four (jensen)
Nov. 5th, 2010 08:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smackenzieWhen Jensen got up that morning to go running, Chris was just getting out of the shower, and by the time Jensen got back, Chris had left. There was a note stuck to the fridge - "Call Seth" with a phone number - Chris was probably worried that Jensen would flake out and not call the guy or bother to drive over to his studio to play for him. Jensen grabbed the note off the fridge as he was leaving the apartment and stuffed it in his pocket, and when he got to the coffeeshop a little early, he took that as a sign and called.
Seth remembered that they'd met three times already, which surprised Jensen because he could only remember twice. He usually had a good memory for faces, but maybe it would be clearer when he got to the studio later and they could actually see each other. But it turned out that neither Seth nor the other guys who wanted to hear Jensen play had time to do it, and could he come by tomorrow instead? Maybe around ten? Jensen said sure, no problem, what should he prepare, did they want him to sing too? Seth gave him details. Jensen thanked him. Seth said he trusted Chris, and then he had to go and hung up.
Jensen put it in the little calendar on his phone - "Seth studio 10am Fri" - and went in to the coffeeshop to start his shift.
(Seth had been the original bass player in Chris' band back in the day. He'd left long before Jensen moved to Nashville and gotten more into the behind-the-scenes side of thing. He was, like a lot of Chris' music friends, kind of crazy, but he was also kind of connected and a good resource.)
In his first ten minutes at work, Jensen learned that Julie (the other manager) was leaving, Joe was replacing her, Genevieve was a little pissed off about it, Sam (the owner) had hired a new guy, and some artist friend of Joe's was showing his art in some gallery that was opening on Sunday, and Joe expected everyone who wasn't working to be there.
And Genevieve still wasn't feeling 100% well, but she'd come to work anyway because it beat hanging around her apartment, and at least she wasn't contagious any more.
"I don't think," she added under her breath, when Jensen asked how she was. "I should go breathe on Joe just in case." She glared at the door to the staff room, which also doubled as an office. He wasn't in today but the room was covered with flyers for his friend's art show, and it beat glaring at Julie, who'd apparently recommended Joe over Genevieve for the vacant manager position, and whose opinion apparently carried more weight than Nicki's.
"Nicki likes me," Genevieve huffed. "Sam likes me. Nicki trusts me to close up for her."
"She trusts Alona too," Jensen pointed out. "She closed for you on Tuesday. You think Nicki was going to let me do that?"
"Still. I've been here as long as Joe has." She paused and seemed to think of something. "You think he slept with her?"
"Who, Julie?" Jensen snorted. "I think Joe's gay. And Julie has a boyfriend."
"Joe's not gay." She said it with such certainty that Jensen wondered if he'd slept with her. He raised a curious eyebrow at Genevieve. "What? A girl knows these things."
"He didn't sleep with anybody," Justin commented, walking by them with a box of napkins. There was a lull in business and he was evidently taking advantage of it to refill the napkin dispensers. "Julie thinks you're gonna quit in a couple months," he said to Genevieve.
"What? Why would I quit?"
Justin shrugged. "I don't know. Ask Nicki. I overheard them last week. I don't know what else they were talking about besides that."
"Justin. Wait." Genevieve followed him, peppering him with questions, and Jensen watered some paper towels and attempted to clean the counter by the register. Sometimes coffee slopped over or crumbs dropped or people put their wet umbrellas on there, and it could get damp and sticky.
Genevieve eventually decided she really wasn't well enough to be working among food and drinks, and went home. Justin managed to spill a large iced mocha all over himself in the ten seconds it took to hand it off to the customer who'd ordered it - the customer herself stayed mocha-free - and Jensen sent him into the back to dry off and more importantly, to stay away from the drinks. When Justin returned with a clean and dry shirt, Jensen made him ring people up and at most get baked goods out of the case.
"No more drinks for you, Mr Long," he said, while Justin looked both contrite and annoyed.
Justin was taking his break - and hopefully not drinking anything in the back room - when Danneel came in with a guy who Jensen could only assume was Matt the Potential Date, because he was definitely cute. Wavy dark hair, green polo shirt, nice arms, sunglasses. Jensen noticed that Danneel hung back while Matt walked up to the counter.
"Hi," he said, smiling at Jensen. It was kind of a shy smile, but he showed some teeth, and Jensen liked that.
"Hi."
Danneel sidled up to Matt and elbowed him in the side. "Take your sunglasses off," she hissed.
"But then I can't see," he hissed back.
She gave him a "don't talk back to me, young man, I'm doing this for your own good" look (which Jensen recognized because every time she turned it on him, she actually said the words) and Matt sheepishly pushed his sunglasses on top of his head. He had to squint at the chalkboard with all the drinks written on it, but Danneel elbowed him again and he stopped.
He had very blue eyes, Jensen noted. A little starey, but very blue, and kind of mesmerizing. Danneel sure could pick them.
"Jensen, Matt," she said. "Matt, Jensen. You boys talk, I'll go sit."
"This is a little awkward," Matt admitted.
"A little, yeah," Jensen said. "I'll make it easy - do you want something to drink?"
"Uh...." He squinted at the chalkboard again, and then looked over the bakery case. "A medium decaf and a muffin. It looks like all you have is blueberry, so I guess I'll have blueberry."
Jensen suddenly had the weirdest sense of deja-vu, and it took him a couple of minutes - long enough to put a muffin on a plate and pour the coffee - to place the feeling with the tall guy in the UT shirt who'd come in during Jensen's last shift two days ago.
"How do you feel about bowling?" Matt asked, while Jensen made change from a ten.
"I haven't been since high school."
"Sushi?"
"Sushi's good."
"That was easy." Matt grinned, pleased. He was very cute. Jensen grinned back, although tentatively, because even though he was trying to make a good impression, he felt a bit on display and that generally made him fall back into his shy-boy tendencies.
"Smile!" Danneel yelled across the coffeeshop. Jensen could feel himself turning red. Matt covered his mouth with one hand, his face registering sympathetic embarrassment, shock, and amusement all at the same time. "You have a nice smile, Jensen, show it off!"
Oh Jesus Christ, he thought, if I survive this I am going to kill her dead.
"I'm sorry," Matt apologized. "I'm not laughing at you, I promise. She does this to me too."
"I hate her," Jensen muttered.
"You know you love me!" Danneel called. Now people were staring at them. Screw survival, Jensen was going to kill her now.
Fortunately Justin came back from his break right then, and Jensen asked if he could hold down the fort for about ten minutes.
"You said no more drinks for me," Justin said.
"Duties restored for good behavior," Jensen said, "and because I really need to get out of here for ten minutes."
Justin looked at Matt, who smiled a little sheepishly, and then at Jensen, who schooled his face into seriousness.
"Ok. Cool."
Jensen walked out from behind the counter, stalked up to where Danneel was sitting, and glared at her. She grinned like nothing had happened.
"You're so cute when you're embarrassed," she said.
"I hate you."
"Go talk to Matt for ten minutes." She waved at the door. "He's a nice guy. This is weird for him too."
Jensen tried to wipe off the bitchface, Danneel smiling sweetly at him the whole time, and then went back to where Matt was still standing by the counter, looking a little confused.
"If you don't want - " he started to say, but Jensen cut him off.
"No, it's ok. It's not you. You're - " He couldn't say You're really fucking cute or I haven't been out with a guy since I broke up with my ex or even I hope Danneel knows what she's doing, so he settled for "Do you have ten minutes to walk? Just up the block and back. I don't want to have a conversation around... her."
Matt nodded. "I get it. Let's go." He put the muffin plate on the counter - but kept the muffin - and walked out of the coffeeshop. Jensen studiously ignored Danneel and followed.
Ten minutes wasn't a lot of time to get to know someone in preparation for going out with them, but it was more than enough time to discuss what that going out entailed. Sushi, bowling, Matt would pick Jensen up since he knew where they were going and technically he'd done the asking. Jensen protested that Danneel had actually done the asking, but Matt said "Tomato, tomato", which made Jensen laugh, and then he suggested that if this one went well, Jensen could plan the next date.
Jensen half expected to freak out at the thought of planning a second date before they'd even gone on the first one, but all he really felt was a little bit of anticipation. He figured that was a good sign. He knew Danneel would think it was.
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total words: 8668
Seth remembered that they'd met three times already, which surprised Jensen because he could only remember twice. He usually had a good memory for faces, but maybe it would be clearer when he got to the studio later and they could actually see each other. But it turned out that neither Seth nor the other guys who wanted to hear Jensen play had time to do it, and could he come by tomorrow instead? Maybe around ten? Jensen said sure, no problem, what should he prepare, did they want him to sing too? Seth gave him details. Jensen thanked him. Seth said he trusted Chris, and then he had to go and hung up.
Jensen put it in the little calendar on his phone - "Seth studio 10am Fri" - and went in to the coffeeshop to start his shift.
(Seth had been the original bass player in Chris' band back in the day. He'd left long before Jensen moved to Nashville and gotten more into the behind-the-scenes side of thing. He was, like a lot of Chris' music friends, kind of crazy, but he was also kind of connected and a good resource.)
In his first ten minutes at work, Jensen learned that Julie (the other manager) was leaving, Joe was replacing her, Genevieve was a little pissed off about it, Sam (the owner) had hired a new guy, and some artist friend of Joe's was showing his art in some gallery that was opening on Sunday, and Joe expected everyone who wasn't working to be there.
And Genevieve still wasn't feeling 100% well, but she'd come to work anyway because it beat hanging around her apartment, and at least she wasn't contagious any more.
"I don't think," she added under her breath, when Jensen asked how she was. "I should go breathe on Joe just in case." She glared at the door to the staff room, which also doubled as an office. He wasn't in today but the room was covered with flyers for his friend's art show, and it beat glaring at Julie, who'd apparently recommended Joe over Genevieve for the vacant manager position, and whose opinion apparently carried more weight than Nicki's.
"Nicki likes me," Genevieve huffed. "Sam likes me. Nicki trusts me to close up for her."
"She trusts Alona too," Jensen pointed out. "She closed for you on Tuesday. You think Nicki was going to let me do that?"
"Still. I've been here as long as Joe has." She paused and seemed to think of something. "You think he slept with her?"
"Who, Julie?" Jensen snorted. "I think Joe's gay. And Julie has a boyfriend."
"Joe's not gay." She said it with such certainty that Jensen wondered if he'd slept with her. He raised a curious eyebrow at Genevieve. "What? A girl knows these things."
"He didn't sleep with anybody," Justin commented, walking by them with a box of napkins. There was a lull in business and he was evidently taking advantage of it to refill the napkin dispensers. "Julie thinks you're gonna quit in a couple months," he said to Genevieve.
"What? Why would I quit?"
Justin shrugged. "I don't know. Ask Nicki. I overheard them last week. I don't know what else they were talking about besides that."
"Justin. Wait." Genevieve followed him, peppering him with questions, and Jensen watered some paper towels and attempted to clean the counter by the register. Sometimes coffee slopped over or crumbs dropped or people put their wet umbrellas on there, and it could get damp and sticky.
Genevieve eventually decided she really wasn't well enough to be working among food and drinks, and went home. Justin managed to spill a large iced mocha all over himself in the ten seconds it took to hand it off to the customer who'd ordered it - the customer herself stayed mocha-free - and Jensen sent him into the back to dry off and more importantly, to stay away from the drinks. When Justin returned with a clean and dry shirt, Jensen made him ring people up and at most get baked goods out of the case.
"No more drinks for you, Mr Long," he said, while Justin looked both contrite and annoyed.
Justin was taking his break - and hopefully not drinking anything in the back room - when Danneel came in with a guy who Jensen could only assume was Matt the Potential Date, because he was definitely cute. Wavy dark hair, green polo shirt, nice arms, sunglasses. Jensen noticed that Danneel hung back while Matt walked up to the counter.
"Hi," he said, smiling at Jensen. It was kind of a shy smile, but he showed some teeth, and Jensen liked that.
"Hi."
Danneel sidled up to Matt and elbowed him in the side. "Take your sunglasses off," she hissed.
"But then I can't see," he hissed back.
She gave him a "don't talk back to me, young man, I'm doing this for your own good" look (which Jensen recognized because every time she turned it on him, she actually said the words) and Matt sheepishly pushed his sunglasses on top of his head. He had to squint at the chalkboard with all the drinks written on it, but Danneel elbowed him again and he stopped.
He had very blue eyes, Jensen noted. A little starey, but very blue, and kind of mesmerizing. Danneel sure could pick them.
"Jensen, Matt," she said. "Matt, Jensen. You boys talk, I'll go sit."
"This is a little awkward," Matt admitted.
"A little, yeah," Jensen said. "I'll make it easy - do you want something to drink?"
"Uh...." He squinted at the chalkboard again, and then looked over the bakery case. "A medium decaf and a muffin. It looks like all you have is blueberry, so I guess I'll have blueberry."
Jensen suddenly had the weirdest sense of deja-vu, and it took him a couple of minutes - long enough to put a muffin on a plate and pour the coffee - to place the feeling with the tall guy in the UT shirt who'd come in during Jensen's last shift two days ago.
"How do you feel about bowling?" Matt asked, while Jensen made change from a ten.
"I haven't been since high school."
"Sushi?"
"Sushi's good."
"That was easy." Matt grinned, pleased. He was very cute. Jensen grinned back, although tentatively, because even though he was trying to make a good impression, he felt a bit on display and that generally made him fall back into his shy-boy tendencies.
"Smile!" Danneel yelled across the coffeeshop. Jensen could feel himself turning red. Matt covered his mouth with one hand, his face registering sympathetic embarrassment, shock, and amusement all at the same time. "You have a nice smile, Jensen, show it off!"
Oh Jesus Christ, he thought, if I survive this I am going to kill her dead.
"I'm sorry," Matt apologized. "I'm not laughing at you, I promise. She does this to me too."
"I hate her," Jensen muttered.
"You know you love me!" Danneel called. Now people were staring at them. Screw survival, Jensen was going to kill her now.
Fortunately Justin came back from his break right then, and Jensen asked if he could hold down the fort for about ten minutes.
"You said no more drinks for me," Justin said.
"Duties restored for good behavior," Jensen said, "and because I really need to get out of here for ten minutes."
Justin looked at Matt, who smiled a little sheepishly, and then at Jensen, who schooled his face into seriousness.
"Ok. Cool."
Jensen walked out from behind the counter, stalked up to where Danneel was sitting, and glared at her. She grinned like nothing had happened.
"You're so cute when you're embarrassed," she said.
"I hate you."
"Go talk to Matt for ten minutes." She waved at the door. "He's a nice guy. This is weird for him too."
Jensen tried to wipe off the bitchface, Danneel smiling sweetly at him the whole time, and then went back to where Matt was still standing by the counter, looking a little confused.
"If you don't want - " he started to say, but Jensen cut him off.
"No, it's ok. It's not you. You're - " He couldn't say You're really fucking cute or I haven't been out with a guy since I broke up with my ex or even I hope Danneel knows what she's doing, so he settled for "Do you have ten minutes to walk? Just up the block and back. I don't want to have a conversation around... her."
Matt nodded. "I get it. Let's go." He put the muffin plate on the counter - but kept the muffin - and walked out of the coffeeshop. Jensen studiously ignored Danneel and followed.
Ten minutes wasn't a lot of time to get to know someone in preparation for going out with them, but it was more than enough time to discuss what that going out entailed. Sushi, bowling, Matt would pick Jensen up since he knew where they were going and technically he'd done the asking. Jensen protested that Danneel had actually done the asking, but Matt said "Tomato, tomato", which made Jensen laugh, and then he suggested that if this one went well, Jensen could plan the next date.
Jensen half expected to freak out at the thought of planning a second date before they'd even gone on the first one, but all he really felt was a little bit of anticipation. He figured that was a good sign. He knew Danneel would think it was.
words: 1705
total words: 8668
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 01:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 05:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 07:39 pm (UTC)(joe is jgl, natch. :D i'm going on the assumption that his friends call him joe and not joseph.)
no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 07:39 pm (UTC)