STRIP IT ALL AWAY

[alianna kathlene hartford]

<sup>it was cold, incredibly cold, in the winter air that hung around new york city. alianna, who had lived in the city for more than two years, pretty much understood one thing that her sister had told her when she'd first moved into the city, you didn't go outside unless you had to when it came to the winter time. usually she kept to that, leaving the apartment for only work or going to the studio for one of her lessons or just to dance. during the wintertime alianna was pretty much a hermit and even her boss knew it.

she'd, for some reason unknown to even herself, volunteered to take the shift of a girl who usually worked one of the later shift. the place was generally empty with the exception of a few random people taking their seats from time to time, a couple here and there or even just a person up late in need of a cup of coffee while working on some assignment or something of the like. so she herself sat with a notebook open in front of her, iPod playing softly in her ears as she wrote down possible dance steps for the song that was playing on repeat in her ear. a slight sway was left in her body as she let the song take her away, possibilities and invisionments of what could possibly fit with each part taking her from the little diner and straight to the studio. a smile graced her lips at the thought, the thought of just letting go and dancing right then and there in the diner. but she wasn't stupid.

after a few moments, five customers, and three cups of coffee later, alianna was literally jittery from the caffeine intake that she'd been mindlessly feeding her body since the shift had started what seemed like a century ago. the pencil in her hand twitched every so often as she found herself at a block. would those moves actually look good for the girl she was choreographing this song for? could she actually complete most of the moves that alianna had written on the paper? running a hand through her curly red hair, she sighed before looking up at the man who was on shift as the cook this hour. with an ipod in his ear as well, she knew that this is probably what most nights were around here. just sit and wait for the next wave of people to come walking through the door. a quick scan of the place told her what she already knew, late shifts sucked.

the sound of chatter in the pretty well silent diner hit her ear easily and quickly she pulled her hair back into a ponytail as she always did when speaking to customers. as they seated themselves she moved to the back where only the staff were able to go and stashed her ipod in the bag that always held her dance stuff. a look in the mirror and a straighten of her clothing later, she walked out of the back with her pencil and order booklet in hand.

"hi," she said with the ever pleasant smile that most waitresses seemed to have from time to time. "i'm alianna. what can i get you guys to drink?"

oh yes, she most definitely hated working night shifts.</sup>

L A N D O N . O U T F I T . 5 5 8 W O R D S

[landon talon woods]

It was late and he knew he should be sleeping or at least at home but he couldn’t bring himself to go yet. During winter it was almost impossible to go skating because of the cold and snowy streets so the rush of energy was making it impossible for him to sit and stay still, he had to be doing something and his mother had kicked him out because it was making her nervous. He laughed, Landon couldn’t blame her, when he was on his energetic state it was hard to stand him if he was stuck at home. He shoved his hands on his pockets looking for a place to go, he was lucky he lived on New York all his life because it was on times like these when he needed his basic knowledge for open places. His steps moved him toward Effie’s dinner, not that he was feeling hungry but the place would be warm and maybe he could find something to do and just try to relax. He doubted being sat on a dinner would make his energy go away, he could barely sit still for some minutes but he had tried, he couldn’t just walk around city or he would freeze.

With his hobby parked he had been forced to study, though he wasn’t big fan of college he wanted to be someone and his notes were enough to get in, maybe not into an ivy one but after all that wasn’t what he wanted anyway. Being between books and papers and essays wasn’t his thing, he much rather spend time on the street with his friends and the skate but he knew his mother won’t be always there and even if she was he couldn’t let her do everything and pay for his things, he needed to do something in life and plus, her mother was very proud of him going to college. Landon hated when her mother blamed herself for not give him everything he wanted and make him grow up quickly because his father abandoned them, first because it wasn’t her fault he did and second because she had been the best mother someone could ask for. He tried to prove her she had done a good job raising him so he had always been a good boy.

When he looked up he was in front of Effie’s so he opened the door and the smell of coffee and warm of the place greeted him. He smiled and went to sit, there was no one on the place, and of course people would be sleeping except for those who were night creatures or had sleeping troubles. He wasn’t used to this, it just happened when he couldn’t skate and the energy filled him, he needed something to focus and make the energy go away so he could get into his normal relaxed state. The waitress came with that smile all of them have even when they were sure tired or bored as hell and just wanted to get home. "Yes, sure, get me something warm but not coffee." He smiled at her kindly. If he drank coffee right now that would be a no sleeping night, definitely. "And if you have time you can sit with me, I could use the company." He looked around to see of he was alone on the place, he was. "And it seems you can use it too."

WORDS · 578 || ALIANNA HATFORD

[alianna kathlene hartford]

<sup>alianna was one of those girls who you could say was a little on the oblivious side. she could look at someone for five good, long minutes and not realize that they had on a pair of divers goggles. the same could be said of her customers, err customer of the night. she could have sworn that more than one person had walked through the door when she'd first walked over to see what they he'd wanted that evening.

"tea work?" she asked, tipping her head slightly to one side as she tried to remember exactly what the small diner had as far as warm drinks that weren't coffee went. "or maybe hot chocolate? we don't have much else."

the place was empty, save ali, this man, and the person working back in the kitchen for the night. so at his request, alianna's eyes instantly went to the window that her co-worker was leaned in, cell phone permanently attached to his ear as he spoke to who she assumed to be his girlfriend or maybe his wife. she didn't pay much attention to the lives of her co-workers. life was all about dance to her.

"sure i'll sit with you," she said as she turned back to look at him. "not like there's a ton of customers beating down the door for my attention at the moment." she smiled slightly before turning away from him, still writing his order on her pad of paper. "just let me get your drink."

and a fresh cup of coffee for me, she thought as she rolled her eyes. this was already turning out to be a long night, a longer one than she even had thought in the first place.

she sat the kettle on the stove, barely nodding to her co-worker as he made some lame excuse about not feeling well and wanting to leave. she didn't believe him for a second but at the same time she couldn't keep him there if he didn't want to be there at all. she'd just have to finish the shift out for the night by herself. leaning against the counter, she drummed her fingers on the underside trying to remember just where she'd been in the dance steps she'd been writing out from earlier.

she glanced at her dance bag longingly, remembering her all too short time dancing earlier that morning before her lessons had started and before she'd had to come in to work her double for the night. three screaming little kids and one bratty teen did not even come close to being evened out by an hour of dancing. she'd barely even broken a sweat. if only she'd been good enough to make it as an actual ballerina or jazz dancer or whatever! she'd grown up wanting to be a dancer after all, not a dance instructor.

with a sigh she finished preparing the man's drink before pulling out her own mug to fill with coffee. as she returned back out to where he was sitting the fake smile filled her face again as always.

"here you go," she said, setting down his cup and taking a seat across from him.</sup>

L A N D O N . O U T F I T . 5 3 0 W O R D S

[landon talon woods]

At some point during the longest day of his life Landon had decided that the following day, snowy or not, cold or not, he was going to get back to his skate. It was pathetic to be wandering around the streets late at night because he was so filled by energy he couldn’t sleep. But he was dead bored the poor girl should be on the edge of getting crazy. The place was dessert, not a soul except for her and two other workers who seemed as bored as her, he couldn’t imagine working on shifts were all he had to do was sitting alone with himself. Landon was one of those persons whose being alone made him think and the only thing he didn’t want to do was that, his thought always went to the same topic, his mother and his father and how their relationship should have been for him to left her pregnant. He had decided long ago that whatever the reasons were he didn’t care anymore but there was this annoying thought of him not being good enough to keep his father with them.

"Hot chocolate then." He smiled at her, if both of them were as bored as they could at least spend the time together and talk. "I hope is not always like this." He said nodding at the empty place, he would have gone all crazy taking into account that he had to be always doing something, the proof was just there, and he couldn’t sleep because he hadn’t burn all his energy. "I bet most people will love to have a work where they pay for doing nothing." Most of his friends at college had works bartending because it was the only way to get money while you are studying and they were always complaining at how long their shifts were, how much people they had to serve and how tired they feet were, most of them wishing for the place to be empty in more than one occasion. She went to take his drink and also got one for her before sitting with him. He hadn’t work, never in his life; his mother had never allowed him to because she said he had enough with all the things he had to leave behind.

"Though I have to say, I wouldn’t be able to stay without doing nothing, I’m a very active guy." He sipped his hot chocolate hoping it would help him tame his energy and be able to get back home to sleep. He was going to have one hell of a day next morning for not sleeping enough, it was already hard for him to stay awake sleeping enough, and without sleep he will just not get his focus on it. "That’s why I’m here; I have too much energy to sleep." He hated sitting with the book in front of him with nothing more to do but that, he will find himself shifting in the chair because he just couldn’t, most of the time it was hard for him to concentrate and he had to go take a walk or something so he could go back and study, but without that option it was just impossible for him to read the book for more than five minutes without distracting himself again. "This weather is making me crazy, can’t go skating which is the worst thing for me ever. What about you?"

WORDS • 573 || ALIANNA HATFORD