when the ice melts // jack hughes

part two

...

"Hi,"

I narrowed my eyes. A tall boy with short, dirty blonde hair was sitting on my counter, his blue Nike trainers dangled down the opposite side of the counter. A little smirk was planted on his face, his baby blue eyes moved from my nametag to my face. "C'mon, Viola," I was still annoyed with my parents for using my real name on my tag. "Cat got your tongue?" I hated people like him.

The obnoxious and prideful jock type.

I myself played hockey, so I guess it was kind of ironic. Yet, I wasn't like them. I took the game seriously and I didn't have an ego the size of a basketball. I played on a female and male team. Thing is, I'm the only female on the team. The team wasn't very professional, which was an advantage for me, since I worked on weekdays. We only got together on Wednesday's and usually divided into two teams and played each other. We had some guys on the team that played for our local minor league, which could get intimidating. This kid looked exactly like those kids on my team. Of course, the guys on my team were actually really nice, unlike this dude.

They say don't judge a book by its cover but you best believe it, I judged the book by its cover.

"No, I just don't need to talk to you if you're not gonna order something." I turned back to wiping the coffee brewer. "Wow, okay." He hopped off the counter and set his elbows on the table, resting his head into the palms of his hands. "Can I order one of those incredibly delicious-looking muffins?" He pointed one finger to the carrot muffins. "Fine." I grabbed the plastic tongs from off of the glass display and put a muffin into a plastic bag. "Two dollars."
The boy stuffed his hand into his pocket and searched for his wallet. He looked into his other pocket, I was growing impatient. He put a finger up, meaning for me to wait and checked his back pocket. He pulled out a light grey wallet and opened it. He pulled out a five-dollar bill and slapped it on the table. "Keep the change," The boy took the plastic bag from my hands and quickly devoured the muffin. I sighed and started to wipe off the counters.

"So you don't recognize me?" I looked up from my work. The boy had sat back up on the counter again. Crumbs had appeared on the table, probably from his muffin. "I'm sorry?" I raised an eyebrow, obviously confused. The boy looked a little shocked, but he quickly switched back. "I'm Cameron," He grinned. "But I go by Cam," He rolled his paper bag into a ball and threw it into the wastebasket across the room. "Via." I tried to clean the area around where he was sitting. It was in that moment where my mom came out of the kitchen we had in the back, making me jump. "Via, I need you to help the new employee get started." She said, trying to balance coffee bean bags in her hands. "Please?" I looked around for the new employee, expecting someone wearing an apron. "Who's the-" My mom pointed to Cameron, who had a large grin on his face.

"Via, meet Cam."

My jaw had already hit the floor. I was supposed to be mentoring Cameron?!

We had never hired anyone other than family before. My aunt Christy had worked here last year when I was just learning the trade. I just helped out with cleaning and stuff. But complete strangers? We were a family restaurant, not this.

"Mom, we've never hired anyone other than family before." I tried to reason with her, there was no way I was gonna spend my summer working with him. I shuddered, picturing him bragging all day about.. whatever he played. My mom was tough. "Via, remember the man that your father met a couple months ago?" I nodded, remembering Mr. Koehler. My father had met him through buying produce. Mr. Koehler worked at Fred's Food, where we got pretty much everything. But what did that have to do with Cameron?
My mom continued. "This is Mr. Koehler's son, Cameron Koehler. "
I stopped and turned to Cam, who was nodding. Oh boy.
"Mr. Koehler was talking about how his son was looking for work, and your father offered him a job." My mom smiled, as if what they did was something to be marvelled about. I did a mental face palm and groaned. "I just know the two of you will get along nicely." She got back to work in the kitchen, leaving Cameron and I alone.
Together.
"You heard the woman,"  Cameron reached over the counter to take the apron that was hanging behind me. "Nuh uh-" I grabbed him hand and steered it towards a different apron. "You get the trainee one."

- - - - - - - - - -

★彡