SOTF Archive/SOTF Classic

The girls only gave passing acknowledgment to Jasper, though both seemed absorbed in something. He paid no mind to it. He turned his attention to Alvaro, who asked for his order.

"Sure," He said, glancing at the menu. A lot of sweets were on the menu today. "Ooh, could I have some caramel slices?" He replied, turning back to Alvaro. Oh, he needed a drink, too. "And some water, please."

Alvaro was always working here, and Jasper heard that he was supposed to take over the family business. Whatever floated his boat, he figured. Well, at least Alvaro had a secure job after he graduated in a few months. Jasper would miss him, though he'd probably be working here full-time. He could always visit more often, but after that, he'd be in a different state. Jasper's interests laid elsewhere, somewhere that wasn't in the middle of a desert.

What a shame. He really would miss him.

"So," Jasper started, leaning back with both hands behind his head. "How was your day? Anything interesting happen?"

Jasper took his order. Alvaro put it down in his notebook. He didn't realise that he didn't have the pen in his hands though and he almost wrote Jasper's order down with a fork. He hoped that Jasper didn't see that, that would make things weird. He wrote down the caramel slices on his notepad and put it into the metal hole. His order shouldn't be too hard to remember, even considering the fact that Jasper was the only one needing an order right now.

He then proceeded to ask about Alvaro's day. Alvaro didn't really know how to answer this question, but he did his best.

"It was okay, nothing really interesting happened."

"Its mostly with the labs. Whoever I'm paired with never takes the work seriously," Adelaide replied in a slightly defensive tone, before glaring back down at her homework. It was true. Whenever she tried to take charge in the situation, her partners would immediately either get quiet and stand twiddling their thumbs or have some irrelevant passive-aggressive response. Ms. Barks as the year had gone by was growing less forgiving about mistakes, and would never help push Adelaide, or anyone else for that matter, in the right direction.  

"But... the homework is getting more challenging now, too." she admitted, before looking down at Lily's notes, then back at the girl with a pointed stare. How could she create such immaculate notes? Adelaide always made sure her notes were neat and orderly, but she did not have the patience that the other girl obviously had for scribing.

Adelaide took a closer look at the offered notepad. Not only was it perfectly color-coded, it actually made sense. The notes made even more sense than the actual lecture! Lily had laid out the best way to use the formula she had been having trouble applying, and gave examples for different situations it could be used.

"You should be the one teaching this class, not Ms. Barks." she stated to Lily. And she meant it. Lily was periodically absent, yet she still put in the effort to have beautiful notes was incredible. Adelaide wondered how bored Lily got when she was sick. "How did you get all of this?"

The corner's of Lily's mouth twitched upwards a little at the defensive tone in Adelaide's voice. "Makes sense. Group work can be frustrating." When Lily got lumped with someone who didn't want to work, more often than not she would just do the whole thing herself while they did whatever.

"You're too kind, but actually teaching a class would drive me nuts," Lily said, ducking her head a little. "I write down rough notes in class, go over them after class and highlight anything that didn't make sense or needs clarification. Then I either ask people I study with or research it myself. When I miss class, I either borrow notes or hire a tutor if I'm really far behind. There's a couple of kids who tutor at Cochise. Then once everything's clarified I spent time writing out the notes as clearly as possible so I don't forget. It's not hard. It just takes a lot of time."

It was lucky that Adelaide needed the chemistry notes. They were among her better ones. Math and the sciences were so much easier to keep notes on than, say, English. All the 'it could be argued that' stuff was harder to write clear notes on.

Lily swung her feet back and forth slightly as she prodded the cheesecake with her fork, idly admiring Adelaide's physique out of the corner of her eye. Very solid. Lily was a little jealous. She'd kill to have a physical build that wasn't all weeds.

"I'm usually in the library for an hour after school. Two hours on Friday unless something else is happening. It's a good time to catch up, if you're ever stuck on anything else. Not obligatory, of course, but just in case."

"Ah. Slow day, huh?" Jasper replied casually. "Was it slow in the good or bad way?" Jasper slid into the nearest chair, keeping his attention on Alvaro. "Like, was today the kind of day you wish was over sooner or was it more of a pleasantly quiet one?" He leaned on the table, head propped up by his elbow as he talked.

"I wish mine was the latter." He sighed. "Today was just so slow. Dunno why, but class just dragged on today. At least I didn't get much homework tonight..." He trailed off. "But hey, that meant that I didn't have much to do, so now I'm here!" He added, smiling at Alvaro. "I feel like I should come here more often."

Jasper was asking him questions; forcing him to elaborate on what he had said earlier. He responded.

"The second thing you said, I didn't have any tests, no homework due, and nothing was given out to me." He shrugged.

He felt his hand shaking slightly; he didn't know why that was happening. He placed his hand over the one that was shaking, and held it still. He breathed in, and then out again.

Jasper went on, talking about how his day sucked. Alvaro smiled, showing that he understood. Did Jasper hate school? He wasn't quite sure. Jasper then said that he needed to spend more time here.

"Yeah, you s-should." He was stuttering, he didn't know why. "It gives me money, and the ability to live a comfortable life here!"

His hand was still shaking, despite his attempts to stop. Was this a panic attack? If it was, he wasn't sure why he was having it. He kept breathing, trying to calm down.

Adelaide was impressed, maybe slightly unnerved, at Lily's dedication to note taking. She devoted so much time that could be spent doing something, anything else, yet she chose to research and keep ahead of classes despite being out. Most people Adelaide knew would do that.

"Still, it doesn't change the fact that these notes are incredible," Adelaide interjected, before Lily told her about times she could be available. It was thoughtful. Very thoughtful. Adelaide turned to eat more of her cheesecake to avoid having eye contact at the other girl. When her fork made a small clink against the plate was only when she realized that while they had been discussing notes, she had eaten the rest of her cheesecake.

"...Thank you." Adelaide replied, sounding more stiff than she wanted. "That's kind of you, but I don't... track is about to go into tournament season, so I might not have time."

Adelaide still did not like getting help where there was nothing in it for the other person. She had made it clear before when she asked Lily to help her in the first place. Still, she did not want to refuse outright and have Lily perceive her as rude.

"Well, offer stands if you're ever interested."

Lily dug her fork back into her cake. It was disappearing too fast.

"If you have them on you, could I briefly borrow last week's Spanish notes? I'm behind." Lily wrinkled her nose as she asked. She didn't like falling behind in Spanish. The Luz family was partially Spanish, she should know how to speak it. Lily waved the blunt end of her fork at the notes. "I won't need them long, won't be copying them out like that here."

She heard some light stuttering from behind her and turned her head slightly to Alvaro and Jasper's conversation. He looked uncomfortable. Maybe Jasper was pushing a conversation for too long.

So Alvaro's day was the good kind of slow. Good for him. Jasper wasn't too fond of them himself. They may have been pleasant, but nothing happened. It was a boring day in Jasper's book, and if he found himself in one he'd try to liven up things the first chance he got. That usually involved talking to people or going out, like he was doing now. He took a quick glance at his phone to check for anything interesting as he listened.

He chuckled at Alvaro's response. "That's a very honest way of putting it," He teased, looking up from his phone and smiling. "But I wouldn't mind contributing to that! It's not like you're using the money for anything too wild, and it's always good to support you local businesses, after all." He went on, waggling a finger for effect. "Of course, you're also a good friend of mine, so that counts for something."

Jasper's smile faltered as he looked at Alvaro. He wasn't looking too hot, shaking and breathing. Was he okay? Jasper slid his phone back into his pocket as he raised a brow. "Er, dude, are you feeling good?"

Alvaro was trying to keep calm, at least for the time being. He knew what was happening to him now; he was starting to have a panic attack. They weren't something he often had, and they weren't something that he would have in this situation, not with someone he was close friends with. Maybe the pressure of serving Lily came in a little late? That probably wasn't the actual reason why, but he'd accept just so that he'd know what was going on with him. But knowing about what caused it was only half the battle, and he needed to stop panicking so that he could focus on what needed to be done. He decided to distract himself by replying to Jasper.

"Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do. Apply for a good university, go back to Mexico so that I can take care of the business back there, and allow dad to live an easy life and take care of things here in Kingman." It wasn't quite working, but it helped, slightly. He wasn't tripping on words, and his hand was shaking less.

But then Jasper noticed his hands.

"Sorry, it's nothing. It's just that sometimes when-" He heard something hit the metal hole.

"Wait on a second!" He said, his voice suddenly raising. He went over to the metal hole and picked up Jasper's order. Caramel Slice and a cup of ice water. He didn't need to remember it, since he was the only person to order. He could see that his hands were getting worse, with him trying not to spill the ice water as it moved around in his hands. He handed it to Jasper.

"Sorry, is it okay if I just go to one of the back rooms for a bit? I'm not really feeling well."

"Sure. I should have them right-" Adelaide started as she pulled her backpack closer to search for her Spanish notes, but her sentence stopped when Alvaro made a loud announcement at the front counter. She had not been paying attention to the conversation between him and Jasper, but she was now. Even from the table with Lily she could see how much Alvaro's hands shook, and when he set Jasper's water down how some of it spilled out. She had not seen Alvaro like this before, was he having some sort of panic attack?

Adelaide did not want to be around if that was the case, but she was not in the position to leave either. When she finished taking out her Spanish notebook and slid it in front of Lily, though, she wanted to at least have some understanding of what might have been about to happen, or if she should alert someone else on staff, but the only other employee she could see was Alvaro's uncle, who she did not think had the ability to restrain Alvaro if it was necessary.

"Does Alvaro get... nervous like that usually?" Adelaide nodded towards the counter. "Nervous" was an adequate word to describe what she had seen without resorting to psychological terms. If Lily opened the notebook she would see relatively neat notes, though not color-coordinated and written either in pencil or dark blue pen ink. There were also a few short sentences that were phrases or sayings she had jot down that the teacher had not gone in-depth with. Adelaide enjoyed looking up the words later on the internet for fun and to help her get a greater perspective on the language.

((CAEDYN MILLER: DYNAMIC ENTRY))

"~Alvaro honey, I'm home~"

The sharp voice drifted into the room on an off-key lilt as the door swung open into the coffee shop. The customers didn't know it yet, but business just picked right the heck up, baby. Caedyn sashayed her way in, glancing out over the tables to see who was in for service.

Oh helloooooooo.

Wasn't this just a perfect scene. Alvaro, her beloved compatriot in caffeine, Jasper, her very bestest furriend, Lily, ~the one that got away~, and...some other chick whose name escaped her? Forget her, she wasn't important. Maybe. It'd get sorted out eventually. Right now, this was the perfect time to stir up a scene.

Alvaro's mad crushing on Lily, which is just...eeeeewwww, right? He and Jaspie would be so much cuter. Like, god, so adorable. Their babies would be so shareable, I can't even right now. Gotta make this happen!

The biggest grin she could manage pasted onto her face as she squealed out with excitement. "Lily! Jah, it's been foreves, girl! How have you beeeen?"

As she wandered over to the table, she shot Jasper an on-the-sly, totally subtle wink. Don't worry bruh-man. I got this.

"Thank you," Lily said, as Adelaide handed her the notes, before glancing back at Alvaro again. "I don't know. ...Maybe he's sick? If it's regular, his uncle would know, wouldn't he?" Maybe if Lily got up and asked the uncle who ran the desk...

Then the door opened, and a cold wind blew through the cafe. If only in Lily's mind. The devil had arrived. The devil in dreadlocks. The dreaded-in-multiple-senses ex-girlfriend.

Joy of joys.

She pressed her hand to her forehead, slightly wide eyes a giveaway to the fact that she was internally screaming, before she moved the hand to cover her mouth for a moment—trying to fight away any obvious annoyance or, god forbid, fear. Then she put her hands back on the table and pretended like she was focusing on the notes.

Adelaide's notes were well-written and tidy. Lily retrieved her notebook—the one she wrote her initial notes in for all subjects, which was significantly messier—and started copying down the Spanish notes.

"...Hi. ...Good," Lily said tersely, not looking up at Caedyn. Well. Things were previously good.

He didn't seem fine, despite assurance to the contrary. Jasper thanked him when Alvaro brought out his order, and nodded as he excused himself. "Nah, it's fine, man. Take care."

With Alvaro leaving, Jasper shifted his attention to the caramel slice. It looked delicious- he expected nothing less of a place like Vacanti's. But first, he took a long sip of water, enjoying the cold water as he drank. Afterwards he popped one of the slices into his mouth and, oh, it was just divine. Okay, that might've been an exaggeration, but they were really good. Vacanti's was a quality establishment, and it was going to be in good hands if Alvaro took over. He had talked about going back to Mexico, though, leaving his father to take over in Kingman. It looked like keeping in touch with him was going to be harder than he thought. Jasper couldn't help but feel a little sad. He'd miss him.

The sound of the door opening and the familiar voice made Jasper turn towards the person entering the cafe, and upon seeing them he broke into a huge grin. "Caedyn!"

He liked Caedyn. They shared some interests, although other than that they didn't have a lot in common. Caedyn liked Jasper, though, and she listened, and that was good enough for him. He waved and indicated for her to sit down across from him.

She made her way towards...Lily, of all people. Huh. He vaguely remembered the two of them having something between them, but it might've been a long time ago. Whatever it was, it was something Lily preferred not to bring up, or it was bad enough to make her loathe Caedyn. Or maybe she just loathed Caedyn in general. A lot of people did. Caedyn did acknowledge him, though, and he smiled in reply.

The wink was still a little unsettling.

Jasper was fine with him leaving. That was good. Cadeyn also was here, which meant that he didn't have to leave the café without somebody to work it. That was good as well. He walked away from Jasper, to the counter. He told his uncle that he wasn't feeling well. He understood. This had happened before and Al knew what the protocol was when this happened. Al gave Alvaro the key, and patted his shoulder.

"Take care." That was something he normally said when this happened, and he had to use the sick bay for a bit. Well, normal probably wasn't the right word for it, this had happened in the café before about ... three times, maybe? Well, it was normal for about the four times that it had happened, by now.

"Heya, Cadeyn! Try not to blow up the café while I'm in the sick bay, okay?" Cadeyn could be chaotic when she was on her shift, and he was normally the one who had to stop her antics. He hoped that nothing happened when he wasn't here to check on her.

He spared one last look at the café foyer as he opened the door. He looked at Uncle Al, at Lily, Adelaide, Cadeyn, and Jasper. He supposed that this was what his life had become, how the café had changed his life. He supposed that it might be for the better, in a way. He may have become paranoid, distrustful of others, but he made friends, and he was able to construct a life around the café.

It was probably for the best that he moved, in a way. Despite the sappy message that it brought for him, he was happy that he moved, in a way.

He closed the door, and then headed for the sick bay.

((Alvaro Vacanti continued in Havana Escapade))