Cigarettes and Smoke - Tododeku A.U

Chapter 16

~Shoto~ 

After Izuku had left, he didn't come back. When I had left work he wasn't waiting to drive me home, nor was he the day after that. I was hoping that he would come back so I could apologize and explain myself, but he didn't. On the fourth day, I knew that he was gone for good. My calls or texts wouldn't even go through. If I tried to call it would tell me that my number had been blocked. 

I was so distracted that I nearly stuck my hand into boiling hot dishwater. Thankfully Rowan saw it and stopped me before I could give myself third-degree burns. "You seem distracted. Is everything okay?" she asked me, "I've never seen you like this."

"I-I'm okay." I said, not wanting to explain what had happened. "It's nothing, really." That is a total lie and you both know it. 

"Okay." Rowan said, unconvinced, but didn't push. That was the thing about us, we knew when to push and when to stop. "Well, I'm going on break, so I'll be back in a half an hour." 

"Alright. I'll hold everything down." I've run the cafe alone before, so it wasn't any hassle. And we weren't very busy at all, so I didn't have much to do. As I was cleaning tables I stopped to look outside and saw that it was snowing. I'm glad I wore my heaviest coat to work, it'll be a cold walk home. 

When Rowan returned from her break she was with her girlfriend. They shared an embrace before her girlfriend left and Rowan grabbed her apron. "Were we busy?" she asked. I shook my head and looked down at my watch. 1:30. I wonder why we're so slow? "Huh, normally we're quite busy now, right?" Just as I was about to answer, the door opened and five people walked in. Out of the five, only two of them approached the counter. One had ash blonde hair and the other had bright red hair. He probably dyes it, I thought upon observation.

"How can I help you?" I asked, putting on my customer service voice.

"Can I get one of every cookie, one of every scone, an oat milk latte and-" the redhead started, but the blonde cut him off.

"Eijiro," he hissed, "Remember why we're here." That's an odd thing to say. 

"Fine." The redhead, Eijiro sighed. "Can I get one chocolate chip cookie, one blueberry scone, and an oat milk latte?" 

"Of course. Anything else?" I asked.

"Just a water for me. To go, by the way" The blonde said. 

"Alright, that'll be nine dollars and ten cents." I said. The blonde handed me a twenty-dollar bill and I quickly gave him his change. "Set this on your table," I handed them a plastic number sign, "And I'll bring that right to your table."

"Nice." Eijiro said, taking the number from me. I quickly got everything ready and hurried it to their table. There was something about that blonde that made me not want to make him wait. When I brought the drink and food to the table, the redhead said excitedly, "Thank you!"

"Of course. Is there anything else you need?" I asked, bouncing nervously on my toes. I wanted to get away from this group as fast as I could.

"Yes, actually." the blonde said, turning to me. I felt something cool and somewhat familiar press to my side. It didn't take me long to realize it was a gun. Seriously? This shit again? I thought irritably. "Tell your boss you're not feeling well and that you're going to take the rest of the day off, then you'll come with us. If you listen, there won't be any blood, okay?" 

"Yes." I said, my voice surprisingly steady. As I turned to walk away, the blonde added,

"And no tricks. I don't want to have to kill anyone." Like I was stupid enough to risk Rowan or Inko's lives.