A Year Around the Sun

t h i r t y-t w o - you're good at a lot of things

i could make you happy,
make your dreams come true,
nothing that i wouldn't d o . . .

🌊🌊🌊

Just under two weeks until Christmas, I was working my Sunday morning shift at the diner when I got a text from Brody asking if I could come over when I was done. Of course I said yes, because I had nothing else planned for the day and with winter break so close, I stopped caring about school.

It was a busy day, as Sunday's usually are, so that helped make the time go by faster. Once it got near noon and the customers were withering away, I was absolutely restless. Sitting at a stool and tapping my nails on the countertop made that clear to anyone around me.

"Could you be more obsessed with looking at the clock?" Robyn's voice came from behind me. I whirled around to see her briskly passing by me, a tray full of food balancing on her shoulder and a smirk on her face.

I gave her a sheepish grin and she shook her head, laughing to herself as she delivered her order to a table.

"Lena," my mom snapped from somewhere. Spinning around again to find her in the kitchen, she was sending me daggers. "Can you clean booths seven and eight, please?"

"On it," I called back as I sprung up and ran over to said booths.

Fourteen minutes. I can do this.

A dozen plates, forks, knives, and cups were piled in my arms as I carried them back to the kitchen, placing them in the sink and making that trip four times. I wiped down the tables and the booths until they were sparkling clean, swept underneath the tables, put more napkins in the dispenser, and positioned the salt and pepper shakers just so. Fortunately for me, cleaning helps pass the time almost as well as constantly serving hungry people. By the time I was done, it was a minute and half until 12 o'clock.

The very last customers left and I was more than eager to flip the open sign over to closed. My parents were pretty oblivious as to why I wanted to leave work so desperately, but Robyn saw right through me. Her knowing, godmother-ly smirk said it all.

"Have fun with your boy. I'll see you next weekend," she winked at me, her voice low for just me to hear.

"Thanks," I beamed, my heart fluttering at the idea of seeing Brody in a few short minutes.

Robyn, my parents, the three other staff members, and myself all got into our own cars after we said goodbye to each other. Only working at The Sand Dollar on weekend mornings kind of makes me miss it even more. Kind of.

With hardly any traffic on the road, I made it to Brody's pretty fast. His lone Jeep was sitting in the driveway while his mom's was most likely at work. I parked out front and skipped up to the door, waiting only a couple seconds before it opened up.

"Hi," he greeted me, one corner of his mouth turned up.

"Hey," I smiled. He let me in and I leaned up on my toes to peck his lips, and when I pulled away to look at him, the crooked smirk wasn't convincing me.

He seemed... troubled. Like he was thinking too hard about something. Or maybe I was over analyzing it. Maybe he's just tired.

"How was work?" He asked, the lone wrinkle on his forehead still bothering me.

I shrugged, leading the way up the stairs after he gestured towards them. "Fine. It went by extra slow because I was excited to see you," I glanced back to grin at him. His lips lifted into the smallest smile I've ever seen, which I furrowed my brows at but didn't mention. "So what were you doing today?"