour so far that she had been waiting outside the old dinner with the sound of forties music behind her; and the reasons why her date could be late were getting low. Figures, the first date that she finds in the new town, in her new life, is a no show. He came into the old diner a couple of times and would just sit and sketch in his small sketch book, ordering just enough not to have to leave. He never really said much, not until she asked him about his drawing and they got talking. They just kind of hit it off from there. He did not seem like the type of guy to stand up a girl, but then again all she knew was that he was a talented drawer and had the most innocent blue eyes she had ever seen. She could not help but notice the looks she was getting from passersby, to be honest Elizabeth was starting to feel uncomfortable with the attention she was attracting. To be fair though, she probably looked like she stepped out of a fold out in a history book the way she was dressed today.
It was forties night at the diner and Elizabeth had been helping them set up, picking out music, and tacking up old calendars all day. One of the girls from work who had become more of less her only friend in the town, she insisted that they go to work all dressed up today. Spending hours pinning and curling her long brown locks up, matching their dresses and lipstick. It all seemed like a lot of effort for one day to Elizabeth. Especially since they were mostly setting up for tonight, the dancing and food didn't start till six. There was something about being all dressed up in her little red polka dotted dress and trying to find everything but war propaganda to put up, (due to the owners aversion to anything war related), that felt special to her. Almost like a time capsule had been opened and the forties busted out for the day.
Her date was supposed to come by at six and it was now six forty five, she could still make the next bus if she rushed over to the bus stop at the end of the block. Elizabeth sighed as she turned and walked away from the quiet sound of Sing Sing Sing by Benny Goodman playing behind the doors that she was standing in front of. She did not get far before she heard the sound of her name being called from behind her; only to turn around and see none other than a very late and flustered looking man making his way through the people around them to get over to her. "Now what is a dame like you doing out here all by yourself?" Steve asked playfully as she crossed her arms and watched him.
"Who are you calling a dame sir?" Elizabeth teased as she turned around with her arms crossed and a brown raised at Steve, putting on a straight face as he walked towards her. "You're late. I was starting to think that you weren't going to show up." She stated, straightening her back as she gave him a once over, taking in his slightly disheveled appearance. Actually managing to keep a straight face for a while before a smile broke through.
"Sorry, it was a busy day." Steve said as he gave her a nervous smile and stopped so he was standing in front of her. Even in her three inch heels, she barely reached above his shoulders. "You look... wow." He said softly, giving her a once over causing her cheeks to heat up as she raised an eyebrow at him again.
"Thank you. It was forties day at the diner. You don't look so bad yourself." She commented as her gaze moved back to his eyes and he just stood there for a moment looking lost in his thoughts before she cleared her throat. "Penny for your thoughts." Elizabeth said as their eyes met for a moment and she just smiled at him as several emotions shined in his eyes.
"You just reminded me of someone I used to know." Steve said, just watching her for a moment; looking lost in thoughts for a moment before shaking his head and looking around them as the bus sped past them, kicking up the dirt and grime from the road as it whooshed past them. Elizabeth to coughed a little as she tried to wave the dust out of her face with her hand.
"Oh that's just wonderful." Elizabeth muttered to herself as she dusted off her dress and sighed, feeling a few of the locks that were so meticulously pinned back coming loose from the gust of dirt and God knows what that was on the road. "What do you say we find that Starbucks that you want to go to?" She asked, tucking the stray pieces of hair out of her face as she looked up at Steve and saw that he was looking down at her with a nervous excitement on his face.
"Of course." Steve said as he stepped out of her way so she could walk next to him on the sidewalk. "So this is a coffee shop?" He asked, sounding genuinely curious about Starbucks. There was still a part of Elizabeth that was waiting for Steve to saying he was joking about not having a clue what Starbucks is. Not that she was really one to talk, she went to Starbucks for the third time just last week.
"Yeah, it's more or less a overpriced coffee bar." She explained as they wandered down the street to the Starbucks at the end of the block. "It can just be kind of... well very confusing. I'm not really sure what everything is. Most of it is in another language." Elizabeth added as they reached the door and it swung open just in time to hit her in the face sending her stumbling back. The only thing stopping her from falling over where the strong hands holding her sides. She just blinked as she watched Steve who was standing in front of her looking a mix between worried and angry at the man who could care less that he just hit someone in the face with the door.
"Are you okay?" He asked, his hands quickly letting go of when she nodded at him. Thank fully her forehead took most of the blow from the door and her nose got spared from being broken. Steve however looked just as worried as if it was broken. All Elizabeth could think of was running after that idiot and hitting him in the head repeatedly, but he was not worth the effort, and she was not running anywhere in these heels. She just wanted to get away from the door at this point and as far away from people that would injure her as possible.
Elizabeth sighed as she rubbed her nose and looked around to see who else saw her little mishap. "Aside from my ego? I'm fine." She answered him returning her gaze to him as she smiled a little at him, thankful that she did not fall flat on her butt. That would have just made everything so much better. Instead she played the role of damsel in distress that she loved so much. "Thanks for catching me." Just because she did not like being the damsel in distress does not mean she is not going to give thanks when it is warranted.
"Don't mention it." He responded to her as he stepped in front of her and carefully opened the door for her, waiting patiently as she stood there for a moment and smiled at him before walking in the door.
"So first off you need to figure out if you want tea, coffee, or something different entirely." Elizabeth explained as she stopped across the room from the menu and waited for Steve. "Once you have that figured out than the descriptions are what you need to pay attention to because the names are all in Italian or something like that." She added, looking over at Steve and seeing him looking at the menu, just taking everything in. It was not really that confusing if you paid attention, but that is the thing. Most people just do not feel like paying attention to what coffee they are ordering first thing in the morning.
"What's the difference between a cappuccino and a latte?" Steve asked as he kept his eyes on the menu, studying it like he was going to be tested on it later. It was a good question, usually Elizabeth just stuck with whatever she knew how to pronounce on the menu. So she really had no idea what half of the things were.
If there was one thing that Elizabeth knew about though it was coffee, she had some what of a coffee addiction. So if anyone needed to know where coffee came from and which roast was the best to choose, well she was their girl, but throw in fancy names and this country girl was out of her element. "Honestly, I'm pretty sure that a latte is steamed milk, and a cappuccino has foam." She explained, trying to make it sound as helpful as she could given the situation. "I know a lot about coffee, but not all the bells and whistles that come with it." Elizabeth added as her eyes moved back to the menu and she let Steve decide what he wanted.
"Coffee sure isn't what it used to be." He commented, causing her to look over at him again and smile as she saw how much attention he was paying to the menu in front of them. There was something about it all that was just adorable, she had never seen someone pay so much attention to something like a menu. "It's also a lot more pricey than it used to be." Steve added as he looked over at her and offered a sheepish smile.
"Welcome to Starbucks." Elizabeth joked, returning his smile as her eyes moved back to the menu; focusing on what she wanted now. "Figure out what you want yet?" She asked as she read through the large menu hanging on the wall, not used to having such a wide variety of choices in front of her. The most recent technology that they had at the diner was the old dishwasher that barely worked. It took a while for both of them to finally figure out what they wanted and several questions to the barista's but they did it.
"Are you sure you don't want me to pay you back?" Elizabeth asked as they sat down at a table by the window. She never felt comfortable with people paying for her drinks or anything really. So naturally when Steve paid for the drinks she fussed about paying him back as much as he did about not minding.
"I'm sure, consider it repayment for the time you spent helping me." Steve explained to her as they settled into the table. "Not that you need to be paid for helping me, it's just I'm sure you have better uses of your time than to help a old man order coffee." He added, Elizabeth finally quieting down about the coffee as Steve quickly tried small sip of the drink. "That's definitely got a kick to it."
"Old man? What are you twenty one? You're hardly a old man." Elizabeth commented as she smiled at Steve, realising that he could potentially be bouncing off the walls later if he had never had anything stronger than a regular coffee till today. "You aren't going to go into heart palpitations or anything now because the caffeine right?" She asked, genuinely concerned for his wellbeing.
"No, caffeine doesn't really affect me." He explained as his eyes stayed on the coffee for a moment before moving back up to her. "You're not from around here are you?"
Elizabeth shook her head as she slipped at her coffee and smiled a little at Steve. "No, I'm from Alaska." She answered, holding the coffee cup in her hands, just enjoying the warmth as she watched Steve enjoy his coffee. There was something about watching him enjoy his coffee so much that made her almost wish she had bought it for him, that she was the one to make him so happy like this. That was silly though, and insanely forward.
"Alaska, I remember briefly stopping there on tour. It was winter time of course and all the girls were freezing." Steve said as he straightened his back, looking like he had not really intended for that to be spoken out loud.
"On tour, what do you do that you go around on tours?" She asked innocently enough, only to have him stiffen up at the question. What could he do that could possibly be bad enough to cause him to stiffen up like that?
"Government work, it's complicated really. What do you do?" Steve asked, seeming eager to get the topic off of himself. They went back and forth just talking about everything for their favourite ice cream to the cat that was the major in Elizabeth's home town. Turns out they had a lot more in common than a mutual love of art, well aside from the geographical differences; Brooklyn and Talkeetna are not exactly anywhere near each other. Steve was like a puzzle to Elizabeth though, one she could not wait to find out, but much like a kid on Christmas day, had to suck it up and wait. The sun was setting by the time that Elizabeth finally decided it was time for her to head home. Steve graciously offered her a ride on the back of his motorcycle. Having never read a motorcycle before Elizabeth could not pass up the opportunity to ride one.
"Well that was fun, I had a really great time tonight." Elizabeth said as they walked up the stairs to her tiny apartment that she was renting. The stairs were not long, just long enough to take your breath away but not long enough to break a sweat on them. "We should do it again." She offered as they made it to her door.
"We should, maybe you could give me your number and I could maybe call you later if that's alright with you of course." Steve rambled he shifted his weight from one foot to the other and gave her a nervous smile. "It's okay if..." He started, but Elizabeth cut him off when she leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. Completely taking him by surprise judging by the way he froze up.
"I would love to go out with you again." She answered him, pulling away as her lips curled into a small smile as they both stood there for a moment watching each other. Not really sure what to do next. "So I'm going to try and get all the pins out of my hair."
"Yes, right. Good luck with your hair. So I'll call you later?" Steve asked nervously as he stood in front of her on the doorstep. Elizabeth just nodded as she smiled at Steve waiting for him to turn around when he kissed her, it was not a quick kiss though. This one was long and lingering as they stood there for a moment just enjoying the moment before a passing car honking its horn brought the moment to a crashing end.
"Yes, I'd like that." Elizabeth said softly, just looking up into Steve's eyes for a moment before she turned to go inside the apartment. "Night Steve." She said giving him a small wave before opening the door and quickly retreating inside. Unable to keep the dopey smile off her face as she tossed her keys onto the counter and smiled. For once she was genuinely excited to get to work the next day, all the see if Steve would come by and visit again.