Snowflake (Jackunzel AU)

Chapter Two

A loud screech echoed through the café as Jack pulled one of the seats out and sat down. It had been three days since Tony announced that he quit and moved to New York and Flynn was taking practice exams in the city to prepare for university next year, so he wasn't back in town yet. This meant Jack and Mari were managing the business all on their own. Jack was relieved that majority of the customers knew the problem, though — news travelled fast in Saint-Basile, and so it only took until noon the following day for the town to know what happened with Tony.

Jack blew air towards his bangs. He felt sweaty and gross thanks to the hard labour of coffeemaking. He didn't even know when Flynn would return. He just knew he wouldn't be able to handle this job in such a state much longer.

Breaking his relaxation, Mari walked out of the back room. "I finished washing the dishes, Jack," she said. "All you have to do is dry them and put them away. They'll be ready for tomorrow morning."

"Thanks." Jack closed his eyes. "Are you not tired?"

"I'm beyond dead. I just don't have time to care about that right now." As if to prove her point, she grabbed her dark grey peacoat and headed for the front door. "Okay, I'm running into the store down the street. They called me earlier today and said my order of coffee is here, so I'm going to bring it in tonight. Lock the door after me."

"You got it." Mari stepped out into the early December air. Her breath immediately puffed out in front of her. She waved to Jack as she walked towards Fred's Convenience.

Jack looked at the time. It was only 10:48. The store closed at 11:00 sharp. Instead of closing the door like Mari had asked, he left it open and wandered into the back room, doubly named as the kitchen. (Or washing station, if you will.) Jack brought a huge stack of rimmed plates to the front and set them by the cash register so that he would kill two birds with one stone. The plates were put away in no time, leaving Jack to pack up the unused tea from the day.

He finished packing the tea at 10:54 when the front door's chimes jingled. Silence followed the guest, so he knew it wasn't Mari returning with her coffee. Keeping his back turned, Jack said, "Sorry but we're closing up in six minutes. I shut the machines down already so I won't be able to make you anything."

"That's alright," a female voice piped up. It was a simply two words but it was enough to make Jack's heart fly out of his chest for no good reason. "I just needed a place to stop and catch my breath. It's horrible outside."

Jack was ready to kick the girl out for ignoring his words, but when he spun around he noticed two things. The first was that the first snowfall finally came. It was a heavy one this year – the snowflakes fell in thick clumps. The packing snow would be a hassle to shovel off his driveway tomorrow morning.

The second thought eliminated all possibility of kicking her out of the store. When he spun around, he faced the girl and got a good look at her snowflake-covered body and baggage. She had a pink luggage with her, topped with a black duffel bag, and a laptop bag slung over her shoulder. The girl wore a light grey puffy winter jacket, zipped up to the chin, with a matching hat. Jack didn't know what to say, but he found his mouth moving anyways.

"Oh. It's no problem. Just take a seat." The stranger nodded and took his orders, taking the same screechy chair the barista had sat in minutes before. It was close to the counter. Before she sat down she took off her jacket. When she removed her hat, a tumble of blonde hair cascaded down her back, In its pin-straight form, it reached her waist. Blonde? Check.

"Uh, did you want me to make you something after all?" Jack offered before he could stop himself.

The girl gave him a look. "Didn't you say everything was shut down for the night?"