Once Upon A Love Story

Chapter 12

The days went by in a blur. We rented a cheap apartment and put a 'for sale' board on our old house. I slightly teared up when we were packing our things. Whole of my life I've lived there. The house holds a lot of memories and not all of them are good.
        Mom said there's a businessman who's interested in our property. He's anonymous though, and would work out the cost and other stuff via his secretary. And he's offered to buy our house in one hundred and fifty grand. It's a very huge amount, our house is in decent shape with two bedrooms and two guest rooms, a living room, a spacious kitchen and each bedroom has it's own bathroom, it's nothing, but that's all we need. It is for the best that we sell it while the prices for property are still high, so Mom agreed to trade our house off. He paid the money. The process was surprisingly very quick and we weren't complaining. The hospital's bills were due and we're just thankful that we'd be able to pay them on time.
       I didn't go on the date with Reid, not for lack of trying but most of  my days were busy with filling applications for job, visiting dad and of course school. But I decided we'd go next week. While I was sitting on an old ratty chair in my new room which was really a glorified closet, there was an email notification on my cell phone. I opened it and to my utter relief, the subject of the email was a job, offering me to work as the barista at the local coffee shop. Frankly I don't know how a coffee machine works let alone an espresso but I'll give my best. I called on the number they'd given at the bottom of the email and on the third ring, an overly cheerful voice answered.

"Lola's cafe, how can I help you?"

"Hey, this is Paige Callahan, I had applied for a job at your cafe and they asked me to call here."

"Oh yeah, wait a sec I'll ask Jo about it, she's the manager."
There were a murmur of voices, then she was back.
"She says you'd have to take an interview with her, then she'll decide. Is today at five pm alright with you? Actually, we're down a member and I'm sure she'll hire you even if you make terrible coffee, so it's your lucky day" she said conspiratorially. I haven't met her, but I liked her already.
"Yeah, today at five will be fine, thank you."
"No biggie, see you then." She said and hung up.
At around four I finished my homework and still a few of the problems in Mathematics were unsolved, I just wasn't able to get the correct answer to it. Which led me to think about Ryan. He didn't contact me or acknowledge me at school after that day. I felt really stupid to think that he'd come after me and demand the reason for why I left. I know I should be thinking of Reid but never have I ever felt that awareness with anyone else as I feel, when Ryan is near me and I hate myself for it. What's wrong with me? I have a perfectly nice boy who wants to date me, but here I am thinking about a guy who is practically unattainable.
        I realized it was already four fifteen and rushed to make myself presentable. I wore a lace white blouse paired with dark denim jeans, wind my unruly hair into a neat bun, swiped some eyeliner and mascara then finally I was ready to go. I had to lock up the apartment as Mom wasn't home yet, but I wasn't worried because mom had another set of spare keys to the apartment. Thank God otherwise I'd have to ask our neighbors to keep them for time being. They're very cranky and would most likely shut the door in my face if I happened to ask for a favor from them.
   When I parked my car in front of Lola's cafe it was packed with customers even this late in the evening which was kinda intimidating, however will I manage to get their drinks on time?
   As soon as I entered the, bells above the door jingled and a pretty brunette who was manning the counter looked up, some old song by Bee Gees was playing in the background.
    The brunette glanced at me. "So what's your poison?" I stared at her blankly. She made hand gestures "What do you want? Latte? Cappuccino? Black coffee? Espresso? Macchiato? Or anything else like my phone number?" She asked batting her eyelashes at me. To say I was uncomfortable would be an understatement.
"Er.. I'm here to give the interview. Paige Callahan, I gave you a call in the afternoon, remember?"
  Her eyes lit up with relief
"Oh yeah. I'm Erin by the way, thank God you came, I was worried that I'd have to work both the shifts morning as well as evening. Phew. Come with me I'll show you to Jo's office." She said and brusquely walked down the corridor. I followed behind her feeling nervous. She turned towards a door and knocked before entering.
"Hey Jo, here's Paige you gonna ask her some questions, yeah? I'll leave you to it." She said and was out the door. I studied Jo she seemed to be in her early thirties with laugh lines evident at the corner of her eyes. She appeared to be friendly but stern.
"Please sit down." She said gesturing towards the single chair in front of her table. I sat down gingerly on it.
"So Paige, you're in high school, right?"

"Yeah, I'm in my senior year." I answered. She looked almost wistful
"Best days of life, I say you should have as much fun as you can now, cause later life will throw so many obstacles at you that you'd feel as if you're juggling a million things at once." She said looking serious.
  I shrugged "Yeah, I'll try but things are quite somber for me right now, so no promises."
She nodded. "Oh sweetie, I understand. Anyways, back to business. Do you have any experience working as a barista or is this your first gig?"
I fidgeted in my seat. "Well, this is my first job, but I assure you, if you have me some time to learn everything, I won't let you down."
"Alright three strikes, and you're out. Will it be alright to start from tomorrow for you? The uniform will be provided to you when you'll come back to work in the evening at five. The pay is 12$ an hour and you'll be paid biweekly." I did the math in my head wow sixty bucks a day. Not bad.
"So that's it? I'm hired?" I asked stunned .
She smiled. "We appreciate hard workers here and you look like one, so I'll go with my gut here. I hope you won't disappoint me."

"No I won't and thank you Ma'am for giving me this job I really needed it" I said truthfully.

"Please call me Jo, it's no problem I'll be expecting you tomorrow a bit early, to show you how all the machines work. Now you may leave, if you've got no questions." She inquired
I shook my head and stood up after leaving her office I did a victory dance.
"I take it, you got the job." I whirled around and saw the same brunette watching me with amusement.
"Yeah, thanks for giving me that tidbit." I said and she grinned. "I'm awesome that way, welcome to Lola's I'm glad you're here it means I'll be spared in the evening, thank God for small mercies." She muttered.
"Now come on enjoy your day off love, after today you'll have to slave away your evenings smelling like coffee.  Out you go!"

"Now that sounds promising" I said sarcastically.
"Oh, you've got no idea" she gave me a shark like smile showing all her teeth.

The heck with it, this job won't be as bad a watching your crush get his moves on with another girl I thought. But boy, was I wrong.