The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Bossa Nova Baby

Anna and Daniel watched as Elijah entered the white doors of the Belford Historical society by himself. Anna frowned to herself with concern. If Daniel hadn't asserted that Elijah should go alone she certainly would have wanted to go with him. If not to learn more about Teddy, to prevent Elijah from doing or saying something stupid that would upset the poor boy. 

"Stop worrying."

"I'm not worrying," Anna argued. 

"I know you are, I can smell it in the air," Daniel shrugged. "He'll be fine." 

Anna sighed. She had the weakest senses of the group and forgot how strong the noses of Betas truly were.

"You really think it's a good idea for him to be there all alone? What if he..."

"Oh no, it's an awful idea. He's going to crash and burn."

Anna scoffed, "So why would you let him go in there then?"

"Because I meant what I said, Teddy needs to get to know Elijah without us censoring him." Daniel explained with a smug smile. "Now, let's go--- I've got places to be."

"But Elijah said he'd be back--"

"Oh, he's with his mate, he's not coming back for hours. Come on," Daniel beckoned as he began walking down the street back in the direction where they'd come from. 

"Where are you-- wait!" Anna knew she ought to just wait for Elijah like she'd been told, but she didn't know her way around humans and didn't want to be left alone, so she jogged slightly to catch up to the long legged strides of Daniel. "Where are you going? The Alpha told us to wait."

"Not quite the Alpha yet, and as for where I'm going--- I'm going to get me a job at the Camomile Cafe."

"Oh!" Anna cried futilely. "Elijah said not to get a job.. he said he had it under control. You're not really going to go get a job against his wishes, right? Tell me you're joking."

"I saw just as well as you that there's not a shot in Hell that Elijah gets that job... and can you even blame the woman? If you saw Elijah, you wouldn't hire him either. So I'm gonna go get a job before we lose our minds."

"He's not going to like that," Anna warned.

"Tough."  

"I think this is just about the worst idea you've ever had in your whole life," Anna ranted as the came up to the familiar yellow diner. "Just you wait until Elijah finds out--"

"Shh!" Daniel shushed her. "You comin' or not?"

"Me? Go with you? IN THERE?" She asked, eyes wide as saucers. "I already told you I thought this was a plain bad idea, that's it."

"Fine, then you'll just wait out here by yourself--"

"Oh no I won't," She argued back.

"Then I guess you haven't got a choice," Daniel shrugged pulling the door open. 

"Daniel!" She shouted one last time, stamping her foot on the steps of the diner. Every bone in her body screamed that she didn't want to go in. The number of people she'd need to interact with just to be in the cafe was enough to send her running for the hills, but there was nothing better for her standing out front either. At least if she went inside she could attempt to stop Daniel from doing something else stupid. 

With one final deep breath and a face of pure fire, she pulled the door open and walked in afterwards. Daniel was leaning on the counter next to a blue stool with a grin on his face that seemed to say: I knew you'd crack.

She glared back which only served to provoke a laugh from the boy. 

The interior of the cafe was all done over in pastel yellows and blues with a black and white checkerboard floor tile. The counter Daniel leaned against had a shiny metal rail around the bottom and was surrounded by several light blue stools. It looked like something that belonged at a sixties sock hop. Behind the counter were taps for the pop and a chalk board menu that had a drawing of a sleeping moon with a night cap in one corner.