ICanBeAnyone

Lottery Winner

Aliyah had loved spending the evening wrapped in Duncans arms, and as things finally wound to a close she relaxed back into his embrace. It had been a very enjoyable evening. She took one last glance around the room as they finished gathering everything up. Luckily a room full of servers left very little mess, as they knew what it was like for those having to clean up after them. She was practically vibrating with the excitement from the night, that was until she slid into the limo. She promptly rested her head on Duncan's shouler and was sound asleep almost before they were out of the parking lot.

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The next few days with Aliyah would have tested the patience of a saint. She was not used to a lot of downtime. It wasn't until Duncan presented her with the laptop that she had something to keep her busy. She greeted the gift with a lot of excitement, especially as he showed her a lot of the things she could do. She agreed with taking some classes with him, but she was definately having fun playing around with it.

The benefit of it having a touch screen was it was much easier for her to manipulate things to create her own designs for cross stitch. While Duncan spent his days taking care of business Aliyah spent her time playing on her laptop working on new designs.

Lottery Winner

Aliyah laughed and tugged his jersey over her head, and simply because of the height difference she still swam in it. When he was done and off stage, she pulled him close giving him a kiss. "Thank you for this." She told him glancing away as the microphone squealed as the next performer stepped too close to the speakers while getting ready.

She looked back at him still grinning. "We never did have much chance to get together outside of work, other than the yearly Christmas party. I think this has been fun for everyone."

Aliyah stood close to Duncan for most of the evening, keeping him behind her when possible. It was very comfortable for her like that. Once in a while she would notice one of the other of them getting overwhelmed by too many people. That is when she would make her way with him in tow to a quiet little corner giving them a few minutes alone, away from the group.

The night fairly flew by, and before she knew it people were seeking her out to say their final goodbyes. She had lots of requests to get a facebook, so she ended up giving out her email address. Once she had one, which she was going to have to get and soon, she would deal with all the friend requests. A few even told her she should start a blog so everyone could 'travel with her.' She laughed and brushed off that suggestion reminding them that Duncan was the writer, not her.

Soon it was just the two of them and Aliyah looked around with a soft sigh. "I can't believe how many showed up." She said. "It really was a lot of fun."

Lottery Winner

Aliyah couldn't have been happier. This party she and Duncan had thrown together was absolutely amazing. She was greeting coworkers, and their families. Once everyone had shown up, she was informed she should make some sort of speech. She walked to the stage and took the microphone.

"First of all I want to thank you all for coming, although anyone who has worked in the industry knows the minute you say free food we are all in." She joked. "So, as most of you know the reason for this little get together is that I am no longer with Omlette House." She paused for some of the groans to quiet down. "I know I know, this is upsetting to some of you because now you'll actually have to work on your shift." She again paused for the laughter. It seemed that as much as Aliyah avoided being the center of attention, she thrived in the spotlight.

"So, I know there are questions about where and why I am leaving since I think at the last Christmas Party I was voted most likely to never retire." She laughed before continuing.

"As some of you are aware, I had the great fortune to meet someone, and yes... I did meet them at work, I have no other life as we all know. Duncan swept into my life with out so much as a by your leave, and cheerfully turned it upside down." She grinned at Duncan and gave him a wink to show she was again teasing.

"Duncan has asked me to join him in traveling the world, and I have agreed. So we decided to throw this little gathering to give me a chance to say goodbye, and thank you all for being such wonderful friends and coworkers over the years."

She handed the microphone back to the KJ and made a beeline for Duncan. She pressed her back against his chest wrapping his arms around her, staying secure in his embrace. She had no intention of singing tonight, but it seemed her friends had other ideas. It hadn't been long before her name was called. She glanced around her but no one would admit that they had submitted her name.

She sighed and headed back to the stage where the KJ let her know that it wasn't just one request, he had a stack of them he would be inserting in with the others all night long.

Aliyah took the microphone and tried to look grumpy. "Alright guys... You win." She admitted taking a small sip of her beer. She did drink some, but she drank very slowly.

She grinned as she saw the song flash on the screen. It seemed her coworkers knew her musical tastes well. m.youtube.com/watch?v=F81XpfDKbQI

She finished her song and headed back to Duncan with a grin. "Well that was interesting."

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She laughed as he teased her about showering. Showering together could be something very fun, but not in her shower. It would be far too diffuclt to fit them both in there in any way that could result in pleasant activities.

She blinked and rolled her eyes up to keep from tearing up as he mentioned plans for a goodbye shindig with her coworkers. It was by far the sweetest thing anyone had ever proposed. She grinned at him as he listed out his ideas. She couldn't think of anything that sounded better. "You know, and I can't believe I am saying this... it sounds like a great idea. I think it could be a lot of fun. "

She slid her hand in his and tugged him towards the couch. "A lazy night in sounds just fine by me. Let's just avoid activities that involve Gary making me go shopping. He's worse than my grandmother." She laughed. Letting him sit on the couch while she went to the dresser that served as her makeshift TV stand. She folded the edges of a box marked "Pillsbury Frozen Biscuits" Duncan was so organized, that what she was about to do was likely to drive him absolutely crazy.

She pulled out the first dresser drawer and riffled through it. It held several cut lengths of Aida cloth which she laid on the coffee table, a couple of hoops, a package of needles and what seemed like a million skeins of embroidery floss. She pulled out the hoops, needles, and some black and white floss. The rest she just unceremoniously dumped into the box before sliding the drawer back in place.

She opened the next drawer which was pens, colored pencils, pads of graph paper, and other small craft items. She dumped those into the box as well. When the box was full she closed the flaps, taped it shut and marked it "CRAFT CRAP STORAGE"

The last two drawers were full of what was commonly called fat quarters, rectangles of fabric cut 18" by 22" These were all dumped into a box as well. She labeled that box "FQ STORE"

She looked at Duncan and shrugged a little. "Do you want to go back to the hotel tonight, or can we stay here and finish this up? I think by the end of the night, I should be done so that all that is left is moving out the furniture and cleaning everything really good."

Lottery Winner

Aliyah snuggled into his arms, her head resting against his chest as he told her about his day. She forced herself not to hold her breath as he talked numbers. Those numbers blew her mind, as in simply didn't compute.

"Albuqurque works fine for me." She said finally pulling away to pick up her rag again wiping down the counters. "We can stay here as long as we need to. I am on a month to month, so basically when I stop paying the rent, and toss the furniture out is our last day." She said with a laugh.

She stopped wiping the counters long enough to turn around and look at him for a minute. "I have two days left. I talked to my manager this morning and instead of a two full weeks, she just isn't going to schedule me on the next schedule. Once I am done with that I am completely yours... well aside from finishing up packing which is oddly taking longer than I thought it would."

She reached over and picked up the tin container of spices and held it up. "I keep finding shit like this. I swear it is older than I am. How does that even happen?" She glared at it before tossing it into the trash can.

"I don't have any specific plans for tonight. Is there something you wanted to do?" She asked wiping down the stove top. "I mean if you want to go out anywhere I have to shower and change. I smell like bleach." She complained.

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Aliyah hit the shower as soon as she got home. Once she was dressed in a pair of comfy sweats and a t-shirt she stood in a corner looking at her place. She needed a plan of attack.

She headed to the kitchen and grabbed a trash bag. She would start here. She headed to the cabinet and started pull everything out on the cabinets. She started sorting, unexpired goods went into a box for donation, but anything opened or expired went into the trash. She even found that mysterious can of McCormick seasoning, you know the one, the one that has been with you through 37 moves and expired before you were born.

She packed up all her pots and pans, and tossed all of the stuff in the fridge. Cleaning out the cabinets in the kitchen took longer than she thought. When Duncan let himself in she was in the kitchen singing softly scrubing out all of the cabinets with bleach water.

She didn't notice him at first, but soon she saw him standing there out of the corner of her eye. She jumped and let out a little screech. "You scared me!" she said laughing as she tossed her rag on the counter and headed over to kiss him hello.

"How was your day?"

Serge & Lucia |EasilyAmused & ICanBeAnyone|

She nodded a little. " Absolutely I will miss you. You have been most tolerant of my less than impressive coping abilities today. Fortunately for your relief, I will have had time to adjust. Ron would be a good choice, although I bet Elias and I could trade make up tips... maybe I can pick up a few pointers to make the girls really look bigger." She teased glancing down at her chest. It had not escaped her that her earlier transformation was hard for him to handle. "Kidding!" She said. "As you saw tonight, it might improve tips, but it also adds to the harassment."

She laughed as he grabbed her foot and tugged, before moving her other foot to rest on his thigh. She let her head fall back biting her lip on a moan of relief. "You cook, you clean, you run the perfect baths, you give incredible massages." She paused glancing at his hands looking for a ring. She didn't notice one, but in his line of work, and with as closed off as he was to keep the personal and professional separate he might just not wear one.

"Is there a Mrs. Serge at home? Because if there is, I think for the first time in my adult life I am jealous of another human being." She teased reaching for her tea holding it between both hands, letting her fingers wrap around the mug absorbing the warmth. "I don't mean to be intrusive, I guess I am curious. Not necessarily just about you, but whether or not it is possible to work a job like yours, like the one I want, and be married to someone other than the job."

She let her body relax under the gentle strokes of his massage. "I imagine it would be difficult, unless you had someone who understood the demands." She sipped her tea sighing softly.

Serge & Lucia |EasilyAmused & ICanBeAnyone|

She picked up her cup of tea and sipped slowly before looking over to him. "I can manage sleeping with my door open. You'll need some rest unless you plan on switching off with another body guard, the human body requires sleep or our brains start to make mistakes." Oh that was a lesson she knew too well. She often pushed herself to the very limits of her endurance.

"Besides, we are going to be roomates at least until Election day, you might as well be semi comfortable." She said shifting a little so she can look at him better. "I put a clean towel on the hanger on the back of the bathroom door." She sipped her tea slowly letting the heat relax her.

"Just make yourself at home. I'm pretty easy to live with." She grinned, "Although I am almost 100% certain that I am in absolutely no danger from someone coming through my window in the middle of the night. As far as the world knows I am an orphaned waitress at a dive bar. Heck even my neighbors think I am having company for some..." She paused for a minute thinking about how to phrase it. "less than wholesome activities." She teased.

She set her tea down and crossed her legs pressing her thumbs into the arch of her foot sighing in relief. "I swear the day I quit that place, I am never going to wear high heels again."