Begin Again (Lukesse)

unexpected visitor

Lukas's PoV

"What-" I started to say when a purple haired woman stepped in front of me. "Cookie, come down," she said calmly and the cat looked up at me with its big eyes before purring and dropping to the floor, landing on its four feet like normal cats do.

"Hello, Sorry about that." the woman said sheepishly and picked Cookie up. "He never usually trusts people, so I guess you've got a way with animals." The woman suggested. I hesitated before nodding a little, unsure on what to say. "Anyway..." the woman trailed off and looked at me expectantly.

"Oh right," I said suddenly, taking out the sweet that Jesse gave to me. The woman looked at the sweet and a flicker of recognition darted across her face for a second. "Hmm... where did you get this?" she asked, petting Cookie as she did so.

"From..." I blushed, although I didn't know why. "Jesse? Jesse Collins." I told her. The woman nodded solemnly and held out a hand. "The name's Xara. Pleasure to meet you. Now what would you like?" Xara asked, gesturing for me to follow her deeper into the shop.

"Uhh I want to make one of these for Jesse but..." I trailed off, a little intimidated by her gaze. "Okay. That'll be easy." Xara waved her hand absentmindedly and gestured for me to sit down. "I.. wait, how do you know Jesse?" I asked, a little confused.

"Oh, Jess has always been here, she keeps coming in and..." Xara shrugged, "She's been my friend for ages. And she told me a lot about you Lukas." I looked back at Xara as she walked back towards a machine, which was churning out sweets.

"And no," Xara said, just as I wanted to ask what did Jesse talk to her about me. "I promised Jesse I wouldn't tell a soul," I grinned. "You're good." As I walked up to the machine where Xara was emptying a bottle of syrup. I almost jumped when Cookie purred against my leg, rubbing its head around my ankles.

Xara looked at me skeptically and continued her work, anyway, making me wonder if there was anything special about her cat. I picked Cookie up and just watched silently as the machine started churning out sweets. "Whoa," was all I could say as Xara started to pick up the sweets and turning on a switch.

"Umm... what's that for?" I asked. Xara winked and didn't say a word as she picked up a weird looking device. "I've been wanting to try this for ages! So thanks." Xara said and I stepped back. I took this time to explore the shop, looking at various jars and objects.

I came across a photograph of a much younger Xara and... Jesse? A much younger Jesse too. Around ten or eleven. Not sixteen. I looked back at Xara and wondered what was she hiding from me.

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

"Hey Lukas," Jesse called, waving at me but going back to texting on her phone. At least she took time to wave at me. After we scored an A for the project, Jesse had trusted me and we became okay, unlike the other students who avoided me like I was a disease.

At least I had one friend, and that was Jesse.

-End