Chapter 3 - An Old Flame

Friday 6:13am

Cloud Café

August went around, double checking and making sure everything was in order before he started opening the windows. He then went to his morning booth to take a seat, waiting for Emma to return from upstairs so he could assign a task to her.

Once Emma reemerged from the staircase August motioned for her to take a seat in front him. Emma's hair was no longer in a messy bun, but was instead pulled into a neat French braid. "Have you by chance decided what job you want me to do?" she asked, placing her phone on vibrate before taking a seat.

"Are you ok with people touching you?" he asked cautiously, causing her to side eye him, "Don't get me wrong no one will be feeling you up, intentionally, that is. Sometimes customers get handsy, of course we fix the problem, but I'd rather you not hit them across the face and make matters worse." he explained, causing her to nod understandingly.

"I should be fine with that." she said but August didn't feel in the slightest bit convinced. "Are you sure? there's no need to force yourself. A lot of people are understandably not okay with that." he informed her. He didn't want her to take a job she couldn't manage.

"I'm in fact a bit scared, but Daejanel spoke so highly of you yesterday when she was showing me around and because of that I'm willing to trust your word." she smiled a bit nervously. August smiled at her, causing her to blush slightly. "That's great, there's no need for you to be here now, I work until 8am after which the others take over." he explained getting up. It was now 6:27am, he needed to open the door.

"I don't mind helping, you don't have to put this on my pay or anything, think of it as me doing some extra practice." she said, trying to convince August to let her help out. He thought about it for a bit before agreeing. "Sure, I don't see the harm."

August finally made his way over to the cafe's front door and opened it. He then walked behind the counter and took a seat at the cash register. No one came in for the first fifteen minutes of the cafe being opened but then a small load of customer's piled in.

"Hello Sir, my name is August. Welcome to Cloud Café, may I take your order?"

Just like that August took orders upon orders, and with Emma assisting him things went even smoother than normal. "Well that was something wasn't it?" asked Emma walking over. They had finally finished collecting and serving all the orders and were now taking a short rest. "Yeah, thanks for your help. You did well newbie." said August, complimenting her.

Emma's face turned red as she wasn't used to keeping compliments, usually they were whisked away by someone saying something like, "That's nothing special or to be proud of." or "Emily can definitely do it better." "You have a cute blushing face, I'm going to keep complimenting you." August teased from behind the register, breaking her from her thoughts. Her face went redder as she rushed her way over to the employee's restroom to calm herself.

As if it was revenge for teasing Emma, five customers entered and made their way directly to the register causing August to mentally groan. August sat up straight around the register before greeting his regulars.

"Hello Georgina, my name is August. Welcome back to Cloud Café, may I take your order?" he smiled at the elderly Irish lady. "Good morning August, same order as usual." she told him, smiling. "Pumpkin tea and three crepes?" he asked for confirmation, looking up at her. "You know it, August." she smiled, handing him the $35 before walking to a booth.

"Good morning Sam, black coffee with two brownies?" the customer identified as Sam nodded before handing August $11 before going to find an empty table. 'This is going to be a long early shift.' he thought, sighing. He took the remaining customer's orders before he went to make the drinks. Luckily for him though, Emma had just returned from the restroom.

…

12:40pm

Cloud Café

The cafe's entrance door's bell chimed, signaling that someone had entered the building. "August, are you here? Can we please talk about what happened?" called the beautiful redhead that had just entered the Café. "Rebecca, August said you should stop coming here." reminded Cole, as he brought an order over to a teenage couple in a booth.

"I don't care, I'm not going to stop coming here until we have a decent conversation." she yelled angrily, startling seated customers.

"Who's that?" whispered Emma to Daejanel who she was helping mix drinks. "That's August's ex-girlfriend. Ever since August left her he's refused to see her much less have a conversation. Since then, she's been ever so often popping up wanting them to talk and work things out so they could get back together." Daejanel whispered back.

'Wow, he's had a girlfriend. Of course he has, he's handsome.' Emma was broken from her thoughts by Cole speaking loudly at the redhead. "Stop yelling or I'll call Roberto to escort you out. Actually, you should leave regardless, he's not here."

"No, I won't, I'll just wait for him to return." she said walking up to the counter, I'll have a Pumpkin tea with French toast and three Crepes. You're not about to kick out a paying customer are you?" she asked smugly before pulling out her purse.

Sophia resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Rebecca's attitude but took her order regardless. "Your total is $40." "What??? Pumpkin tea, French toast and three Crepes are for $37 not $40."

"It's just $3, if you can't afford it then leave."

"Are you that broke that you need to steal my $3? I thought the pay here was a decent amount."

"Are you that broke, you need it back?"

Rebecca gritted her teeth before pulling out two $20 bills and slamming it into Sophia's hand causing her to wince and grab her wrist in slight pain. "Ouch." she mumbled as she placed the money into the register. Rebecca made her way over to August's morning booth and took a seat as she waited on her order to be done and August to return.