Friends Can Have Benefits Too

Eight: Books & Coffee...

Chapter eight:

Coffee. Two croissants and one blueberry bagel. No... chocolate chip bagel. This was my attempt to make it up to Oliver; Bakers Coffee & Bean. I set my phone down and watched out the window as people walked past. A mother. A father. Daughters. And sons. Some smiling and others not. There are those frowning days that's for sure. But for me, today was a smiley day.

"Miiinnniieee attack!" A hand shoveled my hair around creating a nasty lump of hair that I believe would resemble a birds nest.

"Oliver!" I rolled out the 'r' for effect of my upset tone. But clearly he didn't detect such annoyance, as he sat down across from me, with a goofy lopsided smile.

"Well, uh good morning to you, Ms.Nappy hair." He snorted at my disheveled hair.

Oooh, I could really smack him upside the head right now. But, as Rachael would tell me "be one with Oliver for his stupidity is oblivious to ones self". Or was that from Star Wars?

No, pretty sure that's not it.

"Hellooo," Oliver brought me back to attention.

"Oh yeah. Morning, twat." He gave a funny look. It's an English thing, learned it from a few films.

"Good morning, Oliver. Good to see you here. Can I get you anything to drink?" The waitress, in her mid thirties asked politely.

"Hello, Kathy. How's it going?"

She sighed as she lowered her note pad down and stretched her neck side to side. "Oh, I'm the definition of a zombie. I come home to the boys,  exhausted, causing a mess while my neighbor, y'know Samson is attempting to strain the kids. I don't know who I can have babysit them, who won't strangle them to death." Her voice was strained and her lips were extremely chapped. She coughed with great force, that anyone could tell she's a smoker. She had obviously endured quite some from such a tiring lifestyle.

"I'm sorry," Oliver sincerely said.

She waved her hand in dismissal. "Ah, whatever. Whatever. It's sad, boo who. I'll live. So whatcha want to drink? Coffee?"

"Right. Yeah, coffee." He gave her a long concerned look.

As she was going to walk away, Oliver shouted," Kathy!"

She stopped and turned slightly.

"If you really need someone to babysit I can see what I can do." He totally forgot to mention the fact that he works almost everyday.

She smiled weakly. "Oh, Oli. That would mean so much."

"Yeah?" His goofy grin appeared once more.

"Yes. Thank you. Can I call you about this later?"

"Sure thing. Stop by later if you will."

She nodded and walked off to fetch the coffee. I stared at him intently. He's super kind, but sometimes I feel like he puts too much on his plate and one day it'll tip over. Ah, he's an adult. He'll be fine, I hope.

"What?" He raised his eyebrows.

I dropped my intense stare and loosened up again. "Sorry. Just thinking."