Olivia had invited Lucas to meet up with her over the weekend. They met up in the morning at a brunch place that was a bit too pricey for Lucas’ liking, though he had never been and Olivia had insisted that the food was good. Olivia had also said that she was willing to pay for their food, but Lucas brought his wallet anyway with the intent to cover at least half the bill.

“Thank goodness we’re here! I ate all my meal prep food and I really didn’t want to cook this morning!” Olivia was eagerly looking through the menu, though she already had in mind what she wanted to eat. They were sitting outside and it was a cloudy day, which Lucas liked since it meant that the sunlight would not be in their eyes the whole time.

“What’s good here?” Lucas looked for the smallest numbers in the price column.

“I’m getting the omelet, toast, and salmon set! But the caprese panini is good too.” Lucas didn’t consider either of those but instead decided he was going to have the pear salad, which was still expensive but was significantly cheaper than everything else on the menu.

“Are you ready to order?” Olivia was already looking around to flag down a staff member. Lucas nodded when she turned back to him, and a waitress began walking over to their table when she saw Olivia’s raised hand. They told the waitress what they wanted and she took note of it in her notepad. The waitress asked if they wanted anything to drink, to which Olivia responded with “lemonade” and Lucas responded with “just water.”

“So? Anything exciting happening lately?” Even though Olivia saw Lucas all the time, they never really had the time to talk in depth about what happens in their personal lives. It has been a week since Lucas started working at Cafe En Gard, and he thought about all the stress and horrors that occurred at work so far.

“Work has been tough, but it’s alright. I guess my co-workers are cool.”

“That’s good. You always need someone you can get through hard things with,” Olivia said smiling. Lucas just nodded. They sat in silence for a bit, and Lucas didn’t know what to say.

“I’m beginning to finalize grad school applications. I know it’s still a bit early, but I’m glad I’m beginning to wrap up with the essays and forms. I can’t wait to get this application process over with,” Olivia said with a sigh. Lucas knew Olivia had been working on applying to graduate school during the past few months.

“Where do you think you want to go?”

“Honestly, anywhere that will accept me,” Olivia said laughing. “But, it would be nice to stay here. I like our school and I’m already used to living here.” Lucas laughed and softly said “okay.” He thought Nascenshire was a boring place and would never willingly choose to stay there any longer. “What about you? What are you planning on doing after graduating?” Olivia asked. Lucas froze. He never thought about what to do after college. For his whole life, it had been ingrained in him by his parents that his whole purpose was to go to school and get good grades. As an adult and nearing the end of university, he didn’t know what to do. He never had to critically think about what to do next, and now he was presented with the true openness of the real world and real adult life.

“I don’t know,” said Lucas.

“Well, I suppose you still have some time left to decide. I don’t think it’s too late to apply to graduate school. I think you could crank out those essays in just a month or so.” Olivia tried to provide some relief to Lucas, but it was evident that what she said did the opposite. The idea of rushing into the graduate school application cycle only stressed out Lucas. “Or, I mean, you could decide to do something else. Or take some time off after graduation to figure things out! There’s no shame in that!”

“I guess so. I’m sure I’ll figure something out eventually.”

The food arrived and Olivia was excited. They ate without talking, fully focused on eating and enjoying the food. When they finished, the waitress noticed their empty plates and came to pick them up.

“Can we get the check, please?” Olivia asked. The waitress nodded as she picked up the plates. As the waitress began walking back, Olivia began taking out her wallet and she saw that Lucas also took his wallet out.

“Hey! I told you I was going to pay!”

“Don’t be silly, you know I can’t let you cover the whole thing yourself.”

“Miss, here!” Olivia stuck her hand out with her credit card to the waitress before she even placed the check on the table. The waitress was a bit shocked, but took the credit card nonetheless and walked off. Lucas laughed and said “oh my goodness” under his breath.

“At least let me pay the tip.”

“Alright, fine,” Olivia said, putting her hands up in defeat. The waitress came back with Olivia’s credit card and a receipt for Olivia to sign off. Lucas placed the tip in cash on the table. They both got up and waved goodbye to the waitress as they left the restaurant.

“Any plans for the rest of the day?” Olivia asked.

“Yeah, I have to work this afternoon.”

“Dang, they really work you to the bone,” commented Olivia. Lucas never specified the way he got the job or the agreement he made with Valerie. Olivia doesn’t even know what happened to Lucas’ scholarship. All she knew was that Lucas just decided to get a job at a coffee shop one day. “Well, I suppose you have to get going.”

Lucas checked the time. He still had a bit of time left, but it was not enough time for them to do anything else together. “Yeah, I guess I should go.”

Lucas got to the cafe a little before one P.M., which was the weekend opening time. The door was locked and he couldn’t see anyone inside. He stood by the door and scrolled on his phone, and then the door swung open and hit his shoulder.

“Oops, sorry!” Emilio held his hand to his mouth as he giggled. “I didn’t see you there. Come in!”

They entered the cafe together, and Valerie was preparing the menu chalkboards. Lucas went into the break room to put on his uniform. Once it hit one P.M., Emilio flipped the sign on the door to “open,” and they stood behind the counter as usual. For a while, no one was coming in. Lucas would never understand why the cafe opens late on weekends, or why there were weekend hours if they were the only staff, thus making everyone work every single day.

“So, do you have anything you like doing for fun? Like, any hobbies?” Emilio asked Lucas.

“Well, not really. School used to be pretty busy so I spent the first years of college just studying. Now that my class schedule is lighter,” Lucas turned his eyes to Emilio and grinned, “my new hobby is slaving away here all day.”

“Okay, well,” Emilio said, holding his hands up, “it was your choice to come here.” He began laughing, and Lucas did, too.

“I suppose so,” said Lucas. It didn’t feel like he had a choice, but he technically did. His choices were work or get in big trouble with the school and his parents. “I used to be in a journal club at school. I don’t know if that could be considered a fun hobby, but it was something I did outside of class.”

“So, you all journal together or something?”

“No, we read science journal articles.”

“Science journals?”

“You know what, I don’t think you would understand.”

Emilio just laughed and Lucas didn’t quite get why he was laughing.

The door opened and Lucas saw a familiar face walk through the door. It was Irene, who Lucas remembered loved the cafe. Her eyes widened for a split second when she saw Lucas behind the counter.

“Hi! It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. It’s also been a while since I’ve been here in-person. I’ve been trying lots of new places.” Irene scratched her head as she looked up at the menu.

“How have you been?” Lucas felt nervous asking about her.

“Oh, you know…” Irene smiled and gave out a laugh that made it obvious that things were not exactly amazing. “School is always hard. You know just as well as me.”

“How is journal club? Are things going well?” Lucas tried asking in a way that encouraged a positive answer, but he saw through the forced smile Irene showed in return. Lucas’ smile faltered and Irene decided to say it as it was.

“I’m both the vice-president and treasurer now. The treasurer position technically doesn’t exist anymore, but they merged it into the vice-president role after I took over for you, so I basically do both roles.” Irene paused for a moment. “It’s sort of a lot, but I still miraculously make it all happen. Also grad school applications take a bit of time, too. It’s midterms season, too, so maybe after the exams things won’t be so terrible.”

“I’m sorry, that sounds awful.” Lucas felt like it was partially his fault, though he had no influence in how the club operated after his departure, or anything that happened in Irene’s life.

“Oh, no, don’t be sorry. I’m fine, really.” Irene quickly looked behind her. “I didn’t even order yet! Thank goodness I’m the only one here. I’ll have a large iced latte. With two extra shots of espresso.” Lucas punched in some numbers on the calculator.

“That will be six dollars.”

Irene gave a five dollar bill and one dollar bill and Lucas stored it away in one of the money box drawers. Irene walked to one of the tables and took out her laptop and a thick file folder. She read through some papers until Emilio called out her order. Once she got back to her seat, she put on a huge set of bright pink headphones, took a very long sip of her drink, and began clacking away at her computer. Occasionally, she would look down at a paper on the table.

Other customers would come in and order a drink and leave. Some would come to the cafe in a small group of two or three, chat for a bit at a table, and leave within an hour. But Irene stayed at the table in the corner of the cafe, even though her drink had been finished a long time ago. She kept working away for hours, only taking two breaks to use the restroom.

When six P.M. rolled around, it was time for Lucas to leave. He waved at Irene as he walked towards the door, and she looked up from her computer and waved back. Irene stayed in her seat, continuing on with her work.

“Excuse me, I’m so sorry, we are actually closing now.”

Irene looked up and saw Valerie looking down at her with a gentle smile.

“Oh, right!” Irene shoved her papers into her file folder and packed up her stuff. Once she walked out the door, Valerie began wiping down the door and Emilio cleaned up the table Irene sat at.

It was silent for a couple minutes in the cafe, until the door opened and a man wearing a gray suit walked in.

“Hello, Valerie. Emilio.”

“Hello, Jayden. Thank goodness it’s you today,” Valerie said. “I can’t stand that other lady.”

Jayden walked towards the counter where Valerie and Emilio were.

“I know she can be a hassle. Anyways, should we start the inspection? I don’t want to delay opening time,” Jayden said.

“Yeah,” Valerie responded, looking at Jayden. “Maybe we should start with the financial stuff? The files are all in the break room.”

“Sounds good, let’s see it,” said Jayden as he made his way behind the counter and into the break room.

Before heading in, Valerie and Emilio turned to each other, and Valerie smirked. In her head, everything was going perfectly.