Chiron

My jaw drops in astonishment. “YouTube? Really? Are you fucking with me?” I raise an eyebrow at her cheeky grin and whisper over my shoulder to Leo, “Is she fucking with me?” He gives me another delicious, low, rumbly chuckle and shakes his head.

 “All Ky does is watch coffee stuff on YouTube. There’s this silver fox dude with glasses on there she’s madly in love with.” Ky, squeaks out an indignant sound, stepping over to Leo and punching his shoulder.

 “Shudup you! Like you’ve got any room to talk! Angel this and Angel that, blah blah blah.” She rolls her eyes at him bringing her hand up to puppet him talking. She grabs a cloth from the counter and huffs, “I’m ignoring you now” and turns away to clean the espresso machine. Mom comes back with the broom and sweeps up the cup shards, dumping them in the bin, not phased in the slightest that both Leo and Ky are behind the counter. 

“Be right back, just getting the mop!” She throws over her shoulder as she walks back into the kitchen. I shake my head at her, a smile playing on my lips at her easy going nature. Leo still has a hold of me, cold water still flowing over my arm. I shiver a little and Leo pulls my body closer to him. 

“Water too cold?” he asks me, his warm, minty breath fanning over my cheek. I bite my lip, looking back at him. 

“A little? My arm doesn’t hurt any more though, we can probably turn off the water now. I don’t think it’s a bad burn.” He releases my wrist and turns off the water. Picking up the hand towel draped on the edge of the sink, he gently pats my arm dry then lifts it. 

“Lemme have a look, ya may need some burn cream.” Holding my wrist again with one hand, he trails the fingertips of his other lightly up my arm, assessing the damage. I take in a shuddery shallow breath, my skin breaking out into goosebumps. My inner forearm and wrist are splotchy light pink, but since it doesn’t hurt anymore, I carefully tug my hand out of his grip. 

Looking up into his eyes, I say softly, “I’m okay, don’t worry.” Gazing into each other’s eyes, for a moment the world falls away. Until Mom comes clattering back into the room, wheeling the mop bucket in front of her and breaking the spell. I force myself to turn away from Leo, taking the mop from my Mom.

“Really, you guys shouldn’t be back here. I’ll take care of this, go on.” I shoo them all out from behind the counter and quickly mop up the coffee spill, trying to act as calm as possible, not letting any of the internal roiling emotions slip out. 

Leo immediately catches Mom’s attention, side eyeing me as he tells her, “Ms. Miller, we’ll take the apartment. How soon can I sign a lease and move in?” She beams up at him. 

“That’s excellent news! If you have the deposit ready you can sign the lease today. I’ll give you the keys and you can move in any time you want. But, please, call me Autumn! Why don’t we go to the office and we can get it all sorted out?” Leo nods and turns to Ky, giving her a stern look.

“Can ya stay here and keep outta trouble while I sign the lease?” She rolls her eyes at him, putting her hand on her cocked hip, and sighs like he’s the most annoying person she’s ever met.

“Course I can, I ain’t you. I gotta talk to this guy anyway, he said he’ll gimme a job, remember?” She sticks her thumb out in my direction. He nods at her and turns to follow my Mom back towards the shop’s office. Ky steps up to the counter, resting her elbows there and leaning in closer. 

“Thank fuck, I hate that tiny shithole we’re in now. It's a shoebox and my brother’s a big dude.” She pauses for a second, then furrows her brows and bites the inside of her cheek. “Shit, I sound really ungrateful. It ain’t like I don't appreciate him lettin’ me stay with him. But, he's gotta sleep on the couch, and it makes him snore so damn loud! Our shit is fuckin’ everywhere cause there's no closets! The oven and the shower are broke, and there's no privacy. Nada. Dude, sometimes ya gotta have privacy, if ya know what I mean.” She speaks progressively faster with each sentence and as she takes a breath to continue speaking, I hold up my hand to stop her. She snaps her mouth closed. 

“Well, I'm glad your trials are finally over and you've found something more suited to your needs. But, I don't know if Leo would be happy about you telling me every intimate detail in the middle of the cafe. Why don't we start with names first, yeah?” I raise my eyebrow at her, hoping my reminder that we're complete strangers helps to keep her from spilling all her embarrassing secrets. She giggles and gives me a sheepish grin.

“Sorry, I feel like I already know you. Leo hasn't shut up about ya in like two whole weeks. You're his Angel right?” She cocks her head to the side, a curious, questioning look on her face. “But, I'm confused, your Ma called you Hear-ron? That's a weird name. I thought your name was Angel?” She mangles the Greek pronunciation of my name, her southern accent not helping her get the emphasis correct. I shake my head at her, biting my lip so as not to laugh. A blush dusts my cheeks at 'his Angel.'

Could Leo have been as affected by our meeting as I was? Has he really been talking to his sister about me since? What could he possibly have said about clumsy, boring me? I decide to blow right past the revelations regarding Leo - I’ll circle back to them another time, probably screaming into my pillow later this evening - and clear up the mistake about my name. 

“Sorry for the confusion. No, my name isn't Angel. I think Leo was teasing me about the wardrobe choices I made the night we met. My name is Chiron,” I use the English pronunciation of my name, enunciating the syllables clearly - Kai-ron, “but you can call me Chi, most people do. My name is from Greek mythology, and my Mom says it with that pronunciation because I’m half Greek. But, she's literally the only one that says it that way outside of Greece.” She blinks at me for a moment, processing the long explanation, her eyes glazing over. 

Then she shakes her head and says, “Ha! Chi and Ky! We can tell people y'all gotta be named Ky to work here! The name of the cafe totally makes way more sense now.” Bursting into more bubbly laughter. I can already tell, I’m going to get along with Ky, even if she might prove to be a handful. Steering us back onto the topic, I smile brightly and hold out my hand for her to shake.

“So, I’m Chiron Miller - co-owner and manager of Chi’s Cup of Joy, and you are?” Her laughter dies down, but she still has a big grin on her face. 

“Sorry, that just tickled me. I’m Kylie Mills. It seems you already met Leo and stole his heart. Or cast a spell on him with all that voodoo shit in the shop?” She takes my hand and shakes it, trying to hold back another round of laughter at the shock and embarrassment that immediately takes over my face. 

“Uh, no, I did no such thing. I’m surprised he didn’t run screaming from the building when he saw I was here after what happened. The poor guy got into a fist fight for fuck’s sake. I’m actually really surprised he’s taking the apartment, since I seem to be a bad luck charm. You guys must be in a really tight spot.” She nods her head up and down vehemently in agreement. 

Then she cocks her head to the side and says, “I’m not surprised he fell for you or that he beat the shit outta that asshole. He told me what happened when he got home. That's just how Leo is, he protects people, and that’s a bad trigger for him. He would’ve stayed and waited for you, but I texted him. I thought someone was tryn’ to get into the apartment and I was scared bein’ alone.” I watch her thoughtfully while I rummage through my memory of the night in the club. Which part of the fight was triggering  for him? I mean, the guy he beat up was a dickhead of the highest order and I was incredibly offended by his words, but not triggered exactly. And, what is it about me that made her so unsurprised I had apparently stolen his heart? She must be exaggerating, she seems like the type to give people a bit of a cheeky teasing. But, we’ve gotten off topic again. 

Clearing my throat, I start again. “Anyway, it’s great to meet you Kylie. So, would you be interested in taking a barista role here with me? I would only need you to cover a couple of shifts through the week and we can work around school hours if that’s a problem. I assume you’re of legal age to work?” She nods her head again. 

“Yeah, I’m 17. But we don’t gotta work around school hours, I’m getting my GED. I can study on my time off. Just can’t work Wednesdays, that’s group day.” I furrow my eyebrows and bring my hand up to chew on my thumb nail while I think about what paperwork I have to do to employ a minor. It may take a couple of weeks to get everything sorted. I look back at Kylie, she’s waiting for me to continue with barely restrained glee.

 “Okay, so I have to get a permit to employ a minor before you can start working. That may take a couple of weeks, but I’ll submit the paperwork online today. On the plus side, it will give you some time to move house and to settle in before you have to start working. Can you come in sometime next week? You can show me what else you can do, we’ll see if I need to train you for anything, and we can decide on a schedule that works. How does that sound?” She lets out a sharp, high pitched squeal and does a little happy dance. Pumping her fists and wiggling like an excited puppy. 

She starts to sing under her breath as part of the victory celebration, “Yeah! Fuck yeah! Gonna be a bar-ee-sta! Everything’s comin’ up Milhouse! I knew this was gonna be a fuckn’ great day!” I’m laughing, glad that she’s so excited to work at the cafe. She's still singing and dancing when Leo comes back a couple of minutes later. 

He takes one look at her and rolls his eyes, grinning at me and asking, “What set her off this time?” I grin back at him, melting a little at the obvious affection between the two siblings.

 “I think she’s just happy to get a new place and a new job all in one day.” Kylie launches herself at Leo, hugging him tightly. Then, she pulls away, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement. 

“That’s right! Gimme, gimme the keys! I wanna go back upstairs and pick out my room!” He chuckles at her enthusiasm, handing her the apartment key. Immediately, she rushes off before he can say another word. Smiling wistfully, Leo turns and leans against the counter between us. His beautiful brown eyes take me in.

 He sighs contentedly and says, “Hi Angel. I’m so happy I found ya again.”