Chances

FOURTH.

THE BREAKDOWNS LAST for another two days before Corinne finally picked up the broken pieces and put herself back together. By the time she's due to arrive for training, she's already up and kicking and is feeling more like herself than she had for the past few weeks. She guesses that she owes all of this to Clark, the very person who always knows what to say regarding her family matters, but then again she also knows that she wouldn't be fine if she's not resilient enough to stand back up. Corinne smiles before shutting her locker and proceeding to her shift at Constantine's.

           Jonas greets her with his usual teasing before they work in sync behind the counter. A new recruit joins them, manning the cash register with a smile that is too bright and too wide to fit on her ways, oddly enough, it suits her.

          "Since when is she hired?" Corinne asks Jonas as they both work on two different orders.

          "She's not hired. She's kind of the niece of the people who own the place." Jonas replies with a snicker. Corinne glares at him before giving the new girl another glance.

          "I wouldn't know. I had to take a break due to... mental instability." Corinne shrugs, passing off her mental state as if it's unstable. It's true for the most part since Corinne had actually been experiencing more meltdowns than the usual. If Clark hadn't talked her out of her previous ones, then maybe she would still be out of the barista game by now.

          Jonas doesn't say anything afterward, which makes Corinne a hundred percent thankful that he didn't press on the issue anymore. That's the thing with Jonas; he's trustworthy despite his overwhelming annoying-ness and his penchant for addictive things like caffeine, cigarettes, and alcohol.

          The three of them work in peace. While Corinne hasn't exactly fallen into a synchronized rhythm with the new girl yet, it's not that bad of a start. She learns the new girl's name – Sarah – and finds out that the girl is just a freshman, just two years below Corinne. She wishes Sarah luck on her studies and they find themselves in a more comfortable work rhythm until it's time for Sarah to take a break.

          "You know, I think it might interest you to know that she's friends with Clark's sister," Jonas speaks out of the blue, his hands busy working the espresso machine and the blender.

          Corinne looks at him as if she's a deer caught in headlights. Jonas rarely ever brings up Clark. Usually, it's Corinne who does that, and she only really does that when history is catching up too much. He's never shown too much interest in her story with Clark too, if anything, Jonas is pretty much indifferent to all of it. Like he's just a passerby and not a person reading the pages of their story.

          "Oh, I didn't realize Sydney's already a freshman." It's the only reply Corinne could muster up, and Jonas gives her a look of disbelief as if she hadn't given him the response he wanted. How could she though? He just caught her off guard and she doesn't exactly know what to do with that information.

          The sound of the wind chimes by the doorway alerted both café workers and much to Corinne's surprise, it's Clark who walks through the door. He had his glasses on, and Corinne takes all the time in the world to stare at his appearance as he walks through the door. While Clark had always been so put together in terms of looks department, he looks like a mess today. He's wearing an NYU sweatshirt and his sweatpants look so very crumpled, his hair is all over the place and his glasses are currently sliding off his nose. He's also wearing slides with one foot wearing socks and the other... well, it's not.

          However, there's still a huge feeling of warmth that runs through Corinne's body the moment he appears in front of the counter. He could look like he's been chased by wild animals and still be pretty in Corinne's eyes. Corinne shakes her head and focuses on the fact that she's currently supposed to be working.