Relocating

Poetry Night

I have been working at the coffee shop since Tuesday. Eliza is still cold toward me for no reason, but lately I've been going out of my way to be nice to her. She can't be shallow for long.

Dan and I have been working on Poetry Friday all week. We had about ten people signed up and we hoped more would come out tonight. Aria wasn't working,so she said she would stop by. I asked her to call Ashton. He hasn't been exactly happy with me lately. Aria was actually the one to tell me.

The other night when I was on the phone with her, I asked her where Ashton had been. He usually called me every other day, but he hadn't talked to me once since Sunday. She said he had been upset about something all week. I wondered if I had said anything to get him riled up, but she said she didn't think so. She said he just gets that was when he's working hard. He doesn't want to be replaced for the tourist book job. He gets paid a lot, which I already knew. Aria said she would tell Ashton to come tonight, though I didn't think he was coming. I figured he'd like it.

I was busy getting the coffee house cleaned and ready for Poetry Night anyway. I was hanging lights right now around the small stage in the right corner. Dan had some in the storage room he used at Christmas time. We were going to get a mic set and speakers next week. There was a stool in the back room.

I finished getting as soon as the first poet walked in around 8pm. There were about 40 people standing around and Dan said it was an awesome outcome for our first night.

There was still no sign of Ashton, but Aria showed up around 8:30. I was pacing around the coffee house when Dan came over to me.

"You did good Rachel. You can chill out the rest of the time. See your handy work." He smiles and walks away. I head over to Aria. She's sitting at a table with some guy, who I'm guessing is her boyfriend seeing he has his arm around her. I sit on her other side.

"Having fun?" She asks.

"So you saw me running around before, huh." I laugh and so does she.

"This is Jacob, my boyfriend." She says and he smiles.

"Hey, this event is your doing?" He says.

"Yeah. I'm Rachel." I smile and look around the room.

"I don't think he's coming." She says and breaks my concentration.

"Yeah I figured. Well, I'm going to go outside for a minute. I need some fresh air." I say and stand up.

I walk outside and rest on the big picture window ledge. It smells like cigarettes out here so I decide to go for a walk. It's so warm tonight. It's like a warm spring day in Connecticut and its nighttime right now.

After about twenty minutes, I head back to the coffee shop. I find nothing has changed, except for the person on stage now. Aria and Jacob are still at their table, but I see someone else with them now. I feel a big grin trace and run over.

"Ash!" I say and hug around his shoulders.

"Hey Rachel!" He says and stands up to give me a proper hug. He hugs me tightly and slowly steps back.

"Where have you been?"

"About that. I've just been really busy thinking about....." He stops.

"About what?"

"About you and...me-maybe helping me." He changed his words. I shrug it off.

"Maybe helping you with what?"

"I, um...with my photos! Yeah my photos. They haven't been coming out that great lately. I need a new muse and the ones I took with your silhouette in them looked amazing!"

"Oh okay. Thanks. Why are you acting funny?"

"Just nothing."

"You alright?"

"Yeah. Just nothing. It's nothing."