Joe and Dianne Through The Looking Glass

Chapter 6 - Waltz Week

It wasn't until mid-week that Alice's concerns about her favourite pair were allayed. She had been anxiously watching out for them ever since they had left trailing the girl's suitcase behind them. The niggling feeling that she had seen the last of them had remained with her and she had tried to push it to the back of her mind knowing full well how utterly ridiculous it was to feel this invested in the lives of two people whose names she didn't even know. To make her anxiety worse, her hours in the coffee shop were now more varied and she found herself working some afternoon and evening shifts. She had quite readily agreed to this arrangement, her work pattern after all did not need to tie in with anyone waiting for her at home. Gone were the days when she felt like her head was full to the point of overflowing with a rolling database of dates, times and information relating to the varied activities of four people. Nothing in her Cambridge degree course had prepared her for the daily intricacies of working out how to overcome such challenges as delivering one child to a dance rehearsal and pick up the other from a football match at locations five miles apart, without a car and with only ten minutes to spare between the two times. It was the food she always forgot. She'd lost count of how many times she had given herself a mental pat on the back having managed to successfully retrieve both children from their respective activities and stumbled victorious through the front door only to be rewarded with the plaintive chorus of "What's for tea?" and the sinking feeling that cheese on toast again was not going to be greeted with much enthusiasm or deliver the required nutritional benefit. One of the positive aspects of living on her own had most certainly been the feeling of lightness which making her own decisions unencumbered by those dependent on her had brought and so taking on a more varied working pattern at the café had not been difficult to agree to. It was only as she worked her first afternoon shift that she had realised the unintentional consequence of her new hours: she would likely not be there to catch the red haired girl and her funny blue eyed companion's next visit should they ever return. However, that first afternoon shift turned out to be more surprising and rewarding than she had anticipated.

It was way past lunchtime but thankfully not yet time for the school pick up rush - she had been forewarned this was every bit as brutal as it sounded – when the café door pinged open. Alice had been in the stock cupboard which was hidden away near the back door when the sound reached her so she hadn't seen them approach. She piled up the boxes full of crisps in her arms and made her way back towards the counter, trying to peer round the top box as she went. "Let me help," a friendly voice sounded from in front of her and lifted the top box from her arms. "Oh, thank you, I .....," she stopped. It was him, the floppy haired boy. His sudden appearance at the wrong time of day momentarily stunned her. He followed her to the counter and slid the box across the work surface as she stacked the others below. "Thank you," she said again "you're late." She had meant the remark to sound friendly, a comment to show she was familiar with her regular customers and their work patterns but the moment it left her mouth she wondered if it sounded like an accusation. "Sorry.....I mean you're usually here in the mornings....." she tailed off knowing she was only making a bad situation worse. She could feel her cheeks colouring in embarrassment. He laughed, "Not today – today we're hungry!" His blue eyes twinkled at her as he patted his stomach and then turned back to the table behind him.

It was only then that Alice noticed the two of them. She'd been too flustered by her sudden face to face encounter with him to realise that something was very different today. Sitting opposite each other, both of them smiling and leaning in to hear what the other was saying as they chatted over the table sat the red head and a stranger. Alice was quite sure she had never seen this particular girl before. She was pretty in a girl-next-door kind of way, although nothing like the striking appearance of the red head opposite her, whom no-one could fail to notice the minute she walked in the room. This new girl was a brunette and in comparison to the other two was dressed smartly; white t-shirt tucked neatly into her black trousers, glossy hair brushed and styled and make up applied with some degree of skill. She reminded Alice a little of her sister all those years ago, always dressed just that little better than everyone else. This girl looked .....together, in a way that Alice's laugh a minute, gym clothed and mad haired pair did not. The juxtaposition today did nothing to improve the situation. The red haired girl and her companion looked positively scruffy next to this newcomer, his hair sticking out at all angles and hers piled on top of her head and falling in red tendrils at the back where it had come free from the elastic she had used to tame it. They looked almost sweaty, as if they had just finished a workout and hadn't yet had time to shower. It seemed odd to Alice that they would invite someone to join them for food and yet not make the effort to wear something decent or even brush their hair.