Wiccan Act One: Occult

9 | Broken Pieces

Veronica

IX

The diner emptied quickly, everyone running away scared or to gossip about the news. Rowan had been the only person remaining, sitting in the same spot her brother left him in for the past three hours.

Needless to say, she wanted him gone. No offense to him in any way, it's just that if he went home, they could clean up and she and Austin can watch cartoons or something on the TV. Speaking of, why did they show that on a news broadcast, if you asked her, they did it to cause panic. Why not make a statement or at the very least not showcase images of a dead body to the thousands of people in their town.

She had found herself sitting at the counter, twisting around in one of the cheap stools, staring at Rowan curiously.

"You can stop staring," he said. She darted away, pretending to be amused by the lights hanging from the ceiling. After all, the place wasn't so bad once you got past the fake blood, vomit and grease stains.

"I wasn't staring."

"You were totally staring. It's okay, I know I have that effect on people."

"Even if, I bet nobody sticks around when you open that mouth of yours," she shot out. He shut up, taken aback by her response.

How do girls like guys like that? So arrogant and insensitive.

After a moment, she broke the silence, not wanting to be the girl that made the boy with a missing sister cry.

"I was wondering why you're still here. Everyone else is long gone."

Rowan shrugged, turning to face the window. He was by far tiny in comparison, its glass taking up half the wall while he occupied a fraction of the space towards the end.

"I don't know, not like anyone was waiting for me at home right now."

"Hellooo." A voice interrupted.

Austin snapped his thumbs standing next to her impatiently with a tray of dirty plates stacked painfully in his right arm.

"Have your date night on another shift. We have to close up," he said.

Veronica scoffed, rolling her eyes. As if she would entertain Christian's dumb friends.

"Date night? Really, Austin?" She smacked him, feeling a twinge of guilt when he struggled to control the plates from falling.

The diner lucked out when they found Austin. He was basically a vampire, tall, pale, with gorgeous blue eyes that hypnotize you and oily slicked back hair dripping with black gel. He and Rowan had that in common. Working with him easily becomes a pain for all the cheerleaders that come in to lean their boobs over the counter to grab his attention.

"What? He was totally into it, didn't you see him doing that goofy smile?"

He paused for a second.

"Also he's hot."

"Ew no he's not. He's one of Christian's friends."

"Just saying. It would be a step up from the last guy. Which would be easy since your ass has dated no one." He teased her. You let it slip one time that you have never dated anyone over a bottle of vodka and suddenly you can't live it down.

Veronica held the kitchen door open so he could put down the plates next to the sink, following behind him as he made his way back out.

"While you're at it, put in a good word for me to your brother," he smirked.