Ivory Hill had spent the majority of her adult life running. Throughout her twenties and the first part of her thirties it was from bombs and bullets. Now, at thirty six years old Ivory was running from something that she could never truly escape fr...
Ivory grumbled under her breath as she added more dirty cups to the industrial dishwasher. "I hate my life, I hate my life, I hate my life." She tugged the uncomfortable baseball hat off and shoved it into the pocket of her apron. It was past closing time now and Ivory highly doubted that she had to look professional for the empty tables or her coworker Mikey who had disappeared to the back room half an hour ago and hadn't come out since. Although it meant that she had twice the amount of work to get on with she wasn't going to complain about Mikey's absence, Ivory had been desperate for some time alone.
Ivory's phone chimed noisily, interrupting the peaceful silence that had fallen over the empty cafe. She pulled it from her pocket and frowned at the screen. It was a message from Norm asking if she wanted to come over for yet another sci-fi marathon. Ivory turned her phone off and put it away, picking up the broom that Mikey had abandoned by the countertop, half heartedly sweeping up a pile of muffin crumbs that had gathered on the floor.
"I can finish that." Mikey trailed back in, looking half asleep as usual.
The woman handed the broom over without complaint and picked up a damp cloth instead, struggling to wipe up a puddle of sticky syrup.
"You alright?" Mikey asked. He dropped the broom and sank down into a chair, taking his phone out.
"Yeah. I hate whoever spilled the caramel syrup though."
"That was me," Mikey admitted, not looking up from his phone.
Ivory rolled her eyes. "Clean it up when you spill it next time, I'm sick of scrubbing that shit off of the worktop every shift."
"Whatever."
Ivory tossed the cloth to one side and turned to Mikey, snatching the phone out of his hands. "Clean that mess off of the counter." She said irritably.
"Give me my phone back!"
"Clean the goddamn counter." Ivory said sharply, dropping the phone into her pocket.
"Fine, fine," Mikey grumbled, forcing himself up.
"What were you looking at that was that important anyway?"
Mikey shrugged his shoulders, brushing his hair behind his ears. "Just stuff." He muttered, scrubbing at the last sticky patch that he had left behind. "Done."
Ivory passed the mobile back. "Thanks."
Mikey nodded. "Don't do that again."
"Just do what you're supposed to, I'm fed up of having to do every job by myself."
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Ivory walked into the living room shortly after sunset, the smell of coffee from her shift still clinging to her body.
"Hey doll. How was work?" Grace asked. She tossed the book that she had been reading to one side and opened her arms.
Ivory sank down beside her girlfriend on the sofa immediately, closing her eyes and settling herself against Grace's chest. "It was okay."
Grace rubbed a thumb over Ivory's cheek. "What's wrong?"
"Hm?" Ivory didn't bother raising her head.
"You just seem... off. What's the matter?"
"Nothing. I'm just tired."
Grace sighed, wrapping an arm around Ivory's waist. "Trudy called. She wanted to know if we wanted to go over there for dinner."
Ivory was silent for a moment, considering. "I think I'm going to get an early night."
Grace nodded. "I'll call and let them know that we'll go another time."
"No. You go, don't let me stop you from having some fun. Anyway I'm sure Trudy would be grateful that Norm has someone else to dissect something science-y with for once. She'd be grateful for the break."
"You talk about Norm as if he's a child."
"You can't tell me they don't act like one sometimes." Ivory said, her mind flickering back to the time she had caught Norm making his collection of Star Trek figures talk to one another.
"Point taken." Grace pressed a kiss against Ivory's temple. "Are you sure you don't want to come with me? We don't have to stay for long if you don't want to."
"I'll be fine here. I'll probably watch a film or something with Tigger then go to bed."
"If you're sure."
"I'm sure."
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Once again Ivory had found herself slouched on the balcony, staring out at the city in silence. Grace still wasn't back so she was making the most of being able to lean over the edge of the balcony without being told that she would fall to her death. Tigger wound himself around Ivory's ankles, miaowing loudly. "Did you want to see as well?" Ivory put her cigarette down on the ledge momentarily and lifted the cat up, showing him the brightly lit buildings. She held the cat under one arm and picked her cigarette back up, inhaling deeply.
