Title: Love Runs Deeper: Chapter Two, The Night Before
Rating: PG [mild language]

Summary: Lindsey can't stop thinking about the waitress of his dreams. Lily struggles to stop thinking about Lindsey...





With directions from the front desk and after a lengthy conversation with his mother about why he was staying in the hotel, not with them, Lindsey headed out to the parking lot. Slipping on his sunglasses, he made his way over to his car, intending to head to the diner and wait out Lily’s arrival. Since she worked the night shift, he presumed that if he arrived around dinnertime, he would not have to wait too long. In addition, really, the sunglasses were unnecessary. He was not hung-over and the sun was setting. He supposed it was just habit. Pulling them off, he suddenly wished he had not done so, because as soon as he did a girl squealed and hurried over to him. She started to gush about how he was her favorite musician and she could not wait until he made another album. Before he could evade her, she requested a signature and kept bubbling to him.

“Make it out to Sherry,” she requested. “The Eagles is my favorite band in the world. One of These Nights is only the best song ever written. I can’t believe that Bernie would quit. That must have been very hard to deal with. But you guys are working on a new album, right? What’s the new album going to be like? Can I come to the studio? Can I bring my friends? Do you think maybe I could–”

Figuring out that she thought he was completely someone else, he briefly considered signing the pad with Don Henley’s name. Nevertheless, pushing that thought from his mind, he signed his own name and closed the notebook before handing it back to her. Informing her that he was running late and if she wanted to come to the studio in LA, she could, Lindsey turned and headed towards his car.

The girl followed him.

“Look,” Lindsey stopped and turned to her once more, “where I’m going you certainly can’t come. I’m sorry. So why don’t you go and call your friends and tell them who you met in the parking lot in a hotel in downtown San Francisco?”

Her eyes widened, “Are you staying here? Can I come and see you here?”

“No,” he instantly answered. “I merely stopped by to see a friend. And now I have to go. Have a good evening.”

Lindsey climbed into his car, locking it as soon as the door closed. Though the girl had not tried to get into his car, she did remain close by, watching him drive away. It unnerved him and yet as soon as he put distance between them, he found it humorous. Sure, she was certainly the definition of fanatic, but she was lacking something very large: the ability to tell that he was in fact not a member of the The Eagles.

Chuckling to himself, he shook his head and headed towards the diner. He had better things to do with his night than worry over a silly girl who thought he was someone else. She would certainly get a surprise when she opened her book and found Lindsey’s name scrawled instead. That alone was reason to smile.



Making her bus home, afforded Lily the chance to breathe when she arrived home between jobs. The bus even seemed to be running a bit early, meaning she could possibly even shower before heading to the diner. Heading up the creaky steps to her apartment, she paused at her door to pull off the paper taped to it. Figuring it was likely yet another eviction notice, something to take care of in the morning, Lily unlocked her door and headed in. Heading into the kitchen, she dropped the folded paper on the counter and pulled open the fridge. Pulling out the carton of milk, she pushed it open and sniffed it. Scowling she turned and emptied the carton into the sink. She would go to the diner a bit earlier to grab something to eat, since clearly she could not keep food in her apartment.

Pulling the pins out of her chignon, she turned and stepped around the single chair in the apartment, heading into the bedroom. Lily dropped the pins on the bathroom counter, shaking her hair out of the strict librarian bun. As her honey-colored locks cascaded down her back, ending near her waist, she began to remove her clothes. After a brief sniff and visual check, she hung them back in the closet before rolling down her hose. Thankful that the run had not increased any more, she carefully balled them up and headed into the kitchen, tossing the pantyhose into the freezer. Clad in only a boring white bra and white cotton panties, she returned to the bathroom.

After a quick shower that was more cold than hot, Lily dried herself off with a rough white towel, snagging her right pinkie finger in one of the holes. Sighing she hung the towel back up before heading into her bedroom for fresh undergarments. Once she was dressed in her pink dress once more, Lily returned to the bathroom. Staring at her reflection in the cracked mirror, she tried to figure out what to do with her long hair. As she worked in a restaurant, she surely could not leave it just hanging loose down her back. For some reason she felt like being… pretty that night.

Deciding to braid half her hair back from her face, tying the ends with a small white ribbon she did not know its origins, Lily pulled on her comfortable white shoes, collected her purse, and headed to work. With a soft mist falling, she turned her face towards the sky and smiled, soaking it in before walking down the sidewalk. As her fingers reached for the silver handle of the diner’s door, she felt her heart leap and she was not entirely sure why – no, she had no idea why at all.

Pulling it open, she headed in and greeted her co-workers. As she was early nearly as much as she was late, no one thought anything of it. She snagged a plate and glass of milk from the kitchen after hanging up her purse and jacket, intending to plop down on the stool in the back. Yet as she headed in that direction, one of the other waitresses stopped her.

“There’s a rather handsome man waiting for you to get on shift out in the dining room. Go sit with him instead,” she declared.

“What?” Lily looked at her confused.

“He arrived about thirty minutes ago. Hasn’t ordered a thing but coffee. Says he met you last night,” she explained. “Go sit with him.”

Leaving her plate where it was, she headed over to the swinging doors and looked out the round, plastic window. Her golden eyes looked around the dining room. A few familiar faces stuck out in her vision, but the last one stopped her heart. She quickly stepped back from the door, her hand going to her chest.

“He is handsome,” the other waitress smiled. “Go sit with him.”

Lily took a deep breath, “And he hasn’t ordered anything?”

“No.”

Turning to the cook, she placed an order for him and waited. Once it was ready, she loaded up both her plate and his to a tray, adding her glass of milk as well. Bumping the door open with her hip, Lily headed directly towards his table, her eyes not flicking to anyone else at all. He looked up from his coffee cup, which she could tell had been untouched, just as she reached the table. Saying nothing, she placed his plate in front of him before unloading her own. Her fingers plucked his coffee cup from his hands and she disappeared with it and the tray.

“Hi,” she uttered after returning with another cup of coffee and setting it before him.

His blue eyes watched her sit across from him, a bit surprised that she was in fact there, “Hi.”

“That cup should be more to your liking,” she stated.

Lindsey picked it up and sipped it, “Thank you. It is.”

“So tell me, Lindsey,” she picked up her silverware, “did you sleep well?”

He smiled crookedly, glancing down at his plate, “I suppose so. How did you… know to bring me this?”

“An educated guess,” she winked, reaching for her glass of milk. “So you just happened to be in the neighborhood again?”

His eyes focused on the table for a moment as he chewed, swallowing as he looked up, “If driving across town with directions as to how to reach here can be considered just happening, yes.”

Her eyes held his for a moment, “You came here to see me?”

He smiled, “I did.”

Lily flushed and focused her gaze and attention on her food. Her head tried to fight with reason against the fluttering in her chest. The night before he had merely been a drunken customer… who lingered until her shift was over. But no, he was never just another customer. Just another customer would not have kept her up all night thinking about him. Apparently, some of the feelings were mutual and she did not know how to think about that at all. She could not even think of the last sober man to show interest in her. Even though Lindsey had been drunk when they met, he had returned to her sober, so that classified him as a sober man in her mind. He had returned to her.

“I… that’s very sweet of you, Lindsey,” she finally looked up at him. “I don’t really know how else to respond.”

He remained silent for a moment, finishing the bite in his mouth, “I don’t mean to be particularly forward or anything, but… I’d like to see you out of your uniform.”

“Well I hardly think that’s going to happen any time soon. I don’t tend to get naked around strangers,” Lily instantly retorted.

His eyes widened and he laughed at his own words, “That is not what I meant. I mean I would like to see you when you’re not at work. Perhaps we could get a bite to eat or…”

“I’m technically not at work right now and we’re eating together.”

He smirked, “I mean outside of the diner.”

Lily smiled crookedly, “Are you asking me on a date, Lindsey?”

“Yes. Yes, I am.”

Her eyes flicked to the clock, noticing it was almost time for her shift to start, “Well perhaps you can convince me to say yes… in the next few hours.”

“Few hours?”

She quickly slid out of the booth, “My shift is about to start. Stick around awhile and you might earn that date.”

Watching her walk away with her plate and glass, Lindsey noticed her hair hanging down her back in waves. He was completely transfixed by the way it moved with the seductive sway of her hips. The night before she certainly had not had that hair; if he remembered correctly, it had been pulled severely back from her face. He instantly wondered if her appearance had been otherwise changed. Deciding he was most certainly going to stick around as long as necessary to get a date with her, Lindsey knew he would have the chance to study her appearance more. And he was already looking forward to it.



As the clock ticked past the three, the last customer headed out of the diner. Normally Lily would set about cleaning to keep awake until someone else entered or her relief arrived. However, that night was not normal and while the customers had left, the diner was not empty. She glanced briefly at him, before disappearing into the kitchen. Returning a moment later with a slice of apple pie and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, she stopped by his table. Lindsey looked up at her. With a smile, she motioned for him to scoot over in the booth.

Sitting next to him, she glanced into his coffee cup, “Oh I should go get you some m–”

“It’s all right. I think I’m good on coffee for awhile,” he stated.

“If you say so,” she sliced through the pie with his fork, offering him the bite.

Lindsey’s eyes focused on hers before accepting.

“Going on a date is difficult, Lindsey.”

Swallowing he replied, “Why?”

“Because,” she paused to chew a bit herself before offering him the next one, “I work two full-time jobs. Time is tight. I rarely have any time off at all.”

“Why?” he repeated before she offered him another bite.

“I have a lot of responsibilities,” Lily answered vaguely. “Anyways, I have Saturdays and Sundays off from my other job. I tend to have a double here on one of those days, usually Saturday, but that can change pretty quickly. I also pick up shifts whenever I can, so time is at a premium.”

“So what do you do for fun?” he asked, though he really wanted to know why she worked so hard.

“If you’re actually asking what I do in my free time, the answer is sleep and laundry,” she stated, taking a bite of the pie.

“What about your friends? What do they think of all this working you’re doing?”

“Friends?” Lily scoffed. “I don’t have any friends.”

He stared at her for a long moment, his eyes dropping down to the pie. Though half of it remained, Lily did not cut into it any more, merely chased melted ice cream around on the plate. He knew she had a secret she really did not want to show. He wondered if it was something, someone did to her. However, he knew better than to push for answers.

Instead, he leaned over and lightly brushed hair from her shoulder, “Well then, when can I take you out?”

Her eyes flicked to his, “Sunday evening. I’m working here from 11 pm Saturday until 3pm Sunday. So anytime after then.”

“You’re working a double Saturday night?”

She nodded, “Saturday nights are busier because of the bar crowd and Sunday mornings brings in the after church crowd. Plus one of the other girls needed Sunday morning off for her son’s birthday.”

While he did not like it at all, any time with Lily was certain to be heaven, “Sunday it is then.”

“Great,” she smiled slightly at him. “Do you want any more of this?”

His eyes flicked to the pie, “Not really.”

“Okay. I’ll be back in a moment,” she claimed before sliding out of the booth.

Watching her walk away yet again, Lindsey quickly processed what he knew about her. She worked too much, apparently for some big reason she was not ready to be forthcoming about. She listened and noticed personality cues from everyone, enough that she could place orders without them verbalizing. She was of average height and slight build, taller and thinner than Stevie in that respect. And… that was really all he could think of. He did not know what her dreams and aspirations were; only that she had listened to his while he babbled drunkenly the night before. He knew so very little about her, but he could not even begin to fathom how to stop thinking about her. Why had she transfixed him so much?

Smiling as she returned with two glasses of what appeared to be soda, Lindsey grinned even more when she slid back into the booth on his side. Without even asking, he lifted the glass and sipped it. His sparkling eyes turned to hers.

“This isn’t just Coke,” he commented.

“Sure it is,” she smiled. “Just like how your coffee it just coffee.”

He paused for a moment, his eyes studying her face, though he could only see half of it. It was only then he realized the heavy makeup from the night before was gone. The circles under her eyes were apparent, but now that at least made sense. The most delightful discovery, however, was that her nose was flecked with very pale freckles, something he was ever certain the makeup concealed the night before.

“You have freckles,” he commented softly.

Her eyes quickly turned to his, a soft flush filling her cheeks, “I… uh…”

“I think it’s adorable.”

“I… thank you,” she muttered softly, still flushing.

Unable to contain himself, Lindsey leaned over and kissed her cheek softly. Her eyes snapped to his, but she did not pull away nor tell him to not kiss her. She smiled softly and leaned back into the booth. Her eyes left his and glanced around the diner. Surprisingly the cook had yet to surface from the kitchen. Normally he would slip into the booth nearest the kitchen when the place was empty and read while she cleaned. Without him watching, she felt no need to slip away from Lindsey and go what she should be doing.

“I should get up and clean,” she stated. “But I would rather… sit here with you.”

“I could help so you get done sooner,” he offered.

“No no. I couldn’t let you do that,” Lily sighed, shifting out of the booth. “You don’t need to stay, Lindsey. I already accepted to go out with you.”

“I know I don’t need to. I want to. And if you’d let me, I’d like to give you a ride home as well,” he stated.

Her eyes went to his again, “Not necessary. I don’t live far, like I told you last night.”

“I know. But tonight I’m sober and have a car. Even if it gives you ten more minutes of sleep, which seems worth it to me,” Lindsey declared.

“I… okay. I’ll agree to that,” she responded. “Now excuse me while I go mop.”

Walking away from him yet again, Lily could not help the little smile on her face. She may not know Lindsey well at all, but she was certain there was more than an average connection between the two of them. And she was going on her first date… ever.