Pink Shores and Chocolate Skies [I]

It was nine am on a Monday morning. Then week before Jun had worked a full shift and then some. Weekends were always so crazy for the bar. On weeknights it wasn't so bad. He'd get the occasional wanderer or insomniac, or if he was really lucky, a beautiful young performer looking to feed a random monkey girl.

But once Friday hit it was an entirely different story. Everyone wanted to get drunk on the weekend, it seemed. To have fun, to act crazy without judgment, to drown away sorrows or stress, to forget, or whatever other reason. One bar tender was never enough. Usually they would have to have at least three on at one time. And all the craziness and people shouting for their mango margaritas, their sake bombs, their Litchinis, ginger beer, daiquiris, boracay's, and on and on and on! It was enough to make Jun's head ache. He loved his job, but weekends were taxing no matter who you were.

The young man lay down face first on his bed, stiff looking as a board. He smelt like smoke and alcohol, he hadn't had time to shower since he got off work. He just flopped right into bed.

He was deep in sleep, having a bunch of odd dreams. He rarely had nightmares, or even meaningful dreams. Just random craziness, much like the rest of his life, supposedly.

In this particular dream he was sitting outside, on a beach. The sky was a chocolate brown color, and the water was pink, the tide was getting higher with each wave upon the shore. A girl with no face was sitting next to him, and she had scars along the underside of her arms. They were big and welted, and for some reason made Jun's heart ache.
"You shouldn't do that." He said softly to the girl.
She grew a mouth, still no face, but a pair of lips. With a few twitches a forlorn smile crept upon those lips.
"Why not?" She asked. Her voice sounded familiar, but Jun couldn't figure out why it sounded familiar.
Before he could answer to tell her that self harm wasn't healthy, and he was worried for her, she reached over and grabbed his wrist. She held his arm up, exposing all of the tattoo's running along his skin.
"We all have our ways of coping." She whispered.

His eyes opened. The dream was over, he was awake. Instinctively he looked at his arm, it was fine.

"Shit that was weird." He grumbled to himself. He groaned out a little, he didn't want to wake up yet. True, he wasn't really enjoying that dream, but it was nine am for crying out loud.

He rolled over and tried to get back to sleep, but the noises the waiters and waitresses made while they were getting ready for the their shifts made it pretty hard.

Lyra glanced at the clock at the end of the hall and grimaced. "I'm being too forward..." She thought as her paced slowed.

The hall was lined with doors on each side and she could hear people bustling inside to get ready. Lyra was an early bird by nature so she was clean, dressed, and ready for the day. She hadn't thought some might still be trying to sleep.

"No, no, no, I'm being friendly! This is what social people do!" She thought to herself again and nodded. Her pace picked back up again.

Lyra's brain fought with itself as it bounced between "I'm being sociable" and "I'm being creepy and should go back to my room."

Taking deep breaths to avoid hyperventilation, she neared the room she was looking for. She patted her clothes and hair down to make sure she looked presentable and knocked quietly.

An odd, animal like groan came from within the room as soon as Lyra knocked on the door.  

"Gyaaahhrrrrharrwaahhhh, what do you want?!"  Jun whined, sitting up and leaning towards his door.  "It's my day off and it's nine am I am NOT filling in any one's freaking shif-"  He cut his own sentence off and froze in his tracks when he opened the door and saw Lyra Bitar standing there.  

Panic!  Panic!  Cute girl and you look (and probably smell) like shit!  MAYDAY MAYDAY!!

The young man got a suave look to his eyes and leaned against his door frame casually, looking very confident.

"Well hello there~  I didn't expect to see you standing in my doorway.  What a pleasant surprise."  He tried his hardest to sound cool and calm and collected.

Lyra hopped back away from the door as it opened and smiled at him. "H-hey sorry no I don't need you to cover my shift" She laughed awkwardly.

"Sorry for bothering you I didn't think that you could be sleeping- Hey are you ok?" She stepped closer to him, "You look really tired."

"Yeah, but I mean, if you ever do need me to cover your shift, you're in luck. I happen to be an amazing dancer." He boasted, though there was playfulness behind his tired, red eyes.

When she stepped closer he instinctively scooted back a little.

"Ahahaha, you may want to stay back. I haven't showered and I probably smell like a bar." He admitted. Not. Cool.

Lyra laughed and said, "I would love to see that performance sometime!"

"Jun, I grew up on the docks, I'm used to that smell, but I'll leave you be," She smiled worriedly, "You should get some sleep, weekends are hard behind the bar, aren't they?"

"Haha, no you don't."  He laughed.  He was a terrible dancer.

Sleep?  Sleep!?  Who needed sleep?!  He didn't need sleep!  Not with a lovely lady like Lyra at the door!  

"I'm not tired at all!" He chirped, hoping out of bed and grabbing a towel and a change of clothes.  "Though I'd be lying if I were to say that bar tending on weekends was a breeze, haha." He scooted past her out into the hallway.  

"I'm just gonna get a shower real quick.  And uh, you can just chill in my room if you want to?  Or whatever you wanna do... but yeah, I wont be long at all." He assured her, really hoping he'd be able to find her once he was out.  He cursed himself for not having showered the night before.

"O-ok!" Lyra watched him run off, "I'll stay here" She murmured to herself as he rounded the corner.

She gingerly stepped into his room and looked around. "Figures..." Lyra said as she noticed it was a clone of her own room in appearance. "They all probably look the same" She said as she sat down on his bed. "All small with a tiny window, tiny bed, and tiny dresser."

"This one smells like Jun though..." She thought and was instantly flustered, shaming her brain for wandering in such a way.

As soon as he was certain he was out of Lyra's sight, Jun broke out into a sprint to get to the public showers. He was practically stripping as he ran, wanting to make the best time possible. By the time he was at the male showers, he was all ready down to nothing but his undergarments. Quickly he pulled them off and took the fastest shower known to mankind.

He then got dressed without even toweling off, which admittedly was probably a bad idea because now his clothes were a bit damp, and ran to wash his mouth out and chew on some mint leaves. That would freshen his breath up until he could eat something that would clean his teeth off, like an apple.

In their time, they didn't have toothbrushes or toothpaste, though they were able to keep good dental hygiene by the minty plants, and other ways of cleaning teeth, some involving spells and the like.

He quickly walked back to his room and checked inside.

"Hey! You're still here! Awesome!" He said happily when he saw the lovely lady still inside. "How was my time? I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

She looked around the small room and noticed a few picture frames standing on his dresser. Lyra picked one up right and examined the picture. Jun walked back into the room, and she quickly put it back down and whirled around.

Lyra smiled at him and made the motion of stopping a stop watch, "Excellent time! I think you broke a record!" She laughed and stepped away from his personal belongings, feeling weird to be too close to his stuff without his permission.

In one fluid motion, Jun took Lyra's hand and twirl her out of the room while tossing his dirty clothes onto his floor. He kicked the door shut and grinned big. Now they were finally away from his messy little room and he was groomed like a decent person. Time to start the day.

"So, what brings you to my doorstep on this fine day Miss Lyra?" He asked. He was still a bit worried for her after what happened with the Administrative Manager, but he didn't want to bring that up and make her feel uncomfortable.