five (jensen)
Nov. 6th, 2010 05:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smackenzieJensen 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.
They walked back into the coffeeshop just as she was walking out.
"I got paged," she huffed. "I knew it was going to happen. One of the attendings has it in for me."
"That sucks," Jensen said sympathetically.
"The thing that kills me is that I can't even complain. I signed up for this." She sighs. "So did you chat? Is everything cool?"
"Everything's cool," Matt told her. "We have a plan."
"And no, we're not going to tell you all about it," Jensen added.
"Well don't tell me now," she said, "you haven't done anything. Yet." She waggled her eyebrows suggestively. Jensen took a deep breath. Danneel snickered. "You boys have fun. I'll be thinking of you when I'm running my ass off for pregnant moms and asshole OBs." She kissed each of them on the cheek and trotted off down the sidewalk.
There was no good way to ask Matt if he was the kind of guy who was likely to "do something" on a first date, so Jensen didn't. He himself wasn't really that kind of guy, anyway. Maybe on the second date, though.
"I should get back to work," he said, "before Justin breaks the espresso machine."
"He's kind of a klutz?" Matt suggested.
"He's kind of a klutz. Good guy, but not always the sharpest tool in the shed."
"We should probably exchange numbers, just in case. And I need to know where you live so I can come get you."
"My phone's locked in the back room," Jensen said. Not entirely accurate - the back room wasn't locked - but close enough. "You have to go back inside anyway" - he pointed to the coffeecup Matt was still carrying - "so you can drop that off."
"Do people walk out with them?"
"You'd be surprised. We lose silverware, mostly, if we lose anything. College students steal it. When I was in college we took shit from the cafeteria. I don't know why Vandy can't do that too."
"They're probably not on the meal plan. I just finished my second year of grad school. I get it."
"Danneel said you were at Vannderbilt. What are you studying?"
"Art history. I kind of want to specialize in forgeries, but I don't know if that counts as a real specialization. Area of expertise, maybe."
They'd gone inside by then and realized a line was forming at the counter and Justin looked kind of harried. Fortunately no one in line seemed to be in a big hurry, although sometime it was hard to tell until a customer actually yelled at you to move faster, they didn't have all the time in the world to wait around for your slow ass.
(That had never happened to Jensen, but he had seen it happen to Nicki once. She just looked at the guy and said, calmly, "If I hurry I'll spill your coffee, and then I'll have to make another one and you'll be even later. And if you're in such a rush, maybe you should switch to decaf." He asked to speak to the manager. She said he was speaking to the manager. Genevieve stifled a giggle. The guy glared. Nicki handed him his coffee with a serene expression. He stomped out. "And that is how you handle an asshole in a hurry," she said.)
"Imminent disaster?" Matt asked, gesturing to the line with his now-empty cup.
"Probably. Let me give you my number, hang on." Jensen scurried around behind the counter, said "Just a sec" to Justin, grabbed a pen out of the cup by the register, and scribbled his phone number and address on the back of a frequent-drinker card. (You got a stamp for each drink you bought, and after ten stamps you got either a free drink or a free baked good.) Matt handed him the coffeecup and took the card.
"I'll pick you up at seven, is that ok?" he said.
"Yeah, yeah, that's fine. Nice to meet you ahead of time." Jensen grinned a real grin this time, since he felt less exposed, less on display (since Danneel had left), and less nervous, and thus less shy.
"Same here. See you Saturday."
Jensen didn't even watch him leave, because customers were backing up and Justin seriously looked like he was about to drop something. At least he hadn't spilled a giant iced coffee on himself again, and so far everyone in line was being pretty patient.
"You said ten minutes!" Justin practically whined, as he dumped used espresso grounds and scooped fresh ones into the portafilter.
"It was ten minutes. I didn't expect a crowd to appear. You handle the customers, I'll make the drinks. What's this?"
"Double macchiato."
"Got it." He nudged Justin out of the way, pushed two little cups under the portafilter's spouts, and poured some milk for the foam while the espresso dripped.
Justin was really much better with customers than he was with coffee, at least when there were a lot of people in line, and Jensen was better with coffee. It worked well for them.
About an hour later Joe came in and things eased up considerably, and a couple hours after that, Jensen's shift was up and he could go home.
"Don't forget the gallery opening," Joe called to him as he walked out.
"I won't," Jensen called back, more out of reflex than anything else. He'd taken a flyer so he just had to remember to take it out of his jacket pocket. He wondered if he could get Chris or someone to go with him, or if anyone else from the coffeeshop was going to show up. Justin had already said he couldn't go, and Genevieve was too ticked off at Joe for getting promoted to manager ahead of her. Maybe Alona would be there.
The next morning, on his way to Seth's studio, he dropped by the coffeeshop to ask, but she apparently wasn't working until the afternoon. Julie was there, and when Jensen asked why she was quitting, she said she was moving to Iowa with her boyfriend, and it wasn't a huge secret but at the same time she hadn't really told a lot of people because, well, her boyfriend had gotten into the writing program at the University of Iowa and she was going to support both of them while he was writing. She didn't want people to judge her. Jensen promised not to.
He showed up at the studio ten minutes early, which was good because it gave him some extra time to control his nerves. Jensen had been through auditions before - not just for session musician slots but for choirs and choruses and (twice) community theater productions - he had some faith in his abilities, but at the same time he liked having a few minutes beforehand to catch his breath and plan what to say and mentally compose himself.
He played a little, sang a little, read some sheet music, talked to Seth and two other guys about music and Nashville and recording and the local scene, and when one of the guys asked where Jensen had gone to school and he answered "UT Austin," they chatted some about Texas. He filled out some paperwork, shook hands, thanked the guys for their time, wasn't quite sure how to respond when they thanked him for coming in.
"I'm gonna be honest," Seth said, walking him out. "The chances of you making big money off this are about zero right now. It's not a bad gig, though, and the chances of you getting called for something are pretty decent. It'll probably be just a day at first, but it's a stepping stone, you know?"
"Hey, I'll take almost anything right now," Jensen admitted. "It's something. Thanks for talking me up."
"No sweat, man, you're pretty good. And any buddy of Chris' is a buddy of mine."
They shook hands, Seth promised to call if he got any other good leads, and Jensen went on about his day.
words: 1337
total words: 10,005
note: this is a portafilter. i had to google "espresso machine parts" to learn what it was called.
They walked back into the coffeeshop just as she was walking out.
"I got paged," she huffed. "I knew it was going to happen. One of the attendings has it in for me."
"That sucks," Jensen said sympathetically.
"The thing that kills me is that I can't even complain. I signed up for this." She sighs. "So did you chat? Is everything cool?"
"Everything's cool," Matt told her. "We have a plan."
"And no, we're not going to tell you all about it," Jensen added.
"Well don't tell me now," she said, "you haven't done anything. Yet." She waggled her eyebrows suggestively. Jensen took a deep breath. Danneel snickered. "You boys have fun. I'll be thinking of you when I'm running my ass off for pregnant moms and asshole OBs." She kissed each of them on the cheek and trotted off down the sidewalk.
There was no good way to ask Matt if he was the kind of guy who was likely to "do something" on a first date, so Jensen didn't. He himself wasn't really that kind of guy, anyway. Maybe on the second date, though.
"I should get back to work," he said, "before Justin breaks the espresso machine."
"He's kind of a klutz?" Matt suggested.
"He's kind of a klutz. Good guy, but not always the sharpest tool in the shed."
"We should probably exchange numbers, just in case. And I need to know where you live so I can come get you."
"My phone's locked in the back room," Jensen said. Not entirely accurate - the back room wasn't locked - but close enough. "You have to go back inside anyway" - he pointed to the coffeecup Matt was still carrying - "so you can drop that off."
"Do people walk out with them?"
"You'd be surprised. We lose silverware, mostly, if we lose anything. College students steal it. When I was in college we took shit from the cafeteria. I don't know why Vandy can't do that too."
"They're probably not on the meal plan. I just finished my second year of grad school. I get it."
"Danneel said you were at Vannderbilt. What are you studying?"
"Art history. I kind of want to specialize in forgeries, but I don't know if that counts as a real specialization. Area of expertise, maybe."
They'd gone inside by then and realized a line was forming at the counter and Justin looked kind of harried. Fortunately no one in line seemed to be in a big hurry, although sometime it was hard to tell until a customer actually yelled at you to move faster, they didn't have all the time in the world to wait around for your slow ass.
(That had never happened to Jensen, but he had seen it happen to Nicki once. She just looked at the guy and said, calmly, "If I hurry I'll spill your coffee, and then I'll have to make another one and you'll be even later. And if you're in such a rush, maybe you should switch to decaf." He asked to speak to the manager. She said he was speaking to the manager. Genevieve stifled a giggle. The guy glared. Nicki handed him his coffee with a serene expression. He stomped out. "And that is how you handle an asshole in a hurry," she said.)
"Imminent disaster?" Matt asked, gesturing to the line with his now-empty cup.
"Probably. Let me give you my number, hang on." Jensen scurried around behind the counter, said "Just a sec" to Justin, grabbed a pen out of the cup by the register, and scribbled his phone number and address on the back of a frequent-drinker card. (You got a stamp for each drink you bought, and after ten stamps you got either a free drink or a free baked good.) Matt handed him the coffeecup and took the card.
"I'll pick you up at seven, is that ok?" he said.
"Yeah, yeah, that's fine. Nice to meet you ahead of time." Jensen grinned a real grin this time, since he felt less exposed, less on display (since Danneel had left), and less nervous, and thus less shy.
"Same here. See you Saturday."
Jensen didn't even watch him leave, because customers were backing up and Justin seriously looked like he was about to drop something. At least he hadn't spilled a giant iced coffee on himself again, and so far everyone in line was being pretty patient.
"You said ten minutes!" Justin practically whined, as he dumped used espresso grounds and scooped fresh ones into the portafilter.
"It was ten minutes. I didn't expect a crowd to appear. You handle the customers, I'll make the drinks. What's this?"
"Double macchiato."
"Got it." He nudged Justin out of the way, pushed two little cups under the portafilter's spouts, and poured some milk for the foam while the espresso dripped.
Justin was really much better with customers than he was with coffee, at least when there were a lot of people in line, and Jensen was better with coffee. It worked well for them.
About an hour later Joe came in and things eased up considerably, and a couple hours after that, Jensen's shift was up and he could go home.
"Don't forget the gallery opening," Joe called to him as he walked out.
"I won't," Jensen called back, more out of reflex than anything else. He'd taken a flyer so he just had to remember to take it out of his jacket pocket. He wondered if he could get Chris or someone to go with him, or if anyone else from the coffeeshop was going to show up. Justin had already said he couldn't go, and Genevieve was too ticked off at Joe for getting promoted to manager ahead of her. Maybe Alona would be there.
The next morning, on his way to Seth's studio, he dropped by the coffeeshop to ask, but she apparently wasn't working until the afternoon. Julie was there, and when Jensen asked why she was quitting, she said she was moving to Iowa with her boyfriend, and it wasn't a huge secret but at the same time she hadn't really told a lot of people because, well, her boyfriend had gotten into the writing program at the University of Iowa and she was going to support both of them while he was writing. She didn't want people to judge her. Jensen promised not to.
He showed up at the studio ten minutes early, which was good because it gave him some extra time to control his nerves. Jensen had been through auditions before - not just for session musician slots but for choirs and choruses and (twice) community theater productions - he had some faith in his abilities, but at the same time he liked having a few minutes beforehand to catch his breath and plan what to say and mentally compose himself.
He played a little, sang a little, read some sheet music, talked to Seth and two other guys about music and Nashville and recording and the local scene, and when one of the guys asked where Jensen had gone to school and he answered "UT Austin," they chatted some about Texas. He filled out some paperwork, shook hands, thanked the guys for their time, wasn't quite sure how to respond when they thanked him for coming in.
"I'm gonna be honest," Seth said, walking him out. "The chances of you making big money off this are about zero right now. It's not a bad gig, though, and the chances of you getting called for something are pretty decent. It'll probably be just a day at first, but it's a stepping stone, you know?"
"Hey, I'll take almost anything right now," Jensen admitted. "It's something. Thanks for talking me up."
"No sweat, man, you're pretty good. And any buddy of Chris' is a buddy of mine."
They shook hands, Seth promised to call if he got any other good leads, and Jensen went on about his day.
words: 1337
total words: 10,005
note: this is a portafilter. i had to google "espresso machine parts" to learn what it was called.
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no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 07:09 am (UTC)