just breath

“-- -- -- What?”

Tally isn’t good with emotion – which is exactly why her response sounds confused. “I’m not?? It’s just??” She gestured to the coffee in her hand. “You’re sitting in front of the sugar??”

“Oh. I didn’t realize that. Sorry. I’ll move.” Stephen replied, picking himself and his bag up to move out of the way.

“Well, we’re pretty fast around here – besides, there isn’t much too do yet”, she replied with a smile, before she let her eyes wander around. The restaurant was still pretty empty, but Vicky knew that this would change in an hour or two – it was always the same. “Haven’t seen you around yet, you new here?” Vicky kind of hoped that her assumption was right – it would be nice to not be the only newbie in town.

“True.” Stephen forgot it was early and most people were at work while he was heading to work soon. That was one nice thing about his job -- he got to sleep in. “I am.” Another nod as he swallowed some of his cheeseburger that was actually pretty darn good. “I moved here ‘bout a month ago? Somethin’ like that.”

“I know you work at the gym, Stephen. I workout at that gym. I was making a joke.”

“If you worked out where I worked I’d be impressed.”

“Long day at the gym. Is that what they’re calling sex these days?”

“-- -- -- No? I work at a gym.”

“What’s wrong man?” Troy pulled out a chair and looked at Ross, Stephen.

“Oh hey.” Stephen looked over at Troy before he flopped his head back down, sounding muffled through his sleeves. “Long day at the gym with a rough morning getting ready causes the whole day to...” Stephen made a hands down sign before he flopped his hand back down on the table.

“Don’t be.  Shit happens, right?“

“Yeah, shit happens.”

“I --” There was a pause when he saw what seemed to only be one of many wounds. “Oh yeah. I’ll uh...definitely be careful when I go. I -- sorry that happened to you?”

Vicky looked up from her notepad as he said a salad instead of fries – it always surprised her if people ate healthier than she ever did. “Sure thing – salad instead of fries it is.” She shrugged a little as she heard his next words. “I don’t know. I get muscle ache just by imagining it.” The blonde chuckled a little before she disappeared into the kitchen. After a little while she returned with his order and placed it in front of him. “Bon apétit.”

“Thanks.” Stephen replied with a grin on his face. “You get use to it.” The grin stayed as she slipped away, Stephen pulling out his phone to keep himself occupied. Facebook, Twitter, the local newspaper. He only got halfway through Twitter before his food came to him. “Thank you. That was faster than what I thought it was gonna be.”

“Oh a visit is the best.  I hope you enjoyed sight seeing!”

“It was a short visit so I didn’t get ta see that much but yeah, it was nice. I wouldn’t mind going back again.”

“What brings you to Bellvue? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Not at all. I came for a job. It was too great ta pass up.”

“Oh really?  What did you do up there?“  She smiled.  “I’ll be sure to put it on my bucket list.“

“I went ta see -- for a visit. Nothing exciting. Oh you should. You won’t regret it.”

“Oh tell me about Florida!  I only lived in New York before here, and never saw a beach.  Even now I haven’t got to any of the gulf ones.“

“It’s hot ‘nd humid ‘nd yeah. There’s not really much to talk about. I’ve been ta New York just once. If you get the chance you need to go to the beach. M’not a fan of stayin’ so far from it.”

“Oh, that must be why I haven’t seen you before! I’ve kinda been here my whole life. More or less. Where are you from?”

“Probably why. M’from Florida. Just across the Gulf.”

“The burger is pretty good here”, she said without thinking about. The blonde ate the burger way too often. “Sounds interesting and exhausting at the same time”, she admited with a little grin. “What do you wanna drink?”

“I’ll have that with a side salad instead of fries. If you even do that.” Stephen replied, wrinkling his brows slightly before he gave a nod. “Oh it is. It’s fun. It’s a different job every day. And uh...water is fine.”