Winter break passed and Lucas entered his final semester of university. Contrary to what he had anticipated, there were no feelings of melancholy for college being almost over, or even excitement in being almost done. It felt like another semester, full of work and sleep deprivation. This semester, he had no classes with Olivia, arguably his only friend at school. Perhaps everything would be okay, though. It was only one more semester.

It was also one more semester worth of tuition payments. Work at the cafe resumed as usual, with his earnings continuing to be used to pay the financial office and keep his status as an enrolled student. Through the months of working at Cafe En Gard, he has gotten used to all his tasks as a cashier and has improved his skills. Everything that felt weird about the job and the cafe became normal aspects of his everyday life. He fell into a new routine with his new schedule of classes, and his work schedule with Cafe En Gard was able to remain the same.

One Saturday afternoon, a truck appeared in front of the cafe.

“Yes! I think they’re here!” Valerie happily clapped her hands together as she made her way to the entrance. A man came out of the truck and Valerie signed off some papers on his clipboard. Then, in came two carts with flower pots. “Emilio! Lucas! Come help me get these inside!”

“What is all this?” Lucas asked. There were maybe a dozen flower pots, and inside each of them grew plants with white flower buds.

“We ordered these to brighten up the place. It might take a bit of time for them to fully bloom, though,” said Emilio.

They carried the pots off the cart and placed them along the side wall of the cafe. Lucas tried wiping off the dirt from his hands on his apron, only to find that he was making a bigger mess on himself, so he went to the sink to wash his hands. His phone started ringing as he was scrubbing his hands with soap. It continued to ring on, and customers were looking around to see where the ringing was coming from. Lucas quickly finished rinsing his hands, dried them, and took his phone out of his pocket. Olivia was calling.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Lucas? It’s been a while! Are you doing okay?”

“Yes, I’ve been fine. I’m at work actually right now.”

“Oh, really? I’m so sorry!”

“Oh, it’s no problem. I—”

“Actually, can I visit your cafe right now?”

“Oh, um, I guess so.”

“Don’t worry, it’ll just be a quick visit. Just to see you and say hi! I’ll be there in a bit!”

Olivia hung up the phone, and Lucas took it that she was on her way at that very moment. Several minutes passed and while customers were coming in, there was no Olivia. Finally, Olivia came in through the door, looking like she ran a marathon. She caught her breath as she stood in line waiting for her turn.

“Sorry it took so long to get here,” Olivia said, still sounding exhausted. “I knew the cafe was in this area, but I kept walking around the street and for some reason I couldn’t find it.”

“Well, you made it, though!” Lucas smiled and Olivia put up her fists in celebration of her feat.

“I’m so thirsty. What’s good here?” Olivia looked up at the menu.

“Maybe the Earl Grey latte. A lot of people order it these days.”

“That sounds good, but also sounds like it’ll send me straight to the bathroom,” Olivia said, and Lucas stifled a laugh. “I think I’ll have peach iced tea.”

Lucas wrote down her order and passed it over to Emilio’s side of the counter.

“You’re such a professional!” said Olivia as she paid.

“Oh, no, not at all. You should have seen me in the beginning.”

Emilio made Olivia’s drink very fast and called out her order.

“I’ll get going now. It was good to see you. We should make plans!” Olivia picked up her drink from the counter.

“We should. See you around!” Lucas waved to Olivia as she left the cafe. He felt an emptiness in his words. He wanted to be able to see her and do fun things, but there was no guarantee any of that could happen. To say all of that was almost a formality, one that every college student says to other college students.

“Who was that?” Emilio asked.

“A friend from school,” answered Lucas.

“She seems like a good friend. Coming in to make sure you’re okay.” Emilio’s words stuck in Lucas’ head. Lucas never thought of himself as that close with Olivia. Lucas had read stories and watched television shows that showcased powerful friendships. He saw classmates at school with their friend groups that seemed to have unbreakable bonds. He never really experienced that, though he wanted to. His friendship with Olivia was not like what he imagined a close friendship to be like. They did not spend a whole lot of time together, like how he thought close friends should. But even when their school lives had become completely separated, she still decided to see Lucas. After all this time, she is still around in Lucas’ life. They were just happy to see each other, even if it’s just for some time here and there.

The sun set and it was time for Lucas to leave work. He took his belongings from the break room and left the cafe, with Valerie holding the door open and saying “good job as always” as he walked out. Valerie closed the door, locked and unlocked it, and began cleaning all the surfaces in the cafe.

“Just a few more of these, right?” Emilio asked.

“Yep. For better or for worse.”

Valerie and Emilio waited for a while. Then, a somewhat elderly-looking lady wearing a gray blazer and a darker gray pencil skirt walked in through the door. She was carrying her handbag in one hand and a clipboard in the other. Her eyebrows slanted slightly inwards and her lips naturally made a bit of a frown. Valerie took a deep breath and greeted the lady.

“Hello, Ms. Mortis.”

“Let’s get started, shall we?” Ms. Mortis’ voice always made Valerie nervous. Before Valerie could say anything, Ms. Mortis saw the flower pots. “Oh my, there’s dirt everywhere on the floor here! How terrible! And it certainly makes one question the hygiene of this establishment!” There was just a bit of dirt that sprinkled out of only a few of the pots when they handled them earlier, but Valerie held her tongue. “I suppose these tables seem clean. Let’s take a look behind your counter.”

Ms. Mortis went through every drawer, inspected every piece of equipment, and looked through every fridge. “I’m quite surprised this is quite clean, considering how I’m sure this is all managed by that dunce boy.” She looked at Emilio and Emilio’s eyes quivered.

“I’m glad we’re meeting expectations,” Valerie said.

“Let’s see your finances.” Ms. Mortis’ eyebrows were furrowed.

“Of course.” Valerie led Ms. Mortis to the break room. Emilio followed but Valerie stopped him right before he reached the door, signaling him to stay outside.

Valerie retrieved the cafe’s business records and placed them on the table, and Ms. Mortis immediately opened up the folders and began reading through the papers. Valerie felt a drop of sweat rolling down the side of her face.

“I see your cafe has been doing well. Although, it seems like this success has been a little sudden.” Ms. Mortis’ eyes narrowed in on the numbers.

“Well, we’re always striving to do better.”

“What exactly have you been doing differently, may I ask?” Ms. Mortis glared at Valerie.

“Several months ago, we changed up the menu. Since then, we’ve been experimenting with new items.”

“Your uniform looks tattered. The day hasn’t even started.” The tone of Ms. Mortis’ voice made Valerie’s hands sweat.

“Um,” Valerie stuttered, “it was because of the flower pots. I had to carry them all from my house very early today.” Her heart was pounding. She hoped Ms. Mortis wouldn’t see through her lie.

Ms. Mortis furiously wrote down some notes, filled out some forms, and tore off portions of some of the sheets. She handed the strips to Valerie, who filed them away. Ms. Mortis stood up with her clipboard and handbag and walked out of the break room, and Valerie followed behind her. Emilio jolted as the door swung open.

“We’re done for today,” said Ms. Mortis, walking towards the exit. Valerie heard her mutter “hopeless place run by two hopeless individuals” as she made her way out the door.