Between the Distance

t h i r t e e n :

I wake up with a less than pleasant headache burning a hole in the back of my skull. Memories of last night quickly flash through my head. I pop a pain killer in my mouth and down it with a glass of orange juice and a slice of over buttered toast. All of the curtains in my apartment are closed, which blocks out the sun though I can detect a hint trying to pierce its way through. It's going to be another sunny L.A. morning I think to myself.

How fun.

I've always been a bleak weather kind of person. I don't know what it is about dark skies and grey clouds but the calm me. There's nothing like not being able to see what's on the other side of a cloud storm every once in a while. To just live in the moment and not worry about tomorrow or ten years from now. Gloomy days do that for me.

Oddly enough.

It's Friday which means I'll have the late shift at Timm's. Belle is still out sick so I'll probably have to go in earlier than usual to cover her shift. But since Rubio hasn't called me yet to come in and cover Belle's shift, I decide to head to the Java Bean and get some work done.

My English paper is causing me the most stress and anxiety at the moment, but I have Western European and botany finals to study for as well.

History is pretty much the easiest, it's based on cold hard facts, facts that can't ever change.

Well depending on who you ask.

Sciences are always different, they're pretty standard, and they change, but not often enough to result in completely different answers by the time midterms come around or before the semester ends.

But writing is the hardest of them all. There's no facts, no rules, well there are, but they are far more flexible than history and science rules. You can bend them at your will to fit your needs, if you're a good enough writer at least. And since Mrs. Dubenowski doesn't like to play by the rules she expects them to be bent and broken to the moon and back.

When I arrive at the café, Sasha is already there. Our usual booth is taken by an elderly couple eating hamburgers and holding hands. Sasha is sitting by a window in the corner instead. She's got her elbow on the table with her chin resting in her hand. Her head ducked down, and her long hair covering half of her face whilst she's flicking away at her phone screen. An occasional smile creeps up on her face, a slight giggle escaping her every once in a while. She hides her smile with her free hand and wipes her face, as if she's wiping away the smile.

"Hey." I say walking over towards her.

She pops her head up and shuts off her phone screen quickly as if she's hiding something so scandalous that she doesn't want me to see. Maybe she's secretly seeing someone like Gem was. She tucks her hand underneath the table and presses down on her chair lifting her body up from the chair a little bit.

"Hey, I didn't see you coming." She says tucking a few strands of her hair behind her ear after she lets herself down again. "You half gave me a heart attack." She says, followed by a long drawn sigh.

"Sorry about that." I say placing my bag on the table by me and take a seat. "I had a killer headache this morning."

"So what do you want me to quiz you on first? Or are you going to write your paper?" Sasha replies. She leans down and pulls a stack of white and pink flash cards out of her books bag. She's holding my history and botany flash cards that she quizzed me on a few weeks ago, and I realized I haven't study any of the material since then.

"You know I totally forgot to give these back to you." She chuckles. She's been holding them hostage for the past few weeks, but I haven't asked for them back. Because I don't really want to take away my excuse for not studying properly.