Come Wake Me Up *A Louis Tomlinson Fanfiction*

Chapter 1- Strangers in Shadows

Hazel's POV

 "Good morning, bloody cow," I muttered, groping around on the wall for the light switch. As always, the sun hadn't even begun to rise when I arrived at work. The taunting of the ugly cow clock by the store door, the blind search for the light switch, it was all part of my "unique" morning routine.

For the last year, I've been working part-time at Moolicious, a small ice cream parlor by the boardwalk. Last summer was the worst of my entire life, with the few friends I have going to college and moving away from our tiny beach town in southern California. Since ice cream is the answer to all heartbreaks and losses, I ended up at the quaint shop more times than was probably good for my figure. Candice, or Candy as we lovingly call her, noticed me drowning my sorrows in a bowl of triple marshmallow delight and asked if I wanted to work there. I agreed, and ever since I've been the only employee here other than Logan and Candice herself.

Finally finding the panel, I switched on the light to reveal the old-fashioned parlor around me, with pastel booths, way too much cow decor for anyone under seventy, and a never-weakening smell of sugar, spice, and everything nice. The many glass windows making up the walls of the shop showed only darkness outside.

Although I love Candice for giving me a job as well as being there for me, I never understood why she had me working a shift that starts at 6 in the freaking morning. Seriously, who on Earth even considers going out for ice cream when you could be sleeping. You couldn't pay me to get up that early for ice cream, no matter how good it is. Oh... nevermind. 

Shrugging off my grey hoodie, I trudged into the back room which was mostly dominated by a huge freezer. Candy had furnished the employee's rest area, or "The Hood", with a cream colored L-shaped sofa, a low table, and our most-prized posession: Betsy, the ancient but trusty coffee maker. By habit, I started her up and brewed a pot of the blackest coffee. Good ol' Betsy was pretty much the only reason we even used the back room, other than hanging up jackets on the coat-rack by the door.

I stood by the rack, taking in deep breaths of the comforting smell of brewing coffee and looked into the antique-looking mirror hanging on the back of the door. Since I'm not much of a morning person, my look usually consists of the uniform creamy beige button-up shirt and tan shorts or capris, depending on the weather.  Today was definitely a shorts day. Summer was just beginning, but here in Cali it's over 90 degrees seven months a year.

Getting up this morning to bike the two and a half miles to work, I had thrown my long, light brown, wavy hair into a messy ponytail and brushed on some mascara and lip gloss. I had no reason to look good and had no one to impress, so that what my routine most of the time. My features were plain: hazel eyes that I had been named for, dirty blonde hair, freckles, slight tan year round, and fairly full lips. Nothing made me stand out, nothing made me special or one-of-a-kind, but I simply didn't care anymore. Still though, I did look somewhat unprofessional for someone on the job. Not that anyone would notice, seeing as I've never had a customer between six and about eight in the morning. Candy wouldn't care either, so why should I?

After hanging up my purse next to my hoodie, I wandered back out front to flip the Closed sign to Open. Pulling out my lifeline, which some poeple might mistake as a blue iPod nano, I took my usual place behind the empty counter, headphones in and daydreaming as the sun began to rise. I even had a specific playlist for this time of morning, mostly consisting of mellow, melodic songs by my favorite bands. One of my favorites, How to Save a Life by The Fray came on and I sang along, eyes closed and completely lost in the music.

The first rays of sunlight peeked over the calm blue ocean and warmed my face. These few moments of complete serenity and peacefulness are the only reasons I agreed to work the earliest shift. I can't even imagine how I would get though a day without starting it this way anymore. I was so out of it that I didn't even notice when the tall figure in dark clothing walked in the jingling door.