Her Name is...

Chapter 2

"Ellie!" my sort of friend called. I hated that nickname but she refused to stop calling me it. 'Noelle is just too posh' she would said.

I stepped out the back, "yes?" I replied. She tossed me a towel, "I need help with some tables". I sighed giving her a lazy smile and grabbing the cleaning solution. Being a Saturday morning it was busy in the cafe, but as the afternoon rolled in the rush was slowing down. I was sure it'd pick up once more around lunch, which I had taken a shift for as well.

"Hey Sarah? Have you heard of a band called One Direction?" I asked her intercepting her gossip stream. She was pretty invested in television and pop-culture stuff. But she shook her head, "why?" she asked.

I recounted the story to her while she giggled, "were they cute?" she asked me.

I thought back to the previous night. They were all good looking, the one with green eyes though was the most attractive. "Yeah, I guess" I replied.

Sarah smiled dropping her chores for a moment, "you've been in Cheshire for over a month now and I haven't seen you talk to anybody but me, and even then you seem like you don't like it. You should go for one of those boys".

"There's no point Sarah, i'm probably going home in a few weeks anyways. That's why I haven't been all buddy buddy with everybody" I told her. She shrugged but I could tell she didn't fully believe me. Living in a small town everybody sort of knew my situation.

My mum had grown up here gotten knocked up at 15 and ran away a few weeks after I was born. However she got to Canada I didn't know but that was where I grew up. It was one of those timeless stories. My grandparents were pillars of the community, church going, town bakery type folk. And from what I heard, Kathy was somewhat of a golden girl. Good grades, teachers favourite, perfect boyfriend. Until I came along, and she ran off. My mom was the warning story you told your teenagers while giving them the safe sex talk.

I had been here before. Lived with my grandparents for a few months while my mom figured things out. The town had all known who I was, old ladies gave me sympathetic looks, her old friends asked me how she was doing and took me to lunch. They told me stories about her, and sometimes they even mentioned my father (whom I had never met). 

I loved Kathy and I knew she would do anything for me, but the fact was that she never graduated highschool, and had a habit of making bad decisions. For example my two half sibling resulting from two different short term marriages. Or the business she tried to start that bankrupted us the first time around. Last time I was sent here (when I was 6) she went radio silent, I was only supposed to stay for a few weeks. I finished about half a school year while my grandparents wondered if she was dead. Not dead, just getting married to Hugh, step daddy number one and father to my little sister Gracie who lived with his parents now. I don't think she had seen Gracie since. I was too young to remember much past painful court proceedings where it was determined Kathy was too financially unstable to take on another minor. I hated Hugh though. My second half-sister, Layla lived in another province with step-daddy number 2, Jay. Who I liked much more than Hugh. My mom saw Layla periodically but it was hard travelling between provinces especially when she struggled for work. 

So yeah. I hadn't a clue when I was going back, but this time she wasn't married and had kept me updated from whatever payphone she could get her hands on. Kathy didn't own a phone of her own, she had given me hers when I turned 14. Like I said, she would give me the shirt of her back.

The bell rang signalling a party entering. "Can you get it? I'm on break in like 3 minutes" Sarah asked me pointing to the gaggle of boys standing awkwardly at the door.

It was One Direction.

"Hey again" blue eyed guy asked me. "You work here too?" he asked.

"Louis" Liam warned nudging him in the side.