Starting Over

0. Where It All Starts

"Hey, how's it going?" I ask looking up to see a rather gorgeous face.

"Hey, can I please have a bacon and egg roll and a black coffee." He replies.

"Sure, no problem. Won't be long sir." We exchange money and he walks off to the side to wait for his order.

Something in my gut is telling me that I've seen this familiar face before.

While I'm making his order, he suddenly walks over. "Excuse me," I look up. "Have we met before?"

"I don't know, have we?" I say with a smirk increasing its size along my face.

When it comes to meeting someone for the first I'm not usually awkward, I tend to hide all nerves and put a arrogant front on which is what gets my trouble most of the time.

"Well," He says as he extends his arm out towards me. "I'm Jake."

"Ella." I say shaking his hand, a cold shiver running down my spine.

I hand him over his order with a smile. "Nice meeting you,"

"Yeah, you too." He replies before walking out the café door.

I get back to work as Loren comes up to me. She clears her throat, "Who was that, missy?" Loren asks.

Loren is my boss along with her husband, Ross. I've been working her for almost three years now. Adrian, Jeremy and I all had and have jobs here.

Even before mum passed away Loren has been like a second mother to me. I talk to her about anything and everything. When mum passed away she was one of the first people who knew and she helped out heaps with my family get back on our feet by delivering meals and cleaning our house, all the motherly things

"I don't know actually, I feel like I've seen him somewhere before," I explain as Loren nods her head slowly with her tongue rolled between her bottom lip and bottom row of teeth.

"What's his name?" She asks, making me worry a little.

"Jake." I wipe down the counter before walking to the sink to rinse the cloth out.

"I think I know his parents. I'm pretty sure they come in here quite a bit." Loren says following me.

"Ah, maybe that's why he looks so familiar." I suggest. Setting the cloth down and looking at Loren who has her gaze outside of the shop.

"It looks like he's waiting for you, Hun." She points out the window behind me and sure enough he's there leaning against a car that I'm assuming is his.

"Nah, he's probably waiting for her," I guess, pointing to a girl sitting in a booth in front of me.

"No Ella, he is looking at you. Look." She says, nudging me slightly with her shoulder.

As soon as our gazes meet, a smirk is plastered on his face one that I'm sure has been used of plenty of girls.

I pretend that I'm focusing on work but really I'm just waiting for him to leave.

***

An hour later and my shift is over. I say good bye to the other workers and Ross. As I'm walking towards Loren she whispers in my ear. "He's still waiting for you," I roll my eyes and walk out the door, waving behind me.

Walking straight to my car, eager to get home, someone speaks. "Are you just going to walk past me and ignore my presence?" I turn to see that owner of the voice.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't see an presents with my name on it." I say with attitude.

"Very funny," He says sarcastically but I don't take it.

"But it wasn't meant to be," I say while I unlock my car door and open it. Before I get in Jake stops me.

"Meet me here tomorrow, same time." He demands.

"Depends if I'm in a good mood," I say as I bend down and climb into my car.

And that's the truth, who knows what mood I'll be in tomorrow.

When I get comfortable I hear a crunch underneath me. I raise myself up a bit, to see a small, now scrunched piece of paper. I flatten out the paper to find a phone number and a name.

Jake.

I roll my eyes and start my car, reversing out of the car park and heading for the journey home.

---------------------------