[center][h2][color=6ecff6]Vignette II[/color][/h2] [h3][color=7bcdc8]Scaredy Cat, Scaredy Bunny[/color][/h3][/center] [hr] Xander tossed a flattened egg up in the air. Reggie turned to Xander and tossed his own flattened egg higher in the air. Xander raised an eyebrow as he caught a hold of his pan with two hands, throwing the egg even higher in the air. Reggie frowned as he threw his own egg so high up, it... hit the ceiling. "Ah." The two stared at the yellow bulk of yellow stuck on the ceiling. Xander and Reggie remained still for several seconds. "...Don't take up a challenge if you're not up to it." "The hell are you saying after I threw that thing up there?" A day had passed since a new cook had joined them. With Aurelia, things got a bit better for everyone's workload. Cortez now had a buddy to talk with while making desserts, Reggie had even less of a reason to leave the kitchen, and Xander... well, nothing really changed his routine aside from the occasional advice he gave to the girl. Yutaka had done a good enough job to stabilize Aurelia's role among the chefs quickly. "I need to do well while our head chef is traveling!" The Sous Chef said brightly, though he made no mention of when the head chef was going to return to the kitchen. Carrying several plates, Aurelia scampered over to Cortez as she placed them next to the redhead's desserts. A minute later, the desserts were ready to be served! "I-I'll take them..." Aurelia said as she gently put the foods on a tray. As she left the kitchen, Xander finished the omelette he had been making, neatly placing it over fried rice. The order wanted the restaurant to include ketchup, so Xander took the ketchup bottle and swiftly wrote the word "Alegria" on the omelette in a neat fashion. As soon as Reggie finished his omelette, the purple-haired cook turned to Xander and eyed the omelette rice. Xander turned to Reggie with a blank expression. "..." "..." "This requires some ski-" "[b][i]I'M NOT UNSKILLED, YOU BUFFOON![/i][/b]" Rolling his eyes, Reggie picked up the ketchup bottle. As soon as he did, however, ketchup sprayed out of the bottle. [i]S-Shit![/i] Reggie realized as he saw the ketchup soar in the air. [i]I held it too hard![/i] The ketchup flew... ...and landed on Cortez's uniform. Now, Reggie had once made an oath to himself. He firmly commanded himself not to go around and look at women in a lecherous way. Yes, he was a delinquent and all of that, but he still had standards. So when his eyes trailed over to her hips, he nearly screamed like a girl. The purple-haired cook was unable to prevent himself from dropping everything he had before running to some corner at the kitchen. Meanwhile, Xander simply stared at the ketchup, then at Reggie, and then at the ketchup again. The blond man continued to stare blankly. [i]... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...Well, shit.[/i] His blue eyes reflecting the light that came from the fire underneath Cortez's pan, Xander prevented himself from losing his composure. Truth be told, he was not actually the badass who refused to show signs of weakness; he just wanted to be one. Like any other sane man, he could not deny the "absolutely stunning" features of Cortez, though one of such features were stunning in a completely different way. [i]This isn't good,[/i] he thought. And indeed, it was not a good situation. At the moment, he continued to stare at the ketchup on Cortez's... uniform, fearing that if he tore his gaze at the wrong moment, someone would walk in on him and think that he had been staring without even informing her of the ketchup. [i]If I just ignore her, Reggie's probably going to think of something weird to say,[/i] the blond thought as he prevented himself from glancing at the purple-haired cook's direction. [i]If I walk up and tell her that she has ketchup on her behind, then she might ask if I had been staring, which... I am. Dammit. Then there's only one way to solve this.[/i] Walking over to another side of the kitchen, he tore off a bunch of kitchen towels before walking up to Cortez. Without a word, he instantly wiped off the ketchup from her uniform. In fact, he wiped it so quickly, he was unable to feel anything he would normally want to feel at one point in his life. The redhead stiffened as she turned to him. Xander closed his eyes as he straightened himself, showing her the kitchen towels as he told her, "You had ketchup on your butt." Reggie felt one of his eyes twitch as Cortez's face brightened up. "Oh, thanks, Xander!" She chirped. "It wouldn't be good if I had that stuff on my butt." "Yup. You might want to clean it up a bit later, though. It's kind of messy." "Yeah, that stuff doesn't get off very well, doesn't it-" "ALRIGHT GUYS," Reggie exclaimed from a distance as he went to gather some tools (that he was not going to use anyway), "I THINK THAT'S ENOUGH INNUENDO FOR TODAY!" Everyone ignored Reggie. Aurelia eventually returned with an empty tray, a nervous smile on her blushing face. The smile slowly faded as she sighed. "I... delivered it," she stated the obvious as she put the tray down. Turning to the dark-haired girl, Xander watched the new cook lean against a wall. He wondered how the restaurant decided to bring in a person who looked so fragile. [i]Well, at least she knows where to lean against,[/i] he thought as he washed some rice. [i]She's not leaning against the hot-as-all-burning-hell microwave we didn't fix like that purple eggplant did.[/i] As soon as Aurelia yelped, he sighed in pity. [hr] "Good work, everyone!" Yutaka said cheerfully as the restaurant closed. "Pat yourselves on the back; not everyone in this town works until 10!" Aurelia bowed politely as she walked out of Alegria. Night had arrived and cast its dim light over Sycamore Heights. Several cars trudged down the streets every now and then, and the street lights turned on one by one. She felt that she had outdone herself; she delivered not one, but multiple foods to different customers. Perhaps it was a development of her confidence... [i]If I keep this up, I won't be a bother to anyone,[/i] she thought hopefully, [i]and I'll still be able to help my friends in some way. Maybe I could... buy a present later?[/i] A few good seconds was not enough for her to think of a proper present to her friends. She blushed as she fell deeper into her thoughts. [i]A present...[/i] [i]...![/i] Her face went beet red as she remembered the dream she had the other day. [i]Ah- why do I keep thinking of... that...?[/i] Despite the efforts she put into avoiding the dream, she always ended up thinking about it. And in fact, she had experienced yet another dream about the same man before she woke up for work. His smile warmed her heart; he was someone she trusted... at least, in the dream, that was. They lived in a house together, and... thankfully, there were no children to give Aurelia a heart attack. She did seem to have a pet dog, however, which confused her to no end since she had no interest in raising pets. Perhaps the man liked animals a lot more than she did. That was a decent conclusion to make. "..." As she walked, the sound of a motorcycle grew louder and louder before coming to an abrupt halt next to her. She jumped and turned to the sound's source. A man on a motorbike had stopped right next to the block she had been walking on. Raising the visor of the helmet he wore, the man revealed himself to be Xander. "H-Hello," Aurelia greeted to him for the first time that day. "..." Turning to the streets, Xander stared down the road before turning to her again. "The Sous Chef told me you live pretty far from here," he said with a flat tone. "It... only takes an hour." Xander stared at her incredulously, though he refused to show his surprise. The blond shook his head as he slammed the visor down. "Hop on," he muttered simply. "...?" "...I said hop on." "..." "...Do you understand my language?" Her cheeks warming up in embarrassment, the dark-haired girl whispered, "I... can go alone, though-" "It's going to snow in about ten minutes," Xander muttered. "I don't think our restaurant wants a snowman to work in our kitchen." "I-It's August, though..." ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... "...Just get on." The blond's persistence eventually prevailed. Strangely enough, Xander told her not to hold onto him even though there was nothing else to hold. "Hold the seat tightly enough and you won't fall off," he stated. So Aurelia softly held onto the collar of his jacket. He did not say anything about it. The two went down the road at a balanced pace. The night deepened as the street lights grew brighter along with the light of the moon. It certainly was strange that a day in August would be colder than usual, though it was nowhere near the level of bringing snow to Syca-Heights. A neatly lined set of lights shone upon the small road. Each time the two passed by a chain of lights, they would flicker before blending into the night atmosphere once more. There was no silence- only quiet, and nothing more or less. Soon, she would see her friends' faces again, and they would greet her with open arms and an uncomparable warmth. The feeling of being greeted warmly by people she had not grown up with was one that she did not understand, but slowly grew to enjoy. A bit of time could potentially let her fit right in with the other people in Alegria. She wondered if it was selfish to enjoy attention once in a while. The feeling of self-importance was impossible to achieve on her own, and that was perhaps both a fortune and a misfortune on its own. As the blond continued to drive the bike, she nudged him softly before informing him of directions to her place. Xander wordlessly drove on, and so did time. The night sky remained still with a soft glow. [hr] Twenty minutes after he dropped Aurelia off, Xander crashed into a limousine. "AGHH! SOMEONE JUST HIT THE LIMO!" As he flew across the air, he wondered what the hell just happened. He was eventually taken to the hospital despite the fact that he constantly stated "It's nothing much." With a bleeding forehead. And a broken bike. Yup, nothing wrong there. He also seemed to lose his cellphone while he was at it. [i]This is why we can't have nice things,[/i] he thought blankly as he found himself being carried into an ambulance truck. "Like I said earlier, I'm fi-" "NO YOU'RE NOT! YOU'RE BLEEDING! STOP ARGUING WITH US!" "...K." The night sky remained still with a soft glow. [hr] ... [hr] The next morning, Aurelia woke up peacefully. Dreaming seemed to help her understand what she naturally liked and disliked. The dream she fell into felt shorter than the ones she had experienced the other nights. And unlike her earlier dreams, she was alone for the most part. She dreamt of walking down a path of water in a clear forest, fireflies lighting up the world around her. The night Xander drove for her had influenced her thoughts with a calmness she could grow to get used to. She did not remember the end of her dream, for no one usually recalled such things in a crystal-clear fashion. [i]That was a nice dream...[/i] She hoped to have more of those certain dreams. Her dreams of... love? Would she call it love? She would rather consider such dreams to be... mature. Yes, they were mature. Such dreams had bothered her for quite some time, so she hoped that she would not dream of love for the time being. She dearly hoped so. As she got up, her cell phone vibrated near her lamp. The dark-haired girl gently picked it up and found a text message sent by a number she did not recognize. [b][i]Hi, Aurelia![/i][/b] It read. [b][i]It's me, Yutaka! (By the way, I only know of your number because it was a requirement for the application sheet... So I'm not really creeping around [s]like Reggie[/s]! Ha ha ^^ Anyway, Xander crashed into a limo last night. So we're all going to briefly visit him before the restaurant opens. Meet us as soon as possible at Alegria! Sincerely, your Sous Chef! P.S. I heard he was found by a redhead at the Pavella Health Center, which is where Xandy's at right now. We're all going to play "Where's Waldo" and try finding him![/i][/b] Aurelia nearly fainted. [right][h3]Vignette II -END-[/h3][/right]