Work Text:
“I’ll get some chips and a soda,” Rose says, checking her wallet for change. There isn’t very much of it: two pounds, and fare for the bus home from work. She frowns. “Just the soda, actually.”
“Are you sure?” asks the girl at the counter, finger hovering over a button on the till.
“Just the soda,” Rose confirms.
The girl looks like she’s gonna say something, but bites her lip and turns to get a large cup from the counter behind her.
“What?” Rose asks.
“What what?”
“You were gonna say somethin’.”
“No I wasn’t.”
“Okay.”
“Or… maybe I was.”
“Yeah?”
“Well—hang on. What soda d’you want?”
“Coke.”
“Okay.” The girl adds ice to the cup and turns back to the machine to fill it up before slapping the lid on. She pauses before passing it over. “It’s… well, my break’s in ten minutes. I was gonna get some chips. If—maybe you want to eat some. Chips. With me. At my break. Some of mine, that is.” She winces like she’d said the wrong thing. “Not gonna make you pay for them, ‘cause clearly that’s not in the cards for you today, which is fine, and will my mouth ever stop talking?” She slides the cup to Rose with an apologetic smile.
“I’m kind of…” Rose starts. “I mean, I was gonna…”
“It’s cool if you’re busy. I just figured, since we have something in common, I might as well ask.”
“What—‘cause you serve chips, and I like to eat them?”
“Well… yeah. So we don’t both have the same birthmark on our foreheads, or both binge-watch the scariest sci-fi shows on Netflix with a bowl of caramel popcorn til it’s 3 AM and we’re both exhausted but too afraid of our shadows to sleep, but a girl’s gotta start somewhere.” She grins. “I’m Bill, by the way.”
“Rose.”
“Sorry to keep you, Rose.”
Oh, hell, Rose thinks.
“You know what? Dinner with Mum can wait. She’s probably forgotten to turn the oven on again, anyway. Last week she was gonna do a chicken, and it was seven in the evening before she remembered. I would’ve reminded her, ‘cept I didn’t know she hadn’t already put it in the oven.”
“You’re saying you’ll stay?”
“Yeah. Guess I am.”
“You sure you want to leave your mum hanging, though? I’m here all week. And the one after that. And the one after—well, you get the idea. The offer still stands.”
“Tomorrow, then?” Rose says.
It isn’t very often she and her mum make plans to eat together, and Rose doesn’t really want to risk the wrath of Jackie. ‘Course, she’s too old to have a curfew now, and Jackie’s been staying out later than Rose has, what with Howard being around and all, but it’s probably best she show up tonight. Even if they end up ordering out.
“Tomorrow,” Bill agrees. “You promise?”
“Cross my heart,” Rose says, and holds up the soda cup with a smile. “Cheers.”
Tomorrow, she thinks, as she leaves the shop, something exciting might finally happen.