Taking a Break

You are John Egbert and after a fun time explaining to the principle what had happened yesterday, you manage to get a day off from school. As for Dave, he is suspended for a week and has to do community service the whole time.

It is your day off and you decide to go work at your family's cafe since it will distract you from yesterday's incident. You go to the washroom to take a shower and when you take your shirt off and look in the mirror you notice that the bite marks are still there. Bruised and hurting, you consider what Dave almost did to you. You wish that you guys could be friends again, though that probably isn't possible. After taking a shower and getting dressed you wear a turtleneck sweater, since you don't want to look at the marks. You think to yourself that you kinda look like Karkat, laughing at yourself. Then you make your way to the cafe.

You are in your family's café. It has been open since way before you were born, when your late nanna opened the shop when you dad was still in high school. It is a great place for you since it holds so many precious memories with your family, especially your late nanna.

You are at the counter taking orders, the morning and the lunch hour go by really quickly. You now have time to rest a little and your dad comes out of the back to tend to the front so that you can have lunch in the back. When you go into the kitchen there is a sandwich, a glass of orange juice, a pack of gushers, and a note on the table. You pick up the note from the table, and read it, it says

"I hope you feel better son, I know that I'm still very proud of you." You smile and put the note into your pocket, sitting down to eat the lunch that your dad made for you. After eating your lunch you think it would be a nice gesture to leave a note for your dad as well. Seeing that he already had lunch, you decide to make him a coffee and leave the note on the table beside the mug. The note says, "Thank you dad, I love you too."

You then leave the back and switch with your dad in the front. Though the store is quite calm for now, since most of the costumers that have been tended to are seated and its only 2:00 in the afternoon. It'll be a while before it gets busy again.

As you stand at the at the cash register, your mind kind of wanders and you think about times when you were younger, like baking with nanna, the pranks your family pulled on each other, and the times when you and Dave would try to sneak an apple pie or two from the kitchen only to get caught by nanna. Although the times when you were a child were simpler, they are just memories and so its best not to dwell too much on them, even though they are one of the comforts you have.

The sound of the door bell rings and it partially gains your attention although not fully and a customer approaches the counter.

"Hello, may I take your order?" You ask, not fully paying attention or looking at the customer's face.

"Hey, can I get an apple pie slice, and a cappuccino?" The voice sounds familiar, but you weren't paying enough attention to notice. You make the cappuccino, and get a slice of apple pie, placing it on a china plate and putting it on the counter.

"That will be 4.50….." you look up, wide eyed since the customer looks too much like Dave. You take a double take to make sure you're not imagining things, but to your dismay was not an imagination. You back away from him as far as you can and hit a wall, sliding down to the ground. There are so many thoughts racing in your head; after what he did, why would he came to your family's shop?

"umm are you okay?" he seems too concerned as he approaches closer. You try to open you mouth, but no words come out and you burst into tears.

Your dad comes rushing to where you're trying to calm down and the customer stands in front of you, concerned but unsure of what to do. After you calm down, your dad apologizes to the customer for what your breakdown and they have a small chat. Then the customer leaves the store and your dad comes up to you and says "Son, are you okay?" as he helps you up from the ground.

"Yeah I am now, but why would he come here of all places?" You start shaking because you are scared and you don't want to deal with him right now.

"John, that wasn't David, though he is a Strider." You think to yourself that the Striders do look alike. It isn't hard to see that they're all related. "He is a cousin of the Striders, his is named Davis, though he does look a lot like David, and he seems to be living with them for the time begin." You feel relieved that the guy at the counter wasn't Dave because now is just not a good time for his crap.

After talking to your dad you both go back to work and as the day progresses, your older sister Jane comes in to take your place at the counter. She seems to look very tried.

Sorry if this chapter was a little short.

The next chapter is going to be a little more of John and his family, hope you guys enjoyed reading!