-----Elle's POV

Sunlight floods my apartment, waking me up. The birds are singing and it is finally starting to sound and feel like spring. I roll over onto my back and rub my eyes. I look over to my alarm clock.

"Crap! Aunt Kate is going to kill me!" I shout.

It is 9:30 and I'm already a half hour late for work! It took me forever to fall asleep since I was thinking about meeting Steve and talking to him- well attempting to in my case. I grab a quick shower and rush to work. When I get there, Aunt Kate just gives me a stern look and tells me that she won't tell my uncle.

A couple hours later when the crowd dies down, my stomach growls and I realize that I didn't eat breakfast since I didn't have time. I start to look for something to eat in the pastry case when a familiar voice catches my attention.

"Excuse me miss?"
I look up and my heart starts to pound in my chest.

"Hey Steve!" I manage to say clearly. He looks so good today- his sweatshirt is tight in all of the right places. 'Focus Elle!' I think to myself.

"I'm glad you can speak better today" he teases. "I was wondering- maybe, you would want to go out to lunch with me?"

Did he just ask me out on a date?! I try to keep my cool and not say anything that'll embarrass myself.

"Yeah! Absolutely! Perfect! Awesome!" He laughs at my response.

'Okay, maybe that was a liiiittle too enthusiastic Elle' I say to myself.

"When's your break?"

I look over to Aunt Kate who is watching us from the other register; she nods yes quickly and gestures me to go with her hands. I snicker and look back over to his smiling face, "Now is perfect apparently!" I start to walk around from behind the counter but then I look down; my shirt is covered with flower and my pants have orange and blue frosting on them.

"How about I change and then we can leave?" I laugh, pointing at the mess on my clothes. He smiles and nods, so I run off into the back room and pray that I left some spare clothes here. I sigh in relief as I find some extra clothes. "Thank you past Elle!" I murmur.

Once I'm changed, I head out to the front. I look towards my aunt before I leave with Steve and when he's not looking, she gives me an enthusiastic thumbs up. I laugh and Aunt Kate puts her hands down before Steve sees.

We head outside and start walking towards a nearby diner. We talk about normal stuff and he asks me more about the bakery. I'm amazed that we actually click right away; we didn't have any awkward silences. We arrive at the diner and are seated right away- I forgot that Steve is a very familiar face to practically all of Philly.

-----Steve's POV:

I'm so happy that I was able to get Elle out of the bakery and to lunch. I heard her stomach rumbling quite a few times as we were talking. I'm kind of upset she changed out of her work clothes though- she looked adorable with all of that flour on her.

We order our drinks and talk about what food we want to get. I see her phone light up from a text and her background is G! I laugh under my breath, and hide my smile behind my menu. She hears me laugh, looks up from her menu, reaches her hand over to mine and knocks it down from in front of my face.

"What are you laughing at? What did I do?" She reaches up to her face and starts patting her face and rubbing her nose. "Is there something on my face?" She starts to get flustered, which makes me laugh even harder.

"No no! It's just I can't wait to tell G that the girl I like has a picture of him as her lock screen on her phone!"

Her eyes widen, she gasps, and covers her mouth, "Oh no! You can't tell him! That is soooo not cool Steve! Please I'm begging you! Please don't!"

"Fine, fine I won't." I chuckle at how relieved she looks and I figure this was just as good as a time as any to get her phone number.

"IF you give me your number Elle," I say with a smile on my face.

"That seems like a fair negotiation." She giggles and passes me her phone and I give her mine.

Just as I am done entering my phone number into her contacts, her mother is calling her. I tell Elle her mom is calling and her face becomes pale.

"Uh thanks-" she says trying to sound cheery. I hand her her phone and she starts to talk. During the conversation, she looks so sad- it takes me off guard.

Once she hangs up her phone, I want to ask her what is wrong but I don't want to pry. She shakes her head and puts on a fake smile, "Uh I'm so sorry Steve but I really actually should go back to the bakery- it's busy- I got a text from my aunt earlier - I just read it now."

My heart sinks but I tell her it's okay because I don't want to make her feel any worse. As I pay for the check, I notice she's looking even more distressed.

"Is there anything wrong? Do you want me to walk back with you to the bakery Elle?"

"What? No! Of course not and no it's honestly fine, I'll walk back by myself- I have to pick up a few things before I get back to Sweetie Pies- I don't want to inconvenience you!"

I didn't want to pry any further so I give up trying to convince her to let me walk her back to the bakery. "Alrighty if you say so. I'll see you after we get back from New York though, you can bet on it."

We say our goodbyes to one another and we go our separate ways. I am sad that our lunch is cut off abruptly, but I'm glad I got to actually get to know her better before I leave for New York.

-----Elle's POV:

Once I turn the corner and Steve isn't in sight, I start to run toward the bakery. The wind is drying my tears that are rolling down my face.

I lied to Steve about getting back to the bakery- I didn't want him involved in the emotional roller coaster I call my life. I just met him and I don't want to scare him off with everything that is happening.

Once I get to the bakery, I hug my aunt and uncle and tell them what had happened with my mom on the phone. "Elle, you need to be there for your mom. Don't worry about working- come back when you want. We can get Andy to cover your shift." I nod, hug them goodbye and jog to my apartment. After I pack, I get a taxi and head to the train station to catch the next train to Pomona, NJ - my hometown.

Notes

The Spare Outfit

Steve's Outfit

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Hope you guys like it so far; I'm really trying and I hope it's good! The next two chapters will be up soon. Thanks for reading! Rate, comment & subscribe!