Into the cafe with a new attitude towards John

Piper pushed through the cafe door, the bell jangling like a warning. Her usual blonde bounce was gone; shoulders rigid, eyes locked on John. No coy smile, no fluttery eyelashes. She marched straight to the counter where he stood beside Holly, ignoring her best friend completely.

"John." Piper's voice cut through the espresso machine's hiss. "We need to talk. Now." She didn't wait for agreement, turning toward the cafe's cramped storage room a space smelling of ground coffee beans and cardboard.

He follows Piper into the storage room, the door clicking shut behind them. Cardboard boxes tower precariously, stacked high with sacks of unroasted beans. The air hangs thick with the raw, earthy scent of green coffee. Piper spins to face him, her expression stripped of its usual playful mask. Her eyes are red-rimmed, her voice tight. "You walked out. You ignored me. You deleted my video." Each sentence lands like a hammer blow.

John leans against a metal shelving unit, its chill seeping through his shirt. "You treated me like a joke, Piper. Like something you could step on whenever Rich or Holly snapped their fingers." He keeps his voice level, refusing to let her desperation sway him. "I meant what I said. If you want this, if you want me it stops. All of it. No more Rich. No more random guys. No more sharing stories with Holly."

Piper flinched as if physically struck. Her hands clenched at her sides, knuckles pressing sharply against the thin fabric of her dress. "You think it's easy?" she whispered, the raw edge in her voice scraping the cramped air. "You think I like feeling like... like cheap meat passed around?" She took a step closer, the scent of stale coffee grounds mingling with the faint coconut clinging to her skin. "Rich was... loud. Pushy. Holly thinks it's funny. But it's not." Her gaze dropped to the concrete floor, tracing a crack.

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