You Know Me

10| What's So Funny?

The drive through Stella's hometown calms my nerves only partially. Nothing catches my eye on the streets from me avoiding the windows. I stare at my hands in silence, my mind racing, and my eyes tracing every line on the surface and scar underneath, hoping that I won't see Dave jumping through the small spacing between my fingers. Stella and Peyton stay chatting, catching up on everything that they have seemed to miss in each other's lives since their last departure. From what I've caught on, Peyton hasn't left their hometown and only leaves her family home to see her boyfriend.

"Yeah, but he's thinking about going back to college," Peyton says to Stella with a groan as she pulls into a graveled looking parking lot. "Not far though," she retaliates, but only seems to be trying to assure herself.

The sign on the small tin building reads The Old Woman Cafè and makes me second guess Stella's choice of food. Some of the tin on the building is rusted but thinking hard enough about it, it is probably meant to be that way hence the name.

"Coming?" Stella asks me for the second time in the last 30 minutes of our arrival to Colorado. I break my gaze from the tin building and realize that she and Peyton are already standing outside of the car, waiting on me.

I give a nod as I open the door and trudge toward their side, only barely fitting on the small sidewalk that's lined perfectly against the old building. People need to start making wider sidewalks, I mean come on, how am I supposed to keep myself from walking in the back? I never walk caboose.

The door to the small restaurant opens with a ding from above and inside are teens at least our age. I guess this is Colorado's huddle house or hotspot for the younger. Every town has one, and it's questionable, to say the least, as to why this would be considered a hotspot. I follow behind Stella and Peyton—even me hating being last— to a small booth located in the very back corner of the small building. Now that I look around, it's built to look like a barn which could explain the tin on the outside. If I hear a chicken from the back, I might lose my shit.

"This is my absolute favorite place ever!" Stella says as she sits across from me. "I've been yearning for it since Christmas!"

Instead of talking to Stella, I stare down at the paper menu in front of me, reading off the options that have a different person's name in front of each item. Rosie's pot roast, Donna's dumplings. It all sounds stupid to me but I guess I can't knock it until I try it.

"You don't talk much do you?" Peyton asks me, making me look up from the weirdly named food selections.

"She's just... shy," Stella answers for me as if I'm not sitting here with them. I'm not fucking shy.

"Yep, I'm shy," I shrug with a menacing grin. Labeling myself as shy is a lot better than the many other things that I could call myself, plus no one knows me here and it wouldn't hurt for them to have a different impression of me.

"Well, don't be! A friend of Stella's is always a friend of mine," Peyton says with a smile. "I'm sure you'll like our other friends here too!"

Not likely.

After ordering our drinks I finally decide on Sarah's hamburger steak, hoping that it will be good since it has three stars beside it.

"That's named after Sarah!" Stella giggles.

I figured that much.

"Who's Sarah?" I ask as I take a sip of my root beer.

"My friend! That's where we're staying at! Sarah's! I've told you this a thousand times," she notes as she tears the paper that was wrapped around her straw into pieces.