One Road

Chapter 5

I stir my hot chocolate with the stirring stick slowly, glancing around at the cafe. There's lots of round tables of different sizes with 2 or 3 or 4 chairs around them. Olivia comes over, her pink hair tied up in a knot. She must be around 29, with a mint green skirt and a mint green belly top that shows off her stomach, as well as her pink belly button piercing.

She grins at me. "Hey Bri, how yah doin'?"

I grin back, stopping the stirring of my hot chocolate. "Fine Liv, you?"

"Well, the cafe has been quite busy lately which is good. Yah waiting for someone?"

I wipe the sides of the stirring stick on the edge of the hot chocolate cup. "Yeah, my friend Tyler."

"Oooh, a boy!" She says, pretending to squeal like a little girl. I roll my eyes and laugh.

"He's a friend. Nothing more. I only met him a few days ago."

"Well," she says, taking a small biscuit on a plate out from under her apron and setting it on the table. She winks at me. "Good luck with that. I'm sure he'll fall in love with you in the end."

I laugh. "Who says I want that?"

"When are you supposed to be meeting him?"

I look down, drumming the end of the stirring stick on the table. "Twelve thirty." I mutter.

Olivia laughs. "What time is it?"

"Eleven twenty two." I mumble, rubbing my neck with my other hand, not meeting her eyes.

"So, you really don't want him to like you then?" She says, laughing.

"Oh shut it, that doesn't mean anything." I mutter, taking a bite out of my biscuit slightly viciously. Olivia pats my head and grins.

"I'll get you a new hot chocolate later, free refill."

I smile at her, reaching up and patting her arm as far up as I can. "Thanks Livy, you're the best."

She laughs and does a popular girl impression. "Well, duh. Tell me something I don't know."

I roll my eyes. "Remind me to not to compliment you again."

"I love yah." Olivia says, ruffling my hair affectionately before walking back to the kitchen.

I spend the next hour sipping my cold (previously) hot chocolate and doodling in a spare sketch book from my bag. I sketch an eye, catching the flecks and light as best as I can, as well as a few little doodles of some pocket watches. After that I draw the White Rabbit from Alice In Wonderland, proceeding later to draw most of the other characters too. Olivia comes back every once in a while and admires my drawings, joking and saying that she should put them up around the walls and see if she could get more business by having them up. I just roll my eyes and laugh, going back to sketching.
She's laughing with me when a familiar dark figure walks through the door at around twelve thirty.

Tyler walks over and smiles, running a hand through his hair in a slightly sheepish motion. "Hey. Have you been waiting long?"

"Oh not at all." I lie, drumming the end of my pencil on the table. Olivia throws me a pointed look, before turning to Tyler and smiling.

"You must be Tyler, I've heard a lot about you." She says, shaking his hand.

"No you haven't," I say hurriedly, kicking her under the table and turning to Tyler. "No she hasn't."

She opens her mouth to interject but I kick her again with a well placed blow to the shin. Tyler laughs slightly awkwardly, running a hand through his hair again.

"What would yah like to order Tyler?" She asks.

"Uh, I'm fine thanks."

"You sure? It's on the house."

Tyler runs a hand through his hair again. "Er... Just a water thanks."

Olivia goes to get his drink quickly. "I'm sorry about her." I say. "She's just a really sweet friend of mine."

He grins at me easily. "It's fine, she seems really nice."

She comes back with the water bottle, going back to the counter after I give her a forced looking smile. Tyler leans over and looks at my sketch pad, which I forgot to put away before.

"Alice In Wonderland, right? It's a great book."

"You've read it?" I ask in surprise.

"Yeah, I love it. You?"

I smile slightly. "Same."

"I could recite the first couple of verses from You Are Old Father William by heart." He says, smiling embarrassedly.

"Me too." I laugh.

"'You are old father William',
The young man said,
'And your hair has become very white,
Yet you incessantly stand on your head,
Do you think at your age it is right?'

'In my youth',
The father replied to his son,
'I feared I might injure the brain,
But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why I do it again and again!'" We recite together.
(A/N: Hey, I copied this from memory so I'm really sorry if I've got some of it wrong. The basic poem is there >.<)

We both end up laughing loudly, causing other people in the cafe to turn and look at us. I smile at them apologetically before going back to laughing quietly along with Tyler. I happen to see Olivia watching us with an amused expression, so I stick my tongue out at her. She sticks it out right back and grins at me.

"Anyway," Tyler says, finally stopping his laughter. "What are we doing for the Art Presentation?"

I shrug, stirring my hot chocolate refill again. "I have no clue, but it has to get people's attention, right? Something amazing and colourful, yet still good. Any ideas?"

"Well, I have one idea but you tell me yours first."

I take a quick sip of my drink. "I don't know, I was kind of hoping you had something good up your sleeve." Tyler laughs.

"Good thing I have an idea then, isn't it?"

"Guess so. Come on smart ass, spill."

He leans over and starts whispering in my ear quietly. I lean in slightly, his lips brushing against my ear and causing a quick wave of surprise to hit me. His words cause an idea to start forming in my mind, slowly developing and intensifying into something exciting. Finally, he sits back and grins at me.

"So what do you think?"

"It's perfect Tyler." I say grinning, tucking my blonde hair behind my ears and leaning back thoughtfully. "We're just gonna need a really big empty room to try it out in."