Possessive about Rosa

6

I couldn't sleep. For some reason my brain just denied my body the rest it needed, groaning as I rolled on the other side of the bed hoping I would get comfortable here and sleep would come to me. It didn't. I started counting numbers in order to catch some sleep but I just couldn't. Sleep was just stubborn enough to occur to me. I was exhausted. I knew I had a big day tomorrow. I have to serve coffee and be polite to people for ten hours straight starting from early morning. 

I frowned in confusion when I heard my phone ping indicating I have a message. Usually I didn't bother checking my mails and messages because most of them were from insurance and banks asking me to take insurance and loans of all types. I remember lashing out at an employee from the bank who called me five times on the same day offering me a house, car, education, and some other loans.

Swiping open my phone I saw a text from Guzman, a smile spread on my lips thinking of him. His message read; 

Are you asleep?

I thought it was cute of him, you know the kind of old school stuff, asking each other if they ate or how was their day, what did they do and stuff. Blushing I replied;

Couldn't sleep.

After a moment my phone pinged again making my heart jump in my chest, I took a deep breath and read his further words;

Ditto. Can't stop thinking about what happened today :)

It took me a moment to understand what he meant, the kiss. 

Me neither.

I didn't completely lie in my defence, I was thinking about him and the kiss before I saw Eli standing like a ghost keeping an eye on me in the bedroom.

Mind if I ask you something? 

I frowned thinking what he wanted to know,

Shoot. 

My phone pinged almost immediately as though he had typed it beforehand and was just waiting for my approval,

Did you feel weird kissing me? Like you wanted to but it felt weird?

I read his text, I thought about it even though I didn't want to, I knew the answer. My phone pinged again making an annoying sound,

Be honest.

It read, I typed,

It did, but I liked it. 

I told myself that it was okay to tell the truth about these intimate things,

I felt like kissing my sibling. (I don't have one) :(

I chuckled at his reply,

I don't want to kiss in the future. It would be awkward knowing you think of me as your sibling…

I waited for his reply, a moment and then a few minutes, I went to sleep with the phone in my hand.

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Serving customers wrong orders wasn't my trait really, I was cursing myself in my head for not sleeping at night on time and waking up late in the morning, I couldn't even take a shower I was freezing plus I had no time, I slipped in the black jeans and an off shoulder white crop top and pulled my shoes on and dashed out of the apartment building like some cops are running behind me. 

Sure I remember knocking someone down in the second block over here but I didn't care, morning customers were extra tip, I couldn't afford to miss them not when I have to pay rent in coming days. I asked Taylor to take over my place and I took his place filling up coffee and other beverages. 

The lady whom I gave a cappuccino instead of her latte was a brat, she started raising her voice so to calm her down I had to give her the coffee on the house, that was gonna be minus from my paycheck. I didn't like the idea.

"You need to wash your face and have a double shot of espresso, three even." Taylor muttered, taking the cup of coffee from my hand. 

"That bad?" I cringed, rubbing my face. 

"Worse." He shook his head.

That has never happened before, I never had issues with sleeping, on the contrary I gave priority to my sleep because I had a field job, I had to run here and there and clean stuff and keep a smiling face all day long so I made sure my muscles got the rest they deserve.

"Rose, a customer is asking for you."  David smirked at my way, I wanted to glare at him but my focus was on going home and sleeping. I just turned to face the counter and saw Guzman waiting for me with a smile on his face. My eyes shot up to the clock hanging on the wall behind Leona on the cash counter, it was half an hour before lunch. I wondered what he wanted.

"You need a sleep lady." He gasped and broke out in a chuckle.

"I've been getting that all day, I had coffee but it isn't working."  I sighed, rubbing my eyes again, my hand went to cover my mouth as a yawn escaped me.

"Take the day off and get some sleep, like me." He grinned.

"Can't. Need the cash to pay rent." I turned my head to Leona who called me.

"There are no customers, walk out of the counter sit and chat with your friend," She pushed her reading glasses up and smiled at Guzman, I was surprised she didn't recognise Guzman from the other day, "Are you sure? I can talk to him after I get off." I insisted.

"Nonsense, I'll call you if there is anything." She shushed me.

Looking down at my apron I glanced back at Guzman who was smiling at me, "Stop overthinking, come on." He winked, making me take a step back slightly. 

"You didn't text me last night." I said quietly when he pulled a chair back for me to sit, he squeezed my shoulders like he always does and then sat beside me on the chair.

"I wanted to talk to you in person." He called David to take orders.

"Chicken sandwich with some fries and two shot espresso and lemonade for the lady and I'll have onion bagels with sprite. Thanks." I gaped at David and then back at Guzman, what was that huge order?

"I'm not eating the whole thing, don't get me anything." I shook my head to David, ignoring me he looked at Guzman, I was so mad at him. "Get everything, thanks." David just walked off.

"Why?" I was baffled, I had no wish to eat anything.

"We're gonna be here for a while and you need to eat, espresso on an empty stomach can be harmful." He explained, I just rolled my eyes and crossed my left leg on my right, my leg got his limb and I apologised to a chuckling Guzman.

"My mother called today in my office asking me to fly down to Florida to meet her, God the weather is horrible." Guzman pulled his wallet from his pants and his phone from inside the coat and set it on the table. I was in awe of how his phone looked, it was white and had an Apple logo on it. What did I even expect? I sighed.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked, tapping his knuckles on the table to catch my attention. "Nothing, just sleepy." I muttered. I was actually tired and wanted to sleep.

"Take the day off, what time do you get off?" He asked.

"Seven, and sometimes depends." I shrugged, Guzman didn't say a word further, I stared straight ahead thinking of sleeping with warm socks and a blanket until I smelt the espresso. 

David set the plates full of food on the table and I smiled at him, he smirked walking away. I wasn't going to hear the end of this. 

"Dig in!" Guzman said, taking the bagel in his hand.

"Is this a date?" I smirked looking at him, he stared at me with a straight face, he chewed his bagel slowly as though he's taking his time to think and then talk. He couldn't swallow the bagel, he had a great difficulty swallowing. I kept the slice of sandwich down from my hand and opened his sprite tin, handing him. I waited as he washed the chewed bagel down his throat.

"I..I mean…" I burst out laughing looking at his face.

"Calm down. We should just be friends." I shook my head taking a bite of sandwich, a moan tore out of me as the sandwich melted in my mouth, I salivated as I chewed.

"Oh my God, I didn't know I was hungry until I had this, thanks." I said with my mouth full, he just tilted his head silently mocking me. 

"What were you talking about your mother?" I took a sip of the espresso cringing when it tasted stronger than my taste.

"She wants me to meet her in Florida." He sipped on his sprite.

"Why don't you go then, you have a good job you can ask for some days off." I shrugged, popping two fires in my mouth dipped in mayonnaise.

"Here," I offered him the fries, he took some but he didn't dip it in the ketchup or mayonnaise.

"I give the employees the days off honey, plus Tracy has school to attend and I can't let her miss school." That left me with questions. Many questions.

"Tracy?" I asked swallowing hard.

"Yeah, my thirteen year old daughter." He said like I should've known it from the beginning.

"Oh, righttttt," He dragged realising I had known him for two days.

"Rightttttttttttt," I mocked him.

"She's…" He trailed off when we heard his phone going off, he groaned while reaching for his phone, he answered.

"It's me." He said urgently like he couldn't wait to hang up already, I kept my head down looking at my food and started devouring it.

"I told Rowell I'm taking the day off." The name he used sounded like a rich name, like some ordinary man with an ordinary job could never pull that name off without being teased for it.

"Okay. Give me ten." He hung up without waiting for an answer.

"Everything good?" I asked him sipping my lemonade.

"I have to be at the office building in ten minutes." He sighed eating his bagel.

"Oh." I don't know why but I was disappointed.

"I'll tell you about Tracy tonight?" He asked, cleaning his hand with a tissue.

"Sure." I nodded eating some more fries.

He waited for me to complete my food, he heard me babble about things I didn't know I was capable of babbling, I never talked about politics or the customers around here but I did in front of him, by the looks of him he was quite enjoying it or he was a good actor.

"I really need to go." He turned around after he paid Leona the money, David came around to take the dishes but I told him I could do that, I felt embarrassed for some reason. He rolled his eyes and cleaned the table.

"Okay." I smiled looking out of the café.

"On a second though, I think I'd love to take you out on a date." He whispered in my ear as I embraced him.

"I would love to accompany you." I said shyly.

He left after he kissed my cheeks, it took me a moment to recover from the rush, I glanced up at Leona who was chuckling at me. I just walked behind the counter as fresh as a flower and resumed my work.

Mads wasn't ready to talk to me just yet, I tried talking to him when he came to dish out the food of lunch crowd, but he dodged me with a stupid excuse, I could sense that other started guessing what was happening between us but they didn't pry. 

"Mads, come on Mads we're adults!" I jogged behind him in the locker room, he washed his face and wiped his face with his yellow face towel from his locker.

"I said it's alright, it's not that I'm your father to tell you whom you can or cannot date. I don't even think fathers do that these days.." His voice was muffled but I could hear him properly, he needed to let it out I thought.

"Look I can explain alright, it's not what you think." I said calmly despite my irritation.

"That's the point, never explain yourself to assholes who don't deserve it, if you do they feel as though they're entitled to hear an explanation from you all the time." He removed his black t- shirt stuffing in his duffel bag, he pulled his pink t-shirt which strangely had Simpson on it and turned his back on me.

"You're worth it. You'll always be worth it." I whispered, tapping my feet on the ground.

"We're just good friends, and he came here to inform me that he had called the cops on that guy, he said that guy should pay for his deeds." I looked up as my trip tightened on the bench.

"Really? Is that it?" He turned to look at me.

"Yes." I nodded. 

"I'm no one to tell you from whom you should seek comfort from but I've seen you grow up from a girl into a beautiful and strong woman. I can't see anything bad happening to you in front of my eyes." He kneeled in front of me, I took a deep breath and pulled him in a hug.

"I know. Thanks..You just saying those words are enough." I said in his neck, he rubbed my back reassuringly. 

"I'm not saying it because I have to. I really mean it. You can try me." He pulled away patting my cheek.

"Thanks." I kissed his cheek.

"Go now, I need to change." He winked at me.

Mads was gone after that, he asked Leona for the paycheck, punched David's arm and walked out of the door. My eyes turned to Leona, I could tell something was severely bothering her, she was jumpy like really jumpy. Mads called her name before and her hand slipped making a big scratch on her record book. 

I wanted to help her with her problem but I couldn't, I couldn't tell her that I was aware of what took place yesterday afternoon. It would not only make her mad but also make her sad. Shaking my head I cleaned the counter with the cloth in my hand. When it was time to get her coffee I didn't call her, I kept the coffee silently beside her other cup and took the other cup to give it in the kitchen.

It was Taylor who brought her out of the trance when the customer was held waiting. He was around fifties so he didn't make a big fuss about it, he smiled at her and put some cents in the cancer jar and a dollar in the tip jar before leaving the café.

"Leona are you feeling light headed?" David asked her after a moment, Taylor was serving the couple who were the only customers in the café and I was behind the counter cleaning the cappuccino machine.

"Yes….all good." She said without looking up at any of us.

"Tell Mads tomorrow the other chiller will be sold, I forgot to tell him. I'll ask Martha and Luis to clean it up." That was a shock to me, is she selling the equipment to gather money? I mean she could take the money from the tip jar and not give us the tips this month. she needs to get it off her chest. 

"Sure." David turned around and gave me a weird look, I just shrugged getting back to cleaning. 

We never asked her anything for the rest of the afternoon, Leona went to walk to clear her head and she asked me to sit behind the cash counter, I nodded and sat on her chair. It was warm and I didn't like it so I just decided to stand.

"How f*****g could you? You said you slept with her before we got together!" The whole shop went quiet, no one uttered a single word, our eyes were glued to the girl who threw half her milkshake on the guy who sat embarrassed.

My hands stopped counting the cents and my eyes searched for Taylor or David, I needed to stop it before anything else took place.

"You b***h, I should've listened to my friends when they said you're a bad guy!" She yelled again, at evening old couples gathered here for coffee and tea with biscuits, mostly it is quiet around this time.

"Excuse me," I said to the man and walked from behind the counter to the couple.

"Ma'am, you're disturbing the other customers, please quiet it down." I smiled looking at her face, her lipstick was perfect but her nose was flared, her makeup was spot on but her forehead had creases, her hair was good but her voice was snarling.

"You do not tell me what to do!" She shouted reaching for the purse, she pulled out some dollars and slammed it on the table walking away, I heard the door slam and blew the breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Please have this cleaned, I'm sorry." The guy got up and picked up all the tissues he could, he ducked his hand in jeans and pulled out some dollars, he kept it on the table. Cleaning his face he left the cafè.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience," I bowed my head apologetically. 

We resumed our work after I asked David to clean it, he demanded for five dollar off the table to clean it, sighing I paid him for his service and put all the money in the cancer jar after putting some in the tip jar.

Leona wasn't returning so we had to head home without getting paid, Taylor closed the shop and asked me to tell Leona he's taking the day off tomorrow for his field trip, and that he might return in the evening for a shift.

David teased me with Guzman's name, he wasn't here. He had to work late, his text read, and that he had sent his driver to take me home. I had no choice but to accept because he won't answer my phone. It went directly to voicemail. After everyone left I saw a black car, the driver stood outside the car as I approached him, I climbed in and was on my way to home.

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