Leaves [gxg]

10

10

At the end of, yet another unusually busy, day, River sat, slumped at a table, her forehead pressed against the surface. Her feet felt about ready to tear themselves from her legs and make a run for it through the still open door. She hadn't even had the energy to lock it and turn the sign to 'Closed'. Raising her head, she blew a strand of hair from her face and looked around.

Erisa, washing the day's pots at the sink area, glanced around and River tried to brighten up. It came across as a half-grimace and Erisa dried her hands on a towel before moving out from behind the counter, closing the door, turning the sign and sitting down in the chair opposite. She had a serious look upon her face.

"We need to talk." At Erisa's opening words, River sat back, a chill running down her spine. She never liked that kind of opening. "This isn't going to work, you know? You're running yourself ragged. Look at you! You're shattered! And ... and I can't keep taking extra shifts. I'm sorry, but I can't. You need more staff."

"It's fine. It'll blow over. Soon. Pretty soon." Her fingers tightened into the palms of her hands. If Erisa left, River didn't know what she would do. "It's a blip. A momentary madness. Tomorrow, it'll be as dead as always and things will get back to normal. Normal-ish. It's fine. Really."

Erisa narrowed her eyes, making absent-minded taps with her fingers upon the table surface. She glanced towards the sink, where she still had a few piles of cups, saucers and mugs to clean. Even River had to admit, they had never had so much washing to do. There was more money in the till, and she had yet to cash up for the night, but she knew things had grown too fast.

"Look, River, I love you, but you can be so thick sometimes." Stretching out her fingers, Erisa flattened them out, palms pressing upon the table. "I think it's gone past that point. Leaves has become popular. Even if it doesn't go on as bad as this, you've gained a whole new set of customers that, rightly, love this place. You need more staff!"

"I know! I know!" Forehead returned to table, River's hands falling onto her head as though protecting herself from a catastrophe. Bobbing her head back up, she grabbed Erisa's hands. "But ... but ... what if I hire someone who doesn't like tea? What if it's just 'a job' to them? What if they think I'm stupid? What if it's a man? A man! They'll explain things and try to make things 'efficient' and 'streamlined' and 'synergised'. I don't even know how you can 'synergise' tea! Maybe ... maybe if I start being horrible to people? Make them go somewhere else?"

"You couldn't be horrible if you tried." Laughing, Erisa squeezed River's hands, ignoring the pleading look in River's eyes. "Go on. Give it a try. Say something horrible to me."

River's mouth opened and closed several times. Frowning, she wasn't about to let Erisa think that she couldn't be horrible. She could be horrible! She once told someone that they bumped into her deliberately. Stood up for herself and everything. Perhaps she hadn't actually used words, and expressed herself by forcing deep furrows in her forehead and a slight roll of the eyes, instead, but it would have withered them if she had said what she had thought. Withered them!

"Alright! You ... your ... you have ..." Lifting a hand, she pointed towards Erisa, gritting her teeth and giving Erisa her most serious expression. "You overcharged a customer today. By ten pence! But, then, you followed them to give them the money, half-way down the street. Which was really sweet."

The head dropped to the table once more, hands covering her mess of hair. She felt two slides fighting with each other to keep her hair tidy, in the same spot. She couldn't remember doing that. Out of her eyesight, Erisa laughed again and a hand smoothed down her hair. River wished that hand belonged to Celeste, but her beautiful travelling partner had not visited the shop in days.