~If you have a song suggestion, lemme know, but the videos I post are meant to match the character that's picture is shown for that chapter. The pictures won't be of the "cast" if I put a "cast". If you see a grammar or spelling mistake please tell me so I can fix it. Other than that, just tell me what you think. Thanks!~
"Hey, Lucas?" I ask quietly while staring up at the stars while laying on my back in the grass.
"Yeah, Soph?" He asks, mimicking me on the grass.
"We'll always be friends, right?" I chew my lip, tilting my head back to look at him since we were laying so our heads were against each other.
"Of course we will." He rolls on his stomach and looks at me.
"Promise?" I ask, lifting my pinkie towards him which he meets with his own.
"Promise." He smiles down at me, about to say something else.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
I open my eyes slowly and glare at my alarm clock, turning it off. I sit up slowly, stretching.
'I've been having the same dream since the day that promise was broken.' I think, scratching the back of my head and getting up.
I walk to the bathroom I share with my single dad and little brother. I shut the door, get undressed, and jump in a hot shower. I stand there till I wake up more, then get out and start putting my work uniform on.
A light green shirt with 'Ciara's Cafè and Music' written over the right breast pocket; a black skirt with a black apron over it; and black shoes. I brush my hair out, making the snarls and knots come out, then pull it into a tight ponytail. I head down to the kitchen where my dad sits reading the paper.
"Hello darling." He says without looking up.
"Hey dad. I'm heading to work." I grab a banana and walk over, kissing him on the cheek. "See you tonight." He sips his black coffee from his Tigger mug I got him for Father's Day.
"Be safe." He says as I head out munching on my banana as I unlock my old '79 Station Wagon with the wood border around it that used to belong to my mom when she was a kid, but when she left dad gave it to me.
I jump in, finishing my breakfast then tossing it in the little bag for trash I keep in my car. I start the car and back outta the drive way and start driving towards Ciara's Cafè and Music. I pull up behind the building where all employees are required to park. I get out and walk to the back entrance, going in and seeing Lucy at the register. I put my bag under the counter and grab my notepad for when I actually go table to table and take orders. I go to the front door and switch the sign from SORRY, WE'RE CLOSED to WELCOME, WE'RE OPEN.
"So Soph, how's life treating you?" Lucy asks, making small talk as I make my way back behind the counter.
"Good. You?"
"Pretty good." She says as the first customer comes in. We don't talk as we take care of business.
"Hi, how may I help you?" I ask, not looking up at the customer who steps up in front of me.
"My usual please." He says and I stiffen, looking up at the boy who's haunted my dreams since he broke our childhood promise to forever be friends. Only now, instead of being a little boy, he's now a teenage boy who filled out his long limbs and scrawny body. His hair is still that sandy brown, but shaggy now and partially covering his beautiful brown eyes. Even over the smell of strong coffee, I can smell his intoxicating smell of my childhood: the woods in summer and fall, with vanilla and some spice mixed in too. "Sophie?" He says impatiently and I snap out of it.
"Right. One double strong black coffee coming up." He puts the exact amount of cash on the counter and waits as I make his coffee. I put it on the counter, knowing he won't take it from my hand and risk touching me. I don't meet his brown eyes as I look at the next customer. "How may I help you?" I watch him walk away outta the corner of my eye.
«^-^»
Close to my break, less customers come in but I realize Lucas is still sitting at the corner table sipping his double. I ignore him, even as I clean the counter of some spilled coffee.
"Go ahead and take your break, I can handle this crowd." Lucy says and I nod. I grab my lunch and head to one of the tables, but stay clear of Lucas.
I start munching on one of the blueberry muffins we sell here, playing FLOW Free on my Droid, and ignoring the world. Someone sits beside me and I look at my best guy friend, Jared. He smiles at me and takes some of my muffin. I glare at him and he chuckles.
"Hey! That's my food!" I say to him, trying not to crack a smile.
"Well now it's in my belly." He smirks.
"Jerk!" I stick my tongue out at him.
Jared has been my best friend since Lucas decided I wasn't his friend anymore four years ago. Since then he's filled out too. His black hair passed his ears, his blue eyes bright and shiny, and his body filled out nicely. He's also a giant. But Jare is just a friend, it'd be to awkward to date him.
"You love me though."
"Not really. I just tolerate you." I snatch the rest of my muffin from him, smiling. "Especially since you steal all of my food."
"How else would you stay a bean pole?" I glare at him again, popping the rest of my muffin in my mouth.
"I could be a little bigger you know. Little meat on my bones and all that jazz."
"Yea but your so cute this small." He teases me.
"Oh shush. I gotta get back to work now, you want a coffee or perhaps your own muffin?"
"Sure." He smiles and I stand up, not meaning to, but looking over at the table Lucas had been sitting at to see he's gone. I make the coffee and grab a fresh muffin then turn around to go back to Jare when I run into someone.
"Oops! Sorry!" I say trying not to spill the coffee and looking up at familiar brown eyes. I blush and take a step back, looking up at him. "Sorry. Can I help you?" I say, stepping into the role of waitress and not ex best friend.
"A refill please." He says, and I nod.
"Yes sir, I'll be right back." I slide past him and go over to Jare and hand him his stuff. "Here Jare."
"He bothering you?"
"He just wants a refill." I say and go to walk away when he grabs my hand. "I'm fine, Jare. Plus you're here to protect me, right?" He nods and let's go as I go to refill Lucas' coffee.
"Make it to go." He says, and I nod. Getting one of the to-go cups and fill it. I take the money and put the cup on the counter for him.
«^-^»
After my shift, I get in my car and sit there for a bit. Soon though, I turn my car on and head home. Lucas was on my mind, the current one not the one that made me a promise. We were best friends since we were small, but four years ago, Lucas changed.
For the worse.
I shake the memory and get home.
I go inside and see the note from my dad saying he took my brother to the batting cages and won't be back till late. I shrug and start making an early dinner for myself. I lay down and start reading while dinner cooks. After awhile, I eat and watch TV. Then I head up to my room, leaving the door open, I lay on my bed to read.
I fall asleep before I finish a chapter.
«^-^»
"Hey, Lucas?" I ask quietly while staring up at the stars while laying on my back in the grass.
"Yea, Soph?" He asks, mimicking me on the grass.
"We'll always be friends, right?" I chew my lip, tilting my head back to look at him since we were laying so our heads were against each other.
"Of course we will." He rolls on his stomach and looks at me.
"Promise?" I ask, lifting my pinkie towards him which he meets with his own.
"Promise." He smiles down at me, about to say something else. "Who else will save you from the monsters?"
I sit up, wondering why that part was added at the end when I had forgotten he had even said that. I lay back down, closing my eyes and curling up. Lucas sorta talking to me today opened up painful memories I'd pushed down deep. I open my eyes and stare at myself in the mirror that was hanging on my wall. My green eyes stare back at me.
When I was little, I thought monsters were real. Especially after my mom left. Lucas always promised he'd keep me safe from them since he knew some secret about monsters that I didn't know. The thought of him protecting me always made me feel safe.
"Soph? Are you awake?" My dad asks after knocking on my closed bedroom door, interrupting my thoughts. I frown, unsure how my door is closed when I always leave it open. "Soph?"
"Yea, I'm awake." I get up and open the door, smiling at my dad. "When you guys get home?"
"Just a moment ago actually. Why was your door shut?"
"I dunno, I fell asleep and it was open." I frown at the door as if it would tell me why it had been closed.
"Perhaps you closed it and forgot? Looks like you changed outta your work clothes." I nodded.
"True, I probably closed it while I changed so if you or Al came upstairs neither of you would see me changing and forgot." I frown, looking at the door still. "I already ate dinner."
"I didn't even ask you yet, how do you always know what I'm gonna say?" I shrug, scratching my side. "You get that from your mom." I look at him, he never talks about mom with me. "She could always tell what I was gonna ask even before I asked." His eyes kind of got a distant look to them, and I know he was thinking of the woman who gave birth to me and that I look like.
"Really?" I ask.
"Yes. But now that I know you've ate, I'll cook for Al." I nod. "Good night Soph." He kisses my forehead and walks away, but I kept staring at the door before walking into my room again.
I sit down and let my thoughts drift.
My mom left when I was six and Albert, my little brother, was three. A few months after she left my dad got divorce papers with my mom's signature already on them. My Aunt Carole had to come watch us while dad 'went fishing' with our uncle. Course now I know Uncle Jeff took dad to a bar then let him stay at his house till he could face me and Al.
My mom, Jewel, was the love of my dad's life. She was pretty and wild, so dad used to refer to her as a wild flower among tamed daisies. I got her looks, but dad's 'tamed' personality. My natural red hair, which I dye black constantly so it's like dad's, is as dark as my mother's. And my emerald green eyes are just as deep and bright, or so says my dad. Al looks like dad but is somewhat like mom, but I keep him grounded and tamed so he doesn't decide to walk out like she did. Al is like my own since I had to help raise him, so I'd die if I lost him.
Especially after Lucas left.
"Everyone just leaves..." I whisper, curling up on my bed. "Mom, then Lucas." I sigh and stretch out so my head is over the foot of the bed and my feet rest below my pillows. "Whatever."
«^-^»
"Time for school Soph." Al says, shaking me. "Come on, I don't wanna be late again." I groan and sit up. "Dad left already and I missed the bus so you need to take me."
My brother and I both go to the local high school. Me being a Jr and him being a Freshmen. And he only ever misses the bus when dad isn't there to remind him, and since I get late arrival I'm not up to remind him either.
"Fine." I grumble and throw my blankets off. "Lemme get ready." I go in the bathroom and start brushing my teeth and hair quickly. I pull my jeans and a plaid shirt on, then grab my book bag and keys outta my room. "Grab me a banana, and let's roll!" I say, as he pops his head out with some Pop Tart crumbs on his face.
We get in my car and I start pulling out when Jare walks up the drive way. I groan and throw the car in park.
"Hey Soph, what's up Al?"
"Soph is taking me school." Al says.
"Dad gone?"
"Yup." Al over exaggerates the P.
"Miss the bus?"
"Yea he missed the bus, can we just go?" They both smile at my usual grumpy morning self. "Jare move or I'm going to run you over."
"Who'll eat all your food so you stay skinny?" I glare. "Fine, can I catch a ride?"
"Jump in, Al in the back you go."
"Damn." He mutters and I glare at him as he climbs out the front and into the back.
"What did you say?" I ask him.
"Ha! Little man got a mouth. What kind of mother hen are you to let him have such a mouth? Where'd he learn that-" Jare start.
"Shut it Jare. And you, mister," I glare at my little brother in the mirror, "no cursing!" I look back at Jare. "He learned it from you." I say trying not to smile as Al starts laughing.
"Me?" Jare tries faking innocence, but he hasn't been innocent since freshmen year when he let Polly Ginger 'pop his cherry'.
"Don't act innocent." I say, smiling as I pull out. "You taught him the language."
Jared and I were friends before Lucas changed, but afterwards Jare was my best friend who let me cry on his shoulder till I was done snotting and bawling and could breathe easily, with a little hiccuping that is. Since the day Lucas stopped being my friend, Jare has always been there for me.
"So Soph, ready for the lab in chem?" I groan, hating chemistry with a passion. "No? Shocker." I roll my eyes. Jare was a chem whiz and placed in Advanced Chemistry 101. The class is the same as the regular classes, just harder.
"Yeah, yeah." I mumble.
"So, Al my man! What's up with that girl? Mindy right?" I nearly choke on my banana and slam the brakes, but just stare at Al in the mirror.
"Shut up!" Al blushes.
"Who's Mindy?" I ask slyly after I stop staring. I see Jare's smirk outta the corner of my eye.
"A girl." Al crosses his arms and fires daggers from his eyes at the back of Jare's head. "Drop it."
"Al-" I start.
"Drop it, Soph." He mumbles as I pull in the parking lot. I decide to ask Jare bout it later.
«^-^»
I walk into my ninth period chem class, hating every moment. I sit at my usual seat, waiting for class to start to go over to the Chem Lab. Like usual, I know when Lucas walks in since all the girls sigh in content. I roll my eyes and read my book, waiting for my Mr. Douglass to come and start the lab.
"Okay class, today we start our week long lab." He says, looking down at his clip bored. "Now, let's see who all will be partnered. Kelly and Penny. Ally and Keith. Nicole and Gina. Abbey and Johnny. Sophie and Lucas." My eyes widen, and I slowly turn and look at my lab partner to see that he's staring straight at me. I gulp, slightly afraid for some reason. He stares at me, then I turn back around and look at Mr. Douglass. "Okay," he says after announcing all twelve groups of two and the one group of three, "let's head to the lab and get started."
We all stand up, taking our stuff to take with us over to the lab. Lucas waits till I walk past him before he starts heading towards the lab.
"Just like old times, huh Sophie?" He says, his mouth somehow right beside my ear even though he towers over me by a foot.
This lab was going to be fun.
~Picture is Sophie~
*Video is dedicated to Sophie*