Weekend Goal

Chapter 4 - Cheer Up London

Seeing Sanne has left a bad taste in my mouth — out of all the coffee shops in the town she decides to come in here, and if that wasn't bad enough, she even dared to bring up Sage and the games we lost or had to forfeit completely last season.

"You're competitive, I bet that upset you Rose," she said as if she knows me.

Of course, it pissed me off, but Sage is my friend, my teammate, she's had a rough time and it's my job to support her.

After my run-in with Sanne, I can't face staying open any longer, in all the years I've had this place, I've never closed early, not once, but I just can't deal with any more shit today.

"Why don't you guys go to the park and grab an ice cream?" I say to Jacob and Megan. I have no idea why I'm attempting to play cupid when my own love life is a shambles.

Jacob kicks me in the ankle, and I'm about to clip him across the ear when I realise that he's now a good foot taller than me and I can no longer reach. When did he get so tall? I swear it was only yesterday he was toddling around on chubby little legs.

"You are so embarrassing," he says when he follows me to the office to collect his wages — I promised to pay them both for their full shift, it's the least I can do, it's not as if it's their fault that I'm a neurotic bitch.

"That's my job though, right?" I say with as much of a smile that I can muster.

"I'm staying at grandma's tonight," he says.

Honestly, I'd be more surprised if he said he was coming home — in the last almost fifteen years he's spent more nights at grandma's than he has in his own bed. But without grandma, we wouldn't have come as far as we have. I had my whole life planned out; I was going to finish school and college, travel the world and never settle down. And then a couple of brief and awkward encounters with Mateo, who was at the youth academy of our local football team, changed all that. "It will all work out okay in the end," he said to me, right before he pissed off back to Barcelona. I try not to be bitter about the way he left us, but it's not easy when you see the long-haired prick in 50-inch HD on a regular basis.

"Right, I'm going then," Megan says with a cheerful smile and wave, and the sight of Jacob running after her to catch up makes me smile too.

Jeez, I wish I was young again. Thirty is so old, or it feels that way at least. Most of my old school friends are having babies, and mine is almost grown-up; I'll be thirty-one in a few months and Jacob will be fifteen two days later, that's depressing.

Having to clean this place on my own is just as depressing — I'm wiping tables at the far end of the room when I hear the door open. I silently curse myself for not flicking the lock when Jacob and Megan left, but seriously can't people read? The sign said closed in big bold letters. "We're not open," I shout.

No one answers, so I assume they've understood my tone and realised that they're not welcome today. The next thing I know, hands are on my shoulders and someone shouts, "BOO!" in my ear — Cooper.

"You're so tense," he says as he massages my shoulders.

He's an idiot.

"Why are you closed early?" he asks.

"I don't feel good." I lie because it's easier than saying I had a run-in with his new favourite person.

"Nice flowers," he says pointing over my shoulder to the large array of yellow and orange flowers that sit in a vase on the counter.

"Yeah, they're okay, I guess," I answer.

I knew they weren't from him, despite what the card had said when they were delivered this morning.

Cheer up London. Don't make me come over there and tickle you. C. x x

It was obviously someone who knows that he calls me London — although I don't know why, I've spent more years living away from the City than in it, any hint of an accent is long gone. And while threatening to tickle is a Cooper thing to do, sending flowers is not.

My money would've been on Sanne, but she was as surprised to see me as I had been to see her when she walked in. It has to be someone else on the team, someone with an agenda of some sort. Unless I pissed someone off, but we've always been a tight-knit team, until Sanne turned up — yeah, okay, I know I'm the only one with a problem.

"I'm not surprised you don't feel good," Cooper says while still massaging my shoulders, "I've never known you to be this tense. Let me fix it for you? We can do it on one of the tables here, or the counter out back," he says giving me a wink.

If he thinks I'm doing that in here, then he's very much mistaken. "We can go back to my place when I'm finished up here," I say.

"What about Jacob? I'm pretty sure he hates me."

"He's a teenager, he hates everyone," I say. "Anyway, he's staying at my mum's tonight, so don't worry you won't run into each other; it won't be weird."

"Right let's get this place sorted so that we can get out of here," Cooper says before picking up a cloth and being far too enthusiastic about cleaning than anyone should ever be.