Step Into the Sun

12

The walk to the coffee shop took him less time than he expected, so he arrived about five minutes before nine and sat in his usual spot. He was tempted to buy Zoe's order from when he knew her before, but a load of doubt was sitting at the back of his mind telling him that she had probably changed as much as he did over the past couple of years.

The nerves hadn't had a chance to settle in before, seeing as he was occupied by Jared and Evan's banter, but now his leg began to bounce involuntarily with anxiety as he waited. He watched the analog clock on the wall as the minutes ticked by.

At almost exactly nine o-clock, the bell above the door jingled and Connor looked over to see Zoe enter the café. She looked as if she hadn't changed at all.

Her beaten-up purple Converse high tops squeaked slightly witch each calm step she took toward his table. The cuffs on her jeans were scrawled with Sharpie doodles. She had on a baseball t-shirt with sleeves that were slightly off from the colour of her shoes. Her hair still reached the middle of her back, but now her natural brown faded to blonde and the indigo streaks were gone.

She stood next to the table, pushing up her sleeves nervously as Connor finally met her eyes.

"Hey," Zoe greeted simply. "Wanna go order?"

He stood up and walked with her to the counter, where a non-binary pal was working.

"Hi, what can I get for you today?" They asked with a Customer Service Smile.

"A black coffee," Connor stated as usual, then recited Zoe's order in his head as she said it out loud.

"Can I have a white chocolate salted caramel hot chocolate with extra whipped cream, please?" She added a cute grin.

"Of course," they typed the order into the register, "that'll be $7.78."

Connor handed them a ten dollar bill before Zoe could pull out her wallet.

"And your name?"

"Murphy," the siblings answered at the same time.

"Your order will be ready in just a few minutes."

They returned to the table, Zoe sitting across from Connor this time. He tried to keep his breathing steady and mentally kicked himself for not taking any of his anxiety pills before such a nerve wracking even.

"I have at least a million questions," Zoe admitted after a fair amount of silence.

"Ask away," Connor replied casually despite his internal panic.

"So, your job..."

"I get paid to have sex with people," he explained simply. "It's... Not fun."

"Then why do you do it?" She frowned. "Wait, that guy, right? Jared said there's a guy keeping you tied down."

"James," he sighed, looking down at his hands, which rested folded on the table. "He's the reason for... Everything, really."

"How?"

"I met him a few days after... Y'know." He glanced up again to see a concentrated yet concerned look on Zoe's face. "He took me in and treated me like a real person, like Mom and Dad never did. He let me stay with him for, like, a year and a half until I could afford my own place. I honestly would have died if he hadn't done that."

"But he takes advantage of you now?"

Connor nodded, feeling pathetic but trying his hardest not to look it.

"The Murphys," the person at the counter called, holding up their drinks.

Standing up quickly, Connor went over to grab them and bring them back, setting Zoe's down in front of her.