Chapter VI: It's Not A Coincidence If I Made The Choice Consciously
For a month, Juliet returned to work, with no anxiety of late night espionage. She served eggs and collected tips, watched movies, and borrowed new jazz CDs from the library, completely unaware of just how much she had missed the normality that had been lacking for several months before. Despite her freedoms, being vigilant for signs of Abstergo had become a part of everyday life, uneasily watching their monopoly on the market grow larger as time went by. With her hands engulfed in soapy water, fingers getting more pruned by the second, the thought of the scene from Snow White where the animals help clean comes to the front of her mind.
"JJ!" Lance poked his head into the kitchen. "You have a table, I don't care if he eats in, just let him know we're closing and he better eat like a dog who spotted scraps under the table." An amused look ran across her face as she dried her hands on the green dish towel.
"No problem, I'll be out in a minute." One last table and then a night full of sleep and jazz would be hers for the taking. Washing dishes sucked anyway. To her surprise, the bartender from Bad Weather had returned, and was seated in her section once more. "You must really like our burgers, Mr. Bartender."
"Can I have the house special again? I'll take it to-go since you're closing and I'm not an ass." Laughter spilt from her lips,
"No problem. Don't you have to work soon?" Desmond shrugged.
"Night off, completely unrestricted."
"I see, we'll have that burger ready soon, sit tight."
Lance nodded when the order was passed on, and Juliet went back to the table Desmond was sitting at.
"I was in no position that night to say so, but thank you for helping me." Desmond waved it off.
"You weren't looking good, any decent person would have helped."
"Sure, but you were the one who did, so thank you." In fact, she was unsure whether she would have made it home in the panic-ridden state she was in. "I'll pay you back since you probably paid for the cab? There's a coffee place nearby that's open pretty late?" Desmond shook his head.
"You don't have to-" "No, no, I want to. Plus it's an excuse to go back there and get some fancy tea." Desmond chuckled slightly. "Alright, but you don't have to reward me for not being a shitty person."
"Agreed."
Lance called out and Juliet ran to grab the to-go container.
"Clean up may take a hot minute, I'll meet you outside?"
"That's fine." He walked out the door, leaving Juliet to deal with her diner family's nosey glances.
"He's kind of cute, hon." Kelsey spoke, leaning against the kitchen doorway.
"Oh stop, he just helped me out at the bar so I'm going to buy him a coffee." Kelsey gave her a cheeky smile.
"Finish up these dishes and we'll do the rest, go have fun."
"Kelsey, I am not leaving you and Lance to clean this place by yourselves! Charlie is very picky about the kitchen when he arrives in the morning."
"Relax, JJ. I got this."
Kelsey pushed Juliet towards the sink with a loud giggle. Juliet rolled her eyes, but was grateful for Kelsey and Lance's offer.
Waiting for Shirley Temple, Desmond gazed upwards, unsurprised at the lack of stars. That was another thing he missed, the night sky. Ah well, he got out of a cult, so he was lucky. He spotted the woman grabbing a pink hoodie and waving at her coworkers, before proceeding out the front door.
"You ready?" She asked, zipping up the hoodie. He flashed a thumbs up. "Coolio, it's up and over, an easy walk." Desmond grasped the handlebars of his bike and pushed, moving into a steady pace with Juliet on his left side.
"Favorite color?" He furrowed his brows.
"Um, red?"
"Nice."
They continued walking, Juliet unsure whether continuing small talk was good. Some people hated it-
"Favorite movie?" He asked
"Jurassic Park. You?"
"Men In Black."
"That movie made me laugh my ass off as a kid." "Heh, yeah." Oof.
The coffee shop's neon sign was just up ahead, and the craving for fancy loose-leaf tea caused Juliet's feet to accelerate. The bell on the door rang, its loudness contrasting with the soft café atmosphere. A great whiff of freshly ground beans and boiling tea water made its way into her nose.
"So this is your scene, than?" Desmond asked, observing her face.
"Definitely," she breathed.
A/N: Desmond is noted in AC1 to be very cautious and pretty untrusting, and obviously extremely cautious, it's gonna be a slowburn, so buckle in for a long ride. Also, when writing New York I keep thinking of that John Mulaney bit where he says "11 up and 1 over you simple bitch!"