Unexpected Encounter (Taylor and Oliver)

Taylor looked at the clock behind the bar for the hundredth time. It wasn't like she had something to do after her shift, or tomorrow even, but something about tonight, and the people in the bar, made her mentally exhausted. She caught Shei's eyes in passing and grinned when she rolled her eyes at the absurdity of them still being here at nearly 3am. But, luckily, they were both getting off in 15 and were planning on enjoying a quiet drink in the corner.

Turning away from the bar and patrons, she pinched her cheeks and worried at her lip, using artificial means to make her look more awake. It got her through these long shifts and usually helped with the tips. As Brynn called out her drink order, she moved swiftly around behind him to grab the glasses to take to one of her tables.

Passing through the crowded room was something she'd gotten used to over the last year and a half working in the pub. Couples were gathered anywhere they deemed worthy to grope and dance to their hearts and bodies desire. The atmosphere that may make some people sick, but Taylor channeled it, letting it feed her last few minutes of work. A hand tried to grab at her short skirt, but received a rather nasty shock when he reached too close.

Smirking, she moved back through to the bar. "Can you cover a few minutes? I need to use the loo," Brynn asked. She nodded and took a minute to check on the patrons seated at the bar. As she neared the end of the bar, a new customer took the last seat.

Hoping to help her friend earn a good tip in the end, she smiled brightly at the new comer. "What can I get ya, mate?"

Oliver was tired after a long week. A couple of the cases he had been asked to obliviate the witnesses of had been pretty gruesome. It brought back to the surface old memories of his he would have preferred to not be reminded of. He'd been using his pensieve, taking out ones that were too painful. In a couple weeks he would slowly reintroduce them until he could cope with it all again.

Right now, though, well he just needed a drink. Plus maybe a beautiful girl to take home with and make him forget for a few hours all the pain that had been his life. Taking a seat at the bar, he waved to what looked like one of the waitresses.

"I'd like to have a firewhisky, and a glass of water as well. Also, what food do you serve here?" he asked the beautiful woman. She was probably the most attractive person here. Something out of the normal happened though, a little voice told him not to try and seduce her. Usually he would have tried, but something about this girl made him pause. Maybe it would be good to just chat a bit with her if she had a moment.

"Also a new brain would be great if you had one of those floating around. I'd like to forget all that's happened to me for once." he admitted with a heavy sigh.

Merlin, the man looked like he needed more than one Firewhiskey. Smiling softly, she reached under the bar and grabbed out their late night menu. "There's not much available this late, but I could sweet talk Theo into making something without spitting in it. I'll grab your drink."

With a small wink, she hurried off to get his drinks and check on the other patrons. Shei brought up an order and she filled it, laughing openly when she tried to mimic one of their regulars who was known for his terrible pickup lines.

Still grinning widely, she returned to the new man and set a water and two shots on the bar. Picking one up, she lifted it towards him in a cheers motion. "I don't know anything about a new brain, but a few of these and you'll feel like a new person." She shot back her drink and clinked it on the bar, feeling the fire lick at her veins.

Oliver smiled wryly at the waitress and nodded. She seemed to be a pleasant sort of person. "Thank you, I'd appreciate that." he said quietly. Scanning the menu, he eventually found something he wanted to eat. It was simple, a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. He'd also order some fries on the side.

While she went off to check on the other customers. There was a loud laugh, and personally he thought she was laying it on a bit thick. However, who knows, maybe it produced better tips. Oliver couldn't help but let out a little chuckle at it.

Immediately he noticed that there were two, so she would be drinking one with him. The reasonable explanation was that she was probably nearing the end of her shift. Grabbing his, he raised it and then downed it in one large gulp. "You may be right about that, a drunk person, but definitely new." he joked. A familiar burning sensation associated with firewhisky licked down his throat and veins, now that was what he was looking for.

"As for my order I'll have the grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup, with a side of fries. Also one more firewhisky, and perhaps a strong mead to wash down the meal." Looking at her, he smiled just a tad. "What's your name? I'm afraid I forgot to ask. I'm Oliver Lanier." he introduced himself.

Taylor smiled openly at the man's comment. It was good to see he hadn't lost all sense of humor. She looked back at the clock. 3 more minutes. Turning back to the man, her smile fell a little.

"I'll go put your order in. But Brynn will be helping you from now on. I'm off for the night."

Turning to leave, something itched on the back of her neck. Knowing it was nothing actually there, she turned slightly and smirked at...Oliver.

"Taylor."

She moved into the back to get his order in. Clocking out, she tossed her short apron into the bin and moved to the mirror in the locker room to reapply her makeup. Letting her hair down from it's secure ponytail, she breathed a sigh of relief and moved back out to the bar, heading towards her usual table in the corner of the room.

Oliver noticed her smile and then check her watch. It seemed that she was about to be done working for the night. Part of him hoped she would stay around for a bit, maybe they could chat.

"Oh, alright. Well thank you, you've been an excellent waitress." he said with a bit of a wry smile, it was the best he could manage at the moment.

Taylor, that's a beautiful name. Why is it that I actually feel something...different for her? For some reason I don't just want to have a one night stand, I just want to....talk. This feeling was something he hadn't experienced in a very, very long time.

When she went to the seat in the corner, he decied to walk over there. You only live once, right, why not take a chance and talk to an interesting woman. "Umm, Taylor...do-do you mind if I sit here?" he asked sheepishly. "I don't know, I just think it would be nice to chat a bit with you..." he said, feeling awkward. Asking somebody to chat was not something he did. Period. So why was he doing it now, even he didn't know.

Rolling her shoulders slowly, trying to relax after 9 hours, Taylor closed her eyes. She let her head fall back onto the back of the half circle booth. As the music washed over her, she felt it finally flow into her. When she was on the clock, she never gave into her inner musician. Sure, she had fun, but couldn't afford to get distracted.

As she was humming to the soft counter-melody in the bass guitar, she was surprised to hear a voice aimed at her. Opening one eye, she smirked.

"I don't mind at all, Oliver." She scooted over a little, allowing him room. She wasn't small, per se, but this man dwarfed her by a good half foot. "Enjoying the night?"

Oliver noticed how relaxed and comfortable she was. He almost felt bad interrupting her, Taylor was so peaceful. She even picked out the bass line and started humming it. Most people didn't pay attention to it, but the bass was what made all the different instruments mesh. Without it, they would all clash with each other horribly.

Seeing her make room, he scooted into the booth. Thankfully, she'd left him plenty of space, because he was a big guy. "Thank you, and it's going okay. The place doesn't really amaze me, but you are...interesting, I suppose. I don't know, most of the time I don't pay much attention to girls who actually have decent personalities." he admitted.

Oliver's comment made one of Taylor's eyebrows take up residence much farther up her forehead than usual. Interesting, eh? She'd spoken but two words to him. Sure, a Firewhiskey between strangers was a good icebreaker, but still...

Speaking of, she caught Jaylon's slim arm in her hand as he passed by. He smiled widely at her and leaned down, pressing his cheek to hers to be heard properly. As he pulled away he lightly tapped under her chin. "Anything for you, love."

Just as swiftly as he had passed, he moved towards the bar. Taylor shifted in the booth to angle towards her new acquaintance, her head leaning to the side.

"And what makes you think I have a decent personality?" Her grin was cheeky, her eyes twinkling.

Oliver knew Taylor probably thought he was weird, he could see it in her face. Most people did think he was strange, and to be honest, they were right on. He'd never met anybody remotely similar to himself in certain ways, like with what he could do with memories. Perhaps somebody would be able to understand though.

Looking at the guy she grabbed, he wondered if they were dating. It would make sense, she was a beautiful girl, why wouldn't she have a boyfriend. He'd been wishing Taylor would be single though. "So, is that your...boyfriend?" Oliver asked, arching his eyebrow.

"Just a first impression. You seemed kind of, well, nice when you first taked to me. Wanting to tell the cook not to ruin my food, asking what was wrong. It was just...nice." he said, shrugging. Oliver didn't know any other way to explain it.

Taylor bit her lip as she let out a knowing grin. She ran one hand through her hair, happy to feel her scalp relaxing as well. "Well that was less than subtle, Oliver." Hmm.. She liked his name. The rarity of it.

Looking out at the dance floor, she caught Shei's eye as she danced with one of their regulars. A few seconds glance between the two said more than a thousand words and she smirked. Deciding she'd made him wait long enough, she sighed and looked up into his eyes.

"No. He's not my boyfriend. Though he wishes he was." It was true. Jaylon had bought her a months paychecks worth of drinks over the year and a half she'd been here. Taylor was convinced he loved the chase more than anything, so she played along.

Her wide smile slackened a bit, though not fading completely. "I try." Looking down at her hands in her lap, she played with the pile of bracelets around her one wrist. "So, what do you do?" She let her blue gaze lift towards him through her lashes.

The girl bit her lip, and Oliver wondered what was going through that head of hers. "I've never been one for subtleties, Taylor." he told her with a crooked smile. He'd always had one, some people found it odd, others liked it.

Taylor's pause was making him a bit uncomfortable, couldn't she just answer the question. His social skills were not the best, partly because of his past, partly because of his own oddities. When she sighed, he realized that the man wasn't, and Oliver let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.

"Oh, I see. Not your type?" he asked her. From what he had seen, the man was fashionable enough, seemed to stay in good shape. Must be something about his personality that irritated her, that was the logical explanation.

To his surprise, she looked down and played with some bracelets. Until now she hadn't come across as shy to him, but it appeared she was. Those blue eyes were captivating, and he looked back at her with a small grin. "I'm an Obliviator, been working for the ministry for a while now. What about you? Do you do anything besides work here?"

Taylor grinned at Oliver's confession. It wasn't something she was used to, blatant honesty. She wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing, but figured it couldn't hurt to find out.

When he asked about her type, her head tilted to the side with curiosity. She'd never really believed she had a type, dating many different kinds of people. It was more about the individual connection for her. "No. I guess not."

At his answer she couldn't help but stiffen. Her heart began to pound and she felt like she couldn't catch her breath. Trying to reign in her emotions, she looked over to the bar, happy to see Brynn still tending.

"Well...that's...nice." She felt a shiver creep down her spine. "I...I just work here most of the time. I like to travel when I can.'

Oliver couldn't help but chuckle, she had a look of surprise that he hadn't expected. He wondered what was surprising to her, he was just telling the truth. Maybe it was something else that had surprised her that he hadn't noticed, they were in a pub after all. She could have seen something that was a bit shocking at this time of the night.

To be honest he didn't see why they phrased it as types, he'd had connections with all different kinds of women. But that was what the common way to phrase it was, so he used it. He loved her expression while she considered it, Oliver could see she was intelligent by the look of her eyes. "Sorry, I know it's kind of a silly question. I don't really have a type to be honest. The expression doesn't really make the most sense." he paused, thinking. "Though I have to admit confident women generally appeal to me." he said, shrugging.

For some reason he noticed her breathing quicken, and he guessed her heart rate was elevated too. She seemed to be looking around and trying to regain her composure. It was interesting, that he affected her this much. He spotted her friend who had just taken over her shift, the sight of the girl seemed to calm Taylor.

"Hey, Taylor..." Looking her in the eyes, he tried to figure out what was wrong. "Are you alright? You look...uncomfortable I guess." he said, trying to be nice. "That's great, where all have you been to. I love traveling on my time off as well." Oliver said with an easy grin. "Oh, if you want to call me something for short, you are welcome to call me Ollie." he told her with a sly wink.

Taylor swallowed thickly. Something about his words struck a chord. It was as if he was saying exactly what was coming into her head. That, paired with his profession, left a sinking feeling in her stomach.

Trying to salvage the conversation, she mentally shook herself of her fears. Confident? Yeah... She didn't feel really confident right now. "I'm fine."

Jaylon swooped back around with a couple shots of Firewhiskey. She snatched hers up quickly and downed it. "Around. Not too terrible far from here. My next trip is America."

She let out a small smile. "I rather like Oliver."

Oliver noticed her mulling over what he was saying, then she looked sad all of a sudden. It seemed things were taking a turn for the worse, as they usually did with him and women. He was strange, and he almost always turned them off eventually. Also he had an unnerving habit of guessing what people were thinking, probably related to his ability to affect memories. Since he could see some of what they used to think even though he didn't try to, it was easier to guess what they might.

"Listen, Taylor. If you are uncomfortable talking to me, you don't have to." he said, frowning a bit. It was the right thing to tell her, she didn't have to stay here with him if she didn't want to. For all he knew she felt obligated to.

Oliver had been to America, but his favorite trips were to Greece, and the one to New Zealand and Australia. "I've been there, though my favorite one was Greece. With my trip to New Zealand and Australia a close second. Greece was probably my favorite because I am big on their mythology and gods, plus I love their architecture, it's amazing..." he replied, his thoughts drifting off to his time there. "Sorry, lost myself a bit there." he said with a laugh.

"Well you can call me whatever you'd like. I rather like Taylor, just for the record." Feeling it was the right thing to do, he smiled back at her.

Taylor's eyes softened at Oliver's words. She wondered what could make a man say something like that. It wasn't as if he'd done anything wrong. As Jaylon passed she swirled her finger in the air to signal another round, then laid her hand gently on his. "You haven't scared me off yet," she said with a smile.

She moved her hand away and cradled her chin on it, listening with bright eyes at his stories. She'd only ever been to France, Germany, and Scotland yet. Places close enough to home to travel by muggle transportation if she got into a bind. Plus, they were less expensive. She laughed a little when he came out of his tale. "It's okay. I'm actually quite envious."

As Jaylon returned, he sat a tray of six shots down, knowing that Taylor had the next day off. She swatted at his arm and he shot her a sly grin. She downed another shot, closing her eyes as the liquid ran down her throat.

"My parents were actually hoping for a boy, truth be told. They were just too lazy to change the name when I popped out though, so here I am." She gestured to herself. It didn't bother her in the slightest, actually benefiting her when she was represented on paper. Most people just assumed she was a man, and she was honest enough to know that she could use that to her advantage.

Oliver jumped at the contact, surprised by the softness in her expression as much as the contact itself. Nobody had looked at him like that in his entire life. Sure, he'd had lovers, but never anybody who truly cared about him. This made him think that perhaps somebody could. "If you stick around I'm sure I will. I'm...I'm not a good person Taylor. You should know that up front, I've done some horrible things, I wish I could say I regret all of them, but I don't." he said, his tone icy. "For your sake, it may be better...it may be better if you steer clear of me, but it's up to you."

Saying that had felt like needles being poked into his spine, every word hurt. For the only time in his life though, he was looking out for somebody's interests other than his own. Returning to the conversation, he winked at her. "Oh you should be, it was well worth the trip. Trust me, if you get a chance you want to take it."

When her friend came by again, he waved at him. "Umm, would you mind getting me some firewhisky, I could use a drink." he told the man still futilely flirting with Taylor. He appreciated the fact Taylor wasn't flirting with him in front of her. If there was something between them, at least she had the tact not to rub it in.

Oliver chuckled at what she said, the name could work either way. "Personally I think Taylor makes a better girl's name than a guy's. I'm sure you are just as tough as any guy they could have had though, you look like you can take care of yourself." he told her honestly. As far as girls went, she appeared to be tough.