Love or Madness?

A New Customer

The buzzing sound of your alarm woke you with a fright, jolting you out of a nightmare. You gaze around at the small studio you live in, glad to finally be awake. The dream had consisted of a falling sensation had swept over your body and all you could see was grass and purple mist.  

Still dazed from your nightmare, you slowly got ready for work, fed March your white rabbit and then headed out the door towards Granny's for your usual takeaway cups of tea. You walk in and see a stressed looking Granny talking to Ruby about being late and doing the books, you try to catch her attention awkwardly as you hover over a table with an unfamiliar face sitting on one of the tables. 

"August" he smiles, whist laughing slightly at the argument Mrs Lucas and Ruby are having. You didn't realise you'd been staring at him oddly, he didn't seem weirded out but you felt a little panicked anyway... how was a stranger in Storybrooke? Henry said there couldn't be... oh my.. ha.. Henry said... you really needed to stop thinking about his book. 

"Y/N" you realised you hadn't answered him. He smiled softly and went back to his breakfast. 

"Oh gosh, here you are Y/N" Ruby came over with the takeaway tea cups. "Sorry about that sweetie.... Not having a good day" she rolled her eyes in the direction of Mrs Lucas. 

"It not bother, but, oh my, I'm late, again!" You quickly dash out to the sound of Ruby laughing at you in a way that suggested it was actually her favourite characteristic of yours that you didn't quite know if you were coming or going. 

"Hello? Maurice... I have te..." He cut you off with a waft of his hand and headed out the door towards the truck. Well that had gone well. As you placed the cups down on the side and began to change the display out the front of the shop, you feel a presence behind you. 

"Hi? Can I help you with anything sir? You smile at the stranger, another one? But this one, this one didn't feel strange to you, in fact he felt oddly familiar. 

"Alice?" the man stuttered slightly. You looked at him confused. The name rang a bell but you couldn't place knowing an Alice. 

"Sir?" You straighten out your blue dress and tried to sound as professional as possible. "Perhaps you have me mixed up with someone else, I can help you find them? If they are lost though I'm not sure how I can help, lost things are quite hard to find, especially when you don't know what or who you are looking for..." you pause for breath. While you do you look at the man, possibly the most handsome man you'd ever seen. Dark hair, slightly curly on top, the most piercing blue eyes and a dark, slightly odd but elegant fashion sense. You couldn't help but  feel slight butterflies as you looked at him. 

"Sorry, I'm rambling... I'm Y/N by the way" you stuck your hand out for him to shake but he didn't take his hand from his coat pockets. 

"What has she done to you? She's turned you into a nervous wreck!" Your eyes widen at what he said. Does he know about Regina? Where she took you from, where she threatens to put you back should you mention your weird dreams again. No, not he can't, that would be very odd indeed. You quickly withdrew your hand knowing you must of scared him off with your nonsense. You look at the table and pick up the spare tea Maurice wouldn't be having it. 

"Tea?" you offered it out to him. Trying to rescue the conversation you now realised you never wanted to end. But why? He continued to stare at you, a flicker of emotions passed though his face; shock, anger, confusion, sorrow and ...love or perhaps pity? Most people looked at you with pity. Suddenly he snapped out of his emotional trance. 

"Jefferson" he stated in way of introduction taking the tea from you. 

"I knew you were a tea drinker" you gave him a grin, the audible relief in your voice of him not running away from you must have been obvious because it caused him to smile slightly. 

"So, Alice was it..? The person you're looking for?" you wanted so much to help this man, you weren't sure why. Perhaps it was the sadness in his eyes, like the whole world was ripped away from him. 

"What? Oh, no no, you just, you looked like someone I knew before, from afar...." he stuttered the words out as if treading on egg shells. "Your boss?" He raised and eyebrow "always such an asshat to you or is that a bad day?" He glared off in the direction the flower truck had gone. 

A little laugh escaped your lips "Oh he just, well it's not his fault he didn't have much of a choice to hire me and well me being  'mad' and all that" you brushed it off as his attention came back to you. 

"What?" he seemed genuinely confused by the answer. 

"It was Regina's idea...at the town meeting... she suggested I worked here to introduce me back into society..." You could see the confusion still clouding his gorgeous face so you continue. "It was a meeting, about having me back in from the asylum, thought maybe flowers would be therapeutic and well being clumsy it might not cause as much of a problem if I fell or dropped something." You feel yourself remember the horrible humiliation you felt as you stood in front of the whole town as Regina told everyone about you. You just remember wishing a big hole would appear in the ground and swallow you up. 

"She did what?" You suddenly look back up at Jefferson, his face filled with rage. Perhaps he had missed that meeting. 

"Well at least I'm out of there, I owe her a lot really..." you trail off as you see this comment made Jefferson more angry than he already was. He began laughing, but not in a joyous way, it had a sarcastic darkness to it. He shook his head and ran his hands down his face. 

"That bitch" a venomous edge to his voice made you take a step back. Perhaps you shouldn't have mentioned Regina, he obviously wasn't a fan. Seeing the scared look on your face and noticing you backing away a wave of panic came over him. 

"Y/N" he almost whispered "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to frighten you I just, I can't believe she'd do that to someone." He seemed a bit all over the place. You felt your heart ache for the man and you stepped closer. He looked down at you as you smiled up at him. 

"Whats done is done, we must go forward or else, you're only going backwards and backwards is not forwards." You blushed as you felt him stare at you, a bemused look on his face.

"Listen, I have somewhere I need to be and things I have to do today but.." he hesitated before breathing out loudly "you want to have tea...with me? Like at Granny's or something I don't know?" For once you felt relief that it wasn't you fumbling around for words. The butterflies you had gotten earlier came back and your face lit up. 

"I'd love to, Jefferson" you took out a notepad from your work apron and write down your number. Handing it to him. You'd never done this before, you weren't sure if it was too pushy or too little. But he took it, a lopsided grin appeared on his face. He put the paper in his pocket and gave you a nod before sauntering off into town. You watched him walk away, a strange tugging sensation came across your heart as you did. You shook it off and got back to work.