Disclaimer: I know nothing, blah blah bitty blah blah.
A/N: Again the wonderful reviews made me update faster! Sadly I don't think this is as good as it could have been. Half way through writing my dad turned off the power and so half of it was lost…but don't worry the content is pretty much the same!
Maria was nervously scrubbing a table during an early morning shift when Alex dipped into the Crashdown. Not looking up from the spot she was rubbing, but noticing the wide grin on his face, she asked "What put you in such a good mood?"
"In the spirit of 'The I've Been Dumped Club' mission statement, I became proactive about doing something to get my mind off Isabel" he said proudly.
"That's great, what did you do?"
He watched her with a slight frown as she continued to scrub at the one spot on the table "I got a job"
Polishing harder, her face gaining a light pink tint, she asked "Where?"
"VideoFlicks, the movie rental place"
"That's a pretty ideal job for you" she said her antennae bobbing with her arm's movement. "Good for you Alex"
"Thanks" he said slowly, his worry growing, "Uh, Maria?"
Still not stopping her work, "Yeah?"
"I think the table's clean enough"
Maria finally paused and gently lifted the cloth off the surface, "Right"
She went behind the counter and started cleaning the milkshake machine with a somewhat vacant and nervous expression. "What's the matter Maria?" Alex asked sitting in a stool.
"Matter?" she asked rubbing faster, "Why would you think anything would be the matter? Today is like any other day, and my shift should be like any other shift. Nothing is out of the ordinary everything will be fine," she began scrubbing the loop of the countertop, "I will not break down, I will get through the next few hours. I'm a fine waitress and nothing will take me off task", by then she was cleaning the spot in front of Alex, "Especially whoever is going to be the cook for today"
"Oh" he nodded in realization, "Michael's on today isn't he? Is this the first time you've worked together since the…uh…incident?"
She continued to clean, "Not only the first time we worked together but the first time I've seen him since the 'incident' as you so gently put it. And by 'incident' I assume you mean, the time when he told me he loved me for the first time and then tried to walk out of my life, later to discover he was destined to be with someone else. That incident right?"
"The one in the same…. Well I've got to go to work, you know new job, I should be on time" he paused before he left and touched her hand to get her attention. "Are you sure you're going to be ok?"
She smiled for encouragement. "It's me, I can totally play it cool" Alex gave her a doubting look, "Come on Alex, Teflon remember? I'll be fine"
"If you're sure," he suspiciously said getting up to leave.
She suddenly grabbed her stomach, "Oh dear God, I think I'm going to throw up" she said, looking at the backroom's door window and Alex turned to see Michael standing in the little room opening his locker.
"So you'll be total fine?" he asked sarcastically.
Not noticing his tone she nodded, "Yeah I'll be ok. I'm just going to go heave for a while but after that, back to Teflon. Good luck at your new job Alex" she whished heading towards the bathroom.
"I think you're the one who's going to need the luck," he said, but more to himself because by then Maria had disappeared into the bathroom. Michael then appeared in the order window wearing his cooking gear.
"Hi" Alex greeted hesitantly and Michael just gave a curt nod in recognition before Alex left the Crashdown.
Maria was looking at herself in the mirror, grasping the sink for support. 'Teflon,' she thought to herself 'yeah, right'. She had just lost her breakfast down the toilet and had finished rinsing her mouth out with mouthwash. "Get a grip DeLuca," she whispered to herself. "You're not going to get him back throwing up every time you see him and looking like this" she waved a hand in front of the mirror. Her face was pale and there were circles under her eyes, which she tried to cover up, from her reckless nights attempting to sleep. "God, I'm turning into Alex, having talks with myself in the bathroom" she mumbled to her reflection. She felt the tiny thread inside her that was holding her together begin to tug. "Snap out of it" she told herself harshly. "Just go out there"
She took a deep breath and exited the bathroom, ignoring the scowling guy in the kitchen she went to the first customers of the day.
"Hi welcome to the Crashdown. Can I get you anything to drink?" she asked the small family of three sitting in the booth. The child was wearing a StarTrek t-shirt, and even though it was just the beginning of the day, the parents look exhausted.
"Coffee" the adults both said with a tired smile.
"Cherry cola!" the boy squealed.
"No," the mother stopped him, "he'll have an orange juice"
"Alrighty then" Maria went to get two mugs from the side counter, keeping her eyes trained on her destination, put them on the table then went around the main counter to get the orange juice.
She allowed herself to look at Michael and her inner thread began to tug harder as all of the emotions she had been trying to suppress came boiling up inside her.
"Hey" he greeted with, to anyone else an unreadable expression, but Maria knew was a slightly nervous one.
"Hi" she attempted to smile but her mouth didn't move as she went to get the orange juice. Her eyes began to swell but she pushed the tears back and tried to compress her duplicating emotions.
It was five minutes before her shift ended and she had barely made it through. But the point is she made it through and there was just the last little bit. Luckily, it being tourist season, made the Crashdown very busy and therefore, Maria equally busy and she had little time to think about Michael or even really look at him. She would go up order and then have to leave as soon as she said "and Saturn Rings". There hadn't been any lulls throughout the whole morning shift.
But between all the work she had to do in addition to putting extra effort into focusing on work and not crying every time she put in an order, Maria was very close to cracking.
And Michael hadn't spoken once.
The only noise that came from that part of the restaurant was food cooking and the food-ready bell. The amount of effort Maria put into no looking at Michael and just working was about the same amount Michael put into stealing glances of her and trying to read her body language and tone of voice. He couldn't really tell, or even though he wasn't going to admit it to himself then, he was too scared to see the truth, which was she was just about to fall apart.
For the second time since he arrived Maria glanced at Michael to find his eyes on her. She averted her gaze but quickly looked back to see if he did the same, but he was still staring at her. Closing her eyes she shook her head and then opened them to put a plate in front of a customer.
She went back over the order counter, which Michael was looking out of. "Two specials" she said staring at the light pooling on the table from the heat lamps. He didn't move out of the window and she slowly brought her eyes up to his.
Green to Brown. Sweat was making its way down his forehead and his mouth was firmly closed. She slowly blinked expecting him to have turned around and working on the orders when she focused back on him, still standing there.
Her bottom lip twitched when his brow relaxed out of his usual frown. She could tell that he was trying to see how she was, still, in his own screwed up way, trying to look after her.
"Two specials?" he echoed, softly asking how she was.
Her eyebrows tightened as she swallowed down a sob. "Yeah" she whispered, and she could see that he had her answer. His eyes crinkled with guilt before he swiftly turned and began the orders.
Biting her lip she gazed at his turned back and felt as if the wind had been hit out of her.
Her shift was over and she clocked out peering into the kitchen for one last time watching Michael set up for the next cook.
The door swung closed and he looked up into the vacant space and felt empty before the sadness crept back inside to fill him.
Outside she let the warm breeze dry the beginnings of her tears.
'I need ice cream' the thought popped into her head and she went over to the grocery store. And she went home with the tub melting slightly in the back of her car.
A/N: I appreciated the feedback so much I had to update.
