I don't even care
Run my hands through your hair
You wanna run your fingers through mine
- Wait a minute, Willow Smith
After a well deserved, delicious breakfast, Quinn and Ellie went upstairs to Quinn's room. Their parents were home that day and while Ellie knew that her own dad would not even notice it if they kissed right next to him once he was in his mental 'working-zone', she was not so sure about either of Quinn's parents.
For the first few hours after returning, nobody needed to worry though: Quinn and Ellie were so tired from the night before and getting up early that they fell asleep right on the bed. Ellie was using Quinn's legs as a pillow for her head while Quinn was lying on her stomach, her head buried under her pillow to keep the light out. Peaceful silence filled the room as they made up for the very short night.
Afterwards, they both felt very much refreshed and spent the day talking and scrolling through their phones.
"Hey," Quinn said and moved her leg gently â neither of them had moved in the last hours, except that now, Quinn was propped up on her elbows and her head was above the pillow.
"Hm?"
"Do you want to come with me to the restaurant tonight? It'll be fun, I promise."
Ellie thought about it. She was not at all opposed to helping out at the restaurant and it would also give her a chance to spend even more time with Quinn. Of course, they would not be able to kiss at the restaurant or behave in any way that would suggest they were more than friends. But it would definitely give Ellie the chance to see the 'working'-side of Quinn. Only...
"Do you think Fiona and her parents will be okay with that?"
"I think so," Quinn nodded, "if you'd like, I can ask them beforehand but they generally don't mind. Extra help is always appreciated."
"Extra help?" Ellie echoed, "I thought I was just going to sit around and let you do all the work."
Quinn laughed and moved her legs a little as a 'punishment' for Ellie's remark.
"As long as you don't try to order something from me," she turned to Ellie, "but seriously, I think they're really going to appreciate the extra help. That would give Fiona's mom the opportunity to finally teach Fiona more about cooking and not only about waiting tables. Because the restaurant is so busy, they need her as a server most of the time and don't have time for teaching her to cook."
"I'm sure she's still a better cook than you and me," Ellie assumed with a smile.
"Oh, you bet she is!" Quinn nodded, "Her cooking skills are amazing! I think if she were to decide not to study medicine, she'd be an awesome chef."
"Speaking of that: what would you like to do once you're out of here?"
"I don't really know," Quinn shrugged, "you've once asked me if I wanted to do Work and Travel-..."
"I did?"
"Yeah; and that is definitely an option for me. I just want to see the world a bit and then I'm going to decide what to do with the rest of my life. Maybe I'm going to try with photography. And you?"
"Once I'm back, I'm going to go to college and study English Literature and they we'll see where life leads me."
"Oh, did you already decide on a college?"
Ellie shook her head.
"I've applied to tons," she explained, "but the answers aren't there yet. My dream would be the one in Jacksonville but if I don't get accepted into that one, I'll just choose one nearby that I like."
"Do you want to stay there for your whole life?" Quinn asked a little timidly, "In Jacksonville, I mean. I... I don't think I could do that. I love to travel."
"Me too," Ellie agreed, "but only for a week or two and then I like being home again. And Jacksonville is my home, in every way possible."
She paused and looked at Quinn. That had been a very insensitive thing to say, considering that Quinn wanted nothing more than to be able to move out of her hometown.
"I'm sorry."
Quinn brushed it off.
"It's not your fault," she smiled a little bit, "and I'm always happy for people who've found their home. All I know is that this is not my home. Ive got... wait, there's a German word for that... it's 'Fernweh', I think. Do you know that word?"
"No, what does it mean?"
"I googled it a little while ago. It's the opposite of home-sickness. It's missing a place that's far away from where you live, possibly a place you've never visited before."
"That's... sad..."
They fell silent, both focused on their phones for a few minutes before Ellie raised her head. Quinn, who noticed that the weight on her calves was suddenly gone, turned her head around.
"Go on, ask Fiona if you can bring me along tonight."
"Yay!"
Later that day, Ellie found herself getting ready to go to the restaurant alongside Quinn. The latter had assured her that she would not need any kind of uniform, simple clothes would do. Ellie got dressed in an elegant pair of black pants over thick leggings and a white sweatshirt. Maybe white was not the best color for working in a restaurant but Quinn had also spoken of aprons available.
"Should I put on some makeup?" Quinn asked and stuck her head out of the bathroom. Ellie came closer and pretended to judge her appearance but really, she was just admiring Quinn's pretty face.
"I don't know," she replied, "what kind of makeup are we talking about?"
"Nothing crazy," Quinn shrugged, "just some mascara and maybe lipgloss. So I'll look pretty tonight for a very special person."
"Who? Is someone famous in town?" Ellie joked.
"I'm talking about you, silly!"
"Oh... I didn't know you could be such a flirt."
Both girl began to giggle at Ellie's words and without a second thought, Ellie reached a hand up to Quinn's face and pulled her into a sweet kiss. It did not last long but it was enough to have her aching for more already.
"When we'll get home later," Quinn said as she was putting on mascara just a minute later, "and everyone else is sleeping, you can kiss me all you like."
"Deal."
When they entered the restaurant just a little while later, the girls were happily greeted by Fiona who gave Quinn a quick hug and then smiled shyly at Ellie. The short girl was wearing all black clothes and a red apron with the restaurant's name stitched on the chest. She handed similar aprons to her two assistants of the night and began to instruct Ellie.
"So, since you're not familiar with our menu and stuff, I would like you to just bring all the food and the drinks to the tables, is that okay?"
"Absolutely."
Fiona nodded and guided Ellie towards where the bathrooms were.
"These are where the kitchen and the bathrooms are," she explained and pointed to the room where Ellie had confronted Quinn back in January, "this one and the one next to it are for the guests, the third door is for us. The key is in the kitchen, we generally never leave the door unlocked."
"Got it."
"Great! Now, the kitchen is over there but you generally won't have to go in there to check on us. We operate most things via our phones. You just give me your number, I'll add you to our group chat and then you'll get messages like 'table 5 is ready'. That means you can come pick up their orders and bring them to their table."
"And if someone wants to order something you just send their order in the group chat as well?"
"Hey, you're good!" Fiona gave Ellie a thumbs up and pulled out her phone to show her a typical message, "Mostly, it's just something like 'table 5: number 42 without onions'. You won't have to worry about that though, just make sure to check your phone when it buzzes so you won't miss any messages."
Ellie nodded to show she had understood. Once her instruction was over, Fiona went back to her more timid self and shot Ellie a brief smile before she disappeared in the kitchen. Ellie slowly walked back to the main room and kept her eyes open for Quinn â it did not take her long to spot her. Quinn was already working and seemingly in her element. The restaurant was not very crowded tonight and Quinn was standing at a small table for two near the entrance.
She seemed to know the couple that was sitting there; a young woman with a round face and a man whose wide back was turned to Ellie. When Quinn had taken their orders, she strut over to Ellie and smiled a pitiful smile toward the unsuspecting woman.
"Poor Wilkie..." She said quietly.
"Wilkie?"
"The woman sitting over there: her name is Miss Wilkins and since she's here with a dude again..." Quinn turned to Ellie, "she's a bit awkward but super sweet. Her boyfriend left her when she got pregnant and now she gets a new one every couple of months. They always go here on the date where she tells them about her daughter. Maybe this one will stay after she tells him â somehow she attracts dickheads."
"Oh..." Ellie looked at the young woman and her date, "what do you think about him?"
Quinn shrugged.
"He was nice to me," she said, "but I guess we'll just have to wait and see."
At that moment, both of their phones buzzed in their pockets and they pulled them out almost at the same time. One of the orders was ready to be served.
"I'll get it," Ellie said enthusiastically and quickly made her way over to the kitchen. To be honest, she would have preferred to keep on chatting with Quinn but they had a job tonight. It was how she spent the majority of the evening; delivering food and drinks to tables and talking to Quinn whenever she had the chance. Fiona also joined them for a little bit and while she was nice, Ellie felt that the atmosphere got a bit awkward once she entered the room.
"I'm need to go to the bathroom," she announced later that night to Fiona and Quinn, who were talking in the hallway, "Could I have the key?"
"Sure, just a second!"
Fiona gave her the key from a cupboard in the kitchen and Ellie quickly made her way over to the door and opened it with the key. She went inside the bathroom, which was simpler and not decorated as nicely as the one for the guests and was just about to close the door when a hand pushed it open from the outside.
"Let me in!" Quinn whispered and squeezed through the half-closed door. She snatched the key from a surprised Ellie, locked the door and then looked at her, a wide grin on her face.
"What are you doing?" Ellie whispered back, not daring to raise her voice, "what if Fiona sawâ..."
Quinn interrupted her with a kiss. Her lips were still sticky, coated with lipgloss. She smelled and tasted like artificial strawberry. Quinn pulled back for long enough to confess: "I didn't want to wait until we got home" before she pressed her lips to Ellie's again. This time, their kiss lasted longer and Ellie wrapped her arms around Quinn's waist, gently pushing her against the counter top.
"I hate fake strawberry flavor," Ellie admitted once she did pull back from the kiss.
"Do you want me to leave?" Quinn jokingly attempted to free herself from Ellie and the latter shook her head, getting closer again.
"That, I never said," she smiled and raised one hand to Quinn's face, softly gripping her chin and kissing her again. This kiss was softer than the last one, less rushed and both girls outright melted into each other. Quinn pulled back for a second to hop onto the countertop and Ellie got a little closer to her, even closer than they had been before.
For a few moments, she just studied Quinn's face and her gorgeous features, their noses almost touching. Her pretty lips with the strawberry lipgloss, her eyes that sparkled with mischief and affection. Her cheeks were flushed and a strand of hair had made its way across her left cheek. Ellie pushed the hair out of Quinn's face but kept her hand there.
"You're beautiful," she said quietly, which made the blonde girl giggle.
"Thank you."
They kissed again and Quinn leaned back, pulling Ellie with her. Their lips moved so well together, each time they kissed they just seemed to fall right into place. Quinn still tasted like strawberry, a little less now but when Ellie licked her own lips she could taste the lipgloss on them, too. All of a sudden, Quinn let out a startled shriek and fell away from Ellie backwards. Ellie instinctively tried to catch her and both girls broke out into laughter when they realized what had happened: Quinn had leaned so far back that her butt had slipped into the sink.
"Oh no, my bum is all wet now," Quinn groaned and quickly got off of the counter, "do I have a wet spot?"
"No, you can't see anything," Ellie shook her head and then checked her phone. She had almost a dozen missed messages of all kinds, all from the group chat of the restaurant.
"We need to go back," she said, "we've been in here for ages."
She giggled again.
"And all I wanted was to pee."