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"I have a lot of questions for you kid, like why did you just run off that day in the park? Why didn't you return, if not to hang out to at least search for your library card. You do know you shouldn't have taken the situation so lightly. It had so much personal information on it." I scolded the girl seated across me with what I assume is a stern look occupying my face.
A smile played on her lips before she covered her mouth and began laughing. I stared at her in curiosity as the sweet sound of her laughter graced my ears and surprisingly my cheeks heated up as it continued. In between her fits of laughter she managed to let out, "You sound like an angry parent. Not even my mum has scolded me like that."
That made me scowl at her and say," Well she should because you were very careless. You don't know what kind of sickos are out there and this information could be the jackpot for them." Her laughing came to a halt and she just stared at the table while mumbling something that was inaudible to me. Feeling bad for ruining the mood, I got up making my chair screech against the tiles and headed to our display cabinet. I looked over at her friend Ashleigh who gestured towards the cream puffs before going back to pretend read the menu while I scooped one up and put in a saucer for her.
"Here's a cream puff on the house because to be fair, I might have been a little harsh on you and it was an honest mistake." I declared while setting it down in front of her and taking a seat once again. Her entire face lit up with joy before she glanced up at me for what I assume was permission making me nod my head vigorously to get the point across. She smiled at me and held it like a burger and took a huge bite and I couldn't contain my laughter when all the cream oozed out of the opposite end.
She took a moment to realize what happened before shaking her head and eating it a bit more carefully to avoid that situation from happening once again. As she ate her cream puff I lifted my hips and pulled out her card then I placed it on the table and before I could give it back to her Mrs. Singh burst back into the front. She took a look at me seated with a customer and I could see the confusion written on her face. "What is going on here young man? I leave you to take care of customers but come back to you using this time to get a date! You've never done this before so what's happened?" she asked quite franticly.
I opened my mouth to quickly diffuse the situation but Luna beat me to it," No no, you've got the wrong idea! He isn't interested in me, he was just trying to return my library card that I'd lost at the park. He wasn't doing anything wrong it's my fault he took a break." she said surprisingly coming to my defense.
Mrs. Singh stood with her mouth opened before she recovered and smiled at Luna while saying," Now that there sounds like Chase. Always trying to help, I'll leave you both to sort things out while I serve the girl behind you two." I thanked her and remembered, " Oh and can you deduct $5 from my wages? I took a cream puff for her."
She shook her head and waved me off while heading to Ashleigh and muttering something about me having a screw loose. As I turned back around I heard her ask Ashleigh, " Those two have something going on don't they?" to which Ashleigh replied, " Definitely."
I turned back to Luna curious to see her reaction but found that she heard none of it as she was preoccupied with licking the cream of her fingers. I chuckled making her freeze as I slid her card to her silently. She took it slowly and said," Thank you...Chase, for returning this and for giving me free food I don't know how I can repay you."
I squinted my eyes a little and leaned forward watching as she closed her eyes and tried to create more distance between us. I smirked and wiped the cream from the side of her lips and whispered," Well I'd love to get your number and take you out because you were wrong about one thing. I am definitely interested you Luna, no doubt about that."
My smirk stayed planted on my face as I watched her get flustered but to ease the situation I took my notepad and wrote my number on it and tore the page out when I was done. "This is for you." I said, placing it before her and heading back to my position behind the counter so she could get over the supposed shock of me asking her out. As I took my place I saw Ashleigh pull up Luna and rush to me and hand me a torn piece of paper and saying, " This is her number and Instagram just in case she's too chicken to message you."
Luna smiled awkwardly making me chuckle as her friend then dragged her out of the cafe, when they were out of sight Mrs. Singh turned to me with her hands on her hips in Mrs. Singh fashion and teased, " Just returning her library card huh?"
I waved her off and stuffed the paper safely in my pocket which made her laugh and continue her teasing but thankfully she stopped when we heard the ringing of the door bell. A large burly man stepped in with a thick unruly beard and despite his scary appearance he had a wide smile on his face as he took a seat and spoke with Mrs. Singh but I ignored all of those things and only zoned in on the tattoos occupying his arms when he removed his coat. I shuddered in disgust and immediately looked at the floor feeling a bit nauseous. During his entire time at the cafe my eyes were glued to the floor, counting the tiles, studying the pattern, finding dirty spots, basically doing anything to avoid looking at him.
When he left and Mrs. Singh turned towards me I headed to the back to change as my shift was over for the day. As I changed I cursed myself for being affected by something so trivial, years later and the past still haunts me but as I felt around in my pocket I smiled to myself.
