Under The Moonlight

Chapter 4

Tw: nothing really, just someone being bitchy

After the first week on the night shift, Cas doubted that they'll ever get used to it. Their schedule used to be built around waking up early in the morning to get fast to work, which used to start first hour in the morning, and then having the afternoon to work out and spend time with Haze. But now? Now the sleeping hours where working hours and the chilling hours where sleeping hours and everything was so weird. Thank God that their job was in a cafe. If not, it would've been almost impossible to drink so much coffee to stay on tracks and not getting caught.

At least now Cassey wouldn't have to deal with the sun hitting them on their work outs. Before, when they jogged after work, the afternoon sun hit Cas on their back. It was draining to do exercise in those conditions. Now that they did it at night, the sun wasn't a bother. Plus, the air was cooler, which helped a lot. Darkness wasn't that big of a problem either. This was one of the many uses for their night vision, not having problems navigating in the dark. The fact that there where streetlights in town was also a good thing.

The shift had started a few hours ago, it was 8pm at the moment. Cassey looked up to the sound of the bell at the door ringing just to see Mei there. She had her short hair loose, as she had had the last two times that they had seen her. She wore a red flannel over a white t-shirt, as well as black jeans. She looked around until her eyes met Cas's, which made them blush.

Mei got in the line and waited for her turn to order. Even if Cas was supposed to be making and taking in some of the other customers orders, they came forward to take Mei's one when it was her turn.

"Hey Mei, fancy seeing you here," Cas smiled.

"Hi Cas. Uh- pronouns for today?" She asked.

"What? Oh, yeah- they/them!" Cas replied. Mei asked for their pronouns? Wow. That's just- wow.

"So, um, I'd like a small black coffee and a- uh... a muffin please."

"On it! Take out, or you're staying here today?"

"I'm staying, thanks."

"Great. Wait a minute for me to get it ready, you can go to sit on a table while I'm on it," Cas replied, walking off to the kitchen to get the coffee.

Once the coffee was already served on the cup, Cas placed it on a plate, on top of the paper napkin, put a little spoon next it, as well as a little packet of sugar. Then, they grabbed one of the muffins from the counter and walked toward Mei's table. She was sitting on one of the tables closets to the bar, but also away from the window, next to the wall.

"Here's your order," Cas said, leaving it on the table, next to her.

"Thanks," Mei smiled.

She moved her hair off her face so she could take a sip of her coffee without shallowing any of her hairs, which made Cas notice something they hadn't seen before. It was a tattoo, at the left side of her neck. It was simple and black, with the ";" symbol.

"Hey, nice tattoo, I didn't see it before. Does it mean anything?" Cas innocently asked.

Mei's eyes met Cas's before she looked down at the coffee she had just left on the table, covering the tattoo with her hand.

"Yes, it does..." She whispered.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck.

"Is... is everything alright?" Cas asked.

"Yeah, everything is alright, it's nothing, I promise," Mei smiled. It was a sad smile.

Cas raised an eyebrow. It was obvious she wasn't alright. They opened their mouth to speak but another person spoke.