Perfect For Me

CHAPTER 4 (Ryan Lander)

I woke up with a light headache. Nothing major, I didn't drink that much but I still took some Advil against the pounding in my skull. And because my parents and Micah were off to....somewhere and I was too lazy to cook breakfast by myself, I decided to go to a little café. Which one? No idea. 

It would be more lunch than breakfast, seeing that it was already past noon, but I didn't really care. In a moment of motivation I told myself I could pair this little trip up with a short jog and went to put on my sports clothes.

After I had tight my shoe's laces I started running. I wasn't sure where I was running to, but I was sure I would find something to eat wherever I would end up stopping. And I wasn't afraid of not finding my way home again, I mean getting lost in times of google maps is kinda hard.... As long as you have your phone with you of course. Which I would never leave at... Oh shit! Well, I was too lazy to turn around again and told myself I would be able to find back anyways. Even though I already had no plan of where I was.

After another half an hour or so I saw a cute looking little café and decided to get something to eat there. Ironically I hadn't left my wallet at home. With a little "bing" the door announced my entry and I looked for an empty table which luckily wasn't so hard to find. While waiting for any kind of waiter/waitress I looked around. The café seemed really cosy with its soft pillows on every chair. Along with the tables they looked like they'd been standing there for about fifty years already. Probably even more. 

"Liam! Could you please take the order of the new guest?" the distant voice coming from the kitchen pulled me out of my thoughts. I assumed I was "the new guest" and started looking at the menu 'til a deep voice interrupted me. "Hello! Welcome at Fanny's café! Do you already- Ryan, what are you doing here?!" Surprised I looked up and was met with the last person I wanted to see right now. To be honest he was ALWAYS the last person I wanted to see. Liam Williams. 

"What am I doing here? Stalking you, or what does it look like?" I gave a sarcastic remark. "Your brain is limited enough to be capable of having such an idea. So stalker, what do you want?" Liam said while rolling his eyes and looking about as annoyed as I felt. To end the torture of having to speak civilly with each other -after all we couldn't just start a fight in here- I quickly ordered and settled on eating outside instead. The Californian weather was nice enough to do that almost every time of the year. Seeing as we had just the end of September, I shouldn't feel cold.

But seriously. What where the odds that I would end up exactly where Liam was working at?! This boy! God, I couldn't even say what exactly it was but he just riled me up.

When I had finished, I put the money on the table and started looking for any street signs that could tell me where I was. I felt relief wash through my body when I saw one. Getting home should be no problem.  Then I noticed I had no clue about where "Harvard-Street" was. Great. 

So I decided to just stat running. It would only be a matter of time until I would be somewhere I knew.

Or so I thought. I had already run by "Fanny's café" three times. Somehow I always managed to just run in circles. Annoyed I sighed in defeat and walked into that café again. I was sure the waitress who called Liam before would know where I had to go. I acted like I was full of confidence and walked towards the counter. As soon as I saw who stood behind it I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I really had hoped (and thought) Liam's shift would have ended by now. Seems like that was not the case. 

"Hey, I have to talk to your colleague." For no money in the world I would admit that I have gotten lost in my own city in front of that bastard. "I'm sorry, I'm currently the only one here. But I am sure I can help you as well." Liam answered with a sly grin on his face. "I don't believe you." "Okay. Then goodbye." Liam just shrugged his shoulders. I really didn't want him to give the satisfaction of knowing that I wasn't able to find my way back home. On the other hand, I also really didn't want to stay here any longer, so I swallowed my pride and pressed through my teeth: "DoyouknowhowIcancomebackhome?" "What? Sorry, I don't speak such a primitive language like monkey like you." That was his best insult? Seriously?I sighed. 

"Do you know how I can come back home? I somehow got lost." Liam stared at me unbelievingly. "You're kidding!" I just gritted my teeth. He started laughing. Loud. As if he'd just heard the most hilarious thing ever. Anger fumed in me and I snapped: "Are you done, asshole?" "Yeah..hahaha. You, haha...you, ha-ha-have to go through...haha the park opposite the café turn right and then take the se-second...hahaha street to your left. Then you should be at our school. Do I have to explain further? Wouldn't want you to get lost again, haha...would we?" " I swear, if you tell any one at school about this...." I threatened. I didn't know what would happen but I was sure I could think of something. And I knew Liam knew that too. Still he just continued grinning.

 Suddenly he looked like he had thought of something and opened his mouth to speak: "You know what? I won't tell any one about you getting lost if you don't tell any one about the fact that I'm working here. Deal?"

I was at a loss for words for a short time. Agreeing on a deal with my enemy, even if it was just such a silly one, seemed really strange to me. Nevertheless I shook his hand and tried to get away from this café as fast as possible.

Just when I stood in my room again, I began thinking about why he didn't want anybody to know about his workplace. Why did he even work there to begin with? Did he need the money or was it just "for fun"? It wasn't very common for our students to work besides school. Well, probably that's why he didn't any one to know about this. He didn't want to answer these questions. Before I could get lost in my thoughts any further my phone rang shortly. 

"Hey, man. Want to come over and play video games? Andy will come as well" the text from Jeremy read. I turned on my heel and walked out of the house again. Everything was better than spending the day alone.