Somebody in the Coffee Shop (Dimitri)

[Dimitri]

At this point Dimitri was reluctant to take the hankerchief from Anya’s waving hand. The only thinghe wanted from her right now she obviously couldn’t give, so he really just wanted to be far away from her. It was confusing to want to be close to someone yet far away from them at the same time. Eventually, though, he took the hanky and pressed it to his nose. If nothing else it saved him having to talk for a moment. Besides, she was doing enough talking for the both of them, every word just driving that knife further into his heart.

He knew now that she no longer knew him, but hearing her state it, again and again, was excruciating. And now she wanted an explanation, and he supposed she deserved one under the circumstances, but unfortunately he had none to give. Maybe he should just tell her the truth, maybe she would actually believe him, but what then? What would that really change?

“You won’t get fired, I’ll take care of it,” he answered, lowering the cloth from his nose and pressing gingerly on the bruised area. He was just buying time now, trying to come up with a plan, a lie, to get himself away from her so he could nurse his wounds and pick up the pieces of his life in silence.

“I’m sorry,” Dimitri continued, these two words coming easily to him for once in his life. He was sorry. He was sorry he had upset her; he was sorry she had punched him in the face. He was sorry that she didn’t remember him - God was he sorry about that. He was sorry he had let her leave Avalon in the first place; he was sorry he had let fear and revenge distract him most of the summer. He was sorry he had let down his walls and let her in, and he was sorry he had ended up falling for her in the first place.

No... he wasn’t sorry about that.

While all these thoughts were running through his head, he had simply been staring at her, her beautiful face no loger contorted in anger. She was still awaiting her explanation. Shaking himself out of his revery, Dimitri drew upon all his years of training and experience.

“I was...” he started before faltering. It was too hard. How could he look her in the eye and pretend that it all meant nothing to him, that he knew her as little as she now knew him? How could he pretend that he didn’t know her favourite food or how she was more comfortable in trousers than a dress? How could he pretend he didn’t know all about her family, and and every curve of her body? How could he pretend that his heart didn’t ache for her? But eye contact was one of the most important parts of a con, it was the best way to get someone to believe it. He tried to get himself together, throwing a glance over his shoulder at the coffee shop. he remembered the people inside, some clearly enjoying what they had thought to be a performance...

“I am a theatre student at the university,” he started again, forcing himself to meet her eyes, desperately trying not to get lost in their crystal clear depths. “I have a performance... an exam coming up that I am really nervous about and I thought maybe giving a few impromptu performances out in public might help.” Just keep talking, he just had to keep talking. “I’m sorry I dragged you into it. I will talk to your boss. I might even be able to turn this into something lucrative for you to make up for it.”

He tried to smile a bit, tried to look somewhat sheepish, apologetic; he only hoped it reached his eyes and at least dulled the earlier utter devastation they had held. Most importantly he held the eye contact.

Even now her eyes were mesmerizing, and he couldn’t make his heart slow down.

[Anastasia]

He would take care of it? Who was this guy, some kind of hot shot, some big businessman that could take care of everything? He certainly didn’t look like it, there was just something a little too scruffy about him, a little too common man, but then who knows, perhaps that was the style these days. In fact perhaps that was the style of this world, she had been told that royalty happily walked around with the commoners wearing normal clothes, so perhaps he was one of them. Or…

Now he was saying sorry. Well he down right should be sorry, stupid hot shot/possibly royalty man, coming in and embarrassing her and then making her anger and then leading to her inevitable firing…ok maybe she should have stayed a little calmer but it didn’t take away from the fact that he had provoked her. Stupid scruffy looking but in a kind of hot way man. Cause he was…kind of hot, but scruffy, very, very scruffy.

And then came the explanation.

Her expression softened a little and she began to smile just the slightest bit more warmly.

An actor. Well that explained everything.

She had dealt with enough bohemians back in Paris, she should have suspected something of the like. Patting his shoulder she said. “Right, I see. Well…next time, why don’t you give us a little heads up before you start grabbing and kissing me. I like a good performance as much as the next out of work actress, but uh…a little warning would have been nice.”

Putting her hands on her hips she grinned and motioned with her head back to the café, “And don’t worry about it, was getting sick of that place anyway. So what’s your exam about? How did you get in to the University? Do they…do a lot of classes like that? Acting that is?”

[Dimitri]

Dimitri could see the change coming over her, her whole expression softening, which indicated that she had bought his story. He would have breathed a sigh of relief is she hadn’t left him breathless.

“Right. Thanks. I’ll remember that next time,” he said, lowering his head a bit and looking down at his feet. “it was sort of a... spur of the moment thing.”

Listening to Anya speak, he tried to limit his visible surprise at her mention of being an ‘out of work actress’. He had never known she was even interested in acting, let alone tried her hand at it before... but then that begged the question of when she had had time to try it out. At the orphanage? Not likely, and after she had left there she had met him, which she obviously didn’t remember. Shouldn’t she be missing a few years? It was almost like the memories she had lost had been replaced by new ones, and he was pretty sure amnesia didn’t work that way. There was something fishy going on.

“You’re an actress?” Dimitri asked, using his genuine surprise to ask the logical question. Well, that was certainly unfortunate for him at this moment, as she was now asking questions about his cover story, questions he didn’t have an answer to. He could only hope that since she was asking that she didn’t know either. If she decided to look into it all later he would be long gone before she realised it had all been lies.

“OH, they have a bunch of different arts programs. My mother is a painter, and my father a musician, so I figured I should round out the family portrait by going into acting,” he said with a bit of a strained chuckle. He knew he should keep it simple, but he found himself trying too hard, needing to make it believable. She always did have that ability to completely disarm him.

“There are classes on classical theatre, like Shakespeare, and... musical theatre. That’s me, hence the song.” Well, that explained that embarrassing transgression. Now to throw her off and escape. “But it’s really hard and stressful. I wouldn’t bother to look into it if I were you.”

[Anastasia]

Maybe this guy was alright. A little crazy clearly, but then so many people involved in the arts were completely mental, it was the absinthe, it did things to people. Maybe he had just had one too many bottles. She looked down at her feet when he asked if she was an actress, unable to meet his eye and said, “Well uh, I mean, I’ve dabbled, you know? Cant live in Montmartre Paris and not get involved in something arty. I uh, well I’ve done a bit of chorus, you know, in the background but uh…no supporting roles, definitely no major roles…no speaking part at all really. But I’m, I’m working on it. Mostly I…waitress.”

She looked up at him and smiled a little nervously. Here was someone who had trained in acting and from the performance, now that she knew that’s what it was, back in the café he was clearly very good. There were times back there where she was sure he actually looked despairing, or in love or…something. It was amazing how real he made it look and she only hoped one day she could achieve the same. It was probably this ‘musical theatre’ course he was talking about now that had helped. If only she had the kind of money to get herself on that, then she would be right up there with the stars…maybe.

Anya had enjoyed putting on shows since she was a little girl in the orphanage…maybe even before then but she didn’t remember any of that…sometimes. But definitely at the orphanage, to keep the spirits up, she would put on puppet shows, terrible tragedies which somehow always turned in to comedies, and of course her impressions of the people that worked there. It was just…fun, and when she had moved to Paris and found herself in the heart of art…well…she couldn’t resist having a go. Although it wasn’t easy, she soon found that out from her first audition where the man had immediately said next after shouting that her hair was too red, never mind the quality of her acting.

She nodded as Dimitri spoke and said, “I imagine it is and expensive. But it’s great that you’re family support you, that must be…great. Do you have any brothers or sisters? Sorry, you dont need to answer that. That was...way too personal. So know of any auditions coming soon?"

[Dimitri]

This wasn’t right; none of this was right. Maybe he had fallen into some sort of alternate reality because this was not the Anya he remembered, and none of her story lined up with what he knew to be true. Anya had gone to Paris looking for her family, for some key to her past, and she had gone there with him. There had been no chorus... there hadn’t even been any waitressing! There had to be some magic afoot here, it was how things worked in this damn place, after all.

“Hey, we all have to make a living somehow. I do a bit of bar tending myself,” Dimitri replied. Only after the words had passed his lips did he realise his error. Now she knew what he did for a living, and there were only so many bars in town. If she found out he had been lying to her and decided she cared enough about that to track him down, then it wouldn’t be all that hard to find him. Great.

He wouldn’t have put it past the Anya he knew to do so, either, but this one? He wasn’t sure yet. They were so similar, yet somehow different. Like right now, she was being pretty nice and trusting, which was definitely a change, but then she had to go and say something that was just so unmistakably Anya. Of course she would ask about his family, as she was seemingly back to not remembering her own. A home, a family, the things that were so unimportant to him, things that neither of them had really had since they were children, that had been taken away from them the same night. These were the things she valued most.

“Nah, only child,” Dimitri said. At least that bit was true, or as true as he ever knew. He had never known his father, after all. “I haven’t really heard of any auditions around here. I think I’ll have to go elsewhere to ‘pursue my dream’, as they say, after I graduate.”

[Anastasia]

Anya nodded knowingly as he mentioned that he had to do bartending as well, Acting wasn’t the most stable of careers and everyone needed something to keep them afloat. She looked at him and believed that she could see it, there was something sort of bartender like about him. Well the conversation was proof enough, people told Bartenders everything and she’d already told him where she used to live, what she wanted to do and what she currently did…oh he was good. “I tried bartending, didn’t do too well, yeah that was a mistake” she said and made an ‘oops’ face, “I tried to do all those tricks some of them do, spinning the bottles and stuff, yeah, end of the night I had to hand all my wages back for all the bottles I broke. So I just stick to waitressing now.”

It was strange, a couple of minutes ago she was slapping this guy around the head and now they were standing in the middle of the street just chatting away like…well…like two strangers who had something in common and who actually sort of got on. They both liked acting, they both did sort of the same kind of job and he was an only child. Ok, so she was an orphan but she got that only child feeling, no brothers or sisters to confide in and right now he was away from his parents. He must have been feeling a little…lonely…like her…

“Well that’s what they say,” she said smiling a little, “that new Hollywood is the place to go I hear. Where they make all the films and stuff. If only I had the money to get over there. Or one of those weird portal things that brought me to this place.”

She smiled at him and said, “Was it the same for you? Did it just appear and sort of…suck you in to it. Or are you one of the folks who came here willingly, there seems to be a lot more people that did it that way.”

[Dimitri]

Dimitri tried to imagine Anya behind a bar, trying to gracefully flip bottles through the air and failing miserably. The mental image was... it was perfect, really, and even though it was killing him just standing here and talking to her like they were strangers after everything they had been through together, the idea of it actually brought on a genuine laugh.

“What they don’t tell you is how many things they dropped and how many bottles they dropped before they could pull off those moves. Deciding to jump right into it is like deciding you want to learn to juggle and starting with flaming torches,” he replied, laughter dying down but a lopsided grin remaining. “The fanciest trick I pull is just sliding a beer down the bar, and even those sometimes keep going off the end, though I maintain it’s because my customer just wasn’t quick enough to catch it.”

He’d learned pretty quickly that most people just don’t ‘get’ that whole method of serving. There were a few regulars that got a kick out of it, but most people just wanted to be served directly. Eventually some hotshot would get drunk enough and want to try, but by then they were usually too drunk to catch anything but an STD.

Now... that was an interesting tidbit of information. Not the bit about the STDs, but that she had suddenly been dropped here. That was actually something that Dimitri had never heard before. He thought that everyone chose to come here, or were invited. He didn’t know that the portal had a tendency of kidnapping people. There had to be a connection here.

“I chose to come here. I was...” looking to con naive little royals out of their money and trying to forget about you “...following my dream, you could say.” He paused a moment, giving Anya a quizzical expression. “You mean you were just dropped here against your will? Have you asked anyone about that?”

[Anastasia]

She laughed as he attempted to make her feel better about her poor bartending skills and at the story he told about his own customers. Clearly they had just got off on the wrong foot beforehand, now they were getting on just fine, well as fine as some strangers could get after already breaking intimacy boundaries of kissing. “I would say I might steal that and use it in the cafe but I think sliding hot cups of tea across the counter towards all the little old ladies could be potentially disastrous…that and…well I might not have a job in the café now.”
 
Smiling as if she didn’t care, which she found, she didn’t, there would always be another job she nodded, “Yeah, very much against my will. When that portal spat me out I was standing in the middle of a crowded street, with no shoes and the frying pan still in my hand. Gotta say, you got off lightly, the first guy that approached me I think I knocked out cold.”
 
Folding her arms she continued, “I mean, I asked the Grayle Coperation guys if they could send me back home, but they said they couldn’t find my world. You know after I had actually come to terms with the fact that there are all these worlds and stuff. But you know, they were nice, gave me some start up money, got me that job. To be honest…I’ve got no reason to go back.”
 
Her hand unconsciously went up to her neck and she began fiddling with the necklace there. She did have a reason to go back, but she had cried herself to sleep too many times over that. She had been there two years and found nothing…there was nothing for her in Paris…

[Dimitri]

It just took her. Wherever she had been, wherever she had thought she had been, the portal had just took her. Was it possible it had messed with her memories in the process? But then she said it: her world. True, everyone could say that here, but something about the words resonated with Dimitri this time. Her world should be their world, but somehow... it wasn’t. He had always thought about the people in this place coming from different times, but not... well, yes, some seemed to step out of the pages of fairytales, but so many stories derived from some sort of history or legend anyway. This was different, to suggest there were more than one... no, he couldn’t wrap his head around it. Couldn’t wrap his heart around it.

He could go talk to those people, the Grayle people she had seen, but would they tell him anything? Could they? Did he want them to?

Worlds, she said worlds, plural. Okay, fine, he could buy that, like other planets, but what she was saying coupled with what he knew, the suggestion seemed to be that there were other worlds like his, like hers... not the same world. There were other people like him, like her... but not the same. There were other versions of him... of her...

...this wasn’t her. This wasn’t Anya.

His eyes fell to her neck, to her hand there as she fiddled with her necklace. The one she had always worn, the ‘key to her past’.

“Together in Paris...” he muttered to himself, his eyes going unfocused as the world seemed to blur around him.

There was no one in Paris to got back to because she didn’t know who her family was. She had never met him, he had never taken her to Paris, she had never remembered anything, she had never met her Grandmother. She didn’t know him because she had never been here. She had never spoken to him before, never kissed him, never loved him. He had scars from the times he had saved her life, but it hadn’t been her. He had changed everything he was, had learned to let people in, to care about others because of her, but it hadn’t been her. She had never experienced any of these things, the things so real to him, because it hadn’t been her.

This was not his Anya.

No amount of acting or years of practice could keep the expression of devastation from his face, nor keep down the wave of nausea that threatened. Shaking his head as if he could make it not be real, Dimitri took a stumbling step back. “I... I have to go,” he managed to force out though his tongue felt thick, his throat tight. He didn’t wait for a response, already turning, already moving quickly away. He had to get away from her, had to be anywhere but here.

[Anastasia]

The guy in front of her transformed, one minute they’re laughing and joking about their previous jobs, and acting and thinking maybe after their odd beginning he wasn’t all bad, and now…
 
“What did you say?” she said, clutching the necklace tighter and stepping towards him.
 
He was already moving away though, the expression on his face…unreadable. There was so much going on there, so much that she couldn’t decipher or help with, all she knew was that she had caused it, this change, something she had said…the necklace.
 
He was moving away from her, quickly and all she could do was stand there and watch him. The first person she had really spoken too on arriving here that hadn’t been some official or her boss. This one person was now quickly moving away from her leaving her alone…again all because of…the necklace. It was the necklace, he knew what it said, he had repeated it but there was no way he could have seen it from there, he knew, he knew it by heart. But how…unless…he knew…he must know about who gave her it, what it means…
 
“WAIT!” she shouted, knowing it was no use, she had already lost him in the crowd.
 
She would find him though, somehow, she thought as she stood in the middle of the street clutching the necklace, a tear running down the side of her face. Maybe, when she found him, she would finally get some answers.