Chapter 41 - XL (1/2)
Laia had already expected Brie to stop by at Brewing before she could even finish her shift.
And she was right.
”Laia,” Brie immediately rushes towards her and hides her face on Laia's neck. ”I missed you,”
Laia pulls away from her friend's hug and flashes her a teasing grin. ”Even if we just saw each other five hours ago?”
The long-haired girl nods. ”Yeah.”
Laia beckons her to sit on a nearby chair, seeing that they had a shortage of customers at the moment. Niel had also told Laia earlier to make Brie at least take a seat, seeing that she probably has been standing around since she arrived and Laia was in the kitchen.
”What happened?”
Brie sighs. It was obvious that she didn't want to remember what happened but she wanted to confide in Laia. ”Well, we did go to an arcade,”
”The place was huge for starters,” Brie started to play with her hands. ”Uhm, well, the girls were excited to try some of the game machines and so they went on ahead to purchase arcade coins,”
Laia noticed how Brie's lips curled in a frown. ”I was left with Jake because Sammy decided to smoke outside while the girls were gone,”
”Did he talk to you?” Laia decides to ask after her friend didn't continue for a while and just absentmindedly stared at the window.
”Uh-huh,” Brie hums. ”He told me that I wasn't even trying to hide our supposed secret and it frustrates him,”
”Frustrates him?” Laia lets out a scoff. ”And he thinks you're not frustrated with the way he wants to keep your so-called relationship or talking stage, I don't even know at this point, a secret?”
Brie was quick to grab her friend's hand in an attempt to calm her down. ”Laia,” She cocks her head to the side to imply that they had an audience. ”Calm down, please?”
Laia reluctantly does her breathing exercises which miraculously were enough to calm her down just a bit. Emphasis on a bit for she hisses her next words through her teeth. ”I just don't understand why he's so adamant about keeping your current relationship a secret, I mean, didn't you talk already? Why's he flirting so openly with both Vivi and Shane? What's with this sudden change of character?”
”Yo,” Niel suddenly appears behind Brie and sends Laia a knowing look. ”I don't want to interrupt your conversation but I need a little help on the counter.”
”Shit, sorry,” Laia ran to the counter and attends to the customer there. ”How may I help you, ma'am?”
”Just a mocha latte, thanks.” The customer replies and hands Laia the exact amount for her drink.
Laia relays the order to Keith who started making the drink. She steals a glance at Niel and Brie who seemed to have a serious conversation but decides to ignore it and attend to the next customer who recently arrived.
”How may I help you, sir?”
”A double espresso, please.”
”Right away, sir.”
Laia decides to make the espresso on her own upon seeing that Keith wasn't done with the mocha latte yet.
After finishing the espresso, she carefully places it on a tray and makes her way to the customer who was reading the daily newspaper.
”Here you go, sir, one double espresso.”
The man hands Laia his card and a small tip before he started to drink.
”Good for you!” Keith says when Laia returns to the counter still holding the tip she received.
Laia grins. ”Good for us both, you mean,” She subtly points at the girl who ordered the mocha latte who obviously had eyes for Keith. ”She gave you a tip, too?”
Keith shakes his head. ”Nah, just her number,” He shows Laia a tissue with a number on it. ”I guess I gotta hide it before Niel finds out and goes ballistic,”
”Oh, you're finally together, eh?” Laia nudges the taller boy with her shoulder playfully.
At least someone's having a great time in the area of love and all that cheesy shit.
The boy shakes his head again, this time a bit aggressively. ”He's still adamant on insisting that I'm not into him and I'm just playing with his feelings,”
Damn, Laia missed quite a lot of drama during her day-offs.
Or did Keith confess during Laia had to attend to a shit ton of customers while he and Niel stayed in the staff room?
Traitors!
Laia takes back giving her blessing to the two!
”Well, are you playing with his feelings?” Laia asks, raising an eyebrow.
Keith sighs. ”Do you really think I would even apply for a part-time job that's miles away from both my school and my house just to play with his feelings?”
Okay, that was a revelation Laia certainly did not expect.
”So you had it all planned out?” Laia teases with a grin. ”I didn't know you had it in you, honestly.”
”What did you think I had in me?”
He really just had to ask, huh. ”I thought you were just a random dork who didn't know how to open the cash register and didn't know how to spell our regular's name--”
”That is harsh,” Keith feigns a scowl. ”How was I supposed to even know if her Charlotte had two 't's instead of just one?”
Laia shrugs. ”You could've had asked Niel, for starters. He's been working here the longest, you realize?”
”Can you blame me if I liked him so badly that I couldn't even look into his eyes for more than a minute during my first week?”
The short-haired girl raises both her hands in the air as if to surrender. ”Okay, we get it, you like him very much. You don't have to rub it in poor Laia's face that she's sadly alone and lonely in this world with all of you being disgustingly cheesy with each other--”
”If you're always gonna be like that then it would really be hard for someone to confess their feelings to you, you know?” Keith suddenly says all seriously making Laia laugh.