Chapter 1

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                               "may flowers grow inside the saddest part of you"

No one around me actually knows what it feels like to lose your family. They might understand the pain of losing a close relative, but losing your entire family? The people who have seen you at your worst, and your best. Nobody understands that kind of pain. 

I quickly plaster on a smile when another customer who so happened to be friends with my mom recognizes me. "Hey darling, how are you holding up" she asks with a sad smile on her face. 

What I want to tell her is that i'm doing horrible, i've been doing horrible for the past 10 years since I lost the last of my immediate family. That every morning I wake up thinking that this has to be joke, that I couldn't possibly be the last one standing out of all us. 

However I end up telling her, "I'm great. Excited to start college soon!" I say cheerfully, keeping the smile on my face. She nods in understanding. Upon hearing the familiar beep of the coffee machine, I give her one last smile before leaving. Finally, I release a breath that I'd been holding. Working at a cafe has lots of ups and downs like rude customers, open 24 hours of the day, and being in the center of a small town where everyone knows everyone. But one of the good ups, is the the minimum wage is more than where they pay anywhere else and working here is basically like playing all those Papa Louie games I played when I was younger. I'm also very close to the workers so it works out pretty good in my favor. Quickly adding the ice and foam to the coffee, I jot down the name of the customer, Erin, and head over to the counter.

 "Order for Erin? Iced coffee with light foam!" I say out loud to the busy cafe. The short blonde headed girl walks over with a neutral look on her face. 

"Here you go Erin, thanks for stopping by at Rosie's cafe. Have a good day!" I say with a smile, the tips of her mouth slightly tip before she grabs the coffee and walks away. Okay. I'll just have a bad day I guess. I walk back into the kitchen getting ready to prepare some of the lunch sandwiches. 

"ZAYLEE ANN WHATEVER YOUR LAST NAME IS!" someone screeches, I jog to the direction of the voice, where I see a very angry Ava stands drenched head to toe in water. My lips part in shock, how did she even manage to do such a thing?"Ava.. what did you do?" I say cautiously stepping towards while looking at the damage done. 

"You did this." she says pointing her finger at me. I rear back at the accusation. "No I didn't! You're the one back here who's supposed to be washing the dishes right now," I pause to look at the sink behind her, which is still very full with dirty dishes.

 "Which should've been washed by now considering we stopped cooking breakfast 45 minutes ago Ava." I say with a frown. She rolls her eyes at me, "I was grabbing the water on the top shelf!" she shouts. I look to the  the top shelf to see the gallon that was full of sparkling water no longer there. I avert my eyes back at her with a raised eyebrow, "Where's the gallon?" I ask. She points to the sink with her index finger and I go to look. 

"Why would you even need to touch the water up there? You're supposed to be on dish duty anyway." I say while looking at her, she just stares back. Rolling my eyes, I go to the cabinets to the left and grab some of the towels to wipe the area and the sink. 

"I wanted to make that lemonade you always make with the sparkling water." she says quietly, and I slowly turn my head at her. 

"You know I always make it during the afternoon because of the rush and how fast it sells out Ava." I respond, throwing her a quick glance before getting back to cleaning. She doesn't say anything to that and simply walks away without a word. The only noise is the sound of her wet shoes squeaking against the floor as she walks. I look around to see if anything else happened to go away while I worked up front. Seeing that it was just the water, I walk over to the ovens to turn on the pan and began toasting the pieces of bread for the lunch sandwiches. The menu for today is all Italian meats, so this should be fairly simple considering all of the meat is just refrigerated. All I have to do is make the sandwiches and add the condiments of the customer's choice. Easy Peasy. After finishing all of the sandwiches and putting them in the display bar I head up the counter to begin taking orders. Upon a few minutes of sitting at the register the bell chimes, indicating the door's been open. 

"Hello! Welcome to Rosie's cafe, let me know when you want to start ordering." I say still looking at the screen of the register. I look up from the register and notice a boy. No, a man standing in front of the display looking at the options. My mouth runs dry. He is really tall and has light brown hair that shines in the sun. I haven't seen his eyes yet, but I bet they're gorgeous too. He walks up the register, and I notice instantly that his eyes are a light shade of green. His jawline is sharp, so sharp it could probably cut. His aura just radiates, "Does it look like I care?" and I want to be scared but instead I'm curious and want to know what kind of secrets he has buried.

 "What's your name for the order today?" I ask, while secretly ogling the man before me. His arms are laced with tattoos. "Ashton. Italian sandwich, no tomatoes." he says without a breath. It makes me believe he does not like talking that much.

 "Coming right up Ashton!" I say with a small smile. "Your total will be $4.37. Cash or card?" I question. He opens his wallet, pulls out the card, and inserts it into the card reader. Good talk I guess. The receipt prints and I quickly hand it to him. He takes one glance at it then back at me, then shakes his head and walks to the area for order pickups. Guess he isn't in a chatty mood. 

Turning to the display I grab a plain sandwich and begin to construct the sandwich. "Jalepenos..Lettuce..Bell peppers..and Mayonaise" I softly murmur to myself. Putting on the top piece, I wrap the sandwich in plastic wrap and sticker it with Ashton's name and what it contains. "Order for Ashton! Italian sandwich without tomatoes?" I say rather loudly. He looks up from his phone, glances up at me, and walks toward me. He looks me up and down so quickly I would've missed it, but then he grabs his sandwich and walks away without another glance.

"Thank you for stopping by at Rosie's cafe. Have a good day!" I say cheerily, but still, he does not look back. 

I really do hope Ashton comes back again soon.

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do you think Ashton will come back to the Cafe??? Stay tuned to find out the second chapter will be out soon!

thank you for reading chapter 1 of in between black & white! please vote and comment on what you want to see please!!


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⏰ Last updated: Jul 02, 2024 ⏰

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