𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗮'𝘀 𝗣𝗢𝗩, 𝗜'𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀.
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Friday night, just another work shift like always. I get inside at 4pm, and work all night with my best friend Emily. After a few hours, Emily goes home.
I told her and my boss that I'll stay until the morning shift starts, so it's just me now. The last few people leave, so I start cleaning their tables.
When I'm finally done with everything, the door opens again. I silently sigh, and get back to the counter. Yesterday, I stayed until the morning as well.
I'm really tired, but that's fine. A tall, muscular man walks in, looking at his feet. "Are you still open?" he asks before I can greet him. "Y-yes, can I get you anything sir?" I reply, and he looks into my eyes.
I look back into his, and God, they're beautiful. He looks at my body from head to toe, and softly smiles.
"Coffee, please" he says with a smile, making me softly smile as well. I nod, and walk over to the coffee maker while the man sits down at a table. I get him the coffee he wanted, and walk over to the table.
"Here you go, anything else?" I ask, and he looks up again. "No, thank you" he replies, but he doesn't look so happy. I know that it's none of my business, but I can't stand that.
"Are you okay?" I nervously ask. He sighs, and looks at his cup of coffee. "Oh well, families" he chuckles, making me silently laugh.
"Yeah... Let me know if you need anything okay?" I add. "I will, thank you Miss" he replies, and I walk away with a smile.
Family... Family should be like home. Love, coziness and a good time. In my family, that's not exactly what's going on. My dad is a doctor, a neurosurgeon to be exact.
He's the sweetest guy ever, and we share a great bond. I have one older brother, and one older sister. My brother's name is Henry. He will protect me at all costst, just like I would do for him.
My sister's name is Amira. She's great as well, but she has a whole family of her own so we don't see her a lot.
She's a very kind woman, and she'll be there for me when I need her, but our bond isn't as strong as me and Henry's.
My mother and I aren't that close. She keeps pushing me to get a boyfriend and have children. Amira always tells me the same things, while my dad and Henry tell me to do whatever I want.
That's why I don't really like being around my family anymore. My dad and Henry are amazing, but my mom and Amira are suffocating me with their pushing questions.
I know that all of my friends are with someone, some are even engaged! Two years ago, I broke up with my boyfriend. He was abusive, and not kind at all. I'm not ready to fall in love again, but if I do one day, I know that I'm going to end up hurt anyway.
I start cleaning up the counter, and the kitchen in the back. When I get back to the counter, the man is still there.
He looks a little worried, a little sad maybe. I don't want to interfere, but I also don't want people to feel bad. I walk over to his table, and look at him again.
He immediately looks at me, with a very arrogant expression. "Oh, um, I'm sorry" I say, and I turn around again. "Is something wrong, Miss?" he asks. I stop walking, and turn around again.
"I was going to ask you if you're okay, because you look upset you know? But never mind, I guess you just want to be alone" I add. "Oh, I don't. It's fine. Why do you think that I want to be alone?" the man asks in reply.
"That look on your face tells me that I should leave you alone" I tell, and he drops that arrogant look. "I'm... I'm sorry... That's just- I look like that a lot so... It's kind of automatically" he nervously explains.
I slowly nod, and keep looking at him. "Because you look at your family like that?" I ask. He silently sighs, and nods. "Yeah, my family sucks" the man replies.
"Do you live with them?" I ask, leaning my hands on the table. "No, God no! But they have this stupid dinner thing once a week. Every Sunday night, the whole family, it sucks" the man replies.
"Can't you call in sick?" I ask, still looking at him. "I could, but I did that way too many times already. Last time, they came to my house and dragged me with them. They're really serious about that dinner thing" he chuckles, making me softly laugh.
"Anyway, I should go. You're probably closing soon" he adds. "Actually, we're opened 24/7 so don't worry about that" I reply, and he slightly frowns.
"Don't you want to go home?" he asks again, and I remove my hands from the table. "No, I'm staying until the morning shift starts" I reply with a smile. "Really? How late is that?" he asks in reply. "8am, so that'll take a while" I giggle. He looks into my eyes, and softly smiles.
"You can sit, if you want" he suggests. I smile back at him, and slowly sit down. There aren't any guests anymore, so why not? He looks like a jerk, but it seems like he's different on the inside.
"Do you have a family yourself? Kids?" I ask as I sit down. He starts laughing a little, and looks at his hands. "Nope" he says, popping the letter 'P'. "Do you?" he asks, looking at me again. I shake my head in reply, making him smile a little.
"I'm Ransom, by the way" the man adds, sticking out his hand. I smile back at him, and shake his hand. "Amelia" I reply, making him smile yet again.
"That's a beautiful name!" he almost cheers, making me giggle. "Thank you, yours too" I reply.
"So that family of yours, is it big?" I ask. "Not that big, but they're all annoying as hell so it's big enough" he tells.
"Right, understandable. So do you have to go again on Sunday?" I ask in reply. "Yeah, they won't let me cancel" he says, dropping his smile again.
"Do you want to tell me what's so terrible about them?" I ask, trying to make him a little comfortable.
"They think I'm a dick, and they tell me that every time I see them. I'm a dick, a jerk, a playboy, a spoiled man, a terrible son and grandson. That's what they tell me, every time I'm there. And maybe they're right, you know? It just sucks to hear it every single time" Ransom tells.
"They say that to you...?" I silently ask, starting to feel really bad for him. "All the time, but they're right, I'm a dick" he replies, taking the last sip of his coffee.
"I don't think you're a dick. Behaving like one and actually being one, is different from each other" I reply, which makes him look at me again.
"No, I think they're right. I'm rude to them, I always give them a rebuttal, I make fun of them, I laugh at what they say about me and I'm stringing like five girls at the same time right now" Ransom explains.
"Your family makes you want to act like that, right? They let you believe that you really are those things, but I don't think you really are. Around your family? Sure, but that's on them. The things they say to you aren't okay, are they? Exactly, it's not okay, it's on them" I tell, and he remains quiet for a while.
"Are you a shrink?" he chuckles, making me giggle again. "No but seriously, don't be so hard on yourself. And about those girls, are you in love with one of them?" I ask in reply. "Oh no, absolutely not. It's just, you know, sex" he tells.
"Oh! Um.. O-okay, yeah that... That's understandable as well" I stumble. "Well, don't you?" he asks in reply.
"I don't like the whole meaningless sex thing, but I get it" I reply with a smile, making him chuckle.
"I haven't heard anyone say that in a really long time. The girls out here are kind of useless, they're also just here to have sex. But you? You're different. You just be one of the good ones in town hm?" Ransom asks, making me smile.
"Depends on what you call good, I can eat like five doughnuts in a row" I giggle, making him laugh.
"I mean, one of the nice ones. Someone who's actually kind to people, even people like me" he adds.
"There is no 'people like you'. You're not any of those things your family tells you, until you believe it yourself" I tell, making him softly smile again.
"See? You make me smile. I never genuinely smile at someone" he adds. "Well I'm glad you do now" I say, and he smiles again.
After two more hours of talking to each other, the morning shift starts. I look at my coworkers arrive, and take his empty coffee cup.
"I'm gonna go home now, get some sleep. You should do that as well, and remember, don't be so hard on yourself" I say with a smile, making him smile back at me again.
"Are you going to be here again tonight?" he asks before I walk away. "Yes, why?" I ask in reply, and we both stand up. He's way taller than I am!
"Good, I'll be there as well. Have a good day, Amelia" he replies with a smile, and he walks away from me. I follow him with my eyes until he's out of sight.
God, what a man... I've never met his family, but they really do sound awful. Those are things you don't just say to your relative!
I stay for one more hour, talking to the girls who just arrived. I grab my things, wish my coworkers good luck and get outside.
I walk over to my car, where I find a little bouquet of flowers. "What the hell...?" I whisper to myself. I take the little card which was right in the middle, and read it.
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𝓢𝓪𝔀 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓼𝓮 𝓯𝓵𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓼, 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓶𝓪𝓭𝓮 𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓴 𝓸𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾.
𝓘'𝓵𝓵 𝓫𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓽𝓸𝓷𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽, 𝓼𝓪𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮.
𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰, 𝓘 𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓬𝓲𝓪𝓽𝓮 𝓲𝓽.
𝓗. 𝓡. 𝓓.
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See? Ransom's absolutely not the jerk he thinks he is...