Chapter 7

Once they reached the parking lot, Abby headed for her bike while Lynn went for her car. She'd managed to get it fixed shortly after their arrival at Blackwell and while it hadn't been pretty it was holding decently. Abby honestly still wished she'd ditch it and get a better one, though. She'd just climbed onto the bike and was checking the zip on her riding gear when- as if on cue- she heard the sound of an engine starting up. Or rather, trying to start up and failing miserably. Lynn jumped out, swearing a blue streak and raced around to the front, throwing open the hood only to be met with a plume of black smoke that caused her to erupt into a coughing fit. Abby would have laughed if it weren't for her broken and disheartened expression.

"Do you want to hop on with me?" she asked as she grabbed her key and slotted it into the ignition.

"Oh no!" Lynn protested. "I rode with you when you first got that bike and that was traumatic enough, Abby Denver! There is nothing in the world you can say that will get me on there again!" Challenge accepted. Abby didn't even have to think about it.

"You get to have your hands on my boobs the entire ride."

"Okay, budge up!" Lynn climbed onto the back and hung on as Abby put her helmet on while stifling a laugh. She knew her way too well. With that, she turned the key, gunned the engine and took off. They hit the road in seconds, leaving the Blackwell campus far behind.

Even in full riding gear, Abby could feel the rush of the wind around her. She wasn't going inhumanly fast, knowing how much Lynn feared moving at high speed. She played it calm, keeping to the speed limits and just focusing on enjoying her time with Lynn, who was clinging to her with her arms wrapped like a vice around her and her hands gripping on to Abby's chest. She was clinging on so tightly that Abby could feel her heartbeat against her back. In that moment, she found herself pulling a total mental one-eighty and wishing that Lynn never got a new car so that they could share more moments like their current one. Even going at hardly any speed at all, Abby found the time passing all too quickly. It was far too soon for her liking before she parked up in the motorcycle bay at their destination. In spite of that, she was looking forward to getting in there. They hadn't had chance for a date of any kind since joining Blackwell and despite Rachel telling them about her girlfriend and suggesting a double date sometime, Abby wanted them to also do something that was just for them.

"You can wake up now, sweetie." Abby said as Lynn lifted her head off her back. "We're here." With that, she took her helmet off, pulled the key from her bike and pocketed it before dismounting and going to help Lynn off. Lynn wasn't used to riding on a motorcycle, having only done it once before, so Abby knew her legs would still be rubbery. Sure enough, the first thing she did was stagger sideways. Abby caught the full brunt of her weight and pulled her into a kiss so that any passers-by would think it was intentional. It was brief and Lynn broke it quickly as she gave her a glare that could shatter a moon.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a pain in the ass?" Lynn asked, her tone laced with false pleasantry.

"You love me really." Abby smirked as she took Lynn by the arm and led her inside.

The warm atmosphere of the diner and the familiar smell of fresh-cooked food washed over both girls like a blanket as the door opened to welcome them in. They stepped across the threshold with Abby still holding Lynn up and taking her weight as she helped her in and looked for a seat. Everything was just as she remembered it from when she used to eat there with her parents. They'd stopped going there after her mother's arrest, yet the inside hadn't changed a bit. The rush of nostalgia hit full-force. Unfortunately, so did the realisation that they were just in time for the dinner rush. The place appeared to be packed and she couldn't go dragging Lynn up and down the place looking for a seat.

"Hey, excuse me?" Abby called out to the waitress, who had her back to them. "Her legs are still a bit weak from the bike ride. Do you have a seat where she could catch her breath?" The waitress turned around. Her polite and welcoming expression didn't even last half a second. In that instant, Abby realised exactly why her father had never brought her back to the Two Whales. The waitress had obviously recognised her. There was no way this was ending peacefully and Abby didn't have time to brace for the explosion. "Oh fuck!"

"You! I tell you this, you've got some nerve showing up here!" The waitress' face bloomed red as a stop sign as Abby was forced to duck out of the way from a flying mug that smashed against the door. The mug, still wet from the washing up water, shattered everywhere like a shotgun blast as the door was pelted with red-hot ceramic shrapnel. One little girl off in a far booth started screaming as the waitress stormed out from behind the counter and Abby moved Lynn behind her for protection.

"Don't move!" Lynn said, nudging Abby in the ribs. "It's vision is based on movement!" Abby couldn't see behind her and didn't dare take her eyes off the waitress long enough to look, but she knew Lynn was grinning.

"You work here?" she practically spat in disbelief, totally ignoring Lynn. "Look, Joyce, I don't want any trouble! I didn't know, okay?" In that instant, another waitress darted out from the kitchen in the back and raced over to help. She wrapped her arms around Joyce, who was brandishing a ladle like she was planning something drastic with it and practically foaming at the mouth with rage, holding her back as best she could.

"I think you girls had better go." The other waitress' eyes were filled with regret. It was good advice, although Abby couldn't understand why she'd said it as though they were planning to stick around a second longer. Wasting no time, she turned and ushered Lynn out through the door again.

"Does a restraining order mean nothing to her?" they heard Joyce scream as they went. They ran back to the parking lot, Lynn now miraculously finding a lot of strength in her legs again, and ran back to Abby's bike while panting like they'd just run a marathon. It took a few seconds for Abby's brain to process the last thirty seconds, but once she had the floodgates opened. She found her head suddenly buried in Lynn's shoulder and clung to her like a life raft, feeling Lynn stroking her hair as she let it all out. Eventually, she was able to speak again and didn't dare put her helmet back on yet. Lynn handed her a tissue and she wiped her nose before trying to speak again.

"I'm so sorry about that." Her voice sounded hollow in a way that could only be achieved by someone who'd been crying. "You shouldn't have had to see that. I didn't know she worked there."

"Abby, it's fine!" Lynn said, taking hold of the blonde girl's face and forcing her to keep looking at her so she could see she meant every word. "None of that was your fault. Not that I know what the actual fuck that was." Abby nodded, taking a deep breath. She knew this was going to be painful. Lynn had deliberately told her she didn't want to know any more than the basics when it first happened. The necessity of attaching faces and names to such a terrible part of their time together now was jarring, but it was finally time to confront it.

"Okay..." Abby let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "You know what my mom did to get locked up. She was a delivery driver. She ran a red light. There was a smaller blue car in the junction that didn't even see her coming. Semi truck VS a small blue car is only ending one way. We all know that. What I didn't tell you is that the waitress in there lost her husband in that incident. He was driving that car. In court, we all heard her story about how she called him for a pickup and he never got there. Anyway, she also got a restraining order against us. I always wondered why Dad never took us back here after Mom got locked up but I just assumed it was the depression. I never even realised she worked there!"

"So Joyce sounds like a real charmer." Lynn shrugged. Abby could tell she was rattled, even through her attempt to make light of it.

"You would be too if someone took away the person you love." Abby grabbed her keys from her pocket and swung her leg over her bike again. They would just have to go somewhere else for dinner. "I can't say her reaction wasn't justified. The restraining order is there for a reason, after all. I don't blame her." As Lynn climbed on behind her, Abby gunned the engine and pulled out from the parking spot, swinging around and aiming for the exit. "That being said: throwing a mug at us was terrible customer service! I've a good mind to make a fucking complaint!" With that, she pulled back out onto the road again. Abby didn't care where she had to go. She was going to find Lynn lunch even if they had to get it from an airport sushi stand.

Author's Note: Yeah, I bet you didn't see that one coming. This is a chapter I've been waiting to post for quite a while. Hope you all enjoyed it. I plan to do another update soon, so look out for that. Stay safe out there and I'll see you all in the next chapter.