'Nothing is going on,' I told Christine, as I instantly made way for the door.
'Why is Mason back on the scene?' she asked, following me down the passageway.
'He's not back on the scene,' I sighed. 'We just made up - as friends!'
'Oh, is that the story?' she scoffed.
'I'm serious,' I said, as I climbed one step and turned back to her. 'I'm in no place to be starting up anything with anyone, including Mason, and it's actually kind of insulting for you to suggest I could just move on so quickly and easily.'
'Okay,' she said, nodding at me. 'My apologies. You know how I worry.'
'Mason is being nice and he knows what I'm going through,' I told her. 'He's actually the one who got me the place on my apprenticeship and he's offering to help tutor me.'
'I think it's very obvious that Mason has high hopes for something more,' she said. 'Don't lead him on. Make it clear where he stands.'
'I think I already have,' I said. 'Anyway, I have to study.'
I turned and headed upstairs to my room, taking a seat at my desk as I pulled out my acceptance letter from The Apprenticeship Scheme and logged onto the website. I signed in with the login details and set up new ones before finding my application. I grinned at the screen as I clicked accept to confirm the offer for my place. I knew I wanted to have a good read through the application to see what Mason had written for me, but I planned to do so after some studying. I gathered my notes and textbooks, ready to knuckle down for the night and revise for the mini test that Abbie was giving me on Monday.
Now, I was finally alone, and as I flicked through my notes, the memory of the school hallway came into my head and I leaned back in my chair, remembering the way Ryker looked at me, the way he'd spoken and the way he'd grabbed me.
Somewhere inside, I believed the look on his face was jealousy from seeing me with Mason. I believed the words he was saying made it clear that he was annoyed at seeing us, even though he'd told me to give Mason another chance. The way he'd grabbed me and held onto me showed me how emotional he clearly still was; whatever those emotions were.
'Stop it, Amelia,' I whispered to myself, shaking my head and returning to my reading. None of the tiniest, unimportant details mattered anyway. Regardless of anything I still believed, it did not take away the reality of the situation and the fact that he was a terrible person who had broken my heart.
After a few hours of studying, I found myself reading words that were going in one ear and out of the other as tiredness fell over me and I moved from the chair to the bed, crashing in my clothes and falling asleep before I could even get a chance to change.
The next day, I woke up and groaned as I realised it was Saturday and I was back to work. Heading to the bathroom, I took a shower and then dried and waved my hair before applying my usual work makeup routine and put on my uniform.
I could smell toast burning downstairs as I headed down and when I reached the kitchen, Stan was pulling jet black toast from the toaster carefully.
'Fuck's sake!' he hissed, throwing the food straight into the bin.
'Wow,' I chuckled, as he looked at me with an irritated expression. 'I didn't realise you were so useless around the house that you can't even make toast.'
'Very funny,' he said, sarcastically.
'I'm kidding,' I laughed. 'What are you even doing?'
'Making it for Christine!' he cried. 'She woke up feeling unwell so she's staying in bed.'
'Oh,' I said, as I headed around the counter. 'You know, if you turn the dial down on the toaster it'll pop up a lot sooner before it reaches that colour.'
'I know that!' he replied. 'Your sarcasm isn't helping!'
'Fine,' I sighed, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl as I lifted my backpack up onto my shoulder. 'Struggle on your own.'
'Are you working all day?' he asked me, as I headed for the door.
'Yeah, until six,' I said, twisting my face.
'Good on you for getting up and carrying on with things,' he said, as he put another slice of bread in the toaster. 'It's great to see you looking like you're getting back to normal.'
'Thanks,' I said, even though I knew I was still hurting badly deep down, I had managed to keep my mind distracted so I didn't revisit it constantly.
'Would you like a lift?' he asked.
'Yes, please, if you don't mind?' I replied.
'Okay, here,' he said, throwing me the car keys. 'Go wait in the car while I get this up to your mum.'
'Sure,' I said, smirking at the term he used as I headed out of the house and got into the car.
Stan finally came out and drove me to work and I headed inside to help set up for the day. I was working with Becky and three other workers, Cally, Allison and James. Although I didn't see my workmates all of the time because I only worked Saturdays, I got along well with everyone and enjoyed working with other people close to my age.
'Hey,' Becky said, as I headed inside.
'I can't believe people are already queuing outside,' I groaned, as I pulled on my apron and cap.
'We're in for a busy day,' Becky said, as she filled the cash registers with change. 'Can you go give all of the tables a once over, please, then you can open up.'
'Sure,' I said, grabbing the cleaning products and working my way around the restaurant, wiping down every table once more before I returned the items to the cupboard and went to unlock the door, greeting the customers as they entered.
'Hey guys, feel free to choose any table you like,' I told them, before heading back to the tills.
'Okay, just let me grab my board and we'll see who is doing what,' Becky said, as the other three joined us behind the counter.
'If you give me takeout, I'll love you forever,' I said, as we all chuckled. Everybody preferred to work the takeout counter, as it meant not having to do table service.
'That's very sweet of you, Amelia,' Becky said, sarcastically, giggling at me. 'But no, sorry, you're down for a section today.'
'Ugh!' I groaned. 'Fine, at least it'll keep my mind occupied.'
'Everything okay?' Becky asked.
'Fine, yeah,' I said, quickly waving my hand casually. 'It's nothing.'
'Okay, well, Cally, you're on takeout,' Becky said. 'Amelia, Allison and James, feel free to choose your sections between you. I'll do the float.'
We all agreed on what tables we would take and I immediately got to work taking orders, making drinks, cleaning up mess and carrying boiling hot plates of food as I hovered by tables, waiting for people to actually try and figure out who ordered what again as their plates burned through the skin of my fingertips. It was a stressful job being a waitress but at least it stopped me from having time to think about my current life dramas.
After hours of running around, keeping my mouth shut as I dealt with people's shitty attitudes, wiping up all sorts of shit off the floor from people's gross kids and slipping on food several times, causing me to almost drop trays of glasses everywhere, Becky finally informed me that I could take my break.
I put in my staff food order and headed back to the staff room to eat. I'd only ordered a small cheeseburger, as I still didn't have too much of an appetite, but I quickly ate it before I could convince myself not to bother and ignored the fact that I still barely had any taste in my mouth.
Flicking through a magazine for the remainder of my break, I kept glancing up at the clock, wishing it would end before my mind started to wander and ended with me crying on shift. Eventually, my half hour was up and I headed back down.
The restaurant was absolutely packed now that it was lunchtime and I groaned as I returned to my section, pausing as I spotted Abbie sat alone at a table and she waved to me.
'Oh, I wish I'd known you were here!' I said, as I approached her table. 'I've just had my break; I could have sat with you!'
'That's okay,' she said. 'How are you feeling? I must say I was very proud to hear you got up and came into work.'
'I can't keep acting like it's the end of the world just because of a guy,' I told her, not convincing myself at all however. 'I still don't feel myself but letting it affect work as well as everything else is no good.'
'Exactly,' she said.
'Can I get you anything then?' I asked.
'I'll just have the nachos and a banana shake, please,' she said. 'I just came to see how you were really.'
'Well, as soon as Becky goes on her break I'll bump off for a little bit,' I said.
'You rebel,' she chuckled.
I winked and headed back to the counter to put her order through before making her shake and returning back to the table.
'So, I actually have a lot to fill you in on,' I said, glancing around for Becky.
'Ooh, is it good or bad?' she asked.
'I guess it leans more towards bad but I'm feeling okay about it,' I said. 'Hang on.'
I quickly walked to the window to grab her nachos and walked back again, placing them down in front of her.
'We'll talk when Becky's gone,' I said.
She nodded and I continued on to the next table, keeping my eyes on Becky as I worked and I finally spotted her pulling off her apron and cap as she headed out back.
'James?' I said, heading over to him in his section. 'Can you cover my section while Becky's on break? My friend is here and I'll cover for you next time that blonde girl comes in and you finally decide to go over and ask her out.'
He arched his brow as he thought it over before breaking into a friendly smile. 'Sure, go on.'
'Thanks,' I said, quickly heading over to Abbie's table and sitting down, stealing a nacho from her tray.
'Umm...excuse me?' the woman from the table next to us asked me, as she stared over in disbelief with her arms raised. 'We're still waiting for you to bring our drinks.'
'Yeah, he will be right over,' I said, pointing to James.
'Aren't you our waitress?' she asked.
'I'm on my break,' I said, frowning at her as I turned back to Abbie. 'Anyway, sorry about that.'
'Wow, you should receive an award for that five-star customer service,' Abbie teased.
'There are more important matters to deal with than Karen's iced tea,' I said, giving the woman one more frown as I noticed her glaring over at me.
'So, what's the latest?' Abbie asked.
'I walked home from school with Mason yesterday,' I told her. 'It was really nice we talked and had a laugh and the walk home itself was really good, but, that's not what I have to tell you. I bumped into Ryker again.'
'Oh no!' she cried. 'What did he say to you?'
'I was really proud of myself for how I handled it,' I told her. 'He saw Mason and I talking in the hall and leaving together, but when I ran back to grab a book from my locker he was there and he was insinuating something was going on with me and Mason and I swear he was definitely jealous! Anyway, I didn't let him see me as weak or upset so I just let him know exactly what I thought of him. I told him I regretted sleeping with him.'
'Good!' Abbie cried, her eyes wide as she listened closely and munched on her nachos. 'I bet that shut him up.'
'He grabbed me and pulled me forward so we were like...face to face,' I told her, and her mouth dropped open.
'Tell me you didn't kiss!' she exclaimed, a little too loudly, as everyone around us glanced over.
'Of course not,' I hissed. 'He was really mad, like gripping onto my wrists really tightly and not letting me go. What I said had most certainly pissed him off.'
'Oh my god, who does he think he is?' she scoffed. 'If what he's done wasn't bad enough, he then thinks he can get physical with you! What happened next?'
'Well, he gripped onto me and wouldn't let me go and his face was like two inches from mine,' I said, feeling my heart speed up a little as I reminisced. 'He said...he said to me..."you might regret it now, but you know you loved it at the time"...those exact words.'
'He did fucking not!' she cried, loudly.
'Oh, he did,' I said, shaking my head.
'What a bastard!' she cried, clearly not caring about anyone around us hearing. 'What did you say?!'
'I was shocked and I really did almost cry but I held it back,' I told her. 'Then I just said "fuck you" back to him.'
'Then what did he say?' she asked, leaning forward with intense eyes as she waited.
I smiled a little and let out a small laugh, not because I was amused by his response, but because I was still in disbelief that he'd actually crossed the line and said it. 'He said..."you already did" and that's when I slapped him.'
Abbie gasped loudly and dramatically and everyone around us turned to glare at us once again.
'I can't believe he said that to you,' she sighed. 'What a disrespectful little prick!'
'Yeah, well, I don't think he can sink any lower than that,' I said, shrugging, as I began to feel the sadness coming over me again.
'It doesn't matter anyway,' she said. 'He's leaving today, right?'
'Yeah,' I mumbled, hating that she'd said it out loud after I'd done my best to keep that thought locked away all day.
'You still feel like you're going to miss him,' she said.
'Yeah,' I sighed. 'But it won't feel that way forever.'
Abbie stared at me sympathetically and her look began to change to an anxious and worried expression, making me frown as I watched her begin to nibble on her thumbnail.
'What's wrong?' I asked her.
'Oh god,' she said, gently resting her head on her hand.
'Abbie?' I said. 'You're doing that thing you do when you've fucked up something really bad.'
'I have,' she sighed, keeping her head lowered before looking up at me with serious eyes. 'I have to tell you something.'
'You do?' I said, feeling that terrified, nervous sensation run through me that you always get whenever somebody says that. 'Why does this seem really bad?'
'Well, it's not bad really,' she sighed, her face creasing up, stressfully. 'It's just bad because I kept it from you until it was time to tell you and then decided it would be best not to tell you and now I feel like I should tell you but really don't think I'm doing any good by telling you but if I don't then I'm just a terrible friend for keeping secrets and-!'
'Abbie!' I interjected. 'Stop rambling, it's fine. Just tell me what it is.'
'Hey guys!' The pair of us turned to see Mason stood by the table, smiling down at us cheerfully as we both stared back with surprised expressions.
'Umm...hi?' I said, slowly.
'I thought I'd pop in to see you and grab a burger,' he said.
'Oh, that's nice,' I said, really wishing he'd waited a few more minutes so Abbie could finish talking.
'Abbie, is that your starter?' he asked her, pointing to her nachos. 'We can order mains together.'
'Oh, actually, Mason, could you umm...just give us like one minute because we were just about to discuss something pretty important,' Abbie said, awkwardly.
'Oh god,' Mason said, resting his face on his palm before looking back up at us. 'If it's about the kiss then I really ought to stay and explain.'
'What kiss?' Abbie asked.
'Oh!' Mason said, his eyes widening as he realised he'd put his foot in it.
'What kiss, Amelia?' Abbie asked me.
'Oh god,' I groaned, slowly laying back in my chair.
'Did you two kiss?!' she hissed at me, before turning to Mason for an answer. 'Somebody fess the fuck up!'
'Well...I kissed Amelia,' Mason sighed. 'But I can explain...'
'Amelia, are you out of your mind?' she muttered, leaning over to me.
'Okay, Mason, you can sit right here and explain everything to her while I get back to work!' I said, moving to get up.
'I don't think so!' Abbie cried. 'You're not getting off lightly!'
'Becky is due back any second,' I said.
'But I really need to talk to you about that...thing,' she muttered.
'We'll talk after my shift,' I said, getting to my feet and leaving the table, finally feeling able to breathe after that chaotic moment.
'What is my life?' I mumbled to myself, as I grabbed my terminal and returned to doing table service.
'James, can you deal with that table for me?' I asked him, pointing to Abbie and Mason.
'Aren't they your friends?' he asked, with a frown.
'Yeah, but umm...they always expect freebies from me; it's so annoying,' I lied.
'Oh, okay, no problem,' he said.
I continued with work, avoiding their table as I watched Abbie constantly glance over at me.
'Amelia, can you jump on a register!' Becky called.
I nodded and quickly headed behind the counter with the tray of dishes I was carrying.
'Two seconds, I'll take that tray from you,' Becky said, as she quickly finished up logging out of her register.
I glanced around the restaurant casually as I waited for her and as my eyes flickered across the tables, they immediately stopped and widened and I froze, as the sight of Ryker coming through the doors made my heart drop, along with the tray.
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