Page 17 of The Omega Archives: Part One

“I got it. I’ll have a sixteen-ounce dark roast with room for extra cream please,” I said easily. I turned to look at the girl again who had wide eyes as she stared at me as if I did something completely unfathomable than purchase her a five-dollar chai. “Do you want anything else?”

Her mouth opened, but nothing came out as she searched for whatever words were rattling around in there.

I smiled as her pink lips puckered around nothing.

“We’ll take two bagels with cream cheese too. They look fucking fantastic,” I said.

“What kind?”

“One everything and a… blueberry?” I looked down at the girl.

She blinked. “Cinnamon raisin.”

“Cinnamon raisin it is then.”

The barista swiped my card and handed it back to me. The beta next to me still looked in shock over the entire transaction. Her lip now quivered and light gray eyes squinted at me.

She almost looked like she was about to cry.

A line formed between my eyebrows as I carefully led her a few steps to the side to wait for our order. “Hey, are you okay? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, it’s fine. I mean, I had it. It wasn’t a big deal…”

I raised my eyebrows.

She shut her eyes and let out a deep breath. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I said.

“I can pay you back.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want you to. If you want, you can consider it my penance for nearly running you over with the door back there. Did you have a stressful day?”

“Not really,” she wavered. “Kind of.”

That made sense.

“Did you?” she asked after a second.

I shrugged. “My day isn’t over yet. I have to get back in a little while but needed to re-caffeinate.”

“Ah.”

“I work in security. Cameras and that kind of stuff. I didn’t finish a project and wanted to make sure it got done before the weekend coming up soon,” I offered up, explaining what I did the best I could.

She didn’t need to know the specifics and to be honest, I couldn’t share them.

The barista pushed across our bagels and our drinks.

The beta watched as I reached for the cream, pouring what my pack would call an obnoxious amount in until it turned a light caramel color.

She softly giggled.

I looked up, delighted by the sound.

I almost wanted to put another cup of creamer in it just to hear it again. “I’m Cal, by the way.”

“What? Sorry. I’m a little out of it. I started a project today and I’m still not…” she waved a hand around her head. “All here, I guess.”

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