this time||lrh

chapter five

Hey! So the picture is of the Victoria Secret's model, Rosie Huntington-Whitley. I want her to be Felicity for this story, just because in the picture she looks kinda mean even though Rosie is gorgeous and an angel. Haha did you get that joke? No...okay. Enjoy the chapter!

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What I saw the next morning was something I didn't want to see, something I wish I could erase. Felicity leaned on the counter, hair in a messy bun with Luke's Nirvana shirt on. It reached the middle of her thighs. She was perfect. I could see why Luke was attracted to her physically. But she had an evil side, one he refused to see.

Well, if Luke could see the good in her, maybe I could too.

"Morning," I muttered. It was a start. I wasn't normally peppy, so this was the best I could do.

She looked at me warily, buttering a piece of toast. "Hey," she said in a surprised tone, like I was the crazy one. "Where are you off too."

"I'm working now," I answered. So far my tone was pleasant. Hopefully we could keep it that way. "At Mrs. Hood's diner."

She nodded and smiled. "Luke absolutely loves that place. It's funny I never went there when we were younger." I forced the bile down. She made it sound like we were old friends.

I stayed quiet, grabbing a water bottle out of the fridge.

"Alison, listen to me," she said pleadingly. I turned to see her looking anxious, even a little scared. Of what, I don't know. Maybe me. "I hope you can forget about all of the things that went down all throughout school."

"I could never forget." I said it plainly, not showing any emotion. She sighed, her body going slack. Oh my gosh, she was gonna cry! I did not want to see this. "But Luke likes...loves you." It sounded alien, not natural. "So I can forgive you, but I won't forget."

"Ali, you have no idea how that makes me feel." She stepped forward, arms slowly opening. I quickly side-stepped, making it look like I hadn't noticed the hug she was about to give me.

"I have to go to work." Her arms went straight down to her sides, the smile faltering. Good. I had wanted to see her hurt like this for so long. But somehow it wasn't enough.

*************

"You're not clumsy, are you," Mrs. Hood joked as she handed me my new Polo shirt with the diner logo on it. "You'll be waitressing and bussing tables with Christa."

It was just before opening at the diner, and everyone was sitting on the stools surrounding the counter. Frank would be calling out orders and controlling the cash register, Elvis would be cooking, ad Olive would be washing dishes as they came and went. I guess Joy kept her back there so the severity of her facial expressions wouldn't scare off costumers.

"No, I can definitely do this," I answered. Even though Joy was like a friend to me, I needed to prove that I was good for the job. Waitressing couldn't be that hard.

"Awesome," Joy said, moving to the front door and flipping the sign to say OPEN.

"Alright everyone, get to your stations!"

Waitressing was actually hard. Since it was the morning, customers were cranky and I got attitude from this girl with black hair with lots of makeup on her face. But I hung in there and kept working, giving people their coffee and scrambled eggs, taking orders to Elvis.

"Can you guys chill out on the dishes," Olive snapped from the sink. "You're killing me."

"It's not like we can stop the flow of loving customers, honey," Elvis said in his heavy accent. He must be from New York.

Olive 's face immediately softened, like Elvis calmed her. It was the first time I hadn't seen her so stressed out.

The next time I looked at the clock, it was eleven thirty, aka time for my break. I went out the back door and leaned on the brick wall. Joy's Diner stood on these rocks that overlooked the ocean. The water was a dark, cold blue. The waves were crashing harder than usual, and there was a biting breeze whipping around the building. Cigarette smoke drifted from somewhere I couldn't distinguish.

The only bad thing about being alone is that you're left to the sound of your echoing thoughts. You're left to face your guilt, your pain, your past. And in that moment, I remembered the last year of high school, leaning against that same wall at the back of Joy's Diner.

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2 years earlier...

"C'mom, love birds, quit being disgusting!" Ashton said lightly, pitching some sand at us. Calum was leaning up against me, the cold brick wall digging through my lightweight shirt. It was actually his, but I had tied it up in the back to make it fit. He pulled away from our good two minute kiss and smiled.

"Yeah, meanwhile we all have liquor on our breath and cigarette smoke on our clothes, and you're worried about me kissing my girlfriend," Calum joked. He had stolen two beer bottles from his house and we were all sharing. I failed the mention that the taste of alcohol made my throat burn and my head ache, but at the moment there had been things I wanted to forget. Like what I had seen yesterday when I broke into Luke's bedroom. Chills went down my back, making me shiver. "Cold?" Calum asked. Without waiting for an answer, he was already shrugging off his black jacket and draping it around my shoulders.

A long moment of silence lingered. Then Michael spoke up.

"Guys, you realize that after this--after high school--we have to fen for ourselves."

Calum scoffed, putting his arm around my shoulders. Funny how it didn't make me feel any better.

"Don't be so negative, Mikey."

"I'm not being negative, just realistic, " Michael explained. "What are we all gonna do after graduation?"

"I'm getting the hell out of here, that's for sure," Luke said, biting on his lower lip, a sign of agitation. "Who wants to spend the entire life in this dead beat town?"

"I don't want to go to college," Mikey said quietly. Ever since Michael had turned seventeen, his parents put every school application under his nose, urging him to go. "I love music too much."

"We all do, buddy," Ashton said, slapping a hand on Michael's back. He raised the green bottle of alcohol. "To 5 Seconds of Summer..." he then looked at me, "and friends."

"Here, here."

At that, bottles were passed around, stories that had been told million s of times before were swapped, and a pair of blue eyes lingered on me for a little too long. I looked up at Luke. His eyes said everything, even though his face was stern.

Please, don't tell anyone.

*************

"Are you just gonna stand there or get back to work?" a cold voice echoed through my ears. Olive was there, taking a long drag and stubbing it out in the sand with her combat boot.

"You should really work on your communication skills," I instantly blurted. I had no idea where that came from. It wasn't made to sound rude, but it sure came out that way. "I mean, why don't you like me?"

"I act this way to everyone," she spat. "Nothing makes you special, Alex."

I cleared my throat. "Alison."

"What?" She asked.

"My name is Alison," I ripped open the back door to get back in, then stopped short, looking back at Olive. "And you might wanna spray perfume. Joy hates the smell of smoke."

The last thing I saw before I disappeared inside was Olive grabbing her shirt and bringing it up to her nose to sniff.

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Helllooo. I hope you liked that short little flashback in this chapter. More of those will come, and I'm hoping the next flashback will be longer and in more detail. You are going to love the next chapter guys! Something very exciting happens. It's 12:45 am right now, so I'm gonna go. Bye!

~Bri