Café Q

Chapter Eleven

Everyone wished that Mrs. Cheryl told us earlier before we came to work. "I'm closing Café Q today to give everyone a break," Mrs. Cheryl said. By then everyone was dressed in their uniforms. Everyone was here this time and was ready for another hard day of work.

"I got up early for nothing" Jemmie sighed as she picked up her keys from the table.
"Not for nothing, we are all together and have no plans. We can get a chance to hang out" Nobuo said.
"What do you have in mind?" Pike asked.
"That sounds cool!" Ray commented.
"We barely hang out outside work" Fin added.
"The mall is just a mile from here so we should all walk there," Clifton said.
"What are we going to do there?" Rhett asked.
"Stop at shops, see what's new" Caspian shrugged.
"What are we waiting for, let's go!" Winnie cheered as she jumped up.

We all marched out of Café Q as a big group and down the street. "I can't wait to see what's new!" Nobuo said. "I've never been to the mall before," Toru said. We were at the back of the group.
"You never do anything fun" Nobuo sighed.
"I haven't been to this mall either" I jumped in.
"You're new here, so probably didn't know we had a mall close by" Nobuo patted my back.

Our group walked into the mall, the smell of fried food and different restaurants hit our noses. "Alright let's do the buddy system" Jemmie stepped up.
"We spend thirty minutes together and meet at the big tree in the center" Ember also added.
"We'll switch when we meet up," Clifton said. Everyone paired up and separated. Nobuo left with Pike which was strange. I was alone with Toru. "So where do we go?" I asked him. It was a good thing I had my bag with me, it was filled with extra clothes and money. "There is one place that I want to see," Toru said. He started walking east of the tree. I just followed him and didn't know where we were going.

We went into a shop and realized it was a glass shop. Everything looked fragile even the tables and counters. Toru walked around the tables, trying to see which one caught his eyes. They were all different. There was a lot of vibrant colors and the mixture of them looked perfect. Most had cool patterns, like swirls and stripes. "I didn't know you were into collecting glass ornaments" I commented.
"I'm not, but I promised my sister to get her something," Toru told me.
"When was the last time you saw her," I asked, I got a bit curious.
"I left five years ago, I never contacted her or my family"
"What happened?"
"My Dad was stealing money from the bank, my mom didn't do anything about it. Once he left, we were dirt poor. I couldn't stay and make my family suffer more so I ran away. But my sister found me and I made her a promise" Toru picked up a glass ornament but set it back down.
"Do you miss her?" I asked.
"You ask a lot of questions, but I do miss her," Toru said.

Toru finally decided to pick up a glass dolphin. He checked it out and it got wrapped up. The dolphin was almost the size of my palm but smaller. It was covered up in pink wrapping and a black ribbon tied around it. We both exited the store but didn't know where to go next. I looked around and saw someone that caught my eye. It was a girl with white hair playing the guitar.

Toru and I approached the girl to listen what she was playing. The tune didn't sound familiar but it was beautiful. The girl stopped playing and bowed. Toru and I clapped for her. I checked my pocket and found a dollar bill in it. Her guitar case was filled with stuff but one card caught my eye. It was a discount to Café Q. "How did you get that?" I asked her while looking up at her.

"I'm pretty sure it was a red-headed girl with her blond friend. She said she didn't have money so she gave me her discount card" the girl tapped on her guitar trying to remember.
"That was probably Winnie, she is my coworker," I told her.
"Wow, So is everyone from there here?" The girl asked.
"Yeah, we all are! I'm Zach and this is Toru" I introduced ourselves.
"You can call me Lilac," the girl said.
"It's nice to meet you, but we have to go" Toru interrupted. He showed me the time and it seems we passed the time.

The next person that I got to walk around with is Rhett. He told me about some of the best stores to go for if you need something. We decided to go to a shoe store and see what they have. I don't really pay attention to what kind of shoes that Rhett wears. Me, on the other hand, would prefer something that lasts longer since I'm always walking.

After a while, we decided to just walk around and talk about whatever.
"So how long are you going to work at the café?" Rhett asked out of curiosity.
"Probably a year, then I'll attend college" I answered.
"I'm thinking about leaving soon," Rhett told me.
"Really? Why?" I asked it broke my heart that soon we are all going to go out separate ways.
"I might move back to France and get a job there"
"The café won't be the same without you"
"I know so don't tell anyone, it would only sadden me to see them sad"
"It'll be our secret," I told him. I checked the time it was close to where we should meet up.

Rhett and I walked to the tree and saw Winnie and Pike sitting on the bench. "I'll take Winnie, you can handle Pike" Rhett nudged me as he walked up to them. Pike walked up to me with his bags in his hands. "So, where do you want to go?" I asked him. I'm not sure what he likes. "I wanna go back to the bookstore," Pike told me. The bags that he was carrying were from the bookstore. Pike led me to the books store.

"Welcome to the book- I mean welcome back," the lady at the entrance said. Was this Pikes third time being here? "What book are you planning to get?" I asked Pike. I might as well try and start a conversation with him. "I've already looked at the mystery books and cookbooks, so I might look at the manga," Pike said.
"What book do you like the best?" I asked him, he walked into the aisle and checked out the books.
"I like manga but I read them too quickly, a mystery is usually long and interesting" Pike stated.
"So out of all of these mangas what would you suggest for me to read?" I asked him. Am I an interviewer or something?
"Tiger Children is good, it is also one book" Pike held up a big, hardback book. I took the book from his hands and checked the price, it was twenty-five dollars.
"This is a lot," I said as I handed the book to him. Pike took the book and looked at it for a second, then he turned up to me. "I'll be back," Pike said as he walked out of the aisle. I stayed there and decided to check out the other mangas. Most of them had cool, covers and funky names.

Pike came back and handed me the bag. I looked at it and it was Tiger Children. "You didn't have to buy me this," I told him. "Oh well," Pike shrugged as he picked up a manga and read the back of it. After a while, I felt guilty for accepting the book. Pike didn't even look like he cared that he spent twenty-five dollars on a book for someone he barely knows.

"We can head back now," Pike said, he just finished checking out seven mangas. We both started heading back to the tree in silence.

There was a lot more of us at the tree and they were kinda just talking to each other and seeing what they could do. I looked around for someone that would want to hang out with me. That was when Winnie ran up to me with a smile. "We didn't get a chance to talk, so we should go now" she smiled at me.
"Okay, where should we go?" I asked her. Almost on cue, her stomach rumbled.

"Let's get something to eat" I suggested to her.
"We don't have to, I didn't bring any money since I always walk back home to eat during my break" Winnie explained to me.
"Don't worry I'll pay"
"No, no, no. I can't do that, Rhett already bought me stuff. I don't want to keep asking for money"
"I'm just going to buy you something to eat, that's all," I told her.
"In that case, can we get Chinese" Winnie sighed.

Winnie and I walked to the food court and got a box of Chinese food. We had a very nice conversation and talked whatever cane in mind. "Rhett, is the nicest person, he bought me some clothes while looked around," Winnie told me. "What about me?" I playfully pout.
"You already know, you're nice," Winnie said. She then picked up her chopsticks and started eating her honey chicken with them. "How do you use those?" I asked her.
"Oh, it's easy once your fingers get used to it," Winnie said. She demonstrated how to hold the chopsticks, it took me a few tries to get it right. Using chopsticks was actually really hard but Winnie made it look simple. "That's alright, it took me awhile to finally get used to using chopsticks" Winnie tried to make me feel better. She was bad at it.

We weren't planning on getting anything else, but there was a roll ice cream place and we both wanted to try it out. The place was pretty simple, pick a flavor from their rack and they turn it into ice cream. I chose a chocolate fudge while Winnie got a few strawberries. After that, we walked around the mall talking about random stuff. I made fun of her for making a mess on her shirt. Then we had to go to the bathroom and change and to also go.

The rest of the day went out smoothly. I was able to hang out with Nobuo and Clifton before we all decided to go back home. Today was fun.