That's When ~ Adopted by Elizabeth Olsen

Chapter 2: I was enchanted to meet you

Quin groans as she leans against the counter at the cafe, resting her elbows on the counter and covering her face with her hands. God, why did Zeke have to be running late for his shift today? She had probably gotten a solid two and half hours of sleep the night before and after a full day of school all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and go to bed. granted that was not what she would be doing when or if she went home after her shift. she'd probably end up doing homework in the cafe for a few hours and then go home to take the dog for a walk before making dinner for everyone. Jesus, this day is never going to end.

She hears the bell ring, which means that another customer has walked in. So she stands up and does her best to look like she isn't seconds away from a mental breakdown. She really hates talking to people, but surprisingly she finds working at the cafe to be okay. It gives her something to do, aside from overthinking, and a feeling of being useful. Plus she isn't complaining about the extra money. She's a bit young to working at the cafe, actually, but one of her brother's friend's parents own the place and they're more than happy to have the extra help, especially considering that compared to most sixteen year olds, Quin is far more responsible despite only being thirteen.

"Hi!" A lady says brightly as she approaches the counter, she's wearing sunglasses but Quin swears she recognizes the voice. The woman orders an iced coffee, since it's the beginning of spring and they're going through a weird warm stretch, and a blueberry muffin. She gets her both as quickly as possible. Zeke better give her some of his paycheck for making her cover half an hour of his shift, she thinks as she hands the muffin and the coffee to the woman.

"Thanks so much..." the woman starts before she realizes she doesn't know her name.

"Quinlynn," she supplies. She hates wearing name tags for some reason, it's a bit of a pet peeve, and Tammy and Bill never insisted that she wear one while she works, so she doesn't.

"Well, thank you Quinlynn," The woman says with a smile, and the way she says it makes Quin smile too. The lady begins to move away before she pauses. "Sorry, I know this must sound crazy but you weren't going grocery shopping at around ten pm last night, were you?" She asks with a bit of an awkward laugh. And it's sweet, Quin thinks, that the woman who she talked to for half a second in the middle of the night somehow remembers her.

"Oh, umm. Yeah, no, it's not crazy. I was actually," Quin fumbles, wincing slightly as she hears the words come tumbling out of her mouth.

The woman laughs again. "Oh great, I thought I was losing my mind or something. Well thank you, for my coffee and muffin and for stopping my runaway cheese."

Quin nods with a smile. The woman seems really nice, warm in a way that would usually make her feel uncomfortable, but it doesn't. She glances at the clock again. Jesus Zeke, are you trying to set the world record for being late?

"Oh, sorry. I'm Elizabeth by the way," the woman says with a laugh as she switches things around in her hands so she can take off her sunglasses, sensing some kind of tension. She sure does laugh a lot, Quin observes with a smile. "But, people really just call me Lizzie," she adds.

"Okay, well then I'm Quin," she replies easily with a small smile.

Lizzie goes to say something else, but Zeke chooses that moment to come racing into the cafe, causing the doorbell to ring obnoxiously and Quin jumps slightly.

"I'm here! I'm here," Zeke shouts as he runs into the back of the cafe to put his stuff down and put on his apron. "Sorry I'm late, Quinlynn, that fucking history project is taking forever," he sighs breathlessly as he walks back out, much slower this time, and leans against the counter.