Wholesome

Chapter 03 >>>

03 >>>

Time was a tantalizing concept.

Sometimes it could surge forward like a tsunami wave that left behind mass destruction in a matter of sweeping seconds. Other times, it could drag behind you, kicking and screaming to keep you from advancing onward.

Today was one of the latter days; it seemed like the clock was doing everything in its power to slow down its minute and hour hands.

"Where's your boyfriend?"

One of the many downsides of Bishop's insistence on wearing down my personal bubble was that other people were beginning to see that I wouldn't literally bludgeon them to death if they dared to approach me. Ever since Bishop started joining me at my table, people in the rest of the coffee shop began making pit stops as well. By 'people', I mainly meant Freddy, the cashier who apparently could leave his place behind the register at any time to come bother me at my table.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied in a dull voice. My eyes flitted towards the clock again. "I don't have a boyfriend."

"I'm sure Bishop wouldn't be too happy to hear that."

"Well it's a good thing he's not here then, so he won't have to," I snapped.

Freddy snickered. "Aw, wittle Mary misses her boyfwiend," he cooed. He reached out as if to pinch my cheek, but seemed to realize at the last minute how that would strongly go against his plans of living a long and prosperous life. He hastily pulled his hand back towards himself, awkwardly making a show of scratching his nose instead. I resisted the urge to smirk; I still had it.

"It's Maribel. Shouldn't you be over there counting coins or something?"

"Hey, I'm just-" the second half of his words were interrupted by the sound of jingling bells as somebody stepped through the front door. Almost instinctively, I turned to see who it was, only to be disappointed when I was greeted with the sight of a middle-aged woman in a business suit rather than one of the spirited young man I was looking for.

By the time that I had turned back around, Freddy was already gone from my side. As much as he annoyed me at times, I had to admit that Freddy was good at his job. Now that I thought about it, he was here every time I was-which was all day, every day. There were other workers in the coffee shop helping out of course, mostly high school and college students looking for some easy cash, but it was always Freddy who loyally stood behind that cash register.

I sighed and shook my head in an attempt to clear my thoughts. What did Freddy matter, anyways? It wasn't until last week when Bishop mentioned it in passing that I had bothered to learn Freddy's last name. He was irrelevant to my life and was even more annoying than Bishop due to his lack of filter. At least Bishop knew when to back off. In fact, it was quite uncanny how he knew when exactly to change the subject or return working. It was almost like he had a sensor implanted in his brain that went off whenever I was uncomfortable with a topic.

It had only been a week since Bishop had first approached me at this very table. Since then, he had occupied the seat across from me every single day from two to four in the afternoon without fail. That is, until today.

It was now 4:30 and the seat across from me was still empty.

There was a coiled sensation in my stomach that made me antsy. I couldn't stop shaking my leg, a reappearance of a nasty habit that I thought I had conquered by now. Every time I heard the door open, I found myself crinking my neck from turning around so quickly.

What was this? Unease from yet another disruption of a pattern I had just barely settled into? Or was it disappointment? I shuddered at the latter possibility.