NOTEWORTHY - America/Reader

Chapter Eighteen

Your eyes felt sticky with sleep, and through your mess of hair you saw a veil of white sunlight piercing through the glass window. Groggily raising a hand to your head, you slowly turned over in bed towards your phone. Pressing a button, you flinched at the bright screen that greeted you. After your eyes adjusted, you blinked. It was eight in the morning, and you had a missed call from Arthur. You groaned, rolling back onto your back. That Arthur, always up and early even when it was a Saturday.

With a tired sigh, you forced yourself to sit up. Your hair fell into awkward places as you scooched over to the edge of the bed. Your feet felt cold against the frozen floor; it was almost mid-November, and the weather seemed to be on a direct temperature decrease. Suppressing a shudder, you pushed yourself up from the bed and onto your feet. You reached your arms high above your head in a full-body stretch, before relaxing and making your way over to your dresser.

Upon changing into new clothes and following along your daily morning routine, you finally found yourself looking through your missed calls at the kitchen table. Taking a bite of your poptart, you pressed the voicemail option and held the phone to your ear. After a moment, Arthur's voice began to sound through the electronic speaker.

"Hello, (Y/n). This is Arthur." You couldn't help but smile a bit at that. Did he not realize you had caller-ID? What a dork. "I was wondering if we could meet up somewhere for lunch and speak? There's something I'd like to talk about face to face. Call me back if you're able to meet with me. Thanks."

You pulled the phone away from you ear and yawned. Searching through your contacts, you called Arthur, deciding that this should be done fairly soon. The line rang three times before he answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, Arthur," you said. "Just got your message. Are you open around twelve?"

You swore you heard him sigh over the phone, and when he spoke he almost sounded relieved. "Yes, twelve should be perfect. Thank you for responding so quickly. Should we meet at the usual?"

You nodded...but quickly realized that this was a phone call, and verbalized your approval. "Yeah, that sounds good. I'll see you soon." After a quick farewell, you hung up the phone and thought over the conversation. Arthur seemed off when he was speaking. Was he concerned about something? Well, whatever it was, you'd find out soon enough.

You spent the rest of your time relaxing; it had truly been a rough week for you, and getting an hour or so of you-time was just what you needed. However, noon began to quickly approach; soon enough, you were already getting onto your bike to meet at the familiar café. As you rode down your driveway and onto the side of the street, you felt the chilly air creep into your jacket. Despite it being midday, you were still able to see your breath when you exhaled.

As you pedaled into the downtown area, you transferred your bike off of the road and onto the sidewalk. You slowed your pace whenever you passed the pedestrians who had decided to roam the town with their shopping bags and froyo. Eventually, the shape of the said café came into your view. You gripped the brakes and slowed to a stop near one of the bike-racks, making sure to secure your bike with a lock from your bag. As you finished up locking your bike, you turned and quickly walked towards the café doors. The sooner you got in, the sooner you could get warm.

Immediately as you entered the café, a quick rush of warm air greeted you, melting the chill on your skin. Pulling at the collar of your jacket, your eyes scanned the crowd of seated customers. After a moment, you spotted Arthur sitting in a booth near one of the windows. Distantly you remembered the last time you two had met up here. Although, it hadn't been just the two of you. You had encountered Alfred, the very thing that started this whole mess.