((Still working on sleeping off HP, and I have work tomorrow. So I'll be back tomorrow night. SO sorry if anyone is waiting on me!))

Faye smiled. "Today's blend is made from Central and South American coffee beans mixed with French Roasted Brazilian Santos. The Central and South's beans give it depth and the French-styled roasting give it a bittersweet taste. It's not too dark, and I put just enough of everything in yours to suit your liking." Faye was no connoisseur, though, she had read that straight off a label from the bag. However, she has sampled every blend available in the cafe, and knew more or less the preferences of coffee bitterness for most customers. Sometimes she had a feeling from their body language, or how they sound when greeting her.

Or maybe she was just lucky at guessing. She shrugged.

<<Take your time, Early! Quality over quantity~>>

Amelia smiled at her and shrugged slightly. "Sorry about being late," she said a laughing a bit, "But you see my alarm went off late so I slept in." She then took off her jacket and hung it on a hook. Amelia put her hair into a bun and then put on an apron saying, "Am I waitressing today?" She said to Faye. Usually she worked as a waitress because she was very good with handling dishes, and always had a smile on her face which made her seem welcoming to most of the customers.

Faye shook her head. "Don't worry about it, I'll take the morning shift. Right now we're sort of in a pickle in the kitchen for making things, but I don't think anything needs immediate attention at the moment." Today was a very lax day. No one seemed to be doing much anyway, and it was fine. To Faye, at least.

Aaron laughed at her next question. She was obviously seeing right through the brunette. He waited until after Faye gave her the coffee, before answering the question.

"I think he was a very...er.....brave character? Yeah, brave. He was very intelligent. And I think that he could do so much more with his life...." He said with a shrug. He had a friend with the name of Michael, and basically just told the female the traits of his friend.

The girl smirked and chuckled. "While those are traits of the character i truly doubt that you've read the book, considering he's the girls imaginary friend." Taking a sip of her coffee she did not take her eyes off him. "So besides picking up girls, what do you do at the cafe, i see you here now and again when i stop in."

Imaginary friend? Aaron laughed, before shaking his head. He knew there was no way he would have guessed that. He figured he really should read some books more. Eh, maybe not. He shrugged it off, before answering her next question.

"I work here. Well, sort of. I sing for the cafe, since I needed the job, and baking isn't exactly my specialty." He explained to the girl.

Jenny smiled, the image of him in a pink apron with burnt cookies filled her mind for a moment and made her giggle softly. "Yeah, most men cant bake, but i guess that's normal." The Asian took a bit of her cupcake and savored the taste; lemon meringue, her not her favorite, but pretty high up there. Her absolute favorite was red velvert with butter cream frosting. Just thinking of them made he mouth water. Placing it back down she licked her lips to get some frosting off of them and then looked back up at Aaron. "So when do you usually sing? Later in the night? Because i don't believe I've ever been here for a performance of yours."

[[whoops, edited]]

<<Jesseh, the cupcakes are lemon meringue. No one has baked other cupcakes yet. ^^">>

ⓐⓛⓔⓧ ⓗⓔⓐⓥⓔⓓ a sigh. "No," he said. "No, it hasn't always been like this. Everyone here used to have big yards, little houses... We all used to know who everyone was, nobody was pretentious or anything. People didn't fight over whose lawn was more manicured, who went to the country club more often, who had a boat or a car or a maid." He shook his head, letting out a grim laugh. "I get carried away sometimes, sorry. What I think doesn't really matter; what do you think of this town?" He glanced at the clock. Was it 4:00 already?

----------

ⓘⓣ ⓘⓢ ⓝⓞⓦ ❹┊⓿⓿

Faye heard her stomach grumble quite loudly. She put one hand over it and her head fell in embarrassment. As she back-tracked, she realized that she didn't eat anything all day. However, Faye didn't know if she was willing to stuff herself with pastries instead of a meal. She shifted uneasily left and right as she stared at the clock hanging behind the counter; without a doubt, the hour hand had clearly landed on the 4.

Amelia nodded and decided that she would waitress. She walked to peoples tables and asked politely, "Would you like anything to drink?" Or sometimes she would say, "Have you already been served?" After checking in with about four tables she slipped behind the counter into the kitchen. She always loved the smell in there because it reminded her of good things.

And since she knew the tables were being handled. She rolled out some dough and started to make some pastries.

Delilah listened intently, cocking her head and watching Alex talk. He got emotional about his town, that much was obvious. "Don't apologize, we all get that way about places we love," she said with a laugh. Still leaning forward so her elbow rested on the counter, she peered at him speculatetively. "Well. It is no Germany, but it gives me the..." the girl trailed off as she tried to think of the word. Occasionally she still forgot English words or threw in German ones in her conversation. "Uhm... Opportunity that I didn't have," she finished and shrugged.

Glancing behind her, she looked at the clock on the wall. Somehow it was already four, which was unbelievable to her. "Wow, time flew by, ja?" She said and grinned. Glancing down at her phone, she bit her bottom lip. Her rehearsal was starting in just fifteen minutes, but she was unsure if she was free to go.

Demetri thought about her words and nodded understandingly. "Well, I certainly miss Germany. But we had to come here, so I make the best of it. It's all I can really do, ya know," he said with a shrug. The only way he and his sister's could live their dreams and be independent was to come here, far away where their aunt wouldn't think they would go.

Pulling out a folded post card from his pocket, Demetri handed it to Emma, their fingers gently brushing. He made a quick order at the counter, ringing out someone who had came in for their regular coffee and quickly stepped back out. "This is my hometown," he said and smiled as he looked at the post card. Beautiful, quaint, Dutch like houses faced a nice, and lively but clean town. There were patches of flowers and vegetation everywhere, making it seem like an imaginary place more than one he had actually lived in.

"Hey, Delilah. Faye said, inching towards the table she was at, then whispered, "You have rehearsals around around now, right?" She pat her back amiably. "Don't worry, I'll take it from here." Delilah had confided to her, when the two German siblings had first visited the cafe looking for work, that she aspired to be a dancer. Faye admired Delilah's dream, and how she sacrificed the comfort of being back in her home country to reach her dreams. Not too long ago, Delilah had managed to find an opportunity to dance, and started going to practices during the afternoon. Faye was more than happy to take over her shift, helping her co-worker and friend do what she loved.

However, Faye didn't know what to make of herself. She didn't have any future careers in mind. At times she wondered if she'd have to stay at the cafe forever, while everyone else became famous and successful. She wouldn't mind, though. The cafe would always be a place where her to-be-famous co-workers could come to have a coffee and a chat anytime.

Amelia kept making the pastries over and over again because it helped her work out her stress. She was going to start working two jobs, one to keep up her apartment, and one to go to college. Her parents only left her twenty bucks in her college fund, and with the college fees these days that was barely enough. Amelia's brother had given up on college already. He said that 'I dont need to go,' or 'College isnt the right place for me.' But Amelia knew that he wanted to go just as much as she did. She sighed and then put the pastries in the oven setting the timer for twenty- five minutes. Then she cleaned off her cooking table and told one of the cooks, "When you hear the beep, take the pastries out of the oven please. Thank you." She smiled and then walked out of the kitchen.
Well, maybe working at the grocery store on sundays and saturdays after work wont be so bad. She thought to herself.

ⓐⓛⓔⓧ❜ⓢ ⓒⓤⓡⓛⓨ head tilted to the side. "Where do you have to go?" he asked Delilah. "If you want, I could walk you there..."

((Sorry for the shortness, not much else to do in this post lol.))

Delilah hopped up and down, psyched that Faye was letting her go. The German absolutely adored the play she was in, and wouldn't want to miss it. She knew the director, though he loved her and her acting, if she missed too many rehearsals her role would be given to someone else.

The redhead embraced Faye in a quick hug, giving a peck on her check. Europe was very affectionate, and Delilah still carried those traditions with her. "Vielen Dank, Faye!" (Much thanks, Faye!) Smiling, she turned back around and smiled at Alex. "I'm in a musical down at the community center. And that would be fantastic," she said to Alex. She hopped over the counter, making sure no customers were looking. Then again, most of them were very down to Earth and wouldn't mind.

"Be careful!" Faye called after her. She sighed, smiling wistfully. If only she herself had something better to do with herself. She walked into the kitchen and saw Amelia baking furiously. "Hey, need a hand?"

Aaron shrugged, "I guess I sing whenever I'm told that I need to." He explained to her. He never really had a set time for singing, it was mainly just when the mood called for it. And when he wasn't singing he talked to customers or helped cleaned up around the cafe.

***

Emma nodded as Demetri spoke. She did understand, although Emma and Kyle came for opposite reasons. While the Demetri and Delilah came to become more independant. Kyle and Emma came to be closer to each other.

Emma looked over the postcard as Demetri went to go handle his customers, before looking back up to Demetri as he talked. "Wow, it is beautiful." She said as she looked backed down to the postcard. She began asking why they gave it all up, but stopped herself.

Jenny nodded as he explained, so she was just always around at the wrong time. "Well maybe one day I'll be here for one of your performances." She said with a small smile and picked up her book again, opening it to where her bookmark was. Continuing to read the woman dipped her coffee now and then.

[[writers block O_O]]

Amelia went right back to the kitchen once she left and started to bake some more. And when Faye came inside she barely noticed her presence until she spoke. "What?" She said, not really paying attention. And when she finally processed the words she shook her head and said, "Go right ahead. Do we need anymore of anything in particular? Because I can make it! Really! Really I can!" She was literally dancing around the kitchen going completely insane saying, "I can do it!" Over and over again... until she stopped and fell completely silent. Amelia shook her head. "Sorry... I can be a bit loopy when under stress." She said to Faye half laughing half sighing.

Faye laughed. "I'm sure you can do it!" But her joking manner disappeared as her tone became caring. "You mentioned stress, right? Need to blow off some steam? You can talk to me about it." Faye could never leave someone mulling in one's thoughts. She always tried to be a medium that people could confide in and release their bottled up feelings.

Amelia smiled at Faye. Faye had always been so kind to her and never really got mad at her. But she shook her head saying, "It's no big deal really. It's just my brother and I are having trouble paying rent this month because he got demoted at work. And I now have to work two jobs just to pay for rent, and I wanted to use my money from the other job to help pay for college." She sighed and covered her face with her hands and breathed in deeply. She then let her hands slid down from her face and looked back up at Faye again. "Well, I better go waitress there isnt a lot of people out there is there?" Amelia then walked out the kitchen before Faye could say anything. She for some reason didnt want her pity.

Faye watched as Amelia left. Amelia was a strong girl, and Faye had a feeling she didn't want to be consoled at that moment. She sighed. Must I always butt into other people's business? With that, she took of her apron and worked to tie up any loose ends Amelia left while baking, which usually wasn't much.

Once Amelia walked out the kitchen door she forgot about everything that had been bugging her for the past month. She breathed in heavily and then wiped her hands on her apron. Then she turned and looked over at Aaron who looked like he wasnt doing a lot so she said to him, "Hey Aaron would you like to help me clean some tables and or counters?" She said while smiling.