"Hey, you okay?"
That voice sounded so familiar but she couldn't remember who it belonged to. Danielle raised her head to find a boy staring at her. He was kind of tall, had medium length hair with flipped bangs to the side and light green eyes mixed with some blue. His hair was jet black, he had a perfect tan and light pink plump lips. Under his apron he was wearing a black shirt that read "Victory" and black skinny jeans with checkered vans. Around his neck was an anchor. His left wrist was filled with a couple of rubber bracelets
"Ethan?"
He squinted at her.
"Danielle? Is that you?"
Danielle pulled off her hood revealing her dark hair that brought out her blue eyes.
"Yeah it is me."
"How have you been?"
"You know we go to the same school right?"
"I never see you around."
"What are you doing here?"
"Just working a part time job."
"How nice."
"Would you like anything?"
"Um can I just have a glass of water?"
"Sure. Oh your nose is bleeding."
Danielle put her hand over her nose covering up the blood.
"Here."
Ethan handed her a napkin and she quickly grabbed it and wiped away the blood.
"Thank you."
"I'll go get you your water."
Ethan smiled and left to the kitchen. Danielle smiled because she remembered when she first met Ethan she had gotten a nose bleed, and that was back in sixth grade and now they're Juniors. They were never close friends but there was something about Ethan that made Danielle feel all tingly inside.
"Here you go."
"Thanks."
Danielle smiled and took a sip from the glass. The café door opened and a girl walked in wearing a crop top, leggings and Jordan's on. She had perfect beach curled hair. She was wearing nerdy glasses and had the perfect dark tan. She gave a smile and walked up to Ethan and he smiled back at her.
"Hey babe." The girl said
They hugged and Ethan gave her a quick soft kiss.
"Hey, I was just thinking about you."
"Aw just thought I'd stop by." She smiled. She looked over at Danielle who looked embarrassed to be staring. "Hi."
"Oh hi there."
"Danielle this is my girlfriend Vanessa. Vanessa this is my old friend Danielle."
"Pleasure to meet you, any friend of Ethan's is a friend of mine." She looked back at Ethan. "I better go it looks like it's going to rain, see you tomorrow."
"Bye."
Vanessa smiled and left.
"Let me know if you need anything else."
Danielle smiled at Ethan and nodded her head. He returned back to the counter and a couple seconds later it began to rain. She put her head back down on the table. She felt like calling Andy. She knew he'd help her, even though she denied it to her friends, she knew Andy had a crush on her. She thought he was really cute and sweet but she never saw them being more than friends. She shook her head and glimpsed at her phone and saw that it was only six thirty, she was glad because the café closed at seven thirty and she needed a place to stay, anywhere but her house.
"Hey, mind if I join you?"
Danielle looked up to find Ethan without his apron standing next to her.
"Go ahead."
"Thanks."
"Yeah, thought I'd hang out with you until closing time I guess."
"So.....Vanessa's your girlfriend?"
"Yeah."
"She's really beautiful. Never seen her around school."
"She goes to a different high school."
"Oh I see, it's a long distance relationship."
"Yeah, we've been going out for four months now."
"Wow, great."
"Enough about me, how about you? How's life been?"
"Terrible, thanks for asking." Danielle thought to herself. "Every night I want to kill myself..."
"Okay I guess." She finally managed to say."
"I haven't seen you since eight grade."
"Yeah, I think everyone kind of separated after middle school."
"Well I'm glad we caught up."
"Same I guess."
"You still hang out with Maddison and them."
"Yeah, they're my best friends for life."
"But there's always room for more right?"
"I guess."
Danielle's foot began tapping rapidly again. She started to feel nervous again for some reason.
"You okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine."
Danielle looked at the clock on the wall, it read seven o'clock.
"Want me to walk you home?"
"No thanks."
"It's raining pretty hard outside."
"It's okay really."
"Okay, I'll see you more often in school right?"
"Sure." Danielle replied with a shy smile.
She put on her hood and they stood up. Danielle got up too quickly feeling anxious and lost her balance. Luckily she went forward and landed safely in Ethan's arms. She started breathing even harder as he gave her a warm smile. Her ice cold blue eyes met with his gorgeous warm green eyes. Danielle studied his face for a second, admiring his plump lips and smooth skin. She caught herself and stood up straight embarrassed.
"Sorry. Thanks though."
"You sure you're okay?"
Danielle looked behind Ethan and saw her mother standing there drinking a beer. She knew she couldn't really be there. She knew it was a vision, or a hallucination.
"Come on Danielle, you really think that guy would fall for you? You're ugly, worthless, a stain, a piece of trash. Your family doesn't even love you. Your father didn't, Logan could care less about you. And me? Please. Don't even get me started."
She felt her eyes get watery. She looked back at Ethan whose smile had faded. He looked worried.
"Hey. Are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine. Sorry I have to go."
Danielle quickly wiped her eyes and ran out the café. Ethan grabbed his phone from the table and saw a blood stain where Danielle's hands were crossed over. He looked back out the door and saw that she was running in the rain and the figure was soon gone.
