My heart was pounding erratically in my chest as I busted through the door to the cafe. Sweat was dripping from my face, and I struggled to catch my breath.
"Are you okay, Alex?" asked Rei from where she stood behind the counter. I furiously shook my head.
"Can't breathe," I somehow managed to choke out. I had felt another panic attack begin to surface. I guess it hadn't helped that all eyes were on me.
"Okay, everyone, back to your own business," Rei urged her customers. Everybody slowly resumed their previous conversations. With no other words, I walked around the counter and headed up a set of stairs.
Rei's home resided above the cafe. She loved it, because it meant that she could sleep up until opening time. I loved it as well. Rei had allowed me to turn her guest room into my room. This is where I stored all of my memories.
Upon entering my room, I immediately locked the door. While I was tearing my way out of the dress, there was a knock on the door.
"I'll be down in a second," I shouted to inform whoever was outside my door. Grabbing the first outfit I found, I threw it on and went back down to the cafe.
A cup of coffee was placed in front of me as soon as I sat down at a table. I glanced up at Rei and mumbled a thanks.
"Care to share?" she wondered. I took a sip of the caffeine filled drink as she settled herself in the seat across from me.
"Not really," I muttered before taking another sip.
Rei opened her mouth to say something, but she was interrupted by the sound of a bell, signaling a new customer.
Thank you, random person. These were my thoughts as Rei stood up. That is until, I found out who the random person was.
"You really think she'll be here?" a familiar voice worried.
Fuck you, host club.
I ignored everyone as they all sat at the round table with me. Haruhi was on my left, and Maria on my right. The other hosts just awkwardly chose seats. Rei joined us after a minute and set some mugs and a cake on the table.
"Well, Haruhi, since Alex doesn't feel like talking, do you wanna explain?" she practiacally demanded. I just stared down at my coffee while Haruhi explained tha days events to Rei.
"And then she ran here," Haruhi summed up. I could feel all eyes on me in an attempt to make me explain.
I felt trapped under their gazes. Determined to find a way out, I stood up, causing my chair to scoot back a bit. I made my way to the stairs, ignoring Rei's voice shouting after me.
"I'm sorry. Alex hasn't been this reclusive since, well, nevermind," Rei apologized for her friend. She then turned her attention to Maria.
"Well, hello there. I haven't seen you here before. My name's Rei," she introduced herself.
Maria somewhat shyly replied, "I'm Maria. I go to school with Alex."
"I can tell," observed Rei while motioning to the uniform that the girl was wearing. This caused Maria to slightly blush with embarrassment.
Rei stood next to the table looking over everyone. She seemed to be thoroughly searching everyone's souls, looking for their deepest fears and darkest secrets. Finally satisfied with her findings, Rei plopped down in the seat Alex had been sitting in. She leaned over to the girl on her left.
"You think these guys will help?" Rei whispered in Haruhi's ear worriedly.
"It's not like they could do any damage," she whispered back.
By now, the hosts and Maria had started up a conversation on the next theme for the club. Rei glanced around the table with hopeful eyes.
"What year is it?" I groaned, rolling over to check the time. I guess I passed out after I stormed off to my room. Well, I technically fell asleep, but what's the difference?
Finally able to see the clock, I read the time. Noon. I thought I might as well get up and start the day. Detangling myself from the blankets, I changed clothes and was somewhat ready for the day.
I left my room and found Rei sitting at the kitchen counter on her laptop. Hearing my footsteps, she looked up.
"Glad to see you're alive and well," was how she greeted me. I made an inhuman noise that vaguely resembled "you too".
"Haruhi called this morning. She'll be dropping by after school to give you your work," informed Rei. I told her to remind me to thank Haruhi later and fell onto the couch.
I turned the television on and began to flip through the channels. A plate of food was set infront of me after about two hours of tv. Sitting up, I glanced over at Rei and thanked her before digging into my food.
It was a simple omelette, but it tasted fantastic.
"Are you gonna open the cafe today?" I asked as I brought my half empty plate to the kitchen. Rei took a look at my plate and sighed.
"No, but you need to finish that food," she ordered.
"I'm not hungry," I replied. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.
"How long have you been 'not hungry'?" Rei worried. Ignoring her, I made my way back to the couch. She let out a frustrated sigh but left me alone. I watched tv for another hour before the bell rang downstairs.
I guess Haruhi is here.
"Can you go let Haruhi in?" Rei asked since she was busy on her laptop. I shut the tv off knowing that my twin would force me into doing the schoolwork and made my way down the stairs.
The stairway was dark, and I almost fell a couple of times. Eventually, I made it to the door unscathed. I unlocked then opened the door to let Haruhi in only to notice she was not alone.
"Hi, I tagged along with Haruhi in order to check up on you," Maria rambled. "I understand if you don't want me here, but-"
"Just get inside before I shut the door, it's too damn bright outside," I complained. My eyes burned from the sunlight pouring in through the door. Since neither Rei nor me opened up the curtains all day, I've been sitting in almost complete darkness. We did turn on a few lamps, though.
I led the way back upstairs and sat back down on the couch. Haruhi threw her backpack next to me and pulled out two notebooks. Maria shuffled over and sat on the other side of me.
"All you really have to do is copy notes," Haruhi explained whilst she handed me the aforementioned notebooks. Sweet, this meant I could put it off until later. Hooray for procrastination!
"I know what you're thinking. Go ahead and get this out of the way. You can go back to whatever you were doing after," she continued, somehow reading my mind. I grumbled under my breath but began copying anyways.
"Hey, Haruhi," Rei welcomed, emerging from her room. Huh, I never noticed she was gone. "Oh, hey, Maria."
"Hello, Rei," replied Maria. She seemed to hesitate before speaking again. "I couldn't help but notice you have an accent. Where are you from?"
"Hm? Oh, I'm from America," she answered, taking a seat on the other couch adjacent to the one I was currently sitting on. "But my accent is nothing compared to Alex's"
This caused Maria's head to quickly turn towards me, and my head shot up from my work. I gave Rei a "what the hell" look, obviously not wanting to talk about myself.
Thankfully, our peace was interrupted by a noise from downstairs.
"The fuck was that?" I wondered aloud. Having jumped from my seat at the sound, I cautiously began to walk towards the door; Rei ushered Haruhi and Maria into her room.
Someone breaking in wasn't all that unusual. There was a bar down the street after all. Drunken idiots were a common occurance, and I was always to one to deal with them.
Edging my way down the stairs, I tried my best to make no sound. I ducked into the kitchen once inside the cafe. Whispers were coming from the other side of the counter. After a few moments of silence, I could hear footsteps going behind the counter and to the stairs. I chose this as my time to knock the idiots out.
As I threw a blind punch at whoever it was, it never landed. Instead, I let out a pained groan as I was slammed onto the counter.
"Alex-chan?!" a bubbly voice seemed shocked.
I was still a little dazed, but I clearly saw the host club staring at me with various degrees of concern.
"Oh, hell no," I said as I regained focus.