Work Text:
I’m here
00:34 ✓✓
Jinx looked around the hall, leg bouncing from nerves and head turning from rage. Greys and whites caught her eyes, making them hurt from all the glimmering surfaces that seemed to be maintained by a bunch of maniacs. From the waxed floors to the glass staircase that lead to the guest rooms—everything here was… well, clean. In a way that reminded her of hospitals and courtrooms, except fancier.
Rich resorts, or hotels, or whatever that complex was even supposed to be, in her mind resonated with reds and golds. But gold was apparently outdated, and red was exactly what the lobby lacked, seeing as her redhead, dumbass of a sister was nowhere to be found. Jinx had been here for exactly ten minutes, long enough for the ice in the cocktail she ordered to melt completely. Now it probably tasted like shit, and there was no way in hell she was getting another, not with how overpriced everything was on that godforsaken island.
Typical.
She didn’t even want to be here in the first place. Jinx was blackmailed into travelling for her sister’s engagement party, because of course Vi couldn’t plan anything as easy as a get-together on a Saturday afternoon, and of course she would threaten to upload Jinx’s high school stan edits for everyone in their circle to see if she didn’t comply. If Jinx were to ever marry, which she probably wouldn’t, the whole ordeal would be over with in just a couple of hours. Why someone would choose to go overseas for that, she genuinely couldn’t fathom. Sure, Vi and her girlfriend—now fiancée, she supposed—could afford it, but wouldn’t it be better they invested their newly acquired fortune elsewhere?
So what is their gym business took off, it was no reason for them to get Jinx involved with their cosmopolite dream. She was perfectly content with staying at home, going to work and not talking to anyone outside of rare and strictly necessary occasions. She missed her bed, and she missed her baby Briar, whom she had to entrust to Zeri. She’d sworn if she came back and even one of her whiskers was out of place, she would lay waste to the entire country, which every witness of her oath knew not to be an empty promise.
She loved her life calm, with as little social obligations as possible, and she loved her life exciting. But excitement for her was hiding from federal workers, not sitting in a hammam while someone massaged her feet or something. The thought alone made her skin crawl. If anyone as much as approached her, she would bite their head off.
Her leg knocked into the tabletop, making some of her drink spill.
She was tired from her flight, and she was fucking pissed.
I don’t see you
00:40 ✓✓
“Ugh!”
With an aggravated sigh, Jinx shot up from her barstool. The purse she left on her suitcase toppled down and a single tampon rolling out, quite literally mocking her, taking in her desolate state and clutching its side, ‘haha, what a jinx, what a jinx.’ Oh, Jinx was sooooo mad.
“Well, I don’t see you either, idiot!” She hissed at her phone, hoping somewhere in this building, Vi could hear the venom dripping from her lips and trip over herself. She bent down to get her stuff, pushing the offending item back where it belonged. How long would she be staying there? Fucking hell.
Mumbling something about mentally challenged siblings and vampire teabags, she stomped her foot and turned back to her drink, instantly jumping out of her skin.
“What the-“
“Oh, sorry, sorry!” The barman before her brought his hands up, an easy smile on his lips. “Just wanted to know if you would like to order anything else.”
Her heart pumped in her chest, fast and hard enough for her blood to automatically mount to her cheeks. He scared the living shit out of her, just standing there, elbows pushed into the glass tabletop as though thoroughly entertained by her manic whispers. The face was new; he wasn’t the same guy who silently handed her her last order. That was an older man, tall and lanky, totally too emotionally mature to react to her resting bitch face and active bitch voice. Not that she was disrespectful or anything. Just straight to the point, you know?
No, the man before her was different. He wore the same uniform everyone around here ran in, except for the white apron snugly secured around his waist, and from the cheerful glint in his eye, she would say he belonged more in a casino than at a bar in some rich, old people resort.
She swallowed, finally trusting that opening her mouth, she won’t let out some embarrassing complaint about how silently he snuck up to her. Maybe the flooring behind the bar was different from the pristine tiles that made her snickers squeak in between rich rugs and sitting areas.
“No, thank you.”
Jinx glanced to the side again, hoping to catch sight of her sister’s ugly mug. Even that would be better than sitting here, keeping company to a clearly bored worker.
“You sure? I can make something that’ll surprise you,” he winked, turning for a second to get liquor from the bottles stack.
“Surprise me and go bother someone else.”
…ok, maybe she was being a little disrespectful. But if anyone forgot from earlier, she was pissed! And tired, and hungry. And on her period. In short, Jinx had every unimaginable excuse to be a dick to some teenage bartender at the Privileged Farts Hotel. And, no, that didn’t prove Mylo right, fuck him.
She was a people person.
When she wanted to.
If her tone threw him off, he didn’t let it show. Grabbing her glass and quickly getting rid of its watered-down content, the man flashed her a perfectly playful smile.
“Damn, I’d be pissed too if I ordered a drink and got served Ivern’s Boston tea party,” he chuckled. “Come on, I can see you’re bored too. Let me mix you something up. I gotta warm up before everyone rushes down for a glass.”
Jinx looked at him like a deer in headlights, wondering what everyone would think if she turned away and ran from him, hiding in the first room she could open the door to. Pathetic? Sure, but pathetic rhythmed with strategic for a reason. Plus nobody was really there, so maybe she could try? Give up what little grace she had left to keep her peace. And if she ran into that employee again? No, that would be embarrassing. Didn’t she already embarrass herself?
Her hand was mere centimetres from her belongings when his voice rang out again, the call of Satan himself.
“On the house,” he added, and how could Jinx ever decline that? A free cocktail? In this economy?
She carefully sat her ass down, looking him up and down suspiciously. The man had a hand towel thrown over his shoulder, tattooed forearms visible from where he pushed his sleeves up. She called him a teenager for how young his face looked, but seeing the ink and the sheer size of his arms now forced Jinx to accept the man could only be a few years younger than her if at all.
Probably in his early twenties too.
“So, what are we craving tonight,” he smirked, completely too invested to be light-hearted. “A French Cosmo? A Charlie Chaplin? A… Bloody Mary?”
His gaze fell to her purse, and her breath caught, face colouring.
What the hell was he smiling at her for? Damn bastard.
“I’ll follow you home and smother you in your sleep.”
The man laughed. Loudly. She bit her lip, not knowing whether she liked the sound of it or hated his stupid… everything.
“Sorry, I thought it was funny.” His hands were quick; Jinx had a hard time following his movements as he turned left and right gathering ingredients.
No other employee was here at this hour, the hall completely silent aside from the sounds of clinking bottles. For the first time since she first laid eyes on him, she got curious enough to crank her neck and try to see his name tag.
Not being able to get a good glimpse at it from where he was cutting fruit, Jinx looked down at her phone instead.
0 new messages. She was going to kill her sister for putting her in this situation. In this hotel, at this hour, with this barman. It was all her fault.
“So, who are you waiting for?” He asked, not looking up.
She hesitated, then sighed. She was already here, and it didn’t look like he would relent. Jinx might as well make the moment less awkward by answering his queries (as long as they were reasonable, of course.)
“My sister,” she stated, bitter. “I was supposed to meet her at the entrance, but she can’t seem to connect enough neurones to remember where it is.”
“Uh-huh, which one?”
She blinked, finally seeing the tag as he walked by her to get the ice. Ekko? That’s a… surprisingly beautiful and unique name. She expected someone with the countenance of a boy and the temperament of a fly to be named- well, she didn’t really know. Definitely not that.
“Which… sister?”
“Do you have many?”
“Nope, just the one.”
He chuckled, looking up at her from his moving hands. His eyes were captivating, so focused on her it… it just hit her like a dog driving a Ferrari into a passerby.
Was he… flirting with her?
“Which entrance?”
Her mind conjured the sound of glass breaking. So there were multiple? Vi never mentioned that, but then again, when could she be trusted with literally anything?
“How many are there?”
Ekko hummed, measuring liquor.
“About twelve?”
Twelve. As in twelve? A one and a two? 12?
Before her soul could escape her body, leaving her lifeless carcass at his bar, he presented her with a sugary-rimmed glass; tall and light blue—even empty it already had more personality than what the other man had given her.
“Sir Edward's blended whiskey,” he stated, letting the brownish liquid pour into his shaker. “Cranberry juice: rich in manganese, copper, and vitamins C, E, and K1. Also contains various bioactive plant compounds such as A-type proanthocyanidins, which may help prevent UTIs.”
She snorted. Well, he was more interesting than she expected him to be, this much she could grant him.
“What are you, a biology student?”
“What are you, Hatsune Miku?”
“Hey!” She glared, grabbing her hair and pressing it against her heated cheeks. The contrast must have looked funny to him, because he laughed, throwing his head back. How was this man the sun personified, and how did she encounter him in the middle of the night?
“You’re so fun to tease.”
“You’re supposed to be mixing drinks, not teasing your clients.”
As if actually reminded of his job, Ekko closed his shaker and started expectedly jerking it, the sound of ice beating against the container soothing her quivering heart. “This bar only serves guests, and as far as I’m aware, you aren’t booked in yet, which of course makes teasing you one hundred percent fair game.”
He took a single step back, putting distance between them as he threw the shaker up, quickly snatching it back from the air. Jinx rolled her eyes, squirming in her seat. What a show off.
“Hm,” she hummed. “By that logic, you shouldn’t be wasting your time on me at all. You’re making a whole lot of exceptions for me, Mister. I get a drink, and a free one at that? A girl might get the wrong idea.”
The man looked at her, sheepishly smiling. He was really growing on her, dammit.
“Nothing wrong about that,” he said, and was his voice always so deep? So velvety? So inviting?
Jinx bit her lip, watching his hands do their magic. He opened the lid, spilling the now pinkish drink into the glass in front of her and popping a soda can with one hand.
Fuck, she wasn’t supposed to find him attractive. He was annoying, remember, Jinx? Totally not your type.
“Ginger ale. Has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. May also help with headaches and nausea and provide benefits for heart health,” he murmured, pouring the carbonated drink over the fruity alcohol-mix. With a long spoon, he mixed up the two compounds, adding a pink straw, a mint leaf and a single lemon slice, the figurative cherry on top.
“Wow,” she breathed out. The drink really looked good. The lighting made the blue glass sparkle, and the cold ice had tiny droplets run down onto the counter.
“There you go, an improvised Cranberry Ale Highball. A special drink for a special lady. Surprised yet?”
His expression was radiant, so proud of himself. Jinx’s own smile became genuine as she brought the glass closer to herself, fingers curling around the cold object. Putting the straw in her mouth, she didn’t shy from the eye contact Ekko maintained, watching her like he feared he’d miss her reaction. He was closer to her now, fists pressed just shy of her elbows. The cocktail he made her was sweet and sour, flavours popping on her tongue, so bitter from the hours spent in a crowded plane, then a crowded bus, and then finally an empty, too shiny lobby.
Her bad mood evaporated, leaving behind only a slight annoyance at the smug expression he shot at her the second her reaction became visible.
“Not too bad.”
“Not too bad?” He chuckled. “Come on, admit you love it!”
“I like it.”
“Nooooo, that’s not what your eyes are telling me.”
She pressed into his personal space, gaze lingering on his pressed shirt and the two lone dreads framing his face, fallen from his messy bun. He was handsome, and how bad was her day that she hadn’t noticed it the second he crept up behind her? With his perfectly deep skin and impeccably brown eyes.
“What else are they telling you,” Jinx asked, and he caught his bottom lip between his teeth, eyes never straying from hers.
“They’re saying you’re dying to give me your number.”
She laughed, leaning away. Before anything else could be said between them, a voice called out, cutting off the slow music that played near the entrance. When had they turned on the speakers?
“Are you blind or what? I said there was a green mural and a big, grey couch! Do you see a big, grey couch here?!”
Jinx turned to face her fast-approaching sister with a heavy sigh while Ekko hurriedly looked away, cleaning the counter. She really had the worst timing ever, didn’t she? Vi gathered her things, still bitching about clear instructions and nearsighted siblings.
“Can you believe I made Aya wait for this shit?”
“’This shit’ being your only sister? You ungrateful, red pig.”
“’This shit’ being your inability to follow simple directions, Pow. How did you even end up here? So stupid, I swear…”
The woman was already moving back towards the elevators, but Jinx was still sitting, watching Ekko’s back as he pretended not to eavesdrop. Not that there was anything else to listen to, anyway.
“Aren’t you gonna be bored here, all alone?”
It took him a second to realise she was talking to him. When he turned back, he was the same smiley man she spent the last twenty minutes with. She was kind of scared he’d turn all professional now that Vi was nearby.
Ekko sighed, all dramatic.
“Yeah, I guess I won’t be finding anyone half as entertaining as you anytime soon.”
Jinx sipped her drink, watching him over the rim.
“How about that number, though?”
If Ekko was a dog, his tail would break the liquor shelf behind him from how hard it was wagging. She stood up, looking behind his counter and walking off a bit to the left to get the pen and paper they used to write down information. There, near the scrawny writing indicating their lack of pricy Gin, Jinx wrote down a series of digits, leaving a little heart behind.
Winking at him, she followed her sister. “I’m here for the whole week. I think we’ll run into each other again?”
He blew on his hair and crossed his arms over his chest, once again showing off his sculpted forearms. Not that Jinx’s mind was in the gutter or anything, but she still made a mental note to check her Flo app again. For no particular reason, of course.
“I’ll make sure of it,” he concluded, and his voice resonated in her head the whole way to her assigned room.
They hadn’t even properly exchanged names, she noted to herself. But oh well, that at least left them with something to do the next time they met, didn’t it?