The next morning involved Ellie's first late opening. She dropped the keys to the door at least twice before getting to the door itself. Luckily it seemed most of the queue was made up of her regulars – one look at her flustered face and they smiled, silently making their way into the shop. The number of people was never-ending as Ellie made coffee after coffee after coffee. She apologised every now and then for not having baked any cakes and went back to the coffees. Americano here, latte there. There had only ever been a few days when the shop didn't bring her joy and they were after her Mum died.
No matter how hard Ellie tried, she couldn't quite break through the mist and fog which had surrounded her brain; everything that had happened the night before was being played over and over again in her mind's eye. Should she have said hi to Robin? Maybe she could have stopped Mark from leaving. Could the phone call with her Dad have gone better? So many possible versions of the evening were created and portrayed that, by lunchtime, it was getting hard to tell what had really happened.
"There you go," she said, handing a takeaway cup of coffee to a customer. They said thanks and left the shop, someone rushing in past them. Ellie sighed and kept her fingers crossed it wouldn't be a teenager – they were often difficult to deal with.
"I'll be with you in a minute," she said slowly, taking a moment to give the coffee machine a good clean. Quite a bit of milk had built up on the steaming wands.
"That's ok," a familiar voice said. "I'm happy to wait."
Ellie's ears perked up like a dog's but froze in her cleaning. What if she blinked and they were gone? What if she was imagining things? Taking a breath to steady her weirdly fast heart, Ellie looked up and put on a smile.
"Blimey! You look a bit stressed. Do you need some help?"
A cheeky grin surrounded by luscious blonde hair was standing the other side of the till. Robin.
"That would actually be brilliant," Ellie couldn't help but stutter slightly over her words. Robin didn't seem to notice so it could have just been inside her head, right? "I need to take a breather if I'm being honest. Are you ok to hold the fort while I grab a glass of water?"
Robin nodded and laughed a little, her hands gently resting on Ellie's shoulder. The blonde readjusted the apron Ellie was wearing so it sat straight on her shoulder. "Of course I can, take as long as you need to."
Ellie smiled her thanks and rushed upstairs to her flat. She immediately fell face-first into her sofa, not even closing her eyes as she stared into the scratchy darkness of the fabric. That must have happened; it wasn't anything as crazy as her 'hallucinations'. She got out her phone and scrolled through her contacts, firmly pressing her thumb onto Jason's face. There was a short pause before -
"Hello, there other human! You have reached the phone of Jason the steak-eaterer. Obviously, I'm eating right now so leave a message and I'll probably forget to ring you back. It's the thought that counts though, right?"
There was a click and the recorded message stopped. As the phone started to record its own message on the answering machine, Ellie felt her mind go blank. "Sorry, wrong number," she muttered, ending the call. What would Jason have said anyway? "Grow up Ellie," she mumbled. Her Dad would say 'get your act together, girl'. Maybe it was time to listen to her Dad's advice for once.
Ellie untied her apron and found a nicer shirt to wear – nothing too fancy, but just nicer. A few puffs of perfume and a brush of her hair later and she was ready to go back downstairs. She stopped at the top of the stairs, the sound of Robin's melodic laughter bouncing up to meet her ears. There was no need to force a smile anymore; she couldn't help the one that refused to leave.
A/N: Ok ok! Hold your horses!
First of all, did you get my little tidbit in the title? "doe a deer, a female deer". I was proud of that one. MOVING ON!
I apologise for the lack of updating-ness. My simple reason is illness and work. However that is easing off so I should be back to every Monday from now on (fingers crossed, eh?)
On top of that, I just hope you enjoy this chapter. I know it's short but think of it as an introduction to a long, emotional, full-o'-feels chapter that will grace your screens next Monday.
That ok? I hope so XD Enjoy folks :3