Nothing in Between

19

Talking to her friends had always been one of Clyde's most favorite things. Even when they were slightly younger, as freshmen in college, Clyde could not wait for the next time they could hang out together. She loved sharing her thoughts with them.

So when Clyde couldn't tell them about what had happened last night, it literally felt like something inside of her died. It was almost physically painful, especially with everything that was going on around her, to not mention a single moment of yesterday's events.

Somehow, though, Clyde mustered up enough energy to speak with them until the sun began to set. Maybe it was because she had actually missed them, even though it had only been a couple of days. There was definitely nothing wrong with that.

Clyde even watched as they walked out of the restaurant and got ready for their shift at the coffee shop. Well, Leo stared at the camera as Beatrice and Kate got ready, because he didn't have anything else to do today, which was quite a rare occurrence.

Unfortunately, they had to end the call before Kate and Beatrice left. They promptly said their goodbyes, which actually took an absurd amount of time. Clyde had a tiny smile on her face as she turned her phone off, happy that she was at least able to talk to them.

Her gaze went to her window, trying to get a peek of the sky through the blinds. Clyde's eyes widened when she realized how dark it had gotten. She knew that literal hours had passed, but she didn't really understand how long they stayed on the call.

She immediately rushed to put her glasses back on, realizing that she certainly couldn't nap anymore, or she would completely ruin her circadian rhythm. Clyde quickly charged her phone and sped to her door, frantically stepping out of her bedroom.

Now that Clyde didn't have anything else to do, she needed other things to occupy her mind or she would literally start panicking about Coffee again. She remembered that her old car had been in the garage for years, literally just sitting there and collecting dust.

It had broken a year before she left her hometown for New York, so it had definitely been there for a long, long time. And now that Clyde didn't have any other responsibilities, this would be the most perfect time to start fixing it, and get it working again.

Downstairs, her family was sitting in the living room with plates of food in their hands. It seemed like they had just begun eating, and they were happily talking among themselves without any distractions. Clyde rushed past them, walking to the door to the garage.

"Clyde, you need to eat," her dad said.

"Later. I'm gonna fix my old car."

And without even looking over her shoulder to glance at her parents, Clyde opened the door and stepped outside, gently pulling it closed behind her. She gaped at the state of the garage, rushing to her car, which was slightly protected with a thin cover.

She turned the single light on, immediately working to carefully pull the cover off. Clyde whistled faintly as she folded it up and briefly tossed it in some random corner, knowing she wasn't going to be using that again, and sighed once she was finished.

Clyde pressed her lips into a thin line and dusted her hands off. That was incredibly easy, and she wished that looking for Coffee was that way, too. Well, maybe Clyde wasn't used to things being difficult for her, and that was what made it so exhausting.

Honestly, she couldn't think of another thing that was almost as tiring as looking for Coffee. Maybe it was because Coffee was her cat, and she literally couldn't bear the thought of ever losing him, and that was why she didn't have the needed energy.

Whatever the reason was, it only made Clyde angrier at herself and everyone else.

She was so frustrated at herself for even allowing this to happen. It was so stupid, how Coffee had gone missing when he was at home. Clyde knew it was one thing to lose him while they were outside, but at home, the place he had lived in for his entire life?