Agoraphobia

Chapter 3

The day went by pretty quickly after Steph walked in. She got changed and headed towards the back to let the guys know that we were about to open up, and no more than five minutes later, she walked in with a pair of moody looking brothers.

I smiled slightly and sent Steph a look, to which she only winked back at me and held her right fist. She surely knew what she was doing with these guys...

I rolled my eyes slightly and backed away from the counter, letting the guys take their positions before Amal turned the sign saying, 'We are now open' in fancy letters. Steph walked towards the kitchen behind the counter to check on the cookies in the oven, seeing as a certain duo of brothers didn't bother to actually even turn it on. 

I stood by the kitchen's door, a tray in my right hand with a notepad in the other. Wouldn't be long now until it starts to fill up with busy workers and students! I would've gave anything to have had the chance to come into a cafe like this. When I was in school, the only place where I was able to go to was either the Art room or the Library...

I wasn't actually into reading books. I'd usually sit in a dark corner somewhere and pretend to read, when in actual fact I would be drawing sketches of superheroes and the like.

I know, I'm a nerd.

"Hey, Maeve." A voice broke me out of my little flashback, making me fall backwards into the door. It didn't budge, and for that I was thankful. How many times have I almost died today?! Not that you could die from falling into a door, but then what if you fell the wrong way, and managed to crack your skull open on the ground?

I've done that before, but only when I was a toddler. I was taking my first baby steps by myself, then the next thing I knew, I was crying on the floor because my forehead managed to fall against the toilet seat... Not the most pleasant memory ever, and in actual fact I'm only quoting that it happened, seeing as I wasn't able to remember anything past my first year of high school.

"Maeve!" The voice broke again, and before I knew, a hand was on my shoulder. I snapped my head into the direction of the person's voice, my posture relaxing when I saw that it was none other than Amal. She had a look of concern and amusement written on her face, which was probably the only look she gave me nowadays.

She took a step back, turning on her right foot and motioning towards the already filling cafe, "You were daydreaming again, and you need to take their orders." She informed me, her smile already gone and replaced with a small frown. When I said nothing, she turned back to me and quirked her trimmed brow, "You're okay, right? Anything I should be concerned about?" She asked, her voice calming down and laced with wonder.

I shook my head and smiled lightly towards her, "Not at all. Sorry," I pushed myself off of the door and walked past her, the tray and notebook still in my hands. I walked around, asking the customers for what they would like, some of which not even wanting to order anything, only here for the Wi-Fi.

A few hours passed by, and everything was going along smoothly. People were still waltzing in and out, and even a few from this morning were still there.

It was only when the clock reached 12:40pm that things started to get a bit weird. 

A bunch of high-schoolers, most likely around the age of 15 or 16, opened the cafe's front doors, the small bell chiming, earning a few curious stares from other customers. Amal was busy serving a Rocky Road to a young girl with her mother and brother, and Terence and Ronan were actually on break. Steph was most likely still in the kitchen making brownies and other sorts of goods...

And I was left standing there like an idiot.

The teenagers walked in, and they were all smiling and laughing away. This was normal for teens to do, right? The thing was, that they were all dressed up in odd costumes. That's the one thing I couldn't take my eyes away from.