Falling Up

9. Same time, same place

Riley was elated over the events of the week as her new tattoo was finally finished. She jumped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around her body and headed over to the mirror to check out her tattoo, yet again. It was surprising how much she looked at it considering her previous avoidance of mirrors. She used to hate looking at her reflection whenever she could but now, it was a different story.

Her fingers trailed along the stems of the flowers which swirled around her arm and over the brightly coloured lotus, down to the dark pink jasmine flower. The tattoo was even more amazing than the reference photo she provided. Trey did a stunning job.

Heading out of the bedroom she glanced over to the clock, her eyes widening as she realised the time. She had work in 30 minutes.

"Shit, shit, shit," she cursed as she zoomed around the room, throwing on her new green off the shoulder top over a pair of black jeans. Her outfit choices had definitely changed since her days of hoodies and baggy clothes. The outfit hugged her figure nicely and she was happy with the weight she had gained in the last two years. No longer were her ribs poking out of her skin. She loved her slender legs and the slight curve to her hips. She no longer felt like she was stuck in a twelve year old's body. She felt like a woman.

"Riley! We've got to go," shouted Jason from down the hallway.

"Coming!" she yelled back, struggling to get on her shoe while she stumbled towards her bedroom door.

"Come on," hurried Jason as Riley finally stumbled into the hallway to see him waiting with a piece of toast hanging out of his mouth.

Jason grabbed a new piece of buttered toast off the plate and threw it at Riley which she almost failed to catch. Hastily, she stuffed it into her mouth as they hurried out the front door and into the car.

She got to work just on time, stepping through the front doors of the coffee shop at 6am. She had been rostered on earlier than expected as they needed an extra hand in the morning. It was fine with Riley though. Extra hours meant extra money and it didn't interfere with her studying either.

"Good morning," said Riley to Ian as she moved behind the counter and picked up a black apron, tying it around her waist.

"Morning," he gruffed out, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "You get the orders and I'll make the coffee?" he asked.

Riley nodded, popping up to the till and opening it up, making sure she had enough change for the day. The place opened up at 6am but there wasn't usually a steady stream of customers until about 7am. That was when the campus started to come alive with students making their way out of their dorms, sleepy eyed and in need of caffeine to make it through their classes.

So the only thing she had to really worry about for the next hour was one annoying, early morning riser that she would prefer to not interact with at all. The bell dinged on the front door and in walked Kain.

With his newspaper under his arm and his backpack slung over his shoulder, he waltzed up to the front counter. She plastered on her friendly customer service face when really all she wanted to do was to stomp on that annoying pretty face of his.

"Morning princess," he said, placing his newspaper on the counter as he looked down at her in contempt.

He was already irritating her. Who even reads the newspaper these days anyway? What was he sixty? He had a perfectly good phone to scroll the news like any normal person.

She bit the inside of her cheek before forcing a smile on her face. "Your order?"

"Now, now. You can do better than that. Wouldn't want me to tell the owner what terrible customer service I received this morning, now would you?" he said with a cocky grin.