Guess I'm on a writing streak right now, so here's another chapter :)
Too early.
That was all she could think as she pushed open the heavy door for her 7am shift.
Much too early.
Jade West looked around at the dimly lit room, taking in the smell of fresh coffee and the faint aroma of mildew; even though that problem had been dealt with months ago, the smell lingered.
Glancing quickly around, she didn't see anyone in the room. She saw her chance.
She walked determinedly towards the wooden door to the back room, pulling off her leather jacket as she went, just reaching for the handle and-
"Hello, hello, hello miss grouchy-pants!" Carlos really did not get her very clear 'stay the hell away from me before noon' vibes. Nevertheless, she did her best to put on a cheap fake smile and greet him back as nicely as possible.
"Morning."
Hey, that was as nicely as possible.
The chef understood that she was trying, though, and nodded approvingly before heading back through the swinging kitchen door. Jade continued into the back room, pulling her jacket off completely and slinging it onto the small couch at the back of the room. Her bag was dropped next to the door and her signature combat boots were replaced with a pair of black pumps. She was ready to go.
Jade pulled the door open and wandered over to the main entrance, switching the dull closed sign for a very colourful 'Open for business!' sign. She walked slowly back to the counter and sat on the stool behind it.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
If a look could kill, the blue clock across from a certain onyx haired girl would have exploded and launched shrapnel across the room. Jade hated that freaking clock.
Instead of grabbing the hammer she knew full well was stored in a cabinet beneath the counter and assaulting that infuriating circle on the wall, she grabbed her phone from her pocket and settled for scrolling through twitter.
It didn't take long for a customer to come in.
The bell above the door jingled as someone pushed it open, and Jade reluctantly set her phone on the counter and stood up as a tall figure approached her. Looking up, her heart did a funny quiver thing that made her hate it immediately as she saw who was in front of her.
Caramel eyes.
"Hey, good to see that perv isn't here today."
Nothing. No words escaped her. What the hell, West? Speak?
"Uh, oh-kay. Could I get two black coffees to go?"
Again, nothing. Do something. Seriously what is wrong with you? Speak? Move? Anything really, just don't stand here like a freaking idiot.
Somehow, she managed a small smile and began to make the coffees. She had never hated herself more, and that's saying something, but caramel eyes didn't seem to mind her utter idiocy. Fluffy hair was standing there with a little smirk on his face watching her.
The smirk made her realise that she needed to grow up and not be so goddamn stupid. Jade turned back to him, her face hard and serious and handed him the cups of coffee.
"Here you go... uh..."
"Beck. Oliver." That damn smirk was back as he answered and plopped the money on the counter. Jade desperately tried to hate it.
"Well, see ya." Get out. You are messing up my brain, pretty boy.
With a small wave, he took the coffee and left. Jade's head fell into her hands with a sigh of relief.
Sunlight streamed through the glass windows of the front of the cafe, making it a lot more friendly than the dark, autumnal morning. The bar stools were highlighted a gorgeous golden colour from the high risen sun, and the pine wood floor glowed warmly. Shadows still hung around the objects placed throughout the room, but they were less threatening now; they didn't creep out of the tables or slide from below the counter anymore. The light reached up towards a raven haired girl's face, but was cut short just above her nose.
Jade was perched in the same position, checking her phone and flicking through magazines. Her head was stretched up a little higher than she would usually bother to have it, but she was determined to reject the sunlight's advances towards her crystal eyes. It had already invaded her phone screen; she could barely see the artsy Instagram life of the latest rich-girl blogger. How upsetting.
"Half an hour. Just thirty minutes." She mumbled to herself. The clock was still ticking, counting down the final minutes of torture.
"West." Carlos stuck his head out of the kitchen door with an almost pitiful look.
Turning her head towards him, she fixed him with a cold glare, the question in her eyes as obvious as the colour of the sky.
"Grab your stuff, you can head out now. Little red-head will be here any minute, and you look like you'd happily jump off a cliff right now."
Well, he was right. Jade would have chosen to jump off a fifty foot cliff over sitting in this lonely diner for seven hours any day of the week. So she thanked him quickly, grabbed her bag and boots from the back room and practically ran out the door.
As she walked down the street to her black car, she heard an excited "Hiiiii!" and turned just in time to see a glimpse of red velvet hair and a little pink dress before she was engulfed in a bear hug. Ah, the bane of her existence, but also the closest thing she has to a best friend: Cat Valentine.
The girl was holding a set of keys from a little purple giraffe that hung off them and was also carrying a slip of paper scrunched in her other hand.
"Oh my gosh I was just on my way in for my shift but I saw you and I just had to come and see you before you ran off and I wanted to ask you-"
Jade's hand was now covering Cat's mouth and had stopped her from both speaking and breathing. The panic on Cat's face appeared and disappeared in an instant. She pushed Jade's hand off her face, but pulled it back when she saw her nails.
"Jadey! Your nails! They're blue!" Shit, not today. The immediate regret of the navy nail polish was evident on her face and she snatched her hand back. The dark haired woman quickly switched the subject.
"Cat, you wanted to ask me something?"
"Oh yeah! Will you come to a party tomorrow with me?" Cat quickly continued despite Jade's immediate protest, "Pretty please with a cherry on top? Only for like, an hour, then you can go home. Pleeease?"
Jade sighed heavily, but also knew that she was in no place to turn her down with some excuse. Despite her complete lack of surface intelligence, Cat could sniff out a lie anywhere; she was the truffle pig of lies, and she also knew for a fact that Jade had no plans the next night.
Pushing all her pride to the side, she looked down at Cat. "Sure, let me know the addre-"
The slip of paper was pushed into her hand and immediately Cat ran off, shouting her thanks behind her as she went.
Jade read the slip of paper, and weirdly recognised the handwriting as not Cat's, but it was oddly familiar.
126 Brook Lane
09/17/18
Bring whoever
None of this seemed to matter, though, once she read the scrawled name at the bottom of the square of paper.
-Beck O.
well, I'll update again in a few days, hope this was better than the last chapter (ᵔᴥᵔ)
