Chapter 3
Chapter 3 (Ava)
Café girl? That’s what she had said. She hadn’t said it in a sweet, cliché tone but this disgusted, opinionated, ‘I know fucking everything about you’. The actual hell was her problem.
Ava had stormed into the apartment, startling Mary in the process. Ava had marched home from campus, straight through the door and all but forced the beer Mary had just swigged right out with her mouth, and a startled yell of “What the actually fuck Ava!” Ava ignored Mary’s protests and attempts to clean her chin of liquid. She simply huffed and collapsed onto the coach.
“Café girl, she called me café girl. The audacity! Talking like she knows me. That prissy, stick-up- her-ass girl.” Ava all but spilled out in anger. Mary was half listening, Ava could tell. More focused on finding any beer-soaked patches that she had missed.
Mary had patted down all the wet spots, finally placing her attention on Ava, still rather pissed off glint in her eyes, “Hello Ava, how are you? I’m good thanks. Who the fuck are we talking about?” Sarcasm laced in each part of her sentence, and Ava could let her get away with it she supposed. “I personally would hate being café girl, but in all honesty, I expect you to melt at that shit.”
“And any other day I would, but she definitely didn’t mean it as a term of endearment. It was judgmental, prissy. Acting like she knows who I am.” Ava simply stares at the roof above her, but she could feel the confusion radiate off Mary, hearing the shuffle of her body weight as she sits further upright. Ava knew she should explain, but did she really want to take heat from Mary right now? She was self-pitying her interaction today and she did not need Mary to patronize her over how she landed up in the situation.
“I’m going to take a wild guess: You did something stupid, and she got mad? And possibly for a good reason…” Okay so Mary pretty much figured it out, it was a classic Ava move.
“Okay so you’re not entirely wrong…”, she saw the knowing look Mary gave her across the space. “You pretty much nocked the nail on the head. I may have… Ridden into the girl and put her flat on her ass.” Ava let out a nervous laugh, trying to delay the inevitable scolding she was about to receive.
“Classy Ava, very classy. There are other methods of getting girls on their asses you know.” Mary was enjoying this, only smirking with her words. “Okay, but why are you mad, I love you Ava, but I can’t defend you on this one. All evidence points to you being the dumbass.”
“Thank you, Mary. Pointing out the obvious.” Ava deadpans. “Nah she started off on this whole, ‘I saw you at the café this morning chucking your board and being late’ as if she’s fucking met me before this whole incident. Making this statement about me being tardy, and mean she’s not wrong, but still… You know it’s the idea of ‘I get to say it, not you’.” Mary nodded in agreement, to which part Ava wasn’t sure. “But then she went on to say that I had ‘little concern for anyone or my board’. I mean how can she just say that, with barely half an interaction.”
Ava stopped the ramble of words coming out her mouth. Stopping to take a deep breath and contain her frustrations for this girl. Ava glanced over to Mary, seeing a soft thoughtful look take on her usual hard exterior. She then, steadily let’s out her breath to say, “What a prissy asshole.”
“I know right!” Ava all but exclaims. “What’s even funnier: I was running back to make sure she was okay and not hurt, I was trying to check on her and hand back her phone…” She had stopped midsentence, realization dawning on her, “Shit her phone. I never gave it back.” Ava reaches into her back pocket, catching one of the shards of glass on the screen. She pulled the phone out to examine the tech. Calling it a phone was one way of putting it. It was totaled. Smashed to pieces, shards of glass sticking out from the screen. Said screen, “Oh shit…” The screen sat there flashing like a SOS signal, with green and purple stripes running down its length. That was not a phone Ava decided, but rather a very fucked up slab of wires and circuits.
Mary perking up to have a look at what Ava held in her hand, “So how many shifts are you gonna need to work in order to pay for that?”
“I have no idea…” Ava just started down at the slab of technology, mouth agape. “I swear I didn’t hit her that hard. I can only think it was already a piece of junk…”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night Ava.” Mary only began to laugh at how much she had messed up this time. Ava only gave her the middle finger in response. She was too busy figuring out how many shifts she would need to take just to hand in the phone for the repair.
Another point that had dawned on Ava was that she had to give either this junk or an entirely new phone back to the girl. Mary must have seen the dawning of the issue and broke down into further laughs and tears. Ava wanted to melt right there, on their TV room floor. “I’m going to kill you, Ava.” She all but whispers to herself.
***
She had firmly declined another late-night skate session with JC, knowing that if she were to test Hans’ limits just one more time, she would be out of a job very, very quickly. Everyone had their limits, and Ava found out that yesterday morning, she had truly been dancing on the edge of Hans’ limits. So, there she was, sluggishly sipping her cup of coffee, the apartment eerily quiet. Mary hadn’t returned from her shift just yet, about 2 hours Ava mentally checked with herself. The sun flittered through the linen curtains. Ava wanders over to the open window, deciding to enjoy her cup of coffee while basking in the soft sunlight and light breeze that drifted through the apartment.
She contemplated with herself as to whether maybe she should build up a routine of getting up early but laughed at the thought. Ava was not a morning person, she despised those who got up for ‘exercise’ or ‘it’s really good for you’. Staying in bed was good for you and Ava would die on that hill. But occasionally she could let it slide, like this very morning. Hans was going to be so impressed, and Mary too. A small amount of pride struck in her chest at the thought: of surprising the people around her. She headed to her bedroom, finishing off her coffee on the short walk. She would get dressed and go in and open the café.
She had skated pretty much her entire life, inspired by her mother’s interest in the sport, which meant Ava had pretty much experienced all the feelings of skating and gliding through streets. But she found that this morning, she had been wrong. She skated along the beachfront, the morning air brushing across her face, sweeping the strands of hair that escaped from underneath her cap. The sun glowed across her skin, warming her ever so slightly. It was a change to the humid air that clings to her face. She glided across the pavement, taking in the view around her: The waves broke softly against the beach below her, gulls drifted across the sky, it was quiet, peaceful. Very few people were out, cars were few, which was a change to the normal bustle. There were some out on a run, which was gross, but she appreciated in the beauty of the morning with them. Ava decided that this was now her favorite time to skate and would possibly make more of an effort to use the summer mornings that remained.
Ava began to approach the topic of her stress, or the area of where her stress had occurred. She slowed down ever so slightly. She would stop, just to examine the area. She knew there was no answers there, and not that she was looking for answers, there wasn’t any. But she did want to just examine the area for her own peace of mind. But she noticed a figure stood there, leaned against the wooden rails of the beachfront. They had their gaze fixed out onto the horizon of the pacific. Seemingly lost in thought or watching the barges that settled on the horizon. Ava rode in closer to see the person slightly glance in her direction and abruptly pull their gaze away from Ava and back to the barges. Ava was going to stop by the spot, but decided the person was enjoying their peace. But on Ava’s approach, the person glanced back to Ava at the noise of her wheels. Ava finally saw that the person was in fact the very girl she had run over yesterday. Ava was not going to stick around, but she did keep her gaze fixed on her, as did the women. Wordless exchanges Ava disliked very much and was never very good with them, but she hoped that her glare channeled everything she felt, and it did as she heard a scoff from the women as she rode past.
Ava passed her and continued the path to the café, that was a few meters down. As the red stairs of the café came into view, she sped up, racing into the parameter and skidding to a halt. Ava opened the door in a test to see if she had beaten Hans. She had. With that knowledge, Ava’s smile grew brighter as she fished the keys out of her kangaroo pouch of her dungarees. Unlocking the entrance and placing her board behind the door, out of the way of any customers and staff.
She was greeted by the standard, yet heart-warming smell of coffee and the flowers Hans had placed across the area. The café had been left in the same state as when Ava had left yesterday. Hans had made sure she thoroughly cleaned, washed up and placed the seats on top of the tables. She had done it begrudgingly yesterday afternoon, pissed off with Hans that she was going to be well and truly late for her lecture, but standing here now: Fuck was she thankful that she had cleaned up. Ava was out to surprise Hans, but cleaning up the mess from yesterday, this early? One miracle at time.
She set to work placing the chairs along the circular table, she wiped each down. While doing her brief cleaning duties, she set the coffee machines to boil, readying each with fresh coffee in time for the early risers. Along with setting up the coffee and drink machines, she prepped the pastries and small biscuits that they sold all in the glass display cases. She then made her way outside, drying cloth in hand, and set to wipe down the dew-covered tables and open the shade-umbrellas. Ava was pretty much done, besides the small touches here and there. She propped herself up onto the wooden beams that lined the cafes parameter and basked in the rising sun and cool ocean breeze. She noted that the barges that lay on the horizon still had not moved from their earlier position. She wondered where they were going: Had they just come in, and were waiting in line to enter the port? Or are they heading out, and was asked by the coastguard to standby, to maintain order as each barge filtered out of the Californian costal sector into international waters.
Ava’s gaze flickered to where she had seen the girl on her way to work. The area was vacant, except for a single sea gull that had perched itself directly into the oncoming breeze, feathers ruffling ever so slightly as the wind caught underneath feathered layers. Ava pulled her phone out from her back pocket of her dungarees, noting the time. She still had twenty minutes till opening. Hans would be due in soon, she thought. While she appreciated the quiet morning, she fixated her gaze back onto the solitary gull. She smiled at how content the bird seemed. Which sparked another thought: there was some old bread in the back of the kitchen, what harm would there be in treating the gull to some rye?
Ava found out very quickly, that there was in fact a lot of harm in giving the solitary gull some rye. She had placed it on the railing a few meters from where the gull sat, giving space between her and the bird. It started out peaceful and calm. But soon as she had ripped off a second peace of the bread, the once solitary gull, was now joined by another, and another, and another. Until roughly ten seagulls crowded and attacked Ava for the piece of bread she held. The once peaceful morning, now transformed into chaos of flapping wings, scratching, load ear piercing squawks and the undeniable scream of Ava as she flapped her hands aimlessly in the air in an attempt to get the birds to leave her alone. It became particularly frustrating when the piece of bread had been finished, and she was now just being attacked for the sake of being attacked.
“Fuck off you dumb birds; this is why we can’t have anything nice dammit!” She could have sworn as she flapped her arms in the air, she had managed to swat a seagull in the process. Her suspicions confirmed when a pulsing pain went through her hand and the screech of the seagull as it fell, “Shit, shit. Um… whoops… Okay fine I’ll give you some bread later as a truce? How about that, yes?” Those passing by the scene, stopped briefly in their tracks to examine the sight in front of them, only to look at Ava in slightly confusion and amusement. “Glad to know everybody else finds this funny”, she muttered to herself.
In and amongst many of the commuters, out came Hans wearing a confused look, but realization dawning on him, which lead to his head being thrown back in laughter, “Ava?” He questioned with tears in his eyes, and lack of breath.
Ava huffed, “Morning Hans.”
Hans, after multiple laughing fits and heaving breaks, had helped Ava out of the flock of demonic birds. She had managed to avoid being shat on and little of her blood was drawn, all she had to do was fix her disheveled look, which at first thought was easy, but proved to be a lot more painstakingly longer due to her thick curly hair. Her hair had been noted to hell and gone, her elastic band well and truly tied into her hair, drawing out high-pitched yelps from Ava at each attempt to untangle the band from the curly mess. She had, at last, managed to get it out and slide it onto her wrist for safe keeping. She wet her hands and ran her fingers through her nest of brown hair, snagging out as many knots as she could. By the time she was finished, she was in pain and just wanted to start her day. Her hair now tied back into a small bun at the back-center of her head, she splashed some water across her face, breathing deeply and letting out her breath slowly, she turned to make her way out to the café, that was now open.
She had just gotten back to the main tills, taking down some inventory when she felt a presence from the opposite side of the wooden counter, and then an abrupt clearing of a throat. It was this that caused Ava’s head to shoot up in alarm. When she finally locked eyes with the customer, she was engulfed in smooth honey almost doe-like eyes. Ava tracked the women’s features, scanning across her lightly red shaded cheeks, with freckles dotted across the surface. She continued her path down, landing on her lips: they were not pinched in anger, nor was there a smile. Her lips fell into a neutral state, but if Ava looked hard enough, she could see the curve of annoyance striking down. It was this thought that caused Ava to zone out of each individual feature, and place the pieces together. Ava’s intrigue in the women immediately shifted into a mutual annoyance. Ava showing it much more than the women opposite her.
Ava stood back even further, almost knocking into the coffee machines that sat on the back counter. She allowed herself to take in prissy, stick-up-her-ass girl. Her highlighted hair was tied back into a low bun, a single strand of hair left loose framing her face perfectly. A dirty white dress shirt neatly tucked into dark brown pants, held together by simple brown belt. A leather briefcase had been slung across her chest. Ava could only assume she was off to work or college. Her cuffed sleeves seemed tight against her upper bicep, and all Ava could think in that moment was how fucking hot the women was before her. Ava felt herself flush at her thoughts and decided that breaking the silence would put her mind back on track.
Ava stretched out her arms, lazily across the back counter, leaning into them. She locked eyes with the girl, and put on her best working voice and bright smile, “What can I get ya?” She felt like adding a sarcastic quip but thought better of it. The woman before her stepped forward, extending her arms, her very defined arms, in front of her onto the countertop. She locked eyes with Ava once more, but that annoyed look that was once there, was replaced with a fiery glint. Most likely anger, but Ava couldn’t help but notice the way woman’s eyes trailed down Ava’s figure, and the glint in her eyes burning brighter.
Fuck.
The women finally broke her silence, and God Ava was about to melt right there and then. How had she not noticed the upper class English accent before? “Well Ava… Good to see that you’re not late today.” Still an asshole, but a hot British asshole at that.
“How’d you know my name…” But the woman in front of her simply lifted her index finger and tapped her left breast pocket, “Right yeah, name tag.” Ava grumbled out, slightly humiliated with her lack of observation and thought. “Good to see you’re still making empty assumptions about strangers.”
The woman’s face shifted into a some-what coy smile, “So you were late today as well. God how do you still have a job here?” That had done it for Ava, she had remined calm up until that point. She glared and stepped forward, meeting the woman across the counter with a ruler’s length to spare. Ava was further annoyed at how she still maintained that prissy look across her face.
“You know for a fact I was not late this morning, at least I’m trying to correct my fucks ups.” Ava noted the cringe across the women’s face at the use of her language, it allowed Ava to regain some of her cool knowing she could get under skin with such a simple method.
“So, you’re saying that you get up early one morning, and suddenly you’re a changed woman…” She scoffed.
Ava smirked, “Maybe you should try it, you would piss off a lot less people with your ‘I know everything about you attitude’. Promise it works wonders.”
She glared at Ava, with a small shake of her head she muttered, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” A flash of sadness passed across her facial features, it was this that made Ava lay off the women slightly, but only slightly. She was still stuck up.
“I am guessing you are here for your phone, yes?” The women nodded and Ava fished it out of her back pocket where it sat with her very own device. It looked worse than the previous day. But when Ava looked up to gauge the women’s reaction, there was absolutely no emotion. No matter how deep Ava scanned her features, she didn’t pick out any anger, disappointment, fear. Not even relief for God’s sake. She remained impassive, even as Ava gingerly slid the phone across to her side of the counter, allowing for her to pick it up and examine the damage herself.
She finally looked up at Ava, that impassive look remaining, “You could have given this to me this morning you know?” Her tone carried no emotion either. It was a steady, firm response. Ava was left entirely puzzled.
Ava decided, that instead of questioning the woman’s reaction, she simply looked up from the phone and smiled, “But where’s the fun in that?” Finally, her impassive look broke, revealing a small and light smile that would have been missed if Ava had not been fixated on the women’s reaction.
“I suppose.”
The woman began to turn around, making her way to the front doors when Ava called out above the café bustle, “Oh by the way, is my skateboard in a better place for your liking? Just wanted to get your stamp of approval. I mean you know what they say, a complete stranger’s opinion about you is in fact the most important.” Ava intended it to be a lighthearted joke, but when the woman did not react immediately, Ava began to fear she had crossed a line. But then just as the women was about to step out the door, she looked down at the skateboard, nodded and gave Ava a small thumbs-up.
“Much better Ava.” Then she left, but Ava stayed in her place A small, microscopic feeling bubbled in her stomach and her cheeks coloured in a soft pink.