Amelia stood like a welcoming beacon towards the restaurant and cafe combo that she worked for.
Her blond hair was tucked neatly behind her ear, and her green and white apron held all of the makings of a good waitress: yellow notepad to write orders down on, pens to write with, fresh mints for customers, and straws for those that ordered drinks other than the ever popular coffee.
"Miss," A voice called to her, a date looking more than a little bored at this conservative restaurant, "We haven't had our orders taken yet."
A coffee that looked less than warm as if she'd been there a while though Amelia doubted it, sat in front of her, a man across from her that looked tired as he sipped his black coffee, unconcerned with his date's lack of interest.
"Yes, ma'am, what would you like?" Amelia couldn't help her gentle and sweet smile as she neared the customers; she'd never been one to let weary customers affect her too much.
"Ma'am?" The silver haired woman spoke acidly, "You haven't even earned yourself the chance to address me that way." Her eyes flashed, "You haven't made your way over here into I called to you."
"Sorry about that, miss." Amelia tried with a well worn smile, "Emma's not feeling well, and it's my fault that I didn't notice you, two, sooner." Amelia shifted her weight to a different foot and tried to not let it affect her. Emma had ended up throwing up in the back, the employee's restroom, in the middle of her shift, not too long ago. Amelia knew that on a busy Thursday morning that that didn't make anything any easier.
"Alright then. What are your specials and since you can't make it here fast enough, what is your WiFi password?" The woman hadn't really let Amelia's worries and concerns soothe her own ferocious anger.
"Our WiFi password is Spring46." She took a deep breath, "The name of the season that we're in and the ending of the year that our place was founded. We have a grit and sausage special today for breakfast."
"All capital other than the numbers?" The woman retorted, "I doubt grits are any good."
"The 'S' is capital, but nothing else is. Our grits are all homemade, and I really like them, but to each their own." Amelia almost wanted to fidget under the other woman's glare but refused to be weakened by an irritated customer especially since it probably was her fault for not immediately checking on Emma's customers especially since Emma's husband was on his way to pick up his wife.
"Okay, I'll just have your sunny side up eggs and slices of bacon and sausage links on the side." The woman didn't look up again as she correctly typed in the wifi password that Amelia had given her.
"I'll take the special if you don't mind?" The man across from her spoke up kindly, and Amelia realized that she hadn't heard him speak until now.
"Okay, I've got your order down. It will be out soon. Sorry for the wait." Amelia wondered vaguely how the woman and man ended up on a date when they were so different, but she figured that opposites just attracted each other.
She hummed a long forgotten melody underneath her breath, not at all concerned with whether she got the tune right or even entirely conscious that she was humming it to begin with.
Amelia handed it to the back and sent a hopeful smile to the man running everything behind the scenes; his relaxed demeanor under getting another order contrasted sharply with how wild his anger sometimes ran or his worry ran when things didn't go quite right in the kitchen though sometimes he treated the cooks under his command to free meals or talked to them like they were his best friends.
Lovino never minded his job even when some new employees got the wrong idea of him, and Amelia appreciated how well he took everything.
He sent a faint smile back Amelia's way before she hurried back to attend to the rest of the rush crowd.
Amelia hadn't thought much about those that ended up staying for one meal randomly together especially if one or more of them were irritable, so it surprised her to see the man by himself one morning sipping a black coffee that Emma had to have given him before she took her break; on slow mornings, their boss never minded that they took a few breaks here or there to just relax after what could have very well been stressful.
After having found out that Emma was pregnant, no one really argued if she took a few minute long to fifteen minute long break to talk to her husband if he wasn't terribly busy while she was at work.
Amelia didn't mind immediately jumping into working on Emma's side of the room when she was talking to her husband; the day wasn't terribly busy, and Amelia lived life as if every moment could brush right down her shoulders and be long forgotten if they were even the least bit irritating.
She loved the little joys of life and tried to focus in on those, and perhaps that's why she paused to take in the fact that the brown haired man was alone, looking miserable, and sipping a cup of black coffee like a lifeline.
"Oh, sir? Is there anything you'd like to eat?" Amelia was on the scene like a motherly hen.
"Not really, no. But could you please call me Toris? I'm just not feeling like myself." The man was quick to explain and already Amelia felt more than a little worried over his sake.
"Okay, anything for a customer. So how's your coffee, Toris? If it's getting cold, I can pour some more for you." Amelia figured that a simple first name request wasn't all that big of a deal, and it kind of hurt to see a miserable customer anyway.
"It's fine. I just kind of miss her, you know?" Amelia quickly checked the room and saw a small amount of mostly older men and a few of them with wives or friends enjoying their meals, and so she sat down for a moment. The other customers clearly didn't need her yet, but Toris looked more like he needed a friend right now than anything else.
"Yeah. I've been in that position before." She remembers her ex with a flourish of excited fashion and geeky days just spent laughing together; they were friends first, dating second, and some days she really missed him though she knew that it had been a while since high school sleepovers and laughing side by side. She hopes that he's doing well even if that may tell her heart to stop aching for the past though she barely notices it anymore without the topic somehow bringing itself back up.
"I guess, I should've known that we wouldn't last. I wanted something different than she did; I thought may be one day we could be something a bit more, but she didn't love me the same way." He stared at his coffee, and Amelia had to fight the urge to reach over and pull him into her arms for a comforting hug. She well knew that most people weren't as affectionate as she was.
"Were you dating?" Amelia leaned slightly towards him in hopes that the proximity would calm him down in the way that a hug probably wouldn't right now.
"Yeah, but I proposed." Amelia winced at the tired and sad look in his eyes when compared to those words; no one should be treated as coldly as that when they'd proposed.
"Here, give me a moment. Your orders on the house by the way." Amelia stood up, heading towards the counter, already pulling out a peace of one of her favorite kind of pies before she returned to offer him one. "Don't worry about it, just try to focus on how absolutely delicious this homemade pie is and how absolutely perfect your day will be from here on out."
He'd only been nice to her on the first day that he met; she figured it was time to return the favor. Besides, he was unhappy, and Amelia couldn't live with herself if she didn't brighten up someone that she's seen that isn't at all happy.
Strangely enough, that wasn't the only time that he came in after that, and Spring quickly faded to Summer and Summer changed to Fall.
With Fall came a new layer of their friendship, "Hey, Amelia, if you're not busy, can you come talk over here?"
"Yes, Toris?" She carefully sidestepped past the side of the room that Emma was currently covering since she'd had her baby boy though Emma and Amelia had only switched today when Amelia caught sight of her favorite customer.
"Would you mind it much at all if I treated you to dinner one of these days?" Amelia caught the nervous hint to his voice that pushed politeness off of his tongue in the situation more than it needed to be.
"Are you asking me out on a date, Toris?" Amelia couldn't resist teasing him as she half leaned towards him over the table, sending a playful wink his way.
"Y-Yeah." His face flushed pink, and Amelia felt a little guilty for not giving him an answer especially when she found the color of his face coupled with the look there to be absolutely adorable.
"I'll go. Perhaps we can head out when I'm done here?" Amelia had been working for three hours so far and had five more hours of work left to do the fact that he stayed there even when she hadn't expected him to sent butterflies aflutter in her belly in a spot that they hadn't fluttered in so long.
Moving on was like nothing else, Amelia quickly decided or may be it was just the feeling of getting closer to Toris who did sweet things like hold open the door for her if he got there first or if her hands were full and she was clearly struggling or pull her chair out for her.
He'd tell her sweet things with the honesty that she'd began to associate with him even when he was awkward, and she found herself admiring his honesty and his kindhearted nature more than anything else.
Toris was nowhere near as spontaneous as Feliks had been, and she found that she loved his gentle contrast when compared to the only man that she'd ever dated before.
"Amelia, I have something to tell you." She sat and listened not unlike that day when he'd needed the support of someone when he was still trying to handle his rough breakup with Natalya.
"I'm all ears." She leaned closer to Toris, perfectly relaxed next to her boyfriend.
"Amelia, I really, really like you and may love you." Toris's breath caught in his throat, and Amelia leaned towards him to just be there for her absolutely endearing boyfriend.
"I love you too." Amelia smiled, "I wouldn't still be here if I didn't."
"Amelia." She couldn't help her smile over the beautiful sound of the tender way that he said her name, and so she leaned over to press a kiss to his lips with the all of the love in her heart nearly overflowing.
She'd try to be here for him no matter what, because she felt that he deserved that kind of devotion, that kind of loyalty, especially since he hadn't had that kind of love before.