LOOKS LIKE YOU HAVE CHANGED (TAG: APRIL)

[zach]

Zach pushed open the very heavy glass door of Hart Enterprises and let it ease back into its original place as he bounced down the concrete steps of the building at oh say 8:00pm. Of course Ariel Bitch Ass Dawson would keep him late. He realized it was his job to follow her instruction and false expertise for the purposes of his internship, but at times he felt like he was getting completely taken advantage of which really pissed him off. Zach was never the type to let anyone walk all over him, but he needed to be that person here. It was a matter of keeping the internship which was something he sort of needed. Even though most of the things he was doing were very administrational desk work, it was still experience he could put on a resume in the future for a job he’d actually get paid for. But now, he’d have to walk home in the dark. He didn’t have car. Of course he didn’t have a car. His family was too broke to help him out with that, and he didn’t have an income. He lived off of what he got from his student loans and side money from his parents occasionally. But the sun was already setting and he was completely drained. All he wanted to do was sleep. But he couldn’t. He had promised Lelia that he’d meet her up at LA Fever. But that was supposed to be an hour ago. And of course Mrs. Prissy Dawson wouldn’t allow him to take his cell out at all during his shift even to make a call to someone because she had forced him to stay later. He still had to show. He’d already tried to call her, and there had been no response. He wasn’t even sure if he’d be allowed in because of his age without her, but oh well. He’d give it a go.

It didn’t take long for Zach to get to LA Fever. That was the best thing about Hart Enterprises. It was pretty much at the center of town meaning the center of everything else. Once he got there, he went in immediately and starting scanning the bar/club. The music was fairly loud, but that iddn’t really bother him. He sort of started drowning out the sound of music because it was just background noise to him. Many people were all about music; however, Zach was very much neutral on whatever was on because it went in one ear and out the other.

After not being able to pick her out of the crowd of bouncing bodies, he decided to make his way over to the bar. At least there it’d probably be a bit quieter. Plus maybe he could possibly flirt with the bartender enough to get a beer or something while he attempted to give Lelia yet another call. When Zach got there, he pulled himself up onto the bar stool and glanced over the counter at the women that were working tonight. Most of them were moving so fast it was hard to even focus on one in particular. They were quite busy for a Wednesday night. A dark haired bartender who he couldn’t really see the face of walked past him to give two guys down a shot of something. Zach raised his arm a bit and lifted his pointer finger to signal to the lady that he wanted something. “Yeah I’ll have a Miller.” Zach said as he reached into his back pocket to pull out his wallet not even glancing at the girl who he was asking to make him a drink. He was underage, but that was the fun part. Get a girl to ask you how old you are was only the beginning. From there, that was when the flirting started.

[april]

April had been incredibly busy all day as she had been at Reginald's place till about 4 and then left to start her shift here. It payed well enough and that was the most important part, because whether she was a demon or not, she still needed money to survive and eat. The music at the club had already changed over more times than she could actually count, by the time it was 8 o'clock. But, she basically stopped listening to it. That was the advantage and the disappointment of working at such a place.

Once a boy sat down at the bar and ordered for a Miller, April's radars started going into alarm mode, as she recognized that voice anywhere. It was her brother.. It was Zachary. When her colleague stopped by him and asked him his age. "Sandy, why don't you go help that customer over there?" She asked, before raising her eyebrows, but deciding there was no harm in giving Zach what he wanted, so once she placed the Miller down, she looked at him. "You better not be making a habit out of it." She told him, matter-of-factly, calmly waiting for him to notice her and the look on his face would be worth it, too. That much she knew for sure.

[zach]

”Hmm, and how old are you exactly?” The bartender asked him. Oh shit, this wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought. He was hoping he could just get away with the ID check with his good looks. Apparently not. Zach glanced at her name tag. It read Sandy, and she looked like a Sandy too. Old name to match her old age. Yeah flirting wasn’t going to be an option tonight that was for sure. Just as he was about to try a different tactic, he heard a voice from behind Sandy tell her that she, whoever she was, was going to take it from here. Zach wanted to hightail it out of there. Where the hell was Lelia? He didn’t want to get the police called on him. Yeah like that would be good especially after he and Lelia got chased right out of the center of campus by the security guard for naked fountain swimming in the middle of the morning.

Zach looked away trying to hide himself from the girl that was probably going to approach him now and start questioning him even more than Sandy was. Zach expected some questions. Some lecturing. Maybe some ‘hey get the fuck out of my bar’ sort of thing, but none of what he expected actually happened. He could hear a glass bottle collide with the bar counter in front of him. Zach moved his eyes up a bit and noticed an ice cold bottle of Miller setting there just for him. He smirked. Zach began to look up. He wanted to see who this chick was. Maybe his looks did work in his favor tonight with….his sister? Zach’s mouth literally dropped, and he was lucky he hadn’t picked up the bottle of beer yet because it would have just dropped out of his hands and spilled everywhere anyway. ”A..April?” Zach immediately felt completely stupid. How could he not know that cracky voice. She was the only person he had ever known that could actually pull it off without sounding like a really annoying girl who had just woken up. Zach glanced to his left and to his right. ”Are mom and dad with you or something?” Okay that was a stupid question. Why would they be with her? She moved out. It was maybe instinct because he hadn’t seen or heard from her in so long, and the only time he heard about her was through his parents. It was probably because he was in so much shock for him to actually be thinking clearly. To be honest all he wanted to do was hug her. She was the one person that understood him when he was younger, ADHD and all, and then she just left which made things quite hard for him. She missed quite a lot of his life, but Zach missed out on quite a lot of hers as well. ”H..How are you?” He swallowed hard. What would she do if he just reached across the counter and wrapped his arms around her? When she left, part of him thought it was because of him. Did she blame him for the family downfall? He really didn’t know. She didn’t stick around long enough for him to find out either.

[april]

April smiled as Zach noticed she had just put a bottle of Miller in front of him and when he noticed her, she just grinned. "Yes, all me." She said, feeling in a good mood, right now. She would probably be angry in the morning or something. Just not here, not now. "I don't know where Mom and Dad are, shortly before you came here, I didn't even know you were in LA." She shrugged.

"I'm doing okay. Been kind of busy with work. How about you?" April looked at him and sighed, before she leant over the bar and hugged him. "How is everyone at home?" She asked him softly, hoping they were doing okay. Hoping that they had the money that she risked her changing into a demon for.

[zach]

Zach watched her smile. Well that was a good sign. She told him that she didn’t know where their parents were at which was to be expected. Once April left, she did keep in touch but minimally, so he really shouldn’t have even asked that question. But it kind of made him a bit upset that she didn’t even know that he was in LA. He was hoping that with the calls that did go on between their parents and April, April would at least ask about him. Apparently she didn’t even do that. But at least now she was being very nice with him. But maybe that was just an act because she was in front of people. But just after she responded to his last question, she must have been reading his mind because she leaned forward and pulled him into a hug of her own. Zach gripped her and closed his eyes allowing to take a moment to remember the last memory he had of her. When she pulled away, Zach cleared his throat. ”Yeah, I’m doing good too. Just going to school and working for free,” he chuckled mostly meaning his shitty internship that he didn’t get paid for. But him being ‘good’ was definitely a lie. He was not good at all. A lot was going on with him that he wouldn’t be telling her. It would just be too hard to explain that his old time friends were also here as well as that they were all supernatural. He tried to refrain from even thinking about having that conversation with people. Nobody would believe him anyway. He nodded. ”Oh yeah. I just called mom last week. Things are still looking up for them. They miraculously found some money. I think it was shortly after you left actually.” It had come out a bit harsh, and he didn’t really mean it too. He wished he could just pretend like she didn’t just up and leave without a word, but she did and it wasn’t something he could just forget. ”So, um I didn’t know you moved here. Mom and dad told me you were somewhere out this way, but I didn’t know it was LA. What are ya doing here? I mean how long have you been living in LA?” He decided changing the subject would be the best thing to do right now.

[april]

April felt how Zach gripped her closer and smiled and once she had pulled away, she bit her lip slightly, feeling slightly uncomfortable and all the more unfair for why she had left. But she had been angry, no hiding that. And they survived well enough without her. So, no feeling guilty over it at all. ”Work shouldn’t be for free, Zach. But, by the looks of it, you’re doing okay.” She smiled and turned to another customer, that she helped quickly, glaring at the guy when he tried to make a move on her, which he quickly decided not to move on to. Then she turned back to her brother.

When she did notice something was off – she knew him well enough to see through stuff like that, – she didn’t know if she should act on it, or not. So, she decided to let it slip for now. ”That is good, then I didn’t leave for no reason.” She said, as she looked away. She had after all chosen to become a demon to help her parents’ financial status.

”I didn’t want to tell Mom and Dad, yet, where I went, because I’ve traveled so much.. I first wanted to get a proper job, before telling them.” Not that most of her travel was voluntarily. No, she had been hunted down, forcing her to move away again. And there was a big possibility that she would be forced to leave in the future again, too. Another reason why she hadn’t told anybody.

[zach]

Zach chuckled. ”Yeah, tell Hart Enterprises that. I’m interning there to hopefully get at least some experience in business, but all I’m getting is ‘hey here’s some money go get me a donut and some coffee’. I swear I know the whole menu at Starbucks now.” Zach shook his head. He was smiling but there was definitely some irritation behind his words. He glanced over at the guy trying to hit on his sister. He wasn’t liking it either. He was her brother after all and even though he was younger, he didn’t want to see her have to ward off random guys. But he saw her glare and his recoil showed him that she could obviously take care of herself. ”I’m sure you get that a lot, huh? I mean you look great, sis. All….grown up and such.”

Zach watched as April looked away after her comment. It seemed like a touchy subject for both of them, but hearing what she said really bothered Zach. He knew that April had probably left because she felt that she would be more of a problem with all of the financial troubles that Zach was causing. It was just hard to hear it from her head on especially when they were somewhere that he couldn’t talk about it that much.

When April went on to talk about her current situation, Zach decided to switch the subject as well. They obviously couldn’t get into too much detail at the moment about past issues anyways, so why bother. ”So, are you here for good now? I mean is this your current place of residency? Good ‘ol LA? Because personally I miss home.” He smiled a bit as he took a swig of the beer that April set in front of him. ”Things just seemed to be simpler out there.” He set the beer down and glanced back at April. ”So, what has been going on? I mean I haven’t seen you in ages. Where are you living? What do you do for fun around here? Who are you doing now?” He laughed especially at that last question. He was sure she’d probably be seeing someone by now.

[april]

April smiled as she heard what he said about Heart Enterprises. "That's why there's a thing as a side-job. I accompany a businessman to parties once he has to go there, pretending to be his date and all. It pays well. Half of my clothes come ftom him." Yeah, that said it better than; 'I'm sleeping with him to help him in his plan.' Zach didn't know she was a demon after all. She saw the way he looked at the guy and chuckled. "Not to worry you, but guys are like that all the time around here. You get used to it. And thanks, you look pretty good, too."

April looked at Zach. "I can probably get myself a break, want to sit down and talk? There's an empty room in the back, we could use." It was totally random, but she just wanted to talk to her little brother, tell him something about what happened to her, even though it wasn't all of it. Hell, she couldn't afford to tell him all of it.

"It's the plan, yes. To stay in LA. But you never know, it's the plan in right about every place I've been at, to stay there, I just never took the chance to actually do so." April shrugged and laughed. "I miss home too, bro." When she heard how he started asking her questions, she leant toward him and smiled, listening to every question. "Not much has been going on, or I'm not looking good enough. I still get in the occasional argument, but i try to avoid that, you know how I am. I'm staying at the appartments uptown, got my own little place there. I work most of the time, so you don't have to look at me for fun and right now? I'm working." She smirked at the last part.

[zach]

Zach raised an eyebrow as she mentioned her own side job. So she was a bartender and an escort. Sounded like she was full of surprises. Which was okay. It had been quite a long time. And people tended to change over time especially when they didn’t have family there to guide them. But what did Zach know. He wasn’t really on any special path either, so it seemed like they might be in the same boat. Although he didn’t sleep with the girl he was working for. Ugh just the thought of Ariel Dawson all up on him made him want to hurl. ”So, sleeping with your boss huh? I mean, come on, you are an escort for a guy who buys you things? He’s got to be getting some.” Yep, and there it was again. Zach sighed shaking his head. Just spewing from the mouth anything that came to his mind. Where was Jace when you needed her to totally cast a spell to put a metal plate over his lips so he couldn’t act the fool. He widened his eyes. ”So yeah, I know right. Definitely lookin’ good on my part. You know I don’t really work out as much as I used to.” He chuckled nervously as he tried to change the subject with her next comment. ”Funny, thing I know.”

Zach laughed as she answered every single one of his pestering questions. He couldn’t help it. He missed her and wanted to know every little detail about her life now. And he was pretty sure that he wouldn’t get bored with any of it like he normally did when people just didn’t shut up about themselves. She was his sister for crying aloud. So, Zach nodded when she suggested that they step away for a bit to catch up. ”You know I’m totally down if you aren’t too busy with these customers that keep eyeing you.” He chuckled as he nodded towards a guy over to the left of her. It wasn’t even the same guy as before. It was someone completely different. ”I’m not worried, I’m just being observant. But damn! You have so many admirers” Zach laughed.

[april]

April raised an eyebrow too and laughed. ”It pays well.” She simply said, not going into it too much, as it was probably just weird to talk to her brother about it, either way possible. She bit her lip lightly, as she thought about her arrangement with Reginald. It wasn’t like she was actually an escort.. Okay, maybe she was, but what the hell, it wasn’t like she had any opportunities at a normal job, with the risk of being kicked out of this one, if she were to kill any people on the way. When she heard what he said, she smiled a little and looked at him. ”Not as much, still seems to be enough.”

April laughed. ”I’m pretty sure it’s customary around here to dress like a slut, so I just do just that. Not my fault the majority of guys in here are guys.” She said lightheartedly, as most of these guys were drunk the majority of the time and weren’t to be taken too seriously. ”Don’t worry, they’ll slink off soon enough, or I’ll have the suits at the door throw them out if they get annoying. It’s just that you get way better tips if you dress nicely.” She walked around the counter and smiled. ”Come on, let’s find a booth or something.”