As the weeks progressed, Drae didn't let up on asking her out, but he was not forceful about it nor did he get insulted when she continued to brush him aside. He simply continued to flirt with her and compliment her all while remaining a good friend and a great help with her sod awful job. Sometimes, when the mood struck her, Sorah would throw a witty line his way too. That almost made her feel guilty for stringing him along, but he knew where he stood with her.
The job did get easier as time went on. Rather, the job stayed the same, but she got much better at it. It didn't take long really for her to learn the diner's menu inside and out. She was already good at reading people from her previous life, so it was easy for her to pick up on who to bother warning about what to eat and what not to eat. Some she would let make their own blunders, if they weren't either nice or good tippers.
Still, it was exhausting at times. The carrying of trays of food and the constant running (on a good day) was not a problem for her, she was in better than decent shape. The dealing with customers, and the absolute lack of intellectual stimuli some days simply made it a real trial to survive the whole shift. Fortunately, Drae had enough pull with the owner to get them scheduled together most of the time, and he helped to keep her sane.
"Gorram it, some people are idiots!" Sorah exclaimed as she placed an order in for a customer. "There should be limits to what some people are allowed to do or how much they're allowed to talk, based on their intelligence or extreme lack thereof."
"Why do you think I work in the kitchen? The people I deal with are absolutely lovely." Drae laughed at her.
She gave him a smile in return for his compliment. He was only being nice, and didn't deserve a rejection when he hadn't actually asked her for anything. "I know I've said it before... but jeebs, these people can just be flat out exhausting."
"You know what I like to do when I'm exhausted?" He asked rhetorically, planning on telling her anyway. "I like to power up my nice caf compressor, and get juiced up to stay up late watching holos. I stay up even through the morning, and get ridiculously stupid. I do that as long as I can, until I end up passing out the next day in the afternoon. Then I just sleep until the following morning."
Sorah laughed at the idea of fighting exhaustion with sleep deprivation. "That's stupid."
"Actually, it's a lot of fun. If you have the right company, that is. We both have the next two days off.... I could bring the compressor over, and let you see what I mean."
Sorah paused, honestly considering it. "You know what, you big brat?"
Drae shrugged innocently.
"I think I'd like that." She finished. "Now hurry up with that order, please... I need to get this pair out of my hair!
------------------------
The door chime dinged letting Sorah know someone was requesting entry. She checked the chrono on the end table at the end of the couch. Drae was exactly on time. All afternoon she had been regretting agreeing to this, but not enough to cancel, although she had come close to comming him twice in the last hour to do just that.
It wasn't really an age issue. He was only a few standard years younger than she was, but given everything she'd been through so far in her life, the age gap felt a lot bigger than it really was. That wasn't the biggest hurdle though. She thought of her former boyfriend. Deep down she knew she still loved him, and probably always would, but that part of her life was over now, and she needed to move on. Drae was a nice... kid. She couldn't help but think of him that way still. He was as good of a person as any, but she wondered if maybe she was just setting him up for heartbreak.
Still, he was old enough to make his own decisions. He'd have one to make in about two minutes.
She stood in front of the door, finger poised over the entry button. Now or never, she thought to herself and pushed the switch.
The door whooshed back into the wall and there he stood. "Hey!" the cook said with a grin. "I hope you like comedy, because I brought a bunch of those." He indicated several data cards in his hand.
"Comedy is great," Sorah said with a smile. "I could use some laughs."
Suddenly a small girl with black hair came around the corner. She looked to be about a standard year and a half old, and was holding a small stuffed tauntaun in one hand and sucking the thumb on the other. "Mommy?" the small child questioned around the appendage.
"Come here, baby," Sorah said, and swung the girl up in her arms. The former gang member turned back to Drae who's mouth was slightly open in surprise.
"Karla, sweetie, this is Mommy's friend, Drae. Can you say 'hi?'" Instead, the child buried her head in the crook of her mother's neck. "Sorry, she's kind of shy around new people." Sorah paused for a long moment, and when Drae didn't say anything, she continued. "If you want to leave, I'll understand."
Drae shook his head. "Oh, no, no, no. You just never mentioned having a daughter so it kind of threw me, but I like kids," he said. "I was honestly just thinking about the logistics of how this was going to work."
Sorah smiled. Somewhere deep down she was kind of disappointed that it wasn't a deal breaker, but she was much more happy that it wasn't. "Oh I'll be putting her to bed here in a minute, then we can start watching those holos," she said. "In the morning when Karla gets up, we can run her over to my cousin's place, grab some breakfast, then watch another holo, crash, whatever."
Drae grinned big. "Sounds good to me."
By the time Sorah had the little girl asleep in the next room, Drae had already had the first holo cued up and ready to go. "This first one is a classic; an oldie but a goodie. 'Cabott and Carmello Go to Coruscant.' I hope you like that stuff."
Sorah sat down on the couch next to Drae and found herself leaning towards him as the show started.
It was too much for her. The conflict was tearing at her. She had been so lonely, of late... and she missed her boyfriend so much. She yearned for a little compassion beyond her family. Yet she still felt wrong. She was worried that she would do something she would regret with Drae, and then ruin what they already have. She didn't want to hurt him and lose her only friend.
"Drae... listen." She waved at the screen to pause the holo. "There's a lot you don't understand about me."
"Shhhhh....." Drae held up a finger to stop her. "I really like.... this holo." He winked at her.
For some reason that Sorah didn't understand, that was enough for her. He understood and didn't care. She slid to sit next to him again.
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