Hate Me

twenty five - feelings

( And with a sad heart I say bye to you and wave. )

J U S T I N

I walk into the coffee shop that I usually go to every morning. The bells go off as I open the door, and the familiar smell of crushed coffee beans fills the air, and I take a deep breath.

As I head over towards the counter to wait in line, I finally see who is working behind the counter. 

Hunter.

Sense when does she have a job here? Sense when does she have a job at all?

She's wearing a lime green apron over her clothes, and her hair is pinned back in a bun. On her face I see she is wearing glasses, those are new too. Well unless she had them before, but never wore them. Her cheeks are slightly red and flushed, and she smiles sweetly at the old woman in front of me. She still hasn't seen I am here.

I wait patiently for Hunter to take her order, and to make her drink before it's my turn.

"Hello, what can I..." She stops speaking when she looks up from putting cups away and see's me standing there. "Justin?" Her voice is now confused, her smile gone.

"When did you start working here?" I ask her, and lean my body over the wooden counter between us so that I can speak to her without being heard. There is no one behind me in line, and if someone shows up, they can wait.

"A couple days ago." Her eyes dart away from mine, and she tries to keep herself busy, she fiddles with the napkins.

"Why?" I ask, my voice soft. I know I am asking a lot of questions, but she never had a job before, plus I didn't think she would be able to get one.

"Because I need to support myself now..." Her voice is quiet, just above a whisper. I take in her words slowly. What does she mean she needs to support herself? She lives with her mother, did she stop working?

Finally I get what she is saying. "You ran away?" The shock in my voice doesn't go unnoticed. She looks at me quickly, she probably thinks I'm mad. And I am a little bit, she could have stayed with us.

She doesn't speak but instead nods her head, "What can I get you?" Her hands wait on top of the counter, waiting to move to make my drink.

I sigh and run a hand through my hair. "Coffee please, black." She nods and takes the money I set on the counter, before she turns around. The hiss of the espresso machine is loud and I watch her back as she moves to get a cup for me, pouring my steaming drink inside the brown mug before handing it to me. 

I blow on the top of the dark liquid. "Thanks," I smile at her, and she returns a small one. I turn around to make sure no one is in line, no one is.

"When are you on break?" I ask her, and her head snaps up to look at me from where she was picking at her hands. She looks behind her on the clock.

"Five minutes." It's almost three, and I need to talk to her.

"How long is your break?"

"I had my break at lunch, I get off in five." 

"Can you come over?" I really need to talk about her, hopefully I will find out where she is now staying or living, and how that is going. Also I need to know why she ran away.

"Can't." She says simply and smiles at me, it takes me a moment to realize that she isn't smiling at me, and instead is smiling at someone in line behind me. 

I move to the side, taking a sip of the coffee as I do so. 

The person behind me is a man, with blonde hair that falls into his eyes. He's tall, way taller then me by almost a foot, and he smiles at Hunter. Something inside of me boils as he and Hunter make light small talk while he gets her drink ready, and I am relived when she hands him his drink and he walks away.