kiwi || h.s [edited]

Chapter Twelve

FLASHBACK

T H I R D    P E R S O N 

The title manager leads you down the incorrect way of thinking. A manager is more than just the person an angry customer gets to yell at. A manager is more than just the one that sets schedules and deals with supply and making the big decisions. They do the small things too. They wipe the counters and the wash up a few random dishes and the clean up the corner table everyone forgot about.

And Amelia enjoyed that. She enjoyed the small things. She enjoyed the small interactions with customers and the catch ups with the regulars. She enjoyed watching the new waiters fumble with worried eyes before she would jump in and rescue them. There's something so tender about the sigh of relief they release once she fixes their mistake or takes the reigns with a difficult customer.

She dropped the empty train on the counter just as her phone buzzed. The text was just another among the mountain that erupts in the group chat with Andrew, Maggie, John and herself. John was still trying to convince Andrew and Amelia to join in on his plans for the evening. Maggie walked in out of the kitchen just as Amelia rolled her eyes.

"What are you wearing tonight?" She smirked.

Amelia was entirely grateful for the blonde that stood before her on the previously cleaned counter. Maggie was the annoying neighbour with a far to vibrant personality but became her most adored characteristic. From the moment she knocked obnoxiously loud on her apartment door to present Amelia and Andrew with a bowl of lasagna. Andrew believes that's how he and John became friends too - John annoyed him into the friendship too. On a day that neither would forget, the couple had made the horrendous decision of getting Maggie and John to meet.

Four arguments and a couple dozen insults later, the couple were blatantly exposed to the fact that they had the same compatibility as a cat and dog in a kids cartoon. Constantly on edge and ready to strike. Amelia believed that tension was the strongest indicator of them being destined. Clear evidence that her favourite book troupes were enemies to friends. Andrew always objected by considering the fact that Amelia was blind.

"I haven't even decided if I was going,"

"Oh come on, I want to do something fun and god knows that if I am left alone with John I will commit murder," Maggie stared at Amelia as if she was staring at a ghost. "Is that what you want for your best friend? For her to commit murder?" Maggie always had a flair for the dramatics.

Amelia feigned thought as she watch Maggie squirm under its pressure. Eventually her composure broke and a smile fell across her face.

"Fine, I'll convince Andrew and yes you can borrow my grey dress," Amelia winked before going off to serve a customer.

There was just something about the four of them that somehow managed to work. Maggie and John may be cat and dog but this was not a kids cartoon and when they were all together somehow all the fighting stopped and they always had the best time.

That night the group had visited some weird restaurant John had discovered on the internet before retiring to the small apart that belonged to Andrew and Amelia. None of them lived lavish lives but they found happiness in what they worked hard to get. When Maggie and John had gone home Andrew brought a glass of wine to Amelia as she settled in bed. As much as they loved their best friends, they rather enjoyed gossiping about them too once they had departed. Amelia was stubborn about the fact that their friends were destined and Andrew enjoyed her optimism too much to rip the dream out from under her.

It was these small moments. These small pockets of happiness that made their relationship so different. They were each other's best friend. Lover. Critique and greatest cheerleader. Amelia fell asleep that in the arms of the one person she needed.