Vitus and Leila

It was a dark and gloomy Saturday, the clouds hung low over the grey city of London. Leila Johnson had just turned nineteen and was on her way to work. She was a quiet girl, who worked at a coffee shop on the weekends and on two afternoons during the week. The rest of the time she studied English literature at Kings College. It had always been her dream to work in a library surrounded by nothing other than silence and books. Leila liked the silence and she hardly ever felt lonely, she enjoyed having time for her own thoughts. She got to the coffee shop just before eight thirty, "punctual as always" her boss, Martin, smiled. Leila smiled back "good morning Martin, how are you?" "I'm alright, thank you, how are you keeping up after yesterday?" He asked her, his smile fading into a small frown. Leila nodded and touched her head "I'm ok, the doctor said it was only a little bump and it should be fine in a few days" "You know you can take a few days off, whenever you need to.." Martin trailed off, he knew there wasn't much point in telling Leila to take a day off, in the past two years whilst working for him, she never had missed a day of work, she hardly ever even took a days holiday unless he forced her to. "It was only a little bump, as I said, the doctor doesn't see a problem with me working so neither do I" Leila said firmly and went into the employees room to hang up her coat and bag. The day before had been a long day for Leila, she had studied in the morning and worked in the afternoon. When she got to work the coffee shop had been very busy, which was rather unusual for a Friday afternoon, she had struggled to get one of the special orders to the customer in time and when she finally got it right and was nearly at the table another customer had suddenly gotten up and knocked Leila over. The spiced Chai tea, with a cinnamon and caramal topping and exactly 1.2 grams of sugar landed all over her and the floor. Julie, Leilas colleague saw what had happend and came running over with a cloth, she slipped on the sticky liquid and pushed Leila accidently head first into the table. Martin had then sent Leila who's head was starting to swell, to the nearest hospital and mopped up the mess. Whilst Julie made the unusual order for the customer again. "I wonder why it was so busy yesterday?" Leila wondered out loud whilst putting on her apron and tieing it up. "Don't you know?" Martin asked her surprised "Know what?" Leila asked "one of the big bosses of that famous motorcycle club, what's there name again?! Anyway, he died a few days ago and now the club members are flocking the town from everywhere in the world" "Heaven's devils?" Leila asked cautiously "yes that's them!" Martin grinned. "It's brilliant for us, they all need to eat and drink and so we'll make so much more money than usual in the next few days." Leila groaned, Saturdays were always quite a busy day, but she didn't need another day like the day before. Martin looked at her worriedly "Are you sure you don't want the day off? It's fine, honestly, I got Julie in working yesterday, because I thought it would be a good day for profits, and she's coming again today. And my wife offered to help if we need her." Leila shook her head, "it's fine, honestly" she replied and tried to smile. Her head was really hurting, all the loud motorbikes which kept whizzing past the shop were not helping her head heal at all. But at least now she knew why they were whizzing past. "Well, if you say so," Martin said "But if you need anything, anything at all, please tell me." During the past two years Martin had become a little like a father to Leila. Leila had come from the Netherlands to study in London, and only saw her parents at Christmas and Easter. She missed them dearly. She enjoyed Martin and his wife, Mary, looking after her and always making sure she was ok. "There is one thing.." Leila said carefully, Martin smiled encouragingly "Could I maybe work in the back today?" Leila asked. "It's quieter back there and I don't have to face all the customers" Martin nodded, although Leila was a hard working young lady, he knew that she wasn't much of a people person. She loved to bake and if he was ever in need of a baker, when one of his lads fell ill, he could always count on Leila to fill in for them. "No problem" Martin smiled and went over to clean the tables before opening the shop at just before nine. Leila went into the kitchen, "Hi guys" she smiled "Hi Leila" the three men waved, "are you in here today?" The tallest one, Pete, asked. "Yeh, after yesterday, maybe you should leave waitressing for the time being" Johnny joked. "Oi shut it Johnny!" Pete whacked Johnny with a towel. "What was that for?" Johhny moaned rubbing the back of his leg, "for embarrassing my little sister" Pete replied putting his arm around Leila, who had started to turn a light shade of crimson as the memory of yesterday was brought to mind. "She's my little sister too!" Johnny said pouting slightly. Leila giggled quietly and looked over at Dimitri who stood in the corner quietly watching the two lads with Leila, he shook his head silently smiling. "The lads are right, they really have become like brothers to me in the past two years." Leila thought. Pete was always looking out for her and protecting her, when she needed it. Johnny was always making jokes and being sarcastic with her. And Dimitri always lent her an ear when she needed someone to listen to her. They had become somewhat of a family and Leila really loved them all dearly.