The Art Of Falling In Love Again

As the leaves turn brown

word count: 7k
A/n: this chapter is my favorite one so far. also,,, we have entered into the time of the book where the chapters are getting longer. Like...really long. Everyone say thank you to my sister, for giving me this idea in the first place.

As the year went on, your load got lighter. Your schedule was starting to get easier, and you were finally getting comfortable with your new adjustments. Time was moving forward, the leaves were starting to turn, and as you entered the back half of October, the beautiful fall weather was finally back.

You took a deep breath as you stumbled into work, a strange smile plastered on your mouth.

"A smile? That's unusual." Porco commented as you entered the break room. "What happened, you finally land a boyfriend or something?"

"Haha, very funny." You rolled your eyes as you began to tie on your apron. "No, I'm not happy because I 'landed a boyfriend'. Besides, it's not like you're just rolling in women, Pock. Who are you to say anything about my love life?"

"Whatever." He muttered as he returned to his business and made his way back out to the restaurant, resuming his shift.

He always got quite annoyed when you used that nickname. It was something your co-worker had come up with a while ago, before you had even come into the picture. His irritation caused your smile to become even wider.

As you made your way out to the restaurant, you noticed that you had caught Zeke's eye.

"You look happy today. What happened?" He asked.

His back was leaned against the bar, while he cleaned a glass with the cloth.

"That's what I said." Porco chimed in as he grabbed a bottle from the top shelf.

"God, is it that noticeable?" A breathy chuckle escaped your lips as you entered the bar area and used the sink to wash your hands.

"Yes it is, now spit it out." Pieck's voice could be heard as she fixed her uniform and took a seat at the bar.

"Okay okay, I will." You laughed as you mockingly set your hands in the air, as if you were just caught.

This was your favorite shift, your favorite schedule of employees. Porco was a bartender, and the best one the restaurant had. He was an ass sometimes, but he was fun to be around. Then you had Pieck, she was a fellow server. She was great at what she did. She always seemed to lighten the mood wherever she went. And lastly Zeke. He was a shift manager, but whenever he could, he worked as a bartender with Porco. He made sure everything was under control, but he wasn't strict. Not to mention, he was great if either you or Pieck ran into a problem with one of the customers, the male ones specifically. This was the core four, the dream team as you'd sometimes call it.

You grabbed the hand towel, and leaned against the sink as you dried your hands off.

"It's fall time."

"That's it?" Porco annoyingly asked.

"You know what, I'm just about sick of you." You started to chuckle as you threw the towel at him.

Your actions resulted in him defending himself by scrunching his arms into his body, and letting his forearms absorb the towel as he snickered.

"It's fall. The weather is cold out, and you guys know how I am about my cold weather."

"Oh trust me, we know." Zeke slightly laughed.

"I took a walk today, without dying of a heatstroke."

"The weather is quite nice out today." Pieck added.

"See, this is why Pieck's my favorite. She understands the cold weather." You smiled.