"There's only so many times I can put my heart back together"
"Why are you so sure I'll break it again?"
🖤🤍🖤
No one said university would be easy, but between assignments and relationships, it gets a little too messy.
Nicole doesn't do feelings...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Rays of sun glimmered through the windows and the large door, making a halo of light around Andrew as he walked into The Bookmark. Both waitresses looked at him immediately, both serving clients. The place was more crowded at lunch time since the workers with small lunch breaks needed to eat somewhere close to work.
The brunette went back to writing someone's order, and the blonde went behind the counter as soon as she finished serving a couple in his usual place by the window.
Andrew leaned against the counter, a smile directed at the frowning girl only a few inches apart from him. A few strands of her hair had fallen off the ponytail, framing her face. It was unusual to see her with her hair down working, yet the five seconds she took to put all back in place for him to notice she looked beautiful with it surrounding her features.
"Good morning, gorgeous," he greeted.
She rose an eyebrow. "You need to get a watch."
He smiled. His own was still working, though the bracelet was old and damaged.
"Do you want to get out for lunch?"
It wasn't the first time he asked, but their lunch times never matched. That day was one of the few exceptions, and he was hoping she would say yes. He was aware he should meet more people instead of annoying Nicole, but he liked her.
"I'm working, don't you see?" she asked, gathering dirty spoons and tea cups her coworker had left there instead of taking them to the kitchen.
"I know. When are you leaving? I can wait."
She shook her head. "My shift ends at three."
He stared at her. She had told him she would cover that shift too, but he had never expected it to be so long. That left her only a two-hour break between shifts.
"When are you eating, then?"
She shrugged, planting her palms on the counter's stone and leaning towards him. It didn't bother her, as most things didn't. She was a workaholic, better yet, she needed a distraction from her life, so she didn't let herself have space to be alone with her mind.
"Maybe I'll take a bite of something later. I'm not that hungry anyway," she said. "Do you want anything, or are you going somewhere else? Liz is upstairs."
"I'll eat here," he sighed. "Give me two burger menus."
"Two?" she repeated. For someone who ran only on coffee, that was a lot of food.
He nodded, and she tapped his order on the computer's touch screen with the back of her pen before putting it back in her apron's pocket. She went back to the kitchen to prepare his order, and he headed upstairs.
Eliza was colouring a book on a table by the banister, and he sat in front of her, dropping his bag on the floor. She perked up immediately, smiling at him with all her eighteen teeth.
