Can You Not?

Chapter 14

Being back at school was not a pleasure. Norah was glad the suspension was over, but now she had work to catch up on and too much of it. In the time that she was gone, she'd apparently missed a quiz in English that she wasn't allowed to take, because suspension doesn't count as a valid excuse. She begged the teacher to let her take it, but it was against the school's retake policy. Without a valid sick note, there was nothing she could do.

Since the suspension was over, her grounding was also officially lifted and with Sierra's party coming up that was a huge relief. It would be awful of her to miss it. She didn't see Sierra enough as it is. Missing her birthday party would be a crime. Ellis was also back at school and he was even less thrilled about it than Norah. Senior year was hectic to begin with. Missing anything just made it so much worse.

On their way home on Monday afternoon, Ellis was being awfully quiet. Usually he would be talking Norah's ear off about his day or trying to flirt with her, to which she would respond with ruthless sass. She looked over at him. His eyes were focused on the road, which wasn't unusual, but his mouth was screwed up in a tight line.

"What's up?" she asked.

 "Nothing." He hesitated.

"You can tell me," she insisted.

"I know. It's just not that big of a deal."

She shot him and annoyed look and he felt it.

"I'm just worried about the time. I need to get to work after I dropped you off."

"You have a job?" she asked, surprised and a little bit hurt. "Why didn't you tell me?"

He rolled his shoulders up and back. "I don't know. It felt weird."

"Well," she said. "Where do you work?"

"The cafe, actually."

"That's why it seemed weird?"

"Yeah. I guess."

"You should have told me sooner. I could have arranged for my mom to pick me up, then you wouldn't have had to worry about the time."

"It's no big deal. I was stupid saying that I'd go in right after school."

It was a little stupid, but Norah didn't tell him that. He dropped her off at home and drove right off. The next day was the same deal. He couldn't change the times, because his shifts were booked, but instead of making other arrangements Norah tagged along. She'd especially packed her sketchbook in and took it to school so she could work on some stuff later at the cafe. Her laptop was in her backpack as well, just in case she got so bored that homework became an option.

As they walked into the cafe, Norah briefly hoped she'd see Sierra, but then she remembered that Sierra only worked on weekends and her heart sank. Ellis disappeared into the men's bathroom and Norah took a seat at the booth in the far corner. She set up her laptop and pulled out her sketchbook. When Ellis came back he was wearing a white shirt and apron over his black jeans. He even pushed his hair back out of his face so he could work better. Norah watched him walked to the drinks' station. When he caught her eye, he smiled and winked and she just shook her head and looked away. He was basically the barista. He made drinks for the customers who sat down inside, but he also made drinks for people who came in only for coffee. 

Norah couldn't find it in her to work on her homework, but she also couldn't draw anything decent. She tried for the first hour and a half, but she just wasn't in the right mind-space. Instead she opened up a word document and started writing. Sometimes when a Buttons' scene just didn't work, she'd write out the scene like she was writing a novel instead of a comic. This way things would pour out easier and she would have more content to work with when she drew it later.