Who: Cameron and a new friend
What: Random chats
When: Wee hours of the morning
Where: At a muggle dinner



Ever since coming to England, Cameron found himself having a hard time sleeping. He wasn’t quite sure what it was, but there was just some nights his brain refused to shut off. Or he would find himself waking up at an ungodly hour, ready to start his day. At first he would just lay awake and stare at the ceiling, but that got old quick. There was only so much to see within the four walls of his room. So roaming around in the wee hours of the morning became a habit for him. There were less people around, so generally it was less stressful. And it was how he had found that little garden he had taken Nicola to.

Nicola… wasn’t she an unexpected turn of events. Had anyone ever told him that he’d be trying to win the affections of a such a high class pureblood lady, he would have laughed. But there was something more to her, he could tell. And the challenge to get her to smile, or to agree to follow him on a spontaneous adventure, it was fun. And her smile was certainly worth it. She certainly almost made him think England was worth it. He hadn’t gone home yet.

And for the most part he was sleeping better, now it was only every once in a while he found himself awake a strange hours. Like this morning, up at five am, with nothing to do. So he picked yet another direction from his apartment (flat, whichever) and wandered for a few hours until the streets started to fill with people heading to work. Then it became just a bit too crowded, and he ducked into the first diner he saw that looked decent and had an empty booth he could take up residence in.

“Oh sorry,” Cameron said when he came to the realization that the waitress had made her way to his table, and by the look on her face had probably already asked him a question. He must of zoned out once he had sat down. “Sorry, until I’ve had my morning coffee its like I was out all night counting the stars, which I may have been but that’s another story. The point is, I’m not normally this rude and could I please please have a very large coffee?”

Mattie had nearly clambered over the counter to take on Cameron’s table. She insisted to Dolly to take her break now, and that she could handle the next half an hour. For sure. How couldn’t she use this opportunity to “get to know” the bloke that she had seen/spied her sister spending a bit of time with? Mattie greeted this rather handsome bloke with the best of smiles, and laughed his apology off.

“Are you sure you don’t want a very, very large coffee?” she joked, pressing her notepad to her hip. Merlin, was he handsome or what? Mattie had only managed to keep tabs from a distance, which she wouldn’t admit out loud because that sounded strange and stalkerish, but this bloke was definitely prettier than she had imagined. Certainly pretty enough for her sister to spend more than a bit of time with.

"Counting stars, huh?" she said, eyebrows high in amusement. "All by your lonesome?"

“You would be saint, if perhaps you just brought out a bowl.” Cameron laughed, a joke or not, how early he got up was starting to set in and he would use as much coffee as possible. Looking up to the waitress, he paused for a moment. She looked incredibly familiar but he couldn’t quite place just where he would have seen her before. He was certain that this was the first time in this diner. And where else would he know her from?

He pushed the thought out of his mind when she asked if he had been on his own. He couldn’t help but smile when he thought of Nicola, and the outrage he was bound to receive if he were to ask her to join him in his late night wanderings. “Yea, all by my lonesome.” Cameron mused, and not seeing any harm in taking the bait for her question, he continued on. “You see, my--” he hesitated, unsure how to refer to Nicola. Could he consider her his girlfriend? Surely, she couldn’t have too much objection to that. Well--- “I’m new to town, and haven’t had a chance to meet too many people. My one friend, she happens to be very fond of rules, and while I haven’t a clue what they all are, I’m certain that there has to be one against completely innocent wanderings in the early hours of the morning.”

He probably shouldn’t be talking to the waitress about this. Chances were she didn’t even care, it was part of their job to be nice after all. Then again, who else was he supposed to talk to? All of his friends were back in South Carolina, and he hadn’t met all that many people her outside Nicola. He grabbed a menu from the far side of the table, with a small shrug. “It’s okay though, its when I do my best planning.”

He most certainly was new to town, listen to that accent! Mattie quickly distinguished he was from the States, which made his relationship with Nicola that much more intriguing. He didn’t seem like her type, what with his thinking out amongst the stars, but maybe her sister had changed her tune a little. Maybe. Mattie had still been too wary to actually approach Nicola, which was cowardly and foolish, but that’s where they stood. She had come to her performance in the park, which had been thrilling, so---perhaps Mattie needed to build up some nerve and actually talk to her sister.

It had to have a better outcome than keeping tabs on her and this handsome fellow, hm?

“Breaking rules is always a bit of fun, I’m sure she’ll come around,” Mattie said with a wink. She tapped her pen on her notepad, wondering if he actually needed to eat or had just wandered in here. She didn’t particularly want to do her job, right now. “Other than a tub of coffee, what else can I get you? I’m Mattie by the way, I’ll be your server---can’t forget to say that, manager might be watching.”

She was sure her manager was asleep in the back room between the boxes of shipment, but this chap didn’t need to know that.

He stared at the menu for a moment, unsure if he was actually hungry. He should eat but he wasn’t sure he could be bothered actually decided what he wanted. Giving up on the menu his attention turned back to Mattie. He studied her face, he didn’t recognize the name, but the sense of familiarity didn’t go away. “I’m trying to convince her its part of the American Charm.” Cameron said lips quirking up into a smile. I was working, somewhat. The picnic in the garden went far better than he expected it to.

And lasted considerably longer.

“I think, just the coffee.” He decided, looking around the diner to see if he could spot the manager. While mischief was fun now and then, he really didn’t want to get this waitress in trouble at work. That was neither fun nor charming. He settled back into the booth and stared out the window while he waited for her to return. Fingers tapped along the tabletop as he watched all the people on the street, and for the second time he was caught off guard by her arrival. “The patience you must have, to have to be able to deal with people practically falling asleep at your tables.”

Patience! Ha. Well, perhaps in many ways, she did, but when Mattie grew excited it was very hard to contain her urges. Placing the coffee mug (the largest she could find) in front of him, Mattie took a quick look around at the empty, desolate diner, and promptly slid into the other side of the booth. Propping her chin in her hand, she smiled sweetly.

“When you work the early bird shift, you take on the duty of waking up the masses to take hold of the day,” Mattie said. “But if you were out all night, I have a feeling you don’t have anywhere to go.”

That would not do. Unless he was stinking rich, a jobless bloke could not continue courting her sister for much longer. But, knowing Nicola, the fact that she was giving Cameron the time of day meant that he had something to offer. Maybe she just had to dig a little deeper. Mattie’s hands dropped to the table, and she drummed her palms.

“Let me guess, let me guess,” she said in a sing-song voice, “You...hit the lottery and don’t know what to do with yourself now that you’re swimming in gall---cash.” Mattie caught her slip, hoping Cameron didn’t. It was one thing for her to know he was a wizard, but she would lose all ability to spy if he realized she was a witch. “I’m already expecting a big tip, even if that’s not the case.”

Cameron smiled, amused by Mattie’s antics, not at all minding that she was sliding into the booth across from him. Busy pouring an unhealthy amount of sugar into his coffee and his mind halting at her mention of winning the lottery, he missed the slip completely. He blinked at her, as he put the sugar container down dumbly. It was an outrageous guess, she probably didn’t expect to be right.

Well, mostly right.

“An inheritance actually,” he said finally stirring his coffee and ducking his gaze slightly. He didn’t really want to admit to it, but he wasn’t much for outright lying. There was really no point not to tell her either. “It’s--- complicated, at best. But for the sake of conversation and simplicity, you’ve got it right on the nose. To be fair though, I didn’t even know what to do with myself when I was back in the States barely making enough to get by.” He sat back in the booth sipping on his coffee. Perhaps that is what kept him up at night most often, the feeling of unproductivity could keep you up til endless hours. More likely the new information that kept cropping up about his family, that left him in highly awkward situations.

“What about you? You don’t strike me as the sort whose life ambition is to wait tables at a diner. What’s the big dream? Since I’m already giving you a generous tip, I think I should get to know what I’m funding.”

An inheritance. So he was handsome and rich. And nice, it seemed! Mattie approved. Well, a pre-approval, she’d say. Who knew what this American in London could have up his sleeve. You had to be a little strange to be able to amble through the city streets late into the night, straight on ‘till morning.

Mattie hummed to herself as she decided what to tell Cameron. She had her sights set on spreading her music around the world? Perhaps she’d like to go on a worldwide tour? When Mattie thought of goals, her music wasn’t the first thing to pop into her head; it was getting back in good terms with her sister, the whole reason she’d dared venture back into the wizarding world. All this other stuff seemed to fill up the rest of the time.

She smiled, keeping her chin propped up, “I fancy myself a bit of a dreamer.” Mattie dropped her hands to the table counter and laid them flat, “I write, I sing, I do a bit of everything. Who knows where it’ll take me.”

Did that sound mugglish enough? With a wink, Mattie slid herself out of the booth and stood. The door’s bell had jingled and she could only ignore her job for so long without getting scold. “I’ll be back around if you need anything!”

Mattie twirled away, quite pleased with herself. Of course, if Nicola ever found out about this little encounter then...well...let’s just hope she never did, for the sake of Mattie’s life.