Undercurrent

Chapter 2

"How's the café?" Zach asked me as we stood barefoot, paddling at the shoreline.

I didn't respond for a while. Zach knew me well enough not to interrupt my train of thought. The truth was that after spending the last four weeks working almost every day, I was fed up. Really fed up.

It wasn't like the customers were rude. I mean, the occasional please or thank you would have been nice, but I couldn't complain too much. It was just so incredibly dull. At least there were only two more weeks to go until I could use college work as an excuse to avoid it.

"It's fine, I guess," I said.

I felt Zach's raised eyebrow before I saw it. "You hate it."

How did he know me so well?

"I don't hate it. It's just, I don't know," I sighed, picking up a pebble and casting it into the water. "Talking to people all day. Being sociable. It's not very me, is it?"

He smiled. "I'm not sure about that. You never shut up when you're with me!"

"Not true." I gave him a swift elbow to the ribs. He was right though. I'd always been able to talk with Zach. To be myself. To not worry about what I was going to say or what he'd think of me. Why couldn't it be that easy with everyone?

"Anyway," I said. "It's different with you. You already know I'm odd, there's no awkward surprises. And we've always been like this. It's just like talking to myself."

Zach nodded, serious for once. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Almost like we're the same person, I suppose."

*

The clock showed 3pm and I silently prayed to whichever Gods were listening that the next few hours would pass quickly and without too much trauma. I'd had enough of that lately, considering I'd spent the entire shift the day before wearing a Berrynana Smoothie following some drama with the blender.

Then there was the day when the till had decided to stop working right at the moment that the pensioners' coach party were trying to pay. Trust me, you do not want to get in between the elderly and their cream teas. Mum had managed to get it working again but it was still feeling fairly temperamental.

Naively, I thought my prayers had been answered until the bell rang and a group of teenagers came in. I groaned inwardly as I recognised the blonde girl and her friends that I'd embarrassed myself in front of weeks ago but nobody else looked familiar. I figured they must have been from the school across town, the same one that Zach went to. I wondered if they knew him.

One of the boys in the group waved to me at the counter. Weird. I didn't know him so wasn't quite sure why he was waving at me. I raised my hand and waved back. A strange look crossed his face and I felt the colour drain from mine as I realised he was just trying to get my attention to take their order. Great.

I walked over to them, mentally berating myself for embarrassing myself in front of the same people yet again. Normally, I at least limited my mortifying encounters to one per person.

"What can I get you?" I asked, desperately trying to avoid eye contact.

*

I managed to get through the next couple of hours relatively unscathed. I'd even made it through serving their second round of drinks without any issues. Maybe the gods had taken pity on me after all? I looked at the clock, just two more hours and I was free. I could do that.

Mum had come in for the evening shift. She'd spent all day talking to suppliers, trying to get some better deals since the tourist season was on its way out. She was determined that this wasn't going to be another failed seaside business, replaced by a pop-up vape shop or a discount store as soon as the summer was over. Personally, I wasn't quite as optimistic.

"Nini," Mum's tone of voice told me she was after something. I braced myself. "Any chance you could open up tomorrow?"

Ugh. I knew she'd forget I wasn't going to be here tomorrow.

"Can't," I said. "I'm back at college tomorrow, Mum. Remember?"

"What? Oh, yeah, of course, honey. Sorry, it just slipped my mind." She looked stressed and I couldn't have felt more guilty. "I've got to get down to the bank, so I'll just have to close up for an hour or two. No problem."

For something that wasn't a problem, she sounded pretty anxious about it.

I sighed. "Registration finishes at two, so I can come by after coillege. Then you can make it to the bank before close?"

Relief flooded Mum's face. "Would you? Oh, Nini, you're a life saver!" She rushed at me and hugged me so tight I felt like I might pass out, kissing me several times on the top of the head.

"It's fine, Mum. Get off!" I laughed, as she wrapped her arms even tighter.

"Erm, excuse me," a voice came from behind me. "Is it ok if we pay the bill please?" I turned to see the blonde girl stood next to the till.

Feeling my face glow red, I wrestled myself out of Mum's grasp. "God, yeah, of course, sorry," I made my way past her and over to the girl at the counter.

"No problem," the girl smiled at me.

I started ringing her order through the till which had obviously decided that now was a good time to run as slowly as possible.

"Sorry," I mumbled. "It's been playing up lately."

"It's fine, no rush," she said reassuringly, picking up one of the leaflets from the counter and starting to flick through it as I willed the till to sort itself out.

I think Mum must have been able to feel my panic, as she decided to fill the silence. "Enjoying the last day of summer?" she asked the girl.

"Hmm?" She looked up from her leaflet. "Oh, sorry. Yeah, definitely. Could do with another week to be honest!" She laughed.

I kept my eyes focused on the till, but I couldn't help but admire her confidence. If someone I didn't know had started making small talk with me while I was pretending to read a brochure for the local model railway, I think I might have died on the spot.

"I'm sure my Nina feels the same," Mum said, gesturing towards me. "Don't you, Nini?"

I'm not sure what I was trying to say but some kind of strangled noise forced its way out. Somehow, the girl seemed to understand it, whatever it was. I think Mum realised I was mortified because she sidled off to the kitchen pretty quickly.

"Oh, you're back tomorrow too?" the girl said. I wasn't really sure whether it was a statement or a question. I looked up and realised she was looking at me expectantly. Right, it was a question.

Luckily, those Gods that I'd been praying to finally kicked into action and the till decided it was time to start working again.

"Tomorrow, yeah," I said, handing her the bill.

"Oh, thanks," she tapped her card against the reader and as the machine whirred, she asked, "Are you starting at Jimmy's?"

I nodded. I can't say I'd ever been keen on the local nickname for St James' College. She smiled as the card machine beeped its approval. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow maybe."

I managed a brief smile back. "Yeah, maybe."

She turned and went back to her friends. At least this time they didn't immediately start laughing when she got there. They started heading out and I saw the blonde girl give me a small wave as she left.

Maybe I hadn't completely embarrassed myself this time.