Girl in a Hoodie: Where the Future Lies

Chapter 57

Riley's POV:

I stood outside the club bar Alexa had texted me to meet her at earlier this morning. James had agreed to take Ellie and look after her back home. It's been another two weeks since we went away for the weekend. It was only a short time period for a holiday, as such, but it was still helpful when it came to being less stressful. It was the evening, about seven o'clock now, but because it was near the end of May, the sky was still light and far from dark. It was much busier, inside and out, because Summer was looming in. 

I spotted Alexa behind the bar, looking as though she was serving two customers. They were about thirty-year-old-looking men who were actually quite fit, thinking about it, as they wore shirts that had buttons undone and showed off their slightly tanned bodies, sunglasses resting on top of their heads. Alexa didn't look bad herself, despite not being in a proper home at the moment. She was wearing black denim shorts with a sleeveless white crop top and choker necklace around her neck. Her hair was curled, as always, but pulled up into a high ponytail and her make-up had been done a fair amount. 

I felt a little awkward, citing how we hadn't really spoken to each other ever since she stormed off in the park the other day. I wasn't sure what to say to her and even started planning out a back-up conversation in my head, reciting things she might say and try to conquer the perfect response for it. But that only lasted up until she made eye-contact with me and had put the glass of beer with a slight froth in it, in front of one of the men, then she walked around the counter and made her way over to me. I had my phone out in my hands and was about to answer since James had been calling me, but when she reaches arms-length, I turn my phone off and put it inside the back pocket of my jeans. He should understand. 

"Hey," she says, somewhat nice and calmly. She pulled me into a brief and light hug, her cheek brushing against mine. "How are you?"

"Um, okay, I guess. What about you? Do you work here now or something?" I ask, laughing a little, but it was mainly out of nerves and worry. The last time I saw her, her 'parents' didn't care that she had left the house and she was homeless, with nowhere to stay and probably ended up spending a few nights in the park by herself, sitting on the swings and rocking herself to sleep. It makes no sense to me why she's now serving people in the most popular club bar in the area. Some guy snapped a finger at her, putting his empty glass out as if to ask for a refill, so she shook her head at him and told him she'd be just a minute before facing me again, looking much more forlorn. "Has something happened?" I rejoinder.

"I'm homeless, Ri, remember? And I need a job to save up some money for at least a one bedroom apartment. This job requires £2.85 an hour and I'm working twelve hours a week-"

"Alexa," I cut her off, sighing whilst doing a calculation in my head. "There's no way you'll be able to live off of that. That's literally just over thirty pounds a week. You can't survive off of that when you've got to pay for food and drink, not to mention bills and payments for pretty much everything. One bedroom flats around here already cost like, thousands of pounds and if you're renting, it would be about, £365 a month. There's no way you'll be able to gain that much money until, around about, another five months and that's way too much time to spend on the streets."

"Exactly, that's why I need your help," she says. I raise an eyebrow, exhaling as I looked around at everyone. People were shouting and yelling across the table from each other, some perfectly sober but others drunk. There were definitely a few underaged drinkers here as well as they tried to beg the barista for access to the alcohol. I hated this kind of atmosphere, especially at this time of the day. "If you get a job here along with the course you're currently taking, you'll earn enough money to help both you and James, and me at the same time. And if you and I work together, we could end up gaining enough money for the two of us and it'd be a quicker way to help me get off the streets and a proper apartment of my own."