A shoulder to lean on if truly needed {Declan}

Yvette was making herself busy around the Leaky finishing cleaning up. She was wearing black dress pants with a mint green v-neck t-shirt with a pair of black tennis shoes. She had cleaned all the tables with cleaner then swept and mopped the floors, she moved quickly and with efficiency that comes from doing it often. She put the broom and mop away before moving behind the bar. Looking around at everything there and made sure there was no trash in the trashcan. She saw there was some glasses that were dirty and quickly washed them. Looking around she saw her boss Declan who looked like he was distracted. She thought he was handsome and very kind but lately she was concerned because he always seemed like he was off. 

She walked over to him to attempt to see if anything was wrong. Hesitating slightly before she tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Declan sir? Are you alright? You seem kinda distracted tonight." She said softly looking at him with concern in her eyes. She didn't know what was bothering him but she hoped that she could help him. She didn't know how she would be able to but, she knew that she would help however she could. "Sir is anything I can do to help?" She asked tentatively not wanting upset him in case he didn't feel like talking to her. They were the only ones left in the pub considering the other server left and the cook had left as well.

They needed to order new shipments tomorrow. That's what he should have been focusing on, really, and although Declan was fully aware of that fact, he had been staring at the paperwork for far longer than he should've. Perhaps that's why he was interrupted by one of the waitresses. The first thing he did was furrow his brow, thoroughly amused by the fact that anyone would call him 'sir.' To be fair, he was older than nearly all of his employees, so that was probably just their attempt at being respectful. But he definitely did not hear it very often, and it brought a bemused smile to his face as he turned to look at her.

She was right, of course. Distracted wasn't even the half of it. For a moment, he actually wished that he were more the type to just lay out his problems for whoever would listen. Unfortunately, it would take a bit of talking around the actual issue for him to finally give in and just admit it all.

"Ah, yeah," he conceded, giving a sort of reluctant smile. "I guess that's a good way to say it. Distracted. But, I should mention, you're more than welcome to just call me Declan."

Yvette wondered what was troubling him that caused him to be distracted. "I'm here if you want to talk," She said softly when Declan stated that he was distracted. She smiled softly when he said that she could call him by name. She knew he was probably one of those kinds of guys who didn't talk about his problems. She definitely wasn't going to push him to talk either but she was concerned about him. "I'm gonna go finish up," She said not knowing what to say to him. She squeezed his shoulder softly before turning away.

She walked over to the other side of the pub to clean the tables over there that she was sure she missed. She hummed softly to herself getting lost in cleaning everything. Then without a conscious thought she sang softly to herself. With the pub being empty her voice could be heard easily. The song she sang was about second chances and moving on from where she once was. She stopped singing once the tables were clean and everything in the dining area was clean.

Turning around she looked around the pub to see if she missed anything. She looked over at Declan worriedly as she walked over and hopped on a stool in front of him. "Everything in the dining area is clean and all the trash is done. Oh and..." She said as she pulled out a piece of paper out of her apron holding it out to him. "This is from Bella, it's the things she needs in the kitchens. She wanted me to give it to you because she was in a rush to get back to her daughter Rose."

Declan wasn't the most outgoing man in the world, unfortunately. So when she laid down her offer and turned away, he hesitated. His gaze returned to the paperwork in front of him. But she started humming to herself, and then began to sing, and he couldn't hide the smile that pulled at his cheeks. Pulling out one of the bar stools, Declan sank onto the seat and mused that, even with a simple life, this woman found the craic* without much effort at all. He was actually jealous of her, he realized.

She sat down next to him, and he looked up, eyebrows raised when she offered him the paper. "Yeah, of course," he nodded, reaching out for it.

He hesitated for a moment, but tilted his head to look at Yvette properly. "I'm gonna have a drink. You want anything?" Delcan asked, standing to move and reach for a glass. "I'll wash it and everything," he offered with a smirk. As he reached for the bottle of whiskey, he added quietly, "You were right, by the way. I really should talk about it. I'm just not usually very vocal with things like this, so you'll have to bear with me for a bit."


*In Irish, "finding the craic" means finding the fun in life.

Yvette smiled softly when he took the piece of paper from her. When he asked her if she wanted a drink she thought about it a moment. "Yeah I'll have anything that's there," She said then laughed when he said he'd wash it. "Well if your offering to wash them," She grinned at him trying not to laugh some more. She heard his next words and understood completely about not being able to vocalize it. "Okay, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I just wanted to see you smile again. Sometimes you smile at people but it doesn't reach your eyes. When you really smile, it shows in your eyes and it makes you even more handsome."

She blushed at her last comment telling him that he was more handsome when he smiled. She looked down trying to avoid his gaze because she's never spoke like that out loud. She knew that her face had to be bright red from embarrassment about voicing her opinion of his face. However she was going to wait for him to speak and she hoped he wouldn't bring up what she said. She bit her lower lip softly as she stared at her hands which laid on the bar.

He wanted to talk about it, really. He knew he ought to, even if that didn't mean he was thrilled about the idea of giving up part of himself to this woman who he wasn't sure could say she understood. But she was nice enough, right? He let out a little sigh, opening his mouth to explain a little bit about why he was so off lately. But then she spoke and he blinked down at the glasses on the counter. This was the second time he had been stopped mid-pour by comments made by a woman. Last time, it had been a question of why he was interested in her. Now, it was a sort of subtle implication that this other woman might have an interest in him.

His mouth closed, and he stared at the glasses, grateful that his back was to Yvette, if only because it would be less obvious that he was astounded by her opinions. It wasn't, really, that he felt like her words couldn't be true. Declan had been told he was good looking. That didn't make him cocky, though. It always surprised him when women felt comfortable enough to tell him they thought as much about him.

Declan glanced over his shoulder, catching her embarrassment, and turned back to his endeavor to pour them up something to drink. That, he felt, was better than calling her on it. But how did he now explain what was the matter? He didn't want to hurt her just by being honest and answering her question.

Picking up the glass he had designated for her, he sat it down in front of her and leaned forward on the bar across from her. "Here's the thing, right?" he began, pausing to knock back part of his drink. "Someone was staying at mine, but they hadn't been at my flat for more than one night before they took off. They left a note but it was so weird. Like, it made me nervous it was so weird. And I haven't heard from them in weeks. That's something that would bug you, right? I'm not mad to be worried, right?"

Yvette began scolding herself in her head about saying that to her boss. She never once before voiced her opinions out loud and definitely not someone she was an employee to. She was glad his back was to her as she looked up from her embarrassment. She saw that he turned back after looking over his shoulder. She breathed a sigh of relief that he didn't say anything about her face being red.

Taking the glass he sat in front of her she listened intently. Her brows furrowed in confusion as she listened. "That is very strange to leave a note after staying less than one night there. Where there any hidden meaning in the note?" She asked as she thought about it more and more. "It is something that would bug me truthfully. Not hearing from them in weeks is also equally concerning all things considered. I'd be worried too if I were in your shoes. It doesn't make sense to leave like that and leave a note then not make some sort of contact in weeks." she began pondering everything as she took a sip of her drink. She wondered what exactly might have lead them to leave like that. "Is this person close to you? Do you know of any reason that they may have left like that?" She asked trying to help him figure out what may have happened.

"Even if there was, I-... I don't know that I could have caught it. It was basically an apology, and a request that I trust them," he confided. "I'm trying to do that, truly. Trust them, I mean. But they haven't been around or dropped me any word in weeks, as I said, and it is just worrying to the point where I don't know if I should be offended because I've been blown off, or if I should be afraid that they're in trouble."

Declan grimaced when she asked how he knew the other person. He had specifically used they and them in hopes of avoiding the truth about who Dom was to him. Or, anyway, who he had believed she was. He didn't want to hurt Yvette's feelings after what she had admitted, even if he was slightly unsure if she had meant for him to hear her at all.

"Yvette," he began, his tone apologetic. "I honestly don't want to offend you after what you've just said. About me, that is... But I genuinely need advice and I would very much appreciate some from you. So, please don't be upset with me." Declan hesitated, his eyebrows pulling together in a show of how guilty he felt. He couldn't bring himself to keep quiet now that he had finally decided to trust someone with his anxiety over the whole thing, so even though he felt bad about it, he kept on.

"See, the way I see it, there are two possible reasons. Neither are great, but one is far better than the other. Dom, she-... Well, let me back up a bit and explain properly," he decided, walking around the bar to fall into the seat next to Yvette. "I met Dom last fall, and after a while, I grew to care for her. I didn't realize she wasn't the sort to have relationships, though, so I was sufficiently torn down and thus out of sorts for months. As embarrassing as that is to admit," he frowned, rubbing at the back of his neck. "But the night before she left, we both ran into trouble and I offered to let her drop by my place until it passed. I didn't expect her to ask why I care about her, though. So that was probably the start of the real issue. I explained, she yelled a lot, and I decided that I'd just drink and let her have time to think or whatever it was that she wanted to do.

"Now, Dom knows better than anyone, I'd wager, that while I do drink sometimes," he jostled the liquid in his glass a bit, "when I start drinking heavily, something is incredibly wrong. Of course, tipsy me did not register what I was doing. So she yelled more, and... I asked in probably the most bizarre way possible if she would just give it a go. The... Well, the dating thing. And she agreed. So we talked, I sobered up, and at what must have been four or five in the morning, she fell asleep. So I followed suit. Except, when I woke... she was gone," he concluded, knocking back the remains of his drink.

"The two possibilities I mentioned, however, are these: either something happened with her family - she's a Weasley, you see. Lots of weird things happening with those folks and the Potters. Or," she continued, his fingers toying with his glass in a visible show of regret for having finished it off. "Or she decided that it wasn't worth it. She isn't the first woman to do so when it comes to me, mind you." He shot her a near-smile that was thoroughly self-deprecating. "So I'm betting on the latter. But she wants me to trust her, according to the note, so... I guess at this point, I'm not sure if I should say that my girlfriend is missing, or if a girl I care about left because she didn't want me."

Yvette listened to him and wondered what exactly happened to this person. She could tell however they meant a lot to Declan and she wanted to help him in anyway she could. "Sometimes when someone leaves they forget to check in with the person they left behind. Just take a breath and try to figure out if there was anything they were trying to tell you before they left."


"It's ok Declan I'm not offended at all, I understand. This person means a lot to you and you wanna know why they left like they did. I will give you what advice I can from my own experiences close to yours." She said looking at him with a small smile. "Don't feel guilty about anything and just start from where you can and I'll see if I can help."

Yvette turned to face Declan when he walked around the bar and sat next to her. She listened intently about everything he was saying about this woman and she wondered what exactly she could say. "She was upset because you care for her and you gave reasoning because of it? Hmm it sounds like something happened to her in the past that causes her discomfort about such things. Sometimes people who have been badly hurt by someone who cares about them they tend to push away someone who wouldn't hurt them.

"Hmm that is rather odd though leaving after agreeing to give you a chance then leaving before you wake up. It doesn't make sense," She said pondering it as she took a sip of her drink. "She has to trust you enough to attempt a relationship with you. What makes me a little confused is why she would leave."

"Well maybe it was some sort of family emergency that made her leave and she hasn't had the time to get back in touch with you." Yvette said trying to put things together and not confuse him as she listened to what he said. "If you believe for one second that you think she decided that it wasn't worth it. I'm sorry sir but I would have to smack you for that." She looked at him seriously hoping he would know that she didn't think that was the problem. "I don't bet on the latter Declan. Something had to have happened that caused her to leave and it wasn't you. If she did leave because she didn't want you then I feel sorry for her. I feel sorry for her because she's missing out on a really amazing man."

Yvette truly had no idea how nearly she had guessed Dom's problems. Of course, those issues weren't Declan's to share, so he just nodded slowly and let her continue. She definitely made good points, up until she said she couldn't believe his second theory. His expression very suddenly became almost rueful -- the poor woman had no idea why he was the way he was. Of course he felt bad. But he also felt a need to be guarded.

When it rained, it poured after all. And not always in a bad way. But Declan found it incredibly ironic that, once he got Roxanne's attention, he had also wound up picking up Dom's, and now Yvette was hinting at something he never would have expected from her. He almost felt a bit guilty for not noticing before. Maybe if he had turned down the Hogwarts offer, he could have done. Maybe then, this drama wouldn't exist in the way that it did. Declan had never been one for drama anyway.

"I-" he attempted, looking down at the stained wood of his bar. He would need to fix or replace that soon, he told himself as he tried to gather his thoughts. "The thing is... Yvette, I'm not saying that because I'm fishing for any compliments, and I feel like you know that. But I don't know how to explain myself without getting all the more worked up. Honestly..? I half feel like just getting drunk and explaining the whole thing. But, as I said, that's not really my usual plan for an evening. According to Dom, though, I could do to loosen up a bit..."

Declan shrugged half-heartedly, eyeing the whiskey where he had put it back on its shelf. "It's not exactly the greatest story, though. And I'd wager you have better things to do than hear another depressing story of mine.

"Oh," he added quickly, realizing he had brushed over her reply a bit. "I do agree, by the way. At least in part... That is, I want to believe it was a family thing. I just... I wish she would let me know. That's all, I suppose, at this point."