Trouble Don't Last Always

LOCATION | Bread Ahead
DATE | 21st of February 2022
TIME | 14.00
TOPIC FOR | @Cyrus
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Well work had been quite busy over the last few hours, she had a few hours left of her shift before she gladly could wonder off and have a free night. Dressed in her black jeans, and white long sleeved shirt, she had the rosa apron on and her red hair sat up in a high ponytail. It seemed like this hour was always the calm before the storm, knowing within the next ten minutes the next hurricane of people would arrive, and boy she was already worked up. At least her new sense of calmness kept her from being to overwhelmed by everyone. She had learned to focus better on things and people that made her capable of centering her power and thereby not burning out. The door opened and there she thought she at least could have two minutes to breath in, but no. She narrowed her eyes a little bit when she recognized the next customer. "Stalking me now huh?" She teased a little bit placing her hands on the counter looking at the human with her eyes a little bit narrowed, but still wit ha small smile on her lips. "What can I get you?"

Things had quieted down a little in the new year, according to Cyrus. He could easier work on whatever projects he had in front of him, and thereby earned more money. Now to some that might just sound like any other business, but to Cyrus it was a great win. It wasn’t that often that he had that much success, but people just seemed to be so much dumber in the winter and thereby crashed their cars more and more. So, he had been working since the early morning, and now was the time that he was off duty and could go get some late lunch. For once he chose to visit the baker Bread Ahead, having heard so much about it. Now that he was going to eat, his hands were quite clean for his job to be. When he got inside, the smell of yeast and dough hit him immediately, but he went straight inside and put his focus on the things portrayed in the glass cabinets. He heard a known voice and looked up seeing the fairy he had met back in the end of October. He pulled a crooked smile as he straightened up completely. “Oh, you’d probably wish for that,” he joked. Jokes aside, she wondered what he wanted, “I think I’ll take two of those buns there,” he said and pointed towards one of the windows. “How long have you worked here?” he wondered with a little smile. It almost seemed a bit comical that he met her here.

Mariella chuckled a little before gently rolling her eyes of him always ready to throw a little remark back. Even if they hadn't spoken since back in October, he had left an impression like a stone caught in her boot. Oh, well at least he wasn't playing it all smartass and pushy at this moment. "You got it," she replied before finding a brown paper back where she could put the buns in and packed them nicely, looking shortly up towards him, "oh, I started working here around March last year," Mariella replied with a friendly smile and placed the bag on the counter. "You should really try out those blood orange cupcakes, I swear the frosting is to die for, like - good for the sweet tooth as well," she knew it perhaps didn't sound to be the most tasty, but they were so damn good. Allison also just understood the art of perfecting the perfect cupcake and teaching her ways. "Just out to get a quick lunch or?" She then wondered and tilted her head a little bit to the side, "nice to see you have learned to clean your hands," Mariella teased shortly after with a little laugh.

He kept his eyes on her as she found a bag for him and put in what he had ordered. He nodded a little as she replied to his question. That was actually quite some time, “A year just around the corner,” he said, keeping his eyes on her. He could see how she placed the bag on the counter, and for a moment he considered to ask her to find something sweet for him to and throw a cheesy pickup line out at the same time, but she was quicker. His smile widened as she talked about one of the cupcakes. “I’ll tell you one thing. Give me one, and if I like it, I’ll buy the whole tray. If not, you lost a cupcake,” he said with a wide smile.
He shrugged a little as she asked if it was his lunch. “Well, yeah. You were lucky that the gas station was filled to the brim with customers, so I went here,” he said once again pulling a wide smile. Shit she was just so… So… Sweet. He walked closer to the counter and placed his hands on the counter, which was when she noticed his hands. He couldn’t help but laugh a little. “I really made a first impression, huh?” he said and let his hand run through his hair. “I’ve just gotten off duty,” he said and shrugged a little, “I usually clean my hands as much as possible when I’m off,”  he said and scratched his chin a little.

Mariella clicked her tongue a little bit, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully about the offer he was giving her, "okay - deal," she could lose one cupcake if it came down to it, it wasn't the end of the world. So, she picked one up and placed on a plate, and sat the small plate on the counter. Then looking at him as he placed his hands on the counter by her comments, making her raise her brow a little bit. "Oh yeah, you saved me for a moment of completely solitary," she clearly joked a little. Once again her eyes rolled a little by his comment about making a first impression, well not that she would recommend letting yourself inside someone else's house to deliver a message and leave dirty marks all over the place - okay not all over the place, but enough to having Irina notice it within seconds, and not just because of the strange scent. "Good to know," she added with a little chuckle, before grabbing the edge of the plate and pushed it in front of him. "There will be new flavors next week I reckon - I think double brownie or something like that is on the list," she informed. Well, this was also just plain way of getting costumers to come back for more. "So, you've just been working around town?" Now she knew that Anthony was still thriving with the crown of Southside, Jack was having a good time living with Scarlett. Now, she didn't speak enough to Noa or Eric to know how it was going with them.

Cyrus couldn’t help but smile as she agreed to the deal. Cyrus had honestly not thought that far to what he would be doing with all the cupcakes, but who knew, maybe he would just be walking around and give them some paid advertisement? After all, it looked like she was just a little… Well not bored, but she didn’t seem on her toes, or maybe he had just caught her on a bad foot. Of course, he didn’t complain, he liked to have her full undivided attention. He noticed how she put the cupcake on the plate ever so nicely.
Though it was meant as a joke, it only fed Cyrus confidence. “Aw, bugger. I didn’t mean to… Let me make it up to you,” he said with a light smile. “Dinner on my bill,” he offered her, keeping his eyes completely at her.
She pushed the cupcake closer to him, hinting him to try it. He picked it up and raised a brow a little to see if she was going to watch him eat the cupcake or not. With no comment to whatever she chose to do, he chose to take a bite of it.  He closed his eyes and let his hand hold on tightly to the counter. “Jesus,” he mumbled and let his head fall down in front of him. He hummed loudly as if he really liked the taste of the cupcake. He threw his head back, making some of his hair fly around. With half a cupcake in his hand he pointed towards her, his head slightly turned to make one eye look more at her. “I need the whole tray,” he said, still with some cupcake in his mouth and a bit of frosting on his lip. He put the cupcake down while he found money to pay for the cupcakes. He licked his lips as he could feel the cupcake frosting there. He looked up as she asked for where he had been working. He nodded a little swallowed the last bit of cupcake. “Yeah, I mean I go where I’m needed,” he said and shrugged a little. “I’ve even been sent to Moonlight Falls once,” he said and shook his head a little licking his lips. “Looking forward to possibly seeing me on the streets, huh?” he said, maybe a little too confident.

Now, she knew he liked her, which was perhaps the whole reason why she actually wasn't so alarmed about him acting like this. Especially since Timothy had showed up a couple a days ago, this was at least a front she could handle. Besides, she found Cyrus more or less harmless, there wasn't any signs of him actually wanting to harm her in anyway. Then there was the flirting, as he offered her dinner, making her raise her brow a little bit. "Even if I don't usually say no to free dinner, but I have dinner plans with my boyfriend tonight, so," she excused with a gentle voice and a warm smile. Well, she had no intention on leading anyone along.

In the end she still observed as he took a bite of the cupcake she had placed in front of him, looking for how he reacted to it. Mariella clapped her hands a little bit, as he reaction to it. "I told you," she pointed out with a smaller laugh. "You serious, I mean I know you said - but you don't really have to take all of them,"  she took a few out for him though, unless he wanted to go through with the whole tray, then she wasn't going to stop him. Looking forward to possibly seeing me on the streets, huh? She chuckled a little - how many times could she roll her eyes at him within the time he had been here? "You wish - no, just so I know when to place bets that gets you to buy entire trays of cupcakes," she placed her hands on the counter giving him a smile as the door went up. "Did someone order an entire tray?" Lexie asked, "yeah sorry Lex, it were the last ones for today."

She excused herself with having dinner plans this night, which made him raise his brows, “It doesn’t have to be tonight. You can name the day, time and place,” he said, not that scared of the fact that she had a boyfriend. Well, if she had a boyfriend, she should just take his words as pretty compliments and… Well, someone who would like to spend time with her? Of course, he felt slightly hurt that he hadn’t been able to act fast enough to take the spot, but it might just not be the right time, and the right time might already have been there for them. No matter what, he was going to survive it, as his mother had taught him. “Come on, how else am I going to befriend you?” he said a little exhausted. He was about to tell her, that he couldn’t even walk past her neighborhood anymore, but it was probably because her siblings had believed he was some kind of, well like she had said herself, a stalker. Truth might just have been that he hadn’t had the confidence to go there. After all he didn’t even know what her name was!

“Yes! I am absolutely serious. A deal is a deal,” he said and lifted his arms up to gesture her to come with the whole tray. “The whole tray,” he repeated. He smiled a little wider when she explained that she just had to know when to place bets. She was thinking quite smart. Cyrus followed the gaze over his shoulder to see another lady enter. Lex. He pulled a little smirk. “I’m sorry, dollface,” he said and turned around with the tray. He shortly looked over the shoulder, “I’ll come back with the tray tomorrow morning,” he said and winked to her. “But… If you want…” he said and looked at her shortly, balancing the tray on one hand. “You can take as many as you want to, if-” if she seemed like she was going to take some he would stop her, “If you give me a kiss,” he said shortly gesturing to his lips. Yeah, no he was quite sure she wouldn’t go for it, but again… It was worthy a try right?

"Well I'm truly flattered by your interest in spending more time with me, just can't enough can you?" She teased him a little shaking her head. Mariella chuckled a little when he asked how else he was going to become her friend, making her narrow her eyes just a little bit, "valid point." Well, it was funny how he back then had called her Ella without even knowing her name, well his name had been all over his little fine card he had given her. Then, she had no idea if Jack at any point had mentioned her because of the event, she assumed not since Jack after not had mentioned him.

Ella took the whole tray up and handed it to him as said. Lexie blinked a little bit, wondering if he had to go to some event or just coffee run for his boss - who knew? Alexandra lifted a brow a little by his first comment, then didn't react much towards it, besides she could just pick another cupcake, no big deal. "Sounds good," Mariella replied as he mentioned he would be back with the tray tomorrow - well she wasn't here tomorrow, but Kasumi would be, so she would just inform her.

Then she turned her eyes from Cyrus to Lexie, as he threw one of his comment towards her. "If you are that desperate, I think you can still reach the homeless lady around the corner, I bet she would trade one, give you a little kiss," she crossed her arms a little bit blinking at him before looking towards Mariella once again. "Can I just get one of those with strawberry then," she asked with a warmer smile, "yes," she nodded a little. "But they are out in the back, just wait out here," Mariella then said before turning towards the back. Alexandra looked towards the human still standing there. "So, what are you using all those cupcakes for, or is it just a yolo day?" she asked pressing her brows just a little bit together.

“Definitely can’t get enough of you,” he assured her with an almost pleading smile. He gave her a wink as she narrowed her eyes and said he had a valid point. “Good. You still got my number, so you can just text me,” he said confidentially enough that he didn’t need more than just that. Who knew, maybe she would call in 20 years and ask if she could get that dinner he talked about? Maybe she would be having a bad day in half a year, and need someone from the outside to vent to? There was a lot of possibilities.

See, Cyrus was used to most comebacks, but the one he was just delivered, made him nod with his mouth slight open. “I’ll consider it. Thanks,” he said still nodding, as if he was accepting it more and more. She asked for one with strawberries, which made the sweet baker girl go out to the back. Cyrus turned his attention to Lex as she asked what he needed all the cupcakes for. “It is definitely just a yolo day. And I like them,” he said nodding. “I think if I manage to get them home without being attacked by pigeons I’ll try and freeze some,” he said looking at them. He looked back to Lex, “Which are your favorites?” he wondered looking interested at her.

"Then, that is the most important thing now isn't it," she chuckled a little bit, and licked her lips shortly. Not that she should or did judge people who could eat a lot, well she was already getting so used to see her father, Melanie, Leon and Elias feat every single time food was served as if they hadn't eaten in days. At least she had Flora to eat with and feel just like a semi sane person. So, this guy digging in for an entire tray of cupcakes, sure thing why the hell not. "Well I wish you the best of luck," she replied already having the image painted in her mind of him being hunted down by pigeons down the road. Which was her favorites? Lexie pressed her brows a bit together, clearly just for a moment surprised he actually asked, because he could as easily have just walked out end of conversation - that was what she usually did however, not the most chatty person unless she actually knew the people she talked to. "Somedays the strawberry ones, other days they have the double brownie ones - over the last months Mariella has been a gem at forcing me to try the weekly specialties, to open my horizon to new flavors though," she chuckled a little bit shaking her head shortly. Well, she had appreciated it with everything that was going on at the moment.

He couldn’t help but agree, even though he was more used to be unserious than just to simply deal with whatever crap he let out. A wide smile spread on his lips as she wished him the best of luck against the pigeons. He believed he needed it.
He noticed how she seemed to wonder that he even asked a question, and picked up on the small featured of her face when she wondered like that. Lex explained her favourites. Strawberries some days, double brownie the others. Mariella. Was that the girl behind the desk? He was almost certain of it. Sweet little Cinderella, ha. “And the horizon is good?” he wondered with a light smile, keeping the conversation going for now. Who knew, maybe Lexie would be gifted this blood orange one soon, to help widen her horizon even further.

"Still figuring that one out," she licked her lips a little bit looking slightly thoughtfully at him, trying to figure out how she felt about the little cheesy grin of his that kept playing on his lips, she was quite sure he was aware of it- and yet. Alexandra narrowed her eyes for a small second and exhaled a little bit. "I'm Alexandra - you a friend of?" She asked and pointed in the direction where Mariella had walked in, well now it was typical Mariella to be kind to every single person she met, and Lexie was quite sure that Ella had befriended at least half the homeless people she had seen down town just by a simple sweet smile and her overall warming aura. Where, it wasn't like Lexie was a cold person, she just saved her warmth for the people she liked and loved. "I hope you aren't parked long away from here, you even sure you can get them in your car - or perhaps you are just living a few blocks away?" She then asked and tilted her had a little bit to the right. Could he even open the door to the shop without risking dropping a few good cupcakes? Then perhaps Ella's kindness did spread a little bit, as she thought that she could at least help him to his car if he needed it, make sure no cupcake was hurt on the way.

Mariella returned with a tray with cupcakes with Strawberry frosting, and took one out and packed it. "Heading back home?" Mariella asked Lexie, who shook her head. "No, not yet anyways. I had to drop something off for Aleks, and he is going to be so jealous that I swung by here after I visited him. You know he loves a good cupcake," Lexie laughed a little before paying for her cupcake. "But no, I'm just going to take a walk through the park, waiting for Elias to be done with his meetings for the day so he can pick me up," a nice way of saying: open a door for me so I can come home. But it was alright, Lexie liked walking a little bit around. "Oh well, might see you later then," Ella chuckled a little bit then looking towards Cyrus. "You need help with the door?" Mariella asked, "it's alright I got it," Lexie insisted and walked over to open the door for Cyrus.

He pulled a wide smile and nodded, since she was still figuring out if the horizon was good or not. He noticed how she licked her lips and wondered what the reason behind it was. Now, Cyrus wasn’t really the type to analyze, but this gal seemed to have such a tougher shell than Mariella.
He shrugged a little as Alexandra asked if he was a friend of Mariella’s. “Well, not quite,” he said, “Acquaintances,” he elaborated. “Name’s Cyrus,” he said with a nod now that his hands were occupied with the tray and didn’t have the same ability to shake her hand or anything alike. She asked about where he had parked, almost seeming like she cared about him getting the cupcakes somewhere safe from pigeons. He lived in the Southside… It wasn’t really a few blocks away. “I’ve parked a little away from here, but… I’m sure if I am escorted by a lovely, mighty princess like you, the pigeons will stay away,” he said with a slightly sly smile, hoping that she would follow him for a longer chit chat.

Mariella got back and packed a cupcake for Alexandra. He couldn’t help but listen while he looked at the door and silently trying to figure out how he wouldn’t lose a single cupcake. He looked up as he figured that Mariella was talking to him about the door. “Is it that obvious?” he laughed. Instead, Alexandra took the door, so Mariella wouldn’t have to do a thing and out walked Cyrus. “Thanks,” he said and looked over his shoulder to see her.

She nodded a little. Cyrus, she mentally noted his name, before Mariella got along. And yes, it was rather obvious to Mariella that he needed a hand with the door, and she smiled a little as Lexie chose to help him with it. "See you later," Mariella said to Lexie as Lexie waved at the fairy. Then Mariella could take care of the next rush of costumers that walked in after Cyrus and Alexandra had walked out.

Alexandra looked a little back seeing the many people coming through, some of them starring at her and Cyrus, as they were two people and a big tray of cupcakes. She couldn't help but laugh a little, some of them even looking a little bit judgmental, not that she minded it. They could look however they liked. "So, where are you parked?" She asked so they could head in the direction.

They were locked out of the bakery, and just as they exited, it seemed like it became rush hour for poor Mariella. He didn’t even care about what the others were thinking. He was used to ignore and appreciate looks from others. He was after all grown up in the gang environment. He looked towards Alexandra as she asked where he had parked. “Well, it’s the silver car right over there,” he said and nodded in the direction of it. It was visible and probably less than 150 meters away from them. It was nothing grand but having someone by his side to wave off a possible bad fate was quite nice. And he surely liked company. Just like attention, any attention was good attention. His car looked very nice and if she knew where he came from, it definately looked too expensive for him to own.

It had actually been a long time since she had been out driving. Well, when your oldest brother could just magically open a door to your desired location - you didn't really waste time driving anywhere unless it was for the sense of enjoying the ride. She moved her eyes towards the direction he nodded, and spotted it thereafter Alexandra moved towards it. "Keys?" She asked turning around walking backwards while looking at him still, to where his keys where at so she could unlock the door - even if she could just use her magic to do so. Now, Lexie was lucky, even if unfortunate events had happened to her, she had gotten the best possible out of the circumstances. Her parents had died, and she had yet been lucky enough to be apart of Ash' and had Bash and Aleks there. She was even more fortunate that it turned out her parents weren't dead after all, and they had come to stay close in her life. And thereby she found herself to be the luckiest person alive to have experienced that. But it didn't mean she couldn't understand a loneliness disguised with a light smile and a perky attitude.

She asked for his keys. He didn’t really have telekinesis to pull them up for her and therefor laughed a little. “Left back pocket,” he said and gestured to his left. His hands were sadly occupied, so she would have to get them for him. Oh, so helpless he was without her. Ha.

The door was finally unlocked, and the luggage room was opened. He put the tray into it. Every cupcake had survived the small trip. “Are you sure you don’t want one? Just for free, no but’s,” he said and gestured her to take one. “You can also bring one for your…. Boyfriend Aleks?” he said almost leading her into the topic of her relationship status. Not that he needed to know it, just… Curiosity.  

Now it wasn't like Lexie was going to give him the satisfaction of actually taking the key out with her hands, so showing off that she was a witch, making the keys move up from his pocket and into her hand was a spell that needed very little effort. Unlocking the car and opening the luggage room so he could put the tray into the car.

Her eyes travelled towards him when he then offered her one of the cupcakes on the tray, making her a smile a little as he insisted. Alexandra tried to fold her lips a little bit together by the mention of her apparently boyfriend Aleks, mostly because she tried so hard not to laugh at the statement, but in the end she shook her head a little bit. "I'm sure he can put his two legs to use and walk to get one, would help him get out of the house more," she laughed a little bit, "also, he is my brother, not boyfriend," she nodded a little bit to confirm that. Well, not brother by blood, but still her brother. "But I take one, the princess has earned it I would say," she pointed out and took one of the tray, well he had called her princess earlier, little did he know just how right he was about that.

Now, Alexandra was a smart woman, and clearly used what she had. Magic or telekinesis to get his keys.
Cyrus couldn’t help but laugh a little as she mentioned how Aleks could use his own legs to get down and get one. Certainly, it seemed like he was a lazy mand. He is my brother. Interesting. And she didn’t directly say she had a boyfriend, so there was a little hope. Or who knew?
She accepted his offer about taking a cupcake and couldn’t help but smile a little as she mentioned that the princess had earned it. “She sure has,” he said with the crooked smile of his. He took the half-eaten cupcake from the tray and joined her, taking a bite of it. He sat down on the edge of the luggage room with a little sigh. “Oh, and what about… Elias, also a brother?” he wondered looking at her. Elias had sounded more like a brother, who was able to get her home quickly.

He joined her in the cupcake eating, making her take a smaller bite, completely shocked by how good the flavors tasted. Looking over at him licking some frosting from her lower lip and nodded. "He remembers," she chuckled a little bit, "Elias is my oldest brother, I have four brothers - Mariella is dating one of the four," she pointed out well, "that is how we know each other either way." Well the two had a few more dots they had connected over the time. "If this is your way of asking if I'm seeing anyone, you can simply just ask," which was true, he could ask, not that it meant she would other than reply the question. It was just a question, and she wasn't looking for anything, even if it felt like everyone around her was falling in love and finding their soulmates one by one. Like catching butterflies, well she had and didn't share the same need.

Cyrus chuckled a little as Alexandra pointed out that he had been listening to the conversation the two girls had had. He hummed approving that he did remember. He wasn’t simply going to let such important things flood out. He raised his brows a little as she explained that she had four brothers, and that one of them was dating Mariella. Well, she hadn’t been lying when she said she had a boyfriend. Dang. He nodded a little, licking his lips to get frosting of his lips. “What a good way to get each other to know,” he said pressing his lips together in a thoughtful frown. He laughed a little as Alexandra pointed out how he had been circling in odd questions. “No, no,” he assured her. “I just want to know who’s most likely to want to beat me up,” he joked and laughed shortly. He then turned his head towards her, “But now that you’re putting it on the table,” he said, as if she hadn’t guessed right from the start. “Are you seeing anyone?” he wondered with slightly raised brows. Cyrus was used to change his opinions and who he liked and didn’t like, because with a mother like his, he could never really keep anything too close. It was complicated.

Alexandra let out a small yet genuine laugh to the fact of who was most likely to beat him up of her brothers, "well on that note, Elias," she pointed out. Well, Elias didn't mind throwing a few punches, not that she had doubt that if pushed hard enough the rest would throw one as well, but well there were other ways to beat someone up without throwing punches as well. Lexie raised her brow a little bit as he then did ask if she was seeing anyone, "I'm not. Why? Looking for the next best thing on the menu?" Lexie asked and raised the other brow as well. Now, she understood why people were drawn to Mariella, she was kind, a good person who left you with such good energy. It wasn't really like she would describe herself that, she was reserved, focused a lot on her work and bettering herself. But well, she could come off as a nice person, right? maybe she should give herself just a little bit more credit time to time.

He noticed how he laughed and couldn’t help but pull a smiled of it. “Alright, I’ll be on my best behavior,” he chuckled a little. After all, if it was Elias who was going to pick her up, then he probably shouldn’t push her too far right now. But where was the boundary?
He pulled a crooked smile as she replied whether or not she was seeing anyone. “Well, that depends if you’re the next best thing on the menu?” he mimicked her brow raise. Cyrus was good at adapting himself to the surroundings, of course he needed to want to adapt, because it was a very conscious thing he did.

"Good call," she chuckled a little bit and took another bite of the cupcake. Well, she could throw a wicked punch or two herself, but if he had intention of harming her or be disrespectful in anyways, he should just be happy to get whatever beating Elias was going to throw. But it was sweet how he tried to keep himself in the conversation and not lose his face. "I'm not," she replied back to him and licked the frosting of her lips. Well, she was used to not being the 'chosen one', but it didn't mean she settled for less than what she believed she deserved. Having too high standards some would say, but no, she knew how she wanted to be treated, and after all that was only fair - now wasn't it? "I'm not just going to be a stand in for anyone," she took another bite of the cupcake leaving only a little bite left for her to eat after.