Let Me Hear You Speak ~Minor Editing and Slow Updates~

chapter eight

"The lady shows up and hands out the menus and turns to Lily. "Hey it's nice to see you Lily."

"Hey, Sarah! It's nice to see you too," Lily replies. "Ever since school's started it seems we never work together."

"It's like you don't even work here anymore," Sarah laughs. Then she looks around the table. "You all look nice tonight, what's the occasion?"

"Tonight was our school's homecoming," another one of Lily's friends answers.

"Ah that's nice. Well, can I start you off with something to drink?" she asks us. She goes around the table and collects the drink orders, then says to Lily, "I'll let you get back to your post homecoming evening with your friends. And maybe we'll work the same shift together sometime soon." Lily says goodbye and Sarah walks away.

Everyone separates into their own conversations after that. Well except for me. I listen in on everyone else's conversations.

Sarah comes back with our drinks and takes our orders. Max orders me some waffles that I point to on the menu. What's wrong with a midnight breakfast?

She walks away after taking everyone else's orders and we again split up into our own conversations.

Almost immediately I hear someone mention my name. I look around trying to figure out who it was. It doesn't take long for me to figure out that it was Max.

I start focusing on Max's conversation. He's talking to Olivia, one of Lily's best friends from kindergarten. She knows of our past, and she's always trying to get me to move on from it. She doesn't understand how hard it is.

"Do you want to know how I'm going to get Rose to talk again?" He asks her.

"Yes it seems like it would be quite a challenge. That is... unless you know why she doesn't talk," she says looking down.

"I don't quite know her reasoning. I plan to figure it out soon though. Do you know?" He asks a sense of hope in his voice.

I can't believe what Max is saying. He asked a stranger about my story instead of me? Why would he try to get me to talk again without asking me?
I thought we were friends. I thought Max actually cared about me. I could feel my eyes start to water.

"I think I know part of it, but I don't think it's right for me to tell you. If you care about her, and she thinks she is ready to share she, " Olivia says to him.

I let a tear slide down my cheek. I wish I wasn't so different than everyone else. No one else has a story as wicked as mine. No one will ever understand. Another tear rolls down my cheek.

I look away from the two of them. Now I'm not looking at anything in particular, but tears are rolling down my face faster and faster.

I decide it looks a little odd just sitting here. I get up and run to the bathroom. I run into the first stall, close the door behind me and let the tears fall freely now.

I hear the door open, and footsteps upon the tile floor. It must be Lily

"Rose, are you OK?" She asks me, "Please come out, I know you're in here."

I let out a sniffle. By now I'm sure every part of that beautiful me that I was at the beginning of the night is gone. I just want this night to be over.

"Please, I need to know what's wrong," she says desperately.

I ignore Lily and pull out my phone, to type a text to Max: Do you even care about me? Hesitantly, I  hit 'send.'