Shades

Everything

The weeks had gone by in a blur and now it was time to resume for another semester. Kate could count on one hand the things she had done during the break. Apart from working she had finally built her bookshelf with Parker and visited the library often; because being a major in English was no child's play. She was practically a nerd.

She hummed to the music playing from her earphones as she jogged down the street to the cafe. She decided to help Miss Jen before going for her classes later in the afternoon. Noelle had a morning class so had to leave earlier.

Her break had been the best in a while. She hadn't had any problems because a certain blue-eyed stranger didn't show up at the bar. It wasn't like she was stalking him or anything, Noelle just spoke about him a lot. But it was weird that he didn't show up even once after their last encounter because his friends did. They had become a regular on some nights.

"Kate!"

She didn't turn up the volumes of her earphones incase there was a car behind her, she would hear them. So she could hear her name loud and clear. She removed the earphones and turned to see who just interrupted her peaceful jog.

"Hi," Parker stopped before her and continued jogging at a spot.

"Since when do you jog?" She asked, looking up and down at his nice work-out get up.

"I'm supposed to ask you that. I do this every day"

"Sure you do" She nodded and decided to walk for the rest of the journey. Jogging was no fun.

"Did you talk to your dad?" Parker asked carefully.

Kate shot him a look. He was being so straightforward.

"Um, no" she answered anyway.

"Did you atleast text?"

She sighed and stopped. Parker stopped too and wiped his face with a cloth.

"You have to talk to him sooner or later"

"I don't have to do shit!"

Her dad wasn't a topic she liked to talk about. Parker knew that so she didn't get why he was still disturbing her.

"Kate..."

She folded her arms and turned fully to him, one of her eyebrows shot up, urging him to continue with his sentence.

"Fine, I won't say anything" he sighed and turned his face from her.

"That's what I thought" She left him and continued with her walk. She smiled, seeing the cafe just a stone's throw away.

"Are you working today?" Parker asked, a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"And what if I am?"

"You're so boring!" He groaned and she laughed as she walked into the cafe.

She sniffed in the wonderful smell of coffee and freshly baked cupcakes. Cupcakes were a speciality in the cafe. They were Miss Jen's famous recipe and everyone loved it. Kate sighed in satisfaction and moved to the counter.

"Hey, it's not healthy to eat junk after a jog" Parker warned.

"Don't let Miss Jen hear you" Kate whispered and grabbed a cupcake from the counter.

"You know that's stealing, right?" He pointed at the cupcake.

"It's not stealing when I work here"

"Kate dear!"

Kate quickly shoved the cupcake in Parker's hand and turned to Miss Jen coming out of the staff's closet. She gave her a warm smile as she greeted her.