Life, Love & A Little Coffee

Chapter Seventeen- Churning The Rumor Mill

Saturday and Sunday were the last days of freedom Ada had from all of this until graduation. There were still looks and snarky comments, but at least she could express her side of things at the coffee shop. At least she had allies.

One of whom was Crystal. She, for the first time, banned one of Ada's male classmates after he wouldn't leave her alone, asking her when she was going to do him like she did Mr. B. Since this was the only coffee shop that people went to, everyone shut up after that.

Where Crystal handled things from inside the coffee shop, Tom handled things on the outside. He'd purchased patio furniture that scarcely fit on his tiny balcony and spent the weekend doing paperwork outside.

At least, that's what Ada imagined he was doing out there. There were a handful of times she could hear the mocking before the door even opened, looked over and saw classmates were about to come in. Then they'd look behind them and left before they ever came in.

Not that Ada couldn't handle things herself, but there were only so many ways she could tell customers to fuck off without losing her job, though the likelihood of Crystal firing her was slim. Still, she left it up to the boss and drowned the rest of it out the best she could, knowing there was still plenty of fight she could join in on.

As soon as she slowed to a stop in the student traffic, she was desperate to take it as a sign to just drive off somewhere else. Unfortunately, she'd already missed tests last week and had no excuse this time.

The tests didn't feel as scary as they did a month ago, when she began cramming for them. Now that real life hit her in the face, the tests just felt like tests.

Ada circled around toward the back of the parking lot, and she noticed Britt leaning against her Jeep, sunglasses on, hair down and flowing in the wind and wearing her no nonsense cowboy boots that cost about as much as Ada's entire wardrobe. When she wore them, she looked, felt, and was treated like a badass.

Ada couldn't help but smile as she pulled in next to Britt's car, guessing she wore them for Ada's return. She killed the engine and grabbed her bookbag from the passenger seat, then hopped out of her car, setting the alarm. She'd spoken to Britt the day before, but she was out of town at her grandmother's all weekend.

"Holy. Fucking. Shit," Britt said, taking off her sunglasses and letting her mouth drop open. "What the hell did you do with my best friend?"

For a moment, Ada hadn't a clue what she was talking about. But then she remembered the new outfit she was wearing, a dark red dress with white polka dots, and remembered Britt hadn't yet seen her hair cut.

She gave Britt a wink before standing by her side and joining arms with her. "I gave her the day off. The good news is she lent you her no nonsense substitute. She looks just like your best friend, but doesn't take any shit from anyone."

Britt smiled at her and they walked toward the school. "Tell her I'm mad at her for giving me a run for my money in the 'sexy as hell' department."

"I will pass along that message."

Britt shot off a few glares as they walked, everyone's gaze settling on them but too intimidated to keep looking. "How's Mr. B? Did he come in last night or what?"

"He came in for a mocha to-go. I think he's trying to ease back into things without drawing attention to it. He called me when he saw me leave, though. I guess it worried him I'd take it personally or something."

"I thought you guys already talked about it."

Ada had to shoot off a couple of glares of her own when some guys catcalled her. Ada recognized one of them as the guy who Crystal kicked out and the other as the guy Britt tried to set her up with two weeks before.