Colour

A five am alarm roused a very sleepy Alexandra from her dreams.

A loud groan escaped her lips and she threw out her hand, slapping the snooze button fiercely. It took a few minutes for her to accumulate the energy to sit up and run her hands through her very messy hair. She squeaked when she hit a knot and almost pulled out some of her light brown locks with it.

She stretched her arms above her head and sighed before throwing her legs over the edge of the bed and pulling herself to her feet. It took her an hour to get completely ready- Not entirely awake but ready nonetheless.

She was due in work at six-thirty. She hated doing the early shift at work but she had to.

“Well you look positively cheery,” Josh beamed brightly at Alexandra as she padded through the café staff-room doors at six-thirty-five.

“It’s too early in the morning to even contemplate cheery- I’m sleepy is what I am,” She retorted, rubbing her hands over her face before she pulled off her jacket and put it in her locker.

“You’re not cheery even when you’re awake, Lex,” He retorted with a cheeky smile.

“Hey,” She glared at him, “Take it back or you’re getting a stale bread roll launched at your head,”

He laughed and shook his head, “I’ll remember to put threatening behaviour and violent conduct towards authority on your next reference,” He beamed innocently and headed out of the door.

She sighed and grabbed her apron, wrapping it around her waist.

She heard the dull thud of the thick locks on the main doors made her roll her eyes to the ceiling.

The morning shift was usually quite quiet- Just the early birds and businessmen coming in for coffees and on-the-go breakfast- but it was the fact that it was so quiet was what Alexandra hated. She often ended up falling asleep on the job when it was really empty.

One time, she was leaning on her hand, fell asleep and slipped, hitting her head on the table. Josh was crying with laughter at this but Alexandra found it difficult to laugh when her forehead pulsed so painfully.

“Lexie, get out here!” Josh’s voice called through, relatively urgently, and she felt the pockets of her apron for her notebook and pen before stepping out to begin her shift.

“Josh there’s no-one even here,” She huffed, “If you’re going to say that as though a convention of caffeine addicts has just arrived at the door then make sure they have done,” She said, bunking herself up onto a stool, “Ever heard of the boy who cried wolf?”

“The thing is, Lex, I’m your boss so I can cry wolf all I want because if you want to keep your job you’ll come running,” He shrugged.

“You won’t fire me, you like me too much,” She grinned, “I’m the best waitress you have,”

“The second best waitress I have in this room, yeah,” He replied, wiping down one of the tables.

Alexandra and Josh were alone.

“Hey, I resent that!” She frowned, “I’m a good waitress,”

“You really think so? Do you know how many complaints about you I’ve had?” He raised his eyebrows at her.

“Oh people are just picky,” She said dismissively.

“You told a newlywed couple that their marriage was a sham and they should’ve bought a dog instead!” He retorted.

“Yeah well...” She trailed off, “They should have,”

Josh shook his head with a dry laugh, “And you told a sixteen year old that her boyfriend was only after one thing and he’d leave her when he got it,”

“No I did not!” She folded her arms with offence, “I told her that boys in general were only after one thing and she should take advantage of that because love doesn’t exist,”

“She was sixteen, Lexie, it’s a bit harsh to crush all her hopes and dreams in one lunchtime. Her mom looked like she wanted to stab me in the face!” He shook his head, “She probably wasn’t even thinking about sex at the time. Just because you’re a whore doesn’t mean you should advise young girls to follow the same path,” He sent her a playful smile.

“Hey, now you just stop right there- I don’t charge for it,” She smirked.

He laughed, “Sorry, my mistake,”

“Seriously though,” She looked up at him, “I’m not a slut. I have needs too. Just because I happen to fulfil them with guys from bars doesn’t make me a slut,”

“I was kidding,” He rolled his eyes, “But girls have got themselves reputations for less than what you do,”

“It’s not like I do it every night with people whose names I don’t know whilst I’m off my proverbial face,” She explained, “It’s like... Once a fortnight or something,” She pondered, “Maybe less than that,”

Josh glanced over at her, “I just don’t get it, to be honest,” He began, “I don’t understand how you can just have empty, heartless sex with people,”

“It’s pretty easy,” She shrugged, “Quite lovely actually,” She smiled cheekily.

He shook his head, “I mean I don’t understand how you can do it without some kind of feeling involved,”

“Attraction is a feeling,” She countered.

“No, I don’t... Ugh... Never mind,” He began wiping another table.

“I do know what you mean Josh but I like the fact that there are no strings attached,” She shrugged, “I don’t believe in love so I’m not looking for it,”

“I’ll never understand your mind set,” He said as he began to put the cleaning things away, “How can you not believe in one of the most powerful things in the world?” He was such a hopeless romantic and it almost sickened her.

“Love is something made up by Disney. Prince Charming my ass. I don’t know any man who would find some girl’s shoe and make every single girl in the city try it on to find her. He only wants to get in her pants anyway,” She muttered to herself, “The only reason he didn’t know who she was is because he was probably pissed,”

Josh laughed, “You’re such a cynic,”

“I’m a realist,” She corrected.

“Yeah, it's totally realistic that Price Charming was drunk off his ass in Cinderella,” He snorted, “I don’t know what the hell happened to make you like this, Lex, but it’s sad,”

She rolled her eyes, “Nothing ‘happened’ to me, it’s just how I am,”

“I just think it’s going to be a pretty lonely life for you,” He mentioned.

“Well thanks for that insight,” She got up from her stool and wandered over to him, “So you’re really going to wait until that one ‘special’ girl comes along?”

“Yeah,” He nodded.

“So you genuinely believe she’s out there?” She asked curiously, bending over to rest her elbows on the counter and gazing up at him.

His naive, hopeful blue eyes glinted innocently at her and he nodded, “Yeah. Everybody’s got somebody. I truly believe that there’s a girl out there that I’m going to bump into and one day I’ll wonder how I ever even lived without her. I’m going marry her and I’m going to have kids and we’ll be a happy family. I’m going to be the luckiest man in the world,”

A smile grew onto Alexandra’s lips, “That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard,” She admitted, looking at him with admiration, “I wish I had your belief but I just... Don’t. I can’t grasp the concept of feeling so strongly for someone that you almost physically can’t carry on living without them,”

“Nobody understands it, Lex- It’s just there... It happens,” He shrugged.

“Not to me,” She shook her head.

“Not yet,” He replied.

She chuckled humourlessly, “What do you mean ‘not yet’? It’s more like ‘not ever’,”

“I don’t believe that- I think there’s someone out there for you,” He responded and received an odd, disbelieving look from her, “Seriously,” He countered her unspoken words, “Whether he’ll be an utterly pessimistic son of a bitch so that you live in self-inflicted, non-loving misery for the rest of your lives or he’s a loving, hopelessly romantic optimist that might even make you believe in love- He’s out there. You never know, he might even walk into the café right now...” He looked over to the door and Alexandra followed his gaze. They stared blankly at the still closed door before Alexandra looked back up at him with an amused expression. He chuckled lightly, “You have no idea how much I was hoping for somebody to walk in right then. Even if it was an eighty year old woman with an eye-patch, it would’ve been awesome timing,”

She laughed and pulled herself up straight, “It would’ve,” She nodded, “Seriously though, you honestly believe that there’s someone for everyone?”

Josh nodded, “Yep,”

“Even the scary cat lady that lives on Seventh Street?” She challenged.

“Duh, she has cats, right?”

Alexandra laughed heartily, “Touché, my friend,” She smiled.

“I’m going to go stock check,” He announced, wandering towards the back.

“Hey Josh?” She called.

“Yeah?” He looked over his shoulder at her.

“Aside from the insulting newlyweds and crushing the dreams of teenage girls, I’m a good waitress, right?”

He laughed, “The best,”

“Good,” She grinned.

He winked at her and disappeared into the back. Alexandra smiled to herself and bunked herself up on the stool. She yawned.

Having relatively deep conversations before the sun has even come up was a tiring process.

=====

“Three pancakes, a bacon sandwich and egg sunny side up for table six, Lexie,” Josh called through from the kitchen.

Alexandra wandered over to the plates and picked up three of them, making her way to table six. Five regulars, one of which Alexandra had come to be friendly with after a few months.

“Bacon sandwich. Sunny side up. Pancakes,” She announced, handing over the plates to the corresponding hands that rose.

“Impeccable service as always, Lexie,” John grinned at her.

She rolled her eyes, “No matter how much you compliment me you’re not getting your breakfast free, John-Oh,”

“Can’t I just compliment you because I can?” He smiled.

She shook her head, “No,” She chuckled, “I’ll just get your other breakfasts,” She wandered back to the other plates.

She grabbed them and made her way back to the table.

“Hey, Lexie!” Josh called.

She looked over her shoulder but continued walking, “What?”

“You’ve sat in syrup,” He pointed to her.

She groaned and tried to look at her jeans, “I have syrup on my ass?” She huffed.

“Please don’t swear when you’re on the clock,” He rolled his eyes.

“Sorry, I just- SHIT,” She cursed as she turned to face forward and came clattering into another body.

“Language, Lexie!” Josh shouted again and then he sighed when he heard the clattering of plates, “I’ll get the brush,”

Alexandra looked down at her now pancake and syrup covered shirt that was slightly burning, “Jesus that’s hot,” She hissed.

“Damn it, I’m so sorry!” The body she clattered into had a voice. He grabbed some napkins from the table and began to wipe her shirt with them.

“It’s fine, honestly,” She wiped her sticky hands on her apron as the brown haired boy continued to, effectively, stroke her chest with thin strips of paper.

“I can’t believe I just did that. I just got up to go to the bathroom and then you were just there with the plates and everything...” He rambled, still wiping syrup from her shirt.

“Hey, dude, seriously, it’s fine,” She reassured.

His wiping slowed down and his embarrassed eyes lifted to meet hers, “I should probably stop rubbing your boobs right about now then...” He nodded slowly.

She copied his gesture, “Yeah, that might be good,” She smiled awkwardly, “As wonderful as it feels I have to clean up this mess,” She joked.

His cheeks flushed pink and he pulled his hand away, “Sorry,”

She laughed, “It’s fine. I just have to get you some more pancakes,” She gestured towards the kitchen. She headed off to Josh who was holding out the brush for her.

“You’ve pulled,” Josh teased.

“Shut up,” She glared at him, hearing table six’s whispered words as she made her way back.

“Smooth Kenny, real smooth,”

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'I Did The Wrong Thing To The Right Girl'

The Maine