Chapter 6: CHAPTER 5

I wanted us to end up as friends

But you fucked it all up

You're a douchebag

You'll never change, yeah

And I still don't know what's going on in your head

- Douchebag, UPSAHL

During the next week or two, the situation got both better and worse.

Worse, because Quinn still would not talk to Ellie. The blonde girl had settled on ignoring her guest, turning her head away when Ellie walked past her, not speaking to her unless she had to, leaving the room when Ellie entered, disregarding her entire existence. It was a very uncomfortable feeling for Ellie to constantly be ignored and overlooked but at the same time, Quinn managed to conceal her behavior so well that neither of the adults noticed the weird atmosphere between the two girls. The only time of the day when Quinn spared Ellie more than a bitter look was during dinner where she actually interacted with her. Ellie would not go so far as to call Quinn's behavior at the table 'polite' but at least she handed her bowls or bottles when Ellie asked.

Not that Quinn ate dinner with them often, anyway (and that was the good part). Apparently, she had just taken a week or two off of work after Christmas because after the first weekend Ellie had spent in Frostfields, Quinn started working at the restaurant almost every night. She ate together with Fiona and her parents and often did not come home until midnight — which, for Ellie, was a blessing.

Since she had to be at work at five pm to help set up everything, Quinn also adapted her daily schedule: instead of going out early, eating lunch at home and then skiing again until five, she now stayed outside the whole day before coming back around four; showering, eating a quick snack and then going over to Fiona's.

Ellie also took more time to get to know the village and explore the countryside. She bought some more books from Mister Bishop and even visited Mister Saunders in his antique shop once or twice. That Quinn did not come home during the day anymore was an advantage because this way, she was a little more relaxed about going out. She did not want to risk getting caught not taking Pasta with her a second time but also did not want to take the dog with her every time she went out. She also had the feeling that Quinn would not be too happy either if she found out that Ellie was taking Pasta with her. Quinn's problem was not that Ellie was mistreating her dog, it was Ellie herself.

Still, Pasta was an old dog who took his small walks but did not appreciate being outside, especially not in weather this cold. Ellie did not want him to catch a cold so when she was just buying some books or going for a quick walk, she left him at home. Of course she made sure he would not be able to fall down the stairs and she always filled his water bowl before leaving.

Janet and Philip also offered Ellie and her parents to teach them how to ski on the weekends but all of them declined that offer. Dan was not too keen on sports in general, especially not if they were dangerous — and he considered skiing to fall into that category, along with boxing, American football, Surfing... the list went on. Helen had some problems with her knee ever since she had injured it as a teenager and while she enjoyed yoga and fitness, skiing was not for her.

Ellie had been happy about the offer at first. She did not know how to ski and was sure she would make a fool of herself but she still wanted to try it. That was, until Philip said that 'Quinn should be the one to teach her' since 'they were the same age' and 'it would be boring if Ellie had teachers as old as Janet and Philip'. After this statement, Ellie decided to side with her father, disregarding skiing as too dangerous to pursue.

Janet and Philip did not even seem disappointed, they just smiled and told their guests that should they change their mind, the offer was still standing but that it was okay if they did not want to.

Ellie began envying Quinn a little at that moment. Her own parents had almost never accepted a 'no' from her when she did not want to do something. When she did not want to play the piano as a kid, her parents said that 'learning how to play an instrument was beneficial for her mental development' and when she wanted to stop taking ballet lessons, her parents told her that 'it was important to pursue at least one sport other than general fitness workouts'.

Quinn's parents never forced her to do anything she did not want to do: if she did not want to join the dinner table, they allowed that and if she declined to look at the pictures her dad had taken, Philip just nodded and smiled. And, of course, they also accepted her career choices.

At least Ellie's parents did not have many opportunities to nag her about her profession. Her dad spent hours and hours together with Philip, either outside collecting specimens and taking pictures or working on categorizing them and writing indoors and Ellie's mother helped them with that. She was a journalist who wrote articles for various magazines and newspapers and used her new location to write about Canada's nature and traveling.

Steps on the stairs made Ellie look up. Today, she had gotten up a bit later than usual and was still sitting at the dining table, finishing her breakfast. Quinn had come downstairs noisily, already dressed in her skiing clothes. She had Pasta tucked under her right arm and her helmet under the left.

"Hey, Ellie!"

Ellie had to suppress the impulse to turn around and look behind her. Quinn was actually talking to her and even specifically addressing her? During the last few days, she had acted as if Ellie was invisible.

"Hm?" Ellie replied not too enthusiastically. Frankly, she was tired of Quinn's mood swings and the way her host treated her.

"Can you keep an eye on Pasta today while I'm gone?" Quinn asked, sounding reluctant about asking Ellie to do something for her, "He threw up last night and I'm a little worried."

Apparently, she was not worried enough to stay at home and take care of Pasta herself, Ellie thought bitterly. Nevertheless, she nodded and looked at Pasta who was wagging his tail at the sight of his full bowl.

"Sure," Ellie replied shortly, focusing on her cereal again.

Quinn did not reply, just put on her helmet so that she had both hands to grab her skiing gloves and phone. She was almost at the door when Ellie spoke up again.

"Can I have your number?"

"What?"

"Your phone number," Ellie repeated, subtly rolling her eyes, "so that I can call you in case there's anything wrong with him."

"Oh, yeah... sure..."

Quinn came back to the table, looking a little flustered. She dictated Ellie her phone number quickly, almost spitting out the numbers. As soon as Ellie had read her the number to confirm it was correct, Quinn disappeared, leaving Ellie alone with Pasta.

"Hey, what do you say?" Ellie asked the little dog as it gulped down its food, "Wanna go for a little walk?"

Just a few minutes later, both of them stood in the sidewalk. The weather was quite good today, hesitant sun rays warming up the air a little. It had not snowed for a couple of days and while the ground was still covered, the paths of the villagers had tramped it down, making it easy to follow the road. Still, it was so cold that the snow in the middle of the road was white as well, not the muddy grey and yellow sludge Ellie knew from the winters in her hometown.

Pasta was sniffing here and there, seeming very interested in a yellow spot in the snow but Ellie gently pulled him on. After a few minutes, the pair reached the driveway that led to the café. Ellie had never been there before even though she could not really tell why, she just did not have any real reason to go there. She did not know anyone there and did not require any of its services as her house was just a few yards down the road. And she also still remembered Janet's not-so-positive reaction to the café being mentioned.

She was quite familiar with the sign though, since she walked past it all the time: the wooden sign was painted baby pink and the font 'Cups and Cakes — 20 yards' was white. Someone had also added a little cupcake next to it.

"Hi there, can I help you?"

Ellie turned around quickly. Behind her stood a young woman in a yellow coat and a hot pink beanie with both arms full of grocery bags. She had a face with rosy round cheeks and a wide smile.

"Um..." Ellie said, not knowing how to reply properly.

"I'm Jodie," the woman said in a British accent, not losing her smile for even a second, "were you waiting for me?"

"Yeah... kind of...?" Ellie replied before pointing to the sign, "Are you the owner?"

"Yes, that would be me," Jodie beamed at Ellie, "would you like to come in and have a drink? Or maybe eat some cake?"

"Uh..." said Ellie, totally taken aback, "I... I have a dog."

She pointed at Pasta to show that she was not able to go inside any building that sold food.

"Oh, what a cutie!" Jodie said and cooed at Pasta, "Don't worry, he can come in, too."

Ellie noticed that Jodie was the first one yet who had not recognized Pasta as the Reynolds' dog and also the first one not to ask Ellie if she was new in town. In lack of arguments to decline the offer, Ellie followed the woman up the driveway. At the top of it, hidden behind a tree, was a quite large building. It only had one story and was shaped like an L. The window frames of the entire structure were painted baby pink as well and one of the doors was blue while the other was white.

"The blue door is the one that leads to the café," Jodie explained and led the way. She unlocked the door and went in first, holding it open for Ellie. Warmth welcomed her into the café and she looked around curiously.

The café looked exactly what butter cream and sugary dough tasted like. The walls as well as the furniture were predominantly white while the details had pastel colors. None of the tables and chairs seemed to fit together, each and every piece was different. The decorations were pastel colored as well, on every table were two colorful mugs — one holding white tissues and another one with a rolled up menu. On the counter stood lots of big glass jars filled with sweets, chocolate pieces here, small cookies over there, single-wrapped fudge in the glass on the right.

"Go on and take a seat, I'll just put the groceries into the fridge," Jodie vaguely pointed towards the tables before she disappeared behind the counter into a second room. Ellie sat down at the table closest to the bar as everything else would have probably been more than just a little weird and took a look at the menu. The café sold mainly sweets of all kinds; cakes, tarts, brownies, cookies, the selection was quite large.

"Okay, can I get you anything?" Jodie had returned, tying a pastel blue apron with ruffles around her waist. She had gotten rid of the coat and beanie, revealing a carrot-colored pixie cut and a sweater with red and white stripes.

"The café only opens in about an hour but since you're here already, I'll take your order right away."

Ellie reached into her pocket and noticed she had not brought any money, so she just shook her head.

"No Thank you," she said, "I kind of left my wallet at home... — but I'll make sure to come by another time and actually order something."

Jodie laughed and grabbed a bowl from a nearby shelf, filling it with water and putting it on the floor for Pasta.

"Well, what brought you here if it wasn't my delicious food?" She asked.

"Curiosity, I'd say," replied Ellie sheepishly, "I don't really know everything here yet so I'm discovering all of the corners of Frostfields."

"Oh! Are you from Lone Pine? Or did you recently move here?"

"Neither... my parents and I are staying with an old friend of my dad for a few months. Philip Reynolds and his family, maybe you know them," Ellie explained, "I'm still learning my way around town."

"Yes, I know the Reynolds'," Jodie said, "they've been here once or twice when I opened the café."

"When did you move here?" Ellie finally put the menu back and ran a hand through her hair.

"How did you... oh yeah, right, the accent," Jodie laughed again, "I left England about five years ago but only moved here after I had spent three years in other parts of Canada. And I opened this café last winter. My first year anniversary was in November."

"Congratulations!" Ellie smiled.

"Thanks!" Jodie looked at her watch and grimaced in disappointment, "Look, I would love to keep talking to you — somehow I haven't made that many friends here — but I really got to prepare a few things in the kitchen for the customers."

"No worries, I'm basically gone already," Ellie stood up immediately but Jodie shook her head.

"You don't have to leave if you would rather stay," she said, "if you'd like, you can join me behind the counter and we can keep chatting. It's going to get a bit hectic in a little while since I'm my only employee but we'll manage. I'm afraid your dog will have to stay at the front though."

"I could help you," Ellie burst out before she actually thought about what she was about to say. Yes, she liked helping other people and talking to them but this was way out of the ordinary for her. Maybe it was because she craved human interaction since everyone at home was either a working adult or a sour teenage girl.

"I mean, not with baking or anything," she quickly backtracked, "but if it would be helpful, I could... I don't know... serve drinks and stuff?"

"That would be awesome," Jodie showed Ellie the way around the corner and advised her to take off her jacket and wash her hands quickly, "originally, my girlfriend wanted to come over and help me a little bit — she lives and works in Lone Pine — but I never know for sure when she'll be able to leave work."

Ellie did not say anything but she hoped that she had heard right. Girlfriend? Her suspicion seemed to be correct because as Ellie entered the kitchen, she immediately noticed the rainbow magnets on the fridge. A picture of Jodie and another woman holding a pride flag was pinned to one of them. Jodie noticed what Ellie was looking at and smiled at the picture with a fond look in her eyes.

"That's Liana," she said, "my girlfriend."

"You two look really good together," Ellie nodded and then, because she felt like saying it, she added: "my ex-girlfriend and I broke up a year ago."

"Oh, a fellow lesbian?" Jodie asked cheekily. Ellie shook her head.

"Not really," she said, "I... I don't like to label myself, you know, it feels weird to put myself in a box. If I had to, I'd just say I'm queer. Other labels don't really fit me, at least I feel like they don't."

"It's okay," said Jodie and chuckled, "I get it. It's always hard to find yourself, especially if you grow up around and live surrounded by people who aren't very accepting of the community."

"My parents were very supportive, actually," Ellie said fondly, "they said they just want me to find someone I love and that they don't care what that person's gender is as long as they treat me well."

"That's beautiful... for a second I forget you're not from around here."

"Why, is that a bad thing?" Ellie asked anxiously, "Are the people around here homophobic?"

"Some of them, yeah," Jodie shrugged as she opened the fridge and took a chocolate cake out of it, "would you mind putting that in the glass cabinet in the counter?"

Ellie nodded and took the cake to the front. Jodie was walking behind her, another cake in her hands, this time with berries on top.

"I've had a few encounters with homophobes around here," she confessed, "I mean, I don't go around telling everyone I like women, you know, but I don't keep it a secret either. And it seems that some of the people here do have a problem with that."

"Who?" Ellie asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach. Was it possible that Quinn was homophobic? It was a stretch but what if that was the reason she hated her? But how could she have found out, Ellie did not tell anyone here. Would her parents...? Certainly not, they knew that she liked to tell people herself. And if they had said it accidentally? Maybe they mentioned her ex-girlfriend to Quinn's family. But why should they do that, they had not seen or spoken to her in over a year!

"I don't know most of their names," Jodie said, "most of them were older, I'd say at least sixty. It's not really uncommon for them to think that way. Most of my visitors are from Lone Pine anyway and they're generally a bit more open minded. I guess it's something about small towns and villages that makes all the conservatives gather there."

"Small-town syndrome," Ellie added, "or something like that."

Jodie nodded and went back to the kitchen to get more cake from the fridge.

"I like it here, though," she said, handing a plate with butter tarts to Ellie, "and besides, someone has to initiate change. If everyone lived in areas that are already open-minded, nothing would change out here."

"I guess that's true," shrugged Ellie, setting the butter tarts down and looking out of the window to see a few people approaching the café, "I think your first customers are coming."

"Oh great!" Jodie beamed at the news, "They're still a bit early but that's okay — would you mind putting this on? If you're still up for helping me out, of course."

Jodie held a little tag in her hand that had the café's name and its logo on it and pointed to her own tag. Hers was stitched to the apron she was wearing on the left chest and had her name on it as well.

"Sure," Ellie took the tag with a smile and attached it to her sweater, adjusting it a little, "what can I do?"

"If you'd like, you can show them a table to sit at," Jodie advised her, "most people sit down wherever they want but if someone asks, you can show them to a free table. The you can ask them if they'd like to drink anything yet and if they say yes, you write that down and tell me. Wait, let me get you a notepad and a pen."

Jodie rummaged through a drawer before she handed Ellie a small stack of sticky notes and a pen — of course, both paper and pen were pink.

"Is that okay?"

"That's great, thanks."

As the first guests entered the café, Ellie quickly tied Pasta's leash to the footrest of the counter and moved his bowl closer to it, briefly petting the old dog. Then she returned to her new-found profession, smiling at the two older ladies who sat down at a nearby table.

"Hello, is there anything I can get you already?"

The day went by very quickly. Ellie found that even though she had never done anything like this before, she very much enjoyed serving drinks and food to the customer's. Jodie showed her how to use the coffee machine and added little sticky notes to the plates of the cakes so that Ellie knew what was what without having to look at the tags on the front.

All of the guests were very nice, some sliding Ellie some tip (she tried to give Jodie the money but the owner insisted Ellie should at least take half of it) and others chatting with her every chance they got. The café had opened at eleven and Ellie knew that if she did not want to anger Quinn, she would have to be home before four. However, before she was able to tell Jodie about when she would have to leave, the older woman pulled her aside around three. The café had been buzzing just minutes before but now a couple of people had paid and left and it was a little quieter again.

"You can go home now, Ellie," Jodie smiled at the girl, "you've helped me a lot today, thank you."

"You're welcome," Ellie replied, taking off the tag. When she came back after putting on her jacket, Jodie reached for her wallet, flicking through the different compartments.

"How much do I owe you?"

Ellie must have looked very puzzled because Jodie laughed and shook her head.

"For the help," she clarified, "I got to pay you. What's the minimum wage here, 15 bucks? And you worked for four hours, so..." she handed Ellie three $20 notes. "There you go."

"But I've already got the tip," Ellie protested, "and I didn't even do that much."

"Don't argue with me," Jodie said with a cheeky smile, "for each minute you spend here, I'll give you even more money."

Ellie had to chuckle at that and reached out to take the money. She put it in her pocket, grabbed Pasta's leash and turned around once more.

"Can I come back tomorrow?"

"I'd love that," Jodie replied happily, "here, let me give you my number so you can let me know when you'll be there."

________

I think Jodie might be one of my favourite characters I've ever created - I want to work at her café, too!!