houses

one

sammy parker was driving.
sammy parker hated driving.
he much preferred getting the bus, but his mum had made him drive her car, her blue ford, now that he was legally allowed.

"but mum, the bus is nicer. i can't deal with the stress of driving."
"do i look like i care? go!"

she had pushed the keys into his hand and pushed him out the door, locking it behind him.

he sighed and indicated left, towards the café.

**
carrie hopkinson paid the bus driver and headed towards the nearest available seat. in front of her was an old man and his wife. she was curled up in his arms and he was stroking her long grey hair. carrie smiled as she sat down.

she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and reached for her shoulder bag. it was a 15th birthday present from her mum; a black shoulder bag with small foxes imprinted on the front. carrie loved it, and brought it with her everywhere.

from her bag she retrieved her book, a small, dog-eared paperback, one she had read and re-read many times. she loved to read. it flew her away. away from all her troubles.

**

"thank you!" she said, hopping off the bus and looking around the town centre.

it was empty, for it was a bleak tuesday morning. the trees swayed miserably in the air, and the benches were empty. there were no small children chasing the pigeons, and there were no pigeons to be chased by the nonexistent children.

carrie headed to her usual cafe. the 'love you a latte', on 74th north way. it was a small, cozy, independent cafe, and carrie loved it there. she was in there, typing away, almost every day.

there was a blue ford parked outside the shop.

carrie could smell the coffee from across the road.

**

sammy tied the elastic band around the front of his waist, not really paying attention to his boss, who was instructing him.

"and so that concludes our talk. you will now need to put everything i've just told you into practise."

the man looked at sammy expectantly. his head tilted to one side. "sammy!" he barked. sammy's head jolted up. "yes?"

the man sighed. "have you listened to a word i just said?"

sammy debated quickly in his head, then decided against lying to his new boss. "nope." he confessed, earning an exasperated screech from the man stood in front of him.

at that moment, the bell above the door rand, and a girl walked in.

she was in her late teens, sammy could tell. she was wearing a thick green parker jacket with a bobble hat and boots. she walked over to the small table in the corner and hung up her coat, to reveal an outfit that included denim dungarees and a yellow top. she sat down and proceeded to fiddle with her petite ponytail that was balanced on top of her head.

"sammy."

her hair was the colour of autumn leaves.

"sammy."

she pulled a laptop out of her bag, and he saw that her nails were grey.

"sammy!"

he sighed and looked away from the girl.
"this is your first customer. go ahead." his boss said, a smug smile etching across his face.
i'll show you, sammy thought. i'll show you i can do your job better than you can.
he walked over to her.
he realised he left his notebook at the register.
he walked back and picked up the notebook and the pen.
he walked over to her.
he clicked the pen on his thigh as he walked.

she looked up from her laptop and smiled expectantly.
"hello, welcome to love you a latte, what would you like today?"
"could i have a cappuccino please?" she said instantly.
"of course!" he said, flashing a false smile. he turned around.
"oh wait!"
he turned round to face her again.
"can i also have a white chocolate chip muffin?" she asked, looking embarrassed.
"sure thing." he said, gaining a quick smile.