Hollywood Hills and Suburban Thrills

We, Noah and I, had been sitting in the "employee lounge" for forty-five minutes, listening and singing along to the radio and talking when a there was a knock at the door. I jumped slightly, not expecting it in the least, but Noah didn't seem fazed at all.

"Order's up," He says nonchalantly, standing and walking towards the door. I followed him, walking out and towards the dining room again. Sure enough, the counter that we had both placed our order sheets now had two pull trays placed on it.

I checked the ticket on one and saw that it was mine so I scooped it up in my arms and walked toward the table with the five guys. As I got closer, their conversation quieted down and several of them looked at me, smiling at the fact that I was bringing the food at long last.

"Here you go," I say, placing the selected orders in front of the person who ordered it until the tray was empty again. They all smiled at me thankfully before digging into their breakfast. I started my walk back to the counter and Noah joined me halfway.

"Meet me back at the employee lounge in ten?" he asks quietly as we passed the kitchen window.

"Sure," I say with a smile and he nodded before disappearing into the supply closet.

I leaned on the counter top, gazing over that my table of guys as they ate and talked to one another. That nagging familiarity was continually surfacing whenever I looked at them, and it was on the tip of my tongue.

I grabbed a water pitcher and a pot of coffee and went to their table again, filling their mugs and glasses. "How's it tasting, boys?" I ask with a smile as I reached to grab the far mug on the tables.

"It's great," the boy with the long dark hair says, smiling at me.

"Glad to hear it," I reply after filling the aforementioned mug. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask." I say and they all nodded, smiling. I nodded once and then walked away, placing the pitcher back on the counter and the coffeepot back under the brewer before returning to the employee lounge.

"Finally," Noah mumbles sarcastically and I nudged him. "I said ten minutes and I do believe it's been twelve."

I sat down in the chair I had been sitting in earlier and looked at him with a sad face. "I'm sowwie, Noah. Will you ever forgive me?" I push my bottom lip out, blinking rapidly and letting my chin quiver slightly.

"Pouting faces aren't fair." He states, pointing a finger at me and covering his eyes with his free hand.

"It's working, is it not?" I say proudly but he wouldn't uncover his eyes. "Fine." I declare, falling back in my chair with a straight face. He revealed his eyes and sighed in relief, a smile on his face. I sneered at him.

"So how's your table coming along?" he asks as he turned the radio back on and let it play quietly in the background.

"They're alright," I say softly, not really knowing what else to say about them. I had only given them food, after all; not a kidney. "They all seem like nice guys. This one though…" I trailed off.

"What about him?" Noah asks, leaning forward on the table on his elbows and looking me in the eye.

"I don't know; something about him is so familiar but I don't know what." I say with an air of irritation in my voice.

Noah shrugged. "Maybe he was a classmate?" he suggests.

I shook my head. "Doubt it. He looked like he was a bit older than me."

That made Noah pull a thoughtful face. "Perhaps an ex-boyfriend?" he ponders aloud. I shook my head but said nothing. "Well, then I don’t know, Dani," he threw his hands down on his thighs, "maybe he was your past self reincarnated."

"Now you're just getting ridiculous." I say with a laugh and he smiled at me. The radio beside us was playing the end of the song and as soon as the tune ended, the host started talking.

"Remember folks, anyone who entered the Day at Warped Sweepstakes needs to be sure to listen today. We'll be announcing the winner at three o'clock so keep your radio dial here on 105.9: Hits 106."

I beamed, that tiny optimistic part of me springing to life inside and rejoicing with the thought of winning. Noah looked at me.

"What are you smiling about?" he asks.

I looked at him and quickly suppressed the smile. "No reason," I say quickly, getting up to walk out the door.

"You're up to something," he claims when he caught up with me.

"No I'm not," I reply indifferently. He looked at me up and down, his blue eyes poring over mine.

"You're a mysterious girl, Dani," he says finally and I beam at him.

"I guess you could say that," I say and then walk out into the dining room to seat a couple of adults that had walked in. I glanced at the table of five guys to see them all smiling at each other and mumbling to each other over their plates of breakfast. I seated the couple and then returned to the kitchen to find Noah waiting for me with his eyes narrowed.

"I'm on to you," he says when I stopped beside him and I rolled my eyes.

"Drop the act, double-oh seven, and look at that table of guys," I point out the little window towards my table and he looked. "Whenever I walk by, they get quiet and snicker and stuff."

"Maybe they like you," he says off-handedly, "a lot."

"You wanna go see how they're doing for me?" I ask him on a whim and he looks at me in surprise. "Just to see how they react. C'mon, please?" I pushed my bottom lip out and looked up at him making my green eyes big and sad.

"Ugh, fine," he says and walks out of the kitchen, taking his sweet ass time to get to the table and start talking to the guys.

They all smiled at him, nodding as he spoke, and then they responded, and then he would talk again. The boy in the middle with the semi-longish brown hair, however, wasn't joining in the conversation and instead was staring down at his hands that were sitting folded on the table.

I zeroed in on him, suddenly something in his features ringing a bell, but right as I thought I had it, he looked up and his eyes connected with mine from across the dining room. Startled, I looked away and busied myself with a stack of silverware that sat on the counter underneath the window, determined not to look up again until I was sure he wasn't looking at me.

I fumbled with the knives and forks until one pricked my finger and I yelped, bringing my hand up and massaging it gently. I allowed my eyes to travel to the table where I saw the middle boy sitting but instead of staring at his hands, he was smiling down at his lap, looking like he was writing something.

"They asked what happened to you." Noah's voice sounded suddenly and I jumped, turning to look at his smirking face.

"Oh," was my reply, my brain suddenly frazzled. "Ok then, uh, thanks, Noah." I say and start walking away.

"They also said they were ready for their check," Noah adds as we were headed to the employee lounge. I turned on my heel and headed toward the register that was at the front of the restaurant, punching in their orders, ripping the receipt off and placing it in the little black folder before heading towards there table with it.

"Here you go, guys," I smile, placing the folder upright on the table. They each mumbled a thank you, the one with short curly hair grabbing the check and opening it before anyone else could. "I'll be your cashier when you're ready." I add and then walk away.

I had returned to the kitchen to look at the clock. It was only ten thirty and I was going to be there until six. I groaned aloud and stomped my foot childishly, crinkling my nose at the clock. Noah appeared out of no where, smirking at me.

"You shouldn't do that," he says in laughter, "your pretty face might stick like that."

"You're hysterical," I say cynically, turning to put my elbows on the counter and rest my chin on my palm.

"One of your little friends is waiting at the register," Noah points out after a minute of silence and my eyes snapped to the front pedestal. Sure enough, a tall boy was standing there and from where I was standing behind him, I could tell from his hair that he was the one that had caught me staring earlier.

I curse mentally and stalked out of the kitchen, heading to the front, but smiled pleasantly when I came to face the boy. "Hey," I say, taking the black folder from him when he held it out to me.

"Dani, right?" he asks while I swiped the credit card that was inside. I looked up at him.
"Yeah, that's right," I reply, looking at him. His eyes were deep brown and looking into mine, not breaking away at all.

"Like 'Dani California' Dani?" he wonders, a smile starting to form on his mouth. I quirked an eyebrow.

"Yep," I answer, printing the receipt and handing it to him, "sign this please."

He took it from me, scribbling on the dotted line quickly before handing it back and saying, "Thanks, Dani," and then turning to walk back to his table without giving me a chance to reply.

I opened the register and put the signed piece of paper inside without even looking at the signature and then walked back to the kitchen to wait for the boys to leave so I could clear off the table. They cleared out rather quickly, two of the five of them typing away on their sidekicks while the other three were chatting to each other. One of the two that were texting was the boy who had paid and while his thumbs worked away on his cell phone, his face held a small smirk, and I felt like I had seen it before too.

I walked to the table as soon as the door had closed behind them and started clearing the plates off and onto a cart that I had pulled along with me. But when I picked up the plate that was in the middle on the far side of the table, a small piece of folded paper fell off the bottom. Curious, I picked it up, looking it over and feeling my eyes bulge when I saw my name printed on it on one side.

I quickly unfolded it to see thin, chicken scratch writing inside, and I read:

I couldn't resist getting to know a girl as familiar-looking as you despite the fact that we've only said ten words to each other. Going to Warped? Maybe we can meet up somewhere? Call me—.
-Slim

I looked at the note with curiosity. Never before that moment had a guy had such an initial reaction to meeting me. I had to say; I was a little bit shocked. And that part about me looking familiar really through me for a loop. I slid the note into my back pocket and finished clearing off the table, pushing the cart back to the kitchen and loading the plates onto the counter by the huge sink. I had finished putting them there when a thought occurred to me. I could find out who this guy is if I look at the signature on the receipt.

I scrambled the register, pounding down on the 'no sale' button and dodging the cash drawer that came flying outward. I pulled the receipts out of the slot, flipping through them quickly until I found the one I had initialed. I looked down at the signature and I felt my jaw drop, all the recognition I had for those five guys coming back in one huge wave. I dropped the receipts back in the slot, closing the door slowly before returning to the employee lounge and falling in one of the chairs limply.

Not two minutes later, Noah burst through the door, a cheeky grin on his face. "Dani, I figured out why those guys looked so familiar," he gasps, sounding like he had literally run to find me.

"Me too," I breathe, not looking at him.

"Really?" he asks, sounding amazed while he caught his breath. "You know that they're the members of…"

"The Academy Is…?" I finish his sentence for him, finally looking at him. "I do now." He only smiled at me.