Tristan was standing in the middle of the mall, holding a stack of flyers. She could feel the waistband on her jeans slipping a little, and she stepped behind her display counter to fix them up, before adjusting the array of products on the table.
She stepped out from behind the counter and rested against it, long toned legs encased in light blue jeans, feet peeping out the bottom, a splash of pink colour on her toenails to match her pink thongs, of course. Matching pink top displaying the logo of the company she was working for, that day.
Fixing a friendly smile on her face, she approached the next guy who was heading her direction.
"Hi, I'm Tristan, and I was wondering if I could take 2 minutes of your time?"
Zac
Zac, who normally bypassed sprukers when he could, could not bring himself to be rude to this pretty young lady. He shrugged.
"Sure," he replied.
He didn't have anything better to do. May as well let Tristan earn her money.
Tristan
"Thanks," Tristan said gratefully.
She launched into the sales routine, mentioning various baby products and how they'd help around the house. She was soft spoken, not too aggressive, very friendly and engaging, good at what she did.
Zac
Zac nodded slowly, actually interested in what she was selling (which was novel).
"Yeah, that sounds interesting," he said. "So, how much?"
Tristan
"Well, it depends what package you're looking at getting. I'd recommend this one, top of the line, has everything you're possibly going to need," Tristan said, indicating one of the display cases.
"It's goig for $200, but I could knock it down to $175 for you."
Zac
Zac considered carefully. He did already have some of the stuff in the package, but only one of said items wasn't wearing out or running out.
"Yeah. sure," he said, finally. "Sounds like a good deal to me."
Tristan
"Ok, I'll just need to get your details..."
Tristan walked behind the counter and bent slightly to get the appropriate forms. She handed them to Zac, along with a pen.
"It'll take about a week for delivery, and if you're very lucky and I like you enough, I might come deliver them myself."
Zac
Zac chuckled.
"Hmm, so it's either delivered by you, or someone else. Is the someone else someone I'd prefer not to get baby thing deliever to me by?" he asked, grinning, as he filled out the form.
Tristan
Tristan grinned.
"There is our regular delivery man, Bob. He's very lovely, about 50, wife and 3 kids."
She watched him fill the form out.
Zac
"Ahh," Zac said. "So I have a choice between a 50-year-old man, or a pretty young lady."
He finished filling out the form, and turned it around so that she didn't need to read it upside down.
Tristan
Tristan laughed.
"Yep, it's all up to you."
She scanned the form quickly and then nodded, placing it under the counter.
"Alright, I predict it'll be about a week. You can pay now or pay when it gets delivered, it's up to you."
Zac
"Eh, I'll pay now," Zac replied. "Get it done and out of the way."
He pulled out his wallet and handed her his card.
Tristan
"Sure, no worries."
Tristan took his card and ran it through the machine.
"Cheque, credit or savings?"
Zac
"Savings," Zac replied.
He reached over to plug in his pin into the machine.
Tristan
Tristan handed him back his card and nodded.
"K, all done."
Zac
"Nifty," Zac replied.
He put the card back in his wallet, then put it down on the counter and batted his eyes at Tristan.
"Do I get a pretty receipty thing?"
Tristan
"Of course," Tristan grinned.
She waited for it to print out, then ripped it off and handed it to Zac.
Zac
"'Ta muchly," Zac replied, cheerfully, stuffing the receipt in his pocket. "Guess I'll see you 'round. Maybe."
He gave her a wave and went on his way.
Tristan
Tristan was about to start getting ready to pack up, waiting for the next girl to show up and relieve her shift when she noticed Zac's wallet was laying on the table.
"Hey!" she called out, lifting the wallet and jogging in Zac's direction.
Zac
Zac heard someone call out "hey" behind him, and in curiousity, turned and look, not expecting the "hey" to be directed to him.
Which it was.
"Umm, hey," Zac replied, a little puzzled.
Why was the salesgirl following him?
Tristan
Tristan caught up to him and held out his wallet.
"You left this behind," she said, by way of explanation.
Zac
"Oh, wow, thanks," Zac said apprecitively, receiving back his wallet. "Mind must have been elsewhere."
He shook his head.
"Can I get you a coffee or something?"
Tristan
"Oh you don't have to do that," Tristan said a little shyly.
She tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear.
Zac
"Yeah, I know," Zac grinned. "That's why I want to. You going on break any time soon? Or shall I just get something to go for you?"
He tucked his wallet into his pocket.
Tristan
Tristan checked her watch and then gave a little smile.
"I'm finishing up in just a sec, I need to get my stuff though... walk me back?"
Zac
"Okay, sure," Zac agreed.
He moved over so that he was beside her as they walked back to the shop.
"So, Tristan, right?"
Tristan
"Yep. And you're Zac, yeah?"
Once they'd reached the stall, Tristan went behind the counter and bent down to retrieve her bag. When she stood again, another girl dressed in much of the same outfit had arrived.
"Hey Clo," Tristan greeted.
"Hey Trizzy," the other girl said, starting to take her bag off her shoulder. "Busy?"
"Yes and no," Tristan replied. "Catch ya."
"Bye!"
Tristan grabbed her jacket from the back of the chair and walked back over to Zac.
"Ready."
Zac
"Nifty," Zac replied. "There's a little cafe in the arcade I like to go."
He pointed his hand in the general direction and started leading the way.
"You work here often?"
Tristan
"Sorta. It depends on what I'm promoting each week. I generally work for the promo agency on Thursday and Friday nights, and Saturdays. Then I have school, and another job all to fit in as well."
Tristan smiled and shrugged.
Zac
"Ahh okay," Zac nodded. "What are you studying?"
They rounded the corner and closed in on the cafe.
Tristan
"Majoring in Finance but minoring in a Small Business degree," Tristan said, following him in the direction of the cafe.
"Keeps me fairly busy. What do you do?"
Zac
"Cool," Zac replied. "I'm in a band. And CEO of a record company. I rock - literally."
He grinned at his own joke and closed the distance to the cafe.
"Table for two, thanks," he said.
The waitress nodded and showed them to a table, and gave them menus.
Tristan
"Awesome," Tristan said, perusing the menu.
"I would love to be so set in a job right now, but school is my most important priority at the moment."
Zac
Zac nodded, understanding.
"Yeah."
He was tempted to ask more, but decicded that would be intruding. Especially considering they only just met!
"Anything jumping out at you? I'm happy to get you lunch as well as coffee. Assuming you drink coffee, that is."
Tristan
"Hmmm, yeah, lunch sounds good."
Tristan kept looking at the menu, sneaking glances at Zac every so often.
Hey, he was hot.
Zac
"Nifty," Zac replied.
He scanned the menu for a couple of minutes, then put it down on the table.
"Eh, I'm going to be boring and just get my usual."
Tristan
Tristan laughed.
"Fair enough. Hmmm, I might have a burger. I am the hungry child today."
Zac
Zac nodded.
"Cool."
He cranned his neck to see if he could see the waitress to signal her. He managed to meet her eyes and waved. She returned to their table.
"Ready to order?"
Zac gestured for Tristan to place hers first.
Tristan
Tristan ordered, and then handed the waitress her menu.
Her phone rang while Zac was ordering, so she excused herself to go answer it.
Zac
Zac gave his order of a toasted tomato, cheese and bacon sandwich and a chocolate thickshake. After the waitress left, Zac looked around to see if he could see Tristan outside. He did spot her, and couldn't help admiring the view.
"Oh no, Zacky-boy. Yes she is hot, but no you may not pursue. Even if you guys stay in contact after this meeting you may not pursue. Pursuing generally ends in kids and you have enough. Remember Elektra," he told himself firmly.
Tristan
Tristan hung up and then came back into the cafe and rejoined Zac.
"Sorry about that, just work."
She smiled sweetly at him.
Zac
Zac nodded.
"No problem," he replied. "You get much work through the agency?"
Tristan
"A fair amount. Some of it is just modelling shoots though."
Tristan tucked her phone back into her bag.
Zac
"So you do actual clothes modelling too?" Zac inquired.
He wondered if she might know Isaac's underwear modelling girlfriend Nikki, and decided that the odds were against it.
Tristan
"Time to time. I did a lot of actual modelling in high school, and I got accepted into a program in Japan for it, but I turned it down to go to college," Tristan said.
She wondered vaguely why she was telling him all of this. But he was very easy to talk to.
Zac
Zac nodded.
"Cool," he replied. "My brothers and I - they're who I'm in the band with - are working on recording our next album at the moment. Hoping we're going to be doing some promoting of our own before the year is over."
Tristan
"Awesome," Tristan said.
She looked up as their food arrived.
"Thanks," she said to the waitress.
Zac
Zac thanked the waitress also, and looked down at his food in delight.
"Ahh, marvellous," he said, picking up his sandwich.
He took a nice big bite and chewed enthusiatically.
Tristan
Tristan took a bite of her burger, chewed and swallowed, before speaking again.
"So have you lived in Tulsa your whole life?"
Zac
Zac shook his head.
"No. Well, mostly. But my family lived in Argentina for a year. And we've spend a good deal of time touring. And in LA recording albums and stuff. But Tulsa's always home. You?"
Tristan
Tristan took a sip of her drink before answering.
"I've lived in Tulsa for two years now. Lived in LA for five years, and before that, Italy."
Zac
"Awesome," Zac replied.
He took a bite of his sandwich and chewed and swallowed it before asking the next question:
"So, boyfriend?"
Tristan
"I had a bit of an on/off thing a few months ago, but I finally cut the cord."
Tristan smiled.
"Girlfriend?"
Zac
"I'm married to an alien, if that counts," Zac replied, completely sincere. "She's blue and has tentacles."
He waggled his eyebrows and laughed.
"Just kidding. I don't have a girlfriend."
Tristan
Tristan smiled slightly at his admission. She wondered vaguely if it was true that he was an alien. But she wasn't going to say anything just yet.
"I'm going to marry an alien," she said, jokingly.
Not that she was joking. She really was aiming to marry one. Less trouble with keeping secrets, that way.
Zac
"Any particular species?" Zac asked. "Klingon? Vulcan? Dathrian? Wookie?"
It was probably a silly thing to do, but he couldn't help throwing 'Dathrian' into his list of fictional alien species.
Tristan
"Dathrian or Semirellian, I'm not picky," Tristan said, her tone still light, so that if he wasn't actually who she thought he was, she could pass it off as a joke.
Or she could just run like the wind.
Zac
Zac's interest was peaked.
"What about a Dath/Sem hybrid? Best of both worlds?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows.
Tristan
"True, but it's harder to meet Sem's... with the Dathrian fertility after all."
Tristan finished off her burger.
Zac
"This is true," Zac mused.
He slurped up some of his thickshake.
"So, if you were an alien, what would you be?" he asked. "I'd be... a Dath I think. With the ever so fun power of temperature manipulation."
Tristan
Tristan wondered if now they should just admit they were aliens. Because it was getting slightly obvious.
"I'd be a Dath too, I think. With a pretty rare power... maybe Smoke Screen."
Zac
"Smoke Screen?" Zac repeated. "Now that's an interesting power. How does that work?"
He ate the last of his sandwich.
Tristan
"I imagine it would work by clouding any of the 5 senses."
Tristan sipped her drink.
Zac
"Huh," Zac considered. "Interesting."
He drank some more of his thickshake.
There was silence for a time. What do you talk about with someone you've only just met?
Tristan
"So, what do you do for fun?" Tristan asked.
She pushed her plate a little bit away from herself.
Zac
"Video games," Zac replied promptly. "And computer games. Mario is very cool."
He nodded.
Tristan
"You have any new games? I was really into Halo 1 and 2, and now I'm just kinda playing it until I find a game I like more."
Tristan wondered if she really should be revealing her nerdy side to a guy she'd just met.
Scratch that, to a Hanson.
Scratch that, to ANYONE.
Zac
Zac chuckled.
"Well, no new games, exactly. I recently acquired Neverwinter Nights and all its expansion packs, so, that's new to me, but it has been around for awhile."
Tristan
"Oh cool, I've seen that around, one of my brothers has it, but yeah, I've never sat down and played it."
Tristan looked up as the waitress came over to collect their empty plates.
Zac
"Cool," Zac replied.
The waitress (in addition to taking their plates), left the bill on the table. Zac reached over and picked it up.
"Well," he said. "Thanks again for returning my wallet."
Tristan
"It's no problem, really," Tristan said, pulling out her own wallet and opening it, intending to pay her share.
"I suspect you would've noticed sooner or later."
Zac
"Oh no you don't," Zac objected, waving her hand away. "This is my treat. You're not contributing one penny."
And he stubbornly refused to let her see the total on the bill.
Tristan
"Oh you can't do that," Tristan protested.
She tried to swipe the bill from him, a cheeky smile on her face.
Zac
"I can and I will," Zac replied. "This was my thank you lunch for being an honest girl and returning my wallet without stealing anything from it. Honesty is a very hard thing to find these days."
He nodded.
"And, plus, we'd only just met and I have no idea what your financial situation really is, and for all I know you would never have eaten here if I hadn't brought you and I don't want to to feel obligated to pay for food you don't really have the money for in the circumstance that you may be hard up. And there's no point in arguing with me because I will win! Ha!"
Tristan
"Well, when you put it that way it just sounds so logical and I have to agree... plus, I get the feeling I can't disagree because you'll just come up with something equally logical and or insane."
Tristan nodded.
Zac
"And I will. I'm famous for it," Zac agreed. "Okay, actually I'm famous for being in a band. But I'm famous with my friends and family with coming up with logical and insane stuff."
He stood up then, and held his hand out to her.
"Well," he said. "It's been nice chatting with you. Maybe we'll bump into each other again sometime."
Tristan
Tristan stood and shook his hand, giving him a friendly smile.
"If I'm lucky."
She picked up her bag and edged out from behind their booth.
"Thanks for lunch, Zac."
And with a wave and a smile, she was off.
Zac
Zac waved back and then went up to the counter to pay for everything.
He wondered if he would ever see Tristan again.