fandomtownies | Luke's Diner; Wednesday [ 03/12 ]

They pay him for something, right?

"Hi," Annette said as she took a seat at the counter, folding her hands together. "How are you? Feeling better? Wanna share some fries with me?" It was close to lunchtime after all.

That was a lot of questions all at once, but A.J. tried to keep up. "Good," he said. "A bit. Sure, if you want. Just regular fries this time, or do you want cheese or chili or anything like that?"

Pause.

"And hi."

"Do you like cheese and chili? That sounds good so yeah. Load 'em up for me!" She smiled.

"You look good."

A.J. scribbled the order down kind of sloppily onto an order pad, passing it back to the kitchen, and made a bit of a wrinkled-nose face at Annette. "I look like I always do," he muttered, and then felt bad about it because it sounded kind of cranky, so he tried to make up for it by adding, "It's my usual rigorous beauty routine of, you know, rolling out of bed, finding clothes that don't smell too much like paint thinner, and then rolling out into the world."

He did sound cranky but Annette chose to ignore it. Whatever. She thought she was being nice and if this is how he wanted to act, then fine. She would just smile and pretend he didn't affect her at all. Whatsoever.

Even though he did.

"...and here you are, taking my order and looking good. Amazing. Really."

"Yeah," A.J. gave a small smile back. "I should get a medal or something."

He glanced back toward the kitchen to see if the order was up yet; not quite. He turned back to Annette.

"So, how've you been?"

She shrugged. "Busy I guess." Not really. "Good. Wondering how you were and keeping myself from wanting to check on you constantly."

"Why would you need to check on me constantly?" A.J. asked, dismissively, in the sort of tone that suggested that he was trying to make it seem like there really wasn't anything, even if the fact that he wondered when people would stop treading him differently because of what happened would ever come around. How the hell was he supposed to get over it if people kept bringing it up?

"I'm fine," he added, checked for the fries again.

Man, they were slow today.

Annette studied him, giving him a look, then chose to ignore that question of his.

"Yeah, I figured you were."

"Then why the need to check on me?" A.J. asked again, simply enough, as the fries showed up and he went to set them on the counter between them. He didn't even hesitate much to pluck one out, careful not to get any of the topping from walling on the counter, and popping it into his mouth.

"Because I care about you," she said in a d'uh tone of voice. It should be obvious and Annette thought he was being obtuse just to be obtuse. It didn't look very well on him.

She plucked a fry and took a bite, careful also to not let any plop on the counter.

Well, okay, maybe he deserved the d'uh voice a little. His nose wrinkled again, shoulders hanging heavily as he picked out another fry. "I know," he said, apologetically, and popped the fry into his mouth, barely chewing before continuing with another shrug. "I just...y'know, I'm to the point where I wish people wouldn't ask me about it. I just get to start feeling better, like myself again, and then someone goes and asks how I am, and it takes me right back to square one, y'know? Like, I wish they'd talk about something else for a change. It isn't like the end of the universe or anything."

Forget the fact that the only people he'd really talked to, per say, since it happened, was Annette herself, River, Hoshi, Adah, Troy, and Berthold. And the last three didn't count because two of them didn't talk and he didn't even breech the subject with Troy because he was too busy making fun of Ronan.

"Fair enough," she said. "But on the other hand, when I don't see you every now and then, I wonder and because I'm your friend, I might worry too. Can't help feelings, you know? I won't mention it anymore, A.J.," even though she wanted to still ask about Adah, and even though she didn't really mention it now -- she just asked how he was and okay, that might be bringing it up just a tad.

"Part of me wonders if you would even come see me," she asked, her eyes on the fries.

"Haven't been much up for visiting people," A.J. said, although a bit guiltily. "Been mostly working on my project and some new pieces, and then I promised to take care of River's tentacle monster octopus thing for her while she was gone this week, and....well, it's a tentacle monster octopus thing. He tends to take up a lot of my time right now."

Which he realized was a poor excuse, because River and Annette lived on the same floor, so all those times he was up there, he could have visited but...what would he say or do? He'd just mope more, and Annette didn't need any of that.

"I see," she said, a little hurt. Annette knew River was on the fifth floor so... that told her a lot, except for the fact that she thought she was more than just people. She was probably delusional and like Ino told her the other day, it would take time to get over things.

Well, now she felt awkward sitting here when more or less she was just bugging him.

"If you've work to do back there..." she waved in a nonchalant fashion towards the kitchen. "I could use a root beer."

Edited 2008-03-12 18:27 (UTC)

"When do I ever have work to do back there?" A.J. asked, giving Annette a worried frown. Great; he'd said something to her just like he'd said something to Troy, touching a nerve, but, at least with Troy, he knew exactly what it was. "Better question, when do I work? But a root beer I can get you, no problem. Anything else?"

"I don't know," she shrugged a shoulder and managed to look slightly sheepish. "Just... you know, if I'm bugging you, I guess..." guh. She left off anything else she was going to say.

"No, just a root beer, thanks."

A.J. returned quickly with a root beer. "You're not bugging me, Annette," he told her, leaning on the counter a little with his elbows and looking lightly at her. "You're sharing your fries with me, how could that be bugging? If anything, you're helping save me from being dead bored."

"Really?" she asked, giving him a small smile. "I think I tend to get on peoples nerves because I ramble. Not that I mean to, it just happens. Especially when I'm nervous. I'm not nervous, just saying." She took a sip of root beer then ate another fry.

"Annette," A.J. said, giving her a steady look. "Consider who you're talking to here. I'm sure, yeah, you can get a good ramble out of you, but, I'm sorry, you're talking to the king of nervous rambling here. I get so nervous, I'll ramble to myself if I have to, just to get it out of my system, here."

"Hah, well, we could place a bet on that because you just haven't seen me nervous." Pause. "Okay, maybe once. But for real, I get so nervous sometimes I just don't know what to do with myself."

"Well, that's why I start talking to myself," A.J. said with a small, sympathetic smile. "Or start a new painting. Sometimes finish one, but that rarely happens. or work on a fix-it project, or maybe a sculpture, or go for a walk with my sketchbook for ideas. Lots of things to do when you're stressed..."

In a way, there was a silent suggestion that there were lots of things to do other than some of the ones he knew Annette would sometimes fall into, but he wasn't going to say anything, especially since he knew she was really working on it now.

This is what happens when I try to think of posts before I drink coffee.

Talk to A.J. -- 03/12

Re: Talk to A.J. -- 03/12

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Mod your Service -- 03/12

OOC -- 03/12