Chapter Text
They were finally free. Summer had come.
Gone were the days of stifling classrooms and scrunched up line-paper and ballpoint pens. Gone were the days of sitting in uncomfortable plastic chairs and sneaking notes written on cream-coloured notepad paper.
And they had resolved that this summer would be the best summer ever.
———
“OLLIEEEEEE,” a voice wailed from behind.
Ollie ran faster, his long strides keeping him a steady distance away from the rocketship of a boy trying to catch up to him. As he rounded the corner of the pier, his shoes seemed to falter on the wood, and his hands shot up in order to try to stop his fall. He landed, hard, as he tried to scramble up to his feet in order to try to evade the younger boy who chased hot in pursuit.
However, luck did not seem to be on his side, as Kimi, eyes wide, tried in vain to slow down as he accelerated on the slippery wood. However, his worn out converse’s smooth soles did nothing to slow down his pace as he slid forward, crashing into Ollie, who was only starting to gain his feet, sending them both back to the floor.
“Mrrrhph,” Kimi exclaimed, his voice muffled by Ollie’s pullover as he indignantly protested at the injustice of lying on the damp pier. Ollie could feel the remnants of the morning showers dampening patches of his sky-blue jeans.
“Fine, fine.” Ollie huffed, easily hauling himself up from underneath Kimi. “Take your stupid bag-charm.”
“Excuse me? This is actually-” Kimi started, outraged at the blatant mischaracterisation of the plushie he held in his free hand, as he used the other to steady himself as he bounced back up from the floor.
“What if you hang around the diner, and I’ll sneak you whatever scraps Chef decides aren’t worth serving to the customers?” Ollie replied, brushing his hands along his pants in a vain attempt to get the seawater to dry faster.
“ONLY, and ONLY if you throw in one of those new fancy milkshakes they’re making now,” Kimi declares.
“Deal.”
“Aaaand maybe your employee discount?” he wheedles, batting his stupidly long eyelashes.
“I’m not a miracle worker, I’m already stretching it with the free fooooo-” Ollie protests, before Kimi drags him towards the end of the pier.
“C’mon, stop yapping, we have around 2 minutes of good sunrise before the tourists start swarming the pier, let’s just enjoy the view!”
———
Two hours later, Ollie had clocked into his shift, and was busy waiting tables. As he wandered through his row of allocated and mostly-empty tables, he glanced at the digital clock on the shelf, counting down the minutes before he could leave.
He really wished he hadn’t accepted the extra shift yesterday.
However, he really did need the cash, and he was loath to cancel on an extra chance to make some bank, especially since the owner had always been generous enough to give him whatever shifts remained after they had figured out the fortnightly register.
“Excuse me,” a voice called from the other side of the room.
Letting out an internal sigh, Ollie plastered his best attempt at a “happy to be here” customer service smile, and walked towards the table, yellow notepad in hand.
“Hello ladies, what could I get you?” he asked the group, absent-mindedly twirling his favourite navy pen.
Those 3 look like they’d probably take something healthy, maybe the new protein omelets? They look ready for the gym, which is honestly pretty cool. The only reason I get out of bed sometimes is the promise of being able to eat the chocolate chip pancakes Chef Ocon makes for family meal for the morning shifts. They don’t look like the type of person to down a chocolate milkshake at 6:30 am. But to be honest, neither do I.
“I’ll take the protein omelet, Annie can take the “Very Berry Smoothie”, and Vera? What do you want?”
She gestured over to her left, at the girl with the curly black pigtails. She giggled, and mumbled something along the lines of “Maybe your number?” as her friends let out barks of laughter around her.
“Not able to decide?” Ollie continues smoothly. “I’d recommend the English Breakfast, it’s obviously a classic, and oh my gosh. The chocolate chip is to die for. It’s so good, the chef makes it for us all the time, it might be the best pancakes I’ve ever had!”
“Vera” nods slowly, muttering something close to “Yes, that please,” the colouring on her cheeks marking her as flustered from the awkward encounter.
“Great! I’ll be back with some water for you, give me two-ish minutes,” Ollie said, his feet already carrying him towards the kitchen, where he left the sheet of paper on the counter. Walking over to the station, he grabbed 3 plates and sets of cutlery, balancing them on one hand while grabbing the water jug and glasses in the other.
“Here you go!” He said, voice bright as anything. Pouring the ice cold water, he continued to absent-mindedly tap his converse to the beat of the song playing in the background. I’ll have to shazam that later, he thought, as he walked back towards the kitchen.
———
As he walked back and forth, arms laden with dishes, a certain blond burst through the doors. Glancing at the clock, it was 10 past 9.
“Lawson!” Ollie called.
“Mate, where is everyone?” he called, a bit louder than necessary, across the room.
“College open-days? I’m not so sure,” he chuckled.
“That why you’re covering?”
“Yeah, I think we’re the only people working here for the next week, or so,” he remarked.
He sauntered across the room, looking for the register. Ollie had already signed Liam in, so as he was walking back to the cutlery station to grab more plates, he called out “Mate, you’re all good!”
“Cheers mate, you’re the best,” Liam smiled. The guy was always late, not of his own fault, but from the sheer amount of rugby training he was always roped into. He was always active doing one thing or another, whether it be dirt biking, or jet-skiing, or whatever new activity he had managed to get himself into.
Liam was also in the same swimming squads program, so they did know each other fairly well despite being a school year apart. He was probably his closest friend at the diner, often meeting after school and walking to their shifts together. It was lucky that no-one had noticed Ollie clocking him in early today, otherwise they’d both be getting into plenty of trouble with Chef Ocon.
———
Glancing again at the clock, he had around 20 minutes left before he was free to leave. He itched to leave the stuffy room, and to get back to gallivanting around or whatever shenanigans Kimi had dreamt up while waiting for him.
Most of the customers seemed to be engaged in conversation, and for once, Ollie could stop walking. He made a beeline to the corner booth, where frizzy caramel curls could be seen peeking out the top. He leaned over the crimson-plaid tablecloth.
The boy with the caramel curls was snoring softly, enjoying a small moment of calm among the racket of the rest of the diner. Ollie watched his chest softly rise and fall, as he slept bent over his physics homework. Of course, his teacher had assigned holiday homework. Something about “Building Character” or some other buzzwords which meant “I love to see my students suffer.” After a moment more of watching him peacefully sleep, he decided to try to wake him up.
“Kimiiiiii,” he sang.
“Ollie?” the boy murmured, obviously still stuck in the throes of sleep.
“Physics homework? Really?”
Letting out a yawn, Kimi mumbled something along the lines of “Helping with consistency or something,” staring at the paper dejectedly.
“Jeez,” Ollie replied. “Right now? During the holidays?”
“Mhmrph,” Kimi muttered, resettling his head on the paper.
“My shift’s done in…” Ollie raised his head to check the clock. Surely, the time had changed? It stubbornly remained at 15 minutes to 10. “Fifteen minutes. Pack up, and I’ll meet you around the back, I think we left our bikes there yesterday.”
“Ohhhkay,” Kimi accentuated the vowel, as he slowly stood up to pack away his things. “Here, take this,” as he handed him a crisp fiver.
“You know full well that cost 7 dollars,” Ollie called at Kimi’s retreating form.
Kimi responded with a particularly rude hand gesture.
“You’ll cover it for me anywayyyyy,” he yelled back, the smile on his face evident from the lilt in his voice.
Ollie shook his head in disbelief, well aware that he’d be forking out the extra 2 from his own pocket to stash in the register regardless.
That guy, he thought. That little rat.