Late that night, after battling a second wave of customers with Susan's help, Luke closed up the cafe and saw Alex to the door. He sat back down at a table with Giselle, who still hadn't changed out of her uniform. Susan and Lorna were already inside the locker room. Giselle gripped her phone with both hands, staring at the screen with a blank but intense focus, her brows furrowed deep. Luke, who had noticed her bad mood since the afternoon, finally asked,
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Giselle replied, looking at Luke with a weak smile.
"Okay, but if something's up, just tell me," Luke replied. He clearly knew she wasn't okay, but he didn't want to push and seem like he was prying.
The two of them sat in silence for a moment. Luke pulled out his phone and saw three notifications. The first was a text from Noel saying he was staying at Vanessa's tonight since they still had plans tomorrow. The second was from Ava, saying she was staying at Caleb's to help watch his younger siblings because Caleb's mom was sick.
"What is with those two... oh well, whatever. It's actually nice to have the house to myself," Luke thought to himself.
Finally, he opened the third notification, and his eyes widened. It was a bank alert confirming a $7500 deposit was now sitting in his account. Naturally, Luke checked the sender, and once again, it was MS.
"Huh... what actually happened today? Oh right... I did ignore those five girls earlier because I was working... yeah, that must be it," Luke thought to himself, forgetting that after that, those five girls had actually found partners.
"Luke," Giselle said, suddenly calling his name.
"Yeah?" Luke asked, closing his banking app and pocketing his phone.
"Can I vent for a second?"
"Go ahead, what's on your mind?" Luke asked, bracing himself for whatever she was about to drop on him.
Giselle slid her phone across the table, showing a chat history with a guy named Hunter. As Luke scrolled through the messages, he realized Hunter was the ex-boyfriend who had dumped her. Toward the end, it looked like Hunter was trying to get back together, but Giselle had left him on read.
"Why haven't you replied?" Luke asked her.
"Because when I moved here, he didn't dump me because of the distance. He ran straight to Isabel, my friend. Here, let me show you that chat," Giselle answered.
Giselle opened her chat history with Isabel, and it was all there. A day after Hunter broke up with Giselle, he had immediately made a move on Isabel by manipulating her, pretending to help her through a tough time. He claimed it was actually Giselle's wish for him to end up with Isabel. As a friend, Isabel didn't react much at first, though she was slightly tempted. But because Hunter felt like he already had her in his grasp and felt confident, he actually blurted out that he only dated Giselle to get closer to Isabel.
Isabel immediately snapped out of it, got angry, and told Giselle everything. Only then did Isabel reject Hunter flat, which led to Hunter trying to crawl back to Giselle.
"Hmm... yeah... you're definitely better off without a guy like that. You deserve someone better," Luke said after reading the messages.
"You're right, but honestly, he's been seriously bothering me all day, so I wanted to apologize if my mood's been trash since this morning," Giselle replied.
"It's fine... don't worry about it," Luke replied understandingly.
"By the way, it's getting late, Noel and Ava aren't home yet? Isn't it a bit much, even if tomorrow is Sunday?" Giselle asked, sounding confused.
"Hmm... they're staying over at their partners' places. Now they're being open about it and have already introduced them to me... they've gotten bold," Luke answered.
"Well... that's fine, I guess. Noel is an adult and Ava already knows right from wrong. Does that mean you'll be all alone at the house?" Giselle asked.
"Yeah... it's actually better that way. I'm planning to close tomorrow to get some rest, so it's a good coincidence they're staying over," Luke replied.
"Haha... true enough. I get it. Make sure you enjoy your rest," Giselle said with a smile.
"Yeah, I will," Luke replied, giving a thumbs up.
"Well, in that case, Susan and I are heading back... but why is it taking them so long to change?" Giselle said, standing up and glancing toward the locker room. "I'll go check on them," Giselle added, walking toward the locker room and leaving Luke behind.
A moment later, Giselle came out in her regular clothes along with Susan, who had also changed. Susan's hair was a mess and she let out a wide yawn.
"Luke, I'm heading out with Susan. They both fell asleep in there. Lorna is still inside sleeping, and she's a nightmare to wake up," Giselle said.
"Yeah... sorry about that, I drifted off," Susan added.
"It's fine, no worries. I'll wake Lorna up myself," Luke said casually.
"Okay. Don't bother seeing me out since I'm with Susan, and besides, I parked right next to your cafe, not on campus," Giselle replied.
"Alright then, get home safe," Luke replied.
"Got it. See you Monday," Giselle said.
"Um... see you Monday, Luke," Susan added as she said goodbye.
"Yeah... see you Monday," Luke replied.
Giselle and Susan headed out, and Luke locked the door and turned off the cafe lights. After that, he opened the locker room door. "Zzz... zzz... zzz..." the sound of snoring echoed from inside. Luke walked in and smiled, seeing Lorna still in her cafe uniform, sprawled out on the long bench in the locker room, fast asleep.
"Man... I don't have the heart to wake her up and tell her to go home. She looks exhausted. Whatever, I'll just take her upstairs," Luke muttered to himself.
In the end, Luke carried Lorna up like a princess and brought her upstairs to sleep. He laid Lorna down on his bed, then started going through the cafe's digital earnings at the coffee table. He decided to wait until tomorrow to count the physical cash since he planned on keeping the cafe closed for the day.
***
About three hours later, "Uh," Lorna opened her eyes. "Zzz... Zzz," she turned her head, hearing the sound of loud snoring beside her. She saw Luke sleeping next to her, his back turned, and because she wasn't fully awake yet, she rolled over and hugged Luke's waist, pressing her body against his back while smiling and closing her eyes again.
"This feels so good," she thought to herself.
She seemed to be truly enjoying it, but unfortunately, it only lasted five minutes. As her consciousness returned, her eyes snapped wide open and she realized she was hugging Luke.
"Huh,"
Lorna immediately scrambled back and sat up. In a daze, she looked left and right, taking in her surroundings. It turned out she was at the cafe, and as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she saw that Noel and Ava's beds were empty.
"Wait... I'm upstairs at the cafe... in Luke's house and sleeping with Luke?" Lorna asked herself while processing what had happened.
But before she could process anything, she spotted the sofa and saw her bra hanging off the side along with the cafe uniform she had worn earlier. Her eyes went wide, and by reflex, she looked down. Only then did she notice the scent of fresh laundry and realize she was wearing an oversized t-shirt that apparently belonged to Luke. With trembling hands, she pulled at the collar of her shirt and peeked inside. It was true—she wasn't wearing a bra at all, and since Luke's shirt was thin, her bare chest was clearly visible.
Lorna's face went pale then crimson. She remembered falling asleep without getting a chance to change her clothes, and on top of that, she had spilled leftover coffee earlier, leaving her shirt and bra soaked. She glanced at the sofa once more, then back at Luke, who was snoring with his back to her. After that, she double-checked that Noel and Ava weren't in their beds and stared at Luke again.
"This means... Luke was the one who changed my clothes... he was the one who took off my bra? He saw everything then... ugh... what do I do... he has to take responsibility... but I guess it's fine if he saw, because one day I'll be taking my clothes off in front of him anyway, but... man... it's still so embarrassing," Lorna muttered in her head, her heart pounding and her face turning even redder than before.