Chapter 78
Shannon’s P.O.V:
Adrian and Katie decided to spend their last day in the city doing typical touristy things and had headed off early in the morning with a map and strict instructions to buy me something nice. I wasn’t going to hold my breath, but a girl can dream.
While they were off sightseeing, I was going to be stuck in work all day. Actually, my shift wasn’t too bad – Rick was still treating me like I might collapse if someone looked at me the wrong way – but I’d much rather be making the most of my brother’s visit. Who knew when any of my family members would be able to make the trip again. Of course, I’d see them all over summer, but it was also nice to be able to show them around London, let them see a glimpse into my life.
Oh well, I still had Adrian’s wedding to look forward to. Honestly, I thought they were a bit crazy to have it only three months from now. I’d never planned a wedding before, but I hear there’s a lot that needs to be done. If that’s what they wanted, though, I wasn’t about to complain – as long as Katie chose nice bridesmaids dresses, of course.
I felt a smile blossom on my face as I slowly walked down the street, dragging out the journey to work as much as was possible without actually just lying down on the ground and refusing to get up.
I was truly honoured that Katie had asked me to be a part of the wedding party. Yes, I’d always felt like we’d been close, but it never would have crossed my mind that she liked me that much.
An old man turned to stare as I started to giggle to myself, slightly uncontrollably. Guess I was just in a good mood. If I was in a Disney movie, there would be birds flying around my head, chirping out a sickeningly sweet, and yet catchy tune. Hell, there’d probably be some fawns following me for good measure, too.
Resisting the sudden urge to covertly check behind me to make sure I had no unwanted stalkers, I pushed open the door to the Café.
As I approached the counter, I waved to a few regulars, making sure to smile brightly at each and every one of them. I needed as many tips as I could get. Getting to know some of the customers, I’d found, was an unexpected perk of working in a fairly small establishment. It made the atmosphere in the Café far more relaxed.
Since I’d come back from my short trip home for the funeral, I hadn’t had as many shifts as I would have liked. Rick gave me just enough hours that I wasn’t short of money, but part of what I liked about working was the purpose it gave me. It got me out of the apartment, and kept my social skills up to par. Without the necessity of needing money and needing to get an education, my friends and I would have long ago turned into very large, very stagnant vegetables. So the fact that I wasn’t working as much caused me some anxiety that I’d never admit to anyone.
Add that to the anxiety caused by all the other problems in my life, and some mornings I felt like I was going stir crazy. I didn’t know how to broach the situation with Rick. He was just as alternately adorable and cranky as he’d always been, but sometimes I saw such pity in his eyes when he thought I didn’t notice him looking at me, that I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. So in true procrastination fashion, I put it on the long finger. It was right up there with broaching the subject of summer.
Because I was going home for the whole summer, I obviously couldn’t keep my job. I needed to find out if I’d be able to pick it back up next year…or if I even wanted to. Sure I loved my job, but how long did I want to stay working at the Café? I didn’t want to get stuck in a rut.
Decisions, decisions.
I always found it ironic that a good portion of everyone’s childhood is spent wishing you’re older, but once you reach adulthood, you long to be young and carefree again.
I grabbed an apron, tying it firmly around my waist and stashing a pen and notepad in the deep pocket in the front. My musings would have to wait for another time.
Saluting a harried looking Rick, I sauntered over to where Becky was working at the till.
She grinned when she saw me coming over. “How’s it hanging?”
I raised an eyebrow, not sure whether I should laugh or pretend to be sick. “How’s it hanging? I’m sorry, what decade do we live in?”
She stuck her tongue out at me. “Fine, next time I’ll tweet my greeting. Is that more in keeping with this illustrious time we live in?”
I just rolled my eyes, turning to survey the half empty café.
Becky quickly brought me up to speed on who needed what and which tables were mine.
I gestured at an empty section to the far right. “What about over there?”
It might be empty now, but I knew from experience how quickly things could pick up. It was all about timing.
Now it was Becky’s turn to roll her eyes. “We’re all awaiting the princess’s arrival with bated breath, I can assure you.”
Damn. I’d forgotten that Jenny was working today. It had been months since we’d last worked together – and thankfully seen each other. I wasn’t in the mood for her attitude today. Or ever.
I rolled my shoulders, giving myself a mental pep talk and ultimately decided to just ignore her completely.
Toby was also working today, and while the thought of catching up with him would usually bring a smile to my face, I was unusually apprehensive about seeing him. The last time I saw him was when Nick was slamming the door in his face after making up some bullshit excuse that I was sick.
God, memories of how I’d been acting back then made my cheeks feel hot with embarrassment.
After that unfortunate incident, I’d meant to call and apologise but I’d been so caught up in my relationship with Nick (still was, really) that I’d forgotten all about Toby. Now it felt like that awkward stage when things have been left to go on for so long that it’s hard to find the right way to bring it up, but not long enough that you can just look back and laugh.
Ugh, I was just going to have to get it over with at some point. I didn’t want to lose Toby’s friendship over it.
Reaching up to tighten my ponytail, I set about making sure that the tables and counter were all clean and tidy, while keeping a constant eye on the customers in case someone needed something. Rick wandered about, looking just as flustered and preoccupied as usual. I swear that man didn’t know how to relax. It was best to just ignore him – watching him pace would only make me dizzy.
Jenny appeared as I was in the middle of a conversation with an adorable old lady named Sybil who had taken to popping into the Café for lunch every Sunday for the past few months. She lived alone with two cats – her husband having died three years ago – and I was sure that the trip to the Café was the highlight of her week.
Every one of us had a soft spot for her – even Jenny, apparently – so we patiently listened to her ramble on about her cats, and her family members who were scattered all over the world. At this point even taking her order was pointless; she got the same exact thing each week.
I smiled and nodded, my attention drifting to where the front door was being dramatically flung open by Jenny. She wore a pair of sunglasses so huge they easily enveloped her face and a top that showcased an embarrassing amount of cleavage.
I saw the moment Rick noticed her; a deep frown marred his features and his cheeks pinkened with anger when he saw what she was wearing. Muttering to himself, he turned and strode in the opposite direction, through the door to the back. I wished he would say something to Jenny, but I knew he wouldn’t.
As a man it would be understandably awkward to tell one of his young female employees that she was showing too much skin. No doubt he’d have a quiet word with Becky and expect her to pass the message on. There wasn’t even a chance that it would work, though. Jenny was far too much of a princess.
I had to remember to smile and nod some more in Sybil’s direction as I tapped my pen against the pad clenched in my other hand. It was amazing what some people could get away with. Jenny wasn’t the only one; I’d met many like her in the past and would no doubt meet more in the future. The more I thought about it, the more I just put myself in a bad mood.
Huffing under my breath, I extricated myself from the conversation at hand and headed for the counter to organise Sybil’s order.
“I’m guessing you noticed the eyesore that just walked in?” Becky muttered in a tone that was louder than I would have liked.
I looked up only to catch Jenny’s eye as she chatted on the phone at the other end of the counter. She narrowed her eyes at me, looking me up and down, before turning her back on us.
“Hard to miss” I snorted.
Becky giggled; “I know who I’m going to get a hold of if I’m ever drowning; built in floaters.”
I sent her a glance, unable to hide my grin. “That mental image is forever burned into my brain, thank you very much.”
Her smile turned smug. “You had to know that if I went down, I’d take you with me.”
I laughed. Well if that wasn’t true friendship, then I didn’t know what was.
When it was time for Toby to come in, I checked to see I wasn’t needed for the time-being before slipping through the door to the back. A quick glance around told me my boss wasn’t anywhere in range. Good. I’d still have to be quick, though. Ever since Jenny’s appearance Rick’s mood had taken a turn for the worst. In my opinion, he needed to just fire her – for his good health and sanity at the very least.
I spotted Toby carrying a box over to one of the shelves, earphones firmly plugged in, singing quietly to himself. Not making any particular effort to make myself heard, I wandered over to him, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention.
His reaction was…extreme. He jumped about a foot in the air while simultaneously spinning around, one hand thrown out defensively, the other coming up to cover his heart. I stared at him with amusement, waiting for him to get his breathing back under control. For once his reaction wasn’t intentionally dramatic. The poor boy looked terrified.
When he’d calmed down, he scowled at me, pulling the earphones from his ears. “Next time, wear a bell, would you?”
I grinned; “I’ll try my best to remember in the future.”
He sighed as he dragged a hand through his already messy hair, his usual friendly grin taking over his face. “Sorry beautiful, didn’t mean to snap. It’s good to see you. The stars have finally aligned and given us coinciding shifts.”
“How very…romantic of you; you should try writing poetry sometime.”
He shrugged. “What can I say, I’m an emotional guy.”
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. It was times like these that I remembered just how ridiculous my friends were.
“I’m sure you are.”
My scepticism couldn’t have been more obvious. Toby tucked his earphones neatly into his pocket, leaning back comfortably against a row of shelves. I eyed them dubiously, having visions of everything falling down on top of us. I subtly inched backwards out of the immediate danger zone, looking back at Toby innocently when I noticed the strange look he was giving me.
“How have you been, beautiful?” He watched me attentively, genuine curiosity colouring his tone.
I shrugged. “Good and bad, boring and interesting. You know; the usual.”
He stayed quiet, waiting for me to elaborate.
“My brother and his fiancée are staying with Nick and I for the weekend” I offered.
“I didn’t know your brother was engaged?”
I smiled. “Up until two days ago, I didn’t either.”
He smiled wider, his face completely open and genuine in a way that I found refreshing.
“That’s great, tell him congrats from me.”
I chuckled, “I’m sure he’ll only be mildly creeped out that a total stranger is congratulating him on his engagement.”
Toby rolled his eyes. “You’re so strange sometimes.”
“Can’t argue with that” I agreed, my eyes once more scanning the shelves behind him to make sure there was no movement.
“How are you?” I asked.
He yawned and I noticed the slight bags under his eyes. Exam time was looming for all of us, it seemed.
“Wondering why I didn’t drop out of school years ago to become a stripper” he said blithely.
I narrowed my eyes, trying to imagine it; nope, it was too weird.
“I wouldn’t recommend it” I grinned.
He shrugged; “it’s my fall-back plan.”
He said it with such effortless confidence that if it wasn’t such a crazy idea, I’d swear he was telling the truth.
The sound of footsteps echoed from around a corner and we both waited quietly, but nobody came to reprimand us for not working. When the noise had died away, I looked back to Toby.
“Anyway, stripper scenarios aside, I really wanted to apologise to you about the last time we saw each other.”
Toby raised a hand to cover his mouth, but not before I saw his cheeky grin. “You mean when your boyfriend slammed the door in my face?”
I shifted uncomfortably, nodding slightly. “Yeah, things between us weren’t great at the time and you kind of got caught in the middle. I’m really sorry.”
He shrugged, standing up straight and stretching; his joints making sickening cracking noises that made me wince and him grin.
“I don’t mind, really. Things haven’t exactly been easy for you and you’d been acting really strangely. You seem to be back to your old self, though, so I’m not complaining.”
He stopped, a frown creasing his forehead suddenly.
“Actually, forget that” he grinned. “I’m really hurt – I cried myself to sleep for days after it happened…”
I raised my eyebrow, wondering where he was going with this. His giant grin had assured me that what he was saying was utterly ridiculous.
“An apology just isn’t going to cut it” he continued. “I may need counselling, to get over the emotional trauma of having a door slammed so callously in my face.”
I was struggling to keep a straight face. I mean, really?
“So what do you propose?” I asked. “What could I possibly do to soothe the awful hurt you experienced?”
“Well…I can think of many things…” His roving gaze left little to the imagination.
The sour look I sent him quickly wiped the suggestive look from his face.
He raised his hands in silent appeasement. “Okay fine, that was a joke. How about dinner, I’m owed that at least – strictly platonic of course.”
I’d have agreed wholeheartedly if not for the glimmer of mischief in his eyes; he was milking this situation for all it was worth.
I smirked. “Sure thing, that sounds perfect. Any preferences?”
“Just tell me when and where, beautiful.”
I nodded in agreement as I turned to leave. “Okay, I’ll have Nick call you with the details.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa” he said, grabbing my arm before I could even make it a step.
I glanced at him innocently over my shoulder. “Is there a problem?”
He frowned at me; “why would Nick call me?”
I tilted my head slightly, feigning confusion at his question.
“Well you wanted to be taken to dinner, and since Nick was the one who was so shockingly rude to you, I just thought the apology dinner would mean more coming from him” I said slowly, smiling at him disarmingly. “I’m just glad you made it clear it would be completely platonic. Otherwise things might get a bit uncomfortable, you know?”
Toby just stared at me. His shocked expression was priceless.
“You’re evil” he muttered.
I shrugged. “Just trying to right a wrong; I’m selfless like that.”
Toby’s only answer was to laugh as he pulled me into a hug. “Okay, forget the dinner. I honestly didn’t care about something that happened so long ago.”
“I’m still sorry” I told him, hugging him tightly in return.
“Shannon, you’re far too nice” he said.
I opened my mouth to reply but we were interrupted by somebody loudly clearing their throat. God, she even made throat-clearing sound bitchy, I thought with exasperation as I pulled away from Toby.
She stood just inside the doorway to the café, hands braced on her hips, scathing look firmly in place. “Shannon, if you’re quite done flirting with the help, we could use your assistance out here.”
I stared at her incredulously; there was just so much wrong with that sentence, I didn’t even know where to begin.
“The help?” I finally asked, staring at her like she’d just grown an extra head.
“Said the waitress…” I couldn’t help but pointing out.
“Hi Pot, it’s nice to meet you; I’m Kettle” Toby chuckled.
I grinned, which only seemed to make Jenny angrier.
“Whatever, losers.”
With that eloquent remark, she turned on her heel and marched back through to the café, slamming the door behind her. I shook my head slowly in the direction she’d just gone in, feeling myself slowly losing faith in humanity.
Toby laughed again. “That girl is seriously a piece of work.”
I rolled my eyes; “tell me about it. Anyway, I better get back to work before the princess decides to throw a bitch fit.”
Toby threw a slightly worried look at the closed door. “That would not be pretty” he muttered.
“No, it wouldn’t” I agreed, heading for the door.
“Shannon wait” Toby called. I paused, glancing back at him.
“I know dinner’s off, but you should come out with us soon anyway. Becky’s been making plans.”
I nodded enthusiastically. “Sure, I’d like that.”
Toby grinned. “You can even bring Nick, if you want.”
I rolled my eyes. “How generous of you.”
Waving at him once, I stepped through into the café, a slight smile tugging at my lips as I once more surveyed the room, calculating what needed to be done.
Unsurprisingly, the place was barely even half full and Becky and Jenny weren’t completely swamped as she would have led me to believe. In fact, the princess was once more glued to her phone, oblivious to her surroundings.
The rest of my shift seemed to fly by. I cleaned, took orders, chatted with some regulars, and joked around with Becky. Even Rick’s mood seemed to pick up, joining in on a few of our conversations, no matter how ridiculous or inconsequential. Jenny kept her mouth shut and got stuck into working, putting more effort into her job than I’d ever seen in the months since I started working with her. Soon, the last of the customers left and we all set about making sure everything was perfectly clean.
We weren’t technically due to close up for another ten minutes or so, but it was doubtful that we’d get any business between now and then, so Rick flicked the sign on the door around to say closed.
I was anxious to get home, looking forward to spending as much time with Adrian and Katie as possible before they left in the morning.
So with my mind occupied as we all gathered our things, I didn’t immediately notice Jenny lingering near Becky and I, her bag already slung over her shoulder. I frowned at her, wondering what she could possibly want. Even Becky and Rick stopped what they were doing, not even pretending to hide their curiosity.
Jenny looked about as comfortable as a vegetarian in an abattoir.
“Yes?” I asked, not meaning for my voice to come out as startled as it did.
Jenny stared at a point over my shoulder, her mouth opening and closing a few times as if she wasn’t quite sure what to say.
Finally, she straightened her shoulders and looked me in the eye, a strange, almost angry look on her face. “Look I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry for what happened to your brother.”
I think my mouth fell open. I know Becky’s did; Rick just froze, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. I obviously wasn’t the only one more than a little taken aback by Jenny’s words. I literally didn’t even know what to think, let alone say. I was feeling more than a little blindsided.
“Oh, don’t give me that look” She snapped, the anger on her face ramping up a notch, or two.
Just…what?
“Sorry, it’s just that I think this is the first time you’ve ever been nice to me.”
I immediately regretted the words. If looks could have killed at that moment, I would have been roasted until I was no more than a pile of ash on the floor.
“Wait, no, that’s not what I meant” I said, backtracking wildly. “What I really meant was, thank you…right, yes, thanks, for you know, saying you’re sorry…for what happened.”
I wanted to mentally slap myself for how stupid I sounded.
Jenny’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Whatever, don’t get too excited, it’s not like we’re going to be best friends from now on.”
I just stared at her dumbly as she turned on her heel and flounced out of the café. I honestly wasn’t sure how long Becky, Rick and I just stood staring after her in shock. You could have heard the sound of a pin drop we were so silent.
Finally Becky spoke. “I swear that girl doesn’t know how to be nice, not even for a minute.”
When Rick and I turned to look at her, she rolled her eyes. “Please tell me I’m not the only one who thinks that’s messed up?”
I just shook my head slowly, my thoughts still spinning unintelligibly. I looked between the two of them. “That really happened, right? I wasn’t dreaming?”
Rick shook his head, looking as shocked as I felt. That certainly said something about Jenny’s character that with only a few simple – and kind – words she could leave us all reeling.
“No, no that definitely happened” he muttered, almost to himself.
An awkward silence fell, none of us knowing where to look.
Eventually I chuckled. “I feel like we should make a pact or something to never speak of this moment again.”
Becky grinned; “not a chance. Just wait until I tell Toby about this.”
“He won’t believe you” I told her truthfully.
She pouted. “You’re right. You’ll have to tell him; he’ll believe you.”
I rolled my eyes as I resumed gathering my things, feeling like a spell had been broken.
Once more my thoughts turned to home. I couldn’t wait to tell Nick what had happened. Like Toby, he’d more than likely be sceptical. I couldn’t blame them; I’d actually heard the words come from her mouth, I’d seen her lips move and I was still having a hard time believing what had transpired.
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I left, waving goodbye to Becky and Rick before heading for home.
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Hey everybody, sorry for the slightly late update. I know this chapter is edited atrociously, but right now I'm too tired to care. I haven't as yet started on the next chapter, but I pretty much know exactly what's going to happen so it's just a matter of taking the time to sit down and get it all out of my head :)
Only two chapters and an epilogue to go! We're so close!
Kaz xoxo