18 | little monsters

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CHAPTER 18

"He kissed you?" Lucy asked incredulously, gathering the attention of the few customers still milling around.

"Shhh." I hissed, my eyes darting towards the several that were on us. "And no. He almost kissed me."

"Same difference." She squealed. "I have to say though, I'm not that surprised. He's obsessed with you."

My nose wrinkled. She couldn't be more off base. "No he's not."

"We'll agree to disagree." She said with a sly smile. "So... what was it like?"

"Perfect," was the answer I didn't give.

Instead I shrugged, picking up the dirty plates that sat on grey tablecloths. "It doesn't matter. It's never happening again."

Lucy's eyebrows raised. "Should I pretend I believe you?"

I paused, plate in mid air. "You don't have to pretend, it's true. We're just friends and nothing more."

She pursed her lips together in a way that told me she didn't agree, but sensed that the conversation needed to end there. "Whatever you say."

I walked over to one of the many hanging plants dotted around the Stone's interior and watered it until it stopped looking droopy, finding that my mood perked up as soon as its stem did.

"Bossman said he wants to see both of us in his office." Lucy told me with confusion clouding her voice, eyes moving from the computer screen she had in front of her over to where I was standing.

"That's strange." I said, biting my lip nervously.

My mind had already begun coming up with all the worst case scenarios, fuelled by the fact that the last time I'd spoken to him was during the interview I took to get this job in the first place, just over four months ago.

He rarely came out of his office, to the point where we joked about him living there, so for him to invite us inside of it was completely unheard of.

"We could just act like we didn't see it?" Lucy offered.

I shook my head with the hint of a smile on my face. "No we can't. And that seems really unprofessional."

She groaned. "Fine, but we should probably get going. The email was sent an hour ago."

My eyes widened. "Start walking!"

I stood next to Lucy outside our boss' door and was immediately overcome by a dizzying sense of déjà vu.

Like the door on the day of my graduation this one stood tall and proud, the deep oak intimidating me more than the crowd of people that had just watched me run off the stage.

I fisted my hand and raised it to knock before freezing in place, finding Lucy's eyes instead. "If he's called us here to tell us we're fired, then at least we can say we've had a good run."

"Yeah." She said distractedly, worried face doing a pretty good job of portraying how I felt right about now.

Until she shook her head slightly, face clearing and returning to the happy expression she usually wore. "Plus I'm basically the perfect waitress. I've only ever spat in one person's food and he really deserved it, I promise."

I laughed at her terrible timing, sucking it up and knocking on the door sharply.

One. Two. Three times for good measure.

"Come in!" He boomed, voice so loud that it travelled through the thick wood of the door with ease.

I twisted the door handle, somehow surprised by what I saw even though I'd been in the room once before.

All I can say is that it suited him perfectly, nothing but black, grey and bare walls.

Taking my focus off the lack of decoration and onto him, I squirmed uncomfortably as he scrutinised us under his gaze.

"I see you received my email." He said, nodding his head in our general direction.

Unable to tell whether he was expecting a response or not I just stared in silence, matching Lucy who was awkwardly doing the same.

"I'll get straight to the point." He sighed. "I'm hiring someone new for the waiting staff."

My eyes widened slightly, a mixture of relief and surprise. I'm not getting fired! But as far as I knew not a single person had been hired since me, and not from lack of interest. What was so special about this person?

"He starts on Monday and I'm expecting you two to show him the ropes." Our boss stated in a tone that told me it wasn't up for deliberation.

"We'd be happy to." I said, only partly telling the truth. This was going to change the dynamic we already had at the cafe, and I was betting on it being for the worse.

"What's his name?" Lucy asked, receiving a strange look from him in response.

"Is that necessary?" He questioned.

"It is if you want us to get to know him." She replied matter of factly.

He sounded exasperated. "Drew."

"Thank you." Lucy said, practically beaming. I wondered why she was being so strange about this.

"Make him feel as welcome as possible." Our boss shouted as we left through the door. Or maybe that was just his usual voice, I couldn't tell.

Once we had returned to the main part of the cafe, it was safe for me to say what I was really thinking. "I don't want somebody else working with us. And what if he's an asshole?"

She beckoned me closer, eyes sparkling. "He's not. When I heard that his name was Drew, the pieces all fell into place."

"What?" I asked, struggling to follow along with her whenever she got this excited.

"You know Stacy?" She began after receiving a nod from me. "Well I remember her telling me she had a babysitter called Drew who would look after daughter whenever she had to work a shift at the Stone."

"Then, right before she left she said something cryptic about her job going to somebody who deserved it more. This must have been what she meant." She finished, cheeks glowing.

My heart melted a little. Although I hadn't known Stacy that well before she left to work somewhere else - some fancy business firm according to Lucy - she was one of those people that radiated happiness and good energy.

I could only assume that anybody willing to help her out was a good person too, so maybe the new guy wouldn't be that bad after all.

- - - -

The sun was beginning to set through the tempered glass in the windows, signifying that my shift had almost come to an end.

Thank goodness, since I wanted nothing more than to leave. Although I loved working at the cafe for the most part, there was a certain tightness that came with being in the same place for too long.

Maybe that was my problem — Wanderlust. The reason for my desperation to put distance between myself and my family, and why I so easily uprooted my life and everything I thought I knew in the process.

Before my thoughts could take too dark a turn, my phone vibrated from within my pocket and I pulled it out to be met with a new notification.

"Hewohs. Issnsb hehei." It said under Gabriel's contact name.

I reread it just to check that I wasn't seeing things.

Nope. Still gibberish.

"What?" I replied, receiving no response even though it said that it had been 'seen'.

Ignoring the strangeness of Gabriel's message I took the last order of the night, a simple hot chocolate that I could've kissed the lady for ordering since I couldn't be bothered to make anything more elaborate.

My fingers wrapped around the reusable coffee cup and I handed it to her, offering a brief smile as she left.

My phone buzzed with a text from Gabe, offering an explanation for the earlier ones. "Sorry gorgeous, I promise I'm not illiterate. One of the little monsters I'm with got hold of my phone."

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and assume you mean kids instead of the kind you find under your bed. Are you babysitting?" I asked in response.

"Wouldn't be too surprised if these ones were under my bed. They're already in my nightmares." He replied, eliciting a soft giggle from me.

"And I wish I was babysitting. This wouldn't be as awful if I was getting paid for it. Coach made us volunteer to play basketball with some kids but all of my teammates were conveniently busy apart from me. My life is a living hell right now."

"It can't be that bad." I consoled him.

"No. It's worse." He typed back. "They won't listen to anything I say. One of them is on my back and another is putting his socks on his head."

"Fair enough. Maybe it is that bad." I replied, fighting a smile at the thought of him being ambushed by a cute kid and forced to give him a piggyback.

"I need help." He messaged back, and I could sense his frustration through the text.

Before I even knew what I was doing, my fingers had already typed and sent the sentence, "I can come help if you want. I just got off."

My eyes widened when I realised how that sounded and I rushed to correct it. "From my shift at the cafe, I mean.

I knew there was a smirk on his face when I received a reply of, "I know. I put two and two together. Didn't think you were so dirty minded, candyfloss."

I could feel my cheeks heating. I should've just left it.

Another message came through, this time with an address attached. "I owe you one, gorgeous."

"I'm holding you to that." I texted, waving bye to Lucy and picking up the keys to my car. It was a piece of junk that broke down more than it drove, but I had bought it entirely on my own and that was reason enough for me to love it.

Brownstone and golden arches swam in my vision as I stepped out of the car and noticed the building in front of me.

I walked through the courtyard, noticing that there wasn't a single thing out of place. Not even so much as a weed growing between the cracks in the concrete.

It felt too perfect. Clinical almost.

I was convinced that Gabriel had given me the wrong address since this didn't seem like a youth centre in the slightest.

I ate my words as soon as I stepped inside, finding that it seemed homier, more comfortable.

The receptionist smiled warmly, asking for my name and directing me towards the basketball court with slender arms and pointed fingers. "Just to the left and straight on."

As I walked I glanced down at myself, at the cherry red skirt I had been wearing since my shift at the cafe - we were technically supposed to only wear black but bent the rules a little - and the oversized jumper I had tucked into it.

I wasn't exactly dressed for basketball so I hoped that Gabe wouldn't mind me being nothing but an active audience member.

My indication that I was heading in the right direction was brought in the form of wild screaming and the occasional grunt of frustration.

I peeked through the small window in the door in front of me, watching as small bodies charged across the room.

I bit back a smile at the sight of Gabriel caught in the middle of them, repeatedly running his hands through his hair.

The door swung open softly, not creaking loudly enough to alert him to my presence.

"You seem to really have things under control." I laughed, making my way up to him.

"You think this is funny?" He replied, turning to face me. "I feel like I've aged about ten years."

At that moment one of the boys made a beeline for me, wrapping himself around my leg and refusing to let go.

With chubby cheeks and a lopsided smile he looked up at me, saying "Hi," in what was possibly the cutest voice I've ever heard.

I resisted the urge to "Aww" out loud knowing how much most kids hated it, but it was one of the hardest things I'd ever done.

"C'mon Lucas, get off." Gabe lectured, glancing at me apologetically.

"It's okay. I don't mind." I said, watching as the boy I now knew as Lucas rubbed his cheek against the soft material of my skirt.

"How old are they?" I asked, since he looked considerably younger than some of the other boys in the hall who were kicking around a football.

Wrong sport, I thought with a laugh.

"Anywhere between 5 and 10." He answered.

"Oh. Well maybe you just need to do something that they like at any age." I offered.

"But I have no idea what kids like." He said, brows furrowing. "And I should probably play at least a little basketball with them or Coach'll have my head."

I clapped my hands together. "That's it. Just make it a competition. First one to get five baskets wins a hug or something like that."

I almost laughed at the worry on his face when I reached the last part of my sentence. "I couldn't tell you the number of hugs I've gotten today, we're not doing that again. But I like that idea, candyfloss."

"How do I get them to listen to me, though?" He trailed off, gaze travelling over what was essentially a jungle, just with children instead of wildlife. Actually scratch that, the noises they were making could've passed as animal sounds — I swore I heard one squawk.

"Guys!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, watching with a smile as the room fell completely silent, and meeting his eyes. "Like that."

I made my way over to a wooden bench and sat, slowly growing used to how hard and uncomfortable it felt underneath me.

I watched on as Gabe gave the kids instructions and noticed that he was actually really good with them, patient when they lost focus and all too happy to step in whenever they wanted him to.

He had some real skill, and it was impossible to ignore it as he stood in the middle of the court, extending his arms towards the basket and launching the ball directly into the net.

Parents began to come for their children, many of whom women who weren't subtle in the way they fawned over Gabriel. He either didn't notice or chose to ignore it since he brushed their off advances with ease, waiting until each and every last child had been collected.

His gaze travelled over to where I was sitting and he stalked over to me from the other side of the room, stopping directly in front of the bench.

Face breaking into a dimpled smile, he waited until I met his eyes before speaking. "Hey."

I found that his smile was infectious, giving him one of my own in spite of myself. "Hey."

"Thanks for helping out today." He said. "It means a lot."

"Of course." I replied, realising with a start that I would probably have done anything he asked me to.

"I saw you eyeing the net. Come play." He urged.

"I'm not dressed for it." I said, gesturing at what I was wearing.

His eyes lingered on my legs for a second too long before returning to my face, glinting with something I didn't recognise.

He grabbed my hand, flashing me a dizzying smile. "Just one round, I promise."

I relented, standing up. "Fine."

We played for a bit, and the ball found a way into my hands. Taking two strides towards the basket I aimed, released the ball and... missed.

My face fell and Gabe noticed. "It's okay gorgeous, it's just one shot. You'll get others."

I appreciated the effort, but it wasn't doing much since I was approximately 400 miles away.

Specifically in my old boarding school, listening to the gym teacher berate me for missing what was such an easy shot to make.

"Stupid."

"Just a pretty face."

The memories I was usually so good at ignoring were bubbling up to the surface, and my eyes glistened with unshed tears.

The final blow she delivered in front of the class. "Go to your room Cora. Come back when you're not a failure."

I had such bad writer's block but I broke through it with this chapter yay