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Description
Cherry Popsicle
Part I- Peaches In My Cream.

Such gray skies so early in the morning could only depict a rainy, ugly day. Her silver hair hung just below her ears, her ends slanting forward with her jaw line and her elven ears bearing simple studs for a feminine touch. The light skirt she wore danced as a steady walk kept the material in a constant, fluid motion. Tea was disguised in a paper coffee cup and she read the paper in step with the clicking her heels made on the sidewalk. Being a busy body in such a busy town required multi-tasking- but never before her first stop of the morning.

The jingle of tiny bells signaled her entry and the girl attempted to fold her paper with one hand on her way to the bar stools that sat so close to the counter.

"G'morning Crystal."  A ceremony of routine, the voice drifted her way from around the fresh aroma of coffee and she greeted her friend behind the counter when she finally got to sitting down, "I thought you didn't like coffee..."

"I don't." Emerald green eyes drifted upwards from her square of paper to focus on her blond haired friend. She held up her paper coffee cup to her, without taking her eyes from her paper, "It's tea."

"Awe, so you're not going to buy anything this time?"

"Nope, not this time." Finally ridden of the burden of carrying the thing, Crystal placed her cup on the strip counter in front of her, "I've been spending too much money here lately."

"No fair. You keep me in business you know."

She was still smiling when she reached into her pocket for a highlighter but didn't respond as she begun to put the pen to work, highlighting things that were of interest to her.

The government's new ideal for tax payers, retail for sale, new apartment for rent; all of these things became yellow lines amongst the black. Hunched over that piece of paper, she was too absorbed in her work to remember that she had already finished her tea before she had arrived. The hand she moved wrapped it's fingers around a nearby cup that gave off warmth and she sipped it routinely before she finally looked up to see her friend grinning at her.

Confused to the gesture, Crystal placed her cup back down on the counter and kept her head up a moment longer before she sighed and shook her head.

"Seesh Amber. You can't just slip me tea like that- I don't have the money for it."

Finally satisfied, the blond turned around to finish cleaning out some dishes and spoke over her shoulder, "Now we both know that's not true; you buy tea here every morning."

Another sigh, "Yes, but that's the habit I'm trying to break you know."

"Why break a good thing?" Dishes rattled themselves into spot and Amber turned around to wipe her soapy hands on her apron before leaning on the counter between both girls.

A smile was still shared between them when Crystal had to break it with a slight, happy sigh; "Because this good thing-" The cup before her got a gentle shake to put emphasis on her up-coming point; "-Is draining my money supply rather rapidly."

"Psh. Why you so worried 'bout money so suddenly anyways? You seemed fine and secure before to me." A free hand moved to flick a mound of blond hair over her shoulder and she watched Crystal continue her highlighting, awaiting a response.

Another sip from her tea and Crystal had decided to wait out her response for a little bit to cover some more material on the work before her, "...Cause I might be getting fired soon."

"Fired?" The conversation between the two of them silenced to the murmur of the cafe and Amber broke it with a steady, light laugh, "You? Fired? Why would they fire you?"

A delicate frown placed itself onto her lips, and the maiden harvested that frown, "I haven't been getting enough sleep lately. I guess it's getting to me at work a lot now."

"So skip a couple days and sleep or something?"

Corner of her lips still sagging she put her coffee cup back between them with slightly more force then usual, "I can't do that and you know it."

"Hey, don't look at me!" Her friend had quickly raised herself from the counter to throw her arms in front of her defensively, "The better part of being self-employed is that you can make your own hours." Lightly shrugging, Amber had left the conversation abruptly to attend to another customer and left Crystal to sigh alone.

'Maybe I am working too hard...' Thoughts of self-pity led her to drop an elbow on the counter and rest her face in her hand as her highlighter finally set itself down. 'And I really haven't had close to enough sleep...'  She still had a good couple hours before work called her in, so Crystal decided that letting her eyes wander around the cafe would be a good enough break.

Amber certainly had mellowed out since Link left for California. Her attitude had withered down to only a speck of what it had been and she seemed lifeless a lot of the time. It was mostly likely because Amber spent so much time missing him, but Crystal couldn't help but miss the spark that he had seemed to put in her.  The cafe had formed about a year after that and Amber seemed to at least be functioning with something to do.

Another sigh broke lightly into her space and Crystal heard it merge into the chitchat of the people around her as she watched her friend serve customers with a small smile. Her green eyes had caught movement outside of the lights of the cafe though and she watched it with contentment.

With the constant supply of rain that the town had been getting, puddles were forming around the street corners and lampposts to stay, and it wasn't awkward to see children all dressed up in raincoats and rubber boots everyday. Vendors, still content on making money, would stand in the rain under over-sized umbrellas still trying to sell things like ice cream and popsicles, because even though it was wet, it was still warm and humid.

This particular little girl had been tugging on her mothers sleeve and pointing to one of the men with eagerness, hoping to get a popsicle. Her mother simply tugged her sleeve free and proceeded to drag the girl away, making sure to give her a stern 'no'. Typically, the child threw a temper tantrum and down she went. Right onto the pavement and right down into a puddle. Crystal was surprised that the child was crying rather than screaming, but she figured that all tantrums were probably different for each child and shrugged despite herself to continue watching the event unfold.

By now the vendor was involved, trying to calm the child down, but the mother simply stood up, turned on her heel and stomped away like a child. Eyebrows drawing together with confusion, Crystal felt she was watching a movie of some sort and kept herself glued to the 'screen' that was that bay window in the cafe.

A hopeless vendor looked up to see the mother leave and simply shrugged, leaving the child where she was and heading back to his post. People continued on their daily route and walked around the girl as her fists became occupied with wiping away tears savagely. Crystal's response was a sad sigh and a frown; people in this world just seemed to be like that- if it wasn't their problem then they didn't get involved. She figured that if the little girl ran off that she would probably go to stop her, but someone had already kneeled to greet her in her puddle of tears.

A guest told Crystal that the man was no more than his early twenties, and his jean jacket must've been heavy, soaking wet as it was. She watched this man speak to that little girl about something, totally oblivious to the stares and scoffs he was getting for kneeling in a puddle so close to the street, and completely unaware of the moving feet and legs that swerved to avoid them both as the walk light came on and off several times.

Amazed, Crystal watched this man talk the girl out of her tears to the point of even making her laugh and continued to watch from her silent sanctuary as he stood to face the vendor, obviously ordering a popsicle. He held it awkwardly enough; using only his fingernails to hold the popsicle stick... but he managed to dangle it upside down in front of the young girl easily enough and she responded by greedily taking it into her tiny hands and running off, giving a wave of thanks to the man and disappearing into the rain.

Still kneeling, Crystal finally caught sight of the face of the man when he rose to turn back to his walk. Vividly green eyes shone from behind a thick layer of silver hair that glistened in the rain and Crystal caught her every breath. Something about his demeanor just seemed off, but he entered the cafe nonetheless and took a seat at the table closest to the door. He looked uncomfortable, but willing to stay.

This could be the break that she, as an editor, had been waiting for.

Her chartered memory of the busy bodies of this town didn't recognize him at all, and the deed he had just preformed went perfectly with her recent research and study on the city's lack of childcare recently.

Amber passed her in a breeze on her duties and Crystal reached out to snatch a handful of extra material just in time to stop her.

"Hey-!"

"Who is that guy?" She kept her voice low and cut off her friends reaction of surprise, using her head to nonchalantly motion towards the man that was still sitting at the table nearest the door.

"Who- him?" A towel over her shoulder from doing dishes all day, Amber looked up and Crystal watched her eyes intently to make sure they landed in the right place, "I dunno. He's a regular though."

"Regular? Not in the mornings. I'm here every morning and I never see him." She couldn't help her rushed tone. The faster she could get the information she needed then the faster she could get on that report.

"Chill. He only started coming regularly a few days ago. Usually towards later in the afternoon though, when you're gone."

A nod and Crystal was already gathering her things, "I'm going to interview him."

"Whoa, what?" Amber put herself between Crystal and her target, "Look- I can't just have you interviewing my customers. It'll make them nervous and that guy has been on edge ever since he started coming here."

Her lips pressed themselves into a crooked line. Here her report had finally gotten a lead and her best friend was slowing its progress. Crystal shifted her things around her arms a bit and frowned heavily at Amber, “So maybe I can help take off that edge?”

There was a sigh as Amber’s blue eyes closed themselves off from the café and Crystal watched her every move as the waitress finally shifted out of her path, “You can try, but if you drive him away then you owe me another customer.”

Smiling, they exchanged nods and she had begun her approach slowly, so she wouldn’t surprise him. Every step was small, and Crystal kept a soft gaze on him until he finally looked up to her eyes with his own. She watched him shift uneasy, but kept walking until she tugged a chair away from the table he was sitting at.

“Hello.” With a soft mumble, she had sat down at the table and placed her things on it’s top, trying to seem friendly and polite. The movement left a strain of confusion in the man’s face and he watched her until she looked back up, “It’s such a rainy day, hey?”

“Maybe.”

When he finally spoke, it caught her by surprise, but the editor did her best to hide that reaction. It seemed like she would have to keep the conversation going on her own if she ever wanted an opinion from this man.

“I saw your deed out there.”

Direct was always the best tactic, she had found. Beating around the bush with these kinds of things led to suspicions and wrong impressions, so Crystal had kind of blurted her last words to the mans shock.

There was a shift in his weight and he moved his eyes from her to the window in an instant, “Oh, really?”

His hands were hastily shoved into his pockets and she almost sighed at his lack of interest in almost everything she had tried thus far. Perhaps he just wasn’t one for many words?

“Yes, I did. I thought it was very sweet of you to look after that little girl like that.” She laughed lightly to try and clear that expression of fear that was slowly sweeping his facial features, “A lot of parents just don’t seem to care anymore, it’s sad, isn’t it?”

Trying to convince his eyes back to her seemed like it was a war and Crystal had propped up her elbows on the table to give her some lead, but he only glanced at her from the corner of his eye for a moment before staring out that window again.

“Perhaps…”

“Childcare has really gone down the drain, and parents should really put some responsibility into their kids if they choose to have them, am I right?”

All right, this one was a direct question. There was no way he could avoid this one.

“And what if, the parent had adopted with the best of intentions for the child, only to have a sudden change in circumstance?”

So he wasn’t looking at her at all, and was still avoiding her completely even with his body language, but at the very least he was talking more with than one word to all of her questions.

“Well then they shouldn’t have adopted, hands down. Taking care of a child requires a lot of fore planning and thinking about the future, especially for the child, wouldn’t you agree?”

Her mind was working at about a hundred miles an hour as she made sure to take mental note of every word he said. He, on the other hand, had pressed his lips into a tight line to finally turn towards her with a look of distrust on his face.

“You’re interviewing me, aren’t you?” The voice was slightly bitter and Crystal was shocked at the resentment his facial features suddenly held.

Nonetheless, she was quickly finding herself captivated by his vivid green eyes, and had to shake her head to pull her own eyes away. It was unusual for her interviewee to realize that they were actually on the spot like this, and to be honest; this was the first time she had ever dealt with it.  Her weight shifted and her throat made a small sound as she cleared it of her nervousness.

“Well, you could say that…”

“I knew it.”

She hadn’t even gotten time to complete her train of thoughts before the man had removed himself from the table completely. Crystal stood from her chair just in time to see his back exiting the café and the girl sighed wearily at her slow response time. An interesting fact that she did manage to take notice of was how the man had exited. It was a peculiar motion of merely flicking the door open with his fingernails, which were surprisingly long for a man, and then jarring enough room between the hatch and the door with his foot to slip through.

‘Almost as if he’s afraid of the glass…’ Tapping her fingers rapidly on the table beside her, Crystal was jerked from her thoughts once again from a familiar voice clearing it’s throat directly behind her. Another sigh emerged and the editor rolled her eyes to turn around on the spot and face her doom; this time it was named “Amber”.

“You know if he doesn’t come back…”

“I know, I know. I owe you a new customer.” The things that she had so carefully placed before were now scrambled from the table with a forced calm and hastily shoved into a purse and a bag.

“Yeah, that. Or you could just start buying extra large for the cup of tea that you get in the morning.”

Even though Amber had the best intentions, and Crystal could tell she was joking from years of knowing her, the silver haired woman rolled her eyes tightly and shook her head. Amber had disappeared from her sight in that instant, and had already returned with a small glass bowl cradled in her hands. Ease, precision and being a waitress for a good couple of years now, Amber set the bowl and spoon down quickly and softly on the table next to Crystal and smiled at her.

“If I don’t get that article done soon then I won’t even be able to get a small cup of tea every morning… let alone this desert.”

“But I know you like it.”  Almost a habit now, Amber had wiped her hands on the apron once more, “C’mon, go ahead and eat it already. This one’s on me, ok?”

“Yeah… alright. I won’t be able to afford anything soon anyways.”

The hint of sadness in her tone was just enough for Amber to back off to serve another customer and Crystal found herself sighing once again. It was with harshness that she pulled the chair away from the table and sat down in it once more. That same table that had earlier sat between her and that man became host to her things once more and the editor fought off the stave to sigh yet again. Another chance to get the article done had slipped through her fingers and now she found herself staring into a bowl of freshly cut peaches, frothed thickly into a white cream.

Description
Cherry Popsicle
Part I- Peaches In My Cream.

Such gray skies so early in the morning could only depict a rainy, ugly day. Her silver hair hung just below her ears, her ends slanting forward with her jaw line and her elven ears bearing simple studs for a feminine touch. The light skirt she wore danced as a steady walk kept the material in a constant, fluid motion. Tea was disguised in a paper coffee cup and she read the paper in step with the clicking her heels made on the sidewalk. Being a busy body in such a busy town required multi-tasking- but never before her first stop of the morning.

The jingle of tiny bells signaled her entry and the girl attempted to fold her paper with one hand on her way to the bar stools that sat so close to the counter.

"G'morning Crystal."  A ceremony of routine, the voice drifted her way from around the fresh aroma of coffee and she greeted her friend behind the counter when she finally got to sitting down, "I thought you didn't like coffee..."

"I don't." Emerald green eyes drifted upwards from her square of paper to focus on her blond haired friend. She held up her paper coffee cup to her, without taking her eyes from her paper, "It's tea."

"Awe, so you're not going to buy anything this time?"

"Nope, not this time." Finally ridden of the burden of carrying the thing, Crystal placed her cup on the strip counter in front of her, "I've been spending too much money here lately."

"No fair. You keep me in business you know."

She was still smiling when she reached into her pocket for a highlighter but didn't respond as she begun to put the pen to work, highlighting things that were of interest to her.

The government's new ideal for tax payers, retail for sale, new apartment for rent; all of these things became yellow lines amongst the black. Hunched over that piece of paper, she was too absorbed in her work to remember that she had already finished her tea before she had arrived. The hand she moved wrapped it's fingers around a nearby cup that gave off warmth and she sipped it routinely before she finally looked up to see her friend grinning at her.

Confused to the gesture, Crystal placed her cup back down on the counter and kept her head up a moment longer before she sighed and shook her head.

"Seesh Amber. You can't just slip me tea like that- I don't have the money for it."

Finally satisfied, the blond turned around to finish cleaning out some dishes and spoke over her shoulder, "Now we both know that's not true; you buy tea here every morning."

Another sigh, "Yes, but that's the habit I'm trying to break you know."

"Why break a good thing?" Dishes rattled themselves into spot and Amber turned around to wipe her soapy hands on her apron before leaning on the counter between both girls.

A smile was still shared between them when Crystal had to break it with a slight, happy sigh; "Because this good thing-" The cup before her got a gentle shake to put emphasis on her up-coming point; "-Is draining my money supply rather rapidly."

"Psh. Why you so worried 'bout money so suddenly anyways? You seemed fine and secure before to me." A free hand moved to flick a mound of blond hair over her shoulder and she watched Crystal continue her highlighting, awaiting a response.

Another sip from her tea and Crystal had decided to wait out her response for a little bit to cover some more material on the work before her, "...Cause I might be getting fired soon."

"Fired?" The conversation between the two of them silenced to the murmur of the cafe and Amber broke it with a steady, light laugh, "You? Fired? Why would they fire you?"

A delicate frown placed itself onto her lips, and the maiden harvested that frown, "I haven't been getting enough sleep lately. I guess it's getting to me at work a lot now."

"So skip a couple days and sleep or something?"

Corner of her lips still sagging she put her coffee cup back between them with slightly more force then usual, "I can't do that and you know it."

"Hey, don't look at me!" Her friend had quickly raised herself from the counter to throw her arms in front of her defensively, "The better part of being self-employed is that you can make your own hours." Lightly shrugging, Amber had left the conversation abruptly to attend to another customer and left Crystal to sigh alone.

'Maybe I am working too hard...' Thoughts of self-pity led her to drop an elbow on the counter and rest her face in her hand as her highlighter finally set itself down. 'And I really haven't had close to enough sleep...'  She still had a good couple hours before work called her in, so Crystal decided that letting her eyes wander around the cafe would be a good enough break.

Amber certainly had mellowed out since Link left for California. Her attitude had withered down to only a speck of what it had been and she seemed lifeless a lot of the time. It was mostly likely because Amber spent so much time missing him, but Crystal couldn't help but miss the spark that he had seemed to put in her.  The cafe had formed about a year after that and Amber seemed to at least be functioning with something to do.

Another sigh broke lightly into her space and Crystal heard it merge into the chitchat of the people around her as she watched her friend serve customers with a small smile. Her green eyes had caught movement outside of the lights of the cafe though and she watched it with contentment.

With the constant supply of rain that the town had been getting, puddles were forming around the street corners and lampposts to stay, and it wasn't awkward to see children all dressed up in raincoats and rubber boots everyday. Vendors, still content on making money, would stand in the rain under over-sized umbrellas still trying to sell things like ice cream and popsicles, because even though it was wet, it was still warm and humid.

This particular little girl had been tugging on her mothers sleeve and pointing to one of the men with eagerness, hoping to get a popsicle. Her mother simply tugged her sleeve free and proceeded to drag the girl away, making sure to give her a stern 'no'. Typically, the child threw a temper tantrum and down she went. Right onto the pavement and right down into a puddle. Crystal was surprised that the child was crying rather than screaming, but she figured that all tantrums were probably different for each child and shrugged despite herself to continue watching the event unfold.

By now the vendor was involved, trying to calm the child down, but the mother simply stood up, turned on her heel and stomped away like a child. Eyebrows drawing together with confusion, Crystal felt she was watching a movie of some sort and kept herself glued to the 'screen' that was that bay window in the cafe.

A hopeless vendor looked up to see the mother leave and simply shrugged, leaving the child where she was and heading back to his post. People continued on their daily route and walked around the girl as her fists became occupied with wiping away tears savagely. Crystal's response was a sad sigh and a frown; people in this world just seemed to be like that- if it wasn't their problem then they didn't get involved. She figured that if the little girl ran off that she would probably go to stop her, but someone had already kneeled to greet her in her puddle of tears.

A guest told Crystal that the man was no more than his early twenties, and his jean jacket must've been heavy, soaking wet as it was. She watched this man speak to that little girl about something, totally oblivious to the stares and scoffs he was getting for kneeling in a puddle so close to the street, and completely unaware of the moving feet and legs that swerved to avoid them both as the walk light came on and off several times.

Amazed, Crystal watched this man talk the girl out of her tears to the point of even making her laugh and continued to watch from her silent sanctuary as he stood to face the vendor, obviously ordering a popsicle. He held it awkwardly enough; using only his fingernails to hold the popsicle stick... but he managed to dangle it upside down in front of the young girl easily enough and she responded by greedily taking it into her tiny hands and running off, giving a wave of thanks to the man and disappearing into the rain.

Still kneeling, Crystal finally caught sight of the face of the man when he rose to turn back to his walk. Vividly green eyes shone from behind a thick layer of silver hair that glistened in the rain and Crystal caught her every breath. Something about his demeanor just seemed off, but he entered the cafe nonetheless and took a seat at the table closest to the door. He looked uncomfortable, but willing to stay.

This could be the break that she, as an editor, had been waiting for.

Her chartered memory of the busy bodies of this town didn't recognize him at all, and the deed he had just preformed went perfectly with her recent research and study on the city's lack of childcare recently.

Amber passed her in a breeze on her duties and Crystal reached out to snatch a handful of extra material just in time to stop her.

"Hey-!"

"Who is that guy?" She kept her voice low and cut off her friends reaction of surprise, using her head to nonchalantly motion towards the man that was still sitting at the table nearest the door.

"Who- him?" A towel over her shoulder from doing dishes all day, Amber looked up and Crystal watched her eyes intently to make sure they landed in the right place, "I dunno. He's a regular though."

"Regular? Not in the mornings. I'm here every morning and I never see him." She couldn't help her rushed tone. The faster she could get the information she needed then the faster she could get on that report.

"Chill. He only started coming regularly a few days ago. Usually towards later in the afternoon though, when you're gone."

A nod and Crystal was already gathering her things, "I'm going to interview him."

"Whoa, what?" Amber put herself between Crystal and her target, "Look- I can't just have you interviewing my customers. It'll make them nervous and that guy has been on edge ever since he started coming here."

Her lips pressed themselves into a crooked line. Here her report had finally gotten a lead and her best friend was slowing its progress. Crystal shifted her things around her arms a bit and frowned heavily at Amber, “So maybe I can help take off that edge?”

There was a sigh as Amber’s blue eyes closed themselves off from the café and Crystal watched her every move as the waitress finally shifted out of her path, “You can try, but if you drive him away then you owe me another customer.”

Smiling, they exchanged nods and she had begun her approach slowly, so she wouldn’t surprise him. Every step was small, and Crystal kept a soft gaze on him until he finally looked up to her eyes with his own. She watched him shift uneasy, but kept walking until she tugged a chair away from the table he was sitting at.

“Hello.” With a soft mumble, she had sat down at the table and placed her things on it’s top, trying to seem friendly and polite. The movement left a strain of confusion in the man’s face and he watched her until she looked back up, “It’s such a rainy day, hey?”

“Maybe.”

When he finally spoke, it caught her by surprise, but the editor did her best to hide that reaction. It seemed like she would have to keep the conversation going on her own if she ever wanted an opinion from this man.

“I saw your deed out there.”

Direct was always the best tactic, she had found. Beating around the bush with these kinds of things led to suspicions and wrong impressions, so Crystal had kind of blurted her last words to the mans shock.

There was a shift in his weight and he moved his eyes from her to the window in an instant, “Oh, really?”

His hands were hastily shoved into his pockets and she almost sighed at his lack of interest in almost everything she had tried thus far. Perhaps he just wasn’t one for many words?

“Yes, I did. I thought it was very sweet of you to look after that little girl like that.” She laughed lightly to try and clear that expression of fear that was slowly sweeping his facial features, “A lot of parents just don’t seem to care anymore, it’s sad, isn’t it?”

Trying to convince his eyes back to her seemed like it was a war and Crystal had propped up her elbows on the table to give her some lead, but he only glanced at her from the corner of his eye for a moment before staring out that window again.

“Perhaps…”

“Childcare has really gone down the drain, and parents should really put some responsibility into their kids if they choose to have them, am I right?”

All right, this one was a direct question. There was no way he could avoid this one.

“And what if, the parent had adopted with the best of intentions for the child, only to have a sudden change in circumstance?”

So he wasn’t looking at her at all, and was still avoiding her completely even with his body language, but at the very least he was talking more with than one word to all of her questions.

“Well then they shouldn’t have adopted, hands down. Taking care of a child requires a lot of fore planning and thinking about the future, especially for the child, wouldn’t you agree?”

Her mind was working at about a hundred miles an hour as she made sure to take mental note of every word he said. He, on the other hand, had pressed his lips into a tight line to finally turn towards her with a look of distrust on his face.

“You’re interviewing me, aren’t you?” The voice was slightly bitter and Crystal was shocked at the resentment his facial features suddenly held.

Nonetheless, she was quickly finding herself captivated by his vivid green eyes, and had to shake her head to pull her own eyes away. It was unusual for her interviewee to realize that they were actually on the spot like this, and to be honest; this was the first time she had ever dealt with it.  Her weight shifted and her throat made a small sound as she cleared it of her nervousness.

“Well, you could say that…”

“I knew it.”

She hadn’t even gotten time to complete her train of thoughts before the man had removed himself from the table completely. Crystal stood from her chair just in time to see his back exiting the café and the girl sighed wearily at her slow response time. An interesting fact that she did manage to take notice of was how the man had exited. It was a peculiar motion of merely flicking the door open with his fingernails, which were surprisingly long for a man, and then jarring enough room between the hatch and the door with his foot to slip through.

‘Almost as if he’s afraid of the glass…’ Tapping her fingers rapidly on the table beside her, Crystal was jerked from her thoughts once again from a familiar voice clearing it’s throat directly behind her. Another sigh emerged and the editor rolled her eyes to turn around on the spot and face her doom; this time it was named “Amber”.

“You know if he doesn’t come back…”

“I know, I know. I owe you a new customer.” The things that she had so carefully placed before were now scrambled from the table with a forced calm and hastily shoved into a purse and a bag.

“Yeah, that. Or you could just start buying extra large for the cup of tea that you get in the morning.”

Even though Amber had the best intentions, and Crystal could tell she was joking from years of knowing her, the silver haired woman rolled her eyes tightly and shook her head. Amber had disappeared from her sight in that instant, and had already returned with a small glass bowl cradled in her hands. Ease, precision and being a waitress for a good couple of years now, Amber set the bowl and spoon down quickly and softly on the table next to Crystal and smiled at her.

“If I don’t get that article done soon then I won’t even be able to get a small cup of tea every morning… let alone this desert.”

“But I know you like it.”  Almost a habit now, Amber had wiped her hands on the apron once more, “C’mon, go ahead and eat it already. This one’s on me, ok?”

“Yeah… alright. I won’t be able to afford anything soon anyways.”

The hint of sadness in her tone was just enough for Amber to back off to serve another customer and Crystal found herself sighing once again. It was with harshness that she pulled the chair away from the table and sat down in it once more. That same table that had earlier sat between her and that man became host to her things once more and the editor fought off the stave to sigh yet again. Another chance to get the article done had slipped through her fingers and now she found herself staring into a bowl of freshly cut peaches, frothed thickly into a white cream.