The Stranger on the Train

Chaper 23: First date

Pov y/n

The last three weeks have been very busy and kinda exhausting.
A bunch of new, permanent customers came to the coffeeshop, which is good but makes it busier.
I don't mind it though, because more customers mean more tips, as materialistic as it may sound.

But I've been saving up a little to be able to take Scarlett on a nice date as she deserves.
On top of my normal shifts, I've taken a couple of extra ones on the weekend and worked longer at the aquarium, helping to clean up and stuff.
It was a lot and most days I just fell into bed at night but I think at the end of the month, it will be worth it, when I get the money for all those extra hours.

But working overtime also meant that I couldn't spent a lot of time with Scarlett and Rose. We saw each other and stuff but not as much as before, when I didn't work this much.

Scar started visiting the coffeeshop on a regular basis, mostly Wednesdays and then she sits at the table, drinks her coffee and does work on her laptop. Even though we might not have talked as much during the past three weeks, we still texted daily. Some days it was more, some days it was less and just a quick check in but we always made sure to text each other when we went to sleep.

I don't know, it just became a habit and I love her nightly messages so much, they are always very sweet and make me smile.

I was over a few times and we ate dinner together. It's always very nice and Rose is always excited when I come for dinner. She jumps around me and pulls me to either play or draw with her, proudly showing off each fish she learned to draw.
Scar watches us happily and doesn't complain at all, when Rose takes up all the time I spend there with playing with me.

I caught her watching us with a content smile, lost in her thoughts. She seemed really happy with the situation and it made butterflies appear in my stomach at how happy she looked.
Rose doesn't seem to have caught up on the fact that her mom and I are dating now, not that it would be obvious but still.

Scar and I are careful around Rose because we don't want to make her hope when we don't even know ourselves where this is going. We share glances and make each other compliments here and there but nothing more. When Rose is getting ready for bed, we enjoy our short time together.
We don't do much, mostly just hold hands while looking into each other's eyes or hugging longer than usual.

There also were a few kisses but we were very careful with them as they would definitely give us away.

When Scar comes to the coffeeshop, we also keep it low, not wanting to draw more attention to us. Yes, we decided to not really care about the media but we don't need to provoke any rumors. Besides, we decided on 'just dating' for now, although we didn't have a date yet but I hope to change that really soon.

But it seems like I'm not the only one busy with work as I notice Scar also has a lot to do right now. When we chat she sometimes tells me that she feels a little stressed right now with different movie and commercial offers. Since I don't really know anything about that kind of thing, I've always listened and cheered her up. Maybe I'll ask her to tell me more about her job at some point.

Today is Thursday and right now it's not too full, so Jesse and I have a little break, which I spend on my phone, just scrolling through some social media. When Jesse gently nudges me, I look up and see Scarlett.
Apparently I was so focused on my phone that I didn't hear the doorbell or it was just too loud in the shop.

Jesse gives me a small wink before leaving the counter and checking up on the guests. I put my phone away and fully face Scarlett, giving her a wide smile that she returns.

"What a surprise to see you here today, you usually come on Wednesdays." I observe, which makes her chuckle a little.

"The usual?" I ask and start making her coffee.