Carmen's POV

Mondays are the worst.

Dragging my ass out of bed to take a shower is always the hardest on Mondays. I have the early shift at the coffee house, classes in the afternoon, then I have practice and I'll be up until midnight doing homework. That's usually how my day goes, though I don't work Tuesdays or Fridays because of my classes. My Dad is always worried that I'm going to run myself into the ground, and I honestly don't know how I'm still functional.

After a long, hot shower that seems to make me more sleepy than I already was, I pull on black jeans and my uniform. I have just enough time to come back here between class and the end of my shift, so thankfully I don't have to take my school things with me. That would be a chore. My shower was a little too long, though, and with no time to do my hair I pull it back into a french braid. I'm not trying to impress anyone, so it doesn't really matter.

The morning shift is pretty easy; I'm only there for three hours while the cafe is actually open. Most of the shift consists of turning all the machines on and making sure everything is ready for the day. I have to take out the pastries and the rest of the food, restock the cooler and make sure that I have enough of everything that I need to make the coffees and other drinks. It gets decently busy in the morning, but usually only for about an hour or two and it's nothing I can't handle on my own.

The owners of this place are my favourite people. They don't actually own it anymore, their daughter does, but they still come in to work whenever they can. The woman does a lot of the baking still and her husband insists on fixing things that aren't really broken. They treat Ivy and me like we're their children.

"Carmen!" Marla shouts when she walks in. It scares the hell out of me but she doesn't notice. "How are you? I haven't seen you in ages!"

"It's been three days," I laugh as she hugs me.

"Feels like three years," she says, smiling warmly at me.

"Many customers?" she asks. I have no idea how this place is still open. It probably isn't even profitable, but they just love it so much that they could never close it.

"A decent amount," I tell her.

"That's wonderful."

"Hi Peter," I call as he walks through the door. He smiles and sits at the table near the window. "How's the wrist?"

"Good as new," he says, holding it up for me to see. He tried to lift something far too heavy a few weeks ago and it's been bothering him ever since. These people are like my own grandparents and I really care about them. They've taken the work relationship much further than I ever expected them to.

"Why don't you head home," Marla suggests. "You have class and Simone will be here any minute."

"Are you sure?" I would love to finish my philosophy paper.

"Yes, you head on home. I'll see you on Wednesday."

"Thanks, Marla."

She nods and I head to the back to get my things. An extra hour and a half will mean I won't have to go to campus looking homeless like I usually do. That's always a bonus.

While I'm walking home I send my Dad one of my daily text messages. I'm honestly not even sure where he is right now, so he might actually be sleeping or something. Either way, I do this every day. I barely get to speak to him, so I want him to know that I'm thinking and worry about him. The odd time he actually responds and it makes my week so much better to know that he's okay. Having your own living parent as a leader in the military is never a fun thing. I don't know what I would do if I lost him.

Of course the girls are all either sleeping or just eating breakfast now. They purposely schedule their classes so they don't have to be awake before nine, and even if they do have any classes in the morning they usually don't go. I honestly don't know how any of them are passing.

"Hey, someone was here for you," Kayla says. I didn't even know she was here.

"When did you get back?" I ask. Whenever we have a weekend off from volleyball she goes home to visit her boyfriend.

"Late last night."

"How was your weekend?"

She laughs. "Don't you want to know who was here?"

"Right." I pour myself some coffee. "Who was it?"

"It was that friend of yours that's always here that you keep saying you're not sleeping with but you totally are."

I laugh and shake my head. Kayla is one of the few girls on the team that I really am genuinely friends with. For most of them I'm only friends with them because I have to be. Conflict doesn't go over well on a volleyball team. Unfortunately for me she's graduating after this year.

"I'm not sleeping with Liam," I tell her for the zillionth time. "What did he want?"

She shrugs. "He didn't say. I told him you weren't here and they left."

"Wait, they? Who else was with him?" Please don't say Harry, please don't say Harry.

"He didn't say his name, but he was hot as hell," she says fondly.

"You have a boyfriend," I remind her. Why does everyone have to think Harry is so hot? Ogle someone else.

She laughs. "I'm not saying I want to do anything about it, just stating the obvious. He had brown hair, an accent-"

"Curly?"

"What?" She laughs.

"His hair. Was his hair curly?" I clarify.

"Oh. Yeah, it was a bit. I couldnt' really tell. He had it pushed back with a headband or something. Are you seeing him?"

"No," I scoff. Obviously not. Also, how could not notice his curly hair? It's my favourite-

Wait, what?

"Why not? He's got an accent. That should be enough to make you drop your pants."

If only you knew. "This is getting too intense for me, I'm going to get ready for school."

"I can drive!" she calls as I walk to my room.

My hair falls in loose waves from my braid and thankfully Al I have to do is fix a few pieces and swipe some mascara onto my eyes. I can't be bothered with more makeup than that today. As I'm applying the black liquid Harry creeps into my thoughts. I have to hand it to him, he had to have a lot of courage to come to that movie last night. I've been so blatant about my distaste for him, yet he still insists on trying to get me to...spend time with him? I don't even know what he's trying to do.

He seems like a nice guy. As much as I want to say that he's an asshole and I want nothing to do with him, there's something about him that's so intriguing. He's probably the most charming person I've ever met. I remember from the other night when we were hanging out before we slept together; he's smooth, he is. He knows exactly what to say to make you nervous or melt like putty in his hands. There must be a crazy number of girls that have fallen for him. I can see that it would be easy to do, but I'm not going to be one of them.

The weird part is that Liam is almost encouraging it. He knows how hesitant I am towards guys and he told me last night to give Harry a chance, that he's a good guy. It's irrelevant, really. I'm not going to date him and I refuse to be someone's fuck-buddy. I have some self respect. If Harry wasn't so...flirty and stare-y and...I don't even know, then maybe I could be friends with him. If he wasn't so obvious about asking me out and trying to take our one-nighter further than what it was then maybe I wouldn't try so hard to push him away, but I don't do relationships and he seems like the kind of guy that is never single for long. He'll probably find someone knew soon enough, anyway.

I manage to finish my philosophy paper before I have to go to class. I don't have to hand it in until tomorrow, but I get really busy so easily that it's better to be safe than sorry. I usually take the bus to school if Kayla isn't driving, but today she's going to class and is driving her car, so I will gladly take the ride from her.

"Stefan is coming for the game Saturday," she tells me. "I hope Des doesn't try to throw a party."

"I wouldn't get your hopes too high," I laugh. "Desiree loves her parties."

"Maybe if I ask her..."

"Like I said, don't get your hopes up."

When we get to Campus we go our separate ways. I'm only taking three classes this semester, but they all require at least four hours of class time per week. Today I have two hours for my psychology class, one that specializes in childhood development, and I have that one three times a week. Philosophy is twice a week and the statistics class I have to take is also three times a week plus tutorials for the weekly homework. It may only be three, but they keep me busy.

By the time my lecture is over my hand is sore from taking notes. Most people use their computers, but I always get distracted on mine and I never remember what I'm typing anyway. I have an hour or two before I have to be at the gym for practice, so I take that time to do some reading in my textbook in the library, which is not as peaceful as it's supposed to be.

"Carmen?"

I look up from my textbook to see Liam, Harry and a blonde guy walking towards me. I try not to look to long at Harry, but when I see the bandana that Kayla was talking about earlier I know I lingered a little too long. It makes him look adorable.

"Hey," Liam says, sliding into the seat beside mine. "What are you up to?"

"Studying." I look at the other two boys and back at him. I don't know who one is and Harry usually makes me a little uncomfortable, so I'm not sure why he brought them here.

"Sorry," he says suddenly. "Carmen, that's Niall."

The blonde guy who is now named Niall waves at me. "How's it going?"

"I'm alright," I respond. I avoid Harry's eyes at all costs. I will not look at him.

"We were just saying that it would be impossible to get a table in here," Liam says, pulling out his textbooks. Looks like they're staying. When I look across the table Niall and Harry are both setting themselves into chairs as well, taking out their books and stuff too. I make eye contact with Harry and look away as fast as humanly possible.

Maybe I'm going overboard, but I just want him to understand that I'm not interested.

"You said you would try," Liam says quietly to me. I roll my eyes and run my fingers through my hair, pulling it away from my eyes. When I look at Harry his bottom lip is between his teeth, eyes following my movements in a way that makes me feel like I'm dancing naked in front of him.

"What program are you in?" Niall asks.

"Psychology. What about you?"

"Kinesiology," he says happily. "I want to be a physiotherapist."

"That's cool." I smile at him and look back down at my textbook, hoping they get the hint that I really do need to use this time for studying.

"Harry is in the education program," Liam chimes in. I glare at him, both for continuing the conversation and for bringing Harry into it. He was being so quiet up until now, and I have a feeling Liam ruined that on purpose. "He's minoring in music, though."

"You sound like his mother," I say, rolling my eyes. Liam laughs and I look over at Harry. I don't need to be completely rude. "That's cool, though. You want to teach?"

"Yeah," he says, rubbing his bottom lip. My stomach clenches as he continues. "I want to teach younger kids, I don't know what age yet."

"You want to teach music?"

"Possibly. I just enjoy it, so it was more for fun than for using it."

I nod and we just look at each other for a moment before I feel myself growing uncomfortable. I glare once more at Liam and look down at my textbook to continue reading.

Niall, Liam and Harry must not be very studious; they spend the entire time laughing and joking around, probably disturbing more than just me. I don't want to ruin their fun, but I actually need to use my spare time for reading the assigned chapters. I never get free time.

"I'm going to go," I say suddenly, shutting my book and stuffing it in my bag.

"Why?" Liam asks.

"I can't study with you guys. I have practice soon, anyway."

Liam nods and I wave to the three of them while I walk away from the table. I don't know what it is about Harry, but whenever he's around I just feel like I'm on edge the whole time. I hear the library door swing shut behind me and in a moment Harry is walking beside me.

"Hey." He takes his bandana out of his hair and shakes his hand through it.

"Hi..."

"I just wanted to apologize. We usually don't realize how annoying we are until someone tells us."

I nod and watch him replace the bandana. Who knew a guy could pull that off.

"Anyway," he continues after I haven't repsonded. I quickly look in front of me again, hoping he didn't catch me staring at him. "You said you have practice?"

"Yeah."

"Cool."

For some reason he continues walking beside me, even though we aren't talking. I don't understand this boy. I don't understand how he makes me feel, either.

"Okay, I'm going to go back there," he says, laughing a little. "I'll see you around, Carter."

I turn to glare at him and he smiles cheekily as he back away from me. He waves before turning to walk back to the library. When I look around I notice several pairs of female eyes on him, attention he seems oblivious to. Or maybe he's just used to it.

---

"He hates us," Kaitlin groans as we go back into the locker room. Coach worked us harder than ever today, apparently preparing us for the new way he's going to be running practice this season.

"We're going to get better once we're not tired as fuck from these workouts," Paige says. "I don't know if I can handle that."

I ignore their grumbling while I change and collect my things. I'm exhausted and I just want to get home so I can do my homework and get to sleep. I know they'll be bitching all night, so this is one of the rare occasions where I like having my room on the main floor. When Kayla and I get back to the house guess who is waiting on my front porch.

Fucking Harry.

Notes

just in case you guys forgot, marla and peter are the old couple from the first chapter that love harry at the restaurant. just so you know.

also i know this one is kind of boring, but alternating chapters means i cant really develop the characters the same way so its just a little bit slower :P this is to get more of a background and general idea for Carmen's life, you know? not necessarrily required but it makes me feel better :P

hope you ugys like it :) ill update asap since not a lot happened here.