Chapter 21 Terrible idea that's not so terrible
Alex
Bringing Cecilia to the coffee shop was not something I ever thought of doing, but I figured that since she was aware of my job, it would be better we moved our tutoring sessions here instead of coming late everyday and risk being fired by Barry.
Cecilia glanced around the café curiously while adjusting the strap of her bag over her shoulder. Her blonde bob framed her face neatly today, and she wore one of those oversized sweaters that somehow still looked expensive.
Nancy spotted her immediately from behind the register. Then slowly looked at me.
Oh no! That look meant trouble.
I pointed at her warningly before she could say anything. She grinned anyway.
Cecilia finally noticed me standing near the counter and walked over.
“So this is where you abandon society every evening,” she said while looking around.
I scoffed. “Nice to see you too.”
“It smells aggressively like coffee in here.”
“That tends to happen in coffee shops.”
“Righttt.” she dragged her word out.
I rolled my eyes and grabbed my apron from the hook behind the counter. “I only have fifteen minutes before Barry starts yelling about labor laws again, so sit down.”
Cecilia gasped dramatically. “You’re ordering me around already?”
“You literally agreed to come here.”
“Under false pretenses.”
“You came willingly.”
“You threatened me academically.”
“That’s not a thing.”
“Well, It should be.” she scoffed.
I ignored her and led her towards one of the empty booths near the back window.
The moment she sat down, she immediately dropped her head onto the table dramatically.
“I really don't like you.”
“You say that every day.” I snorted.
She groaned. “And I mean it every day.”
I slid into the seat across from her while pulling out the notebook I’d given her earlier.
“So,” I said casually, “did you solve the questions?”
Cecilia groaned loudly without lifting her head. “You are genuinely the most irritating person alive.”
I placed a hand on my chest. “Thank you for the compliment, but that’s not an answer.”
She finally sat up and glared at me. “The third question was evil.”
I grinned. “It was basic algebra.”
“It was emotional manipulation.”
“You’re being dramatic.”
“You gave me letters and numbers together, Alex. Pick a struggle.”
I laughed quietly before flipping through her notebook. Surprisingly, she actually did the assignment. I was half expecting her to show up with an empty notebook. What wasn't surprising is that most of it was right.
I frowned slightly while scanning the page. “You got number four wrong.”
Cecilia looked offended immediately. “No I didn’t.”
“You absolutely did.”
“I used the formula you gave me.” she frowned.
“That’s exactly why I know it’s wrong.”
She snatched the notebook towards herself aggressively. “Wow. You’re such a supportive tutor.” she said sarcastically.
“I’m an honest tutor.”
“You’re a menace.”
I leaned back slightly in the booth while watching her angrily erase part of the equation.
Somehow, this had become normal now. The bickering, the teasing, the constant insults that no longer felt genuinely cruel. Somewhere between detention and deleted blackmail videos, we’d shifted into something else entirely.
Not friends. Definitely not that. But also not enemies anymore. More like annoyingly attached rivals.
Cecilia suddenly narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re staring.”
“I’m literally grading your work.”
“Creep.”
“Well, you're in my workplace so I'm definitely not creeping.”
“You invited me though.”
“That feels fake somehow.”
She grinned smugly. Before I could respond, a shadow suddenly loomed over our table. I stared up to the the huge man crossing his arms while staring down at me disapprovingly.
“Why aren’t you working?”
I turned back to the book. “I’m on break, Barry.”
Barry squinted suspiciously. “For this long?”
“Yes.” I pointed at him accusingly. “And according to employee regulations, you are legally required to give me breaks.”
Barry remained completely expressionless.
I leaned back smugly. “Workers rights matter, Barry.”
“You’ve worked here six months and suddenly became a lawyer.”
“What can I say, I’m evolving.”
“Annoying teenagers,” he muttered under his breath.
Cecilia snorted beside me.
Barry’s attention finally shifted towards her. “And who’s this?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but Cecilia beat me to it instantly. “I’m his academic victim.”
Barry blinked once and to my complete surprise, the corners of his mouth twitched upward slightly.
I stared at him dramatically. “Oh my God.”
Barry immediately frowned again. “Don’t make it weird.”
“You smiled.”
“I did not.” he grumbled, his usual stern face snapping back into place.
“You absolutely did. You never smile.”
Cecilia looked delighted by this discovery. A regular customer who has been coming to the coffee shop ever since I started working here popped her head from the laptop.
“Wait,” she gasped dramatically. “Barry can smile?” Barry glared at the poor woman and she went back to her work.
“I've been told my charm works on even the most uptight people.” Cecilia grinned.
Barry shook her head and said flatly, “I liked you better when you weren’t talking.”
She grinned proudly. “I get that a lot.”
I shook my head while fighting laughter.
“Barry,” I said, gesturing between them, “this is Cecilia.”
Barry looked at her and then nodded. “You’re rich.”
Cecilia blinked at the bluntness. Maybe I should have explained that my boss doesn't know the first thing about sensitivity or the human nature in general. How he managed to have such a thriving coffee business baffles me.
“Wow. Straight to the point.” Cecilia said.
Barry stared at her blankly.
Cecilia leaned forward against the table with interest. “Alex talks about you a lot.”
“No I don’t.” I countered immediately. I do talk about Barry but in the ways that would probably get me fired.
Cecilia seem to recognize that and planned to utilize the weapon to her advantage.
Barry raised an eyebrow slowly. “Oh?”
I glared at her, hoping she would take the hint and stopped talking. But she grinned and ignored me completely. She was definitely enjoying this.
“He complains about you at least three times a day.” she said.
Barry seem to think for a while then he muttered. “That sounds accurate,”
“He says you glare at him like he personally ruined your life.”
“I might have.”
“See?” Cecilia pointed victoriously. “I knew it.”
Barry’s gaze shifted toward me briefly before he muttered, “You seem less miserable lately.”
I blinked. “What?”
He simply stared at me blankly. Honestly, I didn't know why he was still standing here instead of going to his office or the storage room to sort out coffee beans in alphabetical order, he does it quite a lot and gets mad when Nancy and I don't do it.
Somehow the entire interaction between Barry and Cecelia felt so absurdly normal that it threw me off balance a little.
Because Cecilia didn’t belong in my world.
She belonged in giant mansions and expensive parties and perfectly curated lives. Not sitting in a booth at some tiny coffee shop arguing over algebra with me and making my uptight boss almost smile.
Barry checked his watch before glaring at me again. “Break’s over.”
Now I knew why he hung around longer than usual. I say I'm on a break and he makes sure I return to work exactly when my break ends.
Classic Barry move.
I sighed dramatically.“Capitalism wins again.”
I stood up while tying my apron properly.
Before leaving, I pointed towards Cecilia’s notebook. “Finish the last two questions.”
Her jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
“You’re giving me homework during your shift?”
“It’s called multitasking, Celia. Look it up.”
“You’re evil.” she scoffed.
“Correct.” I shrugged.
She narrowed her eyes dangerously at me. “You know, one day karma is going to humble you.”
I smirked slightly. “Probably.”
Then I headed back behind the counter before she could throw something at me.
The evening rush picked up quickly after that.
Orders came nonstop while customers packed into the café louder than usual. My eyes kept drifting towards Cecilia and every single time I looked over, she was doing something distracting.
Like biting the end of her pen while concentrating. Or muttering insults at math equations under her breath. Or glaring dramatically whenever she caught me looking.
At one point she looked up from her notebook and mouthed, “I hate this.”
I mouthed back, “Do the work.”
She flipped me off instantly.
Nancy witnessed the entire exchange from beside the espresso machine. Then slowly turned toward me with the most irritating grin I’d ever seen.
“No,” I warned immediately.
“Yes,” she replied.
I sighed tiredly while wiping down the counter. “Mind your business.”
Nancy leaned closer. “You like her.”
I almost dropped the mug in my hand. “I absolutely do not.”
“Mhm.” she made that annoying sound
“She stalked me.”
“You still brought her here.”
“She needed tutoring.”
“She’s literally laughing at your boss.”
I glanced over instinctively. Cecilia was indeed laughing while Barry looked one moment away from quitting humanity entirely.
Nancy bumped my shoulder knowingly. “You smile differently around her.”
“I don’t smile around anyone.”
“That’s objectively false.”
I focused aggressively on the coffee machine instead. Nancy continued anyway because apparently peace was illegal.
“You know,” she said casually, “for two people who claim to hate each other, you spend an awful lot of time together.”
“We’re not spending time together.”
“She’s sitting in your workplace doing homework while staring at you every five minutes.”
I frowned slightly. “She’s not staring at me.”
Nancy looked deeply unimpressed.“You are oblivious.”
I ignored her. Because honestly? I didn’t understand what was happening between Cecilia and me anymore.
One second she drove me insane. The next second I caught myself looking for her automatically in crowded rooms. Some days I wanted to argue with her forever. Other days I wanted five minutes of silence just to figure out why her smile suddenly mattered to me.
None of it made sense.