Chapter Two – An Un-Fresh Start

If I had a nickel for every impulsive move I have ever made, I most certainly would not be working at the Electric Diner.

It's not that I don't think, because I do. It's just that thing in my head called common sense tends to kick in a minute or so later than it should. I'm an act before you think type of person, which honestly is not as bad as it sounds. However, when it comes to certain situations, such as unexpectedly running into your ex-boyfriend at your place of work, the results can be disastrous.

As in 'throwing a smoothie in his face, thus drenching him in thick pink strawberry-kiwi goodness and jeopardizing my job as a waitress only not really because I doubt Hector will ever fire me' disastrous.

It also leads to a lot of screaming. Kind of like right now.

By the time I finally pause to take a breath, my throat is sore and my brain is buzzing with millions of questions. What is Danny doing here? Why is he here? And, the most important question of all, if I hide out in this kitchen long enough, will he leave?

I'm still contemplating that last one when I feel a tap on my shoulder and nearly start screaming all over again. "What?!" I snap, and then regret it almost immediately.

It's Shock, wiping a tall glass with a used rag and looking at me as though I just killed someone. In other words, he looks...well...shocked.

Great. Just great.

I open my mouth to say something, but all that comes out is a small croak. I'm not sure if it's the embarrassment of freaking out my crush or the fact that I just strained my vocal cords screaming, but I suddenly find it impossible to speak. Luckily, Shock is one step ahead of me. He runs to the tap, filling the glass in his hand with water before offering it to me.

"Thanks," I manage to get out after downing half the glass, my voice extremely low and raspy.

I spend the next minute taking long slow sips, mostly to stall my inevitable return to the scene of my smoothie-throwing crime. There is no way in heck I'm going back out there, not after publicly humiliating myself in front of my ex-boyfriend like that.

"So..." Shock says when I'm finally finished, taking the empty glass from me.

"So..." I repeat, my face reddening in embarrassment. I realize he is most likely waiting for an explanation to my major freak out, as is everyone else in the diner for that matter. And since I can't possibly keep this whole Danny-being-my-ex-boyfriend thing a secret forever, especially since he's literally in the same building as me, I decide it's best to just tell him now. He is Shock, after all. He'll know what to do.

I take a deep breath, my voice dropping to an eager whisper. "I saw him."

Shock tilts his head, clearly still confused by everything. I guess my overly vague explanation was a little too overly vague.

I clear my throat and try again. Unfortunately, my second attempt isn't any better than the first. "That's him, that's Danny. My Danny, Daniel Alderman. He's my...my..."

I don't know why it's suddenly so hard for me to say the word ex-boyfriend. I mean, it's not like I haven't talked about Danny before. If anything, it should be easy considering the ex part of the word confirms that we are over. Then again, I never expected to run into him anytime soon, if ever.

Frustrated by my inability to get the right words out (and slightly nauseated by the fact that I just referred to him as "my Danny" out loud), I flick my wrist and throw a wordball at the ground to explain myself.

He's my ex-boyfriend!

"Oh," Shock mouths as I swipe my letters away.

"Yeah."

There's an awkward moment between us in which we kind of just stare at each other without really saying anything. I feel uncomfortable mentioning Danny to my crush now that he is actually here, but, like I said, Shock will know what to do. Unlike me, Shock is always level-headed. I think that's part of the reason why I like him so much, since opposites attract or whatever.

Finally, Shock speaks. "Are you okay, Karmen?"

I nod even though I feel like dying on the inside. "I'm just a little...overwhelmed right now. I think I need to lie down for a bit."

Shock presses his lips together in thought. "I can cover the rest of your shift," he offers. "But..."

"You're going to make me apologize, aren't you?" I don't have to wait for Shock to nod since I already know what his answer will be.

One of the greatest mysteries of Shock is that even when you know what he's going to say, you don't really know what he's thinking. He's so quiet and reserved all time and I'm always wondering what's going on in that mind of his. He says he wants me to apologize but does he really? Or is he just saying that? Or am I just thinking that since I don't actually want to apologize?

The world may never know.

Regardless, I take a deep breath and walk right back out to the crowd. With Shock trailing close behind, I do my best not to think about all of the horrible things Danny may have said about me while I was hiding. Instead I focus on what I am going to say to him.

"Karma...you're back." Danny's gaze jumps back and forth between me and Shock, whose hands are resting on my shoulders. He has managed to wipe most of the smoothie off his face, which I am having a hard time reading. I want to say it's jealousy, but that can't be right. I'm probably just reading him wrong.

"Yeah." I close my eyes for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts. Even in the darkness I can sense Danny's dark eyes gazing into me, which only makes me feel worse because now I can't even see him judging me. I open my eyes. "Sorry about...everything. That was not supposed to happen and I think it would be best if I just went home now." I turn to leave.

Hey, that was sort of an apology, right? Kind of?

"Hold it!" Hector grabs me by the arm and steers me back towards Danny and the rest of the group. "You can't throw menu items at our customers and then just clock out. Your shift isn't even over yet."

I narrow my gaze. When he says it like that, it makes me sound like an even worse employee than I already am. "Correction; I threw a menu item at a customer, as in singular."

"You know what I mean."

I'm almost tempted to bite back with a rhetorical "do I?" but ultimately decide against it. I have already filled my witty banter quota for the day and arguing with Hector now just seems like a waste of time.

Instead I groan, running my hands through my dark hair. "I already apologized. What more do you want from me?"

"How about an explanation?" Jessica suggests.

"A what?" I ask, confused.

"An explanation. You know, when someone says something no one understands so they explain it so that they do..." Marcus rambles on as if I don't know what the word means.

Now I am very confused. Not about Marcus; this is typical behaviour from him, although I'm pretty sure using the word explain to define explanation is cheating. No, I'm confused because I did not expect the Electric Company to need an explanation in the first place.

"You mean he didn't tell you?" I ask this after shushing Marcus.

"Nope," Danny is smirking. "Figured I couldn't possibly tell the story and make it as...enthralling as your recollection of events."

I eye him suspiciously. What story? The story of how he completely shattered my heart? And since when did Danny start giving up free opportunities to purposefully embarrass others? I mean, he's in a room full of people he doesn't know—people I obviously do know—and he's not even going to try to make me look bad in front of them?

Unbelievable.

I know I should be grateful that Danny held his tongue, but I'm not. If anything, the fact that he hasn't mentioned our past makes me even more nervous. Yes, people can change in a year, but not Danny and not that much.

I want to run out of the diner and never come back. Instead, I bite back the urge to mock Danny for using big words (enthralling was not in his vocabulary when we were together) and just tell everyone the trust.

"This is Daniel Alderman. We used to date."

I try to say it as though that would explain everything because, honestly, it should. The story of Danny Alderman is not exactly foreign to my friends, even if they had no idea what he looked like before.

Although, I should acknowledge the fact that Danny does look different. I mean, I almost didn't recognize him. While his brown eyes and freckles are the same, his hair most certainly was not sea green last time I checked. It was brown and not at all spiky, except for that one week he lost a bet and I had to dye it mustard yellow. Don't ask.

"Hold up," Jessica takes a step toward me, her brown eyes wide in shock. "This is the infamous Danny?"

"As in your ex-boyfriend, Danny?" Hector asks for unnecessary clarification and I can't help but to roll my eyes.

"I literally just said that we used to date. So yeah, he's my ex."

"So you've heard of me?" The smugness in Danny's voice is killing me, but I continue to play it cool.

"I may have mentioned you once or twice," I reply as nonchalantly as possible, throwing in a half-hearted shrug for good measure.

I have to admit; for someone who is desperate to sink into the floor and disappear, I am putting on a pretty good show. At least, I am until Marcus decides to open his big fat mouth and ruin everything. Seriously, that boy does not know when to stay silent.

"Once or twice!?" he screeches, causing me to wince. "Karmen talks about you all the time. I'm surprised you're not growing horns since she once called you Danny the Devil Spawn. Usually you're just evil ex-boyfriend Danny but sometimes you're Demon Danny or—!"

I clamp a hand over Marcus' mouth to shush him and laugh sheepishly. Danny laughs also, but more in a haha-you're-still-obsessed-with-me sort of way. Which, for the record, I'm not.

"Danny the Devil Spawn? That's new."

I'm really not sure how to respond to the fact that I've been exposed for comparing my ex-boyfriend to the devil behind his back, so I don't say anything regarding that. Instead, I turn everyone's attention back on Danny and the age-old question of what the heck he is doing here. I mean, what are the odds that out of every restaurant in New York, my ex-boyfriend just so happens to waltz through the doors of the one that I work at despite the fact that we don't even live in the same country anymore?

"Shouldn't you be in Ontario, like, a million miles not in New York?" I ask him.

"Actually Karma, I live here now."

I scoff, crossing my arms. "Since when?"

"Since I applied to a school in New York, got accepted to a school in New York, moved to New York so I could attend the school that I got accept to that is in New York..."

Wow. Two minutes into our conversation and he's already patronizing me. Why am I not surprised?

Even though Danny's explanation makes sense and he has no real reason to lie (unless he's, like, stalking me or something), I am still a little doubtful.

"Really, and what school did you apply to in New York that you got accepted to in New York so you had to move to New York to attend the school that you got accepted to that's in New York?"

Danny smiles brightly, his eyes gleaming. "AINY, Karma. I got into AINY. Can you believe it?"

No, actually I can't believe it. I swear my eyebrows shoot to the top of my forehead. Danny got into AINY, as in the Art Institute of New York. Otherwise known as his dream school.

It has only been Danny's lifelong dream to go there, only he never actually believed he would get in and swore he wouldn't bother to apply. I, on the other hand, always believed in him. As much as I despise Danny, I cannot deny the fact that he is an amazing artist. Like seriously, that boy can paint.

I feel like I should say something to him but, lucky for me, Lisa does first.

"AINY? So you're an artist?" she asks this with genuine curiosity and kindness. I want to tell her that she doesn't have to be nice to him, but that would sound mean and she probably wouldn't listen to me anyway.

"Yeah, kind of," Danny shrugs. I anticipate some sort of subject change right about now since he hates talking about his art. It's the only time he's ever modest about anything. "Why, are you?"

Lisa laughs. "Not really."

"No?" Danny smirks, turning on his charm. I know that look. It's the same look he gave me when we met for the first time. "You look like an artist."

Ugh. Gag me.

It's bad enough that my friends and ex-boyfriend unrealistically crossed paths. The fact that one of my friends is actually getting along with my ex-boyfriend is even worse. And now Danny is trying to hit on her?

It takes every last bit of strength I have left not to physically yank them apart.

Luckily, Hector doesn't have the self-control I barely have when it comes to his jealous boyfriend rage. He jumps between them, grabs Danny's hand, and proceeds to shake it a little too roughly while blurting out, "I'm Hector, Lisa's boyfriend."

Lisa stumbles backwards, surprised and clearly oblivious to what exactly is going on. Danny, on the other hand, doesn't miss a beat, responding with a suave, "Nice to meet you Hector Lisa's Boyfriend. I'm Danny Karmen's Ex."

Hector lets out a sound easily mistakable for a growl and Danny turns his attention back to me.

"Technically I'm not an AINY student yet. I got in, but I'm taking a year off to work for my dad."

Really? Danny working for his dad makes even less sense than him randomly wandering into the Electric Diner. Danny's dad, who I have never once heard Danny refer to as dad in the past, was unspoken of in the time we were together. I have never met him, Danny absolutely despises him, and even though Mr. Alderman does live in New York (I remember him sending Danny a postcard once), the thought of them reconciling seems entirely surreal. I search for any sort of sign that Danny is lying, but I can't seem to find one.

"Well that's..." I trail off, not really knowing where I was going with that sentence. That's great? I mean, I guess I'm sort of happy for him, but there's no way in heck that I'm actually going to tell him that.

"Congrats," Keith says, cutting in. It's the first thing he's said this entire time and I honestly could not be more grateful that he has chosen to speak now.

Keith and Lisa politely ask Danny more questions about his art (with Marcus interrupting every other sentence). I'm not sure whether they're doing this to save my butt or if they're actually interested in Danny, but I don't even care anymore at this point. Rather, I take the distraction as my opportunity to run to the cash register and get Danny's refund for the smoothie I tossed at him, hoping that he'll see no reason to stick around once he gets his money back.

Within a couple of minutes I find myself guiding Danny to the door, having successfully refunded him and rescued my friends from his captivating smirk. Or I rescued him from my friends' prying questions. It really depends on how you look at it.

"Your friends sure are chatty," Danny says as soon as we're out of earshot.

I shrug, opening the door to let him out. "They're people people, I guess."

"You're not a people person." Danny pauses in the doorframe, making sure to meet my eye. "You're not like them, Karma."

"You know nothing about them...and you know nothing about me," I nod my head at the door, gesturing at him to get out before I lose my mind. I'm already bitter about running into Danny in the first place. The last thing I need is him trying to tell my about myself. I think I know what kind of person I am, thank you very much.

Danny doesn't take the hint. Or maybe he just ignores it. Either way, he doesn't budge. "There's something different about you."

Well, yeah. I have superpowers now. I'm in the Electric Company. My mom is a Prankster. But Danny wouldn't understand any of it and I'm certainly not getting in line to explain it to him. That would require extending this conversation even further, and I was done talking to him before he even opened his mouth.

"There's something different about you too," I deadpan. "Your hair is green."

"Ha ha," Danny laughs sarcastically, although I'm not exactly sure why. His hair is literally sea green, a much more legitimate observation than whatever perceived differences he claims to see in me. "No, really, there's something about you. I'm not sure what it is just yet, but I'm going to figure it out."

"Good luck with that," I tell him, and a part of me means it. Especially since I'm never going to see him again. Hopefully. He does know where I work now though, so that might be a problem.

I gesture toward the door a second time but still Danny remains where he is, much to my dismay. What the heck else does he want? Is he waiting for me to shove him out the door or something? Because I can do that.

"It was good seeing you again," Danny says after a moment.

Oh. I don't reply. I would say it was good seeing him again as well, but that's a lie and he knows it. It has been awful seeing him and I never want to do this ever again.

Danny finally exits the diner and I lean against the closed glass door, shutting my eyes and letting out a loud sigh of relief. I didn't expect running into him again to be this hard but, as I said before, I didn't expect to run into him at all. Truth be told, I don't think anything could have prepared me for that.

"Karmen?"

I open my eyes and find Shock looking at me, concern all over his face.

"Are you okay?" he asks quietly. "Do you need to—?"

I cut him off by wrapping my arms around him, pulling him into a hug. He seems surprised at first, but quickly gets over it and hugs me back. I practically melt into his warm body, butterflies fluttering about inside of me and my spirits rising to the roof.

I really needed that hug.

When we finally break apart, Shock takes my hand and guides me back to the kitchen. As we walk, I turn my head briefly and swear I see Danny glaring at us through the window. However, when I look back a second time he is nowhere to be seen, so I'm sure I must have imagined it.

XOXO BETA