The Rat in the Cafe

Chapter 1

Welcome readers :D so this is the revised chapter 1. I hope you like this story and stick by me. Thanks in advance :D

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Chapter 1

I glanced up, hoping to see a customer but just like the last 100 glances there was still no one in site. I hated days like this, quiet dead days where time would stand still, dragging along by the minute. It was days like today that I would spend hours cleaning this place along with my best friend Anna who worked in the kitchen. On Saturday afternoons it was just us here, the way I liked it. Here we could chat and laugh and get payed for doing it, when it was quiet of course. I could see Anna’s short cropped hair shine in the light as she chopped the remaining tomatoes in the kitchen.

We first became friends three years ago when we both got jobs here at Edible Treats, even though there was only one job on offer.  Back then we were so young, two fourteens year olds serving and waiting on customers. Now we are the senior weekend staff, working together each week with her in charge of food preparation and me running the front of house aspect and making coffees.

I set to work on scrubbing the milk grime off from the side of the fridge; my dark brown eyes glaring back up at me in the reflection from the stainless steel. I wasn’t the prettiest person; Anna definitely outshines me in that area but I do quite like my nose as weird as that sounds, it just seems to fit in exact proportion to my face. There was this one piece of grime that wouldn’t come off no matter how hard I tried to scrub. I scrunched my face up, trying my hardest when I heard Anna let out a blood curdling scream. Thankful to leave the rotting milk behind I rushed into the kitchen, half expecting Anna to have mixed her finger up with the tomatoes. I flicked my long brown hair over my shoulder and out the corner of my peripherals I saw a rat run out from the fridge and out into the shop.

“Where did that come from” I screamed at Anna who just stood there frozen. I rushed out into the shop, thank god there were no customers. Our boss would have slaughtered us and hung our remains out on the street when he got back from his vacation in the south of France. I had to catch this rat if I valued my job. It looked more like a sewer rat like, something off Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle rather than that cute one off Tom and Jerry.

I watch too many cartoons I thought in my head while trying to devise a plan to catch that horrible creature.

“Anna, come help me” I called out to her, as I presumed she was still frozen stiff, “There is no need to be scared of the rat, it is probably more scared of us anyway”. I had created a plan, we would block of all exits from the front of the café and try and catch the rat in a box. That way, there would be no way we could loose track of it.

“But Claire” Anna whined “Rats are full of germs”. I let my eyes roll; everyone has that one friend, the germ freak. She isn’t normally like this though, all her school books are neat and tidy, but it’s not like she carries sanitiser around or anything silly like that.

“If you’re that worried Annabelle about the rat I promise you won’t have to touch it, just please help me try and catch this thing.” I huffed, slightly annoyed at how reluctant she was to help. I shared my plan with her, she decided she wanted to be the one chasing, not holding the box. No surprises there, considering how reluctant she was to help. All we had to do now was corner it.

I wish we could have recorded this; Anna was so funny to watch. Even if she did managed to herd the mouse towards me I would have probably missed it due to the amount of laughing I was doing. She would run after this creature, tiny in comparison to her, waving her arms around shouting at it. Each time it would turn around to look at her, as if giving her the evils, she would shriek, letting out a nervous scream before resuming her herding like a sheep dog on a New Zealand farm.

Everything was going to plan, well nearly everything. We still hadn’t managed to catch the rat yet. Then I heard the distinct ring of the bell and I new without looking that my worst nightmare had just walked through the front door. A customer. I froze and realised, as the outside of the cafe is made of glass, they could probably see the rat, not to mention the chaoticness of Anna running around like a headless chicken.

I looked up crossing my fingers that it was only my parents coming to see what time I would be working to. Unfortunately it wasn’t, it was a customer. At least I think it was a customer. His shaggy brown hair flopped on his head as the draft of the open door whipped it across his forehead. I momentarily lost my train of thought, completely forgetting about the rat as his soft dark green eyes held me captive. I gazed into them without even realising, after i regained my sense, I averted my eyes, embarrassed by my intense staring.

“Can I help you” I questioned, my cheeks flushing as red as Anna’s flustered face.

"Actually” he let out a quiet chuckle, a smile forming between his dominant cheek bones “I think it is you that needs help" he replied, his voice sounded inviting with a musical ring to it.

My blush returned to my face as I realised how ridiculous we must have looked.  Here was I bright red, holding this huge bucket and Anna looking completely flustered her hair mattered and messy.  I couldn’t hold it in any longer, there were no smart comments brewing inside my head and all I was capable of doing was laughing, completely forgetting we were still on the hunt for the rodent.

He looked at me like I had lost it, a look of question and uncertainty swept over his face as he walked over to where the rat had stood still. To mine and Anna’s surprise, he put his hand out, palm up, on the floor and the rat walked straight on top of it. It wasn’t me that had lost it; it was him, him and his unrealistic beauty. Damn I was staring again.

His eyes caught mine and I quickly looked away, embarrassed. Just like that he left, without even a goodbye. He wasn’t even a customer after all, and hopefully he would never tell anyone of this rat incident, and hopefully, our jobs would be safe. The rat was gone, but all I could think about was this boy and how the rat just climbed onto his hand. I wish I got his name, but now I will probably never see his outstanding eyes again. It was like his eyed trapped mine, letting him see right into me, letting him know everything about me.

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Thanks for reading, old readers, what do you think? better than the last version? New readers...is this good enough to stick with :D ? please give me some feedback and like my fb page, sootyjesse :D