Butterfly Wings

Chapter 8

ETHAN'S P.O.V

I pulled into the parking lot following the directions that "Alice in Wonderland" had given me. "Alice" wasn't her real name, but she looked like her and was always daydreaming, so that's what I called her, but only to myself. I walked into the coffee shop, the bell ringing above the door. It smelled like old, mildewy books and coffee. 

"Shit." someone said in the back. I saw them move behind the bookcase. 

"Hello?" I asked walking into the library. 

"Motherfucker." They said quietly, but I could still hear. I walked over so I was now standing in view of the person behind the bookcase. 

"Alice?" I muttered when I saw her standing there without a shirt on. I almost laughed at the sight of her "Nightmare Before Christmas" bra. "Oh shit." I said realizing that she was half naked. I turned around and looked down. 

"So what you follow me to work now?" She asked as she gathered the rest of herself. 

"I did drive you here yesterday." I said as I walked around awkwardly. 

"It's creepy." 

"But seductive!" I called looking at the dust caked lamps. 

"More like stalkerish."

"It's not stalking if you want it." I said as I heard her walking into the coffee shop. I smirked to myself waiting for her to reply.

"And how do you know I want it?" She said behind me. I turned to look at her. Even with the stained smock and frayed shorts, what she wore for work, she still looked breath taking. 

"Because you never told me to stop." I said with a wink. She gave me a death stare. 

"Well, what do you want?" she asked walking away from me, yet again. 

"Your name. You still never gave me it."

"It's Toby." She said as she turned on the coffee maker. I heard it chug to life and the smell filled the room with a fresh aroma. 

"Toby? Huh, not what I expected." I said staring at the worn floor. 

"What did you expect?" she said a little cocky. 

"I don't know." I lied. I did half expect her name to be Alice. But I did like her name. It was perfect for her. I ran my hand across a tea cup to give me something to do.

"So what can I get you?" She pressed.

"Nothing, I just wanted to talk to you." I said as I sat down in a stool. "When do you get done?"

"6." she said as she wiped the counter. I moved my arms off so she could wipe where they had been.

"So tell me about yourself."

"What is there to know?" she said as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Anything." I said hoping she would talk. God, I wanted to know so much about her. Instead of Ashley telling me everything about herself, Toby was the ''mysterious bad ass'' that I so desperately wanted to know. Just something about her cute button nose and purple hair intrigued me from the moment I purposefully blocked her in the doorway.

"I don't really like to talk to people about myself."

"Well, you just did." I said smiling. I made a mental note of her statement. "How 'bout I go first?"

"Whatever, still not going to tell you anything." 

"I am a bastard child." 

"A what?" She asked with confusion as she rinsed the rag clean. I proceeded to inform her on what a bastard child was, her confusion slowly disappearing. 

"Oh."

"Yeah. I lived there with my mother, but she is getting ill and the bloody government sent me here with my father."

"I'm sorry."

"Not your problem. And hey, I got to meet you."

"Stop flirting." She said with her eyebrows raised and a laugh. I loved her laugh, mostly because of her little dimples.

"Who says I am?" I started to get this nervous feeling so I fiddled with my lip ring. She rolled her eyes as she started to dust the antiques.

"I was put into the system at 6 years old. I was taken from my mother and at 8 I was adopted by the Jaspers, Donna and Michael." I was taken by surprise when she came out and told me.

"Oh, what about your father, if you don't mind me asking?" I was very careful when asking because I wasn't sure how she felt about the subject.

"I never met him. My mother told me he ran out on us. I was a bastard child, too, I guess. My mother had me at 17." I didn't know what to say so I just nodded. "Here." she said as she put a glass of iced tea on the counter.  

"Thanks." I said taking a sip. "Mmm, better than mother's." She laughed showing me the box mix. "Why are you so afraid of Ashley?"

"I am not!" she said defending herself. 

"You seemed to be this afternoon during English. Right before we walked in, I saw her as you looked up and you ran inside." I took another sip, nervous about my next statement. "Then you kind of ignored me." I had been really hurt when she had ignored me and told me to go away.

"Ok, I am. But she just..." she started then stopped.

"She what?" I asked wanting her to continue.

"See, I can't tell you without going back into my past." she said grabbing the broom. 

"You can trust me." I said still pushing. I spun the stool so I could face her as she swept.

"It's not that I don't, it's I don't like to talk about it."

"Your afraid of who you were." I decided she really didn't want to talk about it so I dropped it as someone came into the shop.

"Maybe." She said not looking at me. I wanted to see her pretty green eyes, but she wouldn't look up. She walked behind the counter and I got up to go into the library. After about 10 minutes she came over to me. I was reading "Where the Sidewalk Ends"

"I just don't understand poetry." I said closing the book hard. I placed it on the side table next to me. 

"Neither do I." she said as she went back into the coffee shop and began doing the dishes. 

"So, any questions for me?" I asked as I picked up a towel and dried the newly clean dishes she laid down. 

"Nope." she said calmly. 

"No one will stop asking, so I'm glad you don't want to ask." I said with a pout.

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Got this one done right before I wanted to go to bed. So my first "Ethan's POV.'' POV means point of view in case someone didn't know. And if you haven't read the comments, my name is Jeri. I am a girl so no it is not Jerry Springer, thanks. So yeah, more tomorrow and I hope you liked getting to know Ethan's side.

-JMAC xoxo