That's When ~ Adopted by Elizabeth Olsen

Chapter 8: a red rose grew up out of the ice frozen ground

Quin leans against the counter. 2:37. How long until she can take another ibuprofen? Technically twenty three minutes but she'd only taken one so she's sure it's fine. She takes a breath as she leans against the counter, dropping her head to her hands. And, jesus, it hurts to breathe. She grabs her water bottle and another ibuprofen, downing it quickly when she hears the bell ring again.

"Hi Lillian!" She greets the woman in front of her and then looks over the counter slightly to greet the young boy who's accompanying her. "Hi Miles! How are you?"

'Good' he signs back and she smiles.

"That's great," Quin replies with a smile before turning back to the boy's mom. "So, what can I get for you today?"

"The usual, I think," Lillian replies, looking down at her son, "what about you, Miles? Do you want your usual?"

Miles nods.

"Okay, great," Quin smiles.

Today Bill and Tammy's oldest son, Matthew, is working at the coffee shop too. So Quin just gets to take the orders, that is until Matthew takes off for his afternoon class, which starts at three. But by then, Polly would be here for her shift and Quin would just hang out here until her friends finished their classes which usually got them there around four.

"So, how have you been?" Lillian asks Quin once she's finished paying. They've already dealt with the morning rush and the lunch time chaos. So from 1:30 until around five it's usually pretty quiet and she has time for small talk.

"Pretty good," Quin smiles. Sometimes she surprises herself with how good she can fake it. She reaches up to readjust her hair. While she'd opted to use makeup to cover the bruise, which had worked surprisingly well, she still straightened her hair and trimmed her curtain bangs just to be sure. "How about you?"

"Oh, I've been pretty good as well. Though last night Miles kept asking for something and I couldn't for the life of me figure it out," Lillian says, shaking her head, clearly disappointed with herself.

"Don't beat yourself up about it," Quin reassures her. "It takes time to learn sign language, you're doing your best."

"I know but I still haven't figured it out," Lillian sighs just as Matthew comes over with her tea and Miles' hot chocolate and muffin.

"I can try," Quin offers as Lillian takes both the tea and the hot chocolate, not wanting to risk Miles spilling it all over the floor.

"I gotta take off," Matthew calls out, heading to the back to take off his apron and Quin hums in agreement.

"Are you sure?" Lillian asks with a relieved sigh to which Quin nods her head.

"Of course."

"Hey Miles," Lillian prompts, "Can you show Quin what you were asking for last night?"

Miles walks back over to his mom from where he'd wandered off, looking at pastries.

"Freeze?" Quin asks, tilting her head in confusion as Miles signs. "Did you want something cold? Like a popsicle?"

Miles shakes his head and signs something different.

"Reindeer?" Miles nods. "Freeze. Reindeer?" Quin asks, looking at Lillian in confusion.

"You got more than I did," Lillian smiles sheepishly.

Miles signs something new.

"Snowman? Freeze. Reindeer. Snowman."