killing time ; leigh-anne pinnock

one.

Leigh-Anne Pinnock had never been a woman who was exceptionally gifted at remembering certain events. It had been this way since she was a child, often being scolded by authority for forgetting the most simple of tasks, daydreaming the hours away while ignoring the anchors of reality that weighed her subconscious down to earth, and growing older hadn't changed nor altered the twenty-five year old's inability to properly concentrate, letting her mind wander whether she was in the middle of work or at home conversing with her best friend. It wasn't that she didn't hold the capacity to focus on tasks at hand, it was simply that she didn't want to, finding the escapes of her mind a welcome refuge from the sometimes overwhelming routine of her daily life.

     On the fifth day of December, however, Leigh-Anne couldn't remember a time in which she had been more alert--it was an unusually busy day at the Oceanside Restaurant, and between the dozens of orders she had scribbled down on her notepad and the constant instructions being barked to her by her boss, a feisty Latin woman named Camila Cabello, Leigh-Anne couldn't afford to look away from her duties for even a mere second.

     It was a little before five when she finally was able to spare a moment to sit down, running her fingers through her hair and staring out at the bustling crowd milling about both in the cafe and on the beach across the street, allowing herself to breathe and take in the sights that the tourist town she lived in had to offer. She was so distracted by doing so, in fact, that she didn't see her superior's approach until she was hovering directly above her, black hair pulled back into a messy ponytail while her fingers tapped impatiently across the leather belt wrapped around her waist. "I don't pay you to sit around all day, Leigh-Anne."

     "You barely pay me as it is," Leigh-Anne couldn't help but mutter, indignantly lifting her head to meet Camila's narrowed eyes. "and in case you haven't noticed, I have not been sitting around all day. Far from it, actually." A quick glance at her watch confirmed her suspicions, and her tone was slightly mocking as she said, "My shift is almost over, anyway."

     "Your shift was almost over," Camila sneered. "but there's a customer who has been waiting for a table for the past hour and a half, and we can't afford to give him any more reasons to complain about our slow service now that he's finally seated."

     "Can't you get Perrie to tend to him?" Leigh-Anne asked, the question tinged with desperate exasperation.

     "Perrie is home with some sort of virus," Camila responded dramatically, fixing Leigh-Anne with a look that could have cut through the thickest layer of ice. "so either you get up and do something for once or you're fired." With that final warning hanging threateningly in the air between them her boss whipped around, high heels sounding out loudly behind her as she disappeared behind a set of swinging doors labeled 'private, do not enter'.

     One exhausted sigh and an exaggerated eye roll later Leigh-Anne was standing once more, crossing the small area that led to the back of the establishment in record time. Normally closed but opened in the wake of special events or to simply offer customers more space, it was a large section that consisted of an array of wooden furniture positioned sporadically around the room's wide perimeter, backdropped by views of the neighboring Pacific that still managed to take Leigh-Anne's breath away. Today, however, it wasn't the rays of sunlight dancing across the surface of the waves nor the sparkling white sand that shone like diamonds across the horizon that stole all of the air from her lungs--it was the sight of the man seated at the furthest table in the corner, an individual so entirely mesmerizing that Leigh-Anne couldn't help but stop in her tracks. Inexplicably, everyone and everything that didn't belong to the dark-haired stranger in the gray suit and tinted designer sunglasses faded out of view completely, and whether by her own free will or a result of the irresistible magnetic pull that radiated from his presence, Leigh-Anne's feet began moving again at a rapid pace, bringing her closer and closer to this human that was already the most stunning creature she had ever had the good fortune of witnessing. "H-Hello," she somehow stammered, nervously brushing a stray strand of raven hair behind her ears as she struggled to regain her composure. "My name is Leigh-Anne, and I'll be taking care of you today."