My Life: Congrats, You Lost Me

Chapter 1 - The Early Morning

***April 10th***

"Allan? What are you doing here this early," I mumble, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"You didn't stop over at the diner last night, I wasn't sure if something was going on with you," Allan says his face revealing his relief. Allan was one of my only friends that stuck around longer than a year, in fact, longer than 10 years. He works at the Carlisle restaurant, the most rundown restaurant in all of Ohio.

"Sorry, after work I got a call from my mom screaming at me to get home or she would kick me out, I didn't really get the chance," I say, now wide awake.

Allan makes a face and wraps his arm around my shoulder. "I get it, I just wanted to make sure nothing happened, I just w-"

"Stop Allan," I say, cutting him off with a smirk and ducking out from under his arm. "You say this all the time, I get it, you worry about me since you know what's going on. Trust me, I'll be alright here." I shake my head and move from the doorway, motioning him inside.

"I guess you're right, but let me know if something happens, okay?"

"Fine. You're never gonna let this go are you?" I ask, already knowing his answer.

"Nope," he says with a broad smile. We both break into silenced laughs and I glance at the clock, 4:57 on a Friday morning, the worst day of the week.

"I'm gonna go make some coffee, you want anything?"

"I'll just have a cup, I ate a muffin in the car."

"I'll be right back, don't be too loud and wake up my mom. She probably ended up with a hangover, she was out until 2 last night, new personal record." He stifles a laugh and I duck out of the main room of our little 4 room apartment. I put the coffee on and turn around to see my bug-eyed little sister, Rebecca, standing behind me rubbing her eyes.

"Jess, why is Allan in the living room?" She is 9 years old, almost 10, old enough to understand what goes on around the house and "Are you okay sissy?"

"I'm fine Becks, go back to bed, it's too early for you to be up. I'll wake you up when you need to get ready for school."

"Okay Jess, goodnight."

"Goodnight sis, I love you."She was gone by then, back into our room and back to sleep. The coffee was done so I grabbed a couple of the styrofoam cups from the counter and filled them up before popping the lid on them so they don't spill. I walk back into the main room to find Becca sitting next to Allan. "What, so I wasn't invited to the party out here," I say jokingly.

Becca laughs and runs off to our room, leaving Allan and I to ourselves. "So what were you two girls chatting about out here," I ask with a smile, handing him his coffee.

"You, she was asking if you were alright, or if something was wrong."

"Ah, she knows that I tell you stuff already. I guess that's not such a bad thing though."

"I didn't tell her anything though, I figured that if you didn't tell her something, you didn't want her to know." I just nod and take a sip of my coffee. "So how's work going?"

"Which work?"

"The normal one, the one at the library."

"Oh it's going good, I'm able to sneak away and read some of the books whenever I finish arranging the books. I never get very far before I'm called on to do something more though."

"Of course you would get a job at a library so you could read, not just because it pays well and hires you at 15 - which quite a few places around here do now - but that's not my business." He takes a sip of his coffee and almost spills it on himself when I punch him in the arm. He feigns hurt and elbows me in the side, making me squeal. I clamp a hand over my mouth and flick my eyes over to my mom's door. "Sorry."