ℂ𝕠𝕗𝕗𝕖𝕖 𝕋𝕒𝕝𝕜 // ℝ𝕠𝕓𝕖𝕣𝕥 𝕄𝕒𝕟𝕚𝕠𝕟

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕋𝕙𝕣𝕖𝕖

The same boy that had entered the Night Owl walked inside the building, damp from the rain outside. He looked to the counter, seeing the blue haired woman from yesterday. Sitting at the counter itself was a very fancy looking woman.

"There you are. Was wondering if you would even show up." Dess smiled, holding out the white towel for him to take.

"Of course I was gonna show up." Robert chuckled softly, going over and taking the towel with a soft 'thank you'. He took a seat and dried off a little bit, letting Dess take the towel back.

"I've never seen you around before." Amelia commented. "Who are you?"

"Oh- I'm Robert. This is only my second time here." He chuckled softly, pulling out the script from yesterday.

"Ah, I see." Amelia hummed out. "Well, this place is rather homey. You should make more stops here. Not to mention the coffee is incredible." She winked at Dess, before she checked a text on her phone. Amelia let out an exasperated groan. "I would love to stay and chat, but my husband is stupidly incompetent. Thank you for the coffee, December darling." Amelia placed fifty dollars on the counter.

"Amelia! You know I can't take this." Dess tried to push the money back to her.

"Oh stop that." Amelia scoffed. "You work your ass off all the time and now you're working with a bandaged hand. Take the damn money."

December hesitated, but Amelia was a very stubborn woman. She sighed and took the money, putting it in the register. "Thank you Amelia...I hope your night gets better."

"Of course, darling." Amelia hummed, going to the door. "I'm sure yours will!" She called after taking her umbrella, glancing to Robert and back to Dess with a wink. She left the shop.

"What happened to your hand, Dess?" Robert asked, gesturing to her bandages.

"Oh, I just burned my hand earlier is all." Dess said softly, stroking Tiffany's fur with her normal hand. "Was making myself some tea and slipped."

"Is it in pain?" He asked with worry, sitting up.

Dess giggled under her breath. "You're so worried. I'm just fine, Robert. Now, what do you want to drink?"

"Same thing as yesterday if that's alright." Robert answered with a smile.

"On it." Dess turned around and started making the same thing as yesterday. "So, I watched that show. The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals. You didn't tell me how talented of an actor you are, Mr. Manion." She flashed a smile toward him.

Robert let out a laugh, his face flushing a light pink. "Thank you. Did you like the show?" He questioned, leaning his elbows on the counter as he spoke.

"I did. It's so cool how they managed to make a musical in the horror genre. I was really impressed." Dess replied, taking out her braids and pulling her hair into a bun instead. "The music was excellent too."

"Oh yeah. I'm glad I got to be apart of the project. Especially as Hidgens." Robert thanked Dess again as she slid him his coffee. "Was he your favorite character?" He said jokingly, taking a sip of the coffee.

Dess playfully rolled her eyes. "While I did enjoy his character, Paul was my favorite, for your information." She said, watching as Tiffany butted her head against Robert's hand in an attempt to get some attention. He obliged, gently petting her head. "Him and Emma were fun characters. General McNamara was really cool too."

"I can't argue with that," Robert chuckled. "Any least favorites? Ted, I imagine you didn't like."

Dess paused, remembering the segments of the musical that led her to being distracted enough to burn her hand. The lyrics of Not Your Seed echoed through her head, along with memories of her childhood. All the interactions with Alice and Bill hit close to home. She hadn't realized she forgot about responding to Robert's question.

"Dess? December?" He lightly waved his hand in front of December's face. "You alright?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." She snapped out of it. "I didn't like Bill."

"Bill?" Robert repeated, surprised.

"Yeah. A lot of his and Alice's situation hit a little too hard." She chuckled softly, although nothing about it was funny.

Robert nodded, getting the memo that she didn't wanna talk about it. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that. I'm glad you overall enjoyed the show." He offered a smile.

Dess returned his smile with one of her own. "Yeah, me too." She hopped up on the counter. "I think you, sir, owe me an explanation of this show you're in." She tapped the script with her index paper. "Black Friday?"

"I almost forgot about that." Robert gasped softly. "Well...it's about this doll, right? It's about this doll that everybody wants. It has some kind of like...power that draws people to it and eventually riots break out because of it." He explained.

December took a minute. "Okay, okay. I got it." She said after thinking about it. "Who are you in this show, Mr. Manion?" She smiled.

"Well I play multiple people, but my main role would probably be Ethan. He's the boyfriend of one of the main roles." He answered.

"I see." Dess smiled at him. "I might have to come see this show." She noticed Robert's face light up.

"You should..! I'd love to see you there." He responded cheerfully.

"Consider it done." She hummed out, joining Robert in petting Tiffany. Their hands lightly touched as they did so, but neither of them seemed to mind. "You know...some of the facial expressions were a little big." She began.

Robert looked up at her, listening.

"Like, expressions are usually supposed to be big and grandiose onstage of course. That way people in the audience can see what's going on." She continued. "But when you watch it like a movie, they seem out of place."

"Seems like you know your theatre." Robert commented with a fond smile, tapping his fingers to the rhythm of the song that came on, which happened to be Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift.

"I'd hope so. I did theatre in high school. Got leads, too."

Robert seemed impressed by this and his smile grew. "Really? Tell me about it. What roles did you have?"

December was surprised that Robert was so interested in all this. Nonetheless she started to tell him about all her roles in high school. She was in the ensemble of Music Man in freshman year, along with a small singing role in Godspell. In her sophomore year she was Frenchie in Grease and a smaller ensemble member in The Sound of Music. Things kicked up in junior year where she got Mayzie in Seussical and Elle Woods in Legally Blonde. Finally was senior year, where she ended with Morticia in Addams Family and Ursula in The Little Mermaid.

"You must be able to really sing, huh?" Robert commented. "What're you doing here?"

"I just...I dunno, I like being here. Sure not too many people come in late at night, but it's a safe space for a couple regulars. Amelia was the woman in here earlier. She likes to come here to destress," Dess said thoughtfully. "I also just like how low-key this job is. Like right now. I'm just calmly chatting with a customer."

"You do have a point." Robert stretched, finishing his coffee. "Well...I'm probably gonna get going. It was really nice talking to you."

Dess decided to hide her slight disappointment. "Alrighty," she thanked him when he paid for his coffee. "Will I see you tomorrow?"

"You betcha."