The Struggle Of Our Lives

Chapter 16, continued.

I turned back to the fridge to grab the lemon-lime simple syrup.

I took out a tall glass from the cupboard and filled it with ice. Then, poured an ounce of gin, rum, vodka, sweat and sour syrup and tequila into the cup.

Once everything was poured, I added an ounce of Sprite into the glass and slid it to the man. He thanked me and I took out my notepad to keep track of how much he owed me.

"Miss!" A woman called. I spun around to see my favorite customer walk in, going down the stairs to the bar.

"Hi, Andrea! How you been?" I asked. She sat down at a free stool right in front of me and we began chatting. Every once in a while I would turn around to check on other customers.

"Hey Miss." The man from earlier called. "Yes?" I pivoted to look at him. "Can I get me a bottle to go?" He asked.

"Sure, whaddya want?" I replied.

"That bottle of Jack there." He pointed to a bottle on a shelf behind me and I reached up to grab it, then a large brown paper bag to carry it in.

I placed the bottle in the paper and handed it off to him.

"How much I owe ya?" He asked. I quickly flipped my small notepad out of my apron and looked at what he had ordered so far and added up the total in my head.

"So the bottle is $30, and the drinks here add up to about $57." I began. "Will that be cash or card?"

He rummaged through his denim jacket pocket for a moment before pulling out a bill. "Cash."

I took the paper in my hand, and upon closer inspection, saw it was a $100 bill.

"Want me to break change for you?" I asked politely, as he was a nice man I'd known for a few weeks now.

"Nah, keep the change." He replied, putting on a black beanie and flipped up his hood. I thanked him ecstatically and wished him a good night.

Suddenly, I got a text, so I quickly reached into my jeans pocket and took out my phone.

New Message From ❤️Lotte❤️

I'm a little late for my period.

———-

I finally finished my shift and thanked Adam and Amelia for helping me out, then grabbed my things from the back and walked up to the front desk to say goodbye to Ava.

I hugged her as always, and flipped the OPEN sign the other way on my way out the door.

I walked through the streets and got to the corner where the bus usually stopped. I looked both ways before crossing the street, as it had become a routine, and walked to the spot the twins and I met after there school day.

The area was under a large oak tree that had huge branches and an even bigger trunk. It looked to be several decades old, and had the initials of names carved into the tree.

They looked to be anywhere from one day to several years old. I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Tedd and Lotte calling me.

They had just gotten out of school, and looked thankful to see me. They ran up to me and we hugged, then we walked back across the street and got on our usual bus once it came.

——
"Hey Lotte?" I asked. She was sitting next to me on the bus and had her backpack on her lap per usual. "Yeah?"

"What's up with your period?" I continued. Since I raised my siblings, I never bothered to try and convince them there were parts of their health that were "dirty" or "unclean" like a monthly.

"I don't know." She began fidgeting with her fingers as she thought. "My stomach has been really hurting for about a week now, and I thought It'd be my period, but I haven't had it."

I listened intently to her and thought up any explanations.

"Well, when I was your age, my periods didn't come when they were supposed to." I said. "Maybe you're just not ready this month."

She nodded and thought for a moment before asking a question.

"Have you ever not had a period for a month or so?"

I nodded. "Yeah. The first 3 or 4 years a girl has periods, they are nowhere near regular, and often have a variety of pain levels and lengths in cycles."

I laughed for a moment before continuing, "I once had a period last 11 days, and I didn't have a period the next month! It was crazy!"

We laughed again and she agreed.

"I guess it's nothing."

"What do you mean?" I asked. The blood drained from her face and she looked much paler. "Charlotte, are you ok? You know you can tell me anything right?" I asked.

She stared off in space, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks.

Before I could say anything else, the bus stopped and I realized we were at home. I grabbed hold of Char's backpack and put it on so I could hold her hand as we exited the bus.

I thanked the driver and as he drove away, I turned back to Lotte.

"What happened?" I asked.

She continued crying, hiccuping every once in a while, and looked as if she was trying to speak, but the words wouldn't come out.

Suddenly it clicked.

Teddy held onto Lotte's shoulders and shook her gently.

"Snap out of it!" He cried. Ever since they were kids, the twins seemed to have complete understanding of each other's emotions, feeling each others pain and happiness.

But this time, Tedd didn't understand. He couldn't feel it. He looked scared as he shook our sister, trying to grab her attention long enough for him to look into her eyes and know what she was thinking.

She looked like a zombie. Completely devastated to the point where she couldn't move.