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 Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2013 7:17 pm
If she had been any other woman, she'd have been thrilled to have Valentine's Day off. Nick, however, was not simply any other woman. She had absolutely no love life and unlike many of the single women in their early thirties she actually preferred it that way. Unfortunately, her mother was another story and the first thing she'd heard this morning was the following: Nicole Abigail Walter! You are not getting any younger, and I'd actually like to meet my grandchildren before I die!
A completely dead pan expression covered her face when she replied with a simple 'I love you mom' before hanging up the phone. She wasn't going to let it continue past that because she knew exactly what would follow it. She'd ask if any of the men at work were nice, ask her if her partner was married and then when all else failed she would inquire about that one boy she dated back in university. It wasn't like her eldest brother wasn't getting married this spring! There would be plenty of babies on the way, and yet she didn't bug any of them about it. This was clearly harassment.
She didn't let it ruin what was clearly going to be a fantastic day though. She had heard about this diner that apparently made absolutely jaw-dropping pies and she was going to finally taste for herself. She had ordered a simple strawberry pie exactly a week in advance, and mmm mmm mmm was she ever looking forward to sinking her teeth into it. It would make the perfect breakfast, and then finally after making her bed, showering, getting dressed and then re-organizing the kitchen Nick was on her way at a reasonable 7:30. It was little later than she'd intended to leave but she decided it would be a good time to wipe the top of the cabinets as well. Frankly? The dusting cloth might have had a speck or two on it.
The drive was short in retrospect given traffic in the city sucked and trying to get off Main St. at 7:40 in the morning was like drilling into a diamond. She was patient though, and finally Nick found herself pulling up into a parking spot and stepping into the diner. The door chimed expectantly, alerting the diner that someone had arrived. It was a good thing it did too because frankly she was ******** short.
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Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 6:05 am
Seven in the morning and Noah was already exhausted. Well, technically it was exhaustion left over from the rest of the week and the ongoing grogginess that still managed to persist even though he'd been in the building for two hours already.
And his produce order was totally late. Which wouldn't have been a big deal for most places except he kind of needed to start baking hours ago and he had no produce.
"Yeah, yeah I get that, but man, you are so ******** me over," He hissed into the phone through gritted teeth as he at tried his hardest to pay attention to behind the counter duties as the breakfast rush tail ended on through.
He glanced up when the door signaled another customer and he waved her around to go find a seat, making the assumption she was just here to grab breakfast.
Because who came to pick up pie at eight in the morning?
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Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:39 pm
Nick would argue that it was not quite seven nor was it eight but thankfully for all of mankind she couldn't read minds. She liked to think she could though, especially when on the subject of their wants/needs. Don't say a word baby, she knows what you need. Casually her needs crossed her mind as her eyes observed the dinning area when Noah made the suggestion she sit down. She would have if she was interested in ordering breakfast but she'd already placed her order and now she just sought to claim it.
A bounce across the floor that read confidence, she stood in front of the counter in the blink of an eye.
"Good morning," she said, definitely a little too perky for what was not even eight in the morning. She waited a moment, observing him on the phone with patience and respect. "I'm just here to pick up my pie, take your time."
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Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 10:34 pm
Noah did a double at the perky woman suddenly at his counter, glancing her up and down before something was said on the phone that distracted him away from whatever thoughts he was having about her. "Look, I don't care," He huffed, clearly exasperated by the topic.
He certainly didn't want her to stand there waiting while he argued with his produce guy, though.
He absentmindedly glanced at the stickers containing the names and order numbers of the various people scheduled to pick up pies today. Slow day. Only four, and only one was a woman's name.
So logically he passed over the one being picked up by 'Walter' and grabbed an Emily Durnst's waiting raspberry pie, tagged it as received and slid the box towards her with a silent nod and a smile that was straining to be polite even though he was just trying to get her taken care of and gone before some garbled yelling made him turn back to the phone conversation yet again.
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Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 12:11 pm
Ms. Walter took the box with understanding and began to head out but stopped at what seemed to be a sudden change of heart. Another waitress free, she caught her attention and asked if she a cup of coffee at this table for two. She couldn't resist! She'd been told that this was the best pie and to simply wait to try it now that she had it seemed pointless! In fact, so excited she didn't even cut a slice out of the pie. Nope, she just dove her fork into the top and took out a nice big piece before slipping the fork into her mouth.
It was delicious, her eyes widening with what was definitely joy. Shoveling pie into her mouth, her manners were surprisingly proper given the situation. If anyone looked on, they probably just assumed this poor woman had no date for Valentine's Day and was soothing her worries with a pie like a tub of ice cream. This pie wasn't about to make her fat and instead of fattening it tightened. Perhaps not what any woman had in mind: Her throat tightened, and her eyes got even wider as she realized something was wrong.
Her hands hit her chest, thinking maybe food was simply stuck but finally looking into the deep red pie, she realized that it was not simply strawberries in there. Her hands rose to her throat, feeling the swelling with disbelief. No wonder it tasted so good, it was the forbidden fruit: Raspberries. She was severely allergic to raspberries.
Oh God, oh God. Anaphylactic shock was not pleasant in any situation and the woman immediately leapt to to her feet, only to stumble back with her hand landing on the chair from the tightening in her throat. She remembered this feeling, having experienced it once as a child after picking raspberries with her grandmother. Insisting they wash them first, her grandmother had told her not to eat any but one or two wouldn't hurt, right? Wrong. She landed herself in the hospital and nearly died. Mind you, she never snuck a bite again when someone told her to wait.
It wasn't long before she slammed her hands onto the counter Noah was at, her body almost falling on top of it. She tried to speak but all that came out was a wheeze, a very hoarse whisper.
"911," was all he might have possibly heard.
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Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2013 12:41 pm
Noah's brow knit as he watched the woman practically fall on his counter. Something was clearly wrong, and he pulled the phone away from his ear and hit the hang-up button in mid conversation before he even registered the hoard whisper.
It felt like a half second that went on forever before he shouted the demand at a server by the phone to call 911, and grabbed the slumped woman.
"Do you have an Epi-pen? Can you breath?" s**t, s**t s**t. The last thing he needed was someone dying in here. "Lay down. Are you going to lose consciousness?" Please don't, he had no idea what to do otherwise.
But as badly as he wanted to retreat and have a panic attack, it was apparently at odds with some uncontrollable want to fix her right now, even if that was as implausible as asking her lay down so she could breath while also maintaining an awkwardly tight grip on her arm.
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Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:25 pm
Her body slid off the counter, down the wall, and then onto the floor before Noah even told her to lay down. She could register what he was saying but she was fighting panic here as her throat continued to close itself off tighter and tighter. Being the kind of woman she was, of course she had an Epi-pen. In fact, she had two: Safely tucked away in her car. There was no way she would be able to describe her car to him, let alone inform him where she had them stashed.
"I..." she said in a raspy voice. She was trying to say something but it wouldn't come out. She needed to tell him right now but her attempts were bringing up only silence. It was definitely high on the possibilities list that she would lose her breath and consciousness in the next couple minutes and the first item on the list was crossed out when her throat finally closed over. She tried to grab a breath and it was obvious by the expression on her face that she couldn't breath anymore. She couldn't tell him now.
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Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:57 pm
Noah was in a full on panic, scrambling to catch her and... totally missing. Just by a smidge! She couldn't breathe, like she was going to care about a mild bump on the head, pft.
His cook had already indicated behind the counter 911 was on the way but she couldn't breath right now.
He was trying to cycle through first aid training. You do the-- wait. He was trying to lift her head as gently as possible when someone who was far more astute than him with a smart phone shouted something about CPR.
Noah looked a bit lost, but no one else was stepping up and the noise she made-- or did he imagine that?-- managed to push him into totally ungraceful and spastic action as he started chest compressions the best he could. It wasn't working, and his training, being about a decade old, went to the old standby of mouth to mouth which was just so awkward he was thankful to hear ambulance sirens so he didn't have to inflict himself on her any more.
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Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 7:16 pm
The sound of the sirens blurred into the background as she felt Noah's hands on her chest. The pressure felt odd, but her eyes soon focused in on his face as it got closer and closer until it was then against her own. Awkward for him? It was so embarrassing! She was here on his floor unable to breathe and now her mother's Valentine's Day wish was coming true in a rather sick way: A man's lips were on her own. Her mother would never let it go as simply CPR, and surely at this very moment there were doves and stars in the background. Probably. Maybe. Actually, there was a good chance the lack of air was getting to her.
Thankfully for the two of them the bell on the door dinged as the emergency medical technicians rushed in.
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Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 5:09 am
Ugh, that was awful, though Noah probably didn't find the same specific things as uncomfortable as she did.
No he definitely didn't, because his discomfort came from nearly killing a woman with pie and then having to do asspulled CPR from whenever forever ago and do chest compressions on a tiny frame he was absolutely positive he was going to break before he did anything to help her breathe.
He bounced back to make way for the EMTs. And when they took her away, he just about collapsed on the floor, not even caring to avoid embarrassing himself in front of the gathered customer base.
Worst. Valentine's day. Ever.
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