Tense
"Are you going to Shiv's going away party on Saturday?" Daryl asked Punk later in the day at the coffee shop after a busy lunch rush.
"Yeah, April invited me." Punk nodded, putting some mugs in the dish washer, "You going?"
"Yeah." Daryl nodded sceptically.
"You sound excited." Punk scoffed.
"I'm confused." Daryl said.
"About what?" Punk shook his head with confusion, "It's a party."
"Am I supposed to buy her something?" Daryl asked, "Normally at parties, you give someone a gift, right?"
"Do you want to get her a gift?" Punk asked curiously as Daryl shrugged quickly.
"I don't know." Daryl mumbled.
"I think if you want to get her something, you should. In fact, I think it's a really nice idea. I'm sure she'd appreciate it." Punk nodded.
"I don't know what I'd get her, though." Daryl said truthfully.
"Can I ask you something?" Punk said.
"I'm sure you're going to ask anyway, whether I say yes or no." Daryl said.
"I'm just curious about you and Shiv. What exactly was the situation with you both? Were you dating?" Punk asked. He needed all the facts and he hated himself for what this town was turning him into. A busy body.
"We weren't dating." Daryl shook his head, "I mean… no one knew we were hooking up. It was just… our thing. That's why it was so good." He nodded as Punk folded his arms, waiting for more, "We've been really good friends since we were little. Our parents were friends. They'd always hang out and so me and Shiv just naturally spent more time together."
"And that lead to… other things?" Punk assumed.
"Yeah." Daryl nodded, "We started fooling around and then it turned into more. I think it helped that we were best friends. It was never awkward or weird. It just… felt normal."
"You realise best friends don't always have sex, right? That's… not normal." Punk assured him.
"Felt normal to me." Daryl said, "And then I guess I blew it."
"Do you still have feelings for her?" Punk asked, "I mean… you can be honest with me."
"I think so, yeah." Daryl nodded, "But she's going away to college and… she could do better, honestly."
"I don't know. You're not so bad, kid." Punk said, "It's not too late to tell her how you feel. I'm just saying."
"You know…" Finn came out from the kitchen with sandwiches on a plate for some customers at a table, "Sure feels like I do all the work around here." He scoffed as Punk and Daryl chuckled.
"You're still the newbie. You gotta pay your dues." Daryl shoved him a little as Finn shook his head with a smile, heading out from the counter to go serve the table who had ordered some sandwiches.
"You two seem to be getting along better." Punk nodded to Daryl.
"Yeah, he's alright." Daryl nodded.
"April, can I show you something real quick." Shiv said excitedly, coming out from the kitchen and into the front of the shop where AJ was standing behind the counter.
Lyla was serving a customer at a table whilst Becca was working zone defence on the coffee machine. AJ and Lyla hadn't spoken a word to one another since they opened the shop this morning. They'd politely stayed out of each other's way and avoided all interaction.
"Sure." AJ nodded, following Shiv into the kitchen.
"I've been working on this." Shiv said, "I know you come up with all the recipes and you're definitely the chief baker around here but… I wanted to make something myself for this place, before I go to college." She nodded, heading into the walk-in fridge and coming out with, what AJ could see, was some kind of tart.
"What is it?" AJ smiled.
"It's a salted caramel custard tart." Shiv said, sitting the plate with the small bite-size tart on it, onto the kitchen counter.
"This looks amazing." AJ said, "You should have told me you wanted to bake some stuff."
"I know. Honestly, I was always happy just to be a server and prep things but… I didn't want to leave for college and not contribute anything. I love this place too much." Shiv said as AJ smiled.
It was the thing she loved most about Shiv and Becca. They didn't just treat this place like any other job, which she knew they probably should have. They were young and most youngsters just wanted to be paid, but they had always taken this place seriously, defended it and worked exceptionally hard at every angle. That meant the most to her, and they would always be two of her greatest friends.
"Alright, let's try this." AJ said, taking the tart and biting into it, some of the pastry crumbling down her t-shirt as she nodded with joy and happiness. It was sweet, light and salty. Heavenly.
"Is it ok?" Shiv asked. She didn't want to mention the fact she'd been working on perfecting the recipe for weeks now. She'd had many fights with several batches of pastry throughout the ordeal.
"Shiv… this is incredible." AJ nodded with pride.
"Really?" Shiv smiled happily.
"It's delicious." AJ said, "And I think everyone who buys one will agree."
"You're going to sell them?" Shiv asked.
"How many can you whip up? I'll sell them all." AJ nodded, "They're amazing."
"With some help I could get lots done for tomorrow morning, first thing." Shiv nodded.
"Perfect." AJ said, "And what are we calling it?"
"Salted-Caramel custard tart?" Shiv shrugged.
"Or… The Shiv?" AJ smiled.
Closing time came around for both coffee shops after equally successful days and the quiz-night bet was still on, which meant the girls were heading over to Punk's place to start their second round of cleaning for the night.
"Here's our lovely cleaners again." Daryl smirked, sitting at a table enjoying a coffee with his feet up on another chair.
"I have a surprise for you all." Finn said, "I got same-day delivery on these beautiful pink cleaning gloves. So, you can all match." He said, holding up the gloves as the four girls glared at him.
"You guys will see hell. Mark my words." Becca nodded, "I can't believe you're doing this to Shiv on her last week. Sick sick boys." She shook her head.
"Those gloves are really cute, though." Shiv admitted, walking over to Finn and snatching some from him, "I'll start the kitchen."
"Because you want to see if Maple is there?" Daryl figured.
"No." Shiv scoffed, making her way through to the kitchen and immediately going to the back door to see if the resident cat was there enjoying her supper.
"I'll do the bathroom." Lyla said, grabbing some cleaning supplies and heading off to clean the customer toilet. She'd not only said nothing to AJ all day, but she'd pretty much said nothing to everyone. Even Becca and Shiv noticed how deathly quiet she had been. It was unsettling for sure.
"You're really going to sit there with your feet up and watch us?" AJ asked Daryl, walking by him and pinching his neck.
"Hey." Daryl whined, rubbing his neck where she'd pinched, "A bet is a bet, April."
"How was your day?" Punk smiled as AJ approached him behind the counter.
"It was fine." AJ nodded, "Shiv decided that her last week was a good time to let me know she's one hell of a baker."
"Yeah?" Punk smiled as AJ nodded, "You and Lyla spoken yet?" He asked, although he was assuming they hadn't given by how Lyla had just disappeared.
"No. We've not said a word to one another." AJ said, "I'm thinking maybe we should give it a few days before we speak properly. Still feels a little tense."
"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Punk said, pressing a kiss on her head as she smiled.
"How was your day?" AJ asked.
"Pretty good. Spent a lot of time advising Daryl on what to get Shiv for her going away party." He said quietly so Daryl nor Shiv would hear.
"That's sweet he wants to get her something." AJ frowned, turning over to Daryl who was being approached by an angry Becca.
"Get your ass up if you want me to clear these tables." Becca said, grabbing Daryl by the back of his t-shirt and pulling it to get him to stand up.
"Hey, watch it. You'll stretch my t-shirt." Daryl scoffed, standing up.
"Then take yourself and your t-shirt out of my way." Becca nodded as Daryl shook his head, grabbing his coffee and wandering off over to Punk and AJ.
"She gets scarier every day, I swear." Daryl shook his head as he approached Punk and AJ.
"Maybe AJ could advise you on what to get Shiv." Punk turned to Daryl.
"Why you telling everyone my business?" Daryl rolled his eyes as AJ chuckled.
"Anything you tell him, I will know." AJ assured Daryl, "But I could help you if you want."
"I know Shiv better than you do. I don't need help." Daryl scoffed, "I just don't know what's too much and what's too little?"
"Why don't you get her some flowers? She loves flowers." AJ said.
"Flowers are a waste of money. They go in the trash four days later." Daryl shook his head.
"But they're beautiful and she loves them." AJ said.
"No." Daryl said bluntly as AJ rolled her eyes.
"Ok… what about something that will be useful for her at college?" AJ asked.
"What? Like a calculator?" Daryl looked at AJ with confusion as Punk chuckled to himself.
"No." AJ said, an obvious tone to her voice, "Like something that will be useful in her dorm. Remember she's going to be living on her own now. She'll need lots of stuff."
"Like?" Daryl waited.
"You could give her a picture of the town, so she'll be able to look at it if she feels homesick. She can stick it on a mirror or above her bed or something." Punk nodded, pleased with his suggestion.
"You two are useless." Daryl shook his head, walking away from them and into the kitchen.
"I thought that was a good idea." Punk said innocently as AJ smiled.
"It is, baby. Don't listen to him." AJ patted his chest, "I suppose I better start cleaning." She rolled her eyes.
"Our coffee machine needs a little love. If you're feeling up to it." Punk smiled to her.
"Don't push it." AJ warned him as he chuckled, watching Lyla reappear from the customer toilets, taking off her gloves and sitting them on the counter.
"I've done the toilet. I'm going to shoot." Lyla said without looking either of them in the eye.
"There's still more to do." AJ said.
"I've done the toilet." Lyla said bluntly, "You don't need me for anything else." She said, grabbing her jacket and bag and heading for the door, walking out and slamming it shut behind her as AJ rolled her eyes and turned to Punk.
"How come she gets to leave?" Becca called over to them unhappily whilst AJ just shook her head unhappily and turned her attention to emptying the trash.
"Just give it some time." Punk nodded to her.