*Isabella's POV*
As I pressed the button for the elevator my phone began to ring in my handbag. I quickly unzipped the bag and rummaged around, trying to feel for the small device and cease the sound. Once my hands landed on the device I pulled it out and checked the caller ID. It was Rebecca, my best friend from high school and my shoulder to cry on when I needed it.
I pressed the accept button and held the phone to my ear before saying hello.
"Hey Izzy! I feel like I haven't spoken to you in ages even though I saw you at the weekend!" she laughed at herself before continuing, "Anyway I was just calling to ask you if you were working today?"
"Yeah I am, I'm actually just heading there now. Why?" I asked as I threw Louis a wave while making my way through the lobby of the apartment building. He returned it gratefully before getting back to work. I pushed open the doors of the building and slot my way into the busy stream of London pedestrians.
"Oh good because the girls and I were wondering if we could stop by and have a chat with you while you were on your break and have a cup of coffee?" She asked and I couldn't help the little pang of joy which hit me. I loved the girls, they were amazing and funny and perhaps they could help my with the note the curly boy had left me. They usually know what to do in these kinds of situations.
"Of course, it would be amazing to see you! What time will you be over?" I asked before apologising to the person I had bumped in to. The cafe loomed at the bottom of the street and I considered running into Hyde Park to hide when I saw the head full of curly hair sitting in the window, but I decided against it. Besides, I needed the money.
"We were thinking around 11.30, Lily has an early class at Uni but she should be out by 10. But I need to run; mum wants me to take my sister to her nursery class. I'll see you later Izzy!" she said before hanging up and I made my way into the Cafe. I ignored the boy in the corner despite feeling his eyes burning into my back. I took off my bag and jacket, putting them in the back room before trying my apron around my waist and making my way back to the front shop. As it was already 9am I decided to face the day head on until my friends arrived.
"Morning Olivia" I said as I started to dry some of the coffee mugs which were still wet from their earlier clean.
"Hello Isabella, how are you?" she asked. I was slightly taken aback by her sudden interest in how I was but I got over it quickly, she was probably just making conversation.
"I'm good thanks, how are you?" I asked in an attempt to be polite.
"Good. You know that boy over there keeps staring at you?" She says quite seriously. I don't have to turn around to know who she is talking about but I did anyway. As soon as I caught his eye he looked away again and back out the window.
I sighed and turned back around. He was really starting to annoy me and I was seriously considering going over and giving him a piece of my mind. But I decided against it for two main reasons:
1. The Cafe was packed and I really wasn't in the mood the create a scene
2. There is no way in hell I would actually have the guts to go over and tell him what I thought
So instead of making a complete fool out of myself which was inevitable, I decided to ignore him and continue on with my work. I finished cleaning the coffee cups before grabbing my notepad and pen and headed to serve some customers. I took the orders of table 3 and 12 and headed to the kitchen to tell Rob the orders and being the kind, respecting employee I am, I simply opened the door to the kitchen and yelled the orders inside.
"Two bacon rolls, a sausage and egg muffin and a full English breakfast please."
I waited for a few seconds before hearing a faint "Yep" from inside. Taking that as a cue that he had heard me I nodded (not that he could see) and returned to the front shop. He still sat there staring out the window but most importantly, sat on the table next to him was my group of friends. Well, I say group, it is more like my three friends who are actually willing to put up with my crap. I told Olivia I was taking my break and headed to sit next to the girls.
"IZZY!" They screamed in unison and lunged out of their seats to envelope me in a 3 way hug. I tried to return the favour but it was slightly difficult with my arms pinned to my sides. So instead I simply stood there and waited until they were finished. They eventually let go and I could finally breathe.
"Hey guys" I laughed while pulling over a chair to join them.
"Sooooooo... how have you been girlie? Anything exciting happening in your life?" Rebecca asked while staring at me with an expectant look in her eyes.
"Erm no, not since you saw me on Saturday" I laughed, placing my elbows on the small circular table, entwining my fingers and propping my chin on my hands.
"Well I have news!" Lizzy practically yelled. She was fidgeting in her seat and the excitement was practically oozing off of her. The remaining three of us looked at each other before turning our chairs slightly so that we could give her our undivided attention as she told us her news.
"Ok, so you know that guy that I brought with me to the party on Saturday, you know the one with the dark hair and brown eyes, the one that Lola wanted to steal..." she rambled while giving Lola a dirty look. Lola looked at the table and from where I was sitting I could see the heat rising in her cheeks.
"It's not my fault, he was hot..." she mumbled.
I laughed at her before turning back to Lizzy, "You mean to one with the quiffed up hair?" I asked and she nodded, "yeah he was hot, I was planning on stealing him myself,” I said while giving Lola a little wink which she returned with a grateful smile.
"Yeah well anyway," Lizzy continued with a slight hint of annoyance in her tone which was quickly replaced once again by excitement, "when we got home from the party we totally stayed up all night talking and then he called me the next day and asked me to be HIS GIRLFRIEND!" she nearly screamed and banged her hands against the table in an attempt to calm herself down.
"Oh my God!"
"Lizz you lucky duck!"
"SCORE!" we all spoke at the same time and gave her our words of approval. It's true; the boy was a God, like a model, something straight out of a Vogue magazine. What was his name again, Zack, oh I can't remember. It was Z something...
"Anyway so Zayn and I..." Oh yeah it was Zayn "are going out tomorrow night and he said to dress nice and I don't have anything and I really need your help, will any of you come shopping with me?" She said, giving each of us a hopeful look.
"I'm sorry I can't I have to work" I said, giving her an apologetic look.
"I can't either, I have to take my grandmother out for her birthday tomorrow" Rebecca said, giving Lizzy the same look as me.
She finally turned to Lola with a look which can only be described complete desperation.
"Well, I am free so I will happily come with you tomorrow. After all, we all know I have the best fashion sense and will make you look super sexy for your date" she said, while lifting her head high, proud of her personal achievement.
To be honest, it wasn't difficult to be the best dressed amongst us. After all, Lizzy only owned about three pairs of jeans which she rotated on a weekly cycle, Rebecca mainly wore slightly hippy clothes with a faint retro feel to them, and I stuck with the classic band t-shirt and skinny jeans, hardly a group of supermodels. Lola however took a bit more care in how she looked, she always had the latest clothes, flawless makeup and her hair was always styled to perfection. In some ways I was jealous of her, I often wished I could be bothered with my looks in the same ways she was but I didn't have the time to fix myself up, let alone the money.
As Lizzy and Lola planned their shopping trip tomorrow, Rebecca leaned over to whisper something in my ear.
"That boy has been staring at you since you sat down, like no stop" she said before pulling away slowly and nodding her head behind me in the direction of the person she was talking about.
I sat still for a minute, not reacting to what she had said to me before casually pretending to look over my shoulder and out the window, and sure enough, there he was staring at me. I could only see him out the corner of my eye as I pretended to be pre-occupied with something outside. As I turned back around Rebecca gave me a questioning look and I simply shrugged my shoulders in response, I was going to have a word with him once they had left.
"Well anyway, we better be off because I'm sure Izzy can't stay off her work much longer" Lizzy said as she stood up from her chair. The girls followed promptly, including me. She was right, I couldn't stay off work much longer, I'm pretty sure I had already had longer for my break than I was allowed.
I gave each of the girls a hug and promised to call Rebecca later on when I had finished work and watched as they disappeared out of the Cafe and went their separate ways, giving each other cheerful goodbyes before doing so.
I turned around and pulled my cleaning rag out of one of the pockets in my apron and cleaned some of the crumbs and coffee spills the girls had made. As I turned back around I was infuriated to find him staring at me AGAIN! But this time when I caught his eye he didn't look away, instead he looked and me and gave me a faint smile. That was it I have had enough. Thankfully the Cafe had become relatively empty which meant that very few people would see me completely lose it.
I threw my cleaning rag aggressively on the table and marched over to him. I could see the look on his face change to one of confusion to slight fear as I approached closer and closer to him.
"Can I help you?" I suddenly snapped, "Is there a reason why you come here to stare at me all day or are you just some perverted creep?" That was a bit harsh Izzy! I thought to myself but it was too late, I had said it now.
My outburst seemed to catch him off guard. He looked at me with a mixture of surprise and embarrassment before he furrowed his eyebrows and looked down at his hands which were fiddling nervously with the salt and pepper pots.
"Erm, no, I just... sorry... I should leave..." he stuttered before quickly standing, grabbing his coat and for the second time this week, he left me standing completely alone and confused as he hurried from the Cafe without looking back.
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So here is chapter 6. I hope you like it.
Please vote and comment and let me know what you think, would mean loads.
Thanks guys
- Steph xx <3