Ocean State of Mind

Jealousy, Jealousy

I woke up the next morning and rolled over onto Ej's side, hoping to nuzzle myself in his arms, but when I did... I rolled into nothing... again. Sighing, I got up and my my way towards our bathroom to get ready for the day. I changed into my uniform, packed my bag for later and then walked into the kitchen to find Ej hunched over his laptop with a piece of toast in his mouth.

"Well it looks like someone's been working hard." I said kissing the top of his head. "Oh, hey! Yeah, I just have a ton of work since I just got my first big case! Isn't that great?" He asked me, excitedly. I wanted to say I was excited, but the bigger part of me felt disappointed. Don't get me wrong... I'm thrilled that he gets to work on his first big case, but that means I'll be alone a lot more. I really can't decide if I should be happy or sad about that.

"Ni... NINI!" Ej shouted, snapping his finger in front of me. I blinked a couple of times and knot my eyebrows together, looking up at him. "Sorry, what?" I asked, confused. Ej sighed. "I asked if you going to answer me? You've been out of it for like a minute now." I shook my head and said "oh right! Sorry, my bad! That's great, babe! I've gotta head out the work! Should I expect you home for dinner?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, I'm so sorry! I have all this work and-" Ej began but I cut him off. "No don't worry about it! I'll see you later!" I said as I grabbed my keys, making my way out the door. "Can I have a goodbye kiss?" He asked as he puckered his lips. "Fine..." I said sarcastically giving Ej a quick peck before I walked out to my car.

I pulled up to the cafe 10 minutes later and walked in to find Gina sitting at the counter with Lynne fiddling with the cash register. "Hey Lynne, Gina!" I said when I put my bag underneath the counter and grabbed my apron. "Did you get a power outage?" Gina asked me as I sat down next to her with a cup of coffee in my hands. "Yeah, I freaked out but Ricky fixed it." I said, smiling. "The same thing happened here! Thank god for that boy because I wouldn't know how to fix any of that by myself." The older brunette said as Gina and I exchanged glances. "I'm kidding girls! I know how to, but Ricky loves doing all of that stuff so I let the boy have a bit of fun, although it seemed like he was having too much fun on his way back from your house." Lynne sighed.

"Gi! You said he was fine!" I exclaimed, glaring at her. Meanwhile Gina and Lynne were laughing. "What?" I asked confused. "Oh, it's nothing, dear. I'm sure you'll figure it out later." Lynne said elusively before going back to sorting out the money. "Okay then... so is Ricky alright?" I asked, looking at the clock. It was only six-forty five so I guess I rushed out of the house pretty quickly. "Yeah, he'll be just fine! His legs just got a bit banged up, that's all! He's actually crashing up in the loft space right now. "Oh I see" I said, before pausing and knitting my eyebrows together. "Wait, that's a loft? I thought that was just a storage place?" I asked. There was a door that held a staircase in the back of the cafe, but I've never gone up there, always just assuming it was an attic or something. "Ricky crashes up there sometimes. He goes home a lot, but sometimes he'll fall asleep up there or he'll stay there if he's too tired to drive." Lynne chuckled. "Nice..." I said.

"So Neens, about Ricky-" Gina began, but she was cut off by the door chiming. A man walked into the cafe wearing a ski mask over his face, along with a duffel bag. It didn't take me too long to figure out what he wanted. "Hello there, how may I help you?" Lynne asked, calmly.

How can she be so calm in the middle of a damn robbery?!

I gripped onto Gina's hand. "I want everything in the register." The man said. Lynne nodded and slowly opened the cash register, keeping a still face. I was frozen as I watched the interaction in front of me. Then the guy turned his head and looked straight at me. I gulped, and my grip on Gina got even tighter. "Well it seems like the prettiest girls are always the ones who scare the easiest" The man said walking over to me. "Hey we're giving you money alright? Don't creep out the poor girl" Gina growled and the man just rolled his eyes. "Does it seem like I care?" He asked, then walked over to me. He took his hand snaked it around my waist yanking me out of Gina's grip and into his chest.