Pov: Liv
I decide to catch a ride with Hayden after school, she drops me at the cafe and takes off.
I walk in and the smell of fresh baked goods & coffee filled the air, it honestly smells like home. My home.
My parents are overjoyed to see me, "Welcome ms. manager, you can start behind the cash register. All the best sweetie" my dad says as he hands over an employee name tag that says 'Arlene'.
I take my place behind the register & watch as various customers come in through the door; teenagers wanting to fuel up after school, mothers & their kids, and fathers after a long day of work and that's when someone catches my attention, it's him. What in the world?
The bell chimes loudly as Nate pushes the door open & enters, followed by him are Noah and Roman. Wow, the golden trio has arrived. Could my day get any better?
Nate's eyes instantly meet mine as he makes his way over to the register, behind him both the boys sit down at the corner-most table.
"Oh, would you look who's here, hey there, Lana," He says as he leans against the edge of the counter, It certainly took me by surprise.
It's been so long since someone called me that.
I dared not to look up from the counter and ask him, "What did you just call me?" His hand slides across the wooden top, "Your name, Lana" he replies, I look up to meet his dark brown eyes directly looking into mine.
"That's not my name, it's Liv" I murmur, feeling a bit flustered.
"It's called a nickname, darling. I'm going to call you Lana because Arlene-Lana, kind of has a ring to it don't you think?" he assures with a smirk.
I roll my eyes, "So are you just here for name-calling, or did you want something?", "A job would be nice" he exclaims, and all I do in return is scoff.
No way, he could be the mystery employee, right?
I'm in deep thought, trying to convince myself when my mom comes out from the back, "You must be Nate Caesar, the new employee! We talked on the phone previously, this is my daughter Liv. She'll be your mentor, good luck."
And just like that, all the hope I previously had disappeared into thin air.
"Great! thanks, Mrs. Arlene. So where do we begin, Lana?" Nate says as he grabs a server apron on the shelf and ties it around his waist.
"We begin with you giving me an explanation about why you are now working here," I ask him, genuinely wanting to know.
He doesn't give me an answer & I notice his eyes were focused on his phone.
"Nate, I have all the time in the world. Patience though, I have very little of." I comment.
He switches it off and keeps it in his back pocket. "Yeah sorry, well I was in need of some cash, and had the twisting urge to get to know you so why not kill two birds with one stone, there you go. That's why I'm here." He blatantly states.
I walk towards an empty table and start to wipe it down, he follows behind me, and from the corner of my eye, I spot Ember standing right outside the Cafe. Lord, save her soul.
Her gaze solely focused on Nate & me.
"Well good luck with that, I'm not really an open book and I'm sure neither are you so focus on the work okay buddy? Oh, and your girlfriend is staring at you from outside the cafe" I laugh and notice his expression drop the minute I mention Ember.
"She isn't my girlfriend but okay, whatever hotshot, just do me a quick favor and tell her to kindly fuck off will you? I am nowhere in the mood to do it right now" Nate requests, no way am I talking to that bitch.
Why can't he do it himself? Actually, fuck that, I am in the mood for some hell-raising.
I agree and decide to casually walk out of the cafe and towards Ember.
I keep my distance in case she had any plans of attacking me with her long-ass nails and I yell, "What do you want emerald?"
"Uh, it's ember bitch" she sneers.
It's actually fun to mess with her so I continue, "Anyways ebony, what the fuck do you want?"
She directly gets to it and questions me, "Why is Nate in your stupid cafe?" Of course, Nate, that's her concern.
"Just like how you're in that stupid outfit, he's in my cafe," I retort and she scowls at me.
"Besides, why don't you go in and ask him yourself, he's in the damn cafe, hike up your short shorts and ask him" I shoot back and add another comment before I walk back.
"Oh, and while you're at it, can you ask him to hand out the special cards for today, thanks, dear!"
"Fuck you Liv" she shouts out, right before I enter the cafe, and needless to say I was amused by what I yelled back, "Yeah okay, bye emulsion." I am loving my smart mouth right now.
I get back to see Nate taking an order at table 5, he smiles at me when he catches me looking at him. My stomach felt weird when he did that, & so did my heart, what the hell is up with that? Ew, if those are feelings... I don't want any part of it.
Either way, I get back behind the register and we continue to work, hours pass by and my parents give me the responsibility to close up the shop. It hasn't even been a day being the manager and they're already living their lives.
Nate wipes down the last table, carefully removes his apron, and places it back up on the shelf.
He reaches out to his back pocket to pull out his phone but along with it, something else falls out, it's a box of cigarettes.
I'm not shocked because I've seen him smoke at school and I can't be since Hayden smokes & I tend to do it sometimes with her.
I do enjoy it, but not a lot of it. I'd like to live with two nice and functioning lungs, thank you very much.
"I know you smoke Lana so, don't be surprised," He says, how does he know that? I only smoke when I'm stressed or with Hayden during dance.
Has he noticed me before?
I flash him a sarcastic smile and check my phone - 7:30 PM, I have to eat dinner with Hayden tonight since my dad had some work again. He's always busy nowadays, I never see him around that much anymore.
"Okay well, good job today, you managed to not piss me off and do your job well." I chuckle.
He smiles and says, "My pleasure Lana, see you tomorrow", with that he jogs out the door.
My nickname seems to roll off his tongue with ease, I like it.
I would never admit this out loud, but I'm kind of excited to get to know him better, now that he's working here.
Plus I get a free smoke show, this may benefit the business by having some serious eye candy handing out the menus.
It's a win-win.
...
So that was chapter 3!! Wow, guess Nate and Liv now work together huh, who would've thought :)
A small world indeed.
Hope you guys liked it! Thanks for reading and I'll try to update soon <3
- lots of love, T
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Almost love
Romance[CURRENTLY UNDER EDITING!] The 'almost love' story of Liv Arlene and Nate Caesar. I was almost good for her. I was almost good for him. Liv and Nate go to the same high school, river edge high. They come from messed-up family backgrounds with...
