Always Here

Chapter 3

Jamie’s POV

The day past by very quickly. I was walking towards ‘De La Cafe’ when I thought of Hunter again. He kept on passing through my mind every few minutes or so.

I entered ‘De La Cafe’ that smelled of coffee and hints of vanilla. There were wooden soft cushion seats placed around the store with few couches and lamps for the feeling of someone’s dream home. There was light music always playing in the background which always gave me comfort. It was never busy which was a plus side, it meant being away from my home and noisy school.

“Vous avez une bonne amie de la journée?( You have a good day sweetheart?)” The owner, Aimee a french woman in her early twenties with bright red hair asked me in French. We mostly spoke in French so noisy customers weren’t interfering also so Aimee can curse at people without them understanding.  

“Oui!, il était étonnamment bon(Yes! it was surprisingly good)” I answered blushing at the thought of Hunter again.

‘Why do you keep sneaking in my mind!?...’ I thought to myself.

Aimee smirked at me “Really huh? So who’s the boy?” If my face was compared to a tomato right now it would be redder than a tomato.

“Oh regarde, je vais être en retard pour mon quart de travail ... Je vais vous parler plus tard(Oh look I'm going to be late for my shift... I'll talk to you later)” I told her walking towards the back room getting ready for my shift.

“You’re going to have to tell me sooner or later you know!” Aimee’s voice followed me as the back room door swung closed.

*****

I was taking someone’s order when I heard a little girl’s voice and an older boy’s voice which sounded familiar walk in the store.

“Thank you and have a nice day” I told the rude customer politely while muttering

“Hey.” My eyes left the clock and landed on Hunter.

There was bewilderment written all over my face. ‘De La Cafe’ isn’t that far from school but I don’t see people from my school often. “Hunter? When did you start coming here?” I asked.

"This is my first time actually. My sister wanted me to try the best smoothie in the world." He smirked then pointing at his sister. She looked about ten to eleven years old and looked a lot like Hunter. Like him she also had dark black hair and blue eyes.

"Well she isn’t wrong about that... We do have the best smoothie" I smiled teasingly at him.

Hunter winked at me “Well we’ll only see after I try it right?”

A carefree laugh escaped from my mouth and I was stunned with myself.

We only knew each for a whole day but I felt safe around him. Whenever I was around him it felt like all the weight was lifted off my shoulders and he let me be a normal teenage girl with normal problems like what to wear tomorrow or how the hell do I flirt with someone...

I looked at him with a small smile on my face and gave him his smoothie.

“Thanks. And by the way… I’m not going to stop asking you out until you say yes” And he walked away while my jaw was touching the floor. “See you tomorrow Jamie!” He called out one more time before leaving.

*****************

I walked home slowly hoping that time would freeze and I wouldn’t have to face my dad’s wrath.

As our apartment came into view…. I started getting scared, like usual… but thing is when I was around Hunter...I wasn’t afraid to talk to him at all...

I opened the door softly and walked into the hallway. There was loud snoring coming from the couch signaling my sleeping dad, a sigh of relief escaped from my mouth.

My legs moved fast into my room and I put my book-bag down on the single size bed. As my book bag dropped on the bed, my tired legs moved to the floor length mirror across the small room.

I took off my hoodie and stood in front of the mirror in my shirt… then I took off my shirt and stood there in my bra and jeans.

My eyes followed the trail of black and blue bruises my dad inflicted on me last week… The bruises got so bad that my body refused to even stand up. There was a big ugly bruise on my stomach, my skin color wasn’t visible anymore… the dark black and blue color covering most of it.

‘You worthless piece of shit!’

‘We should’ve never adopted you!’

‘You little whore’

As my brain raked the harsh words of my dad, there were salty tears running down my cheeks. My knees buckled beneath me and I curled up into a ball on the cold hard wooden floor. The tears never stopped flowing.

“I miss you so much mom...” I choked out.

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