I DO NOT OWN ANYONE OR ANYTHING IN THIS STORY BESIDES THE OC'S.
Tara's Point of View-
After hanging up Alex's jacket, I switched back into my pajamas, plugged my phone in before climbing into bed for what was to be a long night of sleep but it didn't turn out that way. I was woken up by a loud knock at the door, I grumpily reached over smacking around for my phone grabbing it to read '2:30 AM' when another knock came to the door.
"God damn it." I said as I sat up rubbing at my eyes and ran my hand through my hair as I headed to the connecting door opening it to a very wide awake Alex, "What?" I asked.
"Were you asleep?" Alex asked.
"No…like normal people, I like to exercise at 2:30 AM." I said sarcastically as I yawned.
"You want to go get some coffee?" Alex asked.
"I'll need some to get through this day." I said walking back into my room, Alex followed me in and I grabbed my sweats to wear. "I hung your jacket up…" I said nodding towards where I hung it up at.
"I totally forgot about it." Alex said as he grabbed it, I walked past him to change in the bathroom and came out to see him handing me my purse and phone.
"You didn't see my wall paper did you?" I asked nervously knowing that my wallpaper was a picture of me and Xavier.
"No why? Am I in it?" Alex asked smirking.
"No..." I said as I pulled my purse onto my shoulder leading him out of my room, "Is anything open?" I asked.
"We'll find out." Alex said.
"Why are you up at this time?" I asked curiously.
"I couldn't sleep, I was thinking too much."
"About what?" I asked as he let me push the down button for the elevator.
"It's nothing." He said.
"It's something if you can't sleep." I said.
"It's stupid." Alex said as I could tell it was bothering him, we climbed onto an elevator that was going down.
"You know, I never expected to be getting coffee at 2:30 AM when I signed up for this cruise."
"But you never expected to meet me either." Alex said smirking as we climbed off the elevator.
"Do you always have long nights?" I asked as I followed him to the coffee shop.
"It depends on if we are travelling." Alex said as he pulled the coffee shop door open.
"How many hours do you guys travel nightly?" I asked curiously as I looked around the empty shop besides the baristas.
"Not that many, don't you ever work night shifts?"
"Yep, I've worked an 18 hour shift and that was tough."
"Shit, 18 hours?" Alex asked as I was looking over the choices of coffee to get.
"Yeah, luckily they gave me the next day off to re-cooperate." I said as he stepped up to order.
"I'll have a Cafe Americano with four shots and whatever she wants." Alex said nodding to me.
"Alex, you don't have to."
"It's my pleasure to do so since I woke you up this early." Alex said smirking.
"I'll have the same." I said.
"Do you even like Café Americano?"
"I'll find out." I said smiling.
"Make that a Vanilla Latte with four shots." Alex said to the barista, he turned to me and said "This time I'll let you try it." Alex said.
"Promise promises." I said snickering.
"Shut up." Alex said teasingly smacking me afterwards.
"Until you prove it, I will just keep thinking your making promises you won't keep." I said smiling as he paid the bill and we stood aside watching them make our drinks.
"How many of these did you drink while doing that shift?"
"Surprisingly two and two five hour energies."
"What does your job need you to do for 18 hours?" Alex asked confused when he was handed his drink.
"I did my regular shift, then came back in later to do tasks such as restocking material, ordering back orders, gassing up the ambulances, organizing work schedules, etc." I said as he handed me his drink after he took a sip, I stared at it for a moment.
"I don't have cooties and I didn't lick it all too much."
"Do you lick your lids often?"
"Not that often, lids aren't that tasty…are you going to take a sip?" Alex asked.
"Absolutely." I said grabbing his drink taking a sip, he was shocked that I did it. "Why do you seem so shocked?"
"You're the first girl that would do that." Alex said.
"I like being treated like one of the guys." I said smiling.
"If you only had a sister, why do you want to be treated like one of the guys?" Alex asked as I was handed my drink and we walked the short distance to a table, Alex pulled my chair out for me and we sat across from each other and I crossed my legs.
"I've always acted like one of the guys, I watched and played the sports, since my dad left my sister and I at a young age I kind of stepped up in a male model type figure."
"I would have loved to hear you do the birds and bees conversation as a male figure."
"I didn't do that conversation…it was the reason I never dated…"
"When was the last official date you went on?" Alex asked as he was holding his cup on his arm rest looking at me intently.
"Quite a few years ago, it was when I was in college." I said honestly.
"And that was when? I don't know when you graduated." Alex said shrugging as he shifted in his seat.
"2009." I said softly.
"Did you just say 2009?" He asked leaning forward.
"Yeah…would have been 2008 but rules changed and I had to take a few more classes." I said taking another sip of my drink.
"How old are you?"
"Not as old as I look." I said chuckling.
"We all look older than we are, it's called aging." Alex said.
"Amen."
"You never answered me." Alex said.
"I was born in 1982."
"83, not much of a difference and why do I look older than you?" Alex asked.
"I don't have a 5 o'clock shadow and I have make-up to help enhance my appearance when I want it to."
"I can wear make up too." Alex said.
"I never liked a man that would wear more make up than I do."
"Are you saying you like me?"
"I just said I don't like men that wear more make up than I do, there is a lot of men that fit that."
"Have you met a man that wears more than you?"
"Surprisingly, yes."
"Are you sure they weren't a drag queen or a clown?"
"They didn't look like those…you seem like you know what a drag queen looks like."
"Have you not seen Orlando Jordan?"
"No, who's that?" I asked curiously.
"You have to see this…he's not a drag queen per say but you'll see." Alex said as he set his coffee on the table and pulled out his phone playing with it before showing me his screen that had a picture on it of an African American man that was just 'wow!'
"He's very pretty." I said as I leant back in my seat.
"Isn't he?" Alex asked putting his phone back in his pocket.
"If you don't mind me asking but is he-"
"Yes, bi." Alex said.
"Gotcha." I said nodding.
"Does that bother you?"
"Absolutely not." I said.
"I think everyone deserves to be happy."
"I feel the same way, I feel that there is someone out there for everyone and it doesn't matter the gender or the situation." I said.
"I couldn't of said it better myself." Alex said, it went quiet for a little while before he asked "What kind of kid were you? The straight A student or the slacker?" Alex asked.
"A mixture of both, I never went below a C in any of my classes, I was on the soccer team and was kind of a loner." I said trying to remember my high school days.
"Aw…you were one of those." Alex said nodding.
"Who were you?"
"I was totally a slacker. I skipped a lot of classes and would rather be skating or wrestling, but now I realized how stupid that was."
"What made you realize that it was stupid?" I asked curiously.
"I missed a lot of education and moments I'll never get back…I just keep thinking what will my kids think when they found out how much I missed and they can use that against me."
"I feel you, never once do you think about that when you're in high school but now that your older you really reflect on your bad judgments that you have made back in the day."
"Exactly…my parents threaten me with the 'wait until you have a kid like you' and I can just imagine, did you ever get that?"
"Yeah…a few times…" I said smiling. "Did you go to prom?" I asked going back to the high school conversation.
"Yes, but man did I wish I didn't. That was filled with drama, I don't like drama."
"Mine wasn't the only one that was drama filled then. I didn't even want to go either."
"I didn't want to go either, it seemed so dumb but my parents insisted that I'll go."
"Mine too…it was like any other dance but more upscale and you got dinner."
"Exactly….now I go to an event similar to that every year." Alex said.
"Really?"
"We either have a holiday party or a pre-Bound for Glory ball of sorts where we all go and we bring our families for a little get together of sorts."
"Bound for Glory, is that a pay-per view?"
"Yep, it's our biggest one and I never liked going to them."
"Why?" I asked.
"There is very few of us that have a lucky person in our lives, there is people like me that isn't that forunate and it's hard going to see all these happy families with kids."
"I see how it can be painful, it's like a constant reminder." I said.
"You ever have that?"
"Much so, life is too short and I'm afraid that my life will cut off too short before I find that person."
"We all have a fear of dying alone."
"At least I'm not alone." I said as Alex and I spent the next few hours in the shop getting refills on our coffees until it reached 7 AM and I was shaking from the caffeine I had put into my body.
"Thanks for staying up with me." Alex said as we stood up, we pushed our chairs in and headed out.
"No problem Alex." I said smiling.
"Let me guess, you are going to go take a nap?"
"Maybe if this coffee wears off." I said chuckling.
"Me too…I hope I'm not doing a match today."
"Why?"
"Because I'm doped up on this coffee."
"Who's fault is that?" I asked giving him a dirty look.
"Shut up…" Alex said rolling his eyes.
"Have you ever drunk that much coffee before in your life?"
"Not in that short amount of time, no…within a week or month, yes…" Alex said as he tossed his to-go cup in the garbage can as we walked by it before heading up the two steps to the elevators.
"Jeez, how much coffee do you drink regularly?" I asked curiously.
"I am a Starbucks Gold Member and Frequent Flyer…." Alex said proudly.
"I have an It's A Grind card where I will get a free 11th drink but I barely have 5 stamps." I said.
"It'll change after this cruise."
"Why's that?" I asked as we climbed onto the elevator after it had cleared out to take it up to our floor.
"Your now addicted to it…"
"How can you get addicted to coffee?" I asked curiously and confused.
"By drinking it a lot which you just did…you want to bet on it?"
"Not really because I know that I will probably lose."
"You will too…" Alex said as I took a sip of my coffee that was almost done.
"I know, that is why I'm not taking it and I know you will have Chris collect on my side of the bet." I said as we climbed off the elevator when it stopped at our floor.
"Not really, I will come collect it for myself…"
"How?" I asked as we went around the corner heading down to our rooms.
"I can find out where you work in the park, I got your number didn't I?"
"You stole my number."
"I can also steal the knowledge of where you work."
"How can you steal that?" I asked curiously as I gave him a side look.
"Chris will tell me, he tells me everything." Alex said smiling. We stopped in front of my door, I looked at the dreadful door before I turn to face Alex who had shoved his hands in his pants pockets.
"I'll make that bet then." I said smiling as I took a sip of my coffee.
"Alright, I win you owe me a coffee and if you win I'll take you for coffee." Alex said.
"It's on." I said smiling as I twirled my finger around the lid of my coffee.
"Well good-night." Alex said as I leant in a little.
"It's good morning." I whispered jokingly.
"It's good-night to us." Alex said smiling as I rolled my eyes before I turned around letting myself into my room, I turned around to see Alex still standing there, I smiled as I made eye contact with him.
"Good night." I said as I slowly shut my door not wanting to stop staring at his face and secretly I couldn't help but want to loot at his beautiful face longer. I closed my door locking that it but I looked at the connecting door, I made the decision to leave that door unlocked.