Chapter 79

Chapter 79

 
“Here’s your Macchiato, hope you enjoy it.” That was her tenth order she had given out on her first day. It was almost noon, which meant it was almost her break time. She enjoyed every bit of her work, except the part where she has to stand for hours, taking orders and making it. She loves the light pink colour shirt uniform with the grew P-cap that matched her hair. It was barely visible to people—it meant no one would nag her about her hair except she takes her hat off.
 
Elise heaved a sigh, leaning her waist on the counter as she scanned around the room. It was Monday, the busiest day of the café and it meant people were piled up, placing orders and having their breakfast before work.
 
Sarah leaned beside her. “How are you holding up?” She asked and nudged Elise’s shoulder. Elise looked at her and chuckled softly. “Better than I expected.”
 
Aaron walked out of his office, answering a call. He looks at her and nodded, smiling before looking away and heading out of the café. That made her stomach to flutter and her knees wobble. She inhales deeply and let it out, making Sarah to laugh.
 
“You really do like him, don’t you?” She raised a brow at Elise.
 
Sarah had this energy and positive ambiance toward everyone around her. She doesn’t seem to care about anyone’s opinion about her or anything. She’s kind and always smiled even now that they were having a hectic morning. It was Elise’s first day but it feels like they’ve known each other for years.
 
“He’s okay,” she said, folding her arms over her chest as she watched him walk down the street through the glass wall. She knows that she was clearly lying, it was evident on her face that she finds Aaron attractive. But she doesn’t feel him all the way in her heart. Maybe it’s just a mare crush.
 
“I thought he was your relative at first,” Sarah said.
 
Elise shoots her a quizzical look. “How so?”
 
Sarah shoulder shrugs and grabbed and disposable cup to make herself a quick coffee. “You guys have the same colour of eyes. Your eyes are beautiful by the way.”
 
Elise could feel the smile wanting to spread on her face—she didn’t stop it. complements like this makes her feel more confident about herself.
 
“You also have the same cherry plump lips and dainty nose,” Sarah spoke excitedly as she hands a cup to Elise. She peeked into the cup. It wasn’t latte. She doesn’t know which type of coffee it was because she hasn’t completely gotten used to their appearance and names.
 
She took risk and sipped it—her eyes gleamed as her lips quivered up. She took another careful sip.
 
“It’s affogato,” Sarah says and took the first sip of her coffee.
 
Elise smiled with a nod of approval—maybe she would be a coffee person after all. “I like it.”
 
It was five minutes to their break when a customer walked in. “I’ll handle it,” Sarah said and walked over to the counter.
 
Elise watched as she handled it professionally. She writes down his order before walking back to where Elise was standing, beside the coffee machines.
 
“Aaron is single now though—his cranky ass girlfriend dumped almost a month ago,” Sarah spoke, as she drizzled caramel at the edges of the cup. She was making a latte special. Elise hasn’t tried that yet, just regular latte was okay for her.
 
“What makes you think I want Aaron?” She questioned. She had just finished taking her coffee and her arms were folded over her chest again. Sarah gave her a crooked look and shook her head. She bents down and grabbed the to-go paper bag before packaging the coffee.
 
“I love this pretend game of yours, it’s really cute. But it doesn’t fit you,” she said, walking back to the front counter. The customer paid for their coffee before leaving and they were finally on break.
 
Sarah sighed, taking off the gloves from her hand. She guides Elise to the back room, where they rest before their next shift. “I am not pretending because I have a boyfriend.” She doesn’t know why she just said that. It sounded way better when she thought of it—when she thought of Hunter or was it Ethan she thought of? It feels like both.
 
She grunts, massaging her temple—it irritating how she can’t get either of her problems out of her head.
 
“Really?” Sarah opened the door and they entered. The room was empty because the other employees were now on duty. They settled down on the couch. “What’s his name? Why didn’t you mention him earlier?”
 
Elise shoots brow up with a perplexed look on her face. “First of all, we are just getting to know each other and second of all…” She halts and sighed. Maybe she shouldn’t have said that.
 
Sarah raised a brow, waiting for her to finish her sentence. Elise furrowed her brows because now she has to speak up. “He’s back home,” she said. She doesn’t even know who exactly she was talking about. She doesn’t even know where she stands with either of them—whether they still liked her they’ve moved on. For Ethan, he kind of still stays in touch with her… almost every day. Hunter…he hasn’t call or texted after he had texted her the night she arrived in New York. It irritates her that he didn’t even bother to double text because what if she didn’t get the first one?
 
“It’s just complicated.”
 
“Try me.” Sarah was exactly like Kayla—she loves to urge people into doing what they don’t have the mind to.
 
“We ended things… I ended things,” Elise said and exhaled gently. She certainly knows that she’s talking about Hunter and she just sighed because she kind of missed him. “I’m from Halibut Cove Alaska,” Elise said, obviously trying to change to topic.
 
Sarah smiled and waved off the matter. “San Diego. I moved here two years ago with my family to be closer to my father’s business. He owns Instill, Inc company,” Sarah said, fetching out her phone from her pocket.
 
“Your father owns a company? Why are you working then if your father owns a company? Isn’t he like… rich?” Elise wasn’t sure what company that is because she was still working on knowing the city but it definitely sounds like Sarah’s father is rich.
 
“He is,” she said, typing away from her phone. “I’m working for fun.”
 
Elise shrugs it off because she’s somewhat doing the same thing. She had never worked in her life before. Her parents always provided for her. She only does things she’s pleased with or she feels like doing. So, she won’t blame Sarah for working for fun even though it was absurd.
 
Hours passed by in a blur and Elise had just finished her first shift of her first day as a barista. She took off her apron and it felt as though it went away with the weight and stress she felt.
 
Sarah had just left and she was left alone, packing her stuff to leave. She went into the closet and changed before stepping out.
 
Her heart jump, almost running out of it’s place when she saw him standing by the door. “Oh God,” she mumbled, holding her chest as she tried to steady her heart beating fast.
“Oh… sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said, taking few steps towards her. “It’s closing time already and I was wondering if you’d like me to walk you home since we kind of… live together?” It came out more like a question not the fact that they live in the same flat.
 
She gave him a reassuring smile and nodded. “Sure, let me just get my stuff,” she said and he left her to it.
 
Her phone vibrated and she fetched it out immediately. She sighed when Max’s name popped up on her screen. She had a little glimpse of hope it was going to be Hunter. It maddens her that it wasn’t him and it irritates her more that she wished it was him.
 
She answers the phone and placed it between her eyes and shoulder. “Hey,” she said, grabbing her jacket together with her purse.
 
“Are you home yet?” He asked her. She could clearly hear the panic in his voice. She halts what she was doing, as if it was interrupting her from hearing what he has to say. “No, but I’m on my way. What’s wrong?”
 
He breathes out gently—she couldn’t tell if it was a frustration sigh or relieve sigh. It sounded like both—like he’s relieved that she wasn’t home yet but worried that she was still outside.
 
“I’ll be home in an hour. I’ll bring back takeaway, okay?”
 
“Yeah… sure.” They ended the call and she stepped out, wondering what type of a weird phone call was that.
 
Aaron was standing by the door and he noticed the disturbing look on her face as she approached him. “You okay?” He asked, observing her face closely.
 
“Hmm? Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.” She waves off his question and pull the door open before he could do so. She stepped out and the breeze instantly hits her body. She hugged herself and shivered.
 
She looked up to the sky despite how strong the wind was forcing her eyes to shut close. Clouds formed and the stars were scattered among the sky. It was suffocating and overwhelming to watch the dark cloud envelop all around.
 
Aaron guides her down the street quickly as it began to drizzle. It didn’t take much time the drizzle turned into a heavy downpour.
 
They were soaking wet by the time they reached the lobby. Ben stood up from his usual chair and approached them. “Looks like it’s going to be a long, rainy night,” he said offering to take their soaking wet jackets.  They handed it to him with a thank you.
 
 
 
Five minutes later, the elevator dings open on the fifth floor and they stepped out. “You were amazing today,” Aaron said to her. But her eyes didn’t bother to look at him. Her ears weren’t paying attention to what he said. Her mind and her heart were obviously not with him. He noticed. “Elise.”