Chapter Four
With her semester finals coming up, Sayaka gives her shifts over to other workers at the café. Every time she was supposed to have a shift but is instead at her apartment studying, she can't concentrate. She watches the clock, thinks of what could be happening at the café, if Kyouko could be there. Madoka tells her that she hasn't seen the red haired girl, but she works out the back and isn't out the front every second of her shift.
She imagined that Kyouko would come in, look for her, go out, come back later, find that Sayaka is still not there and leave again. She could imagine Kyouko giving up and never coming back again, and Sayaka would end up pining over someone she could never see again.
She supposes that she could ask Mami if she knew Kyouko, but Mami could have just given directions and a recommendation to a stranger on the street.
Sayaka resolutely puts her out of her head again and again, but nothing seems to work. Eventually she resorts to thinking about the laws she would break if she started stalking Kyouko, trying to think of the exact paragraphs and wording of what she's trying to memorize.
Madoka comes over to study away from Homura, but ends up falling asleep on her couch. Sayaka doesn't have the luxury of sleeping, and finishes her essay around three o'clock in the morning. Madoka is still snoring on her couch when she goes to bed.
Homura doesn't look much better when Sayaka arrives in the morning to class. Her eyes have shadows under them, but she sighs as she hands the essay in.
"Never again," she promises. Sayaka doesn't know what she's vowing to never do again, but she agrees one hundred percent.
"Me either," she slurs. God, they both sound so drunk. From what she could make out, the rest of her class sounds stoned as well.
Homura runs a hand over her face. Her hair is out, unlike how it's usually plaited. Sayaka thinks she looks more badass.
She doesn't know how she makes it through the rest of the day, and half of it is spent sleeping. As soon as she gets home she crashes, not even bothering to take her clothes off.
She wakes with a weird taste in her mouth and her skin protesting where her clothes are diffing uncomfortably into it. She still has another two tests that week and another essay due on Friday. When she looks at the time she realises that it's nearly time for her to leave for school.
She skips a shower in favour of cooking a large breakfast, since she hadn't eaten dinner last night.
The week of exams takes it out of her. She makes enough spaghetti for three and easts it all before waking up the next morning. Except when she walks outside to get some fresh air, the stall next to her apartment block is selling the papers for Sunday.
She had slept through an entire day.
Drinking some coffee at a small shop near where she lives, she revels in the feeling of not having to do anything. She drinks two more large cups of coffee and eats a muffin before heading back to her apartment. They have a two week break from class, and she has work nearly every day, making up for the time and shifts she had taken off while studying for her tests, but they didn't start until Monday. Which was tomorrow. Jesus, how did she sleep through an entire day?
She checks her phone and finds a voice mail from Madoka.
"Hey Sayaka, it's Madoka. You didn't pick up your phone, so I'm guessing that you don't want company. I was just calling because Homura's collapsed in our bed, so I wanted to check on you. You're probably collapsed as well, I saw the crazy workload you guys had. Anyway, I hope you're okay. Call me when you get this."
Sayaka presses the call back button, and it rings a few times before Madoka picks up.
"Hey Sayaka," she whispers. "Homura is still sleeping, let me just go outside." There's a pause, and then she speaks again, this time louder.
"Hey, are you alive? You didn't call me yesterday, and Homura woke up for about half an hour to scarf down some food before falling asleep and nearly face planting in her food."
Sayaka laughs. "Yeah, I woke up an hour ago, went out and got some food then checked my phone. We were both pretty damn wiped after this week. I'm still tired."
"Well we have work tomorrow, so don't sleep through then either."
Sayaka smiles. "Yeah, I won't. I'm just normal tied instead of crazy fall asleep while I'm driving home and kill someone tired."
There's a pause. "You didn't… actually kill someone, did you?"
Sayaka holds in a grin. "Of course not Madoka, don't be ridiculous."
Madoka lets out a big sigh. "Well you can't blame me after what you just said. And you're the type of person who would accidentally kill someone in a car crash."
"I'm going to ignore what that means you think of me. Anyway, I'm fine, so you go and look after Homura."
"She doesn't need much looking after. I'll just go make some food for her when she wakes up."
"Okay. See you later Madoka."
"Bye Sayaka."
Sayaka hangs up. She can't wait until her shift tomorrow.
/\/\/\/\/\
Sayaka waits patiently all day. All she can think about is how Kyouko showed up after everyone else had left, and she can't shake the feeling that's when she's going to turn up today.
She tries not to let it distract her, but she spills coffee and makes the wrong orders all day. When her manager notices, she just claims that it's after semester jitters, and that it'll go away soon enough.
Since she's working a double shift, she gets there at ten, and won't leave until ten. She usually has the whole day to herself and is at work for the dinner rush, so having people walk in and still able to order breakfast is a little disorientating.
Madoka leaves around nine, and Sayaka starts her usual routine of cleaning up. When the bell about the door dings to let her know there's a customer walking in, she looks up.
Kyouko is wearing another pair of short jeans, this one more ragged than the last. She has her green army jacket on, and still has a stick of pocky in her mouth.
"So you're finally back, she drawls as she leans up against the counter.
"Couldn't stay away from your pretty face," Sayaka rebuts, and tenses slightly, waiting for Kyouko's answer.
Kyouko laughs, throwing her head back, and Sayaka feels a well of satisfaction that she can make the other girl do that. She already loves that laugh, wants to hear every day for the rest of her life.
I'm so gone on this girl it isn't even funny anymore, she thinks as she watches Kyouko.
"If you say so," Kyouko grins, and Sayaka answers in kind.
"So are you just here for my witty conversation, or do you want some coffee?"
"A cinnamon latte with some of that slice you've got there would be nice."
Sayaka carefully prepares the food, feeling Kyouko's eyes on her the entire time. She puts it on the counter and slides it over to the other girl, who eyes the package hungrily. And if Kyouko commented on the fact that there were two pieces of slice inside, Sayaka could just tell her it came in pairs.
Kyouko gives her a twenty, and Sayaka hands her the change. Kyouko then gives back a five, winking at her. "The waitress needs a tip," she says, before greedily starting to suck down her food.
Sayaka tucks the tip into the back of her pocket, watching Kyouko lean on the counter. She finishes cleaning up everything behind the counter, putting the food she would take home in a bag, and the ones that were good for tomorrow in the small fridge out the back. When she came back out, Kyouko had finished her food and was sucking on another stick of pocky.
"Where do you pull those from? I walk out for two seconds and you have another one?"
Kyouko shrugs, grinning. "I like 'em, so I eat 'em."
Sayaka can't argue with that logic, so she lets it lie. Fetching the mop, she starts to clean the floors, surprised when Kyouko joins her, bending too far forward so that Sayaka has a nice view of her ass.
Clearing her throat slightly, she turns away, and they quickly finish cleaning the entire restaurant. Sayaka does all the other small things while Kyouko stacks the chairs on the tables, and when they're done, Sayaka checks the time. Fifteen minutes before she has to clock out.
"You know, you didn't have to do that," Sayaka says, looking at the red haired girl. Kyouko is leaning back against the counter with her hair to one side, and it's giving Sayaka the perfect opportunity to study her shoulders, which are lean and muscled. Sayaka wonders what she does for a living.
"Eh, it was nothing. I wanted to help." Kyouko looks over at the time, and her eyes widen. "But as much as I want to help, I have a class to teach in fifteen minutes, and it takes twenty to get there. I'll see you later, if you're not going to disappear again?"
"I just finished my semester finals, so I'm working double shifts here."
Kyouko nods, ducking her head, but Sayaka still sees her smile. "Rightio then. I'll be around."
Sayaka blinks as Kyouko leaves, before a small smile starts. She finishes everything and goes home, putting her food in her fridge before showering and going to sleep.
Just before she goes to sleep, she entertains the thought that Kyouko could like her back as well.