Alex walked in and took a seat beside Summer. She had still not fixed her expression, and continued to stare.

"I'm not a ghost, you know." He said looking into her eyes. He couldn't stop smiling. Her face had stayed pretty much the same. She still looked like the beautiful high-school girl he had once been privileged enough to know.

Summer recovered and blinked out of her trance. "Uh, hi-ii." Her voice was very low.

Alex smiled wider upon hearing her. He had to look down because he thought he might be blushing. He didn't want her to see that. Not yet.

Anthony stared back and forth between Summer and Alex. He felt very strange when he noticed how Alex smiled at her. Though he had known Alex back in school just like Summer, this man was someone else altogether. Back then he'd never felt weird around Alex. But back then, Alex had looked a lot less.... intimidating.

"Hello, Summer. And," Alex turned to glance at Anthony. With a slightly less excited tone, he continued, " hi,.... Anthony."

"Hi," Anthony made no effort to mask his weirdness.

"Alex, what are you doing back in town?" Summer couldn't help herself from asking. It had been close to five years since he had left, but he hadn't visited even once. So why now all of a sudden, she wondered. Alex stirred deep within when he heard her speak his name. He couldn't believe that she still remembered his name. He looked at her and found himself drowning in her brown eyes.

"I, uh... I had some work here," he mumbled.

Summer nodded and looked down. She wasn’t satisfied with his answer. Or maybe she was only disappointed. Because Alex spoke as if visiting the town was not at all important to him.

“How long are you here for?” Anthony asked, in a tone more rude than curious. But in all fairness, he wasn’t trying to be rude to Alex. He just really didn’t care about him at all. They had been decent friends back in high school. But it had always been Summer holding them together. She was the glue to their friendship.

Alex looked at Anthony. Both of them could sense the air of awkwardness between them. “Couple weeks.”

Summer smiled, trying to be nice. Though she couldn’t catch on to much of the mutual disliking between her best friend and her…. ex-best friend, she still understood that something was not right. She remembered her coffee suddenly and quickly gulped down some afraid it had gone cold.

“Wow, I almost forgot. This is your dad’s cafe, right?” Alex asked. Memories of the three of them hanging out in the cafe, popped in his head. He was surprised how much the cafe still looked the same as it did back then. He wondered if Anthony’s father had run into some money problems. No level-headed businessman should avoid renovation, according to him. Or perhaps Anthony’s father wasn’t that great of a businessman actually.

“Yes, it is.” Anthony muttered. For some reason, it hurt him especially more that it wasn’t his cafe but his father’s. He had been working pretty hard to buy the cafe from his dad, but it’s not an easy thing and he knew it would take him at least another few years to do it.

“That’s great.” Alex smiled. He didn’t have a clue he had hit a sensitive nerve in Anthony. But he did notice his disappointment. He just attributed it to his general attitude towards him. “Can I have what she’s having?” He went on in a casual tone.

Anthony smashed his teeth together and his heart fluttered erratically. Not only was Alex intruding in his private discussion with Summer, but now he wanted him to serve him coffee? His mind was a raging torrent of angry thoughts. He wanted his father’s business to thrive and he loved attending to customers, but this guy seemed to change his entire personality. Anthony wondered what it could mean.

“Okay.”

Anthony turned around sharply to get the order, but his ears were glued to the counter.

“So,” Alex looked at Summer again. He noticed she had finished her coffee. He wondered if he should buy her another. He clearly remembered her love for the beverage. “What are you doing these days?” He asked.

“I’m doing my bachelor degree in media and communication, from Penn State.” Summer looked down and continued, “I’m a semester away from getting my degree.” If that happens that is, considering the present situation, she thought.

Alex couldn’t help but feel so happy for her. She had talked about getting into Penn State since freshman year of high school. It made him proud that she had made her dream a reality!

“That is so amazing to hear, Summer.” Awestruck happiness was evident in his voice.

Summer smiled, though the thought that she may not be able to finish her degree hadn’t evaded her. Behind her smile, lay a lot of fear and uncertainty. She tried her best to mask it in front of Alex, but he didn’t miss it.

“Is everything okay?” Alex asked, clearly concerned.

“There you go.” Anthony stepped in to help Summer avoid the question. He pushed the coffee cup in front of Alex with a rather stern look.

Alex got sidetracked for a bit. “Thanks, man.” He looked back and forth between Anthony and Summer and wondered what was up. That’s when the door that led to the manager’s office flipped open.

Out came staggering Mr. Walker, Anthony’s father. “What is it I hear in the local news, Summer?” His eyes bore into those of the girl he considered his daughter. “Your father’s factory had a fire last night!?”

Everyone reacted differently to that. Summer had been crying most of the morning. But she was nowhere near done. And hearing those words seemed to push a trigger inside her. She sniffed silently to hold in her pain and nodded to answer Anthony’s father.

Anthony bowed his head down in shame. He couldn’t believe his father chose such an inopportune moment when she had company too, to ask her that. He had started to think his father was pretty weird a long time ago. But during moments like these, he downright thought him to be crazy. Anthony glanced at Summer and felt a wave of sympathy wash over him. He wanted to hug her and comfort her, upon seeing her sad face.

Alex’s eyes widened when he heard the man. He looked at Summer and realized immediately it was the truth. He didn’t understand the depth of her emotions though. The stature where he was at presently, he only looked at losses as things to mend and learn from.

“Summer, is your family alright?” Alex was the first to speak. Though he didn’t understand everything, he could see how badly Summer was affected. All he cared about was her and her well-being.

“Yeah, they’re uh,… okay,” Summer said getting up from her seat. She felt a very strong urge to crash into her bed and cry. That factory meant everything to her family, especially her father. And she couldn’t bare to stay ‘normal’ in front of other people anymore. The thoughts inside her head gripped her in grim fear. “Uh, I think I should go now. I have to see my dad,” she spoke to all three of them. She would talk to Anthony and his father later. They would surely understand her behavior. She just glanced at Alex one last time, in case she didn’t run into him for the rest of his stay at New Albany. “It was nice to meet you, after all this time.”

She didn’t wait for anyone’s response and walked out of the cafe. Normally she felt mad at Anthony for making the rule that she would never pay for coffee at his father’s cafe, in return for cooking him dinner every Saturday night. But she was glad that rule existed so she didn’t have to stay at the cafe even a second longer. As soon as she stepped out, tears started flowing down her cheeks like waterfall.

***

Summer got out of the bathroom after taking a hot shower. It had been only after crying for a really long time that her body went into a state of numbness and she climbed out of her bed to wash up.

She grabbed her phone for first time that day and saw many missed calls and texts, most from Anthony and his father. But one notification caught her attention. It was a message on Instagram from an unknown person. She opened it to see that it was from Alex.

“Hey Summer, I feel terrible about your dad’s factory. But I really think fate destined us to meet particularly today. I have something to discuss with you. A… proposition. And it has the potential to save your family too.”