Chapter 36: Chapter thirty six

Drayton

“When you said ‘working in a coffee shop’, I had no idea this is what you meant.” Arielle said as she dragged her gaze around with a horrified expression on her face.

I couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction. I'd brought her to the place I work, Chuck's chocolate shoppe, to see if Chuck would be willing to hire her.

But he hadn't come in today, neither had Brett, my other co worker. Suzanne was the only one attending to customers.

Since my shift wasn't starting yet, I decided to sit with Arielle and have a cup of coffee while waiting for Chuck to arrive.

“What were you expecting?” I asked, taking a sip from my coffee.

Her eyes finally dropped to me and hardened.

“I don't know. Maybe a big company where they make coffee beans for example. Not this.” She said quietly.

But she wasn't very quiet because Suzanne heard her and glanced our way. More like glared at Arielle.

The barista didn't like her, that much was obvious. I had no idea why though. Suzanne was one of the sweetest I know.

She's the one who helped me more when I first started working here. Unlike

Brett, who was quite content with letting me spill coffee over. So if Suzanne didn't like Arielle, there's probably a good reason for it.

I waved at Suzanne from where I was sitting. She simply rolled her eyes and walked away to attend to a customer.

“Well, Frozen, maybe you need help with your understanding of the English Language too. How about we take that during our next tutoring session?” I smirked at her.

She straight up glared at me. If looks could kill, I'm pretty sure I'd be well into the ground by now.

“Just because you're tutoring me doesn't give you the right to throw it in my face.” She said.

“I'm the tutor. I make the rules, which means I can do whatever the hell I want. Unless you want me to pay a visit to dear Ms Brown. I'm sure the counselor would love to hear about how our tutoring is going.”

Her lips curled into a snarl which I returned with a wide grin. I'm pretty sure it annoyed her more. But she must have realized she couldn't do anything about it because she averted her gaze.

Her eyes landed on Suzanne's who leveled her with a glare.

“She doesn't like me very much, does she?” Arielle asked.

“You're not exactly very easy to like.” I shrugged.

For some reasons, that made her chuckle.

“Please, I'm very likeable, infact I was voted the ‘most likeable personality’. A position you became sour about because you didn't get.” She smirked, her arms folded.

I shook my head.

“It was a very mediocre position. Who cares about personalities anyway?”

“People do, Dracula. They just do.” She sunk back into her chair, returning her gaze to Suzanne. “I don't think it's me. I think it's you.”

“Seriously? All I did was sit with you and I'm suddenly the reason she doesn't like you? Talk about being grateful.” I scoffed.

“Exactly. Maybe she doesn't like that I'm sitting with you, probably because she likes you. Maybe she thinks we're on a date or something. Although, that would have been extremely ridiculous.” She chuckled.

“First, no, Suzie doesn't like me. At least, not in the way you're thinking. And what's so ridiculous about being on a date with me? I'm a catch, everyone knows that.”

I had no idea why those words made my guts twist in an unexplainable way. Why would she think being with me was ridiculous?

“Ew, gross. Why would I ever go out with you? We don't even like each other.”

Because you've etched yourself so deep into my skin that I can't get you out no matter how much I try. Because I've done so many crazy and twisted things for you, but I didn't regret any of them and would do it again in a heartbeat. Because you infuriate me so much that you consume all my waking thoughts. Because–

I stopped myself from finishing that trail of thoughts. I didn't want to go down that line of thoughts because I knew I wouldn't like what I discover.

“The same reason everyone wants to. I'm very handsome and equally charming. And I'm also a generous lover. Wanna find out if that's true?” A smirk tugged at the corner of my lips as I watched a hint of red staining her cheeks.

“No, thank you. Hard pass.” She rolled her eyes.

I almost laughed at her attempt to hide her blush. I wanted to tease her further about it and watch her turn red.

Arielle might be an infuriating human being, but she's certainly cute when she wants to be. There's a reason why she's the Arielle McAlister, and it's not only because of her father's name.

Wait.. what just happened? Did I just call her cute in my head?

Oh, just kill me already.

“D, you're up. I'm going for my break.” Suzie yelled from behind the counter.

I was so grateful for the interruption that I almost jumped from my seat and sprint towards her. I made a point to prepare her favorite chocolate latte for her later.

“D? Seriously?” Arielle scoffed, all traces of the earlier blush disappearing. “She totally likes you. And what an awful nickname?”

I couldn't resist messing with her one more time.

“Are you jealous of the attention I'm getting, Frozen?”

She let out a soft laugh. I knew it was supposed to be mocking but I found the sound endearing instead.

I'm so done for

“Me? Jealous of you? Please.” She chuckled.

It was my turn to laugh now.

“Only Suzie and Brett calls be D. They're the only ones who knows my real name. And Chuck obviously. Suzie goes to our school actually.” I said while walking towards the counter.

“Really? No wonder she looks so familiar. I must have seen her a few times. Is she in our class?” She asked.

“She's a junior. A scholarship student.”

She nodded, a thoughtful expression on her face. She was probably trying to remember where she knew Suzie. She shook her head.

“Anyway, why are they the only ones who knows your name?” she asked.

“You think people won't freak out if they hear Jonathan King's son is pouring their coffee?” I arched an eyebrow.

“Well, that makes sense. What name do you go by?”

“Darien.” I said as I tried my apron.

She snorted.

“Darien? Seriously? You couldn't choose less boring name.”

“Hey, it's not boring. And if you wanna work here, you have to do so under a fake name too.”

“It wouldn't work for me.” She shook her head.

“It worked for me. Why wouldn't it work for you?”

She sighed and leaned against the counter.

“Your family is private. Well, as private as someone born in our world can be. It's not the same with mine. My face is literally plastered on every blog post. And I'm currently trending as the sick girl. Someone will figure it out.”

She tried to play it off as casual but I could hear the pain in a voice at the last sentence. And i wish I could go back in time and burn Charles with the car for being the cause of that pain.

“That's the beauty of it. No one would ever expect to see Arielle McAlister working in a coffee shop. You could play it off as being her doppelganger.”

Her face lit up.

“I can't believe I'm saying this, but that is a very smart thing, Dracula.”

“Aw, I'm so glad to hear you finally agree that I'm way smarter than you.”

She glared at me, but I could see the smile she was trying very hard to fight.

“Jerk.” She muttered and turned her face away.

For some reasons, I want to commit that image of her relaxed face to memory. The wonder on her face as she looked around the shop. The hint of excitement. Arielle might never admit this, but I could see she was excited to start working.

“So what do we do while waiting for the boss?” She asked, turning away from the crowd.

Just as she said that, a customer walked in through the doors. She came straight to the counter. I straightened my back ready to take her orders.

“Until then, we pour coffee.” I said.