Coincidences

Chapter 6: A Work Adventure

It was the third week of school when teachers really started to put pressure on the students. Ella had a math test on Wednesday and she was already feeling stressed out.

School on Monday went fine, no one bothered her and she got her work done. She did catch Calum looking at her funny but she shook it off.

She was working a shift from 5 until 11pm that night at the cafe and she hated long shifts but she really wanted her own car. Halfway through her shift, a boy from the basketball team, Lewis walked in and got a cappuccino.

"Hey, uh you go to Fincher right? I've seen you around with Mike." He started, after watching her make his drink.

"Yeah that's me, do you need anything else?" She was so tired, she didn't have the energy to be social.

"No that's all, have a good one, babe." He winked at her and sauntered out. Any other occasion she would have called him out on the "babe" but today she really didn't care.

By 10:30 it was pretty empty except for an old man sipping coffee and reading a newspaper in the corner.

She was wiping up the counters when the door jingled signaling someone had walked in. She put the rag under the counter and got ready to take their order.

"Hi, welcome to Coffee Jungle how can I hel- Luke! What are you doing here?" She noticed how he looked tired and slightly angry and it bothered her a little bit.

"Oh hey Bennett, I didn't know you worked here. Can I get a large vanilla latte?" Even his voice sounded off; he wasn't joking around with her or mocking her or anything.

"Yeah sure." She made him a latte and handed it to him while watching him closely. He was looking down and his eyebrows were scrunched together like he was thinking too hard about something. He gave her $10 and told her to keep the change then he went and sat in one of the booths.

Pretty soon, the old man left the cafe and then it was just her and Luke. He was leaning back in the booth, taking slow sips of his latte while scrolling through something on his phone. No other customers were coming in and she had to close the store soon. It got pretty boring around closing time.

She tightened her ponytail and went over to Luke's booth. She sat across from him and put her hands under her butt, in case she did something stupid, like reach out and touch his face.

"Are you okay?" She said quietly.

His eyes darted up from his phone to her. He looked into her eyes for a minute then he locked his phone and put it face down on the table. He leaned in over the table.

"What time do you get off work?" He said and his voice was back to normal.

"I'm closing up in ten but I don't think anyone else is coming in."

"How are you getting home?"

"Mike's picking me up when I call him."

"Don't call him."

"What?" Ella must have heard him wrong.

"Come somewhere with me."

"Now?"

"Now."

"Um okay, I guess, just let me finish up here and we can go."

Ella didn't know why she agreed, he just looked so down and she didn't want to make him worse by refusing.

She locked up and followed Luke out of the cafe. He led her to the cars parked outside. When he stopped in front of the black one, she froze.

"Th-this is your car?"

He smirked at her and clicked a button on his keys that made the car unlock.

"You have a Bugatti? Why do you have a Bugatti? You're only 17!"

"Get in the car Bennett." He opened the door for her then walked to his side and got in. He turned over to look at her.

"Put on your seatbelt." She did. 

"My uh, my dad got me this car a couple of months ago for uh-no It's not that big of a deal, it's just a car." Luke said firmly and Ella was surprised that he wasn't bragging about it, she would be.

He pulled out of the parking spot and Ella was in love with how smooth the car felt as he drove.

"So where are we going?" She asked. She was beginning to regret coming, she didn't even like Luke, why would she go somewhere with him?

"No idea, I just moved here." He has got to be kidding. There's no way in hell he's serious. She thought he wanted to take her somewhere real not on an aimless joy ride.

"Stop the car." He pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. They sat in silence for a minute.

"Listen I know we're not friends and we met on...unfortunate events , but if you need to talk or anything, I'm here." She said.

His hands tightened on the steering wheel. "Whatever I say in here stays here got it?" He said and he seemed pissed about the fact that he said it.

"Of course."

"I had a fight with my mom." He muttered.

"You...had a fight with your mom?" She repeated unsure if she heard him right.

He looked at her. "I love my mom so much Ella, she's done so much for me and I wish I could be half the person she is."

"But?" She said knowing there would be a but.

"But she's not exactly great at making decisions. She tries really hard when it comes to me but when it comes to her it's like she doesn't even care, she makes decisions that jeopardize her wellbeing all the damn time. So we fought about it, and I just hate fighting with her because then I feel like a piece of shit. She started crying and I couldn't handle it so I went for a drive and ended up at your coffee place." He got out in a rush.

She reached over her seat and wrapped her arms around his neck. It was difficult since they both had their seat belts on but the only things Ella was good at were hugs and painting, so she was trying to comfort Luke the only way she knew how. He stayed still and didn't hug her back, and she convinced herself that was his issue, not hers. He slowly melted into her hug and rested his forehead on her shoulder, but he still didn't return the hug.

She pulled away a second later.

"I know a place we can go." She said. She led him to the big, green clearing on a hill that her and Sam always went to. He parked the car and followed her out and up the hill. She sat on the grass and looked up at the sky.

"Sam and I come here sometimes to clear our heads. We just watch the stars and somehow everything gets better." She laid her head back onto the grass.

He looked at her funny then laid down next to her. None of them said anything and for a minute, everything in the world seemed okay and all Ella could see were the stars, and Luke.

this is so shit lol sorry school is stressing me out rn