Closed The Olive Cafe

[Monty Pendleton]

Fifty. Fifty! Monty still remembered his twentieth birthday - though admittedly not for very good reasons. Still, it seemed like only a few days ago he had been a young man, and now all of a sudden he was turning fifty. Determined to make the most of his last few weeks at forty-nine, Monty had invited Olive out for a coffee. Though they kept in touch by owl, it had been some time since they'd met up to chat in person, and Monty missed her terribly. She had been a comforting presence around the school, and he felt her absence like a cold wind.

Stepping into the small cafe (appropriately named The Olive Cafe), Monty found a seat visible from the door and glanced idly over the menu. It was a cosy, rustic sort of place, with mismatched tables and chairs, yet the large bay windows let in plenty of natural light. A waiter came to ask if he was ready to order. Monty explained he was waiting for a friend. Olive wasn't late, yet - he was early. He liked to arrive first; it gave him time to gather his courage and prepare something to say.

 

[Olive Layton]

In all honesty, Olive had been surprised to hear from Monty. Not because his communication was far few, but because of the context. Truth be told, Olive had been doing her best to hide the fact that she had come back to New Zealand as a failure, with nothing of any note to her name, when she had felt a wave of nausea over reading that Monty wanted to actually meet up. It was much easier for her to cast a mask of wellbeing behind some parchment, and the former professor had an inkling this chat must have been some kind of intervention for her lack of progress. She was nearly 30 for goodness sake! ​

Approaching the meeting point and realising it was also called The Olive Café, made the red head even more sure that the focus that day would be on her, something she wished she could escape but not wanting to let down her friend. She had no excuses to get out of the coffee date but if she really needed one, perhaps she could have told him that Nugget needed to go to the vet. No one could deny an ill kitty their flu jabs.

Entering the room, it didn't take Olive long to spot the man, who looked stronger than the last time she'd seen him almost a year ago. She recalled how frail he once looked in the hospital wing too, but it had been an eternity for them both since that week. "Professor," she smiled, taking a few steps in her heels towards him. "You're looking good!" remarking as she unbuttoned her navy blue coat, draping it across the back of her scuffed chair and taking a seat across from the man.

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Monty smiled and stood up as Olive approached the table. He didn't go so far as to hug her, but he suspected she had already figured out he didn't like to be touched, and wouldn't be offended. Some days were better than others. He sat down again, chuckling. "Thank you - and likewise!" he said. "Can I get you something to drink? Or eat? I thought I'd wait so that we could order together."

Once the waiter had taken their orders and left, Monty said, "Goodness, so - how are you? It feels as if it's been years. Perhaps it has. You really do look well. But tell me, what have you been doing since we last spoke?"

 

[Olive Layton]

Olive could practically feel the interrogation begin as the waiter returned with their drinks, and she quickly grasped her coffee as though it was the only that was going to help her get through the next few minutes. She smiled nervously at her distant relative, nodding in agreement. "It probably has!" Even if it wasn't years since they'd met up, enough had happened that it could have been. "Well you know how it is Professor. I've moved back to New Zealand now so I've been busy with my experiments. There's always something else to research, you know." It was pathetic but maybe it would be enough for him to not ask too many questions. It was painful to try and keep herself amused for all the spare time she had. Even today she'd made the extra effort to wear nice clothes and straighten her hair. It wasn't that she didn't want to more often so much as she never had a need these days to get out of her pyjamas. "Leda's in her fifth year now too, so I'm helping her with her exams." It was a bit of a stretch given her sister still wasn't even talking to her, but it made Olive feel better. ​

​

"What about you? How are things since Jon left?". Olive was still sad that the times had changed and the three of them no longer worked together, but she knew it must have been difficult for Monty to adapt to a new set of Professors too.​

 

[Monty Pendleton]

"What is this 'Professor' business?" Monty asked, before Olive had got very far. "You know you can call me Monty." He let her finish after that, nodding as she explained, unnecessarily, how much research she had to do. Monty was no stranger to that. It pleased him to hear that she was helping Leda; the young Slytherin hadn't been left with the best impression of him after their last discussion, and he was afraid to offer her much help himself. "Good, good," he said. "Oh, I'm... all right. Well. You know how it is. I miss him. I miss you, too. But it's good to know you're doing well - I would much rather you were happy away from Hogwarts than stifled in it. Anyway, I'm fine. Trying not to think about turning fifty." He raised an eyebrow, indicating he had not been trying very hard. "I do envy you, sometimes. Life has become awfully monotonous lately."

 

[Olive Layton]

Olive did her best to hide the fact her cheeks were beginning to match her hair. Was it that obvious that she felt uncomfortable? Intimidated even by the man who sat beside her. She smiled through it, grateful still when he quickly took the topic back to himself. He seemed to think she was doing well, and instantly her stance became more relaxed. What was this about it not to intervene with her career? She took a sip of her drink, listening as her friend and former colleague spoke about his time around the castle without the others,. Olive had to choke back on her coffee though, monotonous?! Did Monty even know the meaning of the word? Olive would have given anything to have her place back at the school and be surrounded by the bright students that came and went in her classes, but instead she was stuck in her apartment, just her quiet fluffy companion for company. She barely realised how much older he was than her. Sometimes it felt as though they were too similar in opinions to have an gap almost as wide as her own age. With her whole life ahead of her, she wondered if she'd ever do as well for herself as Monty had, gaining a position in his career and his community. "Well, you only turn fifty once!" she said, enthusiastically as she was pleased to turn the conversation to a more pleasant topic. "Will you be throwing a party?" she asked, considering whether she'd be invited. It may have been a good chance to see her old colleagues once again, and another reason for her not to spend all day in her pyjamas.​

 

[Monty Pendleton]

"Mm," Monty said, not feeling much reassured. He opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the arrival of their food and drinks. Once the waiter had been and gone, Monty resumed where they had left off. "No, I don't think I'll be having a party. I mean, who would I invite? I can barely hold a conversation with the professors at dinner without having a panic attack. No - I'll probably stay in, read a book... God, that's dull. What am I going to do, Olive?" He laughed without any real humour. He didn't expect Olive to have a suggestion, but he was just about ready to accept anything.

 

[Olive Layton]

Olive's excitement was getting the better of her and she barely noticed that more items had turned up at the table. "Who can you invite? Your friends, what about all the Professors you work with? Me and Jon and Leda? There's more than enough people to invite for a party Monty." she nodded, taking another sip of her drink. The thought of her friend having a birthday alone or with a book was too disappointing. Even she had her cat to keep her company. "You need to get out. Make a day of it! Maybe you can rent the Three Broomsticks for the evening, or or maybe we can go paint balling? Or one of those high rope climbing centers!" She recalled a few things she'd done as a child for her own birthday parties, not pausing for breath or to give the man a chance to speak. "Or the zoo! Or a theme park! I'd love to see you on a corkscrew," Olive began giggling to herself, the idea of the man in front of her screaming at 100ft. ​

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Monty knew he couldn't expect Olive to understand what social anxiety was like, so did his best to look as though he was considering her ideas. She was trying so hard for him. "I suppose," he said, pouring his tea and stirring in the milk. He couldn't help but think her suggestions sounded more appropriate for somebody turning fifteen, not fifty. "Olive, I get motion sick on trains," he laughed. "Paintballing would be fun. Good for team building, too. I wonder if there's a magical alternative?" He wasn't opposed to the muggle game, but suspected some of his colleagues might be. Not that Kalif was likely to come anyway. "Anyway, enough about me. Have you got anything to look forward to on the horizon?"

 

[Olive Layton]

Olive had to calm herself down as he reminded her that he did take all too well to some situations. “Right,” she nodded, taking a sip of her drink, glancing away. Her hopes rose once more though when he mentioned paint balling. “Oh it is!!” Her smile, complete with a fresh coat of red lipstick, widened across her face as she recalled taking down her friends on her 10th birthday, long before Leda had ever come into her life. The red head had no idea if there was an alternative, though wondering if Monty was just trying to change the topic away from him, she made a mental note to research the opportunities and would send him the details later on. Her face dropped when he asked once more about her own life. She shook her head, lowering her gaze and her mug in an attempt to hide her anxiety. Truth be told many things lay on the horizon for the former professor, but right now she didn’t know how to explain them, let alone deal with them.

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Monty stopped stirring his tea, his face a picture of concern. "Olive?" he said. It wasn't like her to become taciturn half way through a conversation. That was Monty's job. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... are you all right?"

 

[Olive Layton]

The last thing Olive wanted to do was turn the conversation to herself, but she would have been the first to admit she felt alone with the things that were swarming around her head. It took her a few moments, but eventually she nodded. She knew at the back of her mind she could trust Monty with what was going on, but she didn’t know whether she should be telling anyone at all anyway. What if it made things so much harder? “What would you do,” she began, looking up to meet his eyes, “if you found yourself in a situation you weren’t ready for, and where you knew your actions could hurt other people?” She knew it was cryptic, but his response would determine her next move.

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Monty narrowed his eyes dubiously. For an intelligent man, he'd never been very good at deciphering cryptic clues. He could barely read between people's lines when they were being held wide open and the underlying message was waving frantically at him from within. "Er," he said, blushing. "I'm sorry, Olive; I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

 

[Olive Layton]

Olive wasn’t sure what she expected but she was going to have to just say it outright if she was going to tell him. She picked up her mug, eyeing the professor nervously. “I’m pregnant.” With that she downed the rest of the only coffee she was allowed for the day, wishing instead it had been wine.

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Monty picked up his tea, but the cup never made it to his lips. He set it back down. "Oh," he said, unsure whether or not to be happy for her. It was life-changing news, and she didn't seem utterly thrilled about it. "How do you... how do you feel about that?" he ventured cautiously at last.

 

[Olive Layton]

Olive felt guilty even thinking it, let alone saying it out loud. Her sister wasn't here however and she wasn't sure she'd get another chance to speak her mind to someone she trusted before it was too late. "I can't raise another Leda," she admitted. It was a horrible thing to say but going through what she had when she was a teenager, bringing up her sister when her parents couldn't, Olive couldn't help but think if she'd done a better job, maybe her Slytherin sister wouldn't have a warped sense of what was acceptable. The former professor was well aware that Leda got carried away in her own imagination, and while her heart was always in the right place she very much went the wrong way about things, a trait Olive knew she had had influence in. "Besides, I'm in no state to do this. I haven't told the father, I have no job," the list was endless.

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Monty didn't know what to say. He understood what Olive meant, but to admit that sounded awful. He didn't think she'd done a bad job raising Leda. She'd done exceptionally, under the circumstances. But it couldn't have been easy, and with first hand experience of raising a child, Olive already knew exactly what motherhood entailed. Who was Monty to tell her it would be different this time?

He shook his head. No. He had to stop her there. "Olive, whatever you choose to do, you'll have my complete support," he said seriously. "Obviously it's... it's a big decision, an enormous decision, and I can't tell you what you should do because it isn't my life that having this baby would change, but... either way, I won't let you struggle through this on your own. So please don't feel like you have to cope by yourself." He didn't like to ask the next question, but he felt he had to. "Are you and the father... in a relationship?"

 

[Olive Layton]

Monty had never been anything less than fully supportive in everything she tried to do, but it still caught her by surprise in this instance. She was glad for it though and heck knew she would need it one way or another. There weren’t too many people she could tell right now, which made her decision all the more difficult to make. She’s been by herself raising Leda but it was through no ones fault, their parents had simply been too busy putting their lives back together after their financial crumble. Olive sighed at the professors question, it was another insult to injury. “Not really,” she admitted. They’d met up on numerous occasions but they had yet to make anything official. “I wish I could do more with Leda, so how can it possibly be fair for a second child to go through the same upbringing?” She asked, a question that had gone through her head a dozen times already that day.

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Monty wasn't judging Olive. But he was concerned that she needed a larger support system than she currently had. "You do plenty with Leda," he said firmly. "Really, all things considered, I think you've done a wonderful job bringing her up. All right, she's a little presumptuous, but she's creative, she's ambitious, and she speaks her mind - and those are very admirable qualities. You're much too hard on yourself." Monty knew what that was like. For a long time, all he'd ever seen were his failures in raising Saveli. But though he'd made mistakes, she'd blossomed into a lovely young woman. The point was he'd tried his best. "It hasn't been easy for you," he continued. "You should be proud of yourself."

 

[Olive Layton]

Despite Olive trying to tell Leda the best parts of life in the stories she told growing up, it was hard to believe that everything really did have a positive side. Olives teen life had been incredibly hard, and telling Leda tales of what life was like in a perfect world had obviously not done her sister many favours. Looking back she wasn’t sure how she’d lied to her so easily, but at the time it was the only thing she could have done to get them through it. Monty of course, always seemed to be able to see positives in everything, and she knew he meant it. Olive smiles softly when he spoke of Ledas traits, grateful of the reminder she hadn’t completely done everything wrong, although she wouldn’t say she was proud of herself either. She sighed, realising it was pointless to continue the charade that she and her sister were also doing fine in their relationship, “Leda and I aren’t actually on speaking terms,” she admitted quietly. She knew it was partly her own fault. She told the Slytherin she would write, but Olive didn’t know what on earth she had to tell her sister. “I don’t want her to find out the mess I’m in,” Olive had spent years building up a reputation that she had her life together, and she didn’t need Leda finding out she wasn’t capable of that. As far as Olive could tell, Leda had just gotten in with her schooling and they would have to have a brief discussion over the holidays about the addition of another family member.

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Monty's brow knitted. "Olive, you have to tell her eventually," he said, though he was stating the blatantly obvious. "What are you most afraid of? Her response?"

 

[Olive Layton]

Olive shook her head, “Shes not like me. She never had our parents to look up to. I brought her up with tales of what life was like when it was at its best. I had been trying to distract her from reality after our parents lost their jobs, and encourage her to always look for the best in situations. She’s never had to face any difficulties of her own nor of anyone else’s, so I don’t know how she’d take it. I’d rather she keep believing there was still some good left in what I was doing.” She admitted, not knowing whether it was the right thing to do, but she couldn’t let her sister grow up with the effects she’d had for years after the hardships their family went through.

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Monty listened with growing sympathy. When she was finished, he said, "She isn't a child any more, you know. She'd understand, I'm sure, if you sat down and spoke to her about it. And... well. As I say, she isn't a child any more. She's going to have to face difficulties eventually. We all do. The sooner she learns how to cope with them, the better. It isn't too late for either of you to make a change." He didn't know whether this was true or not, but it felt like the right thing to say. You had to try, didn't you? Even if you thought it was hopeless. Or else what was the point?