To Know

Chapter 33

By that afternoon, John and Seraphina had come to an agreement. He would come with her to the meeting but would be prepared to move table when she turned up.

They were the first at the Brew and it suddenly became the question of whether Leilah had booked ahead.

She hadn't.

So, they found one of the many empty tables in the café.

John smiled and asked her, "Hey, on another day, would you like to go out somewhere with me?"

"Um, yeah..." Weird...

"There's this movie I think you would like," he replied, looking away from her with a light blush on his face. "It's based off a book my dad wrote."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah, he's a best-selling author?" John raised an eyebrow. "I thought you knew that?"

She flicked her eyes across the room. "But isn't-?"

"Different book, different pen name."

"Oh." Her lips popped.

"Hi, I'm Ella! May I take your orders?" the waitress asked once she arrived at their table. She was short, roughly the same height as Seraphina when she was sitting, and wore the uniform of the shop: a beige collared shirt with a cup of coffee steaming on the right breast pocket and a black skirt.

"A mocha, please," she responded, waving her hand. She wore a green long sleeved denim jacket with the sleeves rolled up to just below the elbow. Underneath, she wore a black V-neck t-shirt.

"Hot chocolate please. Whipped cream and marshmallows too." John wore a light brown hoodie with a light blue-grey t-shirt underneath and black shorts.

"Alrighty, coming right up!"

She gave John a look.

"What? They don't do ice teas here," he replied with a shrug. "And I'm paying."

"I can pay for you." She smiled.

"No, you paid last time. It's my turn to pay."

"I'll pay. My parents don't care what I spend it on and they won't even notice."

"So? You don't have to pay every time. I'll pay – unless you're trying to drain your parents bank account."

She sighed. "No, not really. I don't want to do that without a plan out."

"Okay, then I'll be paying."

She paused, lining a response when the bell on the front door rang. She glanced over to the door where Leilah walked in with her long waves of lilac hair floating behind her. She wore a dark blue blouse that went down to her elbow, which was rolled up, and was low cut so a black undertop (?) was shown at the very edges. A dark grey belt with a gold buckle held up her black trousers. Then she wore a ring gold bracelet on her wrist and had gold hoops as earrings. She slung a small light grey handbag over her shoulder and clutched the strap.

"There you are, Sera!" Leilah shouted after a decent few seconds of aimless searching the cafe with her eyes. A smile broadened her face. "How have you been?"

"Um, well it could have been better," she replied sarcastically, a small smile on her face. And she laughed.

Leilah awkwardly smiled. "I get that. I'm sorry I left you there."

Sera nodded. She leant her elbow on the table and placed her chin on her hand, raising her eyebrows.

"Um." She turned to John and held out her hand. "I'm Leilah, though I guess you may know that."