(Collab done with the infinitely lovely Miss Tea! [@dreamyteatime]) [quote=@dreamyteatime] April looked at him, smiling widely. It wasn't a mean smile, it was more of a..."wow-you're -adorable" smile. The cute guy seemed flustered, April thought, but she quickly dismissed that idea. She believed that there was no way that a guy as hot as this would be interested in her...was there? Blinking, April realised that she had been lost in thought. She nodded. "Yes, I'm sorry about that. Rosanna wasn't feeling too well. If she was acting a little strange, that's why." April was relieved, having covered (if not very well) for Rosanna. Rosanna...she was probably getting ready to go to Club LUSH right now. April was so jealous-she could hardly face another few hours of this shift. Oh well, she thought, at least she had got a chance to talk to this cute guy for once. She hoped that she would make it to club LUSH after this shift. "I'll get your milk and sugar for you now, Mr..." April trailed off, not knowing the guy's name. She thought that if she was talking to him, she should at least try to get his name. [/quote] [hider=That afternoon. Shou and April] "She wasn't feeling...well." Shou gulped down the final word harder than he had expected, evidently and ironically more perturbed than even before at her sweet, (was that sympathy?!) calming smile. She was absolutely charming when she smiled. [i]Oh God. Oh God oh God oh God.[/i] "That's alright. I'm sure...I'm sure that's why she left early today. Everything was...[i]is[/i] fine." he brought his hand to his lips and cleared his throat a little, fingers of his free-hand drumming against the wood of the table as he tried to compose himself. It took a handful of seconds, but there he was, composed as before, and finally, [i]finally[/i], able to return the young woman's smile. "Matsuoka." he, all too eagerly, filled the waiting gap. "[i]Shou[/i] Matsuoka, that is." he paused, "It's nice to finally get a chance to meet you, Miss April." he was finding it less and less like a necessity to glance down at her nametag (And her chest! Gah!) as he continued speaking, conversation flowing more naturally second by second. He brought his hand down, arms folded on the table and the book closed and cradled between them, close to his chest. He leaned a little closer now, looking a little brighter. "...actually, I didn't want to trouble you, I mean...the coffee is fine as it is, don't worry." Maybe he sounded too relieved. He loathed milk in his coffee, after all. "...err, what I mean is, not that I wouldn't appreciate the milk and sugar, but I...you see, I actually like my coffee black, and-" He promptly buried his face in his hands. God was he making a fool of himself. How long had it been, since he'd done this? Had to start over... "...I'm sorry, hah. It's just a disorienting sort of day, Miss April. Though it was wonderful to...finally get a chance to...um. Speak with you, today. I see you around here just before I leave, usually." Curious, he continued, "Are you a student here, at the Shine Academy? When not working, of course. I mean, not that I assumed that you [i]had[/i] to be. I...erk." "Sorry..." he looked up at her again, bashful smile and brown eyes catching the room's warm light. He gave her an apologetic sort of look, though assuming some more confidence, sat a little straighter up. -- April looked at him, her eyes filled with warmth. Shou, April thought, was very cute and she enjoyed talking to him. She was glad to have the chance to talk to him too. This thought filled April's cheeks with colours and made her smile at him again. "Don't be sorry," April told him honestly. "And I-I've thought about it..." April looked at the floor, thinking about her parents, and how they had wanted her to get a good further education. These days April found herself thinking about her parents a lot. Every time she saw the Shine Academy leaflet a small pang of guilt was awakened in the back of her mind. April could only imagine how happy her parents would be if she went to Shine Academy. "But I'm not a student there at the moment, Shou." She made sure to use his name, seeing as she'd just learnt it. April paused for a moment...Shou...Shou Matsuoka she'd heard that name before...April almost smacked herself-Matsuoka, he was a professor at Shine Academy! She'd seen his name in the Shine Academy booklet. Come to think of it, she thought she'd heard Rosanna call him a "Professor" before too. "To tell the truth, Shou, I wouldn't know what to study. I've been considering it for a while but nothing really appeals to me. I'm sure I'll figure it out soon though." It was strange, April thought, the way she could just talk to this guy like he was an old friend. It was refreshing, though. -- Her warm azure eyes coaxed Shou into a more confident state of mind, and her smile made him bashfully push his glasses further up his nose a little as he looked up at her, noting the colour of her cheeks that matched her bright pink hair. "You should consider it, April." he caught himself dropping the 'miss', maybe it was the atmosphere of the Mochavine or just her soothing personality, but he felt comfortable around her, enough to finally take a sip of his coffee. He closed his eyes shortly, lips in a content grin, and he leaned back in his chair with the cup now, taking sip after long sip from it. The bitterness was welcoming. "Maybe a career in Biology?" Here he smirked, though quite unaware that April clicked onto him being a professor. "Medicine, technology...Are you an artistic girl? Fine arts, then? Maybe business, or law, or..." His voice evidently caught in his throat, "...physics." "I hope you figure it out soon. I...actually, I'm a professor there. I'd love seeing you around." He paused, "A-as a student, of course! Wait, no, I...not as [i]just[/i] a student, I..." "...how about as a friend, April." he ran a hand through his silver mess of hair with a lazy smile. The coffee he had downed always took fifteen minutes at the very least to kick in. It was only then he noticed that the black forest cake remained uneaten where it was on the plate. "Look at that." he mused, even chuckling to himself, "Would a lovely young lady like you care to share some cake with an old man like me?" He laughed a little louder here, he wasn't truly that old but he enjoyed making himself the butt of the joke time and again. -- April blushed again, her stomach writhing a little nervously. "I'd like to be friends." She told the professor. She'd also really like to share his cake with him...How often, April thought, would she get the opportunity to share cake with a hot teacher?! Still, sitting down to enjoy confections with hot boys when she was meant to be working could land her in some deep trouble with her boss. She bit her lip, contemplating whether she would be able to pull this off. April checked her watch- it wasn't long until her shift ended anyway, and that settled it. "I'd also like to share some cake with you." April grinned at Shou. She hoped she would be able to get away with this, but even if she didn't she knew that Rosanna and her could work together to charm the boss out of trying to punish April. April plonked herself down on the seat opposite Shou, spreading her skirt out. She popped open the chokingly-tight top button of her waitress blouse and let her pink hair loose from the restricting bun on top of her head. It fell in loose curls caused by the way she had wound up her hair in the bun. "Sorry!" April told Shou, mortified after realising how ignorant she had been. "After I finish my shift I usually just do this," She pointed to her hair, and then her top button, "and it's sort of become second nature. I just do it automatically now!" April told Shou, giggling. It was a slightly nervous giggle, unusual for April as she didn't normally get nervous around boys given her history with them. But...something about Shou just made April a little bit giddy. Maybe it was his age? She knew Shou wasn't old, but she thought that he was definitely older than her. She liked the thought of that, but it did make her a little nervous. She wasn't sure whether Shou actually liked her or just thought she was a silly little girl. April pushed those unnerving thoughts out of her head and met Shou's kind eyes. -- "Splendid." Shou purred, with a smile that reached his chocolate brown eyes. He rested his cheek in his palm again and let those eyes take April in as she sat herself down just opposite him, and everything seemed to be going well. It would appear he hadn't made things any more awkward than they should have been with his tripping over words and tongue-tiedness, and for that he was glad. That was, until... Shou's jaw all but dropped when she let her hair out of the bun, and even more so when she undid the top button of her blouse. He swallowed hard and averted her gaze, his cheeks slowly darkening to be the colour of beets. [i]Just one peek wouldn't hurt. No, what are you saying! For god's sake, Shou![/i] "I...I see. Yes, y-yes, of course." he dragged his mind out of the gutter with a shallow breath, and though his cheeky eyes did stop at the neckline of her shirt for just a second or two, they soon met her eyes, and with his cheeks the red hue they were, he must have looked a lot less like the able professor he had come to be, and more like a nervous schoolboy on his first date with the most popular girl in school. It was no exaggeration. April, with her hair down, was even more strikingly beautiful. "To us being friends." he declared, tipping the now-empty mug of coffee towards April and gingerly letting his fingers brush against the fork. Gentlemanly as he was, he would let her have the first bite, and the last, without a doubt. ...and though he had to leave just as soon, the feeling of being with this girl left his heart aflutter, though he knew little about her. Perhaps that would be an opportunity to meet her again, and to ask her more. -- "To being friends," April repeated. She was glad that she had not only got to speak to Shou for once, but they were actually friends now. April looked at the cake, wondering if Shou was allowing her to have the first piece. Assuming he was, April took a small piece of the cake. It was delicious. After swallowing her piece, April pointed to the cake and said "I know I'm biased because I work here, but that cake is REALLY good." April thought she'd had this cake before, but she hadn't liked it that time. How strange, she thought. Maybe her taste buds had just evolved. Or maybe being with Shou just made it sweeter. April had never even been friends with a guy like Shou- he was so...[i] nice[/i]. He was such a gentleman, April thought. The guys she'd been with...they were far from Shou. High-school boys in April's school were no gentlemen by a far stretch of the imagination, but April's (many) boyfriends were much worse than that. Slimy, is the word April would retrospectively use. But April knew how to play their game to her advantage. She was so caught up in the "game", and she hurt so many people. She wouldn't dream of hurting people now. Especially not Shou. After the two had finished the cake, and had a friendly chat, April had finally started to relax. She thought that if her boss hadn't come in yet, he was never going to. Just as April had that thought, he boss walked through the door, his eyes just missing her. "Shhhhhiii--" April turned away from her boss, praying he didn't see her. After he had walked past, she turned to Shou. "I'm so sorry," she told him, "but if I don't go now, my boss will probably kill me so-" she stood up and grabbed her bag that she'd retrieved from the staff room "'till next time, Shou Matsuoka, when I'll definitely get your phone number." She grinned at him before running out the door before her boss spotted her. Once outside the cafe, she relaxed. She just hoped he would come back to Mochavine sometime soon so they could talk properly. The thought of talking to him again warmed her cheeks. Her head filled with thoughts of Shou Matsuoka and partying at Club LUSH with Rosanna, April made her way back to her house to get changed with a smile on her face. [/hider]