T W E L V E :
It had been a full week since the whole lost-memory incident, Oak had got her results back and as expected they were clear. Now, she was at work again where the man who helped her also now worked, she wasn't sure who he was but all she remembers was his hair, which was a blinding blonde.
She'd been at work around about an hour now and only had three hours left before she could go home, not that she was thinking about home time at all. Currently, she was concocting the drinks for table four, which were the family of one of the girls who used to take the piss out of Oak for being 5'10. Her mum and dad were having a red wine whilst she, the oh so lovely Ellie Hammersmith, was having a sex on the beach cocktail and her younger sisters were having some lemonade.
With a smile on her face Oak gently placed the correct drink in front of each of the costumers, Ellie looked at the tall blue-haired girl, from head to toe with what seemed to be a look of disgust. You see, Ellie Hammersmith didn't have any hobbies because her main priority was putting others down, Oak was also pretty sure that the blonde didn't even have a job yet she was one to judge others for their current occupation; to Oak, it didn't matter that she didn't work, it was her life, she did what she wanted.
"When you're ready to order just press this button and it'll notify me," Oak said pointing to the little button in the centre of the table, it was connected via Bluetooth so whenever a waiter/waitress got assigned a table they'd have to connect it to their phones and it instantly notifies them with the table number.
"Thank you, love," Ellie's dad responded with a brief nod and smile, he enjoyed coming to this restaurant, the food was brilliant but his eldest kicked up a fuss before they got here. She always had a habit of doing that, which was strange because whenever she got served her food she had no complaints.
Usually, the deal would be the second you serve four tables you get to go for a fifteen-minute break, which doesn't sound like a lot but it can be rather time-consuming because there are four main waitresses/waiters each night and usually the restaurant wasn't ever fully full so it was like a battle. You could lie to Mattia but he'd always check the app to make sure you weren't, it's not that he didn't trust them he'd just rather be sure because he hates being lied to.
So far, Oak had two tables that she was waiting on, table nine who had already ordered their food and were just waiting for the chef to make it and table four who were currently scanning over their menus.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed inside her little pocket at the front of her apron and it was a notification informing the girl that table nines food was ready. Rapidly, she walked into the kitchen to see a blonde man whose hair looked familiar, placing the foods on the 'ready to go' table.
"Thank you," Oak smiled and took the two plates for the couple who were on a date.
She approached the beautiful couple at table nine with the two dishes they had ordered "One Lasagne," She said and one of the males put his hand up with a smile, Oak smiled and placed it gently down in front of the Afro-haired man.
"And a Trofie Al Pesto," Oak smiled again, one arm behind her back as she placed it in front of the ginger man. "I hope you enjoy your meal if you need anything else make sure to press the button," She smiled again and left the couple to eat their food.
Just as she was about to go back behind the bar she got another notification signalling that table four were ready to order, with a smile, Oak approached the table of five. "Are you ready to order?" Oak asked with a smile still prominent on her face, she had to ask even if she knew the answer.
"Yes, could I get the Chicken Parmigiana, please," The only man at the table asked and Oak nodded jotting it down.
"Could I get the Pasta Carbonara, please?" The mum asked with a smile and Oak repeated her actions.
"Lily would like a small Margarita pizza and Emily would like a small pepperoni pizza, please," The mum spoke for her youngest children who nodded excitedly. They were only around five or six.
Ellie looked at Oak like she was a piece of shit, smirked then scoffed lightly "Can I have the Orecchiette Cime di Rapa?" She asked saying the name completely wrong with a mumble in her tone.
"Sorry, could you repeat it, I didn't hear you," Oak said sweetly and Ellie rolled her eyes with an annoyed sigh, Ellie jolted the menu in front of the waitress and pointed to the food she wanted.
"The Orecchiette Cime di Rapa?" Oak repeated what she pointed to saying it with ease, because of her job Oak had actually picked up a little bit of Italian, Mattia had helped her with the pronunciations but she was getting there.
"It's what I said," Ellie snapped and folded her arms in rage. No, she didn't.
"Ellie, stop being so flaming rude!" Her mum scolded her "I'm sorry, love," She added and turned to me all the while glaring daggers at her eldest daughter, Oak just smiled, no longer phased by Ellie's darn right rudeness.
"Would your children like a colouring page?" Oak asked their mum mainly for Lily and Emily but the way Ellie acts she's in the age range to get one.
"Can we mummy?" Emily asked with a smile of excitement.
"Of course," She said to her daughter "Yes, please love, if that's okay," She turned to me again as said, Oak nodded and quickly went to get the youngest some colouring pencils and a colouring page.
——— ••• ———
Presently, Harrison was on set yet again, all the young cast were currently just sat in the large 'green room' as it was a teacher meeting scene that didn't include the students. The casting director, Henry Moore, was looking at all of the 'lead cast' wanting to ask them something but he wasn't sure how to.
It was a last minute thing that needed seeing to almost immediately, he thought it was worth the shot of asking the cast because they knew a lot of people and they were his best bet. The original idea didn't go accordingly and it didn't suit what they were after, the majority of the auditions didn't meet the criteria.
"Do any of you know a band?" Henry asked the group of nine, they all looked up at him and apologised greatly. He didn't see the point in flapping about anymore, he had to get his question out of the way.
Harrison's mind flashed with The Blue but then he realised they were five-thousand-three-hundred and sixty kilometres away from where they were. It'd be impossible for them to come here with the short notice. "Harrison does," Aray nudged him whilst telling Henry. Harrison would kill her with a death glare if he could, of course, she had to go and say that.
Henry looked at the lightly curly-haired boy waiting for him to say something. Harrison scattered his brown eyes all around the room struggling for the words to say "I mean, yeah, I do but they're in England," Harrison informed them, Aray rolled her eyes playfully. It was the truth, he didn't want to pressure them into coming here when it was such a far distance.
"Could you at least contact them?" Henry asked "We need a band for the final scene of this season and we haven't had any luck finding one that's why I asked you lot," Henry sighed softly, he'd found it hard to find a good band that would fit the picture that the director wanted to create.
"I can try but I don't know what they'll say, I barely know them," Harrison spoke, telling the truth, sure he'd met them all once and he'd spoke to Oak a couple of times but it probably wasn't enough for them to want to fly out across the world for god knows what.
Harrison sat back in his seat thinking that Henry would go and then come back later and ask him if he'd got anywhere but he stayed fixed in his position starring at him, whilst the rest of the cast looked at him expectantly. "Oh, you want me to do it now?" Harrison asked confused, he just assumed that he'd want the answer later.
"Well, will they be awake?" Henry quizzed. He needed an answer as soon as possible because he needed to inform the director of the changes otherwise they'd have to postpone some things.
"Erm. . . I assume so but I don't know," the curly-haired boy shrugged lightly and pulled up the Instagram app and tapped on Oak's name. They probably should've exchanged numbers because they messaged each other quite a bit whenever they had time and it was difficult to be constantly surrounded by WiFi.
"He's been talking to the lead singer anyway," Tom winked playfully at his friend to the left of him, Harrison shook his head with a light smile. His cast mate wasn't lying but he made it seem like a much more romantic thing than it actually was.
"Don't say what it's for just say it's a special project," Henry told Harrison and he nodded in response.
"Just start off with a introduction," Elle suggested making the others chuckle, they were going to tease him about Oak because they noticed how he reacted in the interview with Summer Wills.
The majority of the cast watched over Harrison's shoulder the second his phone pinged, signifying a notification that Oak had replied. Harrison chuckled at their frantic actions "She seems so nice," Evan complimented based on the first message she sent, the others just smiled, they knew that Harrison enjoyed their music and that he'd like to be friends with them all.
"Ask her if the band would be up for it, come on man!" Ajay spoke quickly, urging his friend on, Harrison wasn't nervous about messaging her because he'd done it before he just had never been told what to say.
"They don't have enough money to fly over," Harrison said sadly, he wishes they could come over because he wanted his cast members to see their immense talent.
"Tell then that a plane will be sent to their local airport on the twenty first of the month to pick them up and when we're finished the plane will take them back," Henry enlightened the man who nodded then began typing again.
"She's too fucking polite, tell her the plane will be picking them up at. . .I don't know. . . Seven PM their time," Julian said light-heartedly with a chuckle as the others laughed too. They all couldn't believe how polite she was over text, they'd never known anything like it.
"I can't just start firing demands," Harrison tittered. He barely knew the woman and telling her what to do wouldn't sit very well, it wasn't the impression he wanted to set for himself when gaining new friends.
"Yes, you can we need a band to leave the season with a bang, trust me," Henry said more sternly locking eyes with Harrison. Henry thought Harrison was too polite and didn't have a stern bone in his body, he could be stern but not when it came to things like this; he'd learnt that he hated being demanding.
The full cast cheered in triumph, Elle couldn't wait to meet the band and the girl who'd been making one of her closest friends smile like the Cheshire Cat— it was clear to see that Harrison and Oak both got along rather well, their conversation seemed to flow perfectly despite them not knowing each other well at all.
"Is her real name actually Oak?" Julian questioned the brunette boy who was in front of him.
"As far as I know, why?" Harrison responded and looked back at the thin, lightly tattooed man. Julian was quite nosy, he was a lovely guy but he loved to know everything about everyone, he was more or less a detective but didn't solve crimes.
"No reason, it's just it's kinda cool," Julian shrugged then took a sip of his coffee, then parted from the crowded group to sit on his own seat so that he could look on Oak Rivers' Instagram profile. He had no hesitance about doing so, he was a great judge of character and he could suss her out quickly just by seeing her social media presence.
"Are you stalking her profile now?" Harrison chuckled at his friend across the room from him, Julian looked up and shrugged. He'd done it countless time before so he figured that he was doing what Harrison had suggested.
"There's no harm in a little research," Julian winked playfully at the brunette boy opposite him as he typed in her name and the first post that popped up was a photo of her from around two weeks ago, he'd admit that she looked rather groovy with the blue hair and many piercings that were visible.
"Do they sing any songs we'd know?" Aray asked Harrison who was joining in on the conversation when he felt like he had something to add.
"Eh, I don't know, they're kind of just starting out," He told the truth Aray nodded then looked at him. Harrison wished that they were bigger because they really deserved all the success in the world, their music was something that should be played on the loudest sound systems in the full of the world. They had messages, they needed shared.
"Can you play us one?" She smiled cheekily wanting to know what The Blue were all about, he'd heard Harrison mention them and how he enjoyed their music thoroughly but she can't recollect whether she'd heard them or not. Instantly, the rest of the group turned around and looked at Harrison, each of them equally as curious.
Harrison laughed a little then pulled up his Spotify app "One of your pick a number between one and five," He told them but not one of them spoke up. It wasn't a difficult ask really but they were all in a bundle of hesitance, it was either make or break, if they picked the wrong song that's their first impressions out of the window.
"Ight imma go for four," Ajay decided to take one for the team as the room was filled by silence, they were all secretly really excited to hear what it was going to be called and what it was going to be about.
"Okay, this ones called the capital," He informed the group and pressed on the song in their EP, the guitar strummed through their ears as the room was filled with silence again, they were all listening intently.
So you can
call. me. what. you. wanna
cause I no longer care
If you have platinum blonde hair
Or if you're living your life in despair.
You told me that I had to get out of bed
And fix what's in my head otherwise I'd be living
My life knowing full well that people only do good.
But down in the capital you see discrimination falling off of every tree
Whilst that one kid with different beliefs cries herself to sleep
Because you said that she'd never fit it back when you were kids. . .
wrote; tuesday 28th january 2020
(partially) edited; friday 14th august 2020
published;
thank you so much for 500+ reads, it means the world!
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- seashoredrift x