Bittersweet

i.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

Val's body was still, her back pressed against the red brick wall as she puffed away on what was left from her stash of weed from the night before. She let out a breath, relaxing her shoulders and flicking her head to knock her fringe out of her face.

She neared the end of her roll up and sighed, tossing it to the ground and blowing out the last of the smoke before entering the cafe and making her way towards the counter, taking a seat.

The light was dimmed and light music played from a radio in the corner; it was calming. A man neared her end of the counter and she smiled.

"What'll it be, V?"

"Just a coffee, please, Al."

He nodded before making his way back to the other end of the counter to ready the girl's drink. With a sigh, she dropped her face in to her hands and scratched her forehead before pushing all her hair back out of her face.

"You don't look like someone who seems to be a stressed-out coffee-drinker."

Val's head shot up and toward wherever the voice came from. She eyed the person from head to two, taking in every one of his clean and tidy feature's. 

"Well I guess it just comes to show that you really can't judge a book by it's cover," she scoffed, finding the man's comment only slightly rude and only very shallow.

He shrugged, turning to take a seat beside Val whilst taking a book from his bag. "Suppose so."

The coffee-making man made his way back down towards Val, a cup of steaming coffee in his hand. He settled it on the counter in front of Val and smiled at her. "A hot coffee for a hot lady."

Val could only chuckle at the older man's comment, uncomfortably shifting in her seat as she could feel the random boy's eyes glaring in to her skin from beside her. Al stood up right and left to tend to another customer in another part of the cafe.

"You know, if he makes you uncomfortable, you should say something," the man spoke up, voicing his opinion for Val.

She shook her head before taking a sip of her coffee, instantly feeling more comfortable and relaxed. "I can't say anything to him. We have a deal."

"A deal? What kind of deal?" he laughed, clearly not taking the smaller girl seriously.

"He gives me free coffee."

"And what do you give him?"

Val settled her coffee down on the counter and sighed before turning to the man beside her, inspecting him once again before glaring at his face. "Why do you keep talking to me? You don't know me, I don't know you."

"Well then, hello." The man stuck his hand out, waiting for Val to grab and shake it. "I'm Todd. Todd Watson." She took his bigger hand in her petite one and shook it before subtly ripping it away as quick as she could.

"Hello Todd, Todd Watson. I'm Val."

He smiled and nodded. "So, carry on, tell me about your deal with creepy coffee man Al who's about twice your age."

Val scoffed and turned back to Todd, "Oh, and how old are you?"

"Not twice your age."

Val sat back in annoyance because he was right, the most he could have been was only 5 years older, and Val was seventeen. He had no reason to be seen as a creep in this moment, and forty-six-year-old Al Parker did. He was a creep.

"Why do you keep avoiding the topic on your deal with Al?" Todd questioned again, this time shutting his book and turning right around to face Val to become more involved in the conversation.

"It's not really your business, is it, Todd Watson?"

"I suppose you're right there, Val... what's your last name, Val?"

"Val Atkins."

"Val Atkins." Todd smiled, his eyes glimmering. "That's a very pretty name. What are you studying?"

Val turned to Todd fully this time too, suddenly realizing that this man believed she was a college student. She huffed and bit her chapped lip, staring at the floor boards.

"I'm, uh... child care?" She meant it as a statement but it came out as a question. Much to her luck, Todd Watson didn't seem to notice her confusion.

His face perked up, seeming more and more interested with every word she spoke. But Val was not studying child care and she knew nothing on the topic so she left it at that, ignoring his patient "please keep talking" face and simply turned to continue sipping on her beverage.

"Would you like to get a drink with me?"

"I have a drink," Val said, rolling her eyes before nodding towards her coffee.

"An alcoholic drink."

"I don't drink alcohol."

Val pulled her sleeves down around the palms of her hands and snuggled in to herself, trying to keep warm. A cold breeze from an open window swept throughout the cafe, forcing a shiver down her spine.

"Cold?"

"You ask too many questions for someone who honestly does not have a clue who I am. I could be a terrorist, or a prostitute."

Todd laughed at this, shaking his head in a jokingly manor. "I highly doubt that."

This time, Val laughed, but it wasn't a joking laugh. It was a kind of evil laugh, in a sense. She leaned in close to Todd, whispering in his ear, "The deal I have with Al is that I let him have sex with me for free things."

She sat back calmly, watching Todd's expression disappear and his face drop. She giggled before taking a sip of her coffee, settling down and leaning forward again with her elbow on her knee and her chin on her palm. "But, hey," she said, her voice low, "at least I'm not a terrorist." With that, she winked before turning away from Todd Watson and working on finishing her drink.

The first minute or so was silent and all she could hear was the sound of her own slurping before the man next to her spoke up again.

"Most people would consider prostitution working for money, not working for coffee and a snack. Do you have a price?"

"Excuse me?" She spun around, drink almost spilling in her hand. "Do I have a what?"

"A price. You claim you're a prostitute? Don't lie to me here, Val Atkins."

The look on Todd's face seemed to darken but it was only in a sexy way, not in a weird way. Val bit her lip.

"You couldn't put a price on me."

"I'd most certainly like to try."

When Val turned around again, Todd Watson had stood from his chair and was now stood right in front of Val, leaning coolly on the counter. "Al seems to be pretty busy." He leaned closer and began to move Val's hair behind her neck. "I doubt he'd notice if we both left, just to use the bathroom in the back, of course, right?" he whispered before pressing a kiss just below her jaw line.

Shivers ran up the girl's spine as she turned and stared down the counter to see that Al was in an intense conversation with a dirty trucker man. She turned back to him, freezing abruptly. "I'm eighteen."

"You don't have a problem with a twenty-three-year-old, no?"

"God, no," she whispered before grabbing her bag and standing from her seat. "Wait a minute and a half and then follow me back." Before another word could be exchanged, she was gone.

Todd did exactly that and the entire time he stared at Al, praying he wouldn't look back up the counter; which he did not. Once a minute and a half had passed he stood from his seat and made his way around the back to the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

He dropped his coat and bag and turned around to find Val Atkins sat on the marble counter, one leg crossed over the other, in nothing but her bra and panties. She uncrossed her legs and parted them ever so slightly before looking away from herself and up at Todd.

"I'm waiting," she whispered.