Second Shot

Chapter Four: (Hopefully) Saving Nina

"Two short stacks for my two favorite short stacks." The waitress smiled at Nina and Ryder as she brought them their pancakes.

"Thanks Aunt Paula, but we're not short stacks anymore." Ryder joked.

Paula owned the diner. She was very good friends with Nina and Ryder's parents, their father even helped build and fund the diner. Both Ryder and Nina saw her as the aunt they never had, and called her as such. She always gave them a discount, insisting that family should have to pay the full price. When Ryder would insist he pay the full price, she would just pat his shoulder and tell him 'Family don't end in blood, boy.' and only take half of what Ryder gave her.

"No, you're not I suppose." She smiled, putting the syrup bottle on the table. "But you're both still as sweet as my homemade syrup." She then tucked the platter under her arm. "If you chickadees need anything, you know all you gotta do is holler."

"Thanks Aunt Paula." Nina smiled, her high cheekbones crinkling slightly in a cute way.

While Nina was occupied with her pancakes, Ryder had a sudden realization, if this didn't work this would be the last chance he'd have to see his sister alive. He made sure to definitely commit this moment to memory and never let it go. He took in the paleness of her skin, the dark red of her hair, her high cheekbones that looked like little sugar plums when she smiled, and finally, the freckles that were scattered across her nose. He had to bite the inside of his cheek to prevent from crying, he then began to eat his pancakes.

"So, did you have anything planned for after school?" Ryder asked, trying to seem like he didn't know anything. He cut a piece off his pancake and took a bite out if, not even breaking eye contact with her.

"No." She lied. "Just was gonna catch up on some reading, maybe binge watch something on Netflix." She shrugged. "Why? Got more brother sister bonding stuff planned besides free pancakes?"

"Now that you mention it, yes I do." He smiled. "I'll give you time to digest before we leave though." He laughed as he drenched his pancakes with syrup.

"Save some for the rest of us, huh?" Nina laughed taking the bottle from her brother and creating a little dipping spot on her plate for her pancakes.

"Your total today is $16.60." Paula smiled has she placed the check on the table. "Whenever you're ready honeys." She clicked her pen and walked to take care of other customers.

"You good?" Ryder asked, taking his money out to pay and leaving a more than generous tip for Paula before they left.

"Yeah man." She smiled, starting to put her thin jacket on. "You?"

"Always." He smiled back, He picked up the check and brought it to the counter with Nina close on his heels like she always was. The two the hightailed it to the car and began to drive to the next stop on their expedition to hopefully save Nina's life.

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"I can't." Nina whimpered, sounding out of breath. "It's pointless, Ryder." She sighed, defeated.

"Don't say that, it's not pointless. You just need to give it a chance." Ryder tried to help her.

"How?" Nina had no other options. "I'm not tall enough!" She whispered/ yelled, motioning toward the book high on the top shelf where she couldn't reach.

"Get a chair or something, I didn't raise a quitter!" Ryder motioned to the unused chairs around them in the bookstore they were in.

"Alright, don't push it." She laughed and went to grab a stool that was in the next aisle of books. She leaned it close to the shelf, Ryder kept his foot on the first step to keep it steady as she climbed it to get to the book she wanted. "Ryder, I think I have enough books to last me a lifetime. Can we go home now? It's almost dinner time, Mom and Dad are probably worried about where we are."

"How many you got there?" He eyed the growing stack of books in her arms.

He wanted to keep her out as long as possible to prevent her being alone. First it was the diner, then they went to the park the used to play at when they were kids, they drew on the asphalt with chalk bought from the dollar store down the street, the old thrift shop to buy funky clothes, and then finally the book store. He knew she must've been exhausted and he couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"About five." She stepped down from the stool and re-counted them. "No wait, seven." She nodded as she put the stool back. "I'm exhausted, can we go home?" She manage a tired laugh.

"Sure, let's go to the register and I'll pay for them." He shrugged and offered for her to hand him the books. She hesitantly handed over the books, and they both walked to the register.

"All set?" A nice cashier said as Ryder handed her the books.

"Yep, thanks." Ryder smiled his charming smile that made most girls swoon.

"It's really nice of you to offer to pay for your girlfriends books, and they say chivalry is dead." She smiled as she rang up the books. Nina burst into a random fit of laughter before covering her mouth with her hand to silence herself.

"Uh..." Ryder's smile fell and he scratched the back of his neck. "She's my sister." It was the cashier's turn to go pale.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She managed to get out as she put the books into a bag and handed them back to them. "That'll be $34.45." Ryder dug into his wallet and paid for the books then handed the bag to Nina. "Have a nice night."

"You too." Nina tried very hard not to laugh, and then they walked back out to the parking lot to head home and eat dinner.