Free How To Save A Life by Lauren K. McKellar Page B

lives.
    "Well we ain't gonna finish, are we?" a man roars, and I can't for the life of me remember his name. At least I remember Elmo. There's no forgetting that.
    "Coffees, all round." Smith takes charge, then grabs the red wine list from the centre of the table. "And a bottle of ... ah, why not sparkling, 'ey?" He slaps Elmo on the back. "Bit of a breakfast beverage."
    Tim scuttles off to serve them, Ms Haloumi Salad raises her eyebrows at Ana, and I duck behind the coffee machine, trying not to be seen. Of course Mum knows I'm here, but perhaps if I just manage to keep out of her line of vision ...
    "I'm going to say hi."
    No.
    "Ellie, wait!"
    "Really?" She spins to face me, her arms folded across her chest. "You don't speak to me for eighteen months, and the thought of me saying hello to your mother is bad enough to get you to open up?"
    "I ..." I open and shut my mouth, racking my brain for an excuse that isn't just STOP.
    "Figures." Ellie turns around again and marches through the seats, making her way to Mum's table.
    My tongue feels swollen in my mouth, and I know I have to stop this. I cannot let it happen.
    I dart out and around the counter, dancing my way through the crowds.
    "Lia! Is that coffee machine unattended?"
    Ignoring Tim, I keep going, but my legs seem to be made of lead and they're slow, so much slower than I need to be. So much slower than Ellie is.
    "Hi, Mrs Stanton. It's—"
    "Ellie!" Mum cries, and it's like nails down a chalkboard meets women fighting at a clearance sale.
    Everything seems to happen in slow motion. Mum, reaching up to hug my childhood best friend.
    Smith, standing and yelling across the cafe. "Oy, Lia! Get us some wine, yeah?"
    Julietta, reapplying her lipstick while swinging back on her chair.
    Into the backs of Ana's legs.
    Sending Ms Haloumi Salad's salad ... all over Ms Haloumi Salad.
    Snap .
    "I'm so sorry," Ana says, leaning over the table to grab some napkins and awkwardly dabbing them toward the woman's ample chest.
    "Let me." Elmo grabs some napkins from his table and also reaches around to try and clean Ms Haloumi Salad, although the leer on his face makes it clear that cleaning isn't exactly his first priority.
    "Don't you dare," she hisses, and finally, finally I reach the group, and drop to my hands and knees, grabbing the wayward plate and gathering up as much of the salad leaves as I can onto it.
    "Just trying' to help, love." Elmo shrugs, then thrusts the napkin at her chest once more.
    Haloumi Salad is on her feet. "I will sue you for sexual harassment!"
    "Nobody touches my wife," her companion growls, and his eyes bear daggers into Elmo.
    "Easy on." Elmo burps. He actually burps . "No harm done."
    "No harm?" Haloumi screeches, gesturing to the oil stains that cover her sheer white blouse. "I hope you have a good lawyer, because I doubt this will come out even with dry cleaning!"
    "Bitch, shut your face." Julietta stands too, her lipstick now freshly reapplied.
    "Why doesn't everyone just sit down, and I'll get another round of coffees over here, right away," I say, placing one hand on Julietta's shoulder and trying hard not to think that I have seen her hideous boobs.
    But I can't unsee.
    Nothing will erase those wrinkled cucumbers from my memory.
    "I expect compensation." Salad folds her arms across her chest. "Where are your facilities? I need to try and remove this ... filth." She directs the last line at my mother's table, and as much as I can see that she's a bit of a snob, I know that she's well within her rights to be acting this way.
    Ana gestures to the rooms out the back, and takes the arm of Haloumi's companion, leading him to a spare table on the other side of the cafe.
    "Good riddance!" Julietta calls, and receives a scowl from the man, as well as about twenty other patrons in the surrounding area.
    "Can you all please sit?" I hiss. My eyes dart about the cafe for Tim. "Listen, you guys, are you sure you want to eat—"
    "Two bottles of sparkling." Tim