"Thank you so much."

"You're welcome." I smile up at the customer as I finish wiping the table before standing back with the cloth and turning away.

"Savannah?" I'm stopped by the sound of my name and whirl back around, coming face to face with Brett's Mom, her hair pinned up into a bun, a navy shirt and pencil skirt covering her slim figure, her Louis Vuitton bag hanging off her arm.

"Mrs Winters!" I exclaim, eyes wide as I try to comprehend why she would ever step foot into this relatively cheap café. "How lovely to see you."

"Are you... working?" She enquires, glancing down to the cloth in my hand.

"Yes." I reply, forcing a smile onto my face, "Are you visiting Brett?"

"I was just going to take a quick coffee to him. I was supposed to meet him for lunch but George needs help with something at the office so I'm going to have to bail on him." She explains, glancing over towards the counter. I take the hint and nod, slowly making my way over to make her a coffee.

I can't help but feel sorry for Brett and struggle to keep my facial expression neutral as I walk towards to coffee machine. Once again the business comes first, before him. It wouldn't be so bad if I knew that they made the effort to see Brett frequently, but the truth of the matter is that they barely make the effort to bond with him, it's only ever about the business.

Mrs Winters has never done anything to personally attack me, hell if I met her in other circumstances I could see myself really liking her, but knowing Brett puts a dampener on things, the 'neglectful Mother' still playing on my mind.

"I see." I smile at her over my shoulder, "What would you like?"

"You're the barista, surprise me." She smirks, rubbing her hands together, "Two please."

"Umm okay." I reply, quickly trying to decide what this respectable, put together, wealthy woman would like in her coffee. Why did she have to place this on me? I might give her something that she doesn't like and then she'll hate me for the rest of time. Wait, why do I care whether she likes me?

Deciding instead to choose what I know Brett likes and hope for the best I grab hold of the takeaway cups and turn back to face her as I make them.

"Thank you so much for letting me spend Christmas with you." I shoot a genuine smile at her and she raises her eyebrows, clearly startled.

"It was no bother. It's always nice to have guests. If not it's just the family and Alice runs off to her room as soon as possible, George and Brett disappear to talk business." She replies, "It's lovely to see that Brett has such a lovely female friend in his life."

"Oh well I..."

"He's never mentioned that you work here." She mentions, glancing around the room once more. "It's very... quaint." She observes, as I set the coffees down in front of her.

"Here are your coffees."

"Thank you." She grins, before digging into her bag and pulling a Prada purse out of her bag, swiftly pulling a note out. "Keep the change." She exclaims, placing the bill in my hand. My eyes immediately widen at the figure on the paper.

"Are... are you sure?"

"Of course." She replies, waving her hand dismissively before picking up her coffees. "See you soon Savannah." She says before swanning back across the room and out of the door as I watch, eyes still wide as I try to process the encounter that has just unfolded.

The woman startles me, her blasé attitude clearly having rubbed off onto Brett. The difference is, thankfully, that Brett has never been flashy with the money, never used it in order to impress me or show off, only ever to pay for something that would make me happy. His Mom and Dad are the complete opposite, their wealth plastered over every action they make.

"Did that woman just pay you with a fifty dollar bill and tell you to keep the change?" Louise asks, eyes wide as she stares down at my hand.

"Yeah." I reply to her as she dumps her tray down beside me.

"Who is she?" She asks, gazing at the shut door as I place the bill into the register.

"I honestly don't know." I scoff, shaking my head. Neglectful Mother, wealthy socialite, caring woman? Who really knows?

"Savannah!" My eyes shoot up as my roommate runs into the café, heading straight for me at immense speed. Is everyone who knows Savannah Hurst planning on making an appearance at my workplace today? It's a damn Tuesday!

She stops just in front of me, her hair piled up on top of her head, her breath coming out thick and fast as though she's run here.

"Elena." I acknowledge calmly, before gesturing to my colleague beside me, "This is Louise."

"Hi!" She exclaims, briefly glancing over and smiling at the redhead beside me.

"Hey." Louise greets, sending her a quick wave before turning to the espresso machine.

"We've been invited to a party tonight." Elena announces, her attention firmly back on me.

"E, I really need to catch up on my reading. I'm supposed to have finished The Scarlet Letter by tomorrow." I moan and she shoots me a disheartened look. Why is this girl so intent on going to a party all of a sudden? We've been very controlled since Christmas, having only been to four, one of which was Polly's birthday party. And that was carnage.

"Please, please, please!" She begs, slapping her hands together. "Kyle invited me. It's at Bruno's." She elaborates. Ah, Kyle. That's why.

"Who is Bruno?" I mutter and she shrugs.

"I don't know but it sounds like fun." She pleads and I scowl at her as she blinks her wide eyes at me, desperate for me to agree. It's like Puss in Boots from Shrek and I have to look away, startled by her incredible ability to get her own way. Although she does spend her life watching films so she probably nailed the Puss in Boots' look around two years ago.

"Fine." I give in, rolling my eyes at her before turning to Louise. "Want to come?"

"Uh sure!" Louise shrugs.

"Thank you! See you later!" Elena grins before turning around and running back out almost as fast as she came in, no doubt to start planning her outfit. And mine.

"Thanks for inviting me." Louise grins and I shrug.

"I need someone to keep me company so she doesn't feel bad when she runs off with the boy she's dating." I laugh and she smirks.

*~*~*

Elena shuffles on her feet, anxious to get inside as we stand at the edge of the road in front of the house. She's managed to wriggle herself into a long purple dress and clothed me in a blue halterneck top with blue jeans to match. I should be thankful that her attempts to dress me are more conservative than Becky but unfortunately no-one can replace the beauty and brains of my black haired best friend Becky, even when she's three hours away.

"I'll meet you inside." I say, "I said I'd wait for Louise."

"I'll wait too." She objects, wrapping her arms around herself.

"E, it's okay..."

"Hey! I'm not going in there on my own. I don't know these people!" She cuts me off, eyes wide as she grabs a tendril of brown hair from the side of her face, twirling it in her hand.

"Everyone we know is probably going to be here." I retort, smiling slightly and she shrugs. "Didn't Laura invite you?"

"But I only want to enter with you!" She whines and I giggle.

"Hey!" Louise greets and we both turn around to see the heavily made up girl smiling at us, her hands shoved into her pockets. She looks a lot different than she does at work, the green apron gone, replaced by a black low cut top and leather skirt. Her red hair is straightened and her eyes are lined with the same amount of liner that Laura usually wears. If I put that much on I'd look like I hadn't slept in two weeks, but on Laura and Louise it seems to work.

"Hi!" Elena exclaims, "Can we go in now?" She asks, turning towards me.

"Yes E." I reply and she grins, turning away and storming off towards the door, "Sorry about her." I say, turning to Louise as we begin to follow her.

"It's cool. I need a drink anyway." Louise assures, grinning as we enter.

"Wow. This is different." I mutter, glancing round at the dark rooms, the smoke filled kitchen. I almost choke on the tainted air, straining my eyes as I attempt to glance around and locate the alcohol. I'm not even certain there's any here, my gut telling me that drugs are the main entertainment of this party. For once I'm glad I brought a hip flask with me, filled up with Malibu. I'm not sure I'd trust anything in this house.

Just lovely.

"Can we even get a drink in here?" Louise asks, her eyebrows furrowed. "Or are we supposed to get high instead?"

"Good question." I scoff, glancing around at the gyrating couples. I don't care how much Elena wants to see Kyle, we are not staying here for long.

It's everything bad that parents think when they hear the word 'college', shoved into one tiny, grime covered, two storey house.

*~*~*

Shoving my way through the room on my way back from the bathroom I grimace at the smell, desperate to get back to the room at the end of the corridor where we've set up shop - the place where the best music is playing and you can actually see the other side of the room through the smoke. Hate me if you want but at a college party I really don't feel like I can dance to hardcore rap, no matter how drunk I get.

This is definitely not my sort of party and I think it's time to leave.

"Want some Molly?" A guy steps in front of me, cutting my path off just before I reach the room where Elena and Louise are waiting.

"No." I snap before taking a proper look at his face. Recognition immediately sets in and I glare at him, not wanting to deal with this drug obsessed idiot again. "Didn't you offer me some before?"

"Naa I've never seen you before." He mutters and I grimace. Liar. Or maybe you were too high the last time you did it to remember it.

"You have." I argue, and he scoffs, taking a step back as he glances over my entire body. I feel the annoyance rise within me, feeling more and more desperate to leave and never return to this God forsaken house.

"Do you want some?" He pesters.

"No." I retort, "I don't do drugs."

"You're in coll..."

"I know I know, I'm in college, I'm a party pooper, whatever!" I snap, making a move to walk around him. Get me away from here as soon as possible.

"Hey!" He exclaims, stepping in front of me. "You're a feisty one aren't you?"

"Get out of my way." I snap.

"Hell no. You disrespect me in my own house!" He exclaims, glancing down at me with disgust.

"You're Bruno?" I scoff, almost smirking. Of course this is his house, I should have guessed.

"The one and only." He grins menacingly.

"I would say it's a pleasure but that would be a lie." I retort and his grin slides away.

"Who the fuck do you think you are bitch?" He sneers, grabbing onto my arm.

"Get off of me!"

"Take some fucking drugs and loosen up." He orders, bringing out a packet of pills and holding them in front of me.

"Get your hands off me!" I exclaim, bringing my hand up and swiping it around his face. His head snaps to the side, but his grip doesn't loosen and he turns back to face me, his eyes like fire.

"Bitch!" He yells before pushing me back against the wall. Only moments later he is wrenched away from me, his hand leaving my arm as Brett throws a swift punch to his face. Bruno stumbles back into the crowd behind him, dropping his pills onto the ground. Everyone turns, their attention on the potential fight that's about to break out. Brett turns towards me, his face filled with concern as he takes a step closer, his eyes lowering to the arm which I am currently holding to my chest, Drug Boy's vice like grip having left a searing pain shooting through my arm.

Bruno takes a moment before standing up straight, his hate filled glare immediately focused on Brett's back. Brett takes another step towards me before Bruno launches an attack, heading straight for Brett's back.

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