Home > Unwritten(7)

Unwritten(7)
Author: Alex Rosa

Yup, I’m out of whack. It’s official.

“I just… don’t know what to do with myself. When will things feel normal?” I want to spit out NEVER in answer to my own question, but CeeCee beats me to the punch line.

“How about I put you to work?” she chides with a little swing to her shoulders, trying to be funny, but she’s brilliant.

My eyes light up.

“I was kidding, Hailey. I’m not going to put you to work. Stop it. Just stop.”

“What? Why? It’s a genius idea. Has the menu changed much?”

CeeCee rubs her temples while fighting a bout of laughter. “Just the daily specials. You can’t be serious, though? You need more time to chill out.”

“You’re wrong. I need something to do. It’ll be just like high school when I helped Mom,” I plead. “I was an excellent waitress then, and I was not above waiting tables in LA”

She looks up from her hands. “You waited tables in LA?”

Her shock is a bit disappointing. “Yeah, it was during my dark ages.”

No one knows what my existence was like the first few years after I left. I survived on ramen noodles and the McDonald’s dollar menu while I lived as a starving artist, harnessing my craft, a.k.a., writing a romance novel I didn’t quite understand.

She rolls her eyes. “Are you sure you don’t want to learn the business side first? I can start with the books. That’s the part that you should probably know anyway.”

I shake my head. “No, CeeCee. I want to get back to my roots here. I’m going nuts. I don’t know who I am. I need to wait tables. I need to feel normal.”

She grumbles as she gets up from the booth. I follow as she walks toward the kitchen. “Fine, but know this is not me agreeing. This is me pandering to your pathetic eyes. I can’t say no. Let me get you an apron. The lunchtime rush will start in twenty minutes. Grab a menu and refresh your memory.”

I leap up and fist-pump the air before snatching a menu from the counter.

“Good God, Hailey. Calm your ass down.”

“I’m just excited to feel useful.”

A mint-green apron swiftly hits my face.

 

 

Familiar faces come in. In a way, I think I prefer seeing old friends this way. Having to tend to their food requests gives me easy escape routes: “Nice seeing you, but I have to check on that table. Be right back,” or “Let me go make sure we still have that pie…” However, it also allows me to confront my demons bit by bit. The kind hellos and chitchat in short spurts are nicer than I thought they’d be. Most everyone who recognizes me seems happy to have me back, and every person I greet has the same sincere resolve, which lifts my heart just a smidge.

No one seems mad at me or resentful like I expected.

For once, hearing about my mom and our hereditary similarities from people who have known us most of our lives doesn’t sting. They give me the sense of home I’d hoped to find. It’s not a complete transition, but it’s a starting point.

Though, there was one crabby moment when Mr. Reynolds, my old math teacher from high school, grumbled about me moving to a trashy city like Los Angeles. But his wife leveled it out with how proud they both are of me, and how my parents would feel the same.

Honestly, if I could be so bold, this lunch shift has shown me more love than I’ve felt in the five years I’ve been gone. These folks don’t force sincerity, and each passing conversation is filled with natural kindness. And just like that, I start to get my sea legs back.

That is, until I hear Brandon’s truck pull up. The loud rumble rattles the windows before the truck turns off.

I drop my stare to the counter. CeeCee’s next to me. Damn it, and the afternoon was going so well. Her cheeks turn pink. “Uh, the boys get lunch here almost every day. Did I forget to mention that?” she chirps too happily.

My mouth opens, but no sound comes out.

“Including Caiden.”

My mouth slams shut.

“Stop glaring at me like that.”

“I told you earlier, I’m terrified to see him!”

“You also told me you weren’t going to shy away from him.”

The doors to the diner jingle open. I hold my breath. There’s no avoiding this.

“Baby Bird! Look at you, the working girl! Didn’t think you had it in you anymore.”

I heave in a leveling breath as I turn around, looking everywhere but at Brandon.

I look for a set of burning green eyes, but find none. Though, all the gazes that collide with mine are heartwarmingly familiar, now set into older, boyish men. Shakespeare wasn’t kidding when he said that the eyes are the windows to the soul: all of them are instantly recognizable because of this feature alone. Deep blue orbs barrel toward me, accompanied by a shit-eating grin. I barely get his name out of my mouth before I’m encased in a bear hug.

“Cameron!” I squeal as he lifts me off the ground, twirling me once before letting my Chucks land on the linoleum.

“Hailey Elwood. You fuckin’ sneak! Thinking you could fly under the radar!”

Cameron is only slightly shorter and less bulky than Brandon, but his thick shoulders don’t go unnoticed as I give him the once-over, finding that his stark blond hair has always been his trademark feature. His arms are flawlessly clean of ink, but instead, I find a hint of some peeking beyond his collar. I’m more than curious to see what permanently marks my friends’ bodies and why. My mind flies to Caiden again, but I shake my head, ridding it of the thought as quickly as it came.

“I’m no sneak!” I retort.

“Look at the fresh meat that hit town,” growls another person in the back.

I leap up on my tiptoes to see Tyler weave his way between Brandon and Cameron. His burnished brown hair blazes brightly with his hazelnut eyes.

“Holy shit,” escapes me. “All my best boys at once!”

I throw my arms around Tyler, who is just as tall as Brandon, if not taller. His long arms peek out from his navy blue fireman shirt, covered in the ink that Brandon talked about. He may be on the leaner side in comparison to Cameron, but his grip is just as tight.

“And who are you calling fresh meat!” I shout.

Brandon lets out a low whistle. “Without Caiden around, aren’t we allowed to talk about how tomboy Hailey turned into a smokin’ hot piece of—OW!”

CeeCee appears next to him, her fist colliding with his upper arm. “You will not finish that sentence! At the station, go ahead and act like Neanderthals, but not here. Get some manners!”

Brandon rubs at his arm as he fights off a chuckle. “Damn it, Cee. No need for violence.”

She turns to me and winks. “Boys, Hailey will seat you.”

I never let the boys manhandle me when we were kids, and even if I did, CeeCee was always there to level the playing field. It’s good to know that that hasn’t changed either.

“Quit it with that smile,” Brandon says, eyeing me.

“What smile?” I grab three menus and head to a booth.

“You know,” he hums. “Don’t think I didn’t notice your mini-freak-out when we came in.”

Cameron appears at my side as we stroll down the aisle. He places a heavy arm around my shoulders. “Ya know, Hails, it takes a lot to scare Caiden nowadays. Who knew it comes in the form of your pretty little package?”

Hot Books
» House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1)
» A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire
» From Blood and Ash (Blood And Ash #1)
» A Million Kisses in Your Lifetime
» Deviant King (Royal Elite #1)
» Den of Vipers
» House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2)
» The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #
» Sweet Temptation
» The Sweetest Oblivion (Made #1)
» Chasing Cassandra (The Ravenels #6)
» Wreck & Ruin
» Steel Princess (Royal Elite #2)
» Twisted Hate (Twisted #3)
» The Play (Briar U Book 3)