Only Fools - Chapter 4: Chapter 4

"Why are we here so early? This place is literally empty," I whine. My head is still pounding from last night and all I want to do is be home in my bed, away from this diner with its loud and annoying funky music.
"I'm getting paid for being here, so it doesn't matter either way to me," Ivy says with a shrug. I groan and lay my head down on the table.
"If it helps, I could probably get you a free meal," Ivy offers warily.
"I need a menu for that then," I tell her, not even moving my head from where it lays.
I hear the menu slap down onto the table and I slowly lift my head up and pull it towards me.
"Ok...." I say as I flip it open to the page filled with breakfast options.
"Ok. What's on this um 'Farmer's Omelette'?" I ask her, pointing to something randomly on the page.
"You could just read the ingredients from the menu,"
"I would like to test the extent of your knowledge given that you've been working here for a while now,"
"Aspen...."
I don't respond to her, but instead cover the menu with my hands and look up at her expectantly. She lets out a sigh as she shakes her head at me.
"Um, cheese, onions, ham....."
"Ham? Ok. No. Next one,"
"We could take out the ham?"
"You would do that for me?" I say, placing my hands over my heart as if touched "by how much she cares".
"I would do that for any customer," Ivy says with an eye roll.
"What? So I'm just 'any customer' now?" I retort back.
"You're going to be a customer without a meal in a minute," Ivy quips.
"Ok. Fine. Does it have any egg in it? I'm really not too fond of egg,"
"Aspen, it's an omelette. So yes, it has egg,"
"Ok. You didn't have to get sassy with me. I may have to speak to your superiors about that," I say as I glance back down at the menu.
"Aspen...."
"Ok. Fine. What does the 'Plain Omelette' have on it?"
"Aspen, it's an omelette," Ivy says, clearly annoyed, though I'm pretty sure the annoyance began as soon as I opened the menu. She knows me well enough to realize that I wouldn't make this easy on her.
"And?"
"They're all going to have egg,"
"So. Can't you just take that out?"
"No, we cannot,"
"But you could take the ham out. That's a bit suspicious to me,"
Ivy doesn't even respond, but instead glares at me. I let out a sigh and I can see her slightly relax as I look back down at the menu.
"Ok. Geez. Let me see. Does the 'Spinach Omelette' have spinach in it?" I question as I point to the order on the menu.
"Yes, it does,"
"Ok. That's a dealbreaker then,"
"It's called a spinach omelette. What did you expect?"
"Well, I didn't expect the 'Farmer's Omelette' to have farmers in it. Was I supposed to expect that too?"
"Let's just get off of the omelette page,"
"Ok. Kind of pushy, but if you insist,"
I glance at the menu page for about a second, but it doesn't matter much as I knew what I wanted even before I picked the menu up.
"I will get an order of the strawberry pancakes then. Those do come with strawberries, right?" I check.
"Yes, Aspen,"
"Ok. I just had to make sure. Then that is fine,"
"You're finally done?" Ivy asks me.
"Yes," I say, holding up the menu for Ivy to take. She snatches it out of my hand and rolls her eyes as she then walks back to the kitchen to put my order in. I can't help but to smile at how adorable she is when she's annoyed.
Glancing around the diner for a few minutes, I can't help but appreciate the odd peacefulness in it. The music is as loud as usual, of course, but the emptiness in and of itself brings a sense of tranquility that almost drowns out the music. Almost. The music is still just loud enough to be a pain in my ass.
Feeling my phone vibrate in my pocket, I let out a sigh and pull it out to see a message from Naomi.
Naomi: soooo, did you confess your love to ivy last night????
Me: Nah. Luckily, even when I'm drunk, I can recognize how much of a mistake that would be.
Naomi: you wouldn't think of it as a mistake if she feels the same way about you....
Me: Even if she did, I don't think telling her drunk would be the way to do it. Though that is probably the only way I would have enough courage.
"Here you go,"
My head snaps up to see Ivy standing in front of the table with my plate of food in hand. I quickly turn off my phone and place it on the table next to the plate she just pushed in front of me.
"Thanks, Ivy," I say with a smile as the smell of the delicious pancakes fills my nose.
"No problem, bird," she says with a wink before clearing her throat.
"Anything else you need?" she asks in a more professional tone.
"I mean, you could sit down and keep me company," I say with a shrug.
"I'm working, Aspen,"
"Ok? And we're like the only ones in here. I think you can sit down for a few minutes without worrying that you won't be providing adequate service to your other customers,"
Reluctantly, Ivy sits down across from me and folds her hands on top of the table.
"So apparently Tori has like two or three new guys that are fighting over her," I start up a conversation after about a minute of silence.
"Seriously? That girl needs to leave some guys for the rest of us,"
Maybe not all of us.
"Yeah," I say with a laugh.
"I mean, at this rate, she'll have had all of the guys fall in love with her and there will be none left for us to date,"
We could just date each other.
"Yeah. I know,"
"Though you of course have Dustin who luckily hasn't been caught up by Tori yet,"
Yeah, probably because he's not straight. Just a hunch right now, but if it is true then I quite possibly picked the best guy to have a fake crush on because nothing will happen in a million years.
"Thank goodness for that,"
"Yeah. You know what, you really should ask him to the homecoming dance. I know Dustin, and I wouldn't say that he's been acting off recently, but he's been acting differently. I think that he may like someone, and I don't think he'll ever tell me who, but I really have a feeling that if might be you,"
As the words register in my brain, I nearly choke on the water that I was drinking. Me? I think the odds of him liking the guy that plays center are more likely. But again, just a hunch.
"You think?" I ask, trying to sound genuinely excited.
"Yeah. I swear that I've caught him staring at you a couple times,"
More like staring at the center's ass before the ball gets snapped to him, but sure. It's not like I'm going off of fact like Ivy seems to believe she's doing.
"Wow...." I trail off, not really sure how to respond.
"I mean, that's how I found out that you liked him. I swear, you stare at him so much that I'm shocked he hasn't picked up on your crush. I guess he can be rather oblivious sometimes though,"
Oh, so now he's the oblivious one.
"Aw, Aspen. You're blushing," Ivy says with a laugh. I place my palms on my cheeks and give her a nervous smile. I honestly wouldn't have realized I was blushing if she hadn't said anything.
"It's ok. We-"
It's just then that the ringing of a bell echoes throughout the diner, signaling that a customer has entered. Ivy flashes me an apologetic smile as she goes back to work. I hold in the sigh of relief that nearly escapes my lips as she walks away. Resting my head in my arms on top of the table, I allow my eyes to close. Maybe sleep will finally get rid of this fucking migraine. But, before I can close my eyes, a loud voice cuts through the silence.
"Aspen!"
I hear a child's voice excitedly call out my name, causing a sharp pain to ring throughout my head.
"What? You don't even greet your own sister first?" Ivy asks as her siblings go rushing past her and over to the booth I'm sitting at.
"Hey, mom," Ivy says as she gives her mother a hug at the door.
"Hey, sweetie. Sorry I had to bring them over earlier than expected. I have to go in to work sooner than planned," her mom explains, clearly overwhelmed by all that is going on.
"Hi, Mrs. Charleston!" I call out to her, trying to sound friendly and happy, though the migraine makes that way harder than it should be.
"Oh, hello. Aspen," she says politely in response.
"Seriously, mom. It's fine. They're never too much trouble, and I obviously understand. Just go," Ivy reassures her mother. Mrs. Charleston shoots her a grateful smile before waving goodbye to her children and rushing out of the door.
"What are you doing here, Aspen?" the youngest, Itch asks me. The nine year old closely resembles his eldest sister with a face filled with freckles and vibrant orange hair. His two other siblings stay quiet next to him, not able to match the same energy of the boy only three years younger than them this early in the morning.
"I dunno, Mitchell. What are you doing here?" I counter, using his full name to purposely annoy him. Itch puts on a pouting face and crosses his arms.
"I told you not to call me that! If you keep calling me by my full name, then I'll call you by yours," he whines. I stare at him, confused for a moment as to what he thinks my real name is. Does he think Aspen is a nickname for something?
"Aspenella," he says menacingly. It takes everything within me not to laugh at this young boy's clear creativity.
"Oh no. You have invoked my full name. I shall only refer to you as Itch now in order that you not speak that wretched name again," I say rather overdramatically.
Itch smiles in satisfaction as he turns away from me and runs over to give Ivy a hug. The Charleston kids, six in total, range from ages 9 to 21 and five out of six have one thing in common, the first letter of their name. Then, when Mitchell arrived, Mr and Mrs Charleston finally decided to shake things up. Little did they know that Itch would find his own way to have a name like his siblings.
"So, Aspen. Why are you here? You never answered Itch," Isla pipes up as she plops down into the seat across from me. I turn to look at Isla, her twin having wandered off, most likely lost in his own thoughts. Though fraternal twins, both Isla and Ivan still look strikingly similar to each other and rather different from their other two siblings in the restaurant. Freckles are absent from their face and they instead have matching dimples. Rather than orange waves, they have dark brown curls on their heads, Ivan's short and neatly kept while Isla's are long and messy.
"Yeah!" Itch says enthusiastically from across the diner.
"Well, you see. Auntie Aspen had a little too much to drink last night so your big sister had to help her out," I explain to them. However, looking around at their confused expressions at my words, I can't help but to be reminded of their innocence. Ivy's face is what cracks me up the most though. Her eyes are wide at my words as she begins to shake her head, giving me a warning due to the fact that she's fully aware that I don't believe in having that much of a filter even around kids because they'll learn it all eventually.
"Had too much to drink of what, Aspen? Sometimes I get tummy aches when I drink too much milk. Is that what happened to you?" Itch innocently asks me. I glance up at Ivy who is still shaking her head at me before giving her a quick wink.
"No, actually," I say, glancing up at Ivy one more time to see her expression is still one attempting to deliver earnings my way, "I had too much sugary soda and it didn't make me feel so good."
"Silly, Aspenella. You should know better than that!" Itch cries. I narrow my eyes at him.
"I thought you said that you weren't going to use my full name, Mitchell,"
Itch crosses his arms over his chest as he shakes his head at me.
"I was yelling at you, Aspen. Mom always uses my full name when I'm in trouble,"
"Ok. As long as that's the only time you use it,"
"Got it!"
The doorbell to the diner rings and shortly after, the echo of the door closing behind whoever just walked in can be heard around the diner. Ivy immediately looks over to them and without hesitation, gets back to work.
"Ok. Can I tell you guys a secret?" I say quietly to the kids as Ivy walks away. Their ears immediately perk up as the word "secret" escapes my lips.
"Me drinking too much soda wasn't the real reason that Ivy had to help me out last night," I whisper to them. Their eyes widen at the new information and lean in closer, in an attempt to push me to tell them more.
"I actually got into a fight," I tell them.
"Why!" Itch exclaims.
"Because I'm a superhero, Itch," I explain to him.
"Whoah!" Itch says rather loudly.
"How are we supposed to believe that?" Isla asks me.
"You do know I'm a cheerleader right? And you've seen Kim Possible?"
Isla begins to nod her head quickly, however it slows down as she comes to the realization.
"Wow, Aspen. You're so cool!" she exclaims.
"Wait. But why did Ivy have to pick you up then? Did you lose the fight?" Itch timidly questions.
"Of course I didn't lose the fight. I wiped the floor with their a- them. I wiped the floor with them. Ivy was just my getaway car,"
"I was your what?" Ivy asks as she suddenly stops in front of our table.
"Aspen is a superhero, Ivy!" Itch says excitedly.
Ivy shoots me a confused look to which I smile in response.
"Yes. I am a superhero and I got in a fight yesterday. You drive the getaway car and therefore had to be the one to pick me up,"
"The getaway car?"
"You really are a crucial piece to this operation, Ivy,"
"I think it would be more likely that I'm the superhero though," Ivy argues.
"No. Aspen is like Kim Possible, Ivy," Isla explains to her.
"I couldn't even be your sidekick?"
"No. I work alone. Besides, I just don't think you're worthy of that position yet,"
Ivy scrunches up her nose and I have to refrain from smiling upon seeing it. God, she's cute.
"You're so mean, Aspen. Are you sure you're not the supervillain?"
I just shrug at her in response before turning back to the kids.
"So, I did win the fight last night and there's no doubt about it, but I won't lie and say that they didn't get some hits in. I have a headache from that, so do you guys think you could let me go to sleep right now?" I ask them, no longer able to bear the pain in my head.
"Of course," they chorus as they stand up in order to go to the next table over.
"Get better soon, Aspen's head," Itch says quietly as he places a gentle kiss on my head. I smile softly as I bury my head into my arms.
"Yeah, feel better," I hear Ivy say right before she follows her brother's example and places a light kiss on my head.
My heart begins beating at a quicker pace than usual as I begin to feel butterflies erupt in my stomach. Damnit, Ivy. I really did want to sleep.
Closing, my head, I try to clear her from my mind. Not that it works though, I don't think I ever stop thinking about her entirely.
————
As my eyes flutter open, I can't help but smile at the scene playing out before me.
"I wanna be a scientist when I grow up!" the little girl exclaims to Ivy who is crouched down in front of her as the little girl's mother is typing away on her phone, not paying much attention to the scene.
"Well if you keep getting gold stars, you'll get there no problem. Just keep working hard, alright?" Ivy responds to the girl. The girl nods her head vigorously which causes Ivy to let out a small chuckle as she stands back up and heads back over to the counter to pick up orders. I glance back over at the little girl who is now completely concentrated on coloring her kids menu, however my attention is pulled back to the front of the diner in an instant when I hear the bell on the door ring which is then followed by a small scream and a crash.
Pink strawberry milkshake flies everywhere. It's all over the floor, all over the counter, and all over Ivy, and all over the guy who caught Ivy and is now shooting her a smile, inches away from her face. Tightly clenching my fists, I can't control the jealousy that surges through me at the sight. Ivy smiles back at him as he pulls her to her feet. They're having a much longer conversation than they should be having. It should just be:
Ivy: I am so sorry about the milkshake and thank you for catching me.
Guy: No problem.
End of scene.
I can't watch this. Folding my arms back up on the table in front of me, I rest my head back into them and try to think about anything else, not that it works because she really is always on my mind.
"Aspen Marilyn Grayson. If you don't get your butt up right now, I will personally remove you." I hear Ivy suddenly say from beside me. I turn my head to look at her, attempting to look as though I just woke up. It's then that I recognize the boy that caught her and is now standing beside her, not so discreetly glancing at her every few seconds. Dirty blonde hair, green eyes, lanky build, and a naturally nerdish vibe. Jaxon Kennedy, the man who, by the way he's staring at Ivy, just became more than just my coworker, my enemy.
"But Ivy. I don't wanna. And Jaxon's gonna make me do work." I whine to her.
"Jaxon?" she questions. Did her rescuer not give her his name? Wow, smooth. Maybe I made him out to be a threat too quickly. I nod my head in his direction.
"Oh. So the mysterious Batman does have a name. Jaxon. Hmm."
Never mind. I really hate this. Why is she conversing with him like this?
"He does indeed. A unique name for a unique guy." Jaxon says in reply. I have to use all of my willpower to not gag at his words.
"I won't make you do that much work, by the way. Just shelf a few books. That's all." Jaxon clarifies, turning to look at me as Ivy continues to smile at him.
"You promise? Only a few? 'Cause my head still is fucking killing me."
"I promise. Only a few." Jaxon reassures me. I nod slowly as I rise up from the booth and then begin to exit the diner beside him. As soon as we reach the doors, he suddenly stops. Oh no.
"Give me one second, Aspen. I have to ask Ivy about something," he says with a small smile on his face.
I watch as he runs back over to my best friend and can't help but frown at the smile that appears on her face when she sees him. After a minute or so, he turns back around to walk over to me and his expression is different. He still has a small smile painted on his face, and yet it seems as though an even larger one is threatening to spill out. And to think I didn't like this guy already. Now, he apparently has a crush on my girl.
"So.... Batman? Huh," I start a conversation as we begin the short walk over to the bookstore.
"Yeah," he says with a chuckle.
"Are you the only one affiliated with a cool superhero?"
"Nah. Ivy is Batgirl,"
"Of course she is," I say under my breath.
"What?"
"Nothing,"
"Ok, then...."
"Oh, do I not get a cool superhero name too?"
"Superhero? I'd think you'd be more of a supervillain, Aspen,"
"That's exactly what Ivy said. Also, rude!"
"I'm just saying,"
"Fine. Then what supervillain am I?"
"Harley Quinn," he says without missing a beat as we walk into the bookstore. I contemplate his words for a moment before I begin to slowly nod my head and flip the sign on the front of the door to read that the shop is open.
"Alright. I can accept that. She's a pretty badass,"
"Mhm," Jaxon says as he walks around to stand behind the counter.
"She's also a nemesis of Batman and I think that works for us pretty well," I add as I walk over and hop up to sit on the counter beside Jax.
"You're working. You really shouldn't be sitting there," Jax scolds me. I raise an eyebrow at him before letting out a laugh.
"Wow. Ok, rule lover,"
"Try rule follower,"
"You act like that's any better,"
"We're in a work environment, Aspen. I'd really rather not be fired,"
"I'm just hearing lame ass excuses now,"
Jax just rolls his eyes at me before picking up the comic behind the counter that he must have been reading before he came to grab me.
"Seriously, J. No one's here, and no one probably will be, that is besides George who's probably off doing his job restocking shelves or some shit and Marian who's probably watching inspirational cat video compilations in her office. But this is a little bookshop in the middle of town with virtually no appeal. Why do you think I chose to work here? I don't really want to work,"
"I thought I told you not to call me J," he says, pushing his glasses back up his nose as he looks up from his comic.
"You probably did, and that's what only made me want to do it more,"
"Why won't you shut up? I thought you were supposed to be hung over today,"
"Oh, I am. But I'll push through anything just to annoy you, my arch nemesis,"
"We're just coworkers, Aspen. I don't think we should elevate that to the arch nemesis level,"
And I would have agreed with him not that long ago. My annoying him has always been in good spirits. I seriously appreciate him always covering for me and helping me out on days where I can't exactly function.
Then he decided to flirt with Ivy. My Ivy.
"Whatever you say, J"
Jaxon glares at me, but I just laugh in response.
"Come on, I had to. It rhymed,"