Our Generation - The Who X-reader

5 - Cafè De Entwhistle

        One day while in the office, I saw John emerge from the recording room. Normally he trails behind the other 3 as they leave through the back door, but he came right up to my desk.

"G'morning Y/n."
"Afternoon John."

            I continue to type. He trails his eyes from my fast paced hands to the paper loaded in my typewriter. "What are you writing?" he calmly asks. "Um.." For some reason I've completely forgotten, the second I turned my head to meet his eyes my mind went blank. I open my mouth then immediately close it, for I'm not sure what to say. "Well..It's a To-Do list for Jennifer-" "Need me to run it to her?" What? Why would he say that? Does he know that we have people for that? Never have I ever seen one of these boys be interested in what any of us in the office are doing, let alone want to engage in simple errands or busy work. "Is this a trick question?" I ask. His eyes slightly widened. "No, I wasn't aiming it to be. Sorry." "Its fin-" "Would you like to go to lunch with me?" Frankly I was still caught on his first question, but this also surprised me. "Where?" I respond after waiting a second. His expression changes from hopeful to 'Oh my god it worked now what'. "Um..well..where.. what did you have in mind?" It's evident to me he didn't think he would get this far. I slide up from my seat and stand next to him, he adjusts his position.
I see Dottie walking across the room and I motion to her. "C'mere Dottie." As I gesture her over, I continue. "Should we get a cuppa or have a sit down?" "Your choice" He says. "Oh don't be daft, you asked!"
           "Yea Y/n?" "Dottie, John has invited me to lunch, any suggestions?" By now John was fiddling with the cuff of his button down. To see the three of us crowded by my desk was a bit abnormal, But I don't think any of the other staff found it obscene, at least no one mentioned it. "Walton and I popped into that little cafè down the street there, um.. Kinningtons?" John and I lock eyes again. His are somewhat dull but have a small shine to them. "How about there? I've never been." He glances back, "Sure."
             I return to the other side of my desk as Dottie smiles and walks away. I sit back down to finish my list, noticing I need to replace the ink ribbon soon. Strangely the room gets quiet and the office ambience dies down. I pick my head up to realize John is still standing in front of me and he leans over my desk, placing his hands on either side of my typewriter. His nose flares, taking in a big breath. "I'll go get my jacket, meet you back out here yea?" I feel a bit of heat rise in my cheeks and I cross my ankles under my desk. "S-sure yeah" and smile back. He leans back and walks off. The room resumes to its previous volume as if nothing happened.
               After finishing my list, I run it over to Jennifer two desks away. "Hey Jen, here's that list I was talking about." "Oh thanks love." "Mhm." I reply quickly. I make my way to the water dispenser and grab one of the tiny cups next to it. I clutch the cup under the spout and down 2 whole cups. As a third cup slides down my throat John appears in the doorway. At first he doesn't see me and approaches my empty desk. I quickly throw the cup in the small trash bin next to the dispenser and make my way over there. He's checking out the view of the small window next to the front door, wanting to see if I'm out there already. I tap his shoulder and come around his side, resting my butt on the corner of my desk. "Oh there you are, I was afraid you'd left already." "Nah." I remark. I promptly grab my thin jacket that laid on the back of my chair and now rest it in my arms. "Ready?" He nods and we walk out.
              As we walked down the street I noticed his outfit. A classic Entwhistle ensemble. A blue tailored button down accompanied by a flashy, also tailored, jacket to combat the chilly european air. Black slacks and black shoes detailed with hints of gold. His hands dressed with a few rings and rough calluses from his bass, and the occasional cigarette between his fingers.
I bore a bright orange blouse with yellow buttons that I often favored because it went with almost anything in my closet. Over it was a matching brown vest and mini skirt that had permanent cat hair inhabiting it. I commonly wore my hair up in a curled ponytail or bun, but today it laid nicely over my shoulders and down to the middle of my back with my headband pushing it up. My gold jewelry sits daintily on my collarbone and on my ears. A single ring rests on my right middle finger. Again, gold and pretty, one I wear everyday and so often I get tan lines in the summer.
We approached the Cafè and up till then the conversation had been short and sweet, somewhat awkward. Swiftly John says "So no other lunch plans?" Meaning why had no other tall, attractive men asked me out to eat. "Not today, no." I look down at the ground as we continue to walk. "Outrageous." He says. "You should have dates lined up down the block." This comment makes me blush. Does he really think that of me? I know I am somewhat attractive but is it enough to stand out in a crowd of people? Often I've dreamed of finding someone who would not only choose me out of a group, but appreciate the individual qualities of my personality.
              Looking back at him I notice a rosy tint on his face, either from the conversation or a response to the cold air outside. We duck through the crowded waiting area of the cafè to be seated. "Just two?" the waitress says. "Yes, please" John leans toward her to respond. The place is understandably busy because of the lunch rush, so John and I scope out a waiting spot. All that's left is a single cushion seat next to the front door. He sticks out his arm signaling me to sit. "M'lady" I giggle and oblige. He takes my jacket and places it on top of his, we both patiently wait for a table. I watch his fingers tap along to the soft music playing from the nearby speakers.
After waiting about 15 minutes a spot opens up and a waitress moves us to a cozy looking table near the corner of the cafè. The table itself was quite beautiful, two little seats across from each other with a big window framing it. Many potted plants sit on the window sill and a small bouquet of greenery lies in the middle of the table. John pulls my chair out for me and somewhat sheepishly walks over to his chair, laying his jacket over its back. As I sit down I tuck in my skirt like normal and place my purse on the ground next to our feet. Our eyes meet again and he lifts his eyebrows as if to say, 'We're here, finally'.
             We enjoy light conversation for the first half of lunch, ordering our drinks and placing our food orders. John ordered a black coffee and a small grilled chicken salad after asking what I'd recommend. Since I had never been to this cafè, I suggested "Chicken, you can't really cook chicken wrong can you?" and to that he replied with "You've got a point there, yeah." I ordered a ham and turkey club with a side of chips, "How posh!" he says.
              After a dip in conversation and the ambience of the cafè filling up the space between our words, I say "You're quite the quiet person yeah?". John smiles to himself and looks down at his crossed hands resting on the table. As he reaches for his cup he lets out a breathy "Yes I am."
             There was an aura of attractiveness that surrounded him. I could notice the slight tapping of his expensive shoes, the way his big hands engulfed the small coffee cup, and the way his rings clinked against it. His hair looked perfect and rested nicely on his head. Was his shirt always this tight around his arms? Where did these thoughts even come from? It's John for Christ's sake. I work for him, for the band, I can't be thinking these things. It's just. John.
              "Y/n?" I meet his eyes again. "Yes? Yes, sorry. Got off the track there 'spose." We both let out a light chuckle. "I reckon I am the quiet one. Everyone says that-" "Do you want them to say that?" I question. "Um. I don't mind most of the time." It gets quiet again. God, his eyes. He isn't looking at me but I can feel them wandering. Is he as nervous as I am?
             "You buy any new Basses lately?" I can see this perks his interest as he locks eyes with me again, only to detach soon after. "Yeah actually, a real lush one. Needs a fix of new varnish on the back 'cause of a few scratches, But a 'beut." He keeps talking about basses he's previously gotten and new ones I've never heard of. Most times, John will come into the office cradling his newest one to use on an album or to just test it out. It gives him a goofy grin showing them off to me, and It is quite cute. Like a child showing off Christmas parcels. We giggle on and off, ending the conversation with "You should come to the house sometime, see them all on display." "I'd love to but I think my acoustic at home would get jealous."
             Out of the corner of my eye, the waitress approaches with our food balanced in each hand. I could feel John's eyes on me as I looked away, so I lingered. Quickly I looked back to him and could see his eyes jump from me to the waitress then back. What was he staring at me for? I can't blame him, I was staring too.
             We finished eating and continued talking. I glanced at my watch and realized we had been out for almost an hour and a half. "Oh shit. We should get back." John looks at his own watch and starts to get out of his chair, picking up his jacket from behind him. I also start to get up but he rushes behind me to pull out my chair. I look straight up at him and smile widely. I'm pretty sure a blush began to creep over his cheeks as he smiled back. I picked up my purse and got out of my seat. John paid the check and I left a tip for our wonderful waitress.
             Walking back to the office was a beautiful, quick walk. I felt as though I had to say something, and strangely I felt the same from John.
           "You looked quite dishy at lunch John." I say as he opens the tall red door to the office. I can tell he wasn't expecting my compliment because his mouth had opened to say something, but nothing came out. He stared at me for a quick second as we heard a voice from inside the office. "Took you both long enough!" It was Pete, he waved his hands in the air to get our attention as I walked in the doorway. "John took me out to lunch! Take it up with him." I say as I turned around to my messy desk and plopped right back into my chair. Pete and John exchanged looks and had a quiet chat. Dottie ran over to me to get my story. "So?" "What?" I start typing. "How did it go?" "Well Dottie, it was lunch at a cafè, what should have happened?" She scoffed. "Don't you- Did you guys? What'd you talk about?" She was about to drool all over my papers so I shooed her away with my hand. "Nothing happened, Dottie." Was it really nothing or did I want something to happen? John and Pete began to walk back to the recording room and I saw him tilt his head to me. I waved to him, but didn't want him to go.