Silver Eyes

Trust

I woke up Saturday morning on the couch. The TV was still on, so apparently my mom hadn't gotten home. I stretched my limbs out as far as they'd go with a glance at the time on my phone to see it was still pretty early, before I rolled off the couch and flicked the TV off. I moved like a shadow from the pale light that bathed the white lounge to the darkness of my bedroom to get changed.

My mom didn't end up getting home until after I broke down and made myself a greasy breakfast with eggs, toast, and sausage. I had to cut the moldy corners off the last heel of bread and the sausages were pretty old so I made sure to fry them really well. Our fridge was practically empty after I tossed the empty egg carton and I ended up turning the TV back on because the silence of the apartment was getting to me.

"Hey, honey, I'm sorry I left you home alone so long." My mom called from the door, her voice echoing in our apartment as if it was empty.

"Oh, it's okay, mom." I called, spinning away from my third episode of Charmed that I had been watching since I started eating.

"Smells like you made yourself a breakfast!" She announced cheerfully, her keen blue eyes searching in vain for the dirty pans and silverware. "And you did your dishes." She added sounding impressed.

"I just put them in the dishwasher. I always do..." I confirmed blankly.

"So, I thought we'd go out somewhere today. It's so nice out!" she called as she walked past the lounge to her room. She was wearing the same dress she wore the night before only she was wearing a black leather coat over it. Johnny must've lent it to her because it was too big in the shoulders and she looked boxy in it. Her hair was smooth and shiny and she was wearing no make-up like she had taken a shower. She looked so different to me without makeup and I had turned myself away from the end of my show to watch her. "We could go out for lunch. I don't know if you're hungry after your breakfast. I'm starving and there's no food in the house. I'll have to go shopping later." She added to herself.

"I'm cool with that. Where do you wanna go?" I questioned her, after muting the commercials.

"Uhh," I heard her muffled voice from behind her bedroom door that she half-closed to get dressed, "how about that little café downtown?" she called.

"The one with the funky drinks?" I asked as I remembered the colorful little café.

"Yeah," she answered as she stepped into her doorframe and tossed her blond hair over one shoulder. She had changed into some jeans and a short sundress that she wore as a shirt. I looked down at what I was wearing to see all black and it hit me how different we dressed. She was all sunny and flowy like a hippie while I was always wearing black like a goth. For some reason, I always gravitated towards black and my mom told me once that when a girl chooses to wear black she's trying to look more sophisticated. It was something she read in a magazine and I remembered the part she didn't tell me was that it also made women feel sexy. "Do you wanna get goin'?" She hummed with a close-lipped smile and her fists pressed to her hourglass hips. I turned the TV and got up with a smile in answer and she strode over to scoop the keys out of the sun-shaped glass dish by the door in finality.

The sun hit the car as we drove out from behind the abnormally black shadow of the building and down the unusually empty weekend streets. When my mom had finished parallel parking a few cars away from the café, we got out into the blinding sun and headed down the dirty sidewalk towards the smell of coffee. There were about nine tables outside and a few inside the cramped café. As we stood in line, I gazed up at the bright blue ceiling and the orangey walls that had drawn us to the place. It had modern style lights and the counter was a unique, swerving shape. The contemporary atmosphere was popular in the city and it made me think about all the places that had come and gone. Many of the unique little cafés went out of style like a flame and were replaced by something new before you knew it. There weren't many places that stood the test of time.