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Eighty-Eight: I'll get back at you Isabella

Isabella's POV

The day had been a whirlwind of emotions. From being absolutely exhausted to hyper on happiness and anger boiling at my fingertips for admitting I needed help. I always thought asking for help would make me feel worse, more vulnerable or weak, but as a matter of fact it felt empowering because now, I knew I could get my life back on track, not having to hide my struggles from the world.

Lukas had dropped me off at the café and I was more than ready to tag along Zach's shift. I loved this place and a job here would put a smile on my face every day, besides nothing could be worse than the diner. At least here I also didn't have to wear skates or a skimpy uniform. Just a regular black polo shirt, a cap and a love for coffee and pastries. I can already tick off that last one.

I was nervous though, my hand hesitantly placed on the doorknob. I took a deep breath and pushed through, directly heading to the register where Zach was clearly waiting for me. He held up his arm looking at his watch, a smile on his face as he looked at me approach through his thick eyelashes. "You're early, are you trying to impress me?" He smirked, nodding at me to follow him. He had his cap twisted on his head, the way I like it when Lukas does that. Zach's caramel hair stood out against the black of the cap as it messily stuck out from under it.

"Should I?" I chuckled while I tailed him to the back where only employees were allowed to come.

"I think you already got that covered." He said while grabbing something from a locker. "Here's your shirt and cap, you can change in there." He pointed to a door which I guessed was the dressing room. "I'll wait here." He smirked, his green eyes surely shimmering for some reason as I took the shirt and cap from him.

I got dressed in the dressing room, flashbacks of that hideous diner uniform still going through my head. Jesus, I'm traumatized for life by that place. I shook my head back to reality before walking out and my eyes fixated on Zach nonchalantly leaning against the opposite wall, his hands dangling in his pockets. Zach sure is handsome, I would be lying if I called him anything different and not to forget charming, but I don't get Lukas's concern, I could never betray him for a maybe with someone I barely know.

I smiled when he looked up, the corners of his mouth tugging up without mercy. "I'm ready for this." I exhaled, adjusting the cap on my head. Thank god this cap is covering up my poor attempt at a ponytail.

"Good, I'll show you around and teach you how to make some straight amazing coffee." He smiled giving me a once over before he nodded again and guided me out front. My nerves gradually got worse as Zach showed me all the equipment it took to make a coffee, and not one coffee but several types. Why can't people just drink a normal cappuccino like me, I don't need all the caramel syrup things.

"Uuuhm, and how many different coffees am I supposed to make?" I ask him while I attempted to make a regular cappuccino and he nearly lost it with laughter. I was lucky the café was almost empty apart from a couple of girls sitting by the window.

"About 12." He laughed while he saw me struggle with the milk dispenser. Dammit, this is harder than I thought. "I know, people are demanding when it comes to coffee these days." He chuckled, as he took a step towards me, which wasn't really helping with my nerves. "Just relax, you got this." He said softly while taking the dispenser from my hands, his finger accidently brushing against mine. "Like this." He smirked while I tried to focus on the manual actions it took to make a damn single coffee. "It's okay you'll get the hang of it soon. I struggled too in the beginning." He chuckled while I looked up, his eyes comforting and reassuring. There was a certain softness that he carried around him, something that was highly magnetic and probably the reason why I felt a little bit nervous around him, because to be honest I wasn't used to people being this nice to me.