Chapter Three #2
Apparition tried not to look at him, but her gaze kept drifting to him.
Would he notice that his phone had been messed with?
She busied herself refilling the coffee grinder with beans and checking the napkin dispensers.
When she glanced in his direction, his dark eyes met hers.
She recoiled, shivered, and scurried behind the counter.
Thankfully, the rush started and the flood of customers distracted her from Shawn’s presence—and his phone.
When business died down again, her phone buzzed in her pocket. Her heart twisted. What did Dad want now?
She dodged into the back to check her texts.
It worked. I’ve got access to his texts and web history.
She texted back, Good.
Apparition waited for a moment, hoping that “Great job” or “I’m proud of you” would pop up.
It didn’t. With a sigh, she returned to tidy up her workspace only to find Ethan had already finished most of it.
She positioned herself by the register and stared at the door.
This day had already gone on for way too long.
Why had she thought a normie job would be a fun experience?
If her father asked her to rob a bank right now, she’d jump at the offer.
Shawn’s phone was no longer on the table. Maybe in his pocket again? If so, why hadn’t he taken it into the bathroom with him? Was she really sure that hadn’t been a trap? After all, it had been so easy.
She doodled on the notepad again. She crossed out the aardvark and worked from the memory of Shawn’s lockscreen.
Footsteps sounded, and she glanced up as Shawn approached.
“Did you need something?” she asked.
He extended his paper cup. “Another double Americano, please.” He tossed the cup in the wastebasket then looked down. “Oh, you’re drawing. Can I see?”
He craned his neck. She resisted the urge to yank the notepad out of his sight. That might look suspicious, and she’d already done enough to make him skeptical of her.
“Hey, is that a basset hound?” His whole face brightened.
She tried not to look nervous, focusing on keeping a pleasant face. At least she wasn’t a good enough artist that he recognized it as his basset hound. “Yeah. I’m surprised you can tell. I’m not very good.”
“I think it’s great. I knew what it was immediately. Do you draw a lot? Are you going to art school?”
“No. I’m just a doodler. Keeps my hands and mind busy, and it’s an easy way to waste time.” Her cheeks warmed. Time she could’ve spent building up her stamina to use her powers more effectively.
“This is definitely not a waste. You should post some online. This sort of cartoony style is really popular right now. I bet if you made it available, people would buy stickers. I know I would. I love basset hounds—in fact, I have one.”
Her heart leaped into her throat as he pulled the phone she’d recently cloned out of his pocket. What if he somehow noticed that it had been tampered with? Would he put two and two together? Realize she’d copied the picture off his lockscreen?
Instead, he unlocked the screen and went to his photos. “This is Ears. I adopted him recently, but it already feels like he’s been my best friend for ages.” He flashed her a picture of a flop-eared, sad-eyed puppers.
“He’s adorable,” she said.
“Oh yeah, and so is your picture—Actually, I’ll give you an extra tip if you doodle a basset hound just like that onto my cup along with my name. Deal?”
His words didn’t make sense. Why would he want one of her dumb little drawings on his cup?
She considered his face. He had to be mocking her. When she drew it, would he say it wasn’t good enough and she didn’t deserve a tip?
“Tip first,” she said.
He chuckled. “Hard bargain.” He passed her a bill. “That enough?”
“It’ll do.” She picked up the cup and carefully sketched a tiny basset hound right under the word Shawn. “How’s this?”
“Perfect. I’ll treasure it always.”
She held out the cup to him.
He blinked then laughed. “I was hoping I could get some coffee in it.”
Her cheeks warmed. “Double Americano?”
“Perfect,” he said again.
As she made his drink, he returned to his table, shut down his laptop, and slipped it back in the case.
Regret filled her followed immediately by confusion.
Why did she care if he left? She’d gotten what she needed from him.
Now her only concern was lasting out the day at this stupid job and getting home to .
.. maybe see if her father would let her watch TV.
Her heart sank. She had so little to look forward to.
She placed his cup on the counter but didn’t even bother to call his name.
Shawn sauntered over, and his brow immediately furrowed. “Something wrong?”
She shook her head. “Kinda tired. Ready to go home.”
Home meaning a run-down extended stay hotel where I’ll have nothing to do and no one to talk to.
Afraid she’d start to tear up, she dropped her chin towards her chest, avoiding Shawn’s dark eyes.
“Tell you what.” He turned the paper cup slowly in his hands so that the puppy drawing faced him. “If you’re working tomorrow, I’d like to bring in Ears, my dog. Do they let dogs come in here?”
“I’d have to ask.” She glanced around. Ethan had wandered into the back again.
“Well, even if I have to leave him outside, you could maybe come out and meet him. I want to show you how much he looks like your drawing.” He held up the cup as evidence.
Her chest tightened. “I guess all basset hounds look alike,” she said quickly.
“Maybe, but to me Ears is pretty unique.” He sipped his drink and smiled. “Perfect. You’ll go far in this business.”
She twittered anxiously. “I’m only here until my basset hound drawing career takes off.”
He gave a barking laugh. “Well, then I’ll say I knew you when. See you tomorrow?”
She could only nod.
For the rest of the work day, whenever there were no customers and nothing to clean, Apparition returned to the notepad and doodled more cute animals, some flowers, and even a few people, though she didn’t love the way they turned out.
Towards the end of the shift, Ethan glanced over her shoulder. “Wow, you’re pretty good. Is that supposed to be Jasmine?”
Apparition cringed. “Yeah, but it doesn’t look much like her.”
“I mean, you’re not going for hyperrealism by any means, but I feel like you captured her essence.” He tilted his head to one side. “You’re welcome to draw me, if you’d like.” He struck a pose.
Her stupid squeaky giggle escaped again. Ethan glanced at the clock. “Speaking of Jasmine, I came over here to tell you, since her shift starts in like twenty minutes, if you want to skip out early, I can hold down the fort until then. No point in both of us being bored out of our minds.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
Ethan dumped out the tip jar and divided it up before handing her a small stack of bills and some change. “See you tomorrow, Nikki.”
Apparition shoved her tips into her pocket and scurried into the backroom to get her coat and beanie.
Her hands shook. Two people had said something nice about her drawings today.
She’d been so desperate to find something other people were interested in that she could make a connection about.
She’d never even dared to think that something she was interested in could be something other people would be drawn to.
What if she could make friends simply by being her?
A pins and needles sensation over took her whole being. Maybe she had something to offer the world beyond her superpower and its most obvious use of deceiving people so she could rob them.
After taking several deep inhalations to calm herself, she texted her father to let him know she was off early.
I’ll meet you on the corner.
Donning her coat against the chill fall breeze, she hurried out of the shop, her tips clinking in her pocket and hope quivering within her.
When she reached the corner, Mythcreant stepped out of the shadows of an alleyway and motioned for her to follow. “Hurry up. I’m hungry.”
They detoured from their path to stop in front of a convenience store. Father ordered her to wait outside before going in and emerging a few minutes later with a couple of plastic shopping bags. He switched the bags to a single hand and held out his other hand. “Tips?”
Her jaw clenched, but she reached into her pocket and pulled out the money.
“Not much. We’re going to need some more cash to last us until the end of the mission.” He pocketed this before starting to walk again.
Apparition summoned her courage. “Dad, I was wondering if maybe I could use some of the tip money to buy a sketchpad and some drawing pencils.”
He froze mid-step, his eyes snapping to her. “What for?”
“To draw with,” she stammered.
Anger wrinkled his mouth. “I know that. I’m not an idiot, but what do you want to draw for?”
“It’s something to do, and I think I could be good at it.”
“It’s a useless thing to be good at. You can’t rob banks with a drawing.” Mythcreant sniffed. “You have more important things to think about.” He passed her one of the shopping bags. “I scoped out a few places we can hit for fast cash. We need to eat and suit up.”
Her heart dropped into her stomach. Apparently her normie vacation was over. Time to get back to her real life as a supervillian.