entertainment • a. knight

𝐈𝐕 • star-struck

"OI, ERYN! QUIT DAYDREAMING, and clear table two." eryn's workmate sandra hissed at her.

eryn sighed, trudging over to the table, cloth in hand. she didn't particularly like sharing shifts, and she didn't like it even more when she was partnered with sandra. she was controlling, she never got her own work done, and found it a source of entertainment to push eryn around whilst they worked together.

cleaning tables wasn't even eryn's job, sandra was supposed to have been taking care of that whilst eryn tended to customers, but sandra daren't "mess up my acrylics" she was just very vain, and had an annoying habit of thinking every guy was after her.

eryn needed a pick-me-up, and she needed one fast, or else she was going to lose her mind. just at that moment, awsten walked into the cafe. eryn felt her cheeks warm up as he sent her a smile. her lips tugged into a shy smile, before she continued wiping down the table.

"hello, welcome to mugshotsz cafe. i'm sandra, and i'll be your waitress. what can i get a gorgeous man like yourself?" eryn heard her ask. she wasn't afraid to admit she liked awsten, even though they had never had a proper conversation. she knew it wasn't normal, and if she told anyone she'd surely get told to get her head out of the clouds. but the way sandra talked to him made her blood boil.

she watched carefully as awsten asked for a hot tea. that's new, she thought to herself. she saw sandra twirl her hair with her index finger, and bat her eyelashes; high-school flirting. eryn was a little mad about it, but she realised that sandra's methods would probably only work with teens. awsten looked at her, uninterested, before turning towards eryn, a wide smile on his face. she returned it, blushing slightly as he walked towards her.

"morning, eryn." he greeted her cheerily.

"hey, awsten." she said quietly, finding it impossible to wipe the dumb smile from her face. "how are you?"

his cheeks turned a pink colour. "i was a little down earlier, but i'm fine now." he told her, hoping she'd grasp the fact that his morning had improved upon simply seeing her.

much to his dismay, she didn't, as she spoke once more; "i'm glad it got better for you." she told him, as they fell into silence. they stood with the table between them (eryn had stopped wiping it down a bit ago) and stared at each other. not creepily, just admiring each other. they didn't find it strange, if anything it seemed natural to them.

"i'm - uh..." awsten's voice trailed off as their eyes met. he fell in love with her piercing green eyes as they checked his own out.

eryn was simply fascinated by his dual-colored irises, admiring them with a child-like wonder. she felt a little unintelligent, not knowing what caused it, but her curiosity got the better of her.

"what made your eyes like that?" she asked.

awsten smiled. "heterochromia, my love. it's a genetic mutation, and it's kinda rare."

"it's pretty. so are you." she said in some sort of trance."

he turned pink. "th-thank you. you're very beautiful, you know."

eryn opened her mouth to say something when suddenly -

"eryn! there's a customer for you, get over here!" the pair heard sandra shout.

she rolled her eyes as awsten asked, "is she your manager?"

eryn scoffed. "like hell she's my manager. sometimes i have to share shifts, today happens to be with her."

on that note, she strolled over to the counter, setting down her cloth. she entered her pin into the till, before introducing herself and asking the usual question.

awsten watched her from the table he was at, the one she had been wiping, just as sandra sashayed to his table. oh god, his subconscious thought. "hot tea for you, awsten." she said flirtatiously, as he struggled to keep himself from rolling his eyes.

"thank you." he said as she pushed it towards him. he flashed her a small smile, and pulled his notebook and pen out from his backpack.

he read through his work, thinking that sandra had gone, when she asked, "what're you writing?"

awsten sighed. "i'm a songwriter, i'm working on a new project."

"interesting." she nodded. "mind if i read?"

"i prefer to keep my work to myself 'til it's finished, so i'd rather you didn't. thanks for the tea!" he exclaimed, a hint of sarcasm laced in his voice.

he watched her roll her eyes out of the corner of his own, as he began writing again. she flounced off to the back as eryn continued talking to her customer.

he thought back to when they were just looking at each other. just watching. it was a perfect moment. awsten felt his cheeks heat up as he remembered how eryn complimented his dual-coloured eyes. everything seemed so simple, all he had to do was look into her eyes, and he was head over heels.

he picked up his pen, adding another verse to his work, the image of eryn's sharp green eyes on his mind.

he thought about if eryn would ever hear his work. he would quite like to show her one day. she stood at the till, staring out of the front window, her expression calm. he wondered if she was thinking of him, just like he was thinking about her.

as a matter of fact, she was. she thought about his brown hair, his dual-toned eyes, his picked-at nude-ish chrome nail polish, his immaculate sense of style. it took her all of her willpower not to stare at him instead.

she sighed. she was utterly smitten with him, and she was sure it wasn't healthy. another sigh. she pulled out her book from under the counter, trying to focus on the words but it was no use. it was like his stupidly cute face was tattooed onto her brain.

she glanced over to him, to find him furiously scribbling down words. she could make out that he was writing in paragraphs of sorts, but she couldn't tell what it actually was. maybe one day she'd find the courage ask him.

meanwhile, awsten was grinning. he skimmed over the bridge of 11:11, beginning to sing it softly.

"nothing's complicated if we pretend.
my favourite place to go is up into your room,
and my heavy set of thoughts evaporates all around you.
my favourite time to stare's when my eyes are on you,
you've got me feeling like a fucking love song."

he let out a little "yayy!" clapping his hands excitedly. he glanced over to his drink, seeing that there was significantly less steam coming from it. he grabbed the mug, taking a few sips, before pulling his phone out and taking photos of the pages, sending them to the band's group chat.

awsten: [two images attached]
awsten: brief structure for the first song. what are we thinking?

he set it down, humming the melody he had thought of for the song. he felt very proud of himself in that moment. it was only brief, but it was coming together relatively quickly.

incoming call
reggie

accept decline

awsten accepted instantly, putting the phone to his ear. "hello?"

"awsten, you fucker!" reggie exclaimed. "this is so sick! d'you have a melody in mind? specific instruments?"

"i have a few ideas." he said sheepishly. "more of a mystical vibe than usual."

he could sense reggie's excitement. "we can schedule a session in the studio really soon, and we can talk ideas, and build on some stuff."

"sounds good, dude. i'll see you later."

"see you, awsten."

the call ended, and awsten's face split into a wide grin. it was all coming together.