Elective Affinities [Complete]

Moment of Truth

Tuesday evening

The 12th of February had been a wet and windy day. Until it had turned into a very wet and very windy evening.

Pixal got off the bus and started to walk towards Steep Wisdom,  the restaurant where the young woman worked part-time. She was wearing a pair of  grey jogger pants and had the hood of her purple Ninjago Tech jumper pulled over her  head. Luckily, she didn't have to walk far from the bus stop to her  destination, this was not a pleasant moment to be outside at all.

What a miserable day. She thought. But at least that means it cannot get any worse, only better, right?

No, so far, this Tuesday had definetely not been one of the greatest days in the life of Pixal Borg.

Last night had been a very exhausting - physically and emotionally - evening.

While she would work late hours waiting tables at the restaurant three nights a week, she was not really used to going out herself. And the long yet very pleasant 'double blind date' with Jay, Nya, and of course Zane had then been followed by  a rather emotional conversation with her best friend.

While it had not taken her long to  fall asleep last night, she had woken up around four this  morning, unable to get back to sleep. Consequently, she had spent about  two hours recalling the events of the previous evening and worrying  about what was going to happen tonight, until she could finally leave her bed  without the risk of greatly upsetting her sleeping roommate.

Unfortunately,  her anxiety had not remained in her bed either but had followed Pixal  all through the day, even at college. Thanks to her nervousness, she had  hardly been able to eat anything during her breaks. And the lack of  sleep in combination with her mind being rather occupied otherwise,  today had been the first time that she had not been the first student in  her programming class to complete her - very simple - assignment.

And to top it off, it hadn't stopped raining all day...

Pixal  even had, only very briefly, considered to call in sick at work, just  so she would have an excuse to not face the handsome chef tonight. She had denied her  feelings for Zane for so long, it couldn't hurt delaying her  confession for a few more days...

But the green-eyed girl had never  been one to back out of anything. She had made a promise to Nya (and  herself) and she was going to keep it.

Pixal  soon arrived at her workplace. Before she entered the small restaurant, she  pulled back the soaked hood and ran her hands through her tousled and,  despite the cover, slightly wet hair.

Back at their shared room,  Nya had styled Pixal's hair and even applied some light make-up on her  face, but due to the adverse weather conditions, it was all gone now. The waitress  didn't want to be seen by her co-workers in her current state, so she  headed straight to the combined bathroom and changing room for the female employees.

Pixal  changed into her work uniform – black trousers, white shirt and flat black  shoes. She quickly dried her hair and was just checking her reflection  in the mirror, when she heard a knock on the door.

"Pixal, are you  in here?" Her colleague Chamille entered the room with a worried look  on her face. "Are you alright? I saw you coming in but you didn't greet  anyone and just rushed to the bathroom... I hope you aren't sick."

"I-I am fine," Pixal replied, despite feeling rather nauseous from her nervousness and the lack of food in her stomach. "I just got completely soaked on the way here and wanted to get out of the wet clothes as fast as possible."