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Doing as she was told, Luxanna filled the glass for the third time. She was tempted to just leave the bottle there, but decided against it; She didn't want to be portrayed as being rude when really, she wanted to make it accessible.
"Oh." The brunette tilted her head; It was hard for her to wrap her mind around that, though, she decided against trying to make sense of it. It didn't seem easy, that much she understood. Perhaps she'd lucked out not going for a job that actually lead anywhere. Unlike most of her peers, Luxanna seemed to enjoy her job. That couldn't be said for everyone that came here.
Looking over the room; the other bartenders, the bouncers and the people. She couldn't see herself doing this for years, but right now, it was exactly what she needed. It gave her some kind of purpose. Especially given how the brunette had no idea about what she actually wanted to do with her life.
"We're hiring if your own job proves to be too stressful." She offered with a smile. "The pay's decent and the company's great."
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
His question had the brunette furrowing her brows. "I've never thought about that." She shrugged, eyes opening to look at her friend. "But I don't think dressing like you could die any day would be very healthy." At least, death was something Lux didn't think about. She knew it was coming, but she wasn't going to confront it. Not yet.
Straightening in her seat, she turned towards Jack. She rested her hands in her lap and stifled a tired yawn. "What's up, Jack? I'm assuming that isn't why you asked me to meet you..." She looked around; It was such a peculiar place for him to ask for the two to meet. "...Here."
He looked worried somehow, as if dreading whatever came next. She knew him well enough at this point; As hard as he tried to hide it, something was on his mind.
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
Moving out of the hallway and into the living room, she swept the area for her phone before returning her attention to him. "I think the older generations are more those who do the assuming." It seemed, at least to her, that the younger generations didn't plan far ahead and rather took things one step at a time. She wasn't sure. Her sources were limited, but that was the best guess she could make given what information she had.
She smiled at that; She didn't know his family, nor could she see Dom in such a position, but he spoke with such conviction. It was... Nice. "Watch out, you're starting to sound a little excited." She couldn't help the smirk that formed on her lips.
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
Luxanna remembered how it had felt like to be new; It had been terrifying at first, then eventually, she felt like she'd gotten the hang of things. She'd started enjoying it more after that and it had offered her good practice when it came to talking to strangers. She'd come out of her shell a lot.
She chuckled at his comment and looked up at him as he stood beside her. "Well, thankfully, most of them don't come here to enjoy the drink itself, but rather the buzz." She looked at the woman then and she agreed; She probably didn't even notice if actually had fucked it up.
"I think it's fine, though." She would have tasted it just to make sure, but she couldn't exactly drink while on the job.
Putting the now dry glass onto the shelf, Lux put the cloth on the benk beside her. "Practice makes perfect." It didn't really need to be said, but it was offered nonetheless.
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
His words surprised her enough to halt her search. "You say that like it's inevitable." Perhaps it wasn't as much the kids that surprised her, but the aspect of Carter ever settling down long enough to have them. Of course, that too, might be considered inevitable in the grand scheme of things, though she'd never considered it a possibility.
Was that unfair of her?
She turned to face him properly for maybe the first time. "But I think you'd be good at it." It was a passing thought, but she did mean it. He had a patience that seemed heaven sent. Any parent would envy that.
She couldn't really claim it was a sad thing, because it wasn't. Pictures were nothing more than memories captured on a paper. It didn't make them more, or less than that. "Hm." She mused. "Too bad." She would have loved to see what he'd looked like before what he looked like now.
She looked at him as he continued. She wondered briefly what it was like to have a twin; Though Dom and Carter were completely different people, they'd always seemed to move in tandem. She wondered if he missed him. "Yeah." She looked at the pictures again. "I guess you're right."
Moving away from the wall, the brunette absentmindedly started looking for her phone: Where could it be? Why could she never seem to keep track of it?
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
She studied him for a moment: He seemed almost enraptured with the pictures before him. Was the idea of having family pictures really that strange to him? She supposed it was, in its own way. She looked over the framed pictures lining the walls; It seemed that these days, most people who passed them made an effort to ignore them.
She looked at him again and though it didn't surprise her, it wasn't because of the reason he probably thought. "Me either."
The pictures were at least five or six years old, and even older than that. Her mom had been the only one interested in taking photographs and as the children had grown older, Lux and her brother, they'd found the idea of memorizing everything through photographs silly. "Don't you guys have pictures like these at your home?"
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
Her eyes briefly moved towards the photographs lining the walls; She rarely looked at them anymore. "Because my dad's not back yet." As she rose to her feet, she offered the dog another scratch behind his ear.
Looking around for her phone, she briefly wondered if her dad had left her message, though, knowing him, he probably hadn't. Either he hadn't shown up intentionally or he'd forgotten. Both plausible reasons for him not being here right now. Maybe she should have been the one calling him.
"So, are you?"
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
Her mouth quirked at the familiar statement; He'd told her the very same thing at New Year's, though, back then, it had been filled with mockery. "So I hear." Rising, she kept a hand still on the dog's collar. He was too obedient to run off or do something stupid, but she liked having him close.
The hallway was lined with family photographs and at the end, by the stairs, Fenrir's bed. She moved him towards it and he laid down without much complain.
Perhaps it would have been smarter of herself to keep him close by, if only just to keep herself busy with something else.
"I hope you're not too hungry." She looked over at the blonde; She wondered then, how long would it take her father to arrive, if he'd arrive at all? And how long would it be appropriate to wait with the food?
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
She'd gotten the text right as she'd ended her shift at the diner. She was tired and exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go back home and get a few hours of sleep before she had to take the extra shift at the bar she'd been offered the previous day.
But she couldn't very well leave Jack to himself. It was strange, him inviting her like that. She wondered if he was in any kind of trouble.
How could she possibly ignore that?
"Hey," she said, stepping up to the bench and taking a seat, head leaned back as she closed her eyes. The gentle rays of the sun hit her face and she sighed. It felt nice.
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
"Could always use it as an excuse to treat yourself to a weekly spa day," she offered with a shrug. She'd come to learn over the years that taking care of yourself and treating yourself to nice things wasn't always such a bad thing. Why not make something a little better by giving yourself some sort of reward? Then again, Lux had never been one all too good at following her own advice, why should she expect someone else to?
She listened to the redhead, a furrow forming between her brows. Wasn't the solution to her problem rather simple, then? "Why don't you come up with a solution?" She asked curiously. Wouldn't that solve the problem, given the fact that she was in a position where someone would listen? And if she wasn't, wasn't that just a great opportunity for someone to notice the extra effort?
Not that Lux would have much experience with that. Moving up from bartending wasn't, usually, a thing.
The brunette smiled and offered the redhead a shrug. "Oh, I don't mind it so much." She looked out over the room, the smile remaining. "It's not so bad, really. It does offer a certain..." She paused, pursing her lips as she tried coming up with the best word to describe it. "Charm, I suppose."
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
Lux had always enjoyed it when new people started working at the bar. Although most of them didn't last very long, it was nice having people around that wasn't always drunk. She didn't get along with all of them, of course, but most of the new ones had been nice enough. It was also a great way for her to practice her social interaction skills. Practicing them on people barely able to speak audible words didn't always bear fruits.
Wiping a cloth against one of the damp glasses having just come out of the machine, Luxanna sneaked a peek at the bar's most recent addition to the bartender family; He was handsome, lean and had one of those smiles that attracted most of the females in the room towards the bar. His eyes was by far his most distinctive feature, though. They looked not only kind, but they also had that kind of depth one could get lost in. As if he'd seen more than he was willing to let on.
Smiling to herself, the brunette shook her head. "You're doing fine, by the way," she told him. It felt like it needed to be said.
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
Hearing anyone refer to Carter as her friend still felt weird. Even when Carter did it himself. Then again, it wasn't as if the green eyes brunette had much experience within the field. Jack was about the only one she'd had any semblance of a long term friendship with, and Jack wasn't exactly what most would refer to as 'normal'.
"Alright," she finally replied. As long as her father didn't think there was more to it than what it really was. Because there wasn't. Didn't mean she didn't notice the way he tried to contain himself: He clearly found the situation amusing, if nothing else.
Gesturing towards the food then, Luxanna rose. "You should eat." She looked at him then. "Before you forget or run out of time." Someone always had to remind him, it seemed. She was glad she got to do it, but sometimes, she wondered if he ever got lonely.
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
She realized something that made her curious; he smiled more than he had used to. He seemed... less weighed down and serious. She wondered what, or who, had brought such a change.
"Fair enough." He made a good point. Though her dog, Fenrir, was a larger breed, he wouldn't appear nearly as large to the blonde as he did to her. After all, Carter had always towered over her feeble 5'2".
She opened the door so that the curious white shepherd could take a look at the guest. Stepping past him, she gave the back of his head a scratch before holding onto his collar. "It's okay, baby," she cooed softly to the dog starting to shake with excitement; he'd always loved meeting new people.
"Come on in."
Luxanna Cross
Never to touch, and never to keep. You loved too much, and you dived too deep.
She was tempted to roll her eyes at him just to make a point. Instead, she rose and folded the blanket, putting him in a position where he had to wait. She made sure it was folded nicely, too. The corners all met and it looked rather nice, actually. It also allowed her a moment to collect her thoughts.
Finally, she turned to look at him. "You don't look very wounded, so I'm sure you'll forgive me." Eventually. She didn't add that part, though. Grabbing the book she'd been reading, the brunette moved towards the door. She started opening the door, only stopping as a lump of white fur and dark eyes peeked through the crack.
"I hope you're not afraid of dogs." She turned her head, looking at him with raised eyebrows.
