Coffee Shop Crush

10

My burn finally healed, and I could get rid of those damn gloves. I have a scar, but nothing too bad. Also, I have officially been working here for a month. Felt like a very long month.

"Hey, Damien is treating us to drinks tonight, you joining?" Kristine asks jumping through the kitchen door.

"No! Only you, I promised to only buy for you," Damien fights against Kristine's arm against the door.

"Yeah, and Loid is part of that, so tough tits." I smile and toss the wipe in my hand in the bin beside me.

"It's fine, I don't think I'm much of a big drinker." Kristine scowls and let's go of the door, walking up to me. She wraps her arm around me and whispers in my ear.

"You could've said yes so I got more booze."

"I can hear you know," Damien says pushing a chunk off wood underneath the door to keep it open. Kristine sticks her tongue out at him and let's go of me.

"Your still gunna come though, right? Even if you don't drink." Sure, why not, not like I have much going on anyway.

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More staff joined us this time, I thought we were going to the same pub again, instead we went further into the city centre. "Is this a club?" I ask.

"Well, yeh, Damien's treating me, got to drain his wallet somehow." Damien grumbles in response as he approaches the bouncer. I don't think I want to go in. I only recently got used to a few people touching me, a club has a lot more than a few.

I hang out at the back of the group, when it came to my turn, I was so sweaty the bouncer was staring me down. I could see inside as well, loads of flashing light, loud music, and tons of people. I really didn't want to go in. "Hey, move it, you're stopping the line" I wince as people behind me yell, they eventually push past me, making sure to walk into my shoulder. I can't. I turn to leave when I'm suddenly grabbed by my wrist and pulled back.

"Hey, you not coming in?" I shake my head, Damien walks in front of me, still holding my wrist. "You good?" I shake my head again. It's too noisy here. Damien frowns and shuffles his feet, "One sec, wait here." He dashes past me, grazing my shoulder lightly. I crack my fingers, it felt like the music was getting louder. Loads of people seem to flood past me. I clover my ears and crouch, this was too much. I wanted to go home.

"Hey," I feel a tap on my back, "Hey!" a pull on my shoulder pulls me out of my ball, "You need to move it, your blocking the entrance," the bouncer was a scary looking man, I could feel my eyes start to well up, there was too much going on.

"Hang on! Sorry, he's with me. We'll get going now," The bouncer steps back, I feel someone grab my arm and help me up. It was so loud, it hurt my ears through my hands. My cheeks were now cold.

Slowly the music stopped thumping in my ears, and the mass amount of people turned into a few. I take my hands off my ears and wipe my eyes. I was crying, a lot. "You good now?" I look up, Damien was holding onto my arm. I look around, we were in a park. The sun had gone down now, the only light here was the streetlamps. "Loid, you good?" We stop walking. I look back up at him and slowly nod, my mouth open to speak, but I couldn't muster up any words.

He sighs and pulls me over to a bench, helping me sit down, staying stood up. He scratches his head and watches around the park. For it being night there was still many people. Every time a large group walked past Damien would step closer to me, while being enough away to not touch me.

I don't know how long we sat here, eventually Damien sat next to me, leaning far onto the bench, watching the sky. "You know. For being in the middle of a city you can see a lot of stars." I look up also, he was right, once your eye adjusted you could see litters of stars scattered across the sky. It was calming.

"Sorry," I mumble.

"Don't worry about it," He replies, still watching the sky.

"What about you buying drinks for Kris?" He looks down at me and smiles awkwardly.

"You actually saved me a fortune. I ran in gave her fifty and ran out so I could get you out of here." Oh.

"But now you're missing out," his smile turns soft.

"It's fine, I'm not a fan of clubs anyway." I say nothing and just watch my hands. "Wanna stay here? Or you wanna go home?" My eyes felt puffy, and my body ached.

"Home please..." He nods and stands up, holding a hand out for me. I slowly take it, he pulls me up, I stumble a little, jumping when he puts his hand on my side.

"You good to move?" I nod and let go of his hand. He looks a little hurt, but it seems to disappear off his face quicker then it appeared. "Come on let's go," I nod and follow him in silence, he was watching the sky until we left the park, where we were greeted by the city lights.

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Currently sitting on the train now, my face burning in my hands. I hadn't reacted like that since I was a kid, it was just hitting me how embarrassing it was. Even on the way back we had to walk back past the clubs, as soon as it got loud, I grabbed Damien's shirt as he guided me through. GAAAAAAAAAAAAH. Hope he won't take that wrong, I'm just bad in crowds...

I was surprised he wasn't watching me this time, he was sitting right next to me, leaning on the arm rest, his hand covering his mouth. Which was fine, I'm still having my crisis in my own hands at the moment. "Loid, this is your stop, right?" I peek through my fingers, we were slowing down, I nod and stand up. Once the train stops, I stand up and get off, I thought this would be where we said goodbye, but Damien got off with me.

"Aren't you going back." He shakes his head, still not looking at me, "What about you going home." No response. I decide to just ignore him and walk home, I was annoyed at first, but my body was drained and kept stumbling every so often. Even tripped, only to be caught by Damien. I thank him, he just nods, and we resume walking.

We stop at the door of my house, I open it and step inside, I wanted to sleep so badly. I catch the time in the corner of my eye, I didn't realise it was so late. "Oh, you've missed the last train," I say turning to Damien, he just nods and turns to look at me. His eyes were cold, but not angry, he looks tired. I wobble and lean against my door, "Wanna crash here?" He watches me silently for a few minutes, I sigh and turn to head toward my bedroom, "Close the door behind you." I practically flop onto my bed, take my shoes off and lay down. I could hear the front door click shut. Don't know if Damien decided to stay or just shut the door before he left.

Note to self, next time asked to go drinking, if it's a club, turn it down immediately.