Tomorrow's Blues

35. Coffees and Bedroom Eyes

Days passed, and it was becoming more and more risky for Joseph and me to sleep in each other's rooms. Before school started, the rest of the Moore's often slept in later, meaning either of us could sneak out early and no one knew a thing. But now that everyone was getting up earlier, it was harder to make it back to our own rooms before the rest of the house woke. But at the same time, being rebellious and risky felt so... exciting. It made me feel alive.

We still hadn't had had the house to ourselves, and it was getting extremely frustrating. Every suggestive glance Joseph sent my way when his family weren't looking had my heart beating faster and my toes curling. I was positive he was doing it on purpose, and it was pissing me off, so I'd made it my mission to tease him as much as possible. I'd been wearing some of my skimpier pyjamas to bed – which tormented him to no end – and I'd been subtly touching him a lot when others were around. All this and I was pretty sure the Moore family had no idea. At least, I really hoped they didn't.

I'd had the last weekend off of work at Melissa's due to the wedding, so I was working both Saturday and Sunday this week. Ever since that morning at the Moore's house, Millie had become a lot more tolerable, and she'd also become an unlikely friend-type person. She hadn't exactly apologised for being bitchy to me at first, but being apologetic wasn't really in her nature. Which was fine. I felt like I... understood her more now. Millie had known Joseph for a long time, and she was protective over him – while liking him at the same time. I guessed it was hard for her, liking him so much and him not returning the feelings. That would be hard for anybody.

My friend Grace at Melissa's was surprised by the change in dynamic, and she'd taken it upon herself to make more of an effort with Millie, seeing the improvement in our relationship. She'd even admitted to me that when you got to know Millie, she wasn't that bad. Blunt and a little outspoken maybe, but her honesty was refreshing. Most of the time.

It was a busy day at Melissa's. The sun was beating down despite it being the beginning of October, and customers were forming a queue that stretched to the outside of the building. We were all rushing around, shouting orders and brewing coffees, giving us no time to chat with each other as we worked. Although occasionally as she breezed past, Millie would make comments about the customers to me, or she would tell me brief snippets of the various boys in her life. Apparently crushing on Joseph didn't stop her from dating other guys – sometimes a few at once. I wasn't judging her, I was actually impressed.

When it began to quieten down as the afternoon wore on, Joseph appeared in Melissa's. He was with a couple of friends – two of them were Callum and the girl from the beach, whose name I couldn't remember, and Connor was with them. His friends went to sit down, Connor giving me a wave which I returned. Joseph came up to me at the till, the briefest of grimaces crossing his face at Connor's gesture. I held back a smile.

"Hey," he said, his expression relaxing. His bruise had faded to a yellow-brown colour. He'd told me that his parents had asked, but had accepted the vague fight explanation. "How's work?"

I shrugged. "It was busy earlier. Fine now. Me and Millie have been bonding."

Joseph made a face. "I don't quite know how I feel about that."

"Hey, Joey!" Millie appeared. Still using that nickname. "How are you?"

It was a genuine smile that Joseph gave Millie. "I'm okay, how are you?"

"I'm great. Did you want anything?" She beamed at him.

"Uh, yeah. Connor wanted an americano, Phoebe wanted a latte, and Callum wanted a cappuccino. I'll have an americano as well."

Millie looked over at Joseph's friends. "Oh! Let me go and say hi to everyone." She made her way over to them, calling back to me, "Can you do that?"