Cafe Girl (Shayne Topp)

Chapter 14

Becca's POV

        I was helping Pete close up after work, he was still apologising about having to have the cafe closed for two days as it meant that I was going to be $150 less this month. I was just glad to be back at work and back to normal. Meaning my brain had to focus on the mundane rather than the letters I had been getting. The best way for me to relax and forget about what was going on in my head was to keep myself busy with simple/boring tasks that would normally make me wanna sleep.

        This Friday seemed to be a lot busier than normal though, I didn't even know that was possible. Pete said it could be due to the fact that we were closed for two days. If I didn't wanna bury myself in work this would have been a day from hell with the amount of time I had to be on my feet, but today I was happy to have the pain in my feet. It was a perfect reason to get that damn foot spa I bought a while ago and spent way too much money on, might I add. I've bearly used it because I always feel like I haven't been on my feet long enough to justify using it. Part of me hopes that my dad never finds out about it because he would take the piss out of me for the rest of my life. His first response would be "HOW MUCH?!? You could have gotten it 10x cheaper at a charity shop." there's nothing wrong with getting one from a charity/thrift shop but part of me just doesn't like the idea of my feet being in something someone else's feet were in, I'm a little bit of a clean freak. 

        "So, what do you have planned for tonight?" Pete asked from the kitchen as he scrubbed away at the stovetop making sure it was spotless for tomorrow. I was cleaning the tables so I could put the chairs up, it made cleaning the floor easy as hell.

        "I don't know, I have the daily Skype call at 9, the gang would kill me if I missed it considering they have to wake up at 5 in the morning. But other than that I'm not sure. Part of me wants to carry on binge-watching Red Dwarf but another part of me knows if I do my inner monologue will have a Liverpool accent and that can get annoying after a couple of hours." I laughed slightly as I cleaned the last table. I started putting the chairs up, struggling a little as I have no upper arm strength what so ever.

        "As much as I understand why you want to stay in your apartment but you gotta get out there you know. Have some fun, take the dogs on longer walks around the place, there are some great dog parks around here that all three of you would love. You can't keep hiding away like you are otherwise you're gonna become so isolated and lonely." Pete said walking into the main bit of the cafe. He had a concerned look on his face and I could tell he just wanted me to be as happy as I could be. I know hiding out in my apartment isn't healthy but it's a habit that I've gotten into.

        I didn't respond, I just nodded and carried on with the cleaning and listening to the music that Pete had decided to play. I kept thinking about what he had said and something finally clicked. I've always been someone who needed to be told to do something or change a habit because otherwise, I would just carry on with it not caring about how it affected my life. If someone else pointed it out then I guess I see it as affecting someone else and that not what I want. But Pete had a point with how I've been acting and I know I'm not happy, I alright, but not happy and I might as well be back with Jake if I'm gonna act like this, you know. When I lived with Jake after a while the only time I ever left the house was to go to work, the gang would come to mine and we would hang out and talk but we wouldn't really go anywhere. I was alright but not happy. The only difference now though is I'm not covered in bruises and I got out to walk the dogs and shop as I didn't want to shop online here for some stupid reason, well actually I have no idea if I could now I think about it.

        I moved here to not only to be safe from Jake, which failed since he knows where I am, but also for a fresh start. It may not be where I thought I was going to be at 20 but I'm here so there has to be a reason, surely. I need to change, go out more, I may not be able to drink but in all honesty, the idea of going to a dog park with the doggos sounds a hell of a lot more fun. It's just changing so I going out more is gonna hard, I mean the first month of my gap year none of us did anything, we all just hung out at my place drinking tea, eating shit and having a laugh, with a lot of sleep mixed in. and I've been spending all my free time doing the same, just on my own this time. I don't know how I would come about changing what seems like who I am now. I need to but it's not going to be easy since I only really know Shayne here, but I have to at least try to do something outside.

        If anything it would be better for the dogs if they had some friends outside the apartment block. If that doesn't make me wanna go outside more then nothing will. Those gits mean everything to me and I need to make sure they are as happy as they can be. I care more about their lives than my own, which has to say something about me as a person surely.