12. Chapter 9
T he drive back is silent. No one speaks, and Toby keeps locking eyes with Tal from the front seat. If I had to guess, they can feel the tension from the fight I had with Banks, and if Toby’s soft eyes and pursed lips are any hint, he definitely wants to say something.
Pulling into the spot Toby’s pass allows him to park in, Banks exits faster than if his ass was being chased by hornets. I watch him sling his bag from the truck bed over his shoulder and walk toward the building.
“Do you… you know,” Toby runs his hand through his messy hair and sighs, “want to talk about that?”
Shaking my head, I climb out of the truck and pull my own bag from the back. It’s mainly stuff I forgot, pictures, and baubles from my room back home. After our fight last night, I went to the kitchen, ripped open every sweet confection Fern and Candy made, and ate them one by one.
My stomach isn’t happy with me at the moment, but I don’t care. It was the first night in a long time that I passed out and had no dreams, or at least nothing I can remember. Sleeping in my own bed, without his presence in the room, was the reset I needed.
It was stupid to go to his room after he woke me up with his outburst. I should have known better than to try to talk to him, especially when he’s feeling violent.
Pushing him when he’s vulnerable is always a recipe for disaster.
My phone chimes, and the twins look at me with tilted heads as they exit the truck.
“What?”
“Are you going to answer that?” Talon asks with a bored expression.
I didn’t realize it was ringing. I hardly ever get phone calls. It’s usually texts or social media notifications. Digging the device from my pocket, I pull it out to see the university’s number flashing on my screen. I swallow and swipe the bottom of the screen to answer the call.
“Hello?” I try to be casual, but it comes out sounding choked.
“Hey, I’m looking for Henry?”
The voice on the other line sounds familiar, but I can’t place it. “This is him.”
“Hey, it’s Koda from Gator Coffee Co.”
The guy from the counter. I think I remember seeing his name tag when I asked about the job. “Oh, hey!”
The twins throw each other questioning looks communicating in that telepathic twin way they do, and I wave them on and head off in the direction of our dorm.
“Hey, so I know you said you could start Monday, but I just realized I won’t have anyone here to train you tomorrow. Would you, by chance, have time to come in… now?”
Shrugging to myself, I huff a laugh, “Yeah, that’s okay. Do I need to wear anything in particular?”
“Clothes would be appropriate,” Koda snorts, and I laugh. “Sorry, I think the coffee fumes are getting to me. Just anything plain is fine.”
“It’s okay, I’m used to crummy jokes,” I pause for a moment, worried that I might have misread the conversation until he laughs and sucks in a breath.
“I think you’ll do just fine here, Henry. See you in a bit.”
Quickly making the rest of the walk to my dorm, I unlock the door to our room and throw my bag on the bed, and it hits me that Banks isn’t in the room. His bag is here, but the door to the bathroom is open, and the lights are off.
I don’t allow myself the time to wonder. Instead, I shake my head and walk to the closet. I pick out a pair of dark blue jeans and a short-sleeve green t-shirt. It’s not too cold here yet this time of year, so I don’t bother with a jacket and swap my wallet and keys over to the new pants.
Once my Converse shoes are laced, I walk to the cafe with a small ball of excitement growing in my stomach. This is just the thing I need.
Koda’s smile when I walk in, is warm and he immediately thanks me for being flexible enough to come in on such short notice. “You look like an extra-large, is that right?” He shoves a t-shirt into my hands.
“Uh, yeah,” I grip the t-shirt and hold it open. It’s pretty plain, with Gator Coffee Co. stamped on the front in a perfectly legible font–nothing fancy, just block letters.
“Let’s get you a name tag,” he waves me around the case of goodies and into the kitchen where music belts out of speakers I can’t see.
“Wow,” everything in here looks so much like Fern and Flourished that it’s kind of alarming. Tables line the middle of the room, where people fold and prep dough for bagels, loaves, and rolls. Ovens rest on one side of the room while mixers stand on the other. Everything is shiny silver, with a dusting of flour on surfaces.
“We just got a huge kitchen revamp,” Koda says, “Horace says the money came from a kid's parent but they wanted to remain anonymous.” Throwing up his hands, he walks backward and shrugs.
“That’s generous,” I say, trailing after him into what I assume is the employee break room.
“Mhmm,” he looks around before pulling out a box that looks well loved. “Here they are!” He pulls out a new name tag without a name and a label maker. “Do you go by Henry, or something else?”
“Henry’s fine,” I say, taking everything in. “Is Horace the owner?”
“What? Oh yeah, he’s owned it forever. Super nice, he stops by every now and again.”
Koda rambles on, and I zone out a little, thinking of Fern and her worried expression this weekend. I wonder if she’s feeling better, or if I should call her.
“...I’ll show you around the front,” he starts walking back the way we came. I have to shake off my thoughts and focus. I don’t want to mess this up.
A few hours later, we’re closing the shop down, and I feel like I’ve gotten a lot of the procedures covered. There’s not much difference here from the Ravard Prep Cafe.
Koda’s nice and talkative. I feel like he crammed his whole life story into one night, which is kind of impressive. I’ve laughed, met new people, and never thought about Banks once since I walked in the doors.
“Well, how do you feel about working tomorrow with Opal?” Koda says, “I have classes first thing on Monday’s or I would be here.”
“Oh, that’s no big deal, I actually don’t have classes on Monday.”
“Great! Opal’s real sweet, and a fun one to work with. Come in around six-thirty. She should be here by then.”
I nod and hang up the apron he handed me from the hook on the wall behind the counter. “Do you want me to stay and wait while you lock up?” I know he’s a tall guy, and he can probably handle himself if he needs to, but then I’d feel like shit if I left and something happened.
“That’d be nice.”
He smiles and tells me it will only take him a few more minutes to get his stuff. The kitchen staff went home about an hour ago after they shut down the machines, and placed tomorrow’s dough in the chiller.
Popping through the door that separates the front from the kitchen, he smiles and waves around his keys. “Let’s get outta here.”