Alter ➳ h.s

f o u r
coffee is nasty
harry

My hands were uncontrollably sweating and the jeans hugging my legs seemed to get tighter and tighter by the second. Liam was already reassuring me that we wouldn’t be staying long, but I knew we wouldn’t get noticed much. The town is a bit average and somewhat small, little people in a coffee shop like this anyway. I scoped out the place and found a girl sprawled across the table and another sat at the booth; it was Ember Knight. “Stop staring and walk,” said Zayn who pushed me along.

We took our seats, Paul and Tom, our new bodyguard, sat at the table across the room. The girl wore a nametag, Julia. “Welcome to ‘Commerce Creamery’, what can I get you guys?” Everyone ordered their things and I got plain coffee. “Alright. My friend, Ember will be serving you most likely, I have a run to make for the boss,” she gestured over to the register where a large foot was sticking out. “Sleeps all day and expects us to do all the work. Pathetic, right?” It was rhetorical but we all answered with a simple, “Yeah, totally.”

When everything was ready, Ember did come with our beverages. Everyone seemed to enjoy their drinks except me. The coffee was bitter and tasted like rotted iron. Ember looked around before sitting across from us, “Sorry, Julia made that pot, plus we ran out of sugar and stuff. That’s where she’s going. We didn’t want to hurt her feelings so we’re giving the coffee to the customers for free if they drink it. Since she’s not here, you don’t have to.”

She stared into my eyes for a little while, and I stared into hers. “Is that why they call you Ember?” I asked.

“Call? No, Ember is my real name.” Niall explained that we use ‘call’ instead of ‘name’, “Oh. Why do you think?”

“Your eyes, they’re green.” She nodded.

“Yeah, uh, Mom saw them when I was first born and thought that Ember fit perfectly. She said she’s never seen a more beautiful color,” she reminisced. I thought the same thing. Although my eyes seemed to change color, her’s have so far stayed the same, even when she was angry and yelling at her father, they stayed the same.

“They’re pretty.”

“Thanks. Well, uh, if that’s all, I’m going to steal a bit of food from the back. I haven’t eaten in a bit, as you know. Need anything, come to the counter and ring the bell.” She smiled and patted the table once, ending the conversation. Then she left.

Louis cleared his throat and sipped his coffee, kicking me under the table. I gave him a nasty look and continued to drink the bitter coffee. We were told not to talk about my mental conditions in public, no telling who was listening. So, we acted normally. Niall sucked coffee through his straw and spit it out on Liam’s very white and very new t-shirt, he was aiming for Zayn. “Aw, c’mon, man.”

While they continued with their nonsense, I couldn’t stop looking at her behind the counter. Louis continued to kick me under the table to catch my attention, but I couldn’t look at him. No one noticed that my attention was diverted in the other direction so Louis just let me be and allowed me to watch her from a distance. She was just there, peeling an orange and scrolling through her phone. I felt the urge to get up, so I did. I felt the urge to walk over to the counter, so I did. And I felt the urge to talk to her, but I couldn’t.

She looked up from her phone a few times but just pretended I wasn’t there. “Okay, I’m not going to let you just stand there and say nothing,” she said after a while. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Can I have a water?”

Ember cleared her throat and removed the peeling from the orange. She sat the orange on the paper towel that was on the counter and got up to go to the back. She yelled, “Bottled or cupped?” I told her bottled, “I figured, that’s why I asked. Normally we just serve cupped but I figured since you’re so used to bottled, and you no longer seem to trust the beverages here, you’d prefer bottled.”

Out of all she said, I only caught, “Cupped? Who says,” I laughed and drank a bit of the water, “cupped water?”

“I’m sorry I don’t know the actual term for water in a cup, Mr. Technical.”

“It’s called a cup of water, so water in a cup. Not cupped water, Ember.”

“Well thanks for saving me from a lifetime of ridicule.” She smiled a bit and picked her orange back up. “Are you just going to watch me eat my orange?”

I smiled and leaned over the counter, “Maybe.” It was the first time in a long time that I’d had a genuine conversation with someone other than my inner social circle. Ember seemed truly genuine, with a part of herself that she wished didn’t exist.

“You’re analysing me, again. Please stop, I have my dad around for that.”

“Sorry.” I picked up the bottle of water, “Thanks for the water. Maybe I’ll get cupped water next time.” I returned to my seat, everyone looked at me. Even Paul and Tom, who were sat across the room, were staring. “What?”

“You talked to her. You literally have not spoken to the female species other than your mother, sister, Lou, and immediate family members in months. This is spectacular, do you not realize this?” Louis pointed out.

“I guess I do now. She’s nice, I just wanted a bottle of water.”

“We understand that, but asking for a bottle of water doesn’t include the following: laughing, talking other than your manners and actually asking, smiling, continued conversation, watching, and unnecessary flirting,” Liam took Louis’ place in pointing out my asking for water and why it was a good thing, and a milestone.

“It’s just water, let it go.” They looked down, so did Paul and Tom once I looked over at them. I was no longer afraid of getting noticed considering no one was really here. They must still be talking about our performance a while ago. Mondays are usually busy for coffee shops, especially ones that seem normally busy like this one. Zayn swore under his breath when two girls, teenagers, walked in.

Ember sat up in her chair, “Afternoon, ladies. Sitting down or going out?”

“We’re gonna be sitting.” I tried to put my head down after one of the girls turned to skim over the dining area to find a place to sit. “Is that One Direction?”

I looked over at Ember with a blank stare, she looked at me. The girls weren’t hysterical, but they were reaching for their phones. The shop was empty, all except for us ten. Paul and Tom were ready to stand, but Ember just kept staring at me. “Sorry, ladies. We’re actually closed.”

“Says who?”

“Says me.” They both scoffed, “I’ll pay you.” They smiled and took a picture anyway, saying it was for personal entertainment. We all tried to take that the best way we could. After Ember paid the girls off, the sign on the window flipped to ‘CLOSED’ and she shut the blinds, dimming the lights to make it look truly closed. “You guys owe me one big tip,” she joked.

Everyone kicked me under the table, and I picked up my bottle of water saying behind me, “Fuck off.” We continued with our drinks and I eventually joined the table again, Ember peeling yet another orange. The sun set shortly after, leaving only a bit of light outside. Everyone announced they were ready to go, including Ember who’d only stayed behind so she could close up. Julia never returned. I was the last to leave, Ember and I talked for a little. “How often do you work here?”

“Depends on how I feel. Coming to work isn’t exactly the best part of my week. The smell of coffee eventually gets sickening after a while,” she began to lead outside where she locked the door after turning off the lights and having everyone help her flip the chairs onto the table and voluntarily clean them. “Thanks for helping, by the way.”

“No problem. So you’ll be working tomorrow?”

“Maybe, I’m not sure. I think Ben wanted to go out.”

“Ben?” I asked panicked.

“My boyfriend. But probably, I’ll probably be here.” She smiled and without another word, walked away to her car.

I sighed and walked to the car. Liam and Niall got into the car with me this time, Tom driving. Niall asked what we talked about and I think I summed it up pretty well, “She has a boyfriend called Ben.”

“Calm down,” he warned. “You just met her. You get attached too easily. It’s not even good for you to be talking to her anyway. That’s just another reason to be upset if it doesn’t work out.”

“Shut up, Niall,” Liam shot back. “It’s good for him to be making new friends.”

“She could be a gold-digger!”

“And if she isn’t?!”

And they continued to fight. I continued to rub my temples but the arguing just got plain annoying. So, I intervened, “Guys, guys. I’m glad you love me and all, but I’m fine. If I wanted your opinion, I would ask for it. Trust me.” The car ride continued. We were to go to rehearsals, but I just didn’t have the energy. We were late anyway, only because we stayed so long at the coffee shop. Partially my fault and small fascination with Ember. I’m glad she’d forgotten or decided not to bring up our encounter in the bathroom. I just hadn’t properly taken my pills, is all. What I couldn’t get out of my head was how I didn’t know that the boy pulling her back was her boyfriend. Ben.

Notes

only cause I don't have a chapter prepared for Paper Stars...

@XOXOH now share an instagram if you wanna follow us @whipitgrande (username change coming soon)

I love all your cute faces, thanks x