Life slips through our hands

Chapter 3

The next day, Nina got up at 8 o'clock and prepared herself for work. It was Saturday, so she would work all day.

Nina would work every single weekend and she sometimes took a shift during the week if Mr. Bower needed extra help. Today, she had a shift from 9 am to 8 pm.

When she arrived at the café, Mr. Bower and Charles were already there. Mr. Bower was reading some papers at a table next to the window and Charles was behind the counter restocking some products in the showcase.

"Good morning", greeted Nina getting inside.

"Good morning", replied the two men.

"Dear, I didn't have time for breakfast this morning. Do you mind making me something?", asked the man with gray hair.

"Sure, give me a minute".

She went to the back and hung her jacket and bag. When she got back, Charles was cleaning the counter.

"I think I have done everything already. Can you check it?", she looked at the boy surprised.

"Let me see". She moved through the corridor checking what should be done in the morning. He had prepared everything! "You did very well, thank you".

"No problem. I couldn't help much yesterday".

"Oh, it's not like that. It was your first day, you did very well". Nina smiled timidly and turned to make Mr. Bower's breakfast.

The day was really busy but they managed to eat lunch while Mr. Bower helped on the counter. And Joanna arrived just in time to help them in the afternoon.

Joanna was a college student. She worked there three times per week, including Saturday afternoons.

On Sunday, Charles and Nina were alone in the café. Sundays were slow so the two of them were more than enough to deal with everything.

As there was not much to do, they were sitting behind the counter. Nina was checking Instagram when Charles started to talk.

"I didn't know you were Lara's friend. I go often to their house in summer, I haven't seen you there".

"Lara and I usually don't join Jacky's gatherings", she explained.

"Oh, yeah, you're right. We just didn't run into each other. We might see each other more though; Jacky said he will stay here all summer so I'll stay too".

"Oh, so do you usually go with him on his trips?".

"Yeah. But since Jacky wants to stay, I'll also stay".

Nina looked at him. Charles went to the same school and was a friend of Lara's brother. Did not that mean that he was the son of a wealthy family? And if he went with Jacky to his breaks adventures, as Lara called them, he was out every summer too. By his age, he should be a college student, so he was on summer break too. That meant that he had a good amount of weeks before classes started. Why was he working there?

"As I'm staying here, I thought it was probably a good idea to have the part-time experience too. And trying something new is kinda fun, isn't it?", he continued.

"Right". She nodded feeling a little bit nervous. Can the guy read her mind or what?

Charles noticed her nervousness and continued talking and changed the topic. He was good with words and reading the mood. He was easygoing too. Nina felt comfortable talking to him after a short while.

She found out that Charles was a childhood friend of Jacky, Lara's brother. They knew each other since kindergarten. He also was into sports, he was in a swimming club. No wonder the back he had.

They kept their conversation almost all day. There were some customers after lunch so they paused the chatting and then they resumed it. Everything was done at 6 o'clock. The shop closed at 7 pm so they spend that hour talking about Nina's school and complaining about some teachers. Charles just graduated three years ago so most of the teachers were the same.

The week passed quickly. The students were excited because that was the last week of classes before the summer break. Nina and Lara were no exception.

Even though Nina had to work on weekends, no school meant that she had all week to have fun. She was on the moon. It was their last summer as high scholars. Just one year to go to forget about Adela for the rest of her life. Also, she didn't see Adela on school breaks. She couldn't be happier.

On Friday, Nina and Lara went to the cinema as promised. Then, they went to the mall and sat for ice cream.

"Hey, do you want to come to my house next week?", Lara asked.

"Sure. I'm working on Tuesday though".

"What about Wednesday? The swimming pool will be cleaned on Monday so we can use it after that", she clapped her hands out of excitement.

"Really? I want it to be Wednesday already", she sighed dramatically and smiled.

"Do you mind if I invite Ian too?"

"Of course not! Such a silly question...", she frowned slightly.

"I miss him so much". Lara let out a heavy and long sigh.

"Oh, c'mon. He's going to be back this Sunday. Doesn't he?"

"The wait is too long!". Lara exclaimed. Nina laughed at the sight her friend gave.

Ian went to Germany as an exchange student six months ago. Lara was truly happy for him; he always talked about studying abroad. But she felt so lonely! They have been dating for 3 years now and she was used to seeing him every day at school.

Ian was finally coming back and she wanted to spend every single minute with him. But she didn't want to let Nina aside either.

"Let's go for a new bikini", Lara said after finishing her ice cream. "I want to drive him crazy". Nina chuckled and followed her friend to the stores.