Short stories and scrapped ideas

Caught in the mafia (1)

I take a deep breath and finish my shot of tequila and rum. I was at a bar with some of my closer friends. We were celebrating one of their birthdays and surprisingly they were getting wasted and not me. I was lost in my own thoughts. It felt nice not being the drunk one, especially with my drinking addiction. Although I was pretty good about it on a work night. Maybe that's why I wasn't drunk. No one had bothered us either since we were in our own section of the bar. I was still lost in thought when I heard my friend.

"Cami, come on let's go!" She called out, grabbing her purse ready to leave with the other.

"Yeah, yeah, hold on." I replied back, finishing up my shot.

"Cami!" A different friend yelled.

"I'm coming!" I yelled back, adjusting the straps of my dress and tidying up my shot glasses, then quickly walking towards them.

"You're so slow." Someone joked. I thought about insulting them but I just left it. We walked out of the bar, at least half the group was drunk.

"Where's Emery? He'll probably need to drive." I say as we walk towards our cars. Emery is my best friend. He is 29 while I'm 24 but we don't mind the age gap. Emery has grayish green eyes with short red dyed hair. He is 5'1 and works as a lawyer, so he's a pretty social person like me. I love to mess with the fact that he's older yet I'm 5'5 and he's only 5'1 but he always has an awesome comeback. Not to mention how hard he can roast people.

"I'm right here." Emery said, stumbling a little. I put my hand on his shoulder, he was definitely tipsy, He couldn't walk in a proper line.

"I'll drive." I say getting in the drivers side. Emery got in the passengers side and our other friends got in the back. It was strange being the one to drive, I was normally the one who got absolutely wasted. I started the car and drove off. My friends in the back talked and laughed. I glanced over at Emery, he was quiet and had gotten slightly drunk. Emery sat next to me staring out the window, his breath was slowed but heavy.

"You okay?" I ask him.

"I just miss her. Her birthday's coming up and it's already been a decade. She'll be thirty this year." He laughed slightly, going back to being quiet. I could see the pain in his eyes, he definitely wanted to curl up and cry like every year.

"I know. At least we still have each other. I bet she'd be happy knowing her brother and boyfriend became close friends after her death." I pat his head trying to comfort him.

"Ha, well you dress like a girl. People would think you'd be her sister rather than a brother." Emery sighed with a small smile. I smiled at him. Emery was probably the only thing that was keeping me going.

"What can I say, I get to be pretty and confuse people at the same time. I get to be a pretty boy~." I say with a grin, Then it fades. "What do you think your guy's wedding would have been?" Emery's smile faded and his eyes dulled as well, I knew I hit a hard spot.

"I don't... i don't know" Emery took a deep breath as a few tears fell down his face but he quickly wiped them away. "She was so kind to everyone and everything and I- I really miss Addison. She was perfect, she never did anything wrong. Why? Why did she have to die? Why did she have to be taken away from us?" He said as his voice cracked a bit. He had told a few friends when he was going to propose and it was the night of her death. That night everything fell apart for him, and me. Emery tried to kill himself but I stopped him.

"We can't choose who lives and who dies." I Whisper then rub his hair messing it up.

"What about you? Have you found a boyfriend you little twink?" He says, wiping off the rest of his tears.

"Haha, funny slur, call me a Twinkie at that point" I laugh then say. "I haven't found one. I probably won't for a while, y'know with my job and all the... other stuff that goes on inside my head."

"Okay Twinkie." He elbows me, making us both laugh. I glance towards the back. Our friends were still talking about whatever and had tuned us out. I turned back to the road and some time passed. I dropped everyone off and drove home, it was already midnight when I got home myself. I plop down on my bed sighing.

"Ten years..."
"Ten..."

I take a deep breath and get up, getting ready for bed. Addison was my older sister, she was kind to everyone, even if they didn't deserve it. She had medium hair with beautifully dyed purple fading to white, her natural hair being brown like mine. She had green eyes and a huge soft spot for children. She was literally a god on earth. She was precious to everyone she met. I start to cry thinking about her. Emery and I missed her so much. We missed her...

Gasp!

I sat up in my bed quickly, breathing heavily. I look over to my alarm, 7:00 a.m.

"Fucking hell, that damn dream." I take a deep breath and get out of bed, getting ready for the day. I was a waitress and my work started at 8:30 a.m. My boss didn't mind that I dressed like a girl, it did get us more customers, not to mention my boss is gay. He loves people who cross dress, he loves the chaos it creates and so do I. I got on a skort, polo shirt and put on some bracelets as well as grabbed my bag. We didn't have a strict dress code, as long as it looked nice and not too many accessories. Everyone at my job, The Quiet Cafe, was basically a family. We all had something in common and got along very well and our teamwork was excellent.

8:00 a.m.

I normally walked to work since it was close and I also just liked walking. I didn't have any trouble with exercise and to be honest I was a fast runner. Back in school I was known for jumping fences and climbing tall places or trees with ease. Even though I wasn't in any sports I was basically an athletic kid. I finish up my makeup and walk out of my apartment complex. The morning was cold and dewy, I didn't mind it though. It felt nice and dewy mornings always calm people down. It was already turning into my favorite season, autumn. My walk only took 15 minutes as I entered the shop. A little ring came from the bell stationed at the door.

"Yo, caesar! Caesar salad, what up dude?" I giggle, his last name wasn't salad, everyone just liked to joke that it was. Caesar is tall, has brown hair and has gray eyes.

"Oh? Hello cami! Nothing much, I'm just getting the shop ready for opening. I got some new flowers in though." He was fixing up some flowers and a vase as I put my things in my locker and started to set up.

"Ooo, that's always exciting, what type are they?" I call back to him curiously.

"It's a combo of roses... it basically has whatever a bouquet has." I walk over to him and lean over his shoulder a little to see the flowers.

"Hah, that's right. You don't know many flowers. Well I see tulips, hydrangeas, roses and some lavenders." I pat his back before helping him put the flowers into the vase. He looked at me laughing a little.

"Wow, how do you know so many flowers?" He questioned.

"My sister wanted to be a herbalist when we were younger." I sigh recalling certain memories. My sister loved collecting flowers and herbs, I loved helping her.

"That's pretty cool, well, I'm going to go set some more things up." I nod to him as we both walk away. I stretch out a little putting up some signs as a few more coworkers come in. There was Cyrille Pierre, he was from France, had short and short dirty blonde hair with blue eyes. He was also married to Caesar. Cheryl Santiago, she was a short plump black girl with an alternative style. Cheryl had natural brown hair but dyed it all sorts of colors and wore lots of bracelets and beads. She's a very colorful person and it fits her colorful personality and sometimes her colorful language. Cheryl is also a polyamorous and has two great non-binary partners, paint and jay. And lastly, Seong Jung-hee, a lovely Korean girl. She wears modest clothing and is shy but has talent. She's very good at calming people down as she has a very smooth voice. Her voice is almost something that can make people fall asleep.

Overall my life is good, however I can get caught up in sometimes.