Red

Dancing Diner

no no no "no!" I shot up so I was sitting in a pure panic, looking around frantically. My heavy breathing started to calm down as I scanned my surroundings finding my neatly organised book stand, the cream wardrobe with no clothes hanging out, my spotless cream carpet and my dressing table. I closed my eyes inhaling slowly and letting out a relieved sigh. It was just a nightmare...The most realistic nightmare I've ever had. it was like I was feeling everything that was happening. The terror, the weakness in my legs, the pain...The life draining from my body. I glanced at my clock and groaned at the sight, guess I'm getting ready for college.

I walked over to my wardrobe and shoved a grey hoodie and black leggings on. I felt like being comfortable and my lack of sleep made me too tired to even bother trying so I put my hair in a bun and made my way downstairs.

"good morning" I greeted my mum with a tired smile as I entered the kitchen. "morning dear, you look exhausted, did you sleep well?" I opened my mouth about to respond but I was cut off by a buzz coming from my mum's phone. Her eyebrows pulled together as her face turned into frown "oh honey, no busses are running today, you're going to have to walk today" this is just what I needed. My luck is just terrible today. "Has dad left already?" I asked noticing his absence "yes, work called and asked him to go in early, it was some sort of emergency" my mouth turned into an 'O' shape. "Guess I'll head out then" I walked over to my mum and gave her a light kiss on the cheek before leaving the house.

On my walk to college, I felt a buzz in my pocket. I pulled out my phone to see a message from spencer. My heat jumped slightly with glee before even reading the text. Calming down from my excitement I focused my attention onto what she had said.

Spencer: Hey blondie

Blondie: Hey :)

Spencer: you okay?

Blondie: nope. busses aren't running so I'm walking to college

Spencer: well we can't have that. Where are you? I'll give you a ride

My heart did another flip at her offer. I sent the location of the shop I had stopped outside and decided to sit on the green bench just in front of the building. While I waited anxiously for Spencer to get here, I decided to message Tara.

Ady <3 : you'll never guess what's happening rn

Tara :) : WHAT!?!?

Ady <3 : I'm about to get a lift off Spencer!

Tara :) : NO WAY! How did this happen? You better tell me everything that happens :)))

Ady <3 : nothing's going to happen haha

A beep snatched me out of concentration on my phone causing my head to look up and see a black Mercedes. The window rolled down and Spencer's face appeared "Somebody need a ride?" she said in a playful manner, a smirk painted on her stunning, pale face. I skipped over to her car and sat down while my heart pounded so loud I fear she would hear it. The car began to move and I broke the silence "Thank you for picking me up" throwing a nervous smile at Spencer. She briefly looked at me before returning her eyes to the road "no problem, you look cute today" those words caused a blush to colour my cheeks and I reverted my eyes to the window while my brain tried to come up with something else to say. The piercing silence lingered, my hands found themselves anxiously playing with each other, in the corner of my eye I saw Spencer glance over again. "Don't be nervous, you're safe with me" her soft tone calmed me down slightly. I looked back out the window, my eyebrows furrowed "we just went passed the college, what are you doing?" I turned to look at the side of her face and of course she was smirking once again. "Don't worry your pretty head" my eyes rolled and I started panicking. "We cannot skip, we'll get into trouble! My parents will literally kill me!" Spencer laughed lightly and placed her hand on my thigh, butterflies fluttered in my stomach. "calm down, I promise they won't know and we're gonna have some fun" I leaned back into my seat and covered my face with my hands followed by a groan. I brought my hands to my thighs and sighed, calming down. "Fine, where are we even going" I keep saying I want to break free from this picture perfect image that has been drilled into me and this is just a small step. I deserve this. I deserve to feel like a normal 19 year old and have some fun. "You'll see blondie" although there was a smile on her face, her eyes still seemed so deep. There seemed to be no way of reading them, like they're an endless cave and all her emotions had been thrown in.

The rest of the journey was filled with small talk and listening to the radio. "we are here!" Spencer said excitedly, we pulled up next to a café with a neon pink sign that read 'Dancing Diner'. She turned to me with a grin "are you ready?" her excitement rubbed off on me and I couldn't help but nod with a big smile. We made our way into the retro diner and my eyes widened as I took in my surroundings. The floor had a black and white checkered pattern like a chess board, each pink painted wall had neon signs, one shaped like a coffee cup, one shaped like music notes and the other had an inspirational quote. The booths had black leather seats with pink glittered tables. In the corner there was a jukebox. "This place is amazing!" Spencer smiled and raised her eyebrows "I told you we were going to have fun"

She guided me over to a booth with one hand placed lightly on my lower back and it sent a chill down my spine. We sat down and I picked up a menu to see what I wanted. However, it was snatched from my hands. "We don't need this, I know exactly wat we're going to have!" I sat back and rolled my eyes playfully. Before I could continue to talk, a young, brunette waitress in a knee length yellow tea dress with a white apron approached the table with a notepad and pen at the ready. "Hello Spencer didn't expect to see you so soon" it was hard to ignore the worried tone in the last part of her sentence, I brushed it off, I'm probably overthinking...I do that a lot. I even ignored the way her eyes switched from Spencer to me with concern. Spencer didn't seem phased which calmed my thoughts down. I'm just being paranoid, the fact I'm skipping college with a really attractive girl is messing with my brain. "Hey Kelly, can we have the blood cherry milkshake with a side of loaded fries?" Kelly began writing the order down and sighed "of course, coming right up" she gave us a fake smile and walked away. My eyebrows pulled together as I tried to make sense of her manner, Spencer seemed to notice because I felt her cold hand on top of my own. "She's always like that, don't think the woman likes her job very much" her reassuring words calmed down my anxiety and I decided to let the weird encounter slide.

The waitress who was acting weird came back to the table with our order. "Enjoy" we thanked her and once again she walked away. I took a sip of the red milkshake that had whipped cream and a cherry on top. "You didn't order yourself anything?" due to the concentration on the waitress, I didn't even click in that she had only ordered for me. There was a tiny speck of panic in her eyes for a split second, if you blinked you could easily miss it. "I wasn't hungry" her confident demeanour showed again as she adjusted her position so she was leaned back with one arm resting on the back of the bench. "So why did you decide to bring me here if you're not hungry?" she looked around and gestured to the diner "I had a feeling you'd like it plus I know the staff so we get free stuff" thinking nothing of it, I grabbed a chip and started eating.

Spencer looked over to the waitress that served us and she signalled her over with a serious expression on her face. "I'll be back in a minute" without letting me respond, she left the table and disappeared round a corner with the waitress. I was left with an unsettled, confused feeling as I had no idea what was going on. Whatever it was, it was none of my business...I couldn't stop the worry that was settling into my mind.

It had been about ten minutes before she remerged from the corner and sat back down. "What was that about?" I attempted a calm, unbothered tone in my voice and it must have worked because she replied back with a smile and quietly said "nothing" but I wasn't satisfied with her answer. "It didn't look like nothing" the mood changed when Spencer slammed her hand on the table causing a loud bang that made everyone in the diner look over at us. "Can you just drop it! I said it was nothing!" taken back by her outburst I reverted my eyes to my lap and I started playing with my fingers again. A look of guilt washed over her face "look I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell" her tone was soft and filled with regret. "It's fine, can we go back now? Think I'm done now" I avoided eye contact as my words came out timid. "Yeah, yeah of course"

The car ride back to college was silent. Deadly silent. Heavy emotions filled the air and made it nearly unbearable to breathe in. We pulled up outside the college but neither of us moved from our place like we were frozen in place. The silence was broke by a sigh "I am sorry" I looked at her and saw she was sincere. "It's okay, shall we go in?" she smiled at me and placed her hand on my thigh again "you go. I've got some things to do" and with that I left the car while exchanging quick 'goodbyes' and I made my way to the college.

I caught sight of Tara exiting a classroom and her eyes widened, smiling ear to ear. She ran over to me and embraced me with a tight hug. "Where have you been and tell me everything!" while walking to the cafeteria, linked, I told her everything and tried to unravel all the weird stuff that happened with Spencer.

Thanks so much for reading

sophie x