My Sweet Mistake

“So, have you always lived here?” Ryan asked me as I put away my books from my locker. I nodded ‘yes’ and shut my locker.

“So what’s it like to live in a fairly small town for all your life?” I shrugged my shoulders as we walked out the door after school.

“Alright I guess. I travel a lot so it’s not like I’ve never seen the world or anything like that.” He nodded and looked over my shoulder.

“I think Brendon’s calling my name, I’d better go, I’d guess.” He almost seemed hesitant as he brushed past me. “But I’ll see you tomorrow?” It sounded like a question, so I nodded in reply.

“Cool," he said, with a sly smile playing on his lips, “See you.”

I turned around and started walking toward the cafe, thinking of my counselling session this morning. Mrs. Austern had said that I should think about starting at a sport club or group to ‘get my confidence back’. I’d tried most sports when I was young, but my father got so involved that he’d been asked to leave multiple times. I sighed when I heard Ele and Jesse call my name.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” Ele and Jesse matched their pace with mine as we crossed the noisy highway.

“Not much, I guess. How’s Ryan?” Ele asked with a smirk.

“What’s that meant to mean?” I took offence at her tone, and I adjusted my school bag on my back.

“Nothing! Sorry, it’s just he kind attached himself to your hip today, that’s all.” Ele defended her prior statement and raised her hands in defence.

“Well, he seems nice enough. That’s enough for me, anyway. Where’s Laura, anyway? Didn’t she come today?” Jesse looked up from her mobile to answer my question.

“Nah, ‘sick’, apparently” she made hand quotation marks with her fingers and grinned. “She’s coming tomorrow, though.”

“Sweet. Hey, I’ve got a shift down at the cafe, I’ll see you guys later?” Ele and Jesse nodded and hugged me good bye.

Work was usually the same boring, repetitive stuff. I chucked my bag in the back room and grabbed an apron, tying it behind my back.

“Hey, Jasey! How are you?” Jane, my boss asked as I came behind the counter to work the till.

“Hey, alright I guess, you?” She nodded once and handed a man his coffee.

“Yeah, great! But we’ve been busy all day!” She sighed with a smile and rubbed her temple.
“Oh, well I can handle it here, if you want to take a break.” She nodded again and untied her apron, opening the door to the back room. I went over to some empty tables and cleared them, being careful not to break any of the crockery.

I emptied the tray into the dishwasher and headed back out to the cash register. Standing there was someone who’d become a familiar face in the last couple of hours.
“Hey! I didn’t know you worked here,” he said as he leaned on the counter.

“Yeah, after school and stuff. Can I get you something?” He looked up at the chalk board that hung above my head, reading the menu.

“Hmmm, can I just get a latte?” I nodded and took out a mug to make the coffee in.
“So, how was your first day?” I pushed some buttons on the coffee machine and it started to buzz. When it did that, I leant on my side of the bench, facing Ryan.

“Terrible. After our math class, I got lost heading to the gym. Then after that I couldn’t find my way to my music class. To top it off, when I got to the office I’d lost all of my registration papers. Terrible. .” I couldn’t stop myself from laughing, and Ryan gave me an evil look.
“Don’t you have a job to do?” He snarled, with a deadly serious expression on his face.

“Oh, uhhm yeah, I do.” I stood up and walked back to the counter, hurt by his harsh words. Why did his mood change so suddenly?

“Jasey?” I contemplated ignoring him for the rest of my entire life, but then I thought better of it, and took the polite route.

“Yeah?” I stood behind the counter again.
“I was kidding, Jasey. Geez!” He laughed and stood up, coming over to the counter for the second time today. He handed me a ten dollar note and winked.

“Keep the change. I’m off, so see you tomorrow.” Before I could return the greeting he was out the door.