player ♚ lrh

13 - his jacket

Elise wasn't expecting to see so many Australian boys when she showed up for work, but she couldn't really complain.

Of course, she knew Cole would be there—she had his schedule practically engrained into her mind. It was the other two boys crouched over the counter that she had been surprised to see, one with red hair and a mouth overflowed with whipped cream, and the other with a tanned arm holding up said can of whipped cream.

"It's like wallaby-fucking-way in here," was the first thing to come out of Cassie's mouth as she trailed in after Elise.

The girl was sort of grouchy, having had far too late of a night at the salon, taking last minute clients in order to meet her quota. It wasn't that Cassie couldn't get clients, but rather her less-than-friendly coworkers had a knack for stealing them away. So, the girl was stuck with late night dye jobs and last minute trims, just to meet the bare minimum of her requirements.

She would have liked to sleep all day, but the guilt of making Elise walk to the cafe in the early afternoon while she lazed around in bitterness with a perfectly good car just outside—well, it wasn't hard to tell that her best friend was the one person Cassie was willing to trudge out of bed for.

In fairness, Elise would never ask, for the thought of inconveniencing anyone on her behalf was rather unappealing. Yet, it seemed like everyone in her life was willing to make a few sacrifices just to make the girl happy.

Of which, Elise was very happy. She loved a bit of company at work, and she was extra relieved to see Cole's signature grinning face today.

He hadn't been particularly pleased about the whole ordeal days ago, but he'd long since dropped it, because he could never fault Elise. In fact, Cole blamed himself, just as he'd made clear earlier, for he knew it was hopelessly foolish of him to ever introduce such a curious girl to such a mysterious place.

It was a bit of a conundrum, seeing as Cole absolutely hated disappointing Elise, which guilted him into bringing her there in the first place. Yet now, he felt like he really couldn't win, as their newly made promise had surely disappointed her, but he would've disappointed himself if he hadn't done what he thought was right.

And in Cole's mind, what was right, was keeping Elise far from the club, and even further from the people there.

"Get it?" Cassie pressed on when her joke was only met with unamused stares. "Sydney? Cause' you're Australian?"

Elise cringed. Calum shook his head. Cassie laughed way too hard.

"Leave." Michael deadpanned.

"Oh, come on, that was funny," Cassie grinned, nudging Elise for backup. "Right, Lisi?"

"I don't know if I'd go that far—"

"No, she agrees with Michael," Cole sighed. "You can't make a finding nemo joke and just get away with it."

"I think you're all just missing the punchline," Cassie narrowed her eyes, and all three boys sighed in disdain. "Wallaby way, Sydney, as in—"

"Did someone say my name?"

Elise had never seen Cole clutch a fearful hand to his chest quite so fast, looking every bit frightened as he recoiled away from the slightly shrill voice.

"Jesus fuck!" Cole let out a deep breath, eyes narrowing on the blonde who'd made her way to stand uncomfortably close to the boy. "Where the fuck did you even come from?"

"Hell," Michael muttered.

Sidney ignored it, shrugging nonchalantly. "The front door."

Cole took a rather large step away. "What'd you do? Fucking slither through the crack?"