Bloody Souvenirs

Chapter 16

Throwing my hair up in a ponytail, I grabbed my phone and went downstairs, with absolutely no intentions of talking to Matt. I couldn't, not after what happened last night. I needed some time away from him to clear my head. Otherwise, I was sure I'd say something to him I'd regret. I just wanted to leave for work without seeing his face.

Unfortunately, there he was, sitting at the breakfast table with two plates of scrambled eggs. When he saw me, he gave a weak smile which I didn't return.

"Good morning." he said. When I didn't reply, his face fell a little. But he gestured towards the plates and said, "I made us breakfast."

"No thanks." I said tersely, even though my stomach was growling. As I poured myself some orange juice from the carton, I heard him sigh behind me.

"Kat," he began, "Listen, I'm sorry. I really am."

But he was met with silence from my end. I hated giving him the cold shoulder. In my opinion, giving someone the cold shoulder was the worst you could do. But I was afraid if I spoke, the consequences would be even worse.

Matt sighed again, "Kat, at least talk to m-"

"Save it." I said emotionlessly. And without another word, I made my way towards the door and without a second glance back, left for work, ignoring Matt's calls for me.

.............................

"One caramel frappe coming right up!" I said as I placed a customer's order on his table.

I went back into the kitchen to pick up more orders, only to be stopped by Sara at the door. She looked me in the eye, "Spill."

I raised a brow, "Spill what?"

She rolled her eyes, "You know what."

I groaned. "Sara, I really have no idea what you're talking about." I said as I sidestepped her to go into the kitchen, "Now get out of the way. Customers are waiting."

She ran to catch up with me and grabbed my wrist, turning me around. I huffed, retracting my wrist from her grasp. She looked at my hand then back at me, "What crawled up your pants today?"

I bit my lip, suddenly feeling guilty for behaving like that. I sighed, "I'm sorry. It's just that....I've got a lot on my mind."

"See, that's exactly what I was talking about." she said, "What's bothering you? You seem a bit....off lately."

So I did what she said: spill everything. When I was finished, Sara put a hand on my shoulder, "Katelyn, know this, you're not crazy. And Matt's an asshole for thinking otherwise."

I smiled half-heartedly at her, "Thank you."

She smiled back at me, "And I-"

"Sara!" Zac cut off whatever she was about to say, suddenly appearing into the kitchen from the pantry, "There you are."

Sara rolled her eyes, "Yes, apparently."

"We need to talk." he said gravely, his eyes darting between Sara and me.

"Right now?" Sara asked, her voice tinged with annoyance.

"Yes, right now." Zac replied before grabbing Sara's hand and pulling her after him, out of my sight.

"I wonder what that's all about." I muttered to myself.

I picked up a couple more trays and went outside, hoping I wouldn't have a pissed off customer waiting to yell at me because I had him waiting for 15 extra minutes.

But instead, my eyes met with Jax sitting at a table. He waved when he saw me. I smiled back at him and after dropping off the orders I had at hand, trotted up to his table.