Faded Away

|SEVEN|

"Jackie, what are you doing here? I thought you had the week off?" Michelle asked curiously as she saw my punching in for the shift I was covering. I shook my head and gave her a weak smile before explaining why I was there. She gave me a tight hug which caught me by surprise. "You look like you've had a rough day and you just got here. Let me know if you need to talk okay?" And with that she was off to her section, tending to the customers. I sighed and pulled out my notepad to begin taking orders.

Hours passed by before I got my first break of the shift and conveniently Michelle was also on her break. She sat at the counter, looking bored out of her mind. I walked over and plopped down on the stool next to her. She gave me a nudge and laughed.

"I was wondering if your offer to talk was still up for grabs." I said.

"It always is. Now what's troubling you so much that you look like you didn't get any sleep?" She looked at me, practically staring into my soul.

"Okay, remember the guy who gave me flowers? Well that's Luke, the one who I've cried to you about before. And anyway, he came back for me. Me, of all people! So this whole week that I've been off, I've been spending time with him and his family. They're great people and Luke is such an amazing guy. We made a deal that if, and only if he could make up for 5 years of lost time and basically win me over, that I'd consider going back to Tennessee with him. Let's just say, he's done a pretty good job so far and I don't know what I'm gonna decide on Saturday." I sighed and rested my forehead against the countertop.

"What do you mean he's done a pretty good job?" She asked. "You guys did, didn't you?"

"Oh lord no Michelle!" I laughed. "Nothing like that, I promise. I don't know, we've been spending a lot of time together and I may or may not have told him today that I loved him..." I felt my heat up, immediately.

"Well that blush definitely shows that you didn't tell him that." She laughed. "But you obviously do, and I would go with what your heart tells you. And you're being the given the chance to leave this god awful place and have a better life. You would have the chance to do great things and not be stuck here with a sucky waitress job. Then again, you grew up here and it's always gonna be your home. I can't really tell you to stay or go but you do what you think is right."

"Thank you! You're the only be who understands how contradicting this is. Blake and my mom are pissed at me. Blake, well, she's upset that I've been spending so much time with him. I have no clue why my mom is angry." I said. As if on cue, she strolled by and glared at me. "Speak of the devil." I muttered before Michelle and I started laughing.

"Alright let's get back to work before the warden finds out you said you love what's his face." She patted my back as she got up.

"It's Luke and I didn't say that I did." I said, following her.

"Whatever you say, moon face." She rolled her eyes.

"Moon face?"

"Yeah because you look like that little moon emoji that you use when you have no shame." She explained. We both laughed and continued our work.

::::

"Luke!" Carter called and slapped his hand against my back as he walked up next to me. "Where's Jackie? I thought she was coming tonight."

"I thought so too, but she had to cover someone's shift." I replied.

"You good man?" He asked.

"No. I'm not good. I'm worried, what if on Saturday she decided that she isn't leaving? I'm afraid of losing her again because then that's it. It's all over and I probably won't ever see her again." I sat down on the couch inside of the band bus.