Working with Isabelle.

That feeling of vindication was fleeting, sadly.

Over the next 40 minutes, I watched my sister quickly adapt to her role as a waitress. She would smile and make casual conversation with customers, even freely telling them this was her very first day working here. Then some of her friends from school happened to drop by and they called even more friends to come over to watch Isabelle.

Sure, my sister didn’t know how to use the coffee machine, where the plates, cups and cutlery were, the names of some of the pastries, and she obviously didn’t know the menu yet. But that was just it. She didn’t know YET. She would learn in time, but from the get go she was showing she had natural talent for the job. That was…

…

I know I should have felt happier to see her do well. It bothered me that I didn’t. Guess I still hadn’t grown out of that annoying, petty side of me.

“Hey, Oliver,” Isabelle whispered next to me behind the counter. “Why is that girl staring at us?”

“Oh.” She was talking about Fernanda, who was still here. She seemed actually busy doing or reading something on her phone, but every once in a while she would look up and stare at Isabelle for a bit before turning to me. Girl wasn’t very sneaky.

“Apparently she watches our channel. She says she’s a fan.”

Isabelle’s eyes lit up with glee. She snapped her head towards Fernanda with a huge smile and almost screamed, “REALL- Ack!”

I kicked her in the foot to stop her.

“Rude,” I told her.

“Right, right. Sorry…” she whispered, then more subtly glanced at our customer and loyal viewer. “But holy crap, are you serious? Does she just watch Cake, or…?”

“W-Well, she said that…” My words got cut off by the sound of the little bell on top of the front door.

Maria and I instinctively turned to look and greet our new customer, but we were both taken aback by who we say. And while I was happy beyond belief to see who came in and was sure Maria felt the same, my boss decided to give her best friend a hard time.

“Well, well, well! After all this time, you finally decide to show your face in my shop! The gall!” Maria said with the biggest smirk on her face.

Diana shrugged and came to sit at the counter. “Oliver might stop working here soon, so I had to come see him before I missed my chance,” she said.

From the corner of my eye I caught Fernanda raising her head all of a sudden in surprise. She watched Diana’s back as she sat down on the stool.

“You know, I was going to treat you but now I think I’ve changed my mind,” Maria told Diana with a pout.

“Of course I was going to pay for myself from the start.” Diana chuckled softly and turned to Isabelle. “Oliver told me this was your first day here. How is it going so far?”

“Ah, um… I think it’s going well?” Isabelle said with a chuckle of her own. “Too early to tell, I guess, but plenty of friends came to cheer me on.”

“Eh?”

Oh. I felt my chest freeze at the same time as Diana’s. There were around 8 of Isabelle’s school friends in the shop at that moment. They were more than likely listening to this conversation. And although we hadn’t said anything specific, it didn’t take a genius to put two and two together.

“H-Hey, is Oliver also seeing that woman?” I heard someone whisper.

“Did you see how they looked at each other? They’re totally a thing.”

“Didn’t think he’d be into older women, but… Damn, she’s FINE!”

“Fuck, I guess beautiful people do end up dating each other…”

Maria sighed and shook her head. “Okay, now I know why you kept putting off coming here.”

“S-Sorry, I’ll go tell them to be quiet,” Isabelle said.

“No, let them be, sis,” I told her with a wry grin. “This kind of thing is unavoidable. We just need to learn to deal with it.”

Diana nodded. “I agree. They can say what they want. So I’ll just do what I came to do.”

“Which is…?” Maria asked.

Diana smiled. “Have an espresso and ask Oliver if he wants to go out for a walk with me when he gets off work.”

“One espresso coming up,” Maria said happily.

“And about that walk?”

I smiled at her. “I’d love to. There are some things I want to talk to you about.”

“Hey, hey,” Isabelle said, pouting and crossing her arms. “Stop being happy in front of me! I get jealous.”

“Sucks, doesn’t it?” I teased her only because she was clearly joking.

“Oh, don’t worry, Isabelle,” Maria said with a very innocent tone. “You’re going to prom with an amazing guy, aren’t you? You should be happy about that.”

Isabelle flinched and tensed up. She just realized her new boss was the girlfriend of the guy that was taking her to prom, didn’t she?

“I… Umm… I don’t…”

Maria burst out laughing so hard that she almost burnt her hand when some of the coffee on the cup spilled out. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! It’s fine, girl. I get it. I just couldn’t resist bringing it up.”

“Your workplace is weird,” Diana told me. “So is your boss.”

“Like you can talk.”

“Ah, right.”

Interpersonal connections, uncomfortable situations, strange meetings, lighthearted banter… It’s so strange to think I’d been missing this kind of thing while cooped up in my bedroom for about 18 years. Having a social life is exhausting, but it’s… nice. You never know what’s gonna happen next.

“E-Excuse me?”

Fernanda’s voice made me turn around, but it wasn’t me who she was talking to. It was Maria.

“Yes? What can I help you with?”

“You… You’re hiring help, r-right? C-Could I apply?”

…

See what I mean?

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