Colour

Two days later, Alexandra was back in work again and back on a lunch ‘til late shift.

Josh acknowledged her with a nod as she came inside whilst he took the orders of a group of student types.

Alexandra automatically wandered into the back to rid herself of her jacket and bag then don her apron. She took back her hair and wrapped a hair-tie around it. She wasn’t the biggest fan of pulling her hair back but she had to for health and safety. She left it until the last possible second to pull it back.

When she re-entered the dining area, Vanessa, the waitress who Alexandra was coming in to relieve, sent her an overly grateful smile- It was obvious she was exhausted, just as Alexandra had been two days earlier at this time.

She could see that all Vanessa could think was ‘bed, sleep, dream of George Clooney, sleep’. Alexandra smiled to herself in recognition of the expression and the feeling.

After Alexandra had taken the last few orders, she queued behind Josh as she waited for him to finish with the coffee machine.

“You had a gentleman caller earlier,” Josh spoke up, glancing at her briefly before concentrating on the coffee he was making.

Alexandra’s eyes widened momentarily, “Oh God. It wasn’t a guy, late twenties, brown eyes, balding, about six-three with an earring, was it?”

“That’s a very accurate description- Someone in particular you’ve pissed off perhaps?”

“Just a bad choice of one night stand- I genuinely thought he was stalking me for a few days. It was like Fatal Attraction. I was scared my bunny teddy would be in a massive pan being boiled to death when I got home,” She explained, remembering Steve. A light smile came to her face.

“Why are you smiling about that memory if you feared for your stuffed bunny’s life?” Josh sent her an odd look.

“He may have been an utter nutcase but he was great in bed,”

“Oh, ew, ugh, that’s disgusting,” He grimaced, holding up his hand to ensure she didn’t say anymore. He didn’t want details, “I shouldn’t have asked,”

Alexandra chuckled, “So, it wasn’t him was it?” She asked again.

“No,” He shook his head, “Sorry, no stalkers today,”

“Phew, thank God,” She let out something of a relieved sigh as Josh stepped away from the machine and she took his place, “So who was it? Someone dark, handsome, preferably Spanish with a nice car and has a desire to whisk me away somewhere exotic I hope,” She sighed dreamily.

Josh gazed at her with his eyebrow quirked, “Seriously?” He looked bewildered, “How many times a day do you daydream about that?”

“A couple,” She shrugged.

“Not going to happen,” He shook his head.

“Don’t complain about me crushing people’s hopes and dreams and then crush mine,” She pouted.

“I will if I want to,” He grinned wickedly at her, “Anyway, it was Kennedy,”

“Who?”

“The person who came in for you,” He explained.

“No I mean who’s Kennedy?” She looked blank.

“You know, the guy John was with on Tuesday who you walked into and got food all over you,” Josh wandered over to the tables to deliver the coffees he’d just made.

Alexandra frowned to herself as she realised who Josh was talking about- Why was he back?

She finished and gave out her own coffees before catching up with him again, “Was he alone?” She asked.

“Who?” Josh sounded confused for a second before he realised, “Oh, Kennedy? Yeah he was on his own,”

Her frown deepened, “Did he say what he wanted?”

Josh shook his head, running his hand through his sandy blonde hair and letting out a yawn, “Nope. He just asked when you’d be in and that he’d call back later,” He shrugged.

“What time did he come in?” She questioned curiously.

“I don’t know,” He looked at his watch, “About ten thirty,”

“I wonder what he wants,” She pondered aloud.

“Well you won’t have to wait long, he said he’d call back so he’ll probably be here soon,” Josh pottered off to help some more customers.

Alexandra got back to work but her mind couldn’t help wondering why exactly Kennedy wanted her.

She narrowed it down to two options. Either he wanted to talk to her about their (rather one-sided) debate on Tuesday or he enjoyed feeling her up so much that he wanted to see her again.

She came to the conclusion that she only wanted him to come back if it was the second option. She wasn’t prepared to go through this again. There was no talking sense into people like that.

It was around two-thirty when the bell above the café door rang and Alexandra glanced at the customer to see the very boy she’d been wondering about all afternoon.

Kennedy padded over to the counter that Alexandra was sat at, his hands stuffed deep into his jeans pockets and his light brown hair stylishly messy.

His hazel eyes cast up to her browns and he smiled, “Hey,” He greeted, coming to a halt in front of her.

“Hi,” She grinned back, “You eating?”

He shook his head, “Uh... No, thanks. Did Josh tell you I came in before?”

She nodded, “Yeah. Listen, I know we had fun yesterday with those napkins and stuff but I’m not looking to make anything serious out of this,” She smirked teasingly. She knew that wasn’t why he was here.

“Oh snap,” He clicked his fingers and chuckled, “Well, it was worth a try,”

She laughed, “Yeah,”

He leaned down on the counter so he was at eye-level with her, “I do have another reason for coming back,”

“The very wonderful food- For a new napkin adventure I’m sure I can get you something on the house,” She winked. She was flirting so utterly obviously because she was desperately trying to avoid the topic he was, just as desperately, trying to bring up.

He laughed again, “That’s not it but I’ll definitely keep that in mind,”

“Oh that’s a shame,” She smirked, adjusting herself on the stool.

“So yeah, I’m here about Tuesday...” He began but Alexandra cut him off.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” She interrupted, “I didn’t mean to be eavesdropping on the conversation. I can’t help it. I just overhear things when I’m doing the tables,”

“Oh no, don’t worry about that,” He waved his hand dismissively, “It’s actually-”

“The fact I was such a bitch to you? Yeah, I know. I’m really sorry about that too. I just have a big mouth-”

“Yeah I can see that. Can you just shut up for a second and let me finish my sentence?” He was cautiously saying his words, ensuring they didn’t sound too abrupt.

She gazed at him for a second before nodding slowly, “Go ahead,”

“I’m here about Tuesday and about what John said about you,” He explained.

She continued to stare at him, waiting for him to continue. She raised her eyebrows at him.

“You know... About you not believing in love?” He copied her expression but with a hint of hope.

Alexandra wasn’t quite sure what the hope was for though. Was it because he was hoping she’d remember or because he was hoping she’d say ‘oh, no, that’s not true, forget it ever happened’?

She nodded lightly, “What about it?”

“Uh...” He scratched the back of his neck, “I was kind of hoping that you say it wasn’t true just there but yeah...” He cleared his throat, “I wanted to talk to you about that,”

“Kennedy, if you’re here to try to convince me otherwise I’d advise you to not even try. Many have failed before you and no-one in the future will succeed either,” She sent him a brief, almost apologetic smile.

“Well actually I am here to do that,” He bit on the inside of his lip.

She stood up from her stool as she noticed a customer gesturing for her attention, “Well I’m sorry you wasted your time,” She gently patted his shoulder as she wandered over to the customer, “What can I get you?” She smiled.

“A cappuccino, an espresso and a blueberry muffin please,” The dark-haired women asked.

Alexandra nodded and headed back to make them. Kennedy was still stood there in the same spot and she sighed lightly. As she began making the drinks, Kennedy leaned further over the counter.

“Lexie,” He said.

It was the first time he’d ever spoken her name and something odd happened to her stomach. She frowned to herself, thankful she had her back to him so he couldn’t see her expression. It was incredibly rare that someone’s voice could cause such a reaction from her.

“Yes?” She replied evenly.

“I have proof,” He stated.

She glanced over her shoulder at him with a disbelieving look, “No you don’t,”

“Yes I do,” He retaliated quickly.

She finished up the drinks and wiped some spilt coffee on her apron before taking them to the tables along with the blueberry muffin. She came back to Kennedy and looked him in the eye.

“You can’t have proof of something that doesn’t exist,” She folded her arms across her chest.

“Correction- I can have proof to contradict your theory about something,” He mimicked her motion.

Alexandra rubbed her head in frustration, “There’s just no rationalising with you people,” She murmured.

“Just give me an hour of your time to prove it,” He compromised.

She shook her head, “I can’t, I’m working,”

“After you finish,” He shrugged.

She sighed heavily and rolled her eyes, “Fine, whatever. I finish at seven,”

“Great. Here, can I borrow your pad?” He held out his hand and Alexandra handed over her little notebook and pen, “Just meet me here at, shall we say, seven thirty?” He wrote down an address and handed it back over.

“How do I know that you’re not going to try to kill me or something?” She carefully took the pad from him.

“Uh... You don’t but I can tell you right now that I don’t intend to. You also know my friend and know that he’s a good guy. Chances are, he wouldn’t be mates with a killer,”

“I suppose... I guess I’ll see you at this address at seven-thirty then,” She said reluctantly.

He smiled and nodded before heading out of the door. She flopped down onto the stool again and gazed at the address on the paper.

She wasn’t sure what he had up his sleeve but there was no way on earth he was about to convince her that love existed.

=====

At seven thirty five, Alexandra pulled up to the restaurant that the address Kennedy wrote down had brought her to. She looked up at the building with confusion once she’d parked.

She could see Kennedy standing by the door, glancing at his watch and somewhat rocking on the balls of his feet.

Alexandra bit on the inside of her lip for a minute or two before getting out of her car and heading over to him.

Kennedy smiled when he saw her and she came to a halt in front of him, “Hey,” He greeted.

“Hi,” She replied, “So, why are we here? I hope this isn’t a date and you’re trying to convince me love exists by trying to make me love you,” She joked.

“No, that’s a lot more time-consuming and requires a hell of a lot more effort,” He chuckled, “Besides, I would’ve at least tried to ask you out rather than lulling you into a false sense of security,”

She smiled, “So why are we here?”

“I told you. I’m going to prove to you that love exists,” He answered, “Shall we?” He gestured to the front door of the restaurant.

She eyed his face suspiciously before shaking her head, “No, not until you tell me what this little scheme of yours is,”

“That would ruin the fun. Come on, we’re already late,” He tried to head inside but Alexandra put her hand on the door.

She scanned his face once again, “Are you going to try to prove it by showing me a couple who are madly in love with each other?”

“Are you trying to read my face?” He countered.

“Don’t avoid the question by answering my question with a question,”

A brief confused expression graced his features before he rolled his eyes, “Why does it matter how I’m going to prove it? Aren’t you just curious that I’m going to do it?”

She shook her head, “It is a couple, isn’t it?” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“If it’s going to make you just shut up and go along with it then yes it is,”

“That’s not a definite answer- is it actually a couple or not?”

He laughed dryly, “Jesus Christ, yes Lexie, it is a couple,”

She nodded, “Okay... Well then see you later,” She turned on her heel and headed back off to her car.

“What?” Kennedy frowned and chased after her, “Where are you going?” He caught up to her and grabbed her arm, turning her back around to face him.

“I’m going home,” She responded.

“You can’t go home just because you know I’m going to prove you wrong,” He shook his head, “That’s just bad sportsmanship,”

“This isn’t a game,” She said, “And I’m not leaving because ‘you’re going to prove me wrong’,” She used her fingers to make air quotes.

“Then why are you going?”

“Because if we go in there and you try to prove to me that this couple, whoever they may be, are the definition of being in love then we will argue and I will split them up,” She answered honestly.

“You’ll split them up?” His brow furrowed.

“Yeah because I will prove to you that they’re not really in love whilst they can hear and their relationship will be meaningless to them,” She explained, “I may be stubborn, disbelieving and even cold-hearted at times but I’m not one to destroy people’s happiness,”

“John told me that you told a sixteen year old her boyfriend was only after her for sex and you made her cry. I’d call that destroying her happiness,”

“Snotty teenagers don’t count,” She waved her hand dismissively.

Kennedy laughed, “Lexie you have to at least give me a chance,”

“I’m guessing that they’re your friends Kennedy and I don’t want to be responsible for them breaking up,”

“You might not be. You haven’t even met them yet,”

“I will be,” She replied tenaciously.

He sighed, “Okay, so how about you don’t say anything to them? I’ll just introduce you, you can chat to them for a bit and then we’ll get our own table and just talk about it. I prove to you love exists and we go back to daily life,”

She scoffed, “You’re never going to prove this,”

He nodded, just as stubborn as she was, “I will. Come on, just give it a go. What’s the worst that could happen if you’re not even going to talk to them about what you think about their relationship?” He smiled sweetly, holding out his hand for her, “Just one hour,”

She stared at his hand as she fought an internal battle.

She didn’t want to hurt anyone but at the same time she could never resist the chance to prove someone wrong.

So, slightly unsurely, she slid her hand into his and let him tug her towards the restaurant.

=====

'Then You Come On Crashing In Like The Realest Thing'

John Mayer