Coffee & Biscuits

01|the afternoon visit

Aria Willows had always thought herself too mature for high school, even before she began. Now she was in her last month as a senior and couldn't wait to be on her way to college to truly blossom, something she hadn't really done in high school. Aria's friends didn't share her eagerness of leaving the nest and they often spoke of nostalgic memories from their earlier school years and how sad they were to see it all end. Today was one of those days were they were caught reminiscing by the bleacher's, where they had their lunch every day. One of Aria's friends were dating one of the quarterbacks.

"Can you all believe that none of us have applied for the same colleges, so the likelihood of us seeing each other after this are nearly slimmed to none?" Aria's friend Maya said depressingly.

"We live in the era where the internet rules; we'll video chat whenever we have time," Another friend named Julie said, she was the one with the quarterback boyfriend. Her eyes were glued to the field where he was joking around with his teammates. "Hopefully Jack and I will both get in to UCLA – I couldn't take being apart from him."

"But you could take it being apart from your friends? The people who were here for you before Jack became your boyfriend." Maya spit back and squeezed one of her grapes almost like a stress ball.

"I didn't mean it like that, you guys. It's going to be hard enough being away from you but if I lose Jack too it'd be so much harder to cope." Julie explained and released her blonde hair from its ponytail.

Aria listened quietly to her friends as they went on and on about boyfriends and colleges although her mind wasn't on that at all, she was still thinking about her encounter with the mysterious man this morning. She wondered why he'd bit her head off about a harmless little joke she made, as if he was offended that she remembered him. Tomorrow she would confront him about it and wouldn't give in until she'd gotten an answer.

"Hey guys," Aria contributed, "let's not focus on the past now. We have an entire summer to do fun things that hopefully can sustain us when it's time to go say goodbye"

"You are always so rational about everything, Aria. Everyone isn't as quick to forget about this place as you are." Maya replied and threw her juice in the nearest bin before getting up.

It was time to get back to class and while Maya and Julie were eyeing the football players Aria thought about how fun it will be to get to college and all there was to experience there. Mostly she looked forward to being with people that shared her interests and hoped to make life-long friendships. Something told her she wouldn't always have Maya and Julie to rely on.

---

Catherine Willows, the owner and Aria's mother, had asked her to swing by the café on her way home from school and Aria never turned down her mother for anything. Her father had never been too interested in the café and more so saw it as his wife's hobby than an actual income source. John Willows worked as a corporate lawyer and was always away on business which meant he never saw much of his family. 'Why are we married?' Catherine would sometimes ask herself when she was talking to her daughter and in all honesty Aria wasn't sure anymore.

The cowbell rang loudly once she stepped in to the quaint environment and Catherine's head snapped up when she heard it. It looked like she was cleaning one of the displays.

"Aria; thank God that you're here," her mother threw the apron off and jogged around the counter, "I completely forgot I had a hair appointment today and I have to leave shortly to make it there on time, you know how busy Trish is at the salong , would you mind looking after the café until closing?"

"Yes that's fine. I can do my homework here, right?" Aria replied.

"As long as you tend to the customers first," her mother while grabbing her coat and her purse, but stopped dead in her tracks and turned to Aria, "as a mother I shouldn't be saying that but I trust that you'll still get your homework done before tomorrow. Am I correct in trusting you with that?" Catherine said sternly.

Aria laughed and nodded while waving to her mother as she ran out. Catherine never had anything to worry about when it came to Aria's education since she's been bringing home A's and B's since she was ten years old. It could have something to do with having a father that wanted her to reach for the stars, or skyscrapers, as he'd done. The first hour rolled by quickly with homework to distract her but it became tedious after that – until the cowbell rang 20 minutes before closing.

Aria recoiled back in shock when she saw him enter the café. From what she knew he never came in twice a day but here he was; hanging around the door and texting on his phone. Quickly she stared at herself in the reflection of her phone and concluded that she looked decent enough to greet him; not that she had much of a choice.

"What are you doing here so late?" Aria asked.

He frowned, as usual, but also gave her a puzzled look. Aria's cheeks bloomed red when she realized how much she actually notices his presence around her. He'd been coming here for a while now and being as handsome as he was he must know that people pay attention to him.

"Are you closed? Because the sign outside still says that you're still open." He looked behind him to the front door.

"No we're still open—I just meant that you always come in the morning and never this late in the afternoon. Of course you're allowed to come—I mean; what can I get you?" Aria sighed and wanted to hit herself in the head for stuttering through that sentence.

As always he pretended to browse the goods they had to offer and she caught herself wondering if his eyes had ever lingered on her while studying all those biscuits and cakes. Aria stood silent while he browsed and took in every feature. He looked to be in his twenties at least but he still had something boyish about himself; something told her that he didn't like when people noticed that.

"I'll have my usual order; if you can remember it." He said.

While Aria began preparing his order she gathered the courage to ask him some questions. She figured he wouldn't be here for too long after she gave him the order and she was too eager to wait until tomorrow.

"I asked you a question before; what are you doing here so late? Did you need an extra pick-me up today?" She took a chance and asked him.

"Something like that, I suppose." He answered coldly.

"You don't want to elaborate? I'm a great listener."

"That would imply that I wanted to talk to you, which I don't," he said annoyingly, "can I just have my order so I can hurry back to the office, please?"

He sounded stressed now and he kept looking at the door so Aria hurried up to finish the coffee, completely floored by his rudeness this afternoon. He'd always been quite unpleasant to talk to but this certainly was the cherry on top. Aria found herself furious now as she assumed what he saw when he looked at her; young senior with a silly crush, a girl that he'd never have time for at all. She sat the cup down loudly on the counter, placed the biscuit in the to-go-bag and slid it over to him.

"Cash or card?" She asked him in a tense tone and she detected a small smirk on his lips before handing her a credit card, "thank you sir, bye."

"Aren't you going to wish me a good afternoon?" He asked her sarcastically.

Aria knew he was teasing her for being riled up and despite telling herself not to take the bait she could feel the words leaving her lips before she'd been able to stop it. "I don't care if your afternoon is good or not, so no I won't. If there's nothing else—"and she hinted to the door, so he left.

Aria busied herself by wiping the counter to calm herself down but seconds after the door closed she glanced up and strangely enough she met his eyes for a brief moment. He was looking back at her while jogging across the street to what she assumed was his office and although being angry her heart fluttered a little bit.

Was he even aware of the affect he had on her? She hoped not.