Seeking Hope

Seeking Hope: Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As I sat back down in my seat, waiting to be served again – The strange girl that came in just a few seconds ago rolled her eyes at me and sighed, jumping over the counter and heading to the back of the place. Jacklyn’s facial expression changed from cheerful to annoyed to angry. “Teenagers!” She hissed. She took a deep breath to calm herself and also went around the back, and that’s when I started fiddling around with my fingers. Leaning back into my chair, one arm resting on my lap, the other leaning on the small table while my fingers were tapping softly on it making noises. I heard some loud whispers – and even some few words that shouldn’t be said – Again.

I hate sitting in these types of positions. I thought maybe I could make a break for it and get mom’s coffee somewhere else. I sighed and stood up from my chair, turning around and almost about to head out of the door… Until I heard her voice. “Oi! What are you doing?” She calls. I stopped walking where I was and turned around to face her slowly, looking confused. “Oi?” I asked, hoping she would answer. She just folded her arms and nodded at me to sit back at my small table. I sat back down quietly and slowly, now looking up to her. We must have had an awkward silence considering neither of us didn’t say anything; I just kept on looking at her. Underneath that large army jacket she was wearing before, she was wearing her work uniform. Cotton blue shirt with a white laced written logo on the right side of it, Light grey ¾ pants and white sneakers while wearing a white, short apron. She gave me another look, raising her eyebrows this time. “Are you just gonna sit there and stare clueless or order something or what?” She snaps again. Me being a joker, I couldn’t help but let out another small laugh. “Pretty boy? Was that all you can say about me?”

A smirk appeared on her face and she let out a harsh laugh. “Well you obviously don’t seem like you’re around here.” Same to you I thought. Her accent wasn’t American at all, in fact. I haven’t even heard of it before. “I could say the same thing to you… your accent is different. So where are you from?” I asked. She must of got annoyed by my question, seem as though she let out another harsh laugh by rolling her eyes and dropping her arms by the side. “Forget it kid, go find what you’re looking for somewhere else.” She waves. That girl is definitely not from here! Even though this girl seemed like someone with an attitude, she looked like somebody who also seems interesting. “Wait…” I called out first, my left arm was reaching out to her in a lazy way. She turned around slowly and again folded her arms, looking down on me. “What.” She states. This time, I had a smirk on my face. So I shuffled forward in my seat, crossing my arms while leaning onto the table, smiling. I waved to her lazily. “Sit down.” Instead of a harsh laugh, her mood changed into a different kind of laugh. Not a friendly laugh or a cheerful one, just different. She unfolded her arms and put one arm resting on her and the other sitting on her hip. “How about no. Look. It’s Sunday morning and it’s freaking 10 am. I should be sleeping right now but instead I’m here in this freaking piece of crap. So either you order or get out.” She snapped yet again. I decided to mess with her and persuade her.

“Come on… I know you dig me, I saw you checking me out before-“ I joked first, she interrupted me by making a weird sound come out of her mouth. “I-I did not!” She stuttered, she almost looked embarrassed. Wait. Did she? I shook the thought of her checking me out of mind and tried to persuade her more to sit down. “What ever, just sit down and let’s chat for a bit. Otherwise I’m not ordering, which means no payday for you this week. Either that or I’m out.” Burned. She looked defeated as she looked a little furious and huffed. She pulled a chair over and sat down in front of me. Yeah, she looked angry. I had a cheesy smile on my face as I lean back into my seat and folded my arms behind my head and yawned. We shared another unhealthy gaze. And by unhealthy, I mean her giving me an annoyed, angry, miserable and tired glare. I just chuckled to myself. “Are you here just to annoy me? I have better things to do!” She raised her voice and I sat back into my seat in a normal, regular position. “Not so fast… I think we should get to know each other considering were both obviously not around from here.” Another harsh laugh. “News flash. I am from here! Hence why I have a job!” Bingo. She felled for it. “And why do you have a job here? Your accent is different though.” She let out an annoyed groan and slapped her forehead. “My dad’s from here. He works in the military and my aunty works here. I needed the job for some extra money so I won’t st-“ She muttered at first, then stopped? I didn’t interrupt her, she interrupted herself. “Never mind.” She finished. I gave her another cheesy smile. “So your dad works in the army aye? The American one?” Her eyebrows rose. “Well duh, what other American ones are there?” I took a breath and asked her more questions. Her dad in the military must of explained why she was wearing an army jacket. “So… how does that explain your accent?” She also took a breath. The tone in her voice changed. “My mom is Australian and I was raised there for most of my life… a few months ago, she decided to be a freaking bitch and turn her back on me, shipping me off to live with my dad for a while. Well, until she says it’s ok to come back home. But I don’t count on it…” She mumbled the last part and sighed, looking down at the pen and notebook in her hands.

My cheesy smiled faded and it was a small frown, an apologetic one. “I’m sorry…” I looked at her and hand and slowly reached over and placed it onto of hers. I rubbed my thumb on it. Most girls would of looked right back up to me and smile, getting a little teary in their eyes. This girl? She quickly moved her hand and slapped my hand with her other one. I pulled back quickly and rubbed it. “Did you have to hit so hard?!” I asked, my tone filled with a little bit of pain. She

Just shrugged. “Sorry… Look, I really need to get to work… so what do you want?” She got her pen and small notebook ready. I had a mind blank and it took me a while to figure out why I came in here for the first place. I closed my eyes shut for a few seconds, thinking. “Err… Could I just get a cup of coffee? Large please.” She written it down and stared blank at it. “Anything else?” I licked my lips and looked up at the menu again. “Um, do you have anything that I could just grab and go?” She looked up confused. “A chocolate chip muffin?”  I looked back at her and smiled. “Yeah” She wrote it down and got up from her seat and walked over and behind the counter. “This way” She states, a sign of me to follow. I got up and walked over while having my hands in my pockets, just staring at her, reaching down to get the ingredients to make the coffee. Once she jumped back up and put the stuff on the counter, she looked up to face me a few times quickly. “Do you mind?” She snaps. I gave her a confused look. “Stop staring at me pretty boy.” She warned. She also twirled her finger, a sign for me to turn around and not face her. Not being rude, I raise my hands up and surrendered, turning around and folding my arms. Facing the walls, looking at her behind my shoulder from time to times.

“You know, you never did tell me anything about you pretty boy. So speak up.” She turned on the coffee-making machine and it started making loud noises. “Well, my mom opened up a restaurant here last month and she decided that it was best to move here and focus on her business for a while.” She turned off the machine and pored the coffee into a plastic cup. “Wow. You make your life sound so miserable,” she said, filled with sarcasm. Another chuckle came out of me. “And where did you move from?” I coughed a little bit. “New York City.” I turned around and saw her put my chocolate chip muffin in a brown, lunch bag and she walked over with the coffee and the food to the cashier, pushing some buttons on it. “Hm. So we have snobs in this town? Figures.” I sighed. “Were not snobs...” I defended. She opened up the cash register and pushed over the meals in front of me. “Sure your not. I bet people who are snobs wear leather jackets. Just like the ones you’re wearing.” Another smirked appeared on her face. I just looked and sounded annoyed, grabbing the meal. “Everybody can own a leather jacket.”

“Yeah… can.” She whispered. I licked my lips again and rolled my eyes. “Total comes to 7.50.” I reached through my pockets and saw that I only had a $100 note… hope it didn’t seem ‘snobbish’. I gave her an awkward smile and handed the money to her. She was about to put it in the cashier until she looked at it, wide eyed and confused. “Yeah… your not a snob alright!” She spat with sarcasm. She did whatever cashiers do and got out the change. I was about to take it until the door made another ringing sound again. It was my mom going through her handbag. “Damn it Mike, what’s taking so- oh. Hello?” Mom walked in at a pretty bad timing. She also laughed awkwardly. “Um, this isn’t awkward or anything, haha?” She laughed again and I gave her a funny look. “It actually is awkward mom…” I whispered while facing her. She stiffened up and gave me a look. “I’ll be in the car then.” She looked at the girl who was serving me and gave her a polite smile and walked out. I turn around to face her and she just gave me a funny look too. “I erm, better get going… Nice meeting you.” I said, my hand was out and ready for her to reach. But she ignored it, so I pulled it back to scratch the back of my head. “Thanks” I grabbed the meal and turned around and started to head out halfway. “Mike.” She said. I stopped walking again and turned to face her. “You forgot your change.”  I looked at the change in her hand and smiled, shaking my head. “It’s cool. You can keep it. You need it more than I do. I’ll see you around.” For the first time, she actually gave me a genuine smile. Not a huge one showing teeth, but just a small one with her lips.

I turned around and started walking to the door. But stopped again. “Wait a second… You know my name?” I asked. I turned around and saw her smile vanished into a confused look. “What?” I walked forward again. “Mike. You said my name. Mike?” She raised her eyebrow again. “Your mom just called you Mike?” I rolled my eyes. “No, I mean. Now you know my name. So what’s yours?” She kept staring at me and eventually answered. “Claire.” I smiled. “Nice name” My mom honked her car. I turned around to face the clear door and had an apologetic smile on my face. “Sorry again. See you around.” She did a harsh laugh. “What ever. Just get out of my sight pretty boy.” I rolled my eyes at her again and walked out of the café.