On Leave

Six

Six
Raelynn bustled around the Diner hurriedly, handling order after order. She was so used to the busy rush that her movements had become subconscious, dodging people and excited children as she set her orders to the right tables. It was a bustling place, always full of happy people. Rowdy students liked to come in and cause a ruckus until Diana would scold them like they were her children and then they started behaving. Raelynn's mind kept wondering to these things even as she rushed through the orders.
She also kept thinking about Sebastian's face, full of awe and something dark as he nodded at the words she directed at the boy who'd tried to slap her bum. She had trained herself after what had happened to be hyper aware of her surroundings. Learned to know when someone was within her danger zone. She had also learned so many self defense techniques that her brain was on autopilot when someone made a move towards her. It was now her second nature. With Ashley, she didn't feel like that at all. She could be relaxed whenever she was around that woman but it was entirely different with her brother Sebastian. He was a completely different beast, she could tell.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts Raelynn continued on with her shift squishing any thought of Ashley's tall, dark, and handsome big brother from her mind. They had left a few hours ago against Ashley's wishes, whining as her big brother dragged her from the establishment reasoning with her.
"She'll be off in a couple of hours Ash, calm down." Ashley whined one last time then kissed Raelynn on the cheek before letting her brother pull her away. Raelynn heard the doors chime and looked up, sighing in relief as the two waitresses' who were scheduled for the night shift walked in. Diana came up and relieved Raelynn of her waitressing duties and she made her way to the lockers in the back. Opening her locker Raelynn watched as a piece of paper flittered to the floor. Curious she picked it up.
She wished she hadn't.
......
"Ashley why are we here?" Sebastian whined as they walked up the fifth staircase, legs burning. She scoffed at him. Chip had long since made his way up the tall staircase and Ashley wasn't too far behind in her five inch heels, but Sebastian was sure he was going to have a heart attack. "You climb this shit...everyday?" Sebastian asked, out of breath.
"Duh, I'm in much better shape than you." She said sending a smirk over her shoulder. Sebastian scowled at her and shook his head as they finally made it to where Chip sat, his tail wagging. He patted the dog on the head and watched as Ashley pulled out a set of keys.
"You have your own keys?" Sebastian asked incredulously.
"Uhhh, duuuuuhhhh." She responded sarcastically making Sebastian roll his eyes. In some aspects she's still that pesky little sister he loved so much. She opened the third door of the long corridor of apartments and Chip slammed his way inside.
"Always so eager to be home Chip." Ashley chuckled as she made her way inside and Sebastian followed. It was small compared to their parent's home, but big enough for one girl and her dog. A simple one bedroom, with champagne colored carpet in the entry and living room and a nice dark gray tile through the kitchen and dining area. The apartment was very clean and well maintained, a nice but used brown sofa sat against the wall a feet from the sliding glass doors that led to the balcony. I medium sized TV sat on a black entertainment center, the walls decorated with various pieces of artwork and family photographs. A large family it seemed. Sebastian looked closer at the pictures seeing that he found Raelynn immediately even with the four other women and three men surrounding her, she was just that beautiful. Her hazel eyes popped compared to her darker brown hair as she hugged who he could only assume was her family.
Sebastian's eyes lingered on each and every photo, consuming every stage of this woman's life almost greedily. The sound of the TV playing loudly brought Sebastian out of his reverie and silent gawking. I turned to find Ashley pulling out books and paperwork from her bag.
"I know you just got here and I want to spend time with you, but I have to make sure these get done and I have to do my mathematics homework which only RayRay can help me with." Ashley said, kicking off her heels and tucking her feet underneath her. She was so comfortable here that Sebastian paused. Almost like this was her home too, he thought to himself as his opinion of this Raelynn grew higher. Kicking off hisown boots, making sure they were tucked neatly in the corner and gingerly sat down on the other side of the three person couch. Ashley tossed the remote to him and Sebastian made himself more comfortable, changing the channel until he found a decent TV show. Before he knew it Sebastian was so comfortable he began nodding off, trying to fight it, until sleep finally took him under its spell.
........
Raelynn dragged herself up the last staircase, feet hurting as she unlocked her apartment door. She figured that Ashley would have had Sebastian help her drop off Chip at home then go on their way to spend some quality brother and sister time together. When she opened the door she found she was right about half of it. On the couch she found that Ashley was sound asleep, her English 303 book open and on her chest almost falling to the floor. Chip sat curled between her legs that dangled over the couch arm. He looked up at Raelynn, tail shifting slightly but Raelynn put her finger to her lips to shush him and he set his head back down, not taking his eyes off of her. Raelynn looked over and saw what Ashley was using as a pillow. Sebastian's leg. He sat up straight up arms crossed over his chest, head tilted down.
"That's the military in him." Raelynn whispered to herself as she slowly shuffled to her bedroom and grabbed her hand knitted throw blanket and brought it back out gently covering Ashley and wrapping it around Ashley's head to cover Sebastian's feet. They both snored gently and Raelynn giggled softly.
"Very sibling-y." she said as she straightened and walked back into her bedroom grabbing some pajamas and a towel as she hopped into the shower to clean the days grease and grime off of her. She was so relaxed that for a moment she forgot the note.
Peek a Boo
I See You
There was nothing telling her where or who it came from, but Raelynn knew. How couldn't she? He used to come up behind her at work back home and say those exact words. Then she had been so excited to hear those words. Now they filled her with dread. She thought she had covered her tracks well enough. He wouldn't have been dumb enough to go through her family. He knew they would never help him. She made sure not to post her whereabouts on social media, that would've gotten her caught much too fast. Raelynn shook her head. She wasn't childish enough to shake it off as though it were nothing, but she needed to clear her head and think straight. She would stay on guard one hundred percent of the time, and go through her normal routine, making him think that she was still that immature and innocent child she had been before. Then when he slipped up, she'd be ready.
At least she hoped she would be.
........
Sebastian almost blew his cover when she leaned down and he smelt the floral scent coming off of this woman. He had woken up the moment he heard the jangle of keys in the door. An occupational habit. He let out a little snore almost the same time as Ashley trying to seem like he was sleeping. When he heard Raelynn giggle he felt his chest tighten. And he didn't know how to feel about that
She was a very beautiful woman and seemed to be very kind at heart, for example putting a blanket over the both of them and keeping quiet so as not to wake them. But what could he really do about it? Even when her giggle made him Think of an angel.
"Very sibling-y." She said before he felt the wind from her turning and heard her footsteps fade away to the back of the apartment. He heard the shower turn on and the image of her naked in a steamy hot shower flooded his mind.
Nope. Do not, absolutely do not go there. He scolded himself. But he couldn't help it, and he found himself hypnotized by the pictures his imagination offered. He was so screwed.
-------
Bam!