Well while writing this chapter, I realized how weird it is tothink of a character based off me, especially when said character needs to actually DO stuff. For clarification, I didn't mean that I am literally putting myself in this fic. I mean that her appearance is based off me, and ONLY her appearance. I'm not even giving her my name.
cough So anyways, another week, another chapter. Here we go!
As usual, bold is my babbling, italics represent a character's thoughts and underlining isfor emphasis.
Cagalli began to walk apprehensively towards that… blasted man. Nothing like a bad tipper to get a waitress' blood boiling… but this guy had crossed the line. He didn't give her one at all!
He's just a jerk.
Athrun, sensing a presence, looked up from his laptop screen.
A total jerk.
He turned and spotted her, and a smile began to spread on his face.
Okay…. A relatively good-looking jerk.
"So do I get a free bagel today?" He teased with a grin on his face.
"I KNEW IT! YOU ARE A JERK!" Cagalli screamed, pointing at him furiously and discarding all self-control.
"Wha-What?" Athrun jumped back, frightened by her sudden outburst.
"Look mister 'I-have-a-laptop-so-I'm-clearly-loaded'. If you think for a minute that you can just abuse good service, you've got another thing coming!" Cagalli started, oblivious to the many heads that were starting to turn in their direction.
"I-I have no idea what you mean. The bagel was free!" Athrun protested.
"EXACTLY!" She hollered. "I, out of the generosity of my heart decided to give you a free bagel. THE GENEROUSITY OF MY FRIKING KIND HEART. And then YOU don't even bother to leave me a tip. Think what you want, but I only make $1.25 an hour here! The rest is in tips!"
Athrun froze. "$1.25? Isn't that… illegal?"
"NO! It's standard!" Cagalli informed in a booming voice. She began panting hard, catching her breath…Gradually she began to become aware of her surroundings…
Several people were staring at her, mouths open. Others had begun to gather their stuff and leave the café, careful to flesh out generous tips. The waitress from the other day, Terra, slowly walked up to Cagalli apprehensively, tapping her on the shoulder.
"Feel free to take your conversation to the back… I'll cover your tables out here?"
Cagalli hid her face, which currently bore the color of a steamed lobster. Athrun's cheeks had begun to heat up from embarrassment, but more from shock as he'd still not recovered. Grabbing his hand, Cagalli lead him into the kitchen.
Taking a quick look around, she noticed that it appeared the cooks had heard her too, for 3 pancakes were now charcoal black and burning, and another waitress had overfilled several cups of coffee.
"Back to work guys…" Cagalli muttered sulkily, pulling Athrun along until they had reached a more secluded area.
Athrun stared at the ground, making fidgety movements. One minute he was typing on his laptop, the next he was verbally assaulted, and now he was in the back with this strange waitress that had just scared 5 years off his life.
"I uh… I'm sorry." He started… unsure of what to say. Cagalli looked at him, as if surprised. "I… didn't know about the pay thing. Or the tip. Not that I didn't mean to give you a tip. I mean, I swear I just forgot. That's all."
Cagalli sighed heavily. "Don't sweat it… it's been a long day. Just don't do it again… it really does tick us off."
"So then… why are you still a waitress? Isn't there anything else you can do?" Athrun suggested.
"I've tried, but I'm still in school. University I mean… I need to pay the tuition. I'm taking a semester off right now so I can get enough money. No one else is hiring for just a few months…" She sighed. "Don't worry about it. It's no big deal. And the $1.25 isn't bad really. It's about average for servers. Tips get us another few bucks an hour, so really it's pretty good pay."
Athrun studied her with interest… Her words were convincing, however there was something about the way she was playing with her hands that made him feel like there was something else. Her body language told him there was something else.
"If there's anything you want to talk about... I don't' know if I'm the best person for it... but I'm a person."
Cagalli looked up at him with an expression Athrun hadn't anticipated. It looked worried, curious, confused, lost, yet confident and strong at the same time... He had no idea how she was managing that.
"What about you? Anything you need to talk about?"
Athrun stumbled a bit. What the...?
And so they stood there for a while, studying the emotions in each other's eyes, for what felt like eons. A tint began to appear on Cagalli's face while Athrun just kept... staring at her. She quickly turned away. Athrun felt tempted to say something when...
"Hey! I can't cover you forever!" The same waitress from before stuck her head into the back. "You won't' BELIEVE how many tips you've got..."
Athrun burst out laughing and Cagalli blushed furiously. "We-Well then good. I could use it to make up for some OTHER cheapos." She glared at Athrun. He looked at her mirthfully.
"So this is how you plan to get tips? Scare people into submission?"
"Whatever works." Cagalli sighed, rolling her eyes and heading out. Suddenly stopping, she turned to face Athrun again. "Hey um, I mean feel free to sit down again. Order a coffee or whatever."
Athrun nodded and followed her out. "Sure…"
Returning to his seat, Athrun once more began typing on his laptop. Cagalli brought over a coffee, and sighed.
"Is that ALL you ever do? Type on your laptop?"
Athrun looked up at her. "No, not at all. I just have a lot of work…" he muttered, Cagalli sighed, reaching forward and closed his laptop.
"Hey! Athrun protested, reaching forward. "Don't… That's my work!"
"Relax a little. You're making me nervous."
"I'M making YOU nervous! YOU'RE THE ONE HOVERING OVER MY SHOULDER!"
"Whoa easy there. I'm just saying, you're going to stress your hair out if you keep this up. RELAX. That's the atmosphere we try provide here." Cagalli lectured. Athrun sighed.
"I know. It's nice of you too... but I mean. The company I work for keeps me pretty busy, so if I get this done now, then later I can have some free time."
"And you tell me to get a new job?" Cagalli raised an eyebrow. "Well your plan sounds reasonable. What are you going to do with the free time?" Cagalli asked. Athrun smiled at her directness.
"I'll probably just be going to go to a friend's house." He replied. "What's on your agenda for the night?"
"My brother wants to invite his friends over so I can meet them." She shrugged, making a self-note to call Kira and tell him that she would be late coming home... Again.
Athrun nodded, and finished up his drink. He collected his things and began to stand. "Sounds fun. Enjoy yourself. I'll be seeing you later I guess."
"Eh? You mean you still want to come back even after I blew up like that?" Cagalli said, her face clearly marked with disbelief.
Athrun turned and smiled at her. "Well I still need a place to get coffee, and the pro outweighs the con. Overall, you're more of a reason for me to come, than a reason for me to not." He grinned and gave her a quick wave, and before she could respond he was out the door.
Cagalli stood there for a while, clutching a tray.
"I'm... a reason... to come?"
Suddenly her face felt like she was standing over a boiled pot of water, hot steam hitting her cheeks, mercilessly coloring them.
"Geez..." she muttered, turning to hide her face. "That's really corny..."
"Well, we could all use a little corniness sometimes, huh?" Terra teased, tapping Cagalli on the shoulder with her tray. Cagalli blushed again, realizing that she'd spoken out loud, and went to go busy herself with more work.
Athrun walked outside, and began walking down the street in good spirits. Hopping into his car, he once more fell into routine: The routine of picking up Lacus and then having the two of them go over to Kira's. It wasn't until he got out of the car that he paused, and a cold chill fell down his spine.
"I still don't... I FORGOT TO GET HER NAME!" He cried, smacking his forehead with his palm. "What the hell am I going to do! Lacus might tell!... No wait. She's not the type to do that. I'll just tell her what happened, and I'm sure she'll understand... though she might make me do something again."
He continued muttering down the hall until suddenly he bumped into someone rather abruptly. Stumbling to catch his balance, he caught the person he'd bumped into before they fell down.
"Oh man, I'm sorry. Are you okay...? Lacus?"
The girl blinked at him, and then suddenly her face lit up.
"Did you say Lacus? You think I'm Miss Clyne? Really!"
"Huh?... Well... aren't... you?" Athrun answered testily, carefully measuring each word before letting it fall out of his mouth. This girl... looked EXACTLY like Lacus. How could she not be? Unless Lacus had finally let the over-work get to her and had lost it...
"I can't' believe this! You're a friend of hers, right! Athrun? Do I really look like Miss Clyne! So much that even you can't tell?"
Athrun nodded slowly, reluctant to say anything until he got an explanation.
"I should get her to do my makeup more often... I can never get it right. Oh I'm sorry... I'm Meer Campbell, her understudy!" She explained. Athrun let out a sigh of relief. So it WASN'T Lacus... but then... what was up with this girl?
"To the best of my understanding, aren't you supposed to play her role if she's sick or something?" Athrun clarified. Meer nodded. "So then how does that involve looking like her?"
"I'm trying to be like Miss Clyne as much as possible, so if I ever do have to take her part, then I can do it perfectly." She explained. "She's such a terrific actress, and so I have to try to be like her as much as possible."
Athrun was about to say something, when a voice came out from the corner.
"Athrun? Is that you?"
"Yeah!" He replied, instantly recognizing her calm and dignified, yet gentle voice. Lacus stepped out, holding her purse and shoving things into her bag.
"Let's get going then. Oh and Meer, about your make up." She started. Meer perked up at the sound of her name. "I'd be happy to do it again for you, but just remember not so much eye shadow. Okay?"
Meer nodded and ran towards the dressing rooms, as Lacus and Athrun headed out.
"So that Meer girl... Aren't you kind of creeped out?" He asked.
"At first a bit." She admitted. "But it's a nice gesture. She really looks up to me, and on top of that, she does a great job. She's a nice person really, once you get to know her."
Athrun nodded. "I'm sure of that... But how can you tell the difference?"
Lacus laughed. "Kira almost had a heart attack when he saw her this morning. But I think he said something about eye color... aside from the more…obvious differences. Now stop avoiding the subject. You know what I'm looking for here."
"Her name?" Athrun sighed. So much for hoping she might forget...
"Of course. Did you go back?" She asked, as they began exchanging words like balls in a tennis match.
"Yes."
"Did you talk to her?"
"Yes."
"Did you get her name?"
"No."
"...You fail."
"What?"
"I gave you a SIMPLE job athrun. A simple request. What's her name? It couldn't be easier!" LAcus sighed.
"It's awkward asking for a name!" He argued.
"Doesn't she weara name tag?"
"No, she doesn't like wearing her uniform, remember? Besides, no one in that cafe wears name tags..."
Just then, Athrun's cell phone rang. Taking it out of his pocket, he tossed it to Lacus as he opened the car door.
"Hello?" Lacus answered.
"Lacus? Since when are you Athrun's secretary?"
"Since he's been my chauffeur." She joked.
"That's great... anything I need to be?" He laughed, going along with it.
"Be yourself. You're best that way." Lacus smiled. She knew on the other side of this phone, Kira was smiling too... maybe more blushing than smiling.
"Is everything all right?" She checked in.
"Not really..." Kira sighed snapping out of the daze he entered from Lacus' words. "Where are you guys now?"
"On our way to your place, so we can meet your sister."
Kira nodded. "Yeah well... plan's changed. She's running late and so probably can't make it. I was thinking we could just go somewhere else."
Lacus frowned in disappointment. "But I was really looking forward to meeting her... Couldn't' we just wait until she gets back?"
"Well there's a thought... Are you hungry though? I don't' want you to starve while we wait up for her." He noted worriedly.
"No no, I'm fine. Eh... what's that sound?"
"That... That's her coming back." He laughed, turning his head just as Cagalli opened the door and collapsed on the couch.
"Oh, that's good." Lacus clapped. "Mind if I put this thing on speaker phone Athrun?"
"Not at all." He shrugged. Lacus set the phone down and set it to speaker, as did Kira.
"Hello?" Cagalli asked, clearly a bit confused.
Athrun jumped a little. Something about the voice was familiar...
"Hello! It's nice to um... talk to you. I'm Lacus and um... the guy who's beside me that you can't see is Athrun."
"Hey." Athrun said lamely.
Cagalli paused for a second... the first voice was very nice. Lacus sounded exactly like the type of girlfriend she'd expect Kira to have. But the second one was strange... she could swear she'd heard it before… but the static made it hard to really make out.
"Thank you." Cagalli replied "Sorry I'm late... Kira told me your idea, but I'm a bit too tired to be up for anything fun right now. Sorry."
"Oh no, not at all! Health always comes first." Lacus insisted.
"I'll meet you guys downstairs." Kira interjected. "If you're still up for something I mean."
"Sounds fine." Athrun stated plainly. Cagalli's eyebrows crossed in thought again. Who WAS this guy?...
"So then... Good night." Cagalli said, breaking her train of thought.
"Night." Both Athrun and Lacus said, hanging up.
"So then... That was a bit disappointing huh?" Lacus leaned back into her seat.
Athrun nodded stiffly in reply. Disappointment was right… For some reason he felt very sad, as if he'd just lost out on something big... Like he'd just...
Missed something.
Now... Tell the truth. Did you really think I was going to let Athrun and Cagalli meet so easily? No breaks for them: They're going to have to struggle a bit before I let them figure it out.
Well I hope this one's a bit better for you guys then the last two. It's a bit longer, if that helps and there's more interaction between the two. But in general… a tad uneventful. I'm going to have to start pushing this thing a little faster from here on out.
Quick note before anyone goes nuts and starts hitting the review button like a maniac: Yes Meer is going to be a semi-regular character, but as in character as possible. That is, she won't be sleeping around, doing drugs, trying to seduce anyone, or anything to that extent. She's going to be Meer.
Once more, thank you to my reviewers:
clumsykelli, Athrun-n-Cagalli, ANONYMOUS, Michiyo Hikari, hale, PaperFish, fayt leingod, animemistress419, kira yamato, ZGMF X-19A Infinite Justice, The Angels' Princess, KiraFreedom, taijiya-sango88, RoGuE-WhItE-DrAgOn, daisukechibi, gseedlover, KaguyaEvenstar, Onirei Kirara, Maryam Khanoom, psycogirl234, koali alolao, stuntsheep, MXCrocks, Torri-Chiobie, Cagalli-01, asga, mariad, astrocosmos, kura52, Smoke-Angel
I love reading what you guys have to say! Thank you to all the readers too!
Finally, as a preview to make up for the lack of… stuff in this chapter, these probably aren't going to be direct quotes from the next chapter, as I have yet not written it, but here are a few lines I'm hoping to use:
"The day is more interesting if it starts with you."
"Hey… Terra? You know that guy…"
"…It's nothing."
"Maybe it's time for a change."
And suddenly, Athrun didn't want to go in anymore.
I hope that doesn't make anything too obvious, but we'll see.
Thank again everyone!