(Warning this story is very much unedited. Consider this book a practice and I hope that feedback from this book helps me make it a lot better in the future. Enjoy!)
Valentina hadn't realized that the guy watching her from the booth would change her routine life. She didn't have a problem with her routine but like the stories, she enjoyed reading. She imagined that one event, or even that one person...
"Tall dark and gorgeous has been staring at you for the past 10 minutes Val," Phoebe said nudging her shoulder.
Valentina glanced over at the guy fitting her description taking in mind that he did keep staring at her. Yes, he was very attractive, and some new guy that had recently come to town. Rolling her eyes at her friend who took an order at the register, she wiped her dusty hands on her jeans.
"I'm not into clichés Phoebe"
"I forget you've read almost every book in the store, so expect you to spot a cliché. But why not get his number?"
"Because I'm not interested in him," Valentina said tucking a curly hair back into her ponytail as she wiped her hands on her apron.
"Your last relationship was in sixth grade Val, its long past due to get back out there"
"Oh, really and how did that relationship end for me again?" Valentina mused.
"He cheated on you with me, I told you when I found out etc. At least it led to us becoming friends am I right?" Phoebe said as she handed a customer their coffee smiling at them.
Valentina was about to reply when their boss Terry came out the back room reprimanding them for doing too much talking and not enough working.
She bent to pick up the box sitting in the corner and went up the spiral staircase in the back of the shop to the library section of the store. There were a few customers upstairs, but Valentina spotted Heather sitting on one of the beanbag chairs chatting away on her phone. When she saw Valentina looking she glared at her saying she was on break.
Heather took many breaks throughout her shifts and left the work to Valentina and Phoebe to finish. It got annoying, but Valentina didn't mind since Terry acknowledged their work in the form of extra pay. Valentina put away the books in their correct spots then broke down the box to recycle at the end of the night. When she headed back downstairs Phoebe was making a latte for a customer, but the shop remained sparse with 6 customers in the booths and chairs.
The Café Nook didn't get much business as this was their usual for a Tuesday night, and Weekends were only slightly busier. During boring moments Valentina and Phoebe usually talked as they worked but now that Terry was hovering they focused more on the latter.
"Cruz go check on the regulars, we want them happy to keep coming back. Williams clean the espresso machine," Terry said looking at a checklist in his hands.
Valentina took the command in stride ignoring the way Phoebe gestured for her to get the guys number while she was at it. Valentina swallowed her nervousness and approached the guy.
"Can I offer you anything?" she asked trying to keep her voice from sounding meek.
The man looked at her with cold grey eyes, the scar on his cheek highlighted by the warm lights of the shop. His look made Valentina squirm, but she tried remaining neutral.
"Valentina Cruz?" he asked voiced tinted with a vaguely Russian accent.
"Do I know you?" she asked surprised he knew her.
Maybe she knew him around campus, but she was positive she'd remember seeing someone like him before if that was the case.
"No, but you may know something I need," he said unbashfully staring at her.
"You have the wrong person," Valentina said shaking her head.
Seeing as he wasn't ordering she turned to address another customer, but he grabbed her wrist stopping her. She turned around startled that he grabbed her and pulled away, but he held tight searching her face. What was this guy's problem?
"Excuse me sir but could you let me go?" she warned looking around and seeing that unfortunately Phoebe and Terry were too busy to see the man.
"You know something I need" he continued rising from his seat his tone deep and threatening.
It was intimidating the way he rose above her glaring, but then again when you're 5'3 everyone was taller than you. There was something about this guy that disturbed her, and no way was she going to entertain Phoebe's idea of getting his number. Not to mention up close he seemed a little older than her.
"Excuse me miss, I'd like to order something," a guy said from a corner booth watching the exchange.
"She's busy" the Russian grumbled while Valentina continued trying to break his grasp.
"Busy trying to do her job, I recommend you let her go," the guy said rising from his seat glaring at the man.
Valentina looked between them both seeing the Russian grow annoyed and finally drop her arm. She rubbed the spot he held as he hurried out of the shop. What was his problem? He insisted he knew her, but she had no clue what he was talking about. Shaking her head, she headed to the guy who returned to sitting and looked at her concerned.
"Thanks for that" she breathed to him.
Valentina still cast glances outside as the man walked away into the dark street ahead. Would he come back to her job?
"Did he hurt you?" the guy asked her concerned.
"What? Uh no, I'll be fine" Valentina said and stopped touching the spot he had grabbed her at.
The Café Nook had 4 regulars altogether. Recently it was the Russian, an older woman named Ruby who came on weekends with her husband, and a guy who looked around Valentina and Phoebe's age.
"Can I offer you anything?" Valentina asked the guy as he returned to drinking his still full teacup. "Or you don't seem to need anything"
"You could offer me a few minutes of your time," he said putting the cup back on the table.
"I would but uh, we have customers – ," she said looking around to see they had left, and Phoebe smirking at her.
She mouthed that she had her covered and to go for it. Valentina wanted to say no but then again why not? He had helped her after all. Biting her lip, she sat across from him debating if this was a good decision.
"Your names Valentina? I heard that guy say it but didn't seem like he may be reliable for information" he asked.
"Yes, but some call me Val"
"I like Valentina, sounds nicer that way" he commented, and Valentina cleared her throat awkwardly.
As he looked at her she noticed that he did look cute, nothing to draw eyes wherever he went but when you looked at him you'd notice it.
He usually stayed in this booth reading to himself while he drank his tea, but he had the book sitting aside closed currently. Valentina realized that although he was a regular she never got his name before and he never made conversation with her before.
"Why do you always order tea? Not that it's a problem but being a regular I noticed you don't get the coffee" Valentina blurted out.
Her parents did say her curiosity would get the best of her, but some customers hated making conversation. Luckily the guy didn't seem annoyed or ready to shoo her away.
"I can't stand the taste or smell of it," he said dipping the tea bag in his cup.
"But you're in a coffee shop. The whole place smells like coffee" she asked curiously.
"Some things I prefer to appreciate from afar. I have experience in that after all"
Valentina watched the way he slowly said it pausing with his tea bag and got the feeling he didn't mean coffee.
"Why do you always come here? Not to pry but most of the regulars tell us their story, and you've never talked before today"
"You want to know my story?" he asked her slowly, and Valentina worried if that might've crossed a line.
"I'm sorry if that was too personal," she said wringing her hands as she did when she was nervous or uncomfortable.
"It's alright, but I'm not interesting. I like tea and have recently taken up reading" he said smiling and gesturing to the book sitting at the side of the table.
Valentina smiled relating to him on that aspect and talked to him about the different books in the store upstairs. She didn't usually ramble on with customers, or even strangers but something about this guy made it easy to talk to him. Before she knew it, they had talked for 30 minutes and Terry was calling her back to work.
Sliding out of the booth to get back to work she turned to the guy wanting to ask something nagging her mind.
"Why did you want to talk to me? Was it because of that guy?"
He rose out of the booth getting ready to leave himself and put a couple dollars on the table next to his receipt.
"I hear that there's no harm in talking to a stranger since you'll never see them again," he said hands in his maroon jacket pocket.
"But you come often," she said as a small smile formed on his face.
He walked up to her holding his hand out, palm up.
"Your friend wanted you to get my number? Thought I could help you get her off your back" he said, and Valentina handed him her phone confused.
He didn't say why he had called her over and she knew she'd see him again since he's a regular. After typing on her phone for a bit he handed it back heading for the front door.
"Wait, you're coming back right?" she asked still on his comment of strangers.
"Did you want me to?" he asked, and Valentina didn't know how to respond to it.
He smiled seeing something in her face as an answer and shrugged, but before he left the smile left his face and she saw his profile turn serious.
"I'd be careful if I were you; nights like these can be dangerous," he said the bell tinkling over the door as he left.
After the guy had left Valentina went behind the counter and Phoebe gave her a thumb up. Phoebe most likely wouldn't be giving her that gesture if she knew why the guy had talked to her. She wanted to tell her friend about the rude customer but people like those rarely ever came to the store, and Valentina could handle herself.
"Now was that so bad? Not the guy I first thought but he's cute too" she said nudging Valentina.
"Why did you even want me to get his number so bad?" she asked her friend going to refill coffee beans.
"Because when I'm not around I worry about you Valentina, it's not that I want you to get laid, but I want you to have someone who will always be there for you even if I'm not," her friend said.
Phoebe smiled as if she meant it in a light-hearted way, but Valentina knew her friend did worry about her. Sighing she reassured her friend and focused back on work since they had to close the store soon.
Sometime before closing Phoebe said she had an emergency to tend to at home and begged Valentina to cover her. Of course, she did but Valentina hadn't realized Heather had clocked out and was gone along with Terry.
Slightly annoyed they had left her Valentina focused on closing to get home as soon as possible. She didn't consider the Café Nook a bad job, as a matter of fact, she enjoyed working with the coffee and reading a book during her breaks.
Finding this job right out of high school was a godsend and she got paid pretty good since this store only staffed about 8 people. Needing the money to pay the college fees dragging her in debt in her freshman year helped her tolerate a lot with her job, like closing.
Another 2 hours later and here she was wiping down tables, and making sure the lobby was clean, restocked, and mopped. She didn't mind closing since she played music from her phone but thoughts of the man from before kept coming to mind.
"Stop freaking yourself out," she told herself shaking her head.
Going upstairs Valentina put away books, readjusted the couches, vacuumed the thick plush carpet and dusted the shelves. Now all she had to do was shut off all the store lights, and take out the trash.
Opening the back door, she groaned when she saw that it was raining heavily. She didn't have an umbrella and would have to get soaked on the way to the dumpster behind the store.
"Of course," she said begrudgingly sucked it up.
The rain almost immediately soaked her and chilled her to the bone making her teeth clatter as she struggled to move all three bags. Valentina pushed her curly wet hair out of her face getting them right in front of the trash can, and stood upright to open the dumpster scrunching up her nose at the stench.
Overhead thunder and lightning flashed, and she thought she saw the dark shadow of a figure to her right. Turning that way she squinted in the rain but didn't see anyone there in the darkness. The light post for the parking lot behind her job was currently broken so she only had the light of the full moon to go by.
She put a hand to her pounding heart and cursed herself for her paranoia. Who would be standing by the dumpster in an empty parking lot at this time of night? That was what she told herself, but it didn't help.
Reaching back down to lift the first 40-pound garbage bag she pushed it in with a grunt. Satisfied with her accomplishment she turned to pick up another bag but froze when lightning flashed, and she looked upwards to her left.
She swallowed dryly at what she saw and hoped she was only imagining it. Something was staring at her from the trees in the distance. Slowly she rose from her squatting position never taking her eyes off the glowing golden dots trained on her.
"It's probably just a deer or, car lights from a distance," she told herself.
Talking out loud helped calm her sometimes but even she didn't believe the B.S. coming out of her mouth right now. Shivering she tried thinking what it could be, it wasn't the creepy guy from earlier seeing as how he had grey eyes, but these were too large to be an animal unless it was a bear. But even a bear wasn't shaped the way this creature was. She tried looking away but felt as if the moment her eyes turned the creature would disappear and get the jump on her.
She flexed her numbing fingers and rubbed them together to warm them up. If something happened here were these trash bags worth it? Sure, it could bring wild animals, but animal control could handle that easily. She glanced to her left where the used car was parked thinking of an escape. She'd have to sprint for it and that's hoping the animal doesn't move but she didn't know how far it was, to begin with.
To Be Continued...
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