I got home that day to find that I was alone. Dad was at this meeting, James was probably with Autumn, and god knows where my grandmother was.
I was doing my homework when I hear a knock at the door. I look through the curtain and see Elise waiting outside.
"Hey, I didn't know you were coming over." I say opening the door.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you." She says as if she was remembering something she forgot to do. "But I'm working the late shift and I don't want to be alone," she says, hinting at what she wanted.
Elise's family owned a cafe, so she really had no choice but to work there.
"You know one of these days I'm not going to be here to keep you company" I tell her as I put my shoes on.
"Yes, and that is the day I absolutely dread." She exaggerates. I write a note to my dad and grandma, saying that I should be back around 10.
I get into Elise's car and we drive to the cafe. The sun was nearly set and a slight breeze was floating through the air. You could almost feel the anticipation of summer.
We walk in and I sit at the booth while Elise puts on her resultant apron. It was nearly 6 on a Monday night so there was little to no people here.
"Honestly, trying to convince my parents that we should close at 8. Especially on weekdays," Elise started to say as her aunt walked in through the back room.
"Andi if you ever get tired of Elise's complaining, just slap her." Her aunt said with a smirk.
"Oh don't worry Margret, I've become immune to the 'we should just close at 8' complaint," I smile at her.
Elise smacked my arm in return as she was going to clean up table 5. I work on math homework at the booth while talking to Elise, which essentially made a 15 minute worksheet into an hour long assignment.
"Well he can't just avoid it forever," Elise says rollin her eyes to the side.
"There's no way," I say simply. "My dad, Dan Lowry won't date. He loved my mother, and he always will." I argue.
"Yeah, but...Andi, she's not here anymore." Elise says quietly as if that made it easier for me to hear. "If he starts dating that doesn't mean that he'll forget her."
"But we don't know that." I say tracing my finger along the rim of my water glass. "I don't know that."
"Oh yeah? But I do because-"
"Are you guys still open?" We hear a deep voice say and the ring of the bell attached to the door.
"Yes, we are." Elise says chirping up. I look behind me and see a middle aged man. He was tall and bald with a darker shade of blue eyes.
I caught myself staring at him, but before I looked away, I also caught him staring at me. I turn around to face that back of the restaurant, now feeling uncomfortable.
"Would you like anything to drink?" I hear Elise ask. I look down and fiddle with my fingers.
"Yeah, I'll just have a water." He breathed. His voice was deep and rough and reminded me of sandpaper. "Actually," he paused. "Make that two waters, my son's suppose to show up, but Jesus knows if he will." He then scruffs.
Elise mutters an "alright" and comes back behind the counter and scoops ice into two water glasses.
"I've never seen him." She whispers to me.
"He's creepy," I mouth assuring that he wouldn't overhear us.
The bell attached to the door rings and we both look over and to see someone very familiar. Liam.
His cheeks heated up when he saw us. He awkwardly looked around and sat down next to the man.
"Oh my god, that's his father?" Elise whispers a bit to loudly.
I mouth a "Yeah" to her, knowing that they for sure heard us. Elise goes and takes their order and executed the actions a normal waitress.
I check the time and see that it's half past nine, but I couldn't handle the tension that those two brought into the room. It was unbearable.
"Hey, I got to go." I tell Elise gathering my stuff together and slinging my backpack over my shoulder. "Margret's still here right?" I ask her.
She nods her head. "I'm guessing your going to walk back?"
"It's only a block and half," I shrug. I leave the cafe, hearing that bell ring. However I was only a couple feet away from the door when I hear the bell ring once more, and quick paced footsteps come up to me.
