.ailenefr:
Ailene couldn’t help but let out a laugh at his attempt to copy her accent, putting a hand over her mouth so she didn’t disturb anyone near them. She’d never been fond of her laugh and was further convinced that it was akin to a noise a seal might make after Clint had told her just that, and even though she knew now that he was a fucknut she still couldn’t let go of that insecurity. She cleared her throat quietly and glanced around briefly, hoping nobody had noticed and turning back to Chase, hoping that he wouldn’t think it was horrific either. She was probably blowing this already. Fuck’s sake.
It seemed like he’d decided that she’d do, though, and he nodded firmly before hollering across the shop to a very cross looking Billy about coffee and she awkwardly averted her gaze down to her hand, rubbing absentmindedly at a spot on one of her tattoos that Kara had coloured in with magic marker while Chase attempted to get the other man’s attention. Billy wasn’t making any move to give in to his summons though, and soon enough Simon was turning towards them with an inquiring look on his face, and Ailene gave him a warm if not slightly apologetic smile when he made his way over to their table.
The other man continued yelling even though Simon was right next to him and Ailene vaguely wondered if his singing voice was anything similar to that, and when he started snapping and motioning for Simon to take her order as well she cursed under her breath before she could stop herself. “Er, jus’ a cup o’coffee would be great, Simon, thanks.” she said, looking up with a surprised expression when Chase told her it was on him. “Oh. Well— tha’s nice of ye.” she said after a moment, giving him a genuine grin.
After she asked what kind of music he’d want to learn she wondered what he might say, if he’d pick some ridiculous song just to fuck with her or if he actually had something in mind, though she did already know how to play Slim Shady on the piano so maybe her repertoire wasn’t as limited as she was thinking. He definitely didn’t seem the sort to want to learn any of the Disney sheet music she had collected for Sutton though, and she was glad she hadn’t suggested that right off the bat.
“Hotline Bling?” she said amusedly, taking her coffee and muttering her thanks to Simon as he hurried away from them which she didn’t entirely blame him for, especially when Chase began banging on the table and loudly belting out the lyrics to the song in question. It was hard not to laugh at the sight in front of her and she ducked her head a little so no one would hear her, reaching out to move her coffee so it wouldn’t spill.
Suddenly he was pointing at her and she looked at him for a moment before determining that he was serious, and she cleared her throat quickly before tapping the table with her own hand, thought a lot quieter than he had. “That can only mean one thing,” she followed, pausing after the line and giving him a sheepish look.
Ailene’s surprise when he offered to buy her coffee, just proved that he was doing an excellent job of coming across like a right prick. He’d never been one to look for other people’s approval, even if they were cute, Irish piano teachers. Still, for the moment, he was willing to be polite and mannerable if it helped him win the bet against Chet and Trent.
The coming and going of Simon broke his focus and he blamed that on his lack of ability to carry a tune. People were staring now, swivelling in their chairs to get a glance at the obnoxiously singing boy who was brazen enough to clatter his spoon off the table in the mimicry of a bassline. He didn’t care if they stared though, preferring wide eyes being trained at him for something like this than the looks he got when he tried to push through crowds, earning annoyed exclamations before people quietened themselves upon seeing his chair. He didn’t want people to feel sorry for him or look at him like he was abnormal – unless of course he was purposefully drawing attention to himself like he was right now.
He continued to prod the spoon slash makeshift microphone in Ailene’s direction, having never been one to relent easily. He expected a surprised widening of her eyes or a soft blush, not for her to lean in and finish off the lyric, albeit a lot quieter than he had.
At once, a whoop of laughter burst from Chase and he threw his head back, one hand flying to his snapback in order to stop it from toppling off. He hadn’t expected that, but the laughter that continued to bubble in his throat gave way to how funny he thought it was. His chuckles were usually snide and reserved for people tripping in the street or enduring a public break up. But Ailene had somehow managed to catch him by surprise with her gentle rhythmic tapping and only slightly reluctant willingness to finish off the song for him.
Forcing himself to calm down, he grinned at Ailene across the table and eventually nodded.
“Okay, okay, you’ll definitely do,” he acquiesced. The woman, he supposed, was definitely in his good graces now. Who knew that all it would take was a lack of hesitancy to sing along to Drake for her to wriggle away in there?
“Anyway, down to business,” he declared, tearing open sugar packets and emptying them into the mug of coffee that Simon had deposited in front of them. He cupped his hands around the mug, letting the heat of it warm up his palms as he caught Ailene’s eye.
“So, basically, I’m trying to impress some chick. I don’t actually know what sort of music she likes, but I dunno, surely you’ve had people like me before,” he reasoned. “Any ideas?”
Ailene wasn’t so much embarrassed by Chase’s singing as she was simply surprised, she actually hadn’t expected him to sing let alone loudly and right at that moment in the middle of the shop. Before it had seemed like the lessons were just a chore to him, that he needed to pick a teacher and get it done with, but now she could see that he did have some rhythm and enjoyment for music, and that always made her job easier. There were plenty of children that she instructed that were there because their parents wanted them to be, and she would try her best to help them love music like she did since it meant so much to her.
That plus his insistence to buy her a cup of coffee made her feel like she’d misread him at first, and she felt a little guilty for it. Her parents had raised her better than to judge a book by it’s cover, so to speak, and you really couldn’t claim to know someone after one conversation, could you? She hoped not, given how rambly and nervous she could be upon first meeting. There was no way the other customers hadn’t heard his singing but the loud, booming laugh he let out after she sang her line distracted her from caring, and she watched amusedly as he bounced around in his chair as if it had been the funniest thing in the world.
“Aw fuck, tha’s a relief,” she said lightheartedly, actually quite pleased that he’d said so. No matter how much she liked to convince herself that she didn’t care about other people’s approval, it still made her light up when they did give it to her.
He started off after that and she listened intently, watching silently as he dumped sugar into his coffee and leaned forward at the table. So, he was trying to impress a girl. She grinned at that, a list of songs already flooding her thoughts as he casually asked her for ideas. “Oh, well, there’s so many things y’could sing!” she said, nodding. “I guess it jus’ depends, I know people sing songs tha’ the other person likes or maybe a song about why y’like her, y’know?” she said, taking another sip of her coffee.
It was a little weird that he didn’t know what kind of music the girl liked but she figured that maybe wasn’t something made obvious when getting to know someone, not like Ailene did anyway. “Well, tha’s alright, surely she’ll appreciate th’sentiment an’ all tha’ either way?”
