After Shane left, Sydney found her way back into the coffee shop. However, ever since she went back in, she hasn't been able to do anything right. She became lost in her head and her thoughts, pondering deeply regarding what her brother told her.
She carried a cup of coffee in a tray to serve to a customer but it accidentally slipped. Fortunately, it didn't happen to pour on the customer but it was so close to landing on him.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry…are..are you okay?" She stopped apologizing and rushed to the male customer. The coffee would have caused bodily harm, if she hadn't been lucky enough to avoid it since the coffee was hot.
"No, no, it's okay. I'm fine, it didn't touch me" The male customer quickly grabbed Sydney's hands before she could touch his thigh, to check if a bit of the coffee landed on him and he let her know he was okay. He was a regular customer here and knowing Sydney and her workers are extremely careful while serving customers is the reason he didn't lose his temper or shout at her for the mistake she made.
It was a clumsy mistake, however, it was still one that could have given him injuries so it's quite understandable if he had raised his voice.
"Thank God. I'm so sorry, let me go get a rag and take care of this, I'm sorry" Sydney rendered countless apologies and kept whispering it, even when she went ahead to get a rag, broom, and parker to get rid of the broken pieces of the ceramic cup she used to serve the customer coffee, which was on the floor before it hurts someone.
As the male customer, who almost got his thigh burnt with hot coffee, didn't cause a scene. Everyone else, who had their attention shortly distracted by it, went back to minding their business since there was no drama to watch.
Before Sydney could get to the broom and come back to take care of the mess she made. Ellie had already taken on the job and was now picking up the broken pieces of the ceramic cup with her bare hands and was careful enough not to get cut by it.
"No, it's alright. Leave this to me. I'll take care of it'' Sydney bent over and tried to stop Ellie from picking up the broken ceramics with her bare hands, when there was a broom and parker to help out with the work. However, the girl insisted on taking care of it by herself.
"No, it's okay. I'll do it. I think you should take a break." Ellie went on with picking the ceramics since she was already halfway to getting rid of every one of them.
"I said I'll do it, Ellie. It's dangerous to pick them up with your bare hands, you could get hurt. Other customers are waiting to be served, you can go help out with that" Sydney struggled with Ellie to be the one to take care of the mess she made. However, the girl still insisted on taking care of it.
"I'll use the broom instead so I don't get hurt, you should take a break, Syd " Ellie gently grabbed the broom Sydney brought and handed her the tray, which contained some pieces of the broken ceramics she picked. She hurriedly went ahead to sweep the tiny particles of the ceramics remaining on the floor.
"Fine," Sydney walked away, rolling her eyes after being beaten to take care of the mess that she made, herself. She thought she was the most stubborn one, but Ellie just proved her wrong.
****
"Here, you should have some cookies. I made them for Roman but he's so full he can barely eat anything again" Ellie gently passed the plate of cookies she made for Roman over to Sydney and sat on the stool chair opposite her.
"I don't feel like eating anything right now, I'm not hungry" Sydney passed back the plate of cookies to her, still feeling too bothered over what Shane told her regarding their parent's divorce for her to think about eating anything at the moment.
"Hmm, what's up with you today? you don't seem like your usual self" Sydney didn't bother to pass the plate back to Sydney, as it was obvious that she was only going to return it to her again.
"Nothing," Sydney casually replied and brought down her hands which she had used to prop up her chin.
"Are you sure?, I can tell that you haven't been quite active today. You know with the accident you made while serving that customer, you could have sent him leaving with a mad face after you almost spilled coffee on him" Ellie bit down on a cookie and looked away to avoid the unfriendly look that Sydney was giving her. She could tell that she wasn't up for this conversation, however, Ellie just wanted to know what was going on with her.
"It was an accident and I'm glad the coffee didn't reach him. Anyone else could have done that, you could have been the one who almost sent him running out of our coffee shop with a pissed face. Just drop this conversation, Ellie. I'm not up for it right now" Sydney sighed and facepalmed before resting her head on the table.
"Okay… you know Roman is asleep but he could probably wake up anytime soon with all the noise happening here. You know he hates noisy environments…"
"He could have gone to school where it isn't that noisy, Ellie. If you don't know what else to talk about, you could probably go find somewhere else and sleep too. We don't have any customers for now" Sydney groaned and lifted her face from the table. She facepamed again while murmuring till Ellie became too concerned and had to ask.
"Are you sure you are okay? You are not going to talk about the man that I saw you leaving the shop with earlier? He seemed unfamiliar, I don't think I've seen him anywhere around this neighborhood" Ellie munched down on the cookie, and made a little loud crunching sound with it. She was quick to look away from Sydney to avoid the kind of judgmental stare she was about to give her for bringing that up.
She must have thought that she hadn't seen her leave the shop with a strange man a while ago.
"You saw that?" Sydney asked innocently.
"Of course, I saw you leave the shop with a strange man. What is going on, Syd? Who is he? A date? Your boyfriend? Oh my God, when did that happen? You didn't tell me" Ellie smiled prettily while being too quick to make assumptions regarding the strange man she saw with Sydney. She has always wanted to see her start a relationship with someone else after Barry messed up her heart.
"Ugh, don't be in such a hurry. It was just my brother" Sydney pouted sadly.
"Your brother? Oh, is he the same one that came yesterday?" Ellie pouted sadly too, being left disappointed after Sydney let her know who the man she left with from the shop was. It was just her brother, ugh.
"Yes, he is…" Sydney's brows deeply furrowed to a great extent.
"Well, what did he want? For you to go back with him again?" Ellie asked concernedly with a deep wrinkle appearing on her forehead too.
"No, it's not that, it's more than that but that isn't really going to be a problem. We just have to move out again. It's not safe here with him being around, the others could find me in no time. I don't think I can trust Shane to keep it a secret that I stay here. When we get back home, we'll pack, we'll be leaving first thing tomorrow morning"
"Wait, what?..."