Closed Barlights

[Harper Alston]

As much as Harper had enjoyed her travels, she was glad to be back home. New Zealand was where she belonged, she'd discovered, and while she'd loved getting to meet new people, the transitory nature of those relationships had made them bittersweet. Every friend made was a friend eventually lost, and Harper had never been good at letting people go. She was, after all, the girl who had clung desperately to all her old friendships even after she'd left for a secret boarding school halfway across the country.

It was only natural then that the first thing Harper did upon returning home was make plans to see all of her friends. Tonight she was stopping by her old workplace to see Caden and give him a "gift" she'd picked up during her travels. Harper hadn't told him she would be dropping by, figuring it would be more fun to surprise him. Thankfully, she had a pretty good idea of his shift schedule (and the bar's off-peak hours), and when she entered, she was glad to see that the place was relatively empty. She headed straight for the bar and took a seat in front of him. "Hey stranger," Harper said with a grin.

 

[Caden Cavanaugh]

Life was.. not entirely going to plan. Not that Caden had a plan when he left England a couple of years ago but he did have a plan when he started working at the bar. To not work there forever. And yet here he still was. His dad had given up on contacting him quite some time ago and while his mom had still tried to get in touch with him every now and then, even after she had been kept from sending him money, it now seemed like she had decided her efforts were wasted on him as well. He knew his mom giving up on him could solely be blamed on himself and yet it stung more than he had expected it to. Perhaps he should really start to make an effort in keeping up with the friends he had made her in New Zealand if he didn't want to end up all on his own. This bar could not be the only steady factor in his social life.

Today had been one of his days to open up the bar and since peak hours were still a while away it meant he was also the only one tending to it. At least he could count on some of the regulars to not leave the bar completely empty while he had those few hours on his own. Caden had just finished serving the three regulars in the corner their drinks and was busy drying off some of the glasses he had cleaned when a figure sat down right in front of where he was working. He glanced up, ready to take an order, and was pleasantly surprised by the girl appearing in his field of view. "Well would you look at that." Caden grinned. "And here I was thinking you'd forget all about me the second you walked out that door." He joked, walking around the bar so he could give Harper a hug. He'd always know Harper would just be working at the bar for a short period of time and yet he'd be lying if he said he hadn't been disappointed when she had left.

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper's smile widened as Caden grinned back at her. Surprising him had definitely been the right decision, she decided, and she jumped up to return his hug with a laugh. "Oh, I did," she joked. "Best six months of my life. I'm actually here to see Martin," she said, referring to their famously grouchy coworker (or former coworker, in her case). "He around?" Harper pretended to search the bar for him, though she knew Martin likely wouldn't be coming in until later — if he was even still working here at all (and she hoped for Caden's sake that he wasn't.)

Sitting back on her barstool, Harper turned her attention back to Caden. "No, but seriously, how've you been?" she asked, genuinely curious to know he was doing. As much fun as bartending had been, there were a lot of aspects of the job she didn't miss — the closing shifts, the rude patrons, the messy patrons. But she had missed hanging out with Caden.

 

[Caden Cavanaugh]

Caden placed a hand over his heart in mock offense when Harper joked about the best six months of her life, yet he wasn't able to keep the act up for long and ended up snorting when she mentioned Martin. He put up a finger to indicate Harper needed to wait a second and leaned back a little as if he was going to call for someone in the stockroom. With his head still swung to the side Caden pretended to think of something before turning back towards Harper. "Nah, I just realized he won't be in for another couple of hours." He laughed. "No trash talk about Martin though, he's actually my favourite co-worker." He added jokingly. If anything, he would've given a lot to see that grouchy man go instead of Harper. Although he did wish her better things than being stuck at the bar and ending up like Martin.

He opened his mouth when Harper asked him a question before closing it again as he thought about it. How had he been? "Fine, I guess. Still here." Caden replied with a shrug before coming to a realization after what he had thought before. Oh man, what if he ended up like Martin? "Starting to think I might need a change of scenery though.." He added as he dragged his hands down his face. Bartending was fun and all but after Harper had left to work on her future he too had started wondering if perhaps he should start to actually try to create a better life for himself. "What about you though, huh? Any adventures yet? New job? Anything more interesting than me just telling you about all the people I've flirted with?"

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper regarded Caden curiously as he held a finger up. She was pretty sure this was just part of the bit, but as the moments slipped by, she began to doubt herself. It had been months since she'd quit, more than enough time for Martin to change his schedule. "Oh sh*t, is he—" she started to ask in a hushed voice when Caden revealed he'd just been joking. Harper laughed. "I can't believe I fell for that," she said with a shake of her head. Caden's next comment brought a snort of faux indignity. "You replaced me with Martin?" she asked, pretending to be wounded.

Even though Harper had had fun bartending, she couldn't imagine doing it long-term so she understood Caden's reply. Still, she had to clarify: "Change of scenery, as in a new job or a new country?" She knew Caden had done a lot of traveling before settling in New Zealand, and while she'd support him in whatever he wanted to do, she would be a little sad if he left the country right as she was returning. "Obviously nothing is more interesting than that," she said with a grin, "but Italy came close. You were right, it was a ton of fun. I did nearly fall into a canal in Venice though," she said with a laugh. "I also went to a bunch of other places. That reminds me, I have something for you." Harper started to dig through her bag, looking for the gag gift she'd gotten for him. As she searched, she continued to speak. "I'm broke now though, so I've been job hunting." She was waiting to hear back about her auror application, but she couldn't tell Caden that. "I'm also been helping my old football club again, but hopefully I'll find something full-time and permanent soon."

 

[Caden Cavanaugh]

Caden tried his best to refrain from laughing when it seemed like Harper was actually falling for his bit, snorting when he eventually revealed that Martin was nowhere in their near vicinity. "I can't believe you fell for that." He grinned in return. "And here I was thinking you were always way smarter than me." He added in a joking tone before placing a hand over his heart himself at Harper's remark. "Well I apologize, but you did leave me so I obviously had no other choice but to replace you." Would any of their other co-workers have been a better pick than Martin? Sure. Had mentioning Martin been way funnier? Definitely.

"New job." Caden nodded in response to Harper's question. "I've actually grown quite fond of this country, y'know? Met some good people. Don't think I could just up and leave." He explained with a small smile. Not that he'd even have the money to move to a different country. That ship had sailed and by now had ended up lost at sea. Still, he was glad Harper had gotten to travel. Enjoy different countries. He had lived that life and while he couldn't help but to miss the riches every now and then things weren't all too bad. Not living as a spoiled rich kid seemed to make it slightly easier to make real connections with people. "Wouldn't have been surprised if you told me you did." Caden laughed when she mentioned Venice, already picturing the image in his mind. He raised his eyebrows when she mentioned she had something for him but didn't pry as she started looking through her bag. "That's cool." He nodded at her talking about her job hunt. "Anything specific you're interested in doing?"

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper gave Caden a look of faux hurt as he laughed. "I guess my mistake was trusting my friend," she retorted before laughing herself. Looking back, it was pretty obvious that he had been pretending. "Okay, fair. I'd probably do the same," Harper said with a grin. Bartending hadn't been the worst job — far from it — but the long shifts and rude patrons (and coworkers) had definitely been made more bearable by having a friend to share shifts with. She'd felt a little bad about leaving Caden to deal with all that by himself.

She nodded at Caden's answer. "Yeah, New Zealand's pretty great. Much better than England," she joked before giving him a sincere smile. "But yeah, that makes sense." She'd struggled leaving behind all the fleeting friendships she'd made during her travels. She knew if she were him, she would have a much harder time leaving a place where she'd spent three years. "Do you know what kind of job?" she asked curiously. At Caden's comment about her near Venetian disaster, Harper gave him another mock affronted look. "Hey, are you calling me clumsy?"

At Caden's question, Harper kept her gaze down on her bag, suddenly grateful for the distraction. "I'm not sure," she said slowly. She couldn't tell him the truth, of course. Even saying NZSIS, the muggle equivalent to the kind of auror work she wanted to do, would raise eyebrows. "I've always thought being a private investigator would be cool." That was a close enough equivalent. Harper was relieved when she finally found the present, and she pulled out a small bottle of liquor with a ribbon wrapped around its neck. "Here," she said, holding it out to Caden and trying not to smirk too obviously. "Picked it up in the States." It was a bottle of Malört, a notoriously bitter liquor that was near impossible to find outside of Chicago. She thought it an appropriate prank gift, considering how they'd become friends.