Chapter 40 Chapter 40: A Simple Request

Chapter 40 Chapter 40: A Simple Request
Leila Ryker's POV:

I honestly didn't understand it. I didn't understand how everything we were trying wasn't breaking the bond I supposedly shared with Klay. He was way out of my league, as I am definitely sure he would never want to be with someone like me. I was considered less fortunate in my school. Especially when it came to his ex-girlfriend, Kailee. She'd drop dead.

I was just about to the door of the Copper Café when I looked inside the glass window, and I could not believe what I saw.

I scoffed to myself as I reached for the door and opened it up, pushing it inside. You could definitely hear the chime of the door as Monty looked through the window wall and nodded at me, seeing me come in.

"You're early," Monty called from the back.

"I'd rather be early than late," I called out to him as I heard the door chime ring back as it closed whenever I walked back towards the counter.

I completely ignored the person sitting in the booth right there by the door, but if there's one thing that I knew, there was no mistake in my mind that they saw me as I walked past them.

When I walked back around the counter, Kristin was already there, buzzing about when she returned with the nifty trainer hand.

"Hey girl, where you been?" She asked, walking around me and placing the serving tray back underneath the countertop where those went when they weren't being used.

"You do know I'm not supposed to be here till eleven, right?" I asked her, setting my bag underneath the shelf where the servers put their belongings, so no customer could access it.

"That's not what I'm referring to," Kristin said as she walked up and wrapped her arm around the backside of my shoulders. "You have a visitor."

When she said that, we both looked across the way to the individual sitting there in the booth by the door. They were apparently looking at a menu, but I knew they weren't paying any attention to what they were looking at.

"Yeah... So?" I asked as I turned to look at her.

She pulled her arm out from behind me as she grabbed both my shoulders from the front and turned me to face her directly.

"He has been sitting there for almost an hour," she said in a low, hushed tone.

"Are you serious?" I asked in shocked frustration. "Why would..."

I didn't finish my statement as I turned back to look at him, then reached around and placed my hands on the front edge of the counter.

Just then, Monty called from the back, saying, "Order up!"

"All right, Monty, I'll get it," Kristin said as she bumped into my shoulder.

"Go ahead and clock in early if you want," Monty called from the back as Kristin walked up to the counter with another empty tray so that she could take the next order out to the waiting customers.

I turned back to look at Monty as I nodded my head and said, "All right, I can do that. I didn't want to clock in early if I wasn't supposed to."

Just then, as Kristin walked up behind me with the tray in hand, she whispered over my shoulder, saying, "That particular individual. They said they would only be serviced by you."

My jaw dropped open as Kristin walked away with the tray in hand to go to deliver the food items to the table in question.

"Well then I guess it's settled," I said as I turned around, reached into my bag, and pulled out my half apron.

I walked into the back to clock in. As I did so, I tied the apron around my waist.

Monty called me, speaking in a lower tone whenever he said. "You seem to have an admirer."

"I'm not so sure that's what I would call it," I called back to him as I pressed the button on the machine, allowing it to punch me in the proper time.
And I placed a timecard back in the slot where it went. That's when I turned around and stood there a moment as I looked back at Monty, who was continuing to mess about the grill.

"I'll tell you what, kid," Monty said, flipping a few more items. "That particular individual... He has the means of leaving a massive tip, to treat him right."

I couldn't believe the nerve.

"Treat him right... How?" I asked, turning to face Monty with my hands perched on my hips. "I treat all my customers with the utmost respect. You should know this, Monty."

"Yes, but there's more to it than that," Monty said without looking at me entirely. "Now get out there. Go see what your customer would like. That way you can place his order and stop taking up my tables."

"All right, all right..." I said as I walked over and grabbed a water pad and pen off the table right below the time clock.

I walked back out front and out from behind the front counter without saying anything else to Monty. I didn't stop walking till I walked over to the table where Alaric was sitting there, waiting for me.

"You're a bit early, aren't you?" I asked him, causing him to look up from the menu at what was in front of him as he lightly held the menu in his hands without saying anything at that moment. "Thought you were supposed to be here till after eleven."

"I thought I would be early," Alaric said without even looking up at me once.

"That's precisely what I said," I commented, although I was a bit annoyed that he repeated my statement in a way.

He smirked to himself as I could hear his chuckle whenever he finally broke eye contact with the menu and looked up at me.

When our eyes met, it was like he had a hidden agenda. I couldn't help it as I felt the shiver run down my spine at that moment, so I shook it off just as quickly.

"Is there something I can get for you?" I asked, pulling the pad out of my apron and holding the pins so that I could write on the piece of paper.

"I'll start with a coffee." Alaric's tone was plain when he spoke.

I furrowed my eyebrows at him as I raised them just after, in a shrugging sort of way.

"All right? Is there anything else I can get you other than just the plain coffee?" I asked, writing coffee down on the order pad I held in my hands.

"That's all for now," Alaric said, laying the menu down right in front of him.

"All right then, I will be back with your cup of coffee," I said, putting the order pad back in my pocket before walking away.

When I looked back at the counter, Kristin walked up to me as I grabbed an empty coffee cup and began to fill it with coffee.

"What did he want?" She couldn't help but ask.

"A cup of coffee."