ICanBeAnyone

"Not Part of the Plan"

"Electronic leashes."

Kat turned her head and slowed her pace a little to look at the man who had spoken to her. She narrowed her eyes, it was certainly a strange way to start a conversation. Her face visibly softened as he mentioned his late wife, he seemed so young, too young to be a widower.

"Yeah, Shutting off would be nice." She said dismissively. She wasn't rude, but she was giving off a clear "I'm busy" vibe. She took a few more steps, but he started to introduce himself. She was going to take his hand, but once he said her name she froze. She was more than a little wierded out. It wasn't every day she was met on the street by someone who knew who she was. Her shoulders immediately relaxed when he mentioned Good People She knew the site well, everyone in the non profit and community support organizations knew of it. It was one of these sites that if you got good coverage, you could increase your donations.

That decided it for her. She reached out and firmly shook his hand. She smiled as he joked about the lame name of the site, and shrugged a little as he said he had wanted to pick her brain.

"I was just headed out for a quick cup of coffee actually. I needed a quick pick-me-up. It's been a long day and its only just starting." She said with a smile. "Although, I don't know how much help I will actually be. I am just the event coordinator. AKA Grandda wants me close enough to keep an eye on, and I have zero skills other than making things pretty." She said matter of factly. "But I'll help with what I can."

Lottery Winner

Aliyah raised a brow and squinted her eyes giving him a look as he told her he wasn't going to take back the money. She did feel a little better as he mentioned that the largest portion went into the bank, but she still didn't take the money off the table. She leaned her hip against the edge of the table, taking a casual relaxed posture.

He asked about things to do off the strip and she chewed her bottom lip. There was a lot of stuff to do, it just depended on what kind of things you were into. "It depends on the kinds of things you like to do. There is always the pinball museum, well a lot of museums actually. Or hiking. I think The Springs Preserve is pretty if you're into plants. I'm kind of a homebody myself, so unless you want a tour of the local libraries I'm not much help."

She nodded her head sympathetically as he mentioned his last trip to Vegas not being all that great. That happened for a lot of people. Vegas was a lot like LA in that people came out with big dreams, and then discovered that not all that glitters is gold. She smiled a little when he invited her to join them on her break. She snuck a look at her watch, it wouldn't be too terribly long before she was off work. She was first cut today, which meant as soon as it slowed down, they would send her home. She was about to say something to that effect but he changed the subject to this being a working vacation.

She cocked her head to the side and listened to him. "Sci fi huh? I've always been more of a mystery, romance, and fantasy kind of girl myself. But I tell you what... you write it. I'll read it." She said with a smile. It seemed everyone was writing a book these days. A book, or a screenplay. She loved to read, and if every one of her customers who was working on a book actually ever finished one, her reading pile would be much larger.

She lightly tapped her fingers on the table and edged the stack of bills towards him before slipping back into the flow of servers around them. She had a spring in her step as she finished up with her tables. Most of the other tables had been very understanding of the chaos with her less than pleasant customers earlier. As the influx of customers slowed to a trickle Aliyah stopped taking tables. She instead focused on taking care of what was known as side work. Making sure the caddies on the tables were filled, that the tables were set for the next customers. Normally she would have let someone else go, and stayed through the lunch rush, but she decided that today she was completely fine with getting off when she was supposed to.

She just finished wiping down her last table. That was it, she was done for the day. She glanced around and saw Duncan and his friend were still there. She grabbed the pot of coffee and headed over to give them a refill. "Still here? I promise the coffee isn't THAT good." She teased.

She handed the pot of coffee off to Heather as she passed by, the other girl giving her a questioning look. Aliyah just shrugged, a silent communication that they would talk later. "So a working vacation huh? You should try just a vacation. Give your brain a break, and when you come back to your book, it will likely come easier."

"Not Part of the Plan"

Kat Malloy sighed and waved the guys moving a table a little to the left. "Guys... The head table needs to be centered!" She was frustrated. This was taking much longer than necessary. She had by virtue of being the granddaughter of the leader of the Greater Boston Benevolent Society been tasked with setting up this fundraiser. She couldn't even remember off the top of her head which fundraiser this was. It seemed that when she started showing an aptitude for party planning, she had been drafted as the official organizer of all things ridiculously boring for The Society.

She checked her clipboard and glanced around to find the florists setting up the centerpieces, which would have been nice, but the rental company had not yet finished putting out the table linens. She yelled at the florists to stop and just put the centerpieces on what would eventually be the table for the silent auction items. This whole event was giving her a headache. She still had to get to the dry cleaners and pick up her gown. She would be attending this event alone yet again. Her grandfather kept pushing her, wanting her to find someone to share her life with. He seemed to think she would be incapable of handling the money he wanted to give her on her own.

She pushed her hair out of her face and dashed across the room to meet the caterer who had a few questions. She answered them as quickly as she could, but she needed a break. As soon as she had a minute she made a mad dash for the door. She needed a few moments to herself. She walked outside and looked both ways before crossing the street. She walked toward the water. The breeze coming off the water was chilly, so there was no one else around. She paused at a railing and leaned against it staring out to the sea. She often came to the waterfront to relax. It centered her, it calmed her heart rate in a way nothing else could.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply taking in the tang of the salty air. She let the breeze tug at her hair not caring that it was becoming a tangled mess. She finally looked at peace. Her cell phone rang and she picked up with a sigh. The wind was blowing directly into the phone making conversation difficult so she turned around leaning her back against the railing tilting her head back as she listened to the person on the other end.

She listened to the phone for several minutes and then hung up slipping the phone into her pocket. She reached up and tied her hair back into a pony tail before pushing away from the railing. She needed coffee, well a stiff drink would be better, but she would take coffee. Her low heeled boots clicked on the ground as she headed straight for a nearby coffee shop. She planned on picking up the strongest coffee she could get, and probably some dried out pastry too. She needed something to keep her going and get her through this event.

Lottery Winner

Aliyah loved mornings at work. She was usually the first one in before anyone other than the manager. She enjoyed the quiet before the chaos. She could have come in later, and not done the opening shift every day, but she preferred to set herself up for the day. She liked things done a certain way, so that things were where she needed them, when she needed them. Her routine was the same every day. She rose at 5 am, and got ready for the day. She dressed in her work uniform, and pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail. She was out the door by 5:45, and letting herself in the back door no later than 6.

The first thing she did in the morning was to check that all the tables were set up. They were supposed to handle that at closing, but there were many times that didn't get taken care of. She filled and wiped down the syrup containers, and sugar caddies. She set every table up with silverware and paper place mats. She hummed softly under her breath as she moved through the place making sure everything was ready.

One of the things she loved about working here was there wasn't too terribly many tourists. Sure some occasionally found their way there, but this spot was mostly locals. She opened the doors, and the steady stream of customers started through the doors. Aliyah was different than most of her coworkers. She had her regulars of course, and many of those tables were the ones others hated taking. The older couple who thought ten percent was a good enough tip, or the families with lots of kids. Sure, it was harder to make good money when your day was table after table of low tippers, but Aliyah didn't need much to survive.

She greeted a guest at the door and showed him to a booth in her section. She hated having to tell him that they didn't have grits. They got a fair amount of requests for it, she would have to bring it up to the owners and let them consider adding it to the menu. She smiled a little as he went with his plan B. She nodded as he finished ordering and scooped up his menu promising to be right back with his order.

She passed by and refilled his coffee watching him type. She noticed the finger less glove of course, it made her want to ask if it was arthritis or carpal tunnel. She wore similar gloves when she did a lot of stitching, it helped the aches and pains in her wrist. She didn't comment though, just moved along after giving him his refill.

Shortly after his food arrived, he was joined by a second man, one who didn't seem terribly interested in eating. She took his order and brought his coffee right away. She could tell that the two were friends, they seemed to simply enjoy the comfortable silence between them. She checked on the men a couple of times, and the last time she did she slid the check on the table face down. She added her customary handwritten "Thank you for coming!" on the back of the check. She scooped up the check, and the payment on her way past to another table. "I will be right back with your change." She said cheerfully, her face breaking out into a large smile as he told her not to. It didn't happen often, but once in a while you got a big tipper in. It was usually a local who had hit it big at one of the casinos. She went about her day not thinking twice about it.

The next morning she smiled when she saw Duncan again, and grabbed a cup of coffee for him before leading him to another booth. That was how Aliyah worked. If she waited on you once, she remembered your drink, if you came in more often than that, she remembered your favorites. There were customers that would come in and not have to order at all. Aliyah would greet them from across the room, tell them to take a seat and just ask "Your usual today?" She was very good at what she did. She would get down on the same level as children who were starting to learn to order for themselves, or take a few minutes even at her busiest to exchange pleasantries with several of her customers. She was always the first one to take an extra table if her coworkers needed help. After his breakfast this morning she took a minute to observe him more carefully. He had over tipped again, that was fairly unusual.

The third day he came in, she didn't have any room in her section, so he was seated with another waitress. Aliyah smiled when she saw it was Heather who had him. She spoke loudly and clearly across the room. "Heather, take good care of that one. He's a good guy." She said smiling. That was Aliyah's way. She tried her best to make every one who came in regularly feel as though they belonged there. Her day went smoothly, and nothing really seemed to stick out to her, other than Heather's excitement about the large tip she received from Duncan.

The next morning something felt off. It was one of those days when Aliyah just knew that nothing was going to go right. She woke up late, and had to rush to get to work on time. She was feeling off and slightly out of sorts. That morning though she managed another big smile when she seated Duncan. It was the fourth morning in a row that he had been in. She had his coffee ready, and took his order. She managed another smile for him as he decided to start trying different omelettes. It seemed like a good plan to her. "You'll have to let me know what you think of each one." She told him. "I'll use your opinions when someone asks. Between you and me... I don't like eggs." She said with a lowered voice, speaking in almost a conspiratorial tone. She scooped up the menu with another smile and headed off to put in his order.

Things were looking up, until her next table. She knew from the beginning that it was going to be a difficult one. They weren't happy with anything, the silverware had water spots, the coffee wasn't hot enough, she didn't put a cherry on top of the whipped cream in ones hot cocoa. They were getting louder with each minor infraction. She kept a smile plastered to her face as she tried harder to meet their demands. She had returned to the kitchen for the third time to have an order of breakfast potatoes recooked. This time they were too crispy. She had had enough, but there really wasn't much she could do. Just as the order had finished being refired, the Manager came in and told the kitchen to box it up and asked for a handful of to go containers. Aliyah asked what was going on, and was informed that another customer had taken care of their bill on the condition that they be given the meal to go.

Aliyah laughed a little and nodded. It was definitely a relief as the Manager let the table know that they would be more than welcome to take their patronage elsewhere in the future. Sadly tables like this weren't as unusual as one would think. She was unfortunately used to it. She managed to find a genuine smile though and headed back out to her tables. She stopped at each one and apologized for the inconvenience. She assured each table that everything was indeed well, and for the table with kids, she even offered chocolate chips and whipped cream for the little ones pancakes... on the house. She didn't mind dealing with tables like that, but it bothered her that her other guests were forced to.

She had just finished up with that table when the Manager walked by her and tucked a wad of cash into her apron. She glanced over at her and raised an eyebrow. The manager just shrugged and walked away heading back to her duties helping to run food. Aliyah picked up another pot of coffee at the waitress station, and looked in her apron. The sight that greeted her was one that almost made her hyperventilate. HOLY CRAP! That was a lot of money. She looked out over the dining room and her eyes settled on Duncan. She couldn't prove it, but she suspected that it was him who had slipped the manager the wad of cash.

She squared her shoulders and headed over to his table with the fresh pot of coffee. "A little warm up?" She asked as she without waiting for an answer poured his coffee with one hand, and slid the cash onto the table with her other. "Your kindness is appreciated, but far too much." She told him. "I get it, you've had a lucky week or two at the casino, but that luck never lasts." She said kindly pushing the money back towards him.

"So, How was breakfast this morning?" She changed the subject smoothly. "I'll still need your opinion on each and every one of those omelettes you end up trying."

Lottery Winner

pixabay.com/p-1123645/?no_redirect

Name: Aliyah Jackson
DOB: 6/11/98
Age:23

Ethnicity: Caucasian
Hair: Red
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'5"
Build: Thin, her arms have some muscle definition, but the rest of her is simply skinny
Other Features:
Aliyah doesn't put much effort into her appearance. She usually just tosses her hair in a ponytail and throws on her work jeans and required t-shirt. When she isn't at work she usually lives in leggings and oversized shirts. She lives a very simple life. She works and goes home, there isn't much outwardly different about her.

She has a slight limp on days when she is over tired. She has a degenerative disk disorder, so there is often pressure on her spinal cord. She can cover the limp most of the time, but when she is tired she forgets.

She often wears a simple pair of silver studs in her ears, and has one visible tattoo on her upper right bicep. It is small, but it wraps almost all the way around. It reads "Just Keep Breathing" It was a reminder to herself in her younger days that sometimes life seemed so difficult, but breathing was all she really had to manage.

Personality
Aliyah is bright, certainly no genius, but she loves to read and absorbs a good portion of the material she reads. She appears to be fairly outgoing, but it is all an act. It is what she has to do to get good tips. She prefers to keep to herself. When she gets off work she goes home and opens a book or works on a cross stitch project.

She doesn't own a TV. Not because she doesn't like them, but because she can't really afford one. She managed to save up enough to buy herself a tablet during a good sale once, so she has a very limited internet package. She uses the internet mostly for downloading free books and looking up projects she can do to keep herself busy.

Quirks:
Doesn't own a TV or a microwave.
She has a social media account, but rarely does anything on it. Well Pintrest counts as social media right? No? Craftsy then? Ok..
She has a very basic prepaid cell phone that spends more time off than on. She carries it though so she can call 911 if necessary because she walks everywhere.
Doesn't own a car and never learned to drive.

Strengths:
Can fit in anywhere
Has a great ability to help others
Patient

Weakness:
extremely disorganized. Don't for the love of all that is holy open her closet door.
Smoker
Temper, it takes a lot to make her lose it, but when she does she is absolutely vicious.

Likes:
Reading
Crafting
Sewing
an occasional glass of wine in a very hot bath

Dislikes:
stupidity and ignorance
mushrooms and mayo

Fears:
Claustrophobia- this is from being locked in a small closet as a child while her mother worked.

Background
Aliyah was born to a single mother. If she ever knew who her father was, she never shared that information. It was always just the two of them. Sure her mother had boyfriends, but they came and went. It seemed that her mother would use a man for a place to stay, until she could upgrade. Not that any of them were actually upgrades. More like someone who could provide more alcohol or drugs. Aliyah tried to stay out of the way as much as possible. She likely got her love of reading from the endless hours she spent at the library. It was her one safe place.

Aliyah works at a small local mom and pop diner. It was well known among locals as the best greasy spoon around. Aliyah could have gone on to work at one of the more touristy places, but she knew her regulars and was comfortable where she was. The diner was stuck in the 50's There was Chrome everywhere, and the booths were upholstered in cracking red vinyl.

Serge & Lucia |EasilyAmused & ICanBeAnyone|

Lu was completely in her element. She practically flowed from one table to another her focus completely on the task at hand. She did make more than her share of glances towards Serge as he read his book in the corner booth.

He looked so very out of place here, but there was a calmness that surrounded him. He may have been watching her work, but she was doing the same to him. She watched the way he would occasionally look up and read the room appearing to do nothing more than to take a break from his book.

Once the chaos in the dining room slowed down, she jumped behind the bar to pick up the overflow there. It was fortunate that most nights it seemed one area was busier than the other, which kept them from going crazy trying to meet too many demands at once.

She hadn't been behind the bar long when a particularly drunk patron caught her attention, and not in a good way. Unfortunately she seemed to catch his attention as well. It always started the same way. The drunken attempts at conversation, when that didn't work, they always ALWAYS got more agessive. Lu did what she always did, she kept her head down and did her best to ignore the increasingly lewd suggestions comning from his mouth.

The drunk dogged her heels, making it almost impossible for her to do her job. She narrowly avoided tripping on him more than once. She was about to call Bill from his office to deal with the situation. She was more than capable of handling it herself, but policy was that Bill was the one to determine when a patron had crossed a line.

She stopped short and backed up a few steps as the patron leaned farther over the bar. She made a face as she started to get more information about his anatomy than she wanted. It appeared Serge had listened to more than his share of this conversation because suddenly he was there.

"Oh shit." Was Lu's only thought as she watched Serge step in and gracefully demand that the guy call it a night. The situation escalated as the drunk turned his attention to Serge. It was likely that he could have continued harassing her all night and not gotten violent, but now, now he saw Serge as coming between him and the object of his focus.

Lu didn't quite know what to think when the first punch was thrown. She hated bar fights, it usually meant her tips went to shit, and a long night cleaning up. She didn't need to worry though. It seemed that despite her fears Serge had this well under control.

She laughed a little as he told her she was going to need to clean up the bar again because of a little drool. "Another drink, maybe two and drool would have been the least of my concerns". She joked.

It took a minute for what was happening to sink in in the people around them, but her coworker rallied and managed to call the cab and let Serge know it was on its way. Lu just shook her head as the drunk was escorted out of the building.

It seemed to cause a lot of chatter among the regulars, but that wasn't what Lu was listening to. She was listening to the ladies. They obviously appreciated not only Serges good looks, but his skills as well.

It took her a while to get everyone settled back down, but once the beer was once again flowing and Serge had returned to his seat as if nothing had happened, everything was once again back to normal.

Lu finished what she was doing and made her way to stand next to Serge's table. Her first instinct was to complain that she was doing just fine and hadn't needed his help. That was the type of woman she was of course, very independent. This, however; was not the tactic she chose. She realized that he likely had made a difficult decision to get involved.

She rested her hand gently on the edge of the table and waited for him to turn his attention toward her. "Thank you." She said quietly. "I appreciate you handling that for me."

Her tone said more than mere words ever could. It was hard for her to thank him. She was so used to handling everything on her own, she didn't quite know what to say or do when someone else stepped in and had her back. She glanced around the place and decided that the others could handle things on their own for just a minute.

She slid into the booth across from Serge and leaned back with a sigh. "I mean it. I really do appreciate you stepping in."

Serge & Lucia |EasilyAmused & ICanBeAnyone|

Lu didn't need to write his order down, it was pretty simple. She slipped away from his table and back into the flow of things. She entered the order into the computer on the edge of the bar, and then turned her attention to the rest of her tables. She pre bussed tables, refilled drinks, and listened for the yell of "Order Up" from the kitchen window with practiced ease. When his order was ready, she finished serving drinks to one table then headed to pick it up. She slipped a bottle of A1 in her pocket. She didn't think he would want it, but she always carried some just in case. She also grabbed a full bottle of ketchup for his fries, as she didn't know if his table had a full one or not.

She brought his food to the table setting it down carefully so as not to disturb his reading. She also placed the A1 and Ketchup bottles on the table. "If you need anything else just let me know." She said before disappearing back into the crowd of diners that were all leaving at the same time. That was one of the downsides of this kind of work. It came in waves. The place was emptying at a decent clip leaving Lu and Sharon to clean more than their fair share of tables. Beth was as usual spending more time looking like she was busy than actually doing much. Lu didn't mind too much though. She scooped up a stack of plates and grabbed a four glasses in her free hand taking everything to the kitchen.

On her way back she brought a fresh glass of water to Serge's table. "Is everything ok?" She asked as she replaced the water glass on the table. Once she had made sure he was ok, she turned back to work. The place had filled back up again, and Lu was working at a flat out run. She would make sure anytime she had a table near his to stop over and check in with Serge, filling his water, or taking care of anything he needed.

This rapid empty/fill cycle continued steadily until right about 9, and then it just got really quiet, really quickly except for the crew sitting around the bar. The actual restaurant portion was absolutely dead. Lu sighed and grabbed a large tray and began gathering ketchup bottles and salt and pepper shakers from each of the empty tables. Sharon was already gone for the night by now, leaving Beth and Lu to handle things from here on out. Lu brought all the bottles and shakers to an empty table slightly kitty corner to Serge and set them down before grabbing a caddy from behind the bar to sit down and fill them.

She paid him no mind though. She just chose a place in easy view to make his life a little easier. Beth came over and set down a large tray of silverware and a pile of napkins before walking away to get herself a drink. "Hey Lu?" Beth started as she sat down across from her. "I know I am supposed to work the double tonight, but..."

Lucia just sighed and shook her head. She had been waiting for this all night long. She was always the first one to pick up a shift, but she was exhausted, and really really did not want to be here until morning. She glanced over to Serge and raised an eyebrow silently asking him if he minded being here all night long. She was exhausted, but she was used to crap like this. She didn't want to make his life any more difficult than necessary. "I don't know Beth. I have to check on a few things, let me get back to you." She said trying to temporize a solution until she could find a way to let the girl down easy.

Beth seemed to accept that answer and started rolling her silverware but stopped after a couple and leaned forward whispering harshly. "So what's the deal with the hot guy? I've never seen him here before." She said.

Lucia once again shook her head. There were many things she COULD tell her, but she had no idea what she should tell her. "I don't know what to tell ya Beth." She said quietly fully aware that Serge could hear them talking.