章 11: Relief

Once I'm outside again, I begin to breathe a little freely. Keeping my attention on the traffic distracts me from my thoughts, and I sigh, remembering my rapidly deteriorating state of mind. It's probably best for me to get a psychiatrist, but I'm way too broke to afford one.

Even though I know where Amelia lives, I find myself going to the café to check if she's there first. She is, and so I step into the place for the second time today, inhaling the aroma of coffee beans and bread.

Amelia looks up at the sound of the chime and appears puzzled to see me, but her face quickly breaks into a grin. I smile back at her, the muscles in my face working as if they've forgotten how to smile, even though it was only a couple of hours ago that I last smiled.

'Damn, I didn't expect to see you here again so soon.' Amelia says, still grinning.

'What, did you not want me to come again?' I say, leaning over the counter to give Amelia a poke in her shoulder.

Amelia laughs. 'You know what I meant. Jake should be coming here in about a minute, and then I'll be free to leave.' She checks over her shoulder as if she expects Jake to walk in from behind her.

'Well then, I'll wait.' I slip into the chair I was sitting in earlier.

'Huh? Why?' Amelia looks at me, confused.

'Oh, I, um…' I hesitate. 'I was hoping to spend some time with you. Like, it's been a while since we hung out.'

'Oh!' Amelia laughs. 'You could've told me that. I can't wait. Stupid Jake, he always shows up late.'

I grin at her and lean back in my chair, feeling a little relieved. Anyway, it feels like some of the weight on my chest has lifted. Finally, her co-worker comesin and Amelia excuses herself for a minute to change into her normal clothes in the employee's room.

'Let's go!' Amelia says brightly after about a minute, coming over to me. 'I'll have to go drop this off in my apartment first, though. Do you mind coming with me?' she gives the bag with her uniform and things in it a little shake.

'Nah, I don't mind.' I say, getting up from my chair. 'By the way, I wanted to talk to you about someone.'

I tell her about Ryder, and she raises her eyebrows.

'Oh, him. Yeah, we were friends in college. He probably thought I was getting fired or something.' She rolls her eyes.

'Were friends?' I ask quizzically.

She rolls her eyes again. 'Yeah, and then he started wanting to get with me even after I rejected him like a billion times, so I was like "screw it, I'm not gonna deal with that guy anymore".'

'Oh.' I don't feel like inviting him over for art lessons is a very good idea now.

'Yeah, don't worry about him. Come on, let's go.'