Chapter Text
The first time you talked to Adrian – not about work – was in the breakroom in the middle of a particularly busy Thursday. Marshall, your least favorite waiter, and his gaggle were taking up a whole table and had pulled the chairs from most of the others to prop their feet up. When you walked in Adrian was off at a table with two seats left at it and Marshall immediately invited you to theirs. To his. You gritted your teeth and tried to tune out the blatant innuendos he threw your way. (Tips, he’ll share his tips with you – well, he’s got one you can have for sure.)
Instead, you beelined to Adrian’s table mainly because they hissed “you don’t want to sit there, don’t sit with him”. You sat down pointedly in the chair closest to him and pulled out your phone, thumbing through for a game to distract yourself. Marshall hadn’t stopped talking but you managed to mostly stop listening. Adrian glanced between you and them and said quietly, “I think they’re waiting for you to say something.”
Without looking up, you opened the notes app, typed quickly, and turned the phone to face Adrian.
My mother says if you don’t have anything nice to say, you shouldn’t say anything at all.
He smiled and snickered once before covering it with a cough. Something about his body language said he didn’t want to alienate himself from the assholes across the room. Which was a shame because clearly they’d already done it for him.
The manager ducked his head into the room and laid into the whole group five minutes later, telling them to get their asses back on the floor – apparently, it wasn’t their break. You didn’t move when they left and after another five minutes passed, Adrian asked, “Sorry, should I have said something?”
“Hmm?” You looked up from your phone.
“To them. Earlier.” He nodded to the empty table littered with a comical number of chairs.
“Nah,” you answered and stood. Your break was almost over and you still had to use the bathroom before you headed back to the hostess stand. “I’m a big girl,” you assured. “I can make him regret it all on my own.”
Adrian looked doubtful, eyes narrowed, nose wrinkled. “How?”
You nodded sagely from the doorway. “Tell you what. If you haven’t figured it out by the end of your shift, come find me, I’ll let you know.” You punctuated the sentence with a conspiratorial wink and let the door close behind you.
A few hours later you caught Adrian as he headed out the back door to his car.
“Hey!” He turned to look at you, a little surprised – eyebrows up and lips parted.
“You didn’t come see me; you figure it out on your own?” You asked, head cocked to the side.
He nodded and an open mouth smile stretched across his face.
“Told you,” you shrugged, and laughed when Adrian smiled even broader.
Marshall was still pacing in and out of the breakroom complaining to anyone who would listen about how shitty the back half of his shift was. A whole six dollars in tips for the last four hours. ‘Bullshit’ he kept yelling. Adrian had noticed you sitting less people in his section but he wasn’t certain how you managed to sit only people who wouldn’t leave tips at Marshall’s tables. He briefly wondered if you had asked them at the door.
“Good night!” you called across the parking lot, throwing up your hand and heading back inside. Adrian waved back, still smiling.
A few days later, maybe weeks, it wasn’t like your sense of time was intact with two shitty minimum wage jobs, Adrian and you ended up on the same late break near the end of your shift. He seemed happy to sit silently across the table from you for most of the break. The last few minutes, though, he started to fidget incessantly, drawing your attention. When you finally made eye contact, he sat up straighter.
“I was gonna get dinner after we got out – at the Forest Diner. They’ve got really awesome burgers, like the best in town. Probably the whole state? You could come with, if you wanted.” He had tried to shrug casually but it wasn’t convincing.
“Oh, that’s super nice. I just.” You grimaced, hearing how textbook your answer was at this point. “I really want to go home and sleep.” You had said it a million times at your other job to the two girls nice enough to try and include you in their evening plans. You felt guilty as you watched Adrian shake his head and scoff, seemingly at himself, “Yeah, no of course.”
“I do appreciate the offer.” You meant that but whether it mattered to him right now was hard to say. “Maybe some other night,” you tacked on. Thankfully Adrian didn’t actually suggest a specific night as a make-up.
The Forest Diner did indeed have awesome burgers, you eventually found out.
You had pulled your phone out after your shift ended at Fennel Field’s to see that your evening plans had been cancelled. About two minutes later as you shoved your phone back in your bag and got ready to bolt for the door, you heard the waiters rebuffing Adrian as he tried to ask about their evening out. One of the younger waitresses started to ask you if you want to go with all of them to wherever it is they were drinking.
“I’ve got plans already,” you answered and didn’t look back at her. It didn’t surprise you the group wasn’t inviting Adrian but they were being downright rude and it pissed you off. You hopped in front of Adrian and interrupted before he could say anything else to them. “So what time does the diner close? Or are they an all-night place?”
Adrian stared at you, obviously lost.
“If we leave now, do we have time to eat or are they gonna lock up before our food gets out?” You jerked your head to the door and he patted his pockets like he was checking for something. “You gonna grab your stuff?”
Adrian headed back over to the lockers, shoved the contents of one into his pockets, and threw his apron and hat in it. Marshall offered you an invite to their gathering as you turned to the door, Adrian not far behind. You sneered, “In what fucking world would I want to do that.”
You had planned on following him there but the second you made it to your car you remembered your basically empty gas tank. Enough to get you to your apartment but not… “Shit, I forgot to fill up before. Can you drive?” Adrian nodded, uncharacteristically nonverbal.
“Can I ask you something?” he said after you had made it out of the parking lot.
“Yeah?”
“We didn’t actually have plans, right?” he sounded like he knew the answer but needed the closure.
“No, I,” you laughed. “My friend cancelled on me last minute and I skipped dinner so I figured we could go to the diner you mentioned a while back.”
“Why didn’t you want to go to Stoney’s?” he asked quietly after a beat.
“As it stands, I am only willing to be in the same room with Marshall if you pay me. I sure as fuck am not about to do it for free.”
“Sorry about your friend. Are they okay?” he changed the subject.
“Oh no, they’re fine. They ditched me…” you hummed as you thumbed through your text log again, “twelve minutes before my shift ended. I seriously don’t know why we’re still friends.”
“That seems kind of harsh.” His voice was hushed, almost shy.
“I feel like I always go out of my way to make time for the stuff she wants to do and she doesn’t even meet me halfway,” Your memory floated to last Christmas with alarming clarity. “Every gift she’s ever gotten me has just been something she likes.” You added, without meaning to.
“But she got you gifts, that’s being a good friend?” Adrian either didn’t follow your logic or was a little defensive. You couldn’t be sure.
“Yeah, it’s better than nothing I guess but I meant… I don’t know.” You tried to articulate a stray thought that had been living in your periphery for a while now. “I don’t think she even knows my favorite color. I know hers but I don’t think she knows mine.” It was childish and simplified but it’s how you had started to feel about her lately.
Adrian said nothing for a solid minute and you wondered if you had sounded mad at him for defending her. At the next light, he finally broke the silence.
“What’s your favorite color?”
You laughed involuntarily. Snorted, actually. “Oh no you’re not supposed to ask that. I have to think about it,” you covered your face with your hands. It was a shotgun blast to your theory – how can you expect someone to know it if you don’t? Thankfully Adrian didn’t point that out, just waited patiently.
“Phthalo green.” You answered after a not so brief consideration, adding, “My mom watched a lot of Bob Ross when I was kid.”
“Mine’s teal.” He responded proudly. He hadn’t had to think about it.
“Noted,” you said warmly.