Safety

Chapter 7

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Soundtrack

Enchanted - Taylor Swift
The playful conversation starts
Counter all your quick remarks
Like passing notes in secrecy
And it was enchanting to meet you

***

I gaze around the nearly empty café, unsurprised by the quiet. It's nearly 9:00 on Homecoming night, and the only ones here are me, an older barista named Henrietta, and a middle aged woman tapping away at the keys on her laptop.

"What time does your shift end?" Henrietta asks quietly, cleaning spilled coffee ground off the counter.

"I'm closing tonight," I say, offering a smile. And, since Café Rosada stays open till 10:00, I'm stuck here for another hour. "You?"

"9:00. I can stay, if you'd like," she offers. "This is your first time closing, correct?"

"Yeah, but Trinity already walked me through it," I reply, shaking my head. "I'll be fine. Go home and get some rest."

She smiles tiredly at me before taking off her apron and punching her time card.

As she walks out the door, she turns over her shoulder and calls, "Goodnight, Grace."

But with the wind picking up outside, it sounds almost like 'Grey,' and I flinch.

Putting thoughts of his oceanic eyes out of my head, I focus on the fact that it appears to be storming. After throwing a cautious glance at the only customer in the store to be sure she's not paying attention, I pull out my phone and text Jace a quick 'Drive safe.'

He finally got up the nerve to ask Trinity to Homecoming, and she said yes like I knew she would.

I smile to myself at the thought. I hope he enjoys himself. He deserves it.

The woman with her laptop tosses a twenty haphazardly onto her table, gathers her things quickly, placing them all into her bag with no apparent order in mind, and stands to her feet, offering me a rushed smile before leaving the café.

I go to collect the money, and smile broadly. She'd only ordered two cups of coffee the entire time she was here (which has been nearly three hours), and therefore only racked up a tab of around $5. The other fifteen goes to me.

I make the change, place what belongs in the register into it, and place the tip into my pocket, after recording how much she tipped me on the roster. I find this particular policy odd, but having never worked before, I deign my judgement as unreliable.

The café is silent for the next half hour, aside for a man who runs in for a to-go cup of coffee, and disappears as soon as he's received it.

My eyelids have begun to droop when I hear the bell that rests on the door chime. I snap my head up to see who the customer is.

My gaze is met by smiling blue eyes.

"Good evening, Tyler," I greet wearily, offering a controlled smile.

"Grace," he replies, nodding his head in greeting before taking a seat at one of the booths.

I walk purposefully to the table, notebook in hand.

"What would you like tonight?" I ask, willing my eyes not to meet his.

"What would you suggest?"

At this point, I can't help meeting his gaze, a smirk playing at my lips.

"I've still only ever eaten the cheesecake here," I tease. "But, seeing as we're out of that, I suppose that people tend to enjoy our Tiramisu."