The rev of their car cued me to get out of my awfully relaxed position on my bed, and head out the door. I put my earphones and tapped my iPod a few times.
A buzz of Mozart rang to my ears. I swooned, tiptoeing a bit. My finger traced the path or picture frames hung on the wall. I hummed quietly.
I gently closed our front door and revealed myself to the hot and up sun of June. The days of summer were my favorite. My little brother, Malcolm, was hugging my mom's legs, even if his fingers couldn't intertwine.
My mother had this soft smile on her face. I barely saw that. But when I did, I smiled too.
"Aren't you going to miss your sister too?" She whispered to Malcolm's ear.
He let go of her, wiping his tears with his sleeve. He stuck his tongue out at me. "Only if she misses me too." He said, sniffling.
I stuck my tongue out also. I kneeled down and ruffled his hair. "Of course I will." I stuck out my tongue as well.
He hugged me. I hugged back. "Have fun at camp." I whispered. Malcom nodded before they left.
The minute our car was out of sight, another car appeared at the end of the road. It parked in front of the vacation house across us.
A guy, maybe in his mid-thirties, jumped out of the car and opened the trunk of their blue Camaro. Bag began to spill either side.
My mom nudged me on the arm. I put on my sunglasses, smiled, and ran to him.
"Whoa!" I caught a trolley just before it littered on the street.
"Thank you." The guy smiled.
The passenger door opened and a girl stepped out with a worried look on her face. "Dad, I heard banging. Are you—"
She stopped dead on her tracks. I was hauling bags so I couldn't see her clearly but Piper always told me that she blushed so hard when she first saw me.
It felt weird seeing the lights across my window. It was usually dark and empty.
I just finished eating dinner with my mother. I stepped into my room and belly flopped on my bed. Smiling for no reasons. Fiddling with the loose threads of my blanket. The lights seemed like ants that glowed on my window. I could see a silhouette of a girl. I had to squint.
I felt weird, like always.
-oOo-
I forgot why I didn't leave for my job already. It wasn't because of the sound of French fries being fried right next to me or the way I had to shout an order because this fast food chain didn't know the existence of goddamn paper.
It was because of the customers. Truly not because of my co-workers. Specifically the customers. The angry one, the ones that throw their rage to others that were just happy or don't even care. They're the ones who report to the manager when you forgot to put a sachet of ketchup on their tray.
I've had very angry ones already, no one I've ever actually liked. But the customer that just walked into the restaurant, she was the worst.
She slammed her bag onto the counter that shocked me and my other co-worker, Percy Jackson, standing next to me. She grabbed her phone as I tried and be less uncomfortable. But I forgot how to control how I feel.
"Hello, welcome to Emily's Burger. May I take your order?" I asked politely.
She rolled her eyes at me. I frowned. I didn't like where this was going.
"Give me some fries." She said in a bit of an upset tone.
"What size?" I said in the most deadpan voice.
She looked at me like I asked the stupidest question ever. "Regular?!" she said as if it was obvious.
I hate this.
I moved around, grabbing a container for the fries and angrily stuffing it with hot potatoes. I return to the woman. "That'll be $1." I said.
She smacked the dollar on the counter and I flinched.
She thought I didn't hear, but she muttered under her breath, "You ungrateful turd."
Honestly, what the fuck? What the fuck?
"What's her deal?" Percy asked.
I shrugged and looked back at the counter.
Instead of seeing the empty restaurant that my eyes have already adjusted to, I saw eyes that sparkled majestic colors that had me dazzled and bewildered at the same time. They stared at me. They looked joyful, I had a feeling they always did. My eyes adjusted to the face that was ten centimeters from my face. Brown skin. A cute but big smile. I saw Piper McLean.
"Hello." She said, finally moving away from my nose. She tapped her finger on the marble counter and looked up our menu.
"I know you?" I muttered. She nodded. "Neighbor. Very helpful neighbor." She smiled even more, which I thought wasn't possible. My heart began to feel heavy. And weird.
It was weird how everything was weird.
"I'll have a burger." She asked. I grabbed the burger and gave it to her. "Thank you. And I would want to talk to you."
Why? I didn't display anything interesting while she was staring at me?
"I have a break after a few minutes." I blurted out. God, why was I so socially awkward?
"Sure," Her eyebrows rose up. "I'll meet you at the parking lot."
I nodded.
She sat at the ledge, chewing on her burger, looking up the blue sky. I stuffed my hands in my pockets. They were sweaty. I was nervous.
I got close to her, sitting next to her and just looking at her. Wow, it's like I have never seen another human ever before.
"Isn't it weird that clouds cry?" She asked as she squinted.
I laughed, looking down. "Yeah, weird." I muttered.
"I'm Piper, by the way." She held out her hand in front of me.
I looked at her. Her eyes still startled me but I shook her hand.
"So," She bit her snack again. "Isn't weird?"
"A lot of things are weird." I said. I was talking non-sense. I should stop.
Piper looked at me strangely. I was sure it wasn't because of what I said.
In less than a minute, she finished her burger and stuffed the plastic into her hoodie pocket. It was baggy and loose on her. I wondered if it was her boyfriend's. I wonder if she had a boyfriend.
We talked. We talked about the clouds and the sky. We talked about all the stuff about the sky above. We laughed. We joked. She left.
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