Whose Fault? (Editing)

Chapter Two ✔

"Mhm. Only Physics and Economics though."

"He bothering you again?" I hesitated for a split second, thinking back to the times he had messed with and freaked me out in class and the few times he had been with friends or family at work. I told him no, hoping he wouldn't notice my delay in response, but I wasn't so lucky. "Wren. Don't lie to me."

"It's nothing I can't handle. The worst thing he's done is mess with me a little during class and get frustrated with me when I didn't respond right away about wanting to be partners for class."

It was quiet for a minute or so before, "okay. Promise me you'll let me know the second you get too uncomfortable with him."

"I promise," I told him with my fingers crossed. Max had enough to worry about with finishing up school and figuring out what he was going to do after he graduated. Plus, he had his own life he needed to live. I never wanted to let my issues get in the way of that. Unfortunately, it had happened a few times before and I always felt terrible that I was taking him away from his busy schedule. I wasn't going to let that happen again.

"Good. Now tell me how you've really been."

"Today was a struggle, I had to force myself to do everything. And I mean give myself little rewards for doing one simple step in a task. I met up with Eli before going to work and we worked on our project a bit, but I really wanted to cancel on him and call out of work to lay in bed all day. It's like it always is, Maxie. I can't stop it." I informed him.

Max was like the big brother everyone wishes they could have growing up. He was protective, caring, and determined to help in any way he could, even if it was at a distance. He really did know just about everything about me, even more than Chloe. He was way better at handling it.

"You are doing great, Wren. Really. I know it doesn't seem like it, but the fact that you are able to do these things—to go to work and take six classes—it's incredible. You know I'm always here to listen, right? Even though I can't be there, I'm always here for you." He told me, worry taking over his voice towards the end, like he thought I didn't know that he would make time for me.

"Of course I do!"

I heard him let out a sigh of relief, then he cut our conversation short, as always. "Great! I really have to finish editing this paper. I promise I won't let us go so long without talking again."

"Alright. Goodnight Max."

"Night Wren. Get some sleep, okay?"

"I'll try." With that, we said our goodbyes and hung up. Afterwards, I did exactly as promised and tried to get some sleep. But like I told Max, I had no control over it; the negative thoughts and feelings never really stopped or went away. Maybe they just took a back seat while I tried to juggle with the events of everyday life. They always come back around. Haunting me when I was alone and stuck with my head as my only friend.

The next morning was extremely similar to most. The alarm went off and I told myself that I had plenty of time to get ready for my day and lay in bed most of the morning. Then I continued to talk myself into procrastinating getting ready until I had no time to shower or even wash my hair. All I had time to do before leaving was putting on my outfit for work.

My work uniform, if you could call it that, was a pair of jeans or black pants that weren't supposed to be leggings, and a red, grey, or black top the company provided with the name of the restaurant and a small logo on it. In order to avoid breaking the no leggings rule, I put on a pair of black jeggings and one of my grey tops, then made my way.

When I arrived, it didn't take long for me to realize that my work day was not going to be good. Two of the servers called out for the night shift and one just no called-no showed for the day. This left us with four servers and our sections were all messed up. The idea of having my whole section alone was enough to freak me out on a busy day, anymore than that was really stressful. I knew I could do it because I had before, but the fact that for both shifts, I'd have additional tables was not a good indicator for the day I was about to have.