City of Kinetics

SIX ✴ A Chance Encounter

       Over a week later, Mila spent her days either relaxing at home or going to work.

       Humming a tune under her breath, she absently ran a clean paper towel across a table, removing all the stains and crumbs that the previous customer had left behind.

       Sweetie's was a small café and bakery in the heart of downtown, so it often got busy around mealtimes. Thankfully, the lunch rush had finally gone a little after four, so now it was just cleaning and waiting on stragglers until dinner time came around.

       Walking back over to the counter, Mila threw the now dirty paper towel in the garbage. Just as she was putting the spray bottle away, she noticed from the corner of her that her coworker was approaching her.

       "Hey," Breanna said, getting her attention. Her eyes shot from Mila to an occupied booth across the café. "That girl came in like an hour and a half ago and hasn't ordered anything."

       Mila followed Breanna's gaze, seeing a girl who looked no older than fourteen with dark hair and pale skin sitting in a four-person booth beside the windows. She was writing something down in a notebook with a textbook open in front of her.

       "She's just doing her homework," Mila said, raising an eyebrow at Breanna.

       Her coworker rolled her eyes, tucking a strand of her dirty blonde hair behind her ear.

       "It doesn't matter. Go kick her out," she said. "I don't want the boss seeing us let some kid take up a table from customers."

       "Breanna, the café's empty," Mila told her, "and if you want to kick her out, why don't you do it yourself?"

       "I'm going on break, so you have to do it," she said, raising her eyebrows at her before spinning around on her heels and walking into the kitchen.

       Mila sighed, her eyes going back to the girl engrossed in her work. She tapped her fingers against the counter, thinking. She probably should kick her out considering it was a rule that seating was only for paying customers.

       Walking around the counter, Mila made her way over to the booth. The girl didn't look up from her notebook as she approached.

       "Hi," Mila said, getting her attention.

       The girl's dark brown eyes snapped up hers instantly. They looked panicked for a fleeting moment before she frowned. But that wasn't what Mila noticed. The first thing she noticed was the cut on the side of the girl's forehead. It looked fresh and painful.

       "Hi," the girl responded.

       Kick her out, Mila thought, trying to force herself to form the words to get the girl to pack up and leave. But the café was empty, and she was just doing her homework.

       "How's it going?" Mila asked, realizing her silence was stretching on too long.

       The girl's eyebrows furrowed, confused.

       "Good," she responded.

       "You, um, you're doing homework?"

       The girl glanced at her work before nodding at her. Mila pursed her lips, thinking of what to say next.

       "Do you want anything?" she asked, hoping the girl would order something.

       The girl suddenly got the hint, because her frown deepened, and she averted her gaze to the table. She then opened the front pocket of her backpack that was sitting on her other side, rifling through it.