[RP Thread for fey-fire] Uptown, Girl

[sandandwater]

They didn’t want her on the busiest nights at the bar and she begged off on one of their slower nights, leaving Pippa to her own devices several nights in a row. Part of her felt bad for the passive aggressive behavior but the part of her that was still stinging from what she considered a personal attack believed she was entirely justified in committing the small act of subterfuge. If she wasn’t at Last Call tonight, hadn’t been the night before and wouldn’t be for the next few days…well, the red haired woman knew that things would slowly come undone.

She didn’t like knowing that she was intentionally causing havoc at the bar she dearly loved or that she was going to give Mike, the owner, one hell of a headache to sort out. But she also refused to be treated in such a demeaning manner and then turn around and meekly continue to ensure that the business ran smoothly. She was so much more than just a waitress there. The nights she worked, Pippa generally ran the place from open to close. She handled all the paper work, dealt with the talent (all of the talent, not just her boyfriend’s band), made certain that stock never ran low or went unordered. She kept in contact with all the vendors they used and made sure Last Call was in good standing with them all.

If she wasn’t there, she knew by and large all of these things would be left undone. Some because the other waitresses never stopped to consider all the extra work Pippa did and what it actually takes to run a busy little night spot and the rest simply because Kelly didn’t have the business savvy or the people skills to fill Pippa’s shoes. And then there were the customers. Pippa made serving drinks look easy. She rarely wrote an order down and even more rarely did she get an order wrong. She remembered the names of regulars, let them run a tab, recalled their preferred drinks and ordering habits. She treated them like friends, not just patrons with cash.

All of these things ran through her head as she got dressed, fixed her hair, made herself up. She was going out tonight; into the city proper. Manhattan. Breaker Street had a gig at a larger venue for a change and she intended to show up not only to support their efforts but because she genuinely missed hearing them play live.

And

, she smiled to herself as she applied another layer of lipgloss,

if she happened to look as if she were dressing to impress the lead singer, so what?

Maybe she’d be able to persuade him to come home with her tonight.

Pippa gave a self-conscious laugh at the notion. Rory Stone, leader of the band, was her boyfriend. Her significant other.

Hers

. If she wanted to flirt with him and play the part of adoring girlfriend for the night instead of simply helpful barmaid, that was her prerogative, wasn’t it? And there was certainly no cause for the nervousness she felt, she knew Ro and the rest of the band would be happy to see her. Pleasantly surprised, perhaps.

Still, she knew she was blushing as she took the ferry across the water. Butterflies danced in her belly during the short cab ride into the trendy part of town. She had to concentrate to subdue a slight tremble once in the club, her hand stamped as proof that she was old enough to drink. Unhindered by the need to wait on people, Pippa circulated through the crowd a bit aimlessly, lips twitching with a secretive smile as she caught the tell-tale signs of the band running a final sound check. Hopefully she’d be able to find a spot near the stage once they began to play. She was here to listen, not necessarily dance.

She had toyed with keeping her presence unknown for the time being but as soon as she caught sight of Rory, his back to the crowd, adjusting the strings of his guitar, and heard him laughing at something Morrie was saying, she gave up the idea.

“So, I heard this was amateur night. You guys any good?” The look on her face was all innocence as Ro turned around to look for the owner of a voice he knew very well. “Hi, Ro.”

Comments

[fey-fire.livejournal.com]

"Pippa!" Rory's smile blazed as he turned to find his redheaded lady, looking sleek, classy and incredibly tempting. Certainly too tempting to keep him from setting down his guitar, stepping off the stage and scooping her up for a sound kiss.

He let his lips linger on hers until Dave interrupted them with a cheerfully mischievous throat-clearing. "Hey, Pippa," the blond keyboardist chuckled. "I think somebody might have been missing you at our last few performances. Just a wild guess, you understand."

"Yes, thanks awfully for the insight, David." Dave laughed and rejoined the other band members, every last one of whom was grinning at the two of them as they tuned up. Even Nil spared them a wink before sinking back into his pre-show meditations. Rory turned back to Pippa. "He's right, of course. And you look fantastic."

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

Normally, she might have protested the kiss, several kisses really, since they had such an audience but she missed him too. A lot.

"Thank you. You look really good yourself." Pippa looked up at him, ran a hand over his t-shirt. She slipped her arm around his middle when he turned back to her. "I'm sorry. You know why I wasn't working--"

She pressed her lips together in a look of aggravated disgust as she thought about it. "And I just wasn't up to playing nice with her if I would have come in as a customer."

She managed to offer hellos to the rest of the band then, rolling her eyes at the keyboardist for his earlier comments. "Dave, you know I missed you most of all, don't you?"

[fey-fire.livejournal.com]

"That's because you're obviously a woman with exquisitely good taste," Dave tossed over his shoulder as he returned to his keyboards. Rory grinned and brushed a reassuring kiss across Pippa's forehead.

"No need to apologize, love. Frankly, I'd just as soon not have you anywhere near Kelly and her nastiness unless it's absolutely necessary. But I am very happy--" He gave her another squeeze. "--to see you here tonight."

He nodded at a particular table and the well-dressed blonde already seated there. "Jaye's already claimed the best table, so you'll have a prime spot for listening. The twins are at a sleepover tonight, so she jumped at the chance to get out and come see Nil perform." The older woman glanced up and gave them a smile and a wave.

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

Pippa shrugged, her thoughts regarding the bar, her job and her unpleasant coworker could wait until later. Much later. Giving Rory a quick peck on the cheek, she tugged his shirt into place and stepped back. "Then I'm going to go say hello and let you get back to your sound check. I didn't want to derail you guys, I just wanted to say 'hi, I'm here'."

She left him to go join the blonde and get another earful about the twins. "Hi, Jaye. Ro said you managed to get yourself a free evening. How are the children?"

Smiling, Pippa takes a seat next to her and angles herself so that she can pay attention to the conversation and still watch Ro on stage. She loves hearing about Nil's kids, their adventures and misdeeds being a frequent topic of conversation whenever Jaye's been at Last Call.

Jaye's hijacking for just a min. ;)

[fey-fire.livejournal.com]

Jaye Cameron easily returned the young redhead's smile. "Good to see you, Pippa. The girls are just fine, but their father's looking to have a nervous breakdown before much longer." She grinned at Pippa's look. "They turn thirteen in two weeks, and it's really starting to show. Nil came across the two of them having an earnest discussion about--" She leaned forward and stage-whispered the word. "--boys, and spent the next three hours in a funk over how his little angels are growing up too fast."

Jaye chuckled, tossing an affectionate look toward her husband on stage. That look shifted to something decidedly more inquisitive when her eyes lit on Breaker Street's lead singer. "So how have you and Rory been doing?"

Re: Jaye's hijacking for just a min. ;)

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

Pippa tried not to laugh at the idea of the young girls driving Nil to distraction with boy talk. Of course, Pippa's idea of thirteen year olds talking about boys was fairly innocent and therefore all the more humorous to her. "Poor Nil. What will he do when they have their first dates?"

Ah, there's a loaded question if she'd ever heard one. She'd known Jaye, at least superficially, for a while now and wouldn't just give her a vague answer. Pippa's own gaze slid to the tall, handsome charmer standing at the microphone. "We're..." She smiled, her cheeks colored just a bit as she caught Rory's eye. "We're good. It's new, you know? Still feeling each other out in some respects but for the most part it's just good."

Pippa turned to flag down a waitress and ordered herself a drink, something very alcoholic. She wanted to relax and enjoy the show. "I don't know if Nil's mentioned the mess at Last Call...but it's making things a little harder. I don't get to see him as often. Maybe that's pathetic but I really looked forward to those two nights a week."