(Unknown)

Chapter 5

        When I saw his last text I rolled my eyes and laughed at his response. He was obviously just kidding, he was going to go buy something from Covernotes, which wasn’t exactly cheap, just to see me but conceal his own identity at the same time. That would be a ridiculous amount of effort. 

        I used the side-door to get into the building and put my belongings into my cubby that I had in the staff room. I was reluctant to leave my phone there, just in case Unknown really did decide to come and texted me saying he was there, but I wasn’t supposed to keep my phone with me during a shift. It was now 3:45, so I wrapped on my apron and went out behind the counter. 

        This was a three hour shift, which wasn’t too bad, especially since I was on register duty. All I had to do was punch in numbers, hand out change and print receipts, nothing taxing. While my mind was on my work, I also had to keep myself from staring at each high school-aged male who walked up to the counter. I realized halfway through my shift that I was the only worker there who attended Richmond Hill High, the other two girls were students at Langstaff, and this would make it extremely easy for Unknown to guess who it was he had been texting. 

        With this knowledge in mind, I searched for some sign of recognition from each guy my age when they looked at me to order. There were a few who knew me from school, but none of them were on any sports teams, and none of them spoke to me about anything other than their orders. 

        I still had twenty minutes left to my shift and I heard a male voice  say ‘Crap.’ I turned to see who it was and wondered if a customer had spilt or broken a mug. 

        Standing there, with a look of disbelief on his face, was Oliver from school. He recovered himself quickly and painted an annoyed look on his face.

‘You stalking me or something?’ he asked, his question directed at me. Luckily, it wasn’t busy at the time so I had time to answer. 

‘Yeah, sure Oliver,’ I said with a laugh. ‘I’m stalking you. You’re the one who spoke to me in the cafeteria today, you’re the one who walked right by me and Addie, you’re the one who stopped to talk to us, and you’re the one who just came into my place of work. But yes, I’m stalking you.’ My shift was coming to a close so I started to gather my tips and receipts. 

‘So can I get something to eat?’ he asked impatiently, strolling up to the counter with his hands in his pockets. I looked up with him, skeptical.

‘I have never ever seen you here before,’ I said, pulling out a pad of paper to take his order. 

‘I’ve been here a few times. I’ll take a grilled cheese please,’ he said. I wrote the order and gave it to Nella, one of the girls from Langstaff. I had been surprised enough when I saw him standing in the café, but was even more surprised when he had said ‘please’. 

I rung up his order and he did this amazing thing that very few people do, he gave me exact change. I turned my back for a moment after telling him he could take a seat while he waited, and I heard a little chink chink. I turned back again to see him walking towards one of the squashy armchairs. A ridiculous notion wriggled in my mind, so I checked the tip bowl. My eyebrows flew up, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Oliver had given me a four dollar tip.