Double Deal

Chapter 1

Lola was putting on her green work apron as Tom, one of her best friends, walked into the locker/storage room in the back of the building. “Cutting it close, are we?” Lola said, tying her apron.

“I was just clocking in.” Tom said, smiling, and opening his locker. 

Lola grabbed her green visor with the coffee logo on the front. “Hurry up and get outside,” Lola said to Tom, who was putting on his apron, and walked into the cafe. 

Tom appeared quickly after. He unlocked the front door and flipped the sign on the door from closed to open. They were chatting while they prepared brews until their first customer walked in. Tom took their order while Lola made it. Soon after that first customer left, more started piling in, filling the cafe with adults. As Tom was taking orders to the line slowly forming, Lola was dishing out cups of coffee. A teenager maybe as old as she was walks in as a customer walks out and walks up to the counter as Lola places a cup down. He walks up to Lola.

She looks at him questioningly. “Can I help you?” She asked when he stopped at the counter. 

“Yeah, I just wanted to speak to the manager.” He said.

“I am the manager.” Lola said, “What do you need?”

“I was wondering if I could hang this poster up on the corkboard. There was a dead body found in a park a little distance away from here and I need to know if anyone knows the girl who was killed,” He said, holding up a piece of paper with phone number paper strips hanging off of it.

Tom eyed Lola, who had stopped making drinks. He stepped away from the cash register and started making drinks while Lola was busy, listening to what the strange man was saying.

“Uh, can I just ask what your name is?” Lola asked.

“Ajax. Ajax Ross.” He clarified, pulling his ID to verify. “It’s really important that I identify the girl so I can contact friends and family to help solve the case. So can I pin it up?” 

Tom walked over to the drink counter, called out a name and meticulously placed the cup down. Ajax looked Tom in the eyes for a second before Tom turned and walked back to the other side of the building to continue making drinks. “Yeah, that’s fine. And order a drink while you’re at it,” Lola smiled.

Ajax nodded and headed over to the corkboard, taking out a metal tack and pinning up the piece of paper. Tom finished another drink and headed back over to the cash register to continue to take orders while Lola continued to make drinks. 

Ajax eventually got to the front of the line. “Hello. What can I get for you today?” Tom asked the standard question. 

“Chocolate Macchiato for Ajax. Can I ask you,” Ajax hesitated, trying to find the right words, “Do you have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?”

Tom looked at him, confused, but answered, “Although it shouldn’t concern you, yes. I do have OCD. Is the Chocolate Macchiato the only thing you would like?”

“Yeah.” Ajax said and walked towards the coffee counter after paying, lost in thought. 

A few minutes later, Lola called his name and placed his drink on the counter. “Have a nice day,” Lola called to him as she walked away, continuing to make drinks. 

After their shift, their replacements, Kharis Wilson and Hyram Phillips, showed up and Lola and Tom walked back into the locker room. “That guy earlier today was off, right?” Tom asked her, taking off his visor.

He hung it in his locker, “Yeah. He was weird, but I don’t know why,” Lola took her apron off and threw it in her locker. 

“You know, he asked me if I had OCD,” Tom said, hanging his apron up.

Lola raised an eyebrow and looked at him. She shook her head, sighing, and shut her locker, “Come on, let’s go get some coffee.” 

They walked out of the locker room and around the corner, into the cafe. Tom walked over and ordered their usual drinks as Lola examined the flier Ajax had placed on the corkboard. She recognized the girl. “Hey, isn’t that the girl from your art class in community college?” Tom asked, making Lola jump.

She glared at him and smacked his chest. “Yes it is,” Lola said, grabbing one of the phone number strips. 

“What are you doing?” Tom asked.

“He said that he needed to identify her. I know her so why wouldn’t I help with the investigation?” Lola looked at him.

“Why drag yourself into this? If you’re going to call him, do it anonymously so that you don’t get pulled into all this legal stuff for months,” Tom advised.

Lola looked at him, an eyebrow raised, as Tom’s name was called. He nodded his head towards the coffee counter to grab their drinks. Lola followed after him, putting the paper into her pocket, and grabbed hers off of the counter. “Hey Lola,” Kharis called.

Lola turned around, “Yeah?”

“I’ll see you later. Let’s watch Netflix when I get home,” Kharis said, and walked back to the cash register.

Lola shook her head, laughing, and followed Tom outside of the cafe. “Kharis being weird?” Tom asked.

Lola smiled and nodded, “When is Kharis not being weird?” 

“Well, I’ll see you later, Lola,” Tom said, and walked away, waving goodbye to Lola. 

Lola looked at him as he walked away and then walked towards her house. Kharis came home when her shift was over. “Hey girl,” Kharis set her keys down on the table by the door next to Lola’s. 

She hung up her bag and walked over to the couch where Lola was watching TV. Kharis plopped down, “Ugh, True Crime?” Kharis grabbed the remote and changed the channel.

“Hey, this episode was an interesting one!” Lola protested.

Kharis cast her a questioning look, “None of 'True Crime' is interesting. The Bachelor, however...” Kharis’ voice trailed off as she played the TV show.

Lola shook her head just as her phone vibrated. She grabbed it and read the text she got. “Oo, you’re blushing! Is it a text from Hyram?” Kharis asked, receiving a glare from Lola, “Tom?”

Lola rolled her eyes. It was in fact from Tom. He was asking if she wanted to hang out that night. She tapped her phone a few times, telling him sure. Kharis gasped, “It is Tom!”

“Stop it Kharis,” Lola said simply.

“Is this going to turn out as a real-life Bachelor?” Kharis asked, “Lola the Bachelorette. I can already see it,” Kharis laughed but immediately stopped when Lola death stared at her. 

“Fine. I’ll stop. But is it from To-”

“Kharis!” Lola cut her off. Kharis snickered, “If you must know, yes, it is from Tom.”

“Ugh, he’s so hot. Him and Hyram are, like, almost twins. Broad shoulders, beautiful eyes, tall,” Kharis added.

Lola shook her head, “I’m going to my room.” 

She got up and walked down the hallway. She jumped onto her quilted bed sheets and stared at her phone. Her background photo was of her and Tom smiling. She smiled, biting her lip. Kharis was right when she said that Tom was hot. He obviously worked out because of his slightly visible muscles. His smile was adorable and perfect, just like his sense of style. Because he was OCD, he was always so tidy. Like at work, when he’s making coffee or putting his apron and visor away. That’s why Lola made him work at the register. He always takes too long to make them because everything has to be perfect. But either way, he was still perfect. 

She sighed and rolled over onto her back. She kicked her boots off and curled her knees up to her chest, hugging her pillow and smiling. She felt like a middle schooler. She dozed off for an hour, waking up to her phone vibrating. She groggily reached over to grab it. Tom was calling her. She swiped across the screen and brought the phone to her ear. “Hello?” She answered quietly.

“Sorry, did I wake you up?” Tom asked.

“Yeah, I accidentally fell asleep. What’s up?” Lola said.

“Uh, I was just calling to tell you that I was going to pick you up in an hour,” Tom said.

“Oh, right. I forgot about that,” Lola admitted, remembering his offer to take her out.

“You know, it’s fine. We can just reschedule-” Tom started.

“No, of course not. Just text me when you’re down the street. See you soon,” Lola interrupted.

“Okay,” Tom said. 

Lola could tell Tom was smiling by the change of tone in his voice when he said okay. “Bye,” Lola said, biting her lip once again.

Lola pulled the phone away from her ear and hung up. She held her phone for a second longer before getting up to get changed out of her khakis and black polo shirt. She grabbed a long sleeved black dress from her closet and put it on. It was snug against her body but was loose as it went closer to her knees, where it ended. It went off of her shoulders, revealing her black bra straps. She grabbed her black combat boots and laced them up tight. She grabbed her cropped army jacket and put it on. She quickly brushed through her long-ish, straight brown hair. She debated between putting her hair up or leaving it down. She decided it looked better down and left it like that. She looked at her rose earrings and debated if she should change them. She left them on.

She grabbed her phone and walked back into the living room where Kharis was still sitting in her work clothes. “Oo, cute,” Kharis said when she looked at Lola. 

“Is it too much?” Lola asked her.

“No it’ll definitely attract Tom’s attention,” Kharis said.

Lola rolled her eyes, smiling and sat down on the couch. “You’re still watching this?” Lola asked, noticing the Bachelor still playing on the TV.

“I said I wanted to watch Netflix with you, but you got your priorities straight,” Kharis smirked.

Her phone vibrated once again. “I’ll see you later, Kharis,” Lola said, getting up. She grabbed her keys and walked out of her apartment. 

She walked down the stairs to the front of the building where Tom was waiting, leaning against the wall. He was wearing a white shirt with a loose black suit coat over it and a pair of black jeans. Tom noticed something move out of the corner of his eyes. He turned and saw Lola walking over to him. “You look nice,” He said, standing up straight, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

“You do too,” Lola responded.

“Come on, I have a place in mind where I wanna take you,” Tom smiled and started leading Lola towards his car. 

He opened the door for her, “For you, Miss Reeds,” Tom joked.

Lola smiled and got in his very clean car. It smelled like pine trees. Tom closed the door and walked around and got in a few seconds after Lola. “Where are we going?” She asked him as she buckled in.

“We are going to eat dinner, then maybe get ice cream if you want and then we’ll call it a night,” Tom looked at her and smiled as he started his car. 

That was Tom for you, always planning ahead. Tom started driving to the restaurant. Lola looked at her phone. It was 7:32pm. He had picked her up at 7:30pm sharp. She smiled and shook her head. Tom pulled into a parking lot 20 minutes later and shut off the car. He turned to her. “This restaurant is so good,” Tom said.

“Well let's go,” Lola said, getting out of the car.

Tom followed suit. The two of them walked into the restaurant. After a few minutes of waiting, they were seated. “Hi, my name is Emily, I’ll be your waiter today. Would you like any drinks to get started?” Their waitress said.

“I’ll get a rum and coke,” Lola said.

“Make it two,” Tom added.

The waitress nodded and walked away after checking their IDs and writing something down on a waiter pad. Lola and Tom talked and laughed until the waiter came back, already knowing what food they wanted. The waiter came back with their drinks and took their order. Lola took a sip. “Are you serious?” Lola asked Tom.

Tom laughed, “Yeah, it really is crazy. My dad thought it was silly but I can care less. It’s just so… neat.”  

Lola laughed, “And why do you say that?”

“Well Greek mythology is pretty well documented and they made sure that each of their gods and goddesses had specific tasks that could be intertwined but most of the time their not. Say Demeter, goddess of the harvest. It’s basically the Earth. Then there's Persephone, her daughter, who is the goddess of springtime. Then there’s Pan, basically the god of animals. They all have to do with the Earth, but there is a specific part that they control,” Tom said, nerding out.

“And that’s why you like Greek mythology?” Lola asked.

“Yeah. Want another example?” Tom asked.

Lola laughed, “Sure.”

“Okay, so Zeus is the god of the air. Then there’s Aeolus who is in charge of wind spirits. Then there is Eurus, god of the east wind. Zephyrus is the god of the west wind, Notus is the god of the south wind, and Boreas is the god of the north wind. They all have to do with the sky, but a specific part of it,” Tom continued.

“You remember all their names?” Lola asked, “How?”

“Well, studying mythology in college forces you to remember their names,” Tom answered.

Their food came. Soon, three rum and cokes later, they finished their food and paid. They got back into Tom’s car again, clearly buzzed. Lola started laughing at something Tom said. 

When she stopped, she looked at him, biting her lip and slightly smiling. She looked down at the floor of the car but Tom leaned over and brought her face back to face him. He kissed her on the lips once before pulling away. Lola was shocked at first but remained how she was. She leaned back over and kissed Tom back. She climbed over the middle console and sat on Tom, continuing to kiss him, hands on the sides of his face.

His hands ran along her back, sending goosebumps up her back. Lola was slightly drunk and didn’t know exactly what she was doing but Tom didn’t fight her. Maybe because he was also just as drunk as Lola. Lola finally pulled away, breathing just as hard as Tom. He had a look in his eyes that Lola had never seen before: Desire. 

“We should go home,” Lola said quickly, climbing back to her seat. 

Tom ran his fingers through his hair, and answered, “Yeah,” And started his car. 

He safely got Lola home despite his drunken state. As he was driving there, Lola stole glances at Tom, looking at his tousled and now-messy hair. Lola thought it made him look cuter. He pulled up to the front of her building. “I’m sorry,” Tom said as Lola got out of the car.

She turned and looked at him. “For what?”

“For kissing you,” Tom said simply.

Lola laughed, “It’s fine,” Lola said, continuing to get out of the car. She bent over to look at Tom, who was still sitting in the car. His knuckles were white because he was gripping the steering wheel so tightly. “Text me when you get home.”

He looked at her and smiled, “Yeah. You do the same.”

Lola shut the door and walked into the building. She pushed the elevator button and patiently waited for it to come. She thought about the kiss. His lips were a lot softer than she expected. She looked back out the front door to the building. Tom had already driven away. The elevator dinged and the door slid open. Lola walked in. She opened her front door a few moments later to find Kharis asleep down on the couch, now in her pajamas. She put her keys down on the table next to the door. She shut the door and locked it. The TV was still playing despite Kharis being passed out. Lola walked over and turned the TV off. She put the remote down and walked down the hall to her room once again.

She took off her boots, jacket, and earrings. She grabbed her hair tie and put her hair up. She grabbed a pair of pajamas and put them on, hanging her black dress back up. She neatly folded her work clothes and put them on her desk. She brushed her teeth and laid down in her bed after turning the lights in her room off. She knocked out on her bed a few moments later. 

In the morning, Lola sat up to her alarm ringing and her head pounding. She walked into her bathroom and took some Advil. She leaned against the sink with a huge headache. She eventually brushed her teeth and her hair. She walked over to her desk and changed into her work clothes and shoes. She tied her hair up, grabbed her phone and walked into the living room to Kharis, who was eating a bowl of cereal. 

“Wow, she lives. I didn’t even hear you walk into the house last night,” Kharis said after swallowing a spoonful of cereal. 

“Yeah, you were sleeping. I shut the TV off for you,” Lola said, grabbing a bowl from the cabinet. 

She served herself a bowl of Captain Crunch. “So what happened last night?” Kharis asked, finishing her food and walking over to the sink to wash her bowl and spoon.

“Nothing,” Lola said, remembering her and Tom’s kiss. 

Kharis turned and looked at Lola. She noticed the slight shade of pink that her cheeks had become. “Liar,” She said, leaning against the counter.

Lola glared at Kharis. “What happened?” Kharis pressed.

Lola ate a spoonful of cereal, “Tom kissed me,” She said with her mouthful.

“Hm?” Kharis said, not understanding the gibberish that just came out of Lola’s mouth. 

“He kissed me,” Lola said, quieter than she had last time but without food in her mouth. 

Lola quickly ate another spoonful of food. Kharis gasped, “Tom kissed you?” She said excitedly.

“Stop it. Now,” Lola demanded. 

Kharis laughed and shook her head, “No way. Was it a good kiss?” 

“Maybe?” Lola said, her cheeks turning slightly more pink.

“It was! Did you kiss him back?” Kharis asked.

“Maybe,” Lola said quietly. 

“You did!” Kharis said, basically dancing in a circle at this point, “Finally!”

“We were both kind of drunk,” Lola pointed out.

“Still! You remember it so you were still sober enough,” Kharis said.

Lola finished her bowl of cereal and quickly washed it. “I’m running late, I’ve got to go,” Lola said, headed to the front door. She grabbed her keys and headed to work.

She got into the locker room right as Tom was walking out. He turned, “Look who’s cutting it close now.”

“Ha. Ha,” Lola said, quickly opening the lock on her locker and throwing her apron and visor on. She put her phone and keys away and closed the locker, heading out to the cafe. Tom had already unlocked the front door and flipped the sign. They sat in silence until the first customer walked in. 

Soon their shift was over and Kharis and Hyram came to take their place. Lola slowly took her apron and visor off while Tom went back to the cafe to get their usual coffees. He met her in the front and handed Lola her coffee. “Are you okay?” Tom asked her.

“Yeah, I just think it’s weird that we’re acting like nothing happened last night,” Lola said, grabbing her coffee from him.

“Well, do you want to act like something happened last night?” Tom asked sincerely.

Lola became flustered, “I- I don’t know.”

Tom smiled, almost laughing, “I’ll see you later Lola.” He patted her on the head, and turned to walk down the street. 

Lola watched him walk away, smiling only slightly. She looked inside the cafe once again, looking at the missing person paper still hanging on the corkboard. She reached into the pocket of her pants, where the slip of paper she had grabbed yesterday with Ajax Ross’ number on it. She crumpled the paper by accident when she squeezed her hand into a fist. 

She turned and ran to her house. She shut her front door and locked it, then headed to her couch, but she didn’t sit down on it. She paced back and forth in front of it. She tapped her phone a few times before bringing it up to her ear.

“Hello, Ajax Ross speaking,” The person said.

“Hey, it’s me, the manager from the cafe yesterday? You asked me if you could hang the poster on the corkboard?” Lola said.

“Yes, I remember.”

Lola took a deep breath and sighed, “I have a name for you.”