Emmie had launched herself out the door and into the alley behind her flat before she’d considered that it was still raining and she had no plans. It made her feel childish that she was so desperate to be away from her dad like that, but she hadn’t ever been able to grow past it. If she was being honest, she’d have left home on her own if she’d been any good at really coping. It made her wonder if all her scrimping and saving really meant anything. When her bank account finally had the requisite numbers to free her to life on her own, would she honestly take the plunge? For as used to being lonely as she was, Emmie had never really had to be alone.<br/><br/>She kicked at a discarded beer can—one of Dad’s, probably—as she trudged off through the collecting puddles in the pocked asphalt. She didn’t have work today. Emmie had been working at a garage lately, though she was willing to pick up shifts whenever, doing whatever, for the most part. With little better to do and growing regret over blindly wandering out into the rain, she headed for the coffee shop down the road. It was, at least, warm and dry there. Cramming her hand in her jacket pocket, she was relieved to grasp at a couple of wadded up bills. Enough to order a small cup, at least.<br/><br/>The rain had begun to pelt a bit harder by the time she made it the few blocks to the café, but Emmie wasn’t in any great rush and she could only get so drenched. She was sopping, raindrops rolling off the tip of her nose and soaking the toes of her tennis shoes, when she pushed through the door. The barista at the counter looked startled, and then sympathetic, to the water-logged girl. Emmie grinned. There were worse things to be. Her gaze traveled past the young man, probably not even out of high school, to the girl at work behind him. Her artist neighbor.<br/><br/>Approaching the counter, she fished the crumpled bills from her jacket and tried to smooth them out before handing them to him. “Just a small coffee, for here, please.” Emmie said, still stealing glances curiously at the girl with whom she shared a bedroom view. The boy took her money and offered her a paltry amount of change that was left behind. Emmie took a seat at a corner table, under a vent for maximized warm air.