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I hope you like the new chapters, guys! Enjoy!🤍
"Life has got all those twists and turns. You've got to hold on tight and off you go." —Nicole Kidman
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Chapter 21
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"Good morning, sweetheart," Celeste greeted me as soon as I walked in.
I smiled once I felt her plant a kiss onto my cheek. "Morning, Celeste."
"Sleep good?" Shay asked from somewhere in the kitchen. Then, she appeared next to me, immediately helping me finish my apron.
I raised my arms so she could finish tying my if. "Yes, did you?"
She nodded, before kissing my other cheek and walking back to Griff. I smiled in awe once he wrapped two large arms around Shay's waist, hugging her to his body.
"Why are you so happy today?" Celeste asked me, a knowing grin on her face.
I shrugged it off even though she was right. I felt beyond happy from the moment I woke up. I wondered if it had anything to do with that damn guy.
I avoided the curious eyes by wiping down a counter."Can I not just be happy?"
Since I arrived at the diner early, the only people that were here were Celeste, Shay, and Griff. The other employees were scheduled to arrive later, right along with the customers.
Ryland hadn't spoken to me this morning. At first, I thought he was playing a joke, but when he began to have a full blown conversation with dad after I asked for syrup, then I knew what he was up to. He held anger at me for something I had no control over, and I tried apologizing to him, but it seemed to go through one ear then out the other. So, I was going to let him spew and turn in his anger until he realized he was being ridiculous.
"We just love to see that pretty smile of yours again," Shay said from beside me. I could hear the smile in her voice.
Griff leaned against the counter I just wiped, his fingers combing through his beard. "Mhm, let me guess! It's something related to that boy," he commented.
"Huh? What boy?" I asked with an unknowing tone. "No idea what you guys are talking about." Of course I did. I would be thinking about him all day, even after our hangout.
"Oh, you know exactly what we're talking about!" Celeste exclaimed. I had to step a few steps away to salvage my hearing.
"I have no idea. " Though, by my reddened checks, they knew that I knew. I had to get out of here.
"The guy who you will have my godchildren with!" Shay gushed.
"Your godchildren? They rightfully belong to me," Celeste argued, her brown eyebrows scrunching close to one another's in a preheated argument.
Shay's eyes grew to an intimidating size as she shook her head at Celeste. "Absolutely not. I would hate for my babies to end up in a mad woman's arms."
"Shay!" I scolded the grinning woman. These people were adamant.
"I love you too, beautiful," she said with a chuckle before kissing my hot cheek again.
I wanted to groan in frustration. They weren't helping with my tangled thoughts at all. Why were they even conversing about something that would never happen? Kade and I were just friends, if even that. Right?
All of our heads turned up when the golden bell chimed. The bell rung out through the diner. It was strange to see anyone in the diner at this early time.
A very handsome guy, along with a girl dressed in all black, walked into the diner.
The girl was dark in her attire. To her black chin-length hair to the pale faced makeup that seemed to suit the kohl-rimmed grass-green eyes. It looked as if she were a model taken from a Hollywood movie, merged into black clothing, then formed into the pulchritudinous girl she was right here.
The guy, standing parallel to her, stood over six feet, if I could guess. He had a head full of black hair, a chiseled jaw that was cleanly shaved, and a pair of green eyes that matched the girls next to him. His arms were perfectly sculpted, but not enough to belong in a wrestling match. Just enough to make a girl drool.
"Uh—yeah hi, are you guys open?" a low voice asked me.
My mouth, and brain lost all knowledge of communication. I didn't even realize they were in front of me after all of my eye goggling.
There was nothing more that I hated than meeting new people. I tended to get all sweaty, shaky, or stutter-mouthed. Or, all of the above. I sucked at people, and it was something I had long accepted.
Celeste placed a hand to the middle of my back. She flashed a reassuring smile my way before stepping up.
"Yes, we are open! Can we get you guys something?" she asked the both of them with a warm smile.
The guy lit up at her words, and he pulled the girl next to him along by her hand.
"We're both new to town," the boy told her. "We heard from our grandma that this was a good place."
The girl, who was fairly quiet, plopped down onto a red stool. Since she was closer, I could clearly see the black tank top she was wearing underneath the dark leather jacket. Before she sat down, I caught a look of her dark jeans that hugged her curves, as well. Honestly, I felt as if she could pull anything off.
I looked between the both of them, to see that they looked fairly alike. The paleness of their skin, and their jet black hair were too similar.
The boy was sporting a skin tight grey shirt, which stretched across the muscles of his chest, and a pair of loose grey shorts.
"They look around your age; speak to them."
I turned around, my eyes bulging out my head. "Celeste—"
She squinted her eyes, sending a silent threat my way. I knew that look better than I knew myself.
"Fine," I whisper-yelled.
My heart made a wrong turn, and began to pound too hard in my chest. My tongue felt twisted in of my mouth, and I knew that if I spoke, my words would come out in a mess.
"Hey," I barely whispered to them.
"Hey." The boy, who seemed eager to meet me, offered his hand. "I'm Jax, it's nice to meet you..." he trailed off.
I can do this. "Kimberly Wrighton."
"You don't have to be so shy," His teasing bickered a small smile to my face. "I know I'm hot and all, but no need to be scared."
The girl spoke up for the first time, accompanying it with a smack to his leg, "Oh, shut up, Jax."
While he rubbed his leg, the girl offered a hand, which I took.
"I am so sorry about my arrogant ass of a twin, but I'm Maggie," she told me with a curt glance at her brother. "It's cool to meet you."
While we shook hands, I could see her considering something over before she sighed.
"Okay, you know what?" Rolling her eyes. her sharp green eyes shit up to me, "Scratch sweet introductions. You seem chill. We're chill. Do you wanna be our friends?"
Whoa, she was brave. Personally, I would have thrown up.
To keep my hands busy, I pretended to clean the counter with my rag. "You guys probably don't want to be friends with me." The cloth I had been holding was already damp with water, yet my sweat seemed to soak the rag. "I'm not particularly the popular type."
"Hey, we're not either, but who made the 'cool kids' cool, anyway?" she scoffed, and the girl talked sense. I liked that. "Dumb shits, that's who."
I gazed into her green eyes, trying to make a decision before they changed their minds. They were new, and everyone needed some new friends. Including myself.
My sigh was light in order to lift the heavy weight on my chest. "We're friends, then." I hoped I didn't run them off.
"Great!" Jax clapped, a grin on his face. "Now that that's finished, I'm starving." Jax's outburst caused a laugh to escape my lips. "What do you guys serve here?"
I reached underneath the damp counter to get the two menus. I slid them over, and the two immediately caught them.
I felt awkward in the midst of silence. Talking was something that I had began to work on, especially being around Raven. It was more of a demand than a request with her, but it helped me. It would definitely take a minute or two to get comfortable around Jax and Maggie, but they already seemed like cool people.
"Okay, could we have one of your bacon burgers and fries in a to-go box? And, me and my ugly sister here would like two of your BLT's please, but make sure you leave out the bacon." Jax grinned at me, revealing two fresh rows of white teeth. "God knows she doesn't need the calories."
Maggie's eyes widened, and her head snapped up at him. "Jax, one more insult, and I'm slitting your throat, cutting your body into pieces, and leaving the remains in your own bedroom until granny finds you."
Jax groaned. "Fine, fine." An eye roll followed. "A country fried steak, with a order of mashed potatoes and gravy for her."
Maggie ruffled up his black hair with a purposeful smack to the back of his head. "It's all out of love, dear bastard brother."
"If I'm a bastard, that means you're a bastard too, you know."
"Says who?"
"Says—"
The laughter jumped out my throat at their arguing. Though they pretended to hate each other, it seemed that they were as close as close could be.
I wrote their order down, before walking into the back. I could hear the continuous arguing behind me as I gave the order to Griff. I raised an eyebrow when I saw Celeste and Shay at their stations.
Griff began on the order, causing my confusion to grow, "No snooping today?"
Celeste's peachy cheeks perked into a smile. "We snoop when the boy is here, baby."
I rolled my eyes despite the silly grin on my face.
"Are you guys gettin' along?" Griff asked me, preparing the mashed potatoes.
I nodded, and sent a glare toward Celeste. "Thanks to her."
She patted my cheek, smiling, "You'll thank me later, beautiful." She was right about talking to them, but I wouldn't let her know that yet.
Shay's concentration remained on the tomato in front of her as she spoke to me. "Go back out there, and talk to them some more. You might meet your new best friends."
I wanted to argue, but I had a feeling that she was right again. I became friends with Raven, because I took a chance. And, if I wanted to make more friends, then I had to interact.
I sucked in a tight breath, and finally released it as I walked through the kitchen doors. Here goes nothing.
What could go wrong?
Just as I began on that very answer, I started. "Hey—"
My words were cut off when I saw that Maggie had her brother in a tight headlock.
"Uh..." I stepped back in caution. "Am I interrupting something?"
Once Maggie heard my voice, she released Jax from the hold with a shove. "Oh, hi Kimberly."
Jax clenched his throat in one hand, his eyes widened. I wanted to laugh at the sight of a big guy like him, hurt by a small girl like Maggie.
"The bitch choked me because I called dibs on Chris Evans," Jax said, still wheezing. His face had gone a little red, and his words matched the fire, "Shit."
I began to laugh, until I realized—
"You're..." I trailed off, unsure of how to finish.
He smiled at me, his confidence not wavering. "Into guys?"
"Don't let him fool you. Man's a whore." Maggie rolled her eyes, despite her chuckle. "I swear to you, I see him every single weekend, on the corner with his legs wide open."
Jax raised his hands in surrender. "You call it a whore. I call it simply keeping my options open and accepting donations for my talents if offered"
I giggled at him, and pulled out a chair. I got on top of it, running a hand through my hair.
Jax studied me, and leaned closer, a flirtatious smile growing on his face. "I'd turn straight for you though."
Oh. Strands fell over my face to hide my blush as I chuckled. I knew he was joking, but his words still had me flustered.
"Don't let him bother you," Maggie advised. "I learned to block him out. Hard, but not impossible. I'll teach you, too."
I smiled at her. "Thank you." To keep the conversation going, I decided to ask, "So, when did you guys move here?"
Jax was the first to answer, "A week ago. We came from Kansas, but our grandmother decided that we should get comfortable before we start hell—I mean school."
I nodded with a chuckle. He was more than right with the first option. "If you two don't mind me asking, why'd you leave?" I didn't want to push the buttons too far, but my curiosity got the best of me, it seemed.
Jax's large hand went to rub the back of his neck, and his cheeks were soon noticeably flushed. "Uh..."
Maggie's thumb motioned toward her brother, the other hand drumming across the counter. "This one here had a temper."
"I have no idea what she's talking about," he began to argue. "I didn't."
Maggie snorted. "Tell it to those guys who are still in the hospital."
I tilted my head. "The hospital?"
Jax shrugged, bumping shoulders with his sister. "No one messes with this shithead of mine, but me."
She caught on to his soft attitude. "Aww." Grinning, she wrapped her arms around him. "I knew you loved me."
Jax shrugged her off, though a grin danced across his lips. "Okay, germs! Back the hell off me, bitch."
I smiled at their banter. I had laughed so many times, I was sure my throat would become raw from it before the day was over.
"A BLT, a bacon cheeseburger, and a country fried steak," Shay appeared from my left with their order.
They smiled, then thanked her before digging in despite asking for the orders to go. I may have read to deeply into it, but I think they liked me too.
Maggie rolled her eyes once she saw her brother wipe his mouth. "Jax, quit acting like you have manners just because we're in the company of our new friend."
I laughed at that. "I won't judge, I promise."
That was all the encouragement he needed.
By the end of their breakfast, he had demolished his food too quick for me to keep notice. We all continued to talk, and turns out, we actually had a few things in common.
Maggie was as sarcastic as can be, which I found funny. She also claimed to be a Netflix addict—or as she called it 'Netlfix Junkie'—so I figured that her and Raven would get along. She mentioned her love for vehicles, though she said she only did this as a side hobby. But, by the twinkle in her eyes, I knew that she loved the idea more than she let on. She had also been into cheerleading, which surprised me due to her aesthetic. Though, if that was what she wanted to do, then I wouldn't doubt her.
Jax, though. He was hilarious, and a complete joker. He was entwined toward soccer, along with horror movies. It seemed that he was interested in joining the soccer team here, and Maggie had told me that it was all he talked about.
From what I learned, their father and mother abandoned them at the age of ten, and left them at their grandmother's doorstep. They both seemed to be close to their grandma, which I found that adorable. I didn't know if they actually liked me or not, but I had a good feeling about them. They seemed like a pair of fun people, and I hoped that Raven would think the same.
"Granny texted me, she wants us to get home so we start The Fosters, and you know how she gets about her dramas," Maggie said to her brother, shoving her phone back into a pocket.
Their grandmother sounds amazing.
Jax stood up. "Well, it was a nice time, Kimberly." I stifled a laugh as he winked at me. "I hope to be seeing this beautiful face of yours soon."
"We'll be starting school on Monday," Maggie said, smiling at me. "We'll keep a lookout for you."
I smiled in return. "Okay, great. I'll try to find you first thing in the morning."
"Yeah, if this asshole wakes up on time." She jerked a thumb at her brother, who was dusting the breadcrumbs off his shirt.
He grinned, and yanked strands of her hair playfully. "How could I sleep when there's a witch probably performing her crazy spells on me?" She scowled at him, and swept her black hair behind her ear. They both waved goodbye to me before leaving the diner.
My smile still lingered long after they left. I couldn't believe it.
I bit my lip to disguise a smile. I had made friends. Two of them, in one day.
"I'm making some progress," I muttered to myself, before standing as another customer walked into the diner.