Chapter 33
Mireya
Play - Bags by Clairo
Humor me
There’s something really strange about sitting across from your professor in a coffee shop, with your old manager looking at you and making signs to talk to you without your professor knowing?
Heath looks at me before mouthing, ‘I thought you left to study not flirt with your teacher’ behind Mister Caldwell’s back and it’s making me want to burst into laughter.
“Is something funny, Miss Vitelli?”
His authoritarian voice brings me back to our conversation.
“No, not at all,” I say as I bite back a laugh, glaring at Heath.
He just called my name but is still stuck on the politeness.
“I used to work here,” I reply, looking around at my not so old life. “It’s the best place on the island that makes decent coffee and plays good music.”
He follows my eyes everywhere they go until they land on the record player at the back of the place. Small art prints cover the wall behind it. Mine.
Heath agreed to let me draw during my shifts only if they were displayed where everyone could see them.
“How long did you work here?”
“Three years,” I reply, looking back at him.
“Did you like it?”
“I did, it had its own advantages. Free coffee every day, plus I could put on any song I wanted.”
My first safe adult job.
“You look sad thinking about it,” he says, tilting his head to the side.
A small smile lifts my lips as I think about the last few years I spent here with Hayzel. “Nostalgic. I’ll miss this place when I leave.”
Mister Caldwell’s eyes darken for a second before he speaks again, “You’re planning on leaving Seraphin Bay?”
“Yeah, once the year is over.”
He hums before putting both his hands on the table, lacing his fingers together. “Alright then we have a few months to close this case,” he says, colder now.
“Do you have anything more to let me know about this?”
“We’re going to use the old case files to create our new one. You have to understand what it means to work on this.”
I nod, trying to wrap my head around what I’m getting into. “I’m all ears.”
“You already know who we’re tracking. The thing is, something is making me think that he was either here or from here,” he showed me a picture from the envelope he carried with him. “This is what the old team missed.”
A keychain… St. Ellesta’s insignia.
“That’s from the academy?”
He nods before cracking his fingers, one by one, “The case is cold, yes, but he was never caught and it pisses me off to imagine him growing old and living happily somewhere.”
“Okay, but what makes you think he’s not dead after all these years of silence?”
“You know, Miss Vitelli, I have a strong belief that the worst people are always the ones who find a way to stay alive for way too long, building their lives on the lives of innocent people.”
“Bad seeds never die,” I say.
He laughs before agreeing, “Yeah we can say that.”
“How do we proceed exactly then?”
“Retrace it all, from the beginning. I need fresh eyes, I’ve been seeing cases like these for years, and having someone as intuitive as you is a plus.”
I lean closer, smiling, “You’re saying this as if I am a new tool to use.”
He smirks before taking another sip of his cup, “Aren’t we all?”
I nod before doing the same thing. My coffee is cold, and Heath tried to put some cream in because he said, ‘your date shouldn’t know about your caffeine addiction’, and I hate cream.
Mister Caldwell or should I say, Damien, laughs slowly before taking a napkin and rolls it between his fingers. His other hand sits under my chin as he pulls it toward him and wipes the corner of my lips.
“It’s funny. Every time I’ve seen you, you’ve ordered your coffee black. And today, you changed your mind.”
I don’t reply immediately, Heath is putting his thumbs up behind him, and I can’t focus on anything other than the feeling of his warm fingers on my skin.
“Miss Vitelli?” He says as his warmth leaves me.
“Sorry. My old boss likes to joke around, and I actually hate this coffee.”
He laughs fully before giving me his cup. “You can have mine.”
“Thank you for offering, but it’s okay, it’s just a coffee.”
He smiles sadly before pushing his cup toward me and taking mine instead. “You’ll have to get used to me making sure you’re comfortable. My students are a priority and their well being is one too.”
Kindness makes me uncomfortable. I know what to do with cruelty but this is harder to manage. So I smile quickly and thank him again.
We stayed there for a few minutes longer before taking the road back to the campus.
A song played during our ride.
I watched the city pass by the window, and every street carried a piece of life I don’t even recognize anymore.
I grew up here, surrounded by water, by waves, by something people were always told to be afraid of.
But the only sharks I had to be scared of were in my own home.
And thinking about leaving makes me sick.
Imagining saying goodbye to a lifetime of memories, of souvenirs, of everything that made me.
I’m terrified of forgetting things I don’t even remember anymore and losing the parts of myself that are already gone.
It’s already there, that feeling that something important used to be here, inside my heart.
“You know, I can hear your thoughts,” Mister Caldwell says, looking straight in front of him.
“Close your ears,” I reply as I look at him.
Our eyes met for a brief instant and a faint smile greeted me.
“What are you thinking about?”
I shake my head, trying to suppress the thoughts from clouding my brain. “Nothing important.”
We arrived shortly later at the campus.
It’s late, classes are over, students are either walking around, or preparing themselves for tomorrow’s classes.
“Hope you liked the ride, Miss Vitelli,” he says unlocking the doors.
“Best ride ever,” I replied, taking my stuff out of the car. Oh, that didn’t sound right. “I mean, thank you.”
He stays inside, laughing softly like he read my mind, and nods, “I’ll text you for our next coffee session.”
“See you tomorrow, Mister Caldwell,” I say walking back to the building.
I hear him reply softly, “See you tomorrow, Miss Vitelli,” as I disappear behind the doors.