If It's With You

021- Avoiding him

Things like her strained relationship with her parents. Only because she chose an English and literature major in college instead of going to med school, and becoming a doctor like every member of her family. Her relationship with her sister who also worked in medicine was great though. They loved each other, only that she was always too busy working or being a wife and a mother.

But her parents? They thought she didn’t have any ambition, because she chose to open a coffee shop. She loved making coffee, and baking. She also loved writing. She was working on something, a romance fiction and I made her add me to the list of her beta readers. I wanted to be one of the first people to read her book when she was ready to share.

She had also shared a little about her love life. How her fear of commitment almost ruined her relationship with Malik. They started as friends with benefits, and even though it was obvious they fell in love with each other, she was letting that fear get the best of her. But at the end of the day, she finally decided to give it a try, which was great because even though we would never know how a committed relationship would end for any of us. We would always look back and regret not trying at all.

“Hi, Julia,” I smiled at her, rounding the counter. The man had left with his coffee, and there was no one waiting at the moment.

“Hey, isn’t today your free day?” she swivelled her body, watching me as I carefully placed my bag in a safe space before hanging my purse on a holder.

“Well, I decided to come in after all.” I smiled.

“You look cute,” she said, her eyes walking the length of my pair of jeans and a little cute top. “Thank you for coming in, I really need all the help I could get today.” She winked at me, but before I could say a word, two teenage girls walked towards the counter and we were off to work.

It was late afternoon when I came in, which was kind of a hectic period of the day, we were mostly busy but it wasn’t long before we approached closing time. Which was a good thing because I needed some rest.

“Here,” Julia handed me a bottle of water. “Let’s have a drink,” she smiled with pleading eyes. “I mean after we’re done with all of this.” She flickered her fingers, pointing to the sink and around the space.

What she meant was after we’re done cleaning. And as she perched her back against the counter, her braids fell at the sides of her face.

I pulled my body off the counter where I was resting and turned to her. Uncorking the bottle cover, I said, “What about Malik, weren’t you guys planning to—”

“He texted that he will be working late today, and I don’t wanna go home and be alone.” She pouted, and I chuckled. “I mean it’s Thursday, let’s just chill okay, for maybe an hour.” She shrugged.

“Nothing special about Thursdays but okay,” I shrugged, taking a large gulp of the water she handed me. Getting some rest could wait.

She walked to the sink area to start cleaning the cups, dishes and the rest of the utensils. Meanwhile, I turned the sign hanging on the glass wall and started cleaning the tables and seats. Julia finished up with the utensils and joined me. Then, it wasn’t long before we were done, leaving every spot sparkling clean.

I was already seated in my favourite spot, scrolling through my Instagram, when I heard Julia walk towards me. She was on a call, holding her phone to her ear with her shoulder. Wine in one hand, wine glasses on the other.

She halted at the table and flashed me a smile, “No, no.” She said to the person on the other end of the line, the smile disappearing from her face. “No, she’s here,” she said.