Chapter Two: Hello Again

The sunlight poured into my room in the morning, shining directly onto my face as I tried to sleep. I groaned, rolling over and putting the pillow over my face in a way to protect myself from the light. "Just ten more minutes," I mumbled sleepily, snuggling deeper in the sheets of my bed.

"Steph! Wake up!"

"Dang it," I muttered, hearing my mother calling me from downstairs. I rolled over and saw the clock: 8:30. A sigh left my lips when I realized that, once again, I was in danger of being late for work. But that was nothing new for me; I always overslept, even if I went to bed at a decent time.

I sighed once more, dramatically rolling out of bed and dragging my feet to the bathroom. I couldn't imagine any person actually enjoying mornings. I despised them with a passion, because it ended my blissful time of doing nothing. I enjoyed the silence more than I enjoyed being with other people, as weird as that sounds. But I'm not antisocial; I just like quiet time.

Twenty minutes later, my hair was dry from my shower and I had on my mascara and a small amount of eyeliner. I then hurried downstairs, already having my uniform for work on. Unfortunately for me, my mother was waiting for me.

"I'm not going to keep waking you up every morning," Mom said, frowning deeply at me from her place by the sink. "You're 17; you should be more responsible than what you are."

I looked down to the ground, frowning as I grabbed a pop tart I could eat on the way. It wasn't unusual for me to hear this type of thing from my mom, but it still hurt every time. And the worst part was, she never seemed to notice. She figured I ignored her, so she kept repeating herself, saying how hopeless I am and how I'm not good enough for her.

"Are you listening?" she asked, proving my point.

"Yes, Mom, I'm listening," I said, setting my breakfast on the table while I moved to the refrigerator to make myself lunch. I only had two minutes before I had to get out the door, so hopefully her rant wouldn't be that much longer.

Mom sighed, like I was the most hopeless person on the face of the planet. "You only have this job because of me, you know," she said, folding her arms across her chest as she looked at me. "If I didn't wake you every morning, then you would be out of work."

"Yeah, I know Mom," I mumbled, putting my sandwich and snacks into a brown paper bag. "Thanks."

"What'd you say?" she said, her voice tense at the sarcasm present in my gratitude.

"Nothing," I said quickly, picking up my pop tart and my lunch. "I'll see you later." I quickly walked out the door, leaving her alone in the kitchen. Just like every fight we had, it ended with me running away. I never stayed long enough for either of us to apologize because I got the feeling my mom would never apologize for being so mean. She was strict, all-business, and had very high expectations for everyone in life. Especially me.

I dragged my feet as I headed over to my shop, feeling defeat in my spirit. I could never live up to what she wanted me to be. I couldn't be the perfect child that she wanted, or even come close to that. I was Steph, her only child who wasn't a prissy girly-girl, but a bookworm and a "loser". Well, a loser in her eyes, anyway.

I finished opening the shop and I sat on the stool inside, looking around and seeing the usual people in town. I was clear to do what I needed to do. I leaned my arms on the counter and lowered my head, burying it in my arms as I cried softly. I hated that I would never be good enough. I hated that even though I always tried to impress her, she only cut me down.

Even after my tears ran dry, I kept my head lowered. Strangely enough, I think that I actually fell asleep. It made sense, though; whenever I was upset, I always tried to sleep it off. Sometimes it worked, while other times it didn't. Today was one of those times that it didn't work out so well.

"Hey."

I lifted my head without thought, seeing a customer standing in front of me. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry," I apologized quickly, looking up at the tall person's face after I said my apology. I blinked in surprise, seeing the face of a person I thought I would never see again. "Riku?" I was shocked at his appearance, to say the least. It had been a week since Riku first came to my shop, and now he was here again? Back so soon?

Riku nodded in silence, tilting his head a little bit to look at me from his higher position. I tried to shake off my sleepiness and my emotional mood quickly, and then I realized why he was looking at me like that. I had been crying. "Oh, that's embarrassing," I groaned, turning my face away and lifting my hands to try and get rid of the tear trails.

The silver-haired teen in front of the shop stayed silent for a few moments, waiting for me to compose myself. I can't believe I was stupid enough to break down here! I thought miserably, sniffling without thought. I reached down and grabbed a tissue, wiping right under my eyes in case any of my makeup had been messed up by my tears.

"Everything okay?" Riku asked after a few minutes, looking at me intently.

"Yeah," I said, instantly bringing up a hand and waving it off. "It's nothing."

Riku tilted his head to the side, disbelief showing in his aquamarine eyes. "It doesn't seem like nothing to me," he said, being blunt but sounding gentle at the same time. He really did want to help, didn't he?

"It's stupid," I countered, shaking my head. Really, it was; I got into fights with my mom all the time. This time was no different than any other, except that somebody had actually seen me while I was upset. I wasn't grateful for it at the time, since I hated appearing vulnerable. Nobody knew how bad it got between me and my mother, and now Riku, a person I had met one time before, wanted to hear about it?

"I'll humor you," Riku said, coming up and sitting himself on the counter casually as a way to show that he wasn't going to leave without hearing what I had to say.

I sighed, shaking my head. He was determined, and a little pushy. At the same time, though, I needed that; I needed to talk to somebody, even if that somebody was practically a stranger. "I got in a fight with my mom this morning," I confessed softly, looking down at the counter with sad eyes.

"That's not stupid," Riku assured me softly. Despite the fact that I wasn't looking up at him, I could feel his gaze on me. And just from that gaze, I felt myself wanting to crumble again. For some reason, it was hard to put up a wall against Riku.

"It is stupid," I said, shaking my head. "It happens a lot. I shouldn't get so worked up over it."

"Sometimes, the things that happen most often can be the most hurtful," Riku said quietly. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him still gazing at me, and I finally lifted my head to look back at him. "Whenever things like that happen, you can either decide to wallow in it or face it and try and making things right."

I bit my lip and looked down at the counter, Riku's words striking a nerve. I didn't like to admit it, but there were days where I would just wallow about it. "What if things can't be fixed?" I whispered softly, so quiet that I wasn't sure if Riku could hear me.

"Then you can still work at it, and if it doesn't work out in the end, then at least you tried," Riku said, proving that he had indeed heard my whispered words. I looked up at him and gave him a weak nod, a small smile also on my lips as a sign of appreciation.

"So," I said, changing the subject. "You probably didn't come over just to hear about my problems."

"Actually, Sora ran off again," Riku said, a smile appearing on his lips. Judging by Riku's facial expression, he didn't seem to feel too angry or sorry about that.

"Ah, so you needed somebody to entertain you," I said, my lips turning up into a smile as well. Me crying probably hadn't been too entertaining, but I decided I would leave my emotional state behind in favor of something more light-hearted.

"Pretty much," Riku replied, his smile turning into a smirk. I felt my own smile widen at his, though I knew that happiness couldn't last for long. I was always miserable after fighting with my mother, and that sorrowful mood wasn't easily swayed.

"I'm boring, though; I'm not an entertainer."

Riku arched a brow, looking at me as if he didn't believe me. However, instead of saying so, he asked me a question. "You know any magic tricks?"

"Magic tricks?" I laughed, shaking my head at the thought. "Nothing beyond card tricks, no."

"Got any cards?"

I looked up at him, suspicion in my gaze at first. "You're serious, aren't you?" I asked immediately, seeing his earnestness in his aquamarine eyes.

He shrugged lightly, setting a hand on the counter when the motion was complete. "Hey, what else are we supposed to do until Sora randomly reappears?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "But it can't be anything with cards; I don't have any on me."

"That's a shame," Riku said, sounding genuinely disappointed. Surprisingly, I felt the same way; it would have been fun to show off the only card trick that I knew. But what were we supposed to do now?

"Um…" I lifted a hand, tucking back a strand of hair as I tried to think of something to say. Finally, I came up with the right thing to say. "You know any magic tricks, Riku?"

This time, it was Riku's turn to laugh. He chuckled and shook his head, his eyes going down to the counter he sat on as he answered. "Nah. I wasn't into that kind of stuff growing up. I was more into fighting for 'fun'."

"Ah, boy stuff," I said, a smile appearing on my lips. Riku returned the smile, and that prompted me to ask another question. "Sword fights or fist fights?"

"Sword, for the most part," Riku said, confirming my suspicions. He seemed like the person who would be into duels instead of brawls. "Some of my friends fought with other weapons, like jump ropes and blitzballs."

"Blitzball?" What in the world is that? I thought to myself, the question coming through in my voice. I had never heard of anything like that, though it did sound interesting.

"I'm not exactly sure either," Riku confessed with a light shrug. "Some kind of…underwater football, from what I can gather."

"Okay…" Weird, yes, but whatever. It must not have been a very popular sport, since I never heard of it. I left the topic of the sport alone, shifting back to what Riku and I were originally talking about. "So he throws sports balls at people when he's fighting?"

"Strange, huh?" he said, his words reflecting my thoughts. When I nodded, he continued speaking. "He's actually really good at it. He could never beat me in a fight, but nobody really could."

I lifted a hand and tucked back a strand of hair out of habit, not surprised to hear that Riku beat his friends in fights. Looking at him now, he was very muscular. What am I saying? "Anybody ever get hurt?" I asked in attempt to leave my own thoughts behind, my eyes going back up to Riku after I spoke my question.

"Eh, not too badly. A few bruises, but other than that, nothing really."

"That's…surprising," I confessed. "I was expecting you to say people got hurt all the time."

Riku arched a brow, folding his arms across his chest when he heard my remark. "What, you don't think that we weren't careful?"

I took a moment to analyze his tone, and I could tell that he wasn't offended by my admission. It was more…curiosity, that filled his tone. "I just know how boys can be sometimes," I said, giving him a weak smile.

"Ah. I'm guessing you know a few who would take things to the extreme?"

A sigh left my lips as I shook my head, my eyes wandering down to the counter. "Unfortunately," I responded, my voice showing how I felt by the meaningless violence that the local boys did. "Most of the boys in this town are like that, hence why I don't hang out with the boys too often." I hung out with a lot of girls when I wasn't working or being yelled at by my mom, even though I got sick of the drama they went through sometimes.

"Any close guy friends that aren't stupid?"

"Two or three," I said with a light shrug, looking back up at Riku. "But we're still not too close."

Riku set a hand on the counter, glancing down when he performed the motion before he looked to me again. "That's…sad."

I shrugged lightly, realizing that Riku didn't sound overly sad. I wasn't sure what he meant by what he said, so I just went along with it, figuring that I could try and figure it out later. "It's alright, I've survived the last 17 years of life without a close guy friend. It's something you get used to after a while."

"Right."

After a few moments of silence, I decided that it was time that I asked a question. I had noticed that Riku was an inquisitive person, always inquiring things of be before I could think of anything to ask him myself. Thanks to the pause, though, I had my chance. "So…you have any close girl friends?"

"Just one," Riku said, smiling softly when he answered. "A childhood friend of mine, and Sora's girlfriend. We've been friends for years."

"What's this I hear about me?" Sora asked, appearing out of nowhere and coming over to the side of the stand opposite of Riku. He didn't wait for an answer, first turning his head and looking at me. "Hey, Steph," he greeted, giving me a casual wave.

"Hi Sora," I said back, a smile appearing on my face as well as I turned to face him. "We were just talking about friendships and stuff."

"Oh, I see," the brunet said, chuckling as he looked over to Riku. "As long as you weren't talking about me behind my back, then that's fine." He smirked over at me to show that he was joking, the gesture making my smile widen. Sora seemed like a genuinely fun guy, and I almost wished that he would actually stick around so that I could get to know him better. However, at the same time, I felt like I wouldn't know Riku as well as I did if Sora was around.

What am I saying? I thought to myself, tuning out a conversation between Riku and Sora as I thought things over. You hardly know Riku at all; he's been to your shop two times.

"We should get going," I heard Riku say, which brought me out of my thoughts. I saw that he was still speaking to Sora, though, so I didn't feel awkward about being caught up in my thoughts.

"Right," Sora said, nodding in agreement.

Riku turned his gaze to me then, Sora doing the same thing. "I guess we should be on our way. See you later," he said with a small smile, bringing up a hand and waving at me subtly.

A soft smile appeared on my lips as well as I mimicked the gesture, having lightly at the two boys. "See you later," I said, my thoughts threatening to distract me again as I said my farewell. However, I put my thoughts on hold, seeing Sora wave back and grin at me as if to say, You're my hero for distracting Riku again. I fought the urge to laugh, though my smile did widen at Sora's expression. I watched as the two boys walked away, and I finally allowed myself to think.

Last time you saw Riku, you said "goodbye", believing that you would never see him again. This time, you said "see you later", as if you actually believe that you'll see him again, I thought, going over things in my mind.What had changed from that time to this time? Perhaps it was the fact that I actually missed Riku when I didn't see him for a week, or maybe it was that I missed that I actually had a good day at work.

Or maybe, just maybe, I was glad that somebody had actually said something and meant it. When Riku said "see you later" after leaving the first time, he really meant it. I wasn't used to people saying things that they actually meant; there were so many people who said things to me that, in the end, meant absolutely nothing.

Riku, though…when he said he would see me later, it was like a promise. He didn't say the words just to be polite or out of habit—he had really returned, which fulfilled the statement "see you later".

I smiled at that, realizing that my job did have some perks to it after all.