Chapter Twenty

The rest of the afternoon went by rather quickly, and Louis was soon in the kitchen, making dinner. He was still smiling ear to ear, replaying the day in his mind. From waking up to Isaac's voice and reading all the caring messages from his friends to finding out he wasn't being kicked out of school. Louis was truly happy, and while there were still things that plagued his mind, he tried not to think about them. He didn't want to. Not on a day like this.

Learning from his mistake the other night, Louis had messaged his aunt, asking if she wanted him to make her dinner; she replied shortly with a 'no', and Louis carried on making the pasta only for one.

After he had gotten home from the bookstore, he had looked at his phone to find a few messages from Kara, saying that she was happy he was okay, but she wouldn't be able to talk that night or the next.

Louis' heart sunk, but he knew there would be a good reason for it, and they compromised by messaging each other. Louis regaled on the events passed and, of course, Kara was a bit angry, but Louis had managed to calm her down, telling her all was fine After that, Kara had to go and do something, and Louis focused on his dinner.

After he had finished eating, Louis wandered into his room and sat on his bed, not sure what to do, when he heard the familiar knock he was becoming accustomed to.

"Come in," Louis said jokingly, and he heard Isaac give a slight chuckle.

"Hey, Lou!" he called through the wall.

"How's it going, Isaac?"

"Swell," Isaac responded, before asking hesitantly, "Yourself? How was school?"

"I'm great, actually." Louis smiled. "And I didn't go today, but don't worry; I'm not expelled!"

"That's great!" Isaac almost yelled before laughing. "I think my whole family heard that, and it'll be really weird if they walk in here and see I'm talking to a wall."

"True." Louis laughed. "At least it's an attractive wall."

"I don't know if you mean yourself or the actual wall." Isaac laughed.

"Neither."

"Anyway," Isaac started. "I'm going to a friend's place for the night, and I'm about to leave, so I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

"Oh, someone's popular," Louis teased. "Have fun, and, yeah, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Oh, shut up." Isaac laughed. "See ya later, Lou!"

"See ya!" Louis called through the wall before he was alone again. He was disappointed that Isaac wouldn't be talking to him tonight, but he decided not to dwell on it and got up to get everything organised for his job the next day. He had already called the café and told them he was available all day, and they changed some shifts around to accommodate. The manager at the café liked Louis; he was the best worker they had. So, if Louis was able to work a full day, they made sure they were able to fit him in.

Once everything was organised, Louis got changed and went to bed, deciding to try and get to sleep early. He was still riding on a high and thought that maybe that would help him fall into a peaceful sleep. Telling himself that he would shower in the morning, Louis set his alarm and closed his eyes, hoping the next day would as good as this one.

********

The morning came, and Louis was up, all ready to head down to the café. He showered and brushed his teeth, put his contact lenses in, and ate breakfast. He had decided on wearing his patented black jeans, along with a button up blue shirt. Looking at himself in the mirror, he approved of his choice and headed out the door.

He had slept rather well, making that two nights in a row now, which was almost unheard of for Louis. He knew he probably would have slept better if Isaac had been talking to him, but that, of course, couldn't happen every night. When he woke up, he had messages from Sam, Kara, and Sarah, all hoping he had a good day, and his happiness from the previous day seemed to have stayed.

It wasn't long before Louis arrived at the small café he worked at. He gave a greeting to his two co-workers as they got ready to open. The café may have only been small, but it did get quite busy, which didn't bother Louis. If anything, he preferred it busy because it gave him something to do and take his mind off things.

He had originally gotten the job to help support himself and his aunt, but it turned out to be a good distraction from everything as well. Once Louis got ready and headed out to the front counter, the café doors opened, and the first customers came in.

The day seemed to fly by as he served customer after customer, doing his best to make small talk, though not sure if he succeeded. He liked the customers who ordered what they wanted and didn't expect him to make conversation with them, which didn't happen as often as he'd like it to. After he finished serving a customer, Louis looked up at the clock and saw that it was almost four o'clock, meaning that Sam would be getting in any second now. He then turned his attention back in front of him, as the next customer approached the counter.

"Hi, what can I get you?" Louis asked with a smile.

"Can I just get two lattes, please," the woman asked. She had long, flowing blond hair and the same blue eyes Sam had, and if Louis didn't know Sam's family, he would have sworn they were related.

"Not a problem; that'll be seven-eighty," Louis said, ringing her up.

This was another thing Louis loved about his job. So many different people came in, and Louis loved to study them. It made his day much more enjoyable.

"Alright, that won't be too long."

The woman smiled gently at Louis and moved to the side as Louis gave her ticket to his co-worker, Jake, who began making the lattes. Louis then turned around to keep serving customers.

Today it seemed that there was so much more variety in customers. Louis secretly loved it; as he served each customer, he took in what they looked like and made random assumptions about their life, making a game of it.

A short man with a balding head, wrinkles etching his face, and an attitude to match the anger in his eyes. Most probably someone who took great pride in firing people. Louis seemed to be catching the back end of a bad day because he spoke with an abrupt tone and scolded Louis and Jake for being too slow with making his coffee. Which, in turn, did not make the two speed up. If anything, it prompted them to slow down with his order, making sure to finish the coffee of the two people who were behind him first; further infuriating him. The two boys exchanged small smiles with each other as they tormented the man, who, when the time came, accepted his coffee without a word.

The next customer to catch Louis' eye was a teenage girl, with two small children jumping up and down, tugging on her hands.

The girl seemed younger than Louis and looked nothing like the two children causing her grief. He assumed that she was a babysitter, who was probably regretting the decision to try and earn a few extra dollars. While she waited for her order and Louis served other customers, he shot her a few sympathetic looks, as the children she was with didn't seem to be settling down at all, causing a few people to glare at her.

As the crowd in the café died down, a boy around Louis' age, with bleach blonde hair and blue eyes, stumbled into the building, looking as though he was about to pass out.

That's definitely an after-school look, Louis thought to himself as the boy ordered a large cappuccino. He had given Louis a cute smile as he ordered before shuffling over to the waiting area. Louis wondered why he wouldn't just go home if he was so drained. But, then again, maybe an overpriced coffee would be good for him.

A group of high school girls soon came in, giggling and laughing the entire time they were in the line before coming up to the counter and not knowing what they wanted. All of them seemed to giggle when Louis asked what they wanted for the fifth time, but, thankfully, they finally ordered something. Much to Louis dismay, this happened more than he would like to admit. He didn't know what some people's problem was. It really wasn't that difficult to figure out what you want before you get to the counter; that's what Louis thought, anyway.

As time pressed on slowly, Louis kept stealing glances at the clock, noting that Sam should be arriving any minute. On one occasion, when he turned back from looking at the clock, he was greeted by a cute boy around his age, and, much like the other boy Louis had served, he seemed like he had just finished a long day at school. Louis took note of his soft brown hair and his hazel eyes, all the while thinking that school really needed to lighten up. Though the boy seemed to be very tired, he still offered Louis a pleasant smile, and Louis could have sworn he had seen him in the café before.

Continuing to serve customers, Louis was counting the seconds as they passed, because, as soon as Sam arrived, he would be clocking off for the day. Thankfully, as he was ringing up a tall brunette woman covered in more dirt than Louis had seen in his entire life, and turning to give Jake her ticket, he heard Sam's voice come from behind him, and he let out a sigh, happy that he would be able to knock off work.

"Uh, what do I have to do to get a coffee around here?"

"Are we talking plain coffee, or would you like a bit of cream with it?" Louis turned to look at Sam and winked, causing Sam to shake his head.

"Gross, dude. Gross."

"What can I get you, Samuel?" Louis laughed.

"Just a cap. You know what I like." Sam winked at Louis.

"I'll make that two, 'cause I'm clocking off," Louis said, ringing him up.

"Wait, why am I paying for yours?"

"'Cause you're a good friend." Louis handed the ticket to Jake and said, "I'll see you next time, Jake. Eight hours is enough for me."

"See ya, Lou, I'll get Sam on the register."

Louis nodded before turning back around. "Not you, Sam, the other Sam."

"I gathered that, you tool."

Louis blew a kiss before heading out the back to take his apron off and clock out, then walked out to the front of the café, where Sam sat at their usual table with their coffees.

"You charged me full price," Sam said as Louis sat down across from him.

"Yeah, even I don't get a discount here." Louis laughed.

"Rip off," Sam murmured into his coffee.

"Yeah, well, get over it."

"After everything I've done for you."

Sam grinned, placing his coffee back on the table, leaving him and Louis to sit in a comfortable silence. Louis took a moment to look around the café, scanning the people who were around him, ordering coffee, talking to each other, or just sitting quietly with their drinks and food.

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A/N: We're slowly getting through the story! I hope you enjoying it!

Here's a question:

Do you also do what Louis does?