𝒄𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒆 - 𝒄𝒊𝒂́𝒓𝒂𝒏 𝒎𝒄𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒅

19. IS IT BECAUSE OF THAT BITCH?

friday

dominic and autumn had texted consistently for the past two days. every moment of autumns breaks she was texting dominic. the first thing she did in the morning was wake up to texts from him. there was always a smile on their faces when they talked to each other.

it had been an eventful day. autumn had to run to a department store on her break to buy her parents christmas presents. when she got back there was twice as many people before she left; needless to say there were greatly understaffed. she clocked back in and threw on her apron, quickly tying it behind her back. she had started to make the customers orders, occasionally getting the pastries they made that morning.

things were going downhill for autumn after lunch. the cafe was more hectic than normal and all the workers were bumping into each other. autumn had spilt a hot coffee on herself; burning her hand. by the time the last customer was out of the store they all were laid out on the floor. were they aware that it was unprofessional? yes. did they care? no. the four of them were on floor with their eyes closed and it was quiet through the coffee shop.

     they weren't even able to go home yet. autumn reluctantly got off the ground and started to count the money in the register. bree had gotten up to start washing the appliances. josh got the broom, dustpan, and mop. and stephen had started washing the dishes. around 9:00 they were all done with everything and had gone their separate ways. autumn got home and saw a text from daniel saying he was going out to eat with a friend of his that he recently reconnected with. she threw her phone on the charger by the couch and laid facedown on it.

     today was exhausting. all she wanted to do was lay down and watch old reruns of charmed and eat . it didn't help that she was on her period so she was in pain all day just to top it off. at some point in time she had gotten the motivation to go upstairs and take off her makeup and change into comfortable clothes. washing her face and doing her skin care routine was an entirely different story.

she grabbed a few bunches of grapes and sat on the couch turning on netflix and continuing an episode of charmed. even though charmed was one of her favorite tv shows she couldn't seem to focus on piper and phoebe bickering about not using their magic for personal gain. she was excited to see her family and her dog but she was going to miss her friends. this was a reoccurring feeling she felt quite often. she also wasn't quite sure where she stood with ciarán. sure, he had apologized to her but she still felt like things weren't quite right.

ciarán sat on the edge of their front porch, phone in hand, contemplating wether or not to call autumn. he didn't know if it was a good idea but, he was also not completely sober so it didn't matter that much to him. he had a bottle of alcohol by his side that he occasionally took swigs of. his hair was in multiple different directions due to him tousling it throughout the rough night.

"hey." he slightly smiled to his girlfriend, walking into her apartment. thank god this will be the last time i have to do this. anna quickly closed out one of her apps and turned off her phone. hiding the men she was taking to behind ciaráns back.

"hey cici." she said leaning her head back against the couch and puckering her lips, the phone face down in her lap. ciarán gave her a quick kiss before sitting a little away from her. anna should have known what was coming up. this wasn't the first time this had happened, but it was certainly going to be the last. he always tended to be more quiet than normal to formulate the thoughts in his head; even though he said just about the same things every time.

this time he was going straight to the point. no beating around the bush or trying to spare her feelings. the drinks he previously had were kicking in and he didn't need to apologize for his feelings. he didn't care this time.