When I was little, a young bubbly girl, I never believed people were actually mean. Or bad, per se. I always thought people turned out to be so because something made them bad. And maybe that is true, maybe their family or friends did influence them. But I have met people who have broken out of their bad habits, learning to be a better version of themselves. So what is it that makes people just so mean, just so inconsiderate to anyone's feelings? Who exploit people's weaknesses just to gain something out of it?

All these thoughts go through my brain as I stare at Elliot from across the counter. His friends are back, he himself is back, as he has been for the past week or so every single day. Every day has been a new favour to do. Sometimes he wants food, sometimes his homework, other days to clean his table more times than required. Two days ago he borrowed my car. He brought it back with my gas tank empty and the inside of the car filled with trash.

And with the way he's smirking at me now, I will myself to be ready for another bad day in a series of bad days.

"Hey, Ali. Care to show us to our table?" he says. I bite my remark about how he has literally been coming here since way over a month to find his own table and nod wordlessly, slipping out from behind the counter. I walk past them and towards their table.

"Could you pull our chairs out to help us sit?" his voice comes from behind me, and I can practically see the evil smirk on his face. I sigh and nod, pulling out each of their chairs and helping them to sit.

"What can I get you?" I ask in a monotone voice, by now used to taking their orders. All of them smirk, naming their orders and the final free muffins for all of them. I nod and go back to the counter, sending the order to the kitchen, where Mia is.

Mia still doesn't know Elliot is in town. She's always in the kitchen, and whenever she does come out, Elliot is long gone by then. I have bittersweet feelings about it, kinda bummed that she hasn't seen the person she hates more than anyone in this world. But on the other hand, I'm also happy because when she knows, hell will break loose. When she'll know, Nathan will know about the favours, the humiliation and it will kill me. I was supposed to learn, I'm supposed to say no, and the fact that I can't makes me feel more ashamed than anything I've ever felt.

"Earth to Bumper!" I jump when I see Eli snapping his fingers in front of my face. He's looking at me with a curious smile, hair unmade. I wonder if they've just got off practise. Nathan has been busy with his project with Noah for the past week, hardly coming to the Bakery. I miss him terribly, but at least he doesn't know about Elliot, right?

I look at him with surprise, "How long have you been standing here for?"

His lips lift into a small smirk, "I tried calling you maybe five times. Daydreaming about my best friend?"

I force a laugh, forcing my spirits to rise so that I can look normal in front of Eli. But it doesn't work, his smirk morphing into a frown. I keep the smile on my face, still trying my hardest not to let anything out, but it hardly works, his frown deepening. My eyes flit over to Elliot subconsciously and he follows my gaze, turning around to smirk at the asshole who is now looking back at the both of us and smirking wide.

"Found the asshole," Eli mumbles just as Mia calls me in the kitchen to take the tray filled with orders out to the counter. I don't have time to think about what Eli just said, as I slip out from behind the counter, the tray in my hand. Eli snatches the tray from me quickly, walking over to them before I can protest.

"Eli no!" I whisper-shout at him and he just ignores me, walking towards their table with me following closely.

"Your order," he says, a wide smile on his face. I notice the girls stare at him a little longer than required and I hide a smirk. Eli is by far the most charming person I've ever met, so the fact that the girls are already entranced is not surprising.

"This cafe certainly doesn't have a lack of employees. Each day new waiter," the blonde guy snickers, his friends joining him. Nothing affects Eli though, his smirk widening in process.

"The employees don't lack friends," he says innocently, the smile on the blonde falling slightly.

"Do you wanna join us?" Elliot speaks up, glancing at me. I avoid his eyes and look at Eli, who has an I've got this expression on his face as he's staring at me.

"Why not?"

"Ali, could you be a darling and grab a chair for..?" Elliot trails off.

"Eli Adams. And you must be Elliot. Heard a lot about you," he says, grabbing his own chair and placing it the wrong way, sitting on it and hands resting on the back of the chair.

"All the good things I assume?" Elliot smirks, looking back at me.

"Actually, far from it," Eli starts, turning to his friends, "Do you guys know that all the free stuff you all are telling her to get for you guys is not actually free? She's paying from her own paycheck."

I look at Eli in shock. I know for a fact that I didn't tell him, so how does he know?

"Serves her right," one of the girls says.

Eli and I whip our heads to her, with Eli being the first to react, "Excuse me?"

She shrugs one shoulder, "I said, serves her right. She's in our country, she needs to pay back."

"What?" I finally find my voice. Racism isn't uncommon to me, but no one has actually said this to my face. I feel my face get red in anger, suddenly very happy that my dusky complexion doesn't allow the redness to show very easily.

"If you have any problem with what I said, you're free to go back. We don't need you here anyway."

Eli gets up and I can see that he's struggling to stay calm, as he cannot punch a girl. His fists close and open on his side, and I quickly take one step towards him, placing my hand on his shoulder, urging him to look at me. I try to tell him to let it go but the anger in his eyes doesn't subside, turning back to them. Just before he's about to say something, another voice interrupts us.

"Please leave," Mrs Warren's loud booming voice is heard from behind us. We both turn around to see her and Shaye standing at the entrance, Shaye's anger apparent on her face.

"Yes thank you so much. Can I get a different waiter?" the girl has the audacity to say. Mrs Warren walks towards the table and speaks in a tone only the owner of The Bakery can have.

"You and your friends are not welcome to The Bakery anymore. You all can leave. Don't even think about coming back."

All their faces, including that of Elliot's fall, jaws hanging open. They look at Mrs Warren in horror, the girl replying.

"You have no right. We will not leave."

"I'm the owner. I think I have the right to throw people who disrespect people based on their skin tone and ethnicity from my Bakery. So, kindly leave."

Their faces go dangerously red as they get up, shouting profanities at Mrs Warren and me before storming out. Elliot lingers back, turning to me, making a cross with his index fingers and walking out. I let out a breath which I didn't know I was holding and turn to Eli, who has a hard look in his eyes.

"Don't tell Mia," is the first thing I say to her when I open my mouth. He narrows his eyes at me and just as he's about to say something, Mia walks out of the kitchen to see what the commotion was about.

"What even happened here?" her eyes jump from me to Eli.

I keep staring at Eli, pleading him to not say a word before he sighs and turns to Mia.

"Nothing. Some people were being assholes to Ali. Mrs Warren handled it."

She turns to me, her protective side coming out, "Who the fuck?"

I shake my head at her, "No one. Just no one."

⋈ ⋈ ⋈

"How was work?" Nathan asks, slinging a hand around my neck, pulling me closer. I swallow discreetly and look at him.

"As it always is. Rien de special," I lie through my teeth, throwing a little french in to convince him even more as I tend to do it when I'm casually talking with someone just to have some fun.

"You know way too many languages," he scowls, "Luckily, I also took French in high school. So, I understand you perfectly."

"Sure you do," I tease him, feeling a bit lighter with our everyday banter. It's familiar, the incidences of the horrifying day a mere memory in my head. He makes me forget all the bad things, just by being with me. I don't know how he does it. Looking up at his side profile, his forest eyes flitting over to me when he catches me staring at him, the smile which takes over his face takes my breath away. His eyes hold the same emotions they always do, but there's a hint of more gentleness, more passion to them, and a completely new and unfamiliar emotion swirling in them. He bends down, quickly capturing my lips with his own and I let myself get lost in the enigma that is Nathan Wright.

But at the same time, the guilt keeps gnawing my insides and what Nathan asks me a few seconds after he pulls away increases the guilt tenfold.

"So, has that Elliot dude come to the Bakery after that day?" he asks casually, yet I notice a hint of underlying cautiousness and anger.

"Nope. It's like he disappeared in thin air," I lie again, the guilt physically making my stomach drop. He nods, not looking at me, making me frown.

What does he know?

"What happened?" I ask him. He turns his neck to look at me as we continue walking. He stares at me, just stares at me for a while, searching my face. I feel myself getting nervous by the second, not wanting to give anything away. When he's satisfied, he looks away, walking silently. The guilt doesn't go away, probably Nathan can also feel it. But I keep my mouth shut and pretend as if nothing happened.

"Ali!" I hear someone call out and we both pause and turn around, me internally sighing at the distraction. We watch as Jason and Amanda walk towards us, smiles on both their faces. Amanda's wearing a plain white tee, tucked in in ripped jeans filled with colourful patches and white sneakers. Paired with a mint colour sling bag and hair left open down to her back, she looks every bit of a fashionista she is. Jason has a similar white T-shirt, which makes me chuckle seeing them twin either purposely or just out of plain coincidence.

"Hey, Jay! Long time no see," I say to him, then I turn to Amanda and extend my hand to her, "Heya. I'm Aliana, nice to meet you."

She smiles at me and grabs my hand, "Amanda, the pleasure is all mine."

"I don't believe we've ever spoken before, am I right?" I ask her.

She shakes her head no and chuckles, "Never. Although I have definitely seen you around."

"Me too! Every day you show up in amazing outfits, like today! Mia would love what you're wearing. We both often wonder where you get them from. We just never actually asked you."

Her face holds a shocked expression as she stares at me, looking at Jason who's giving her a comforting i-told-you-so smile. Her expression falters as her vision clouds and I turn to Nathan in fear of having said the wrong thing. His expression mirrors mine as confusion takes over our features. She looks away for a split second before taking a deep breath and turning back to me.

"Why didn't you ever say? We can go shopping together. I can show you around. I know super affordable places where I buy stuff from, you both will love it!" she rambles on excitedly, making a wide smile split open my face.

I nod, turning to Nathan, and back to her glowing face as she's chatting excitedly with Jason. I look at the time on my phone and I figure we have some time to kill before it gets too late.

"Do you two wanna come to hang out at my place? Mia and Eli might be there. You can meet her, pass some time. Only if you're not free," I offer. She looks at me, expressionless as we both watch Jason slipping his hand in hers and giving it a squeeze. This prompts her to look at him, and he nods ever so slightly, making her turn back to us.

"Of course we would want to. We anyway have nothing to do, we were just about to get some ice cream," she says uncertainly.

"We can order some at home," Nathan speaks up from behind me as both of them smile at each other.

"It's decided then. Let's go," I say, and we all jump when Amanda squeals, actually squeals, before looking at us embarrassed.

"This is my first ever hang out," she mutters, ducking her head.

"Wait, like forever?" I question in shock.

She nods, ducking her head even more. I jump in front of her and she stops abruptly, making her look at me like I'm an alien.

"We're gonna have more of these. We're gonna go shopping. We're gonna do everything together now cause now, officially, you're our friend. So, buckle up bitch."

She laughs, a loud booming sarcastic laugh and looks at me again.

"You wanna make the slut your friend? I've slept with your boyfriend."

Nathan, Jason and I wince and her face falls. My mind conjures up images of her and my boyfriend in bed, a sour taste forming in my mouth. My stomach feels uneasy, my body temperature falling a tiny bit as I try my best to fight off the unrelenting images in my head. I close my eyes tightly, my nails pushing into the palm of my hands. I feel a warm hand wrap around my closed fists and I immediately jerk away, freeing my hand. When I open my eyes, I find Nathan's, guilt, sadness and immense pain in them. 

I take a shaky breath and close my eyes again, this time to get rid of those god awful images. Looking at Amanda, I find her looking at the ground, playing with her fingers. Jason walks over to her and I watch as the two of them walk a little farther away, Jason smacking the back of her head in teasing punishment just so he could elevate the immense tension in the air. 

Amanda turns to look at me and says, "I'm sorry."

I shake my head, "Give us two minutes. Don't leave just yet. We're gonna hang out anyway."

Her face holds a tiny amount of confusion before nodding and turning back to Jason. I take this chance to look at Nathan who looks equally, if not more ashamed as Amanda looked.

"Hey," I start, grabbing his attention. He looks at me and I smile. His gaze turns questioning, as I continue smiling at him.

"I'm sorry," he whispers and I chuckle.

"I admit, the images in my head were not pretty," I tease and his face gets redder. I walk up to him and place my hands on both his cheeks. His gaze still doesn't meet mine and I push his face up in order to force him to look at me.

"I'm kinda terrible," he whispers, trying to calm himself down. 

I chuckle, "That you are. You missed your mom's birthday."

"Another bad decision on my part," his eyes start jumping around again. I shake my head and pull his face back again.

"Look at me," I demand. He nods and I continue, "It wasn't the best image but it was also the past. We didn't know each other. Tell me something, would you do it again?"

He looks horrified when I ask him that, "Are you kidding me? Aliana you've got to trust me. I'm not the cheating kind. I l-" he pauses, before the most adorable smile takes over his face, "like you. A lot. There's no one else but you."

My stomach bursts into a million butterflies, now not being able to control my stupid grin as well, "Well. Isn't that good to know?"

He laughs and rests his forehead against mine, "Thank you. For trusting me."

"Oh shush. This is what I signed up for," I tease him, getting closer to him.

"And this contract isn't ending anytime soon," he whispers before crashing his lips against mine. I thread my arms around his neck and deepen it. We don't kiss for too long, but long enough to convey everything we're feeling. When we pull apart, I don't open my eyes just yet. This exact position, we both in each other's arms, breaths mingling and hearts beating at the same rate is quickly becoming my favourite time of the day. 

I open my eyes and find him staring at me with so much intensity that my knees almost give away.

"Let's go home," he says after what felt like a minute of staring at me. His eyes have darkened with lust and I gulp with anticipation before remembering the two people waiting for us. I nod and twist my neck back to look at Amanda and Jason who're talking to each other. I look back at Nathan smile sheepishly. 

He groans and pushes his head in the crook of my neck, "Grasshopper."

"I can't just leave her feeling guilty right?"

He kisses my shoulder and comes back up to look at me, "Fine. But they're not sleeping over."

I shake my head, "They definitely won't."

He sighs and looks at them, "Go work your magic."

Smiling, I peck him on his lips and turn to Amanda and Jason, her immediately finding my eyes for a second before moving away. I smile internally as I push all my jealousy down and look at her like another girl who was a part of Nathan's past. But the present matters and his present is me.

I will not let anyone feel guilty for their past, even if I can't put the words into action for myself, as my past haunts me every single day now. 

⋈ ⋈ ⋈

Hello there. I finally gathered the mental strength to edit the chapter and put it up. It really has been a very very difficult week guys, I'm so sorry. It's not the best chapter, things might've felt rushed but please please bare with me. Anywho, it's Monday here, it's the latest I've ever posted a Saturday chp so I'm so sorry. 

Question then?

Q. What do you do when you have no strength or self-esteem left in you? How do you pick yourself up?

This is also the saddest feeling author's note lmao. Forgive my poor soul, I'll be better next week. Thank you so so much for all your support, to everyone adding the story to their reading lists, I see you, I love you even if I haven't shown it that much ever. Thank you with all my heart. Okay gonna go now. Ciao!

Love,

Anya <3