Chasing October

Chapter 10

Alanahs car isn't parked around in the back staff/home owner carpark when Dom and I arrive back at Mio Angelo. (A/N October, Jordie and Alanah live in a small 3 bedroom flat above the cafe. Alanah and Jordie share a room.) I grasp the nappy (diaper) bag in one hand and secure Dom on my hip with the other, kicking the back entrance open. Edith comes over from the milk crate she is sitting on and assists me, a cigarette dangling from her lips, ocean green hair in a messy bun atop her head.

"Thanks, Edie. When does your shift start again?" I ask, puffing and holding the door open with my back, Dom squirming on my hip.

"'Bout 20 minutes....why?" Edith asks, throwing the cigarette onto the ground and crushing it with her shoe. I'm not ok with her smoking out here but we made a comprise that she wouldn't smoke if Dom or I were around.

"Nah, just asking. See ya in 20. Say bye, Dom." Dom blows a raspberry at Edith, she smiles and returns to her milk crate. I continue on inside. In the small hallway between the carpark and the back kitchen entrance, Charlie and Rachey appear to be very....engrossed in finding out how much of their tongues they can shove in each other mouths, when did this happen?

"Uh, excuse me?" I try to push past them, Dom begins to rock back and forth in my arms, tiny head wobbling on an unsteady neck....this is getting out of hand. They prise themselves apart, obviously also coming up for a little thing called: Oxygen! God, even Liam and I weren't this bad back in the day, and we'd dated since the start of year 8. Both breathing heavily, they move out of my way and let me through the small corridor, I'm seriously having a sensory overload. I look back to see that they've continued their 'final frontier' of each other's mouths. Charlie's hand going....lets just say, where the sun don't shine. (A/N read the prologue of finding May to see that, obviously, the sun do shine there...). Shivering with disgust, I walk through the kitchen, past a flustered Jordie and tired Matt, place Dom in his rocking chair thingy and dump the nappy bag beside him. I shove my keys into my back pocket and scour the large cafe floor for Liam.

He sits smiling, waving a hand enthusiastically to catch my attention. I wanna smile, but I'm not in the mood after that display in the corridor. I give a weak smile, and walk behind the counter to the coffee machine, Mamas gotta have her coffee. Liam could always see through my facade making hiding stuff from him hard, little toss pot is gonna see through this fake smile and know that, I, an adult woman, was traumatised by a 18 year old girl and a 24 year old man, gettin' to it in the back hall of my cafe.

I pull out the biggest coffee mug I could find, then an espresso shot glass, some things never change. Like Liam's addiction to Moroccan espresso beans and his constant obsession with his hair. Seriously, when we went on dates...he'd take longer to get ready than I would, and I was the one applying makeup. I let out a snorting giggle as I remember our first date. Every mirror he walked past he'd check his hair in, and we went BOWLING! Of all things, bowling!

Deciding to get Liam's drink ready before mine, I place some of the already ground beans into the coffee strainer and click it into the machine. A whirring sound comes out as hot water begins to filter through the ground beans and into the awaiting glass. The small surface of the cup begins to heat in my hand, so I place it on the counter and make my flat white. With the coffees in hand, I walk to Liam's table. Of course it's over by the window, back when the old owners were in charge of this lot, they also had a cafe. It was a serene place, not nearly as visited by the town as Mio Angelo, but it was Liam and my get away. It was also the place where he asked me out, right on the seat by the window, my best friend at the time, Dannie, was here too. Making googly eyes at some guy way too old for her. I'd always felt sentimental when I set out the floor plan, a small but of his October seemed to have remained, to only be terminated a couple years later, old October wanted our special place to remain. Our little hide away, our table, when ever I got time off at work or when the lunch time and breakfast rush wore off, my feet would guide me and I'd sit in the sunshine in the most sentimental spot. My mind far off and away from work and life, and at one point babies.

"You with me, there Hun?" Liam asks as I set the coffee down in front of him and take my own seat.

"Don't call me Hun. I'm not." I say, sipping the hot coffee clasped between my hands. Dom lets out a high pitched giggle from where he sits.

"Yet." Liam finishes, downing the entire espresso shot in a single mouthful. His face begins to go red and panic sets into his eyes, idiot. He's just burnt his tongue and I ain't doing nothing about it. His mouth drops open and he begins to wheeze 'hot, hot, hot, big mistake', some sort of sadistic laughter escapes my own mouth as I watch him reach if the table water and drink straight from it.

"Idiot. Now, let's get this over with. I'm suing the doctor. I'm gonna get my lawyer involved, your lawyer involved and we're gonna find a loop hole!" I sing. "Whose your lawyer? Mine is Tiffany Price. Do ya remember her? She was two years below us at school. Well, back then she was Tiffany Baussmann. It was a cool last name."

"Oh, my lawyer is Ryan. Ryan Carlisle." As soon as that name leaves his lips. I freeze, my coffee tipping onto the table and into my lap. I forget all about the burning pain of boiling coffee and stand, slapping my hands onto the table.

"YOU HAVE TO FIRE HIM! His douchebaggery cannot go on! He cannot be allowed near me!" I scream. My mind whirring, damn triggers. I breathe in and out, using techniques that my old psychologist gave me.

"Why? What has he done?! Why do you hate him?" Liam asks, anger rising with my own.

"WHAT HAS HE DONE? WHY DO I HATE HIM? YOU SERIOUSLY DON'T KNOW! HELL, YOUR OWN MOTHER KNOWS!" I holler. Rubbing my hand across my forehead, I slump back into my chair. "Get ready, Toro. It's story time with October....."