Faux Bastard

Chapter 11

"Gracie, wake up baby." A soft voice whispers in my ear as her hand sweeps a strand of hair away from my face.

"Honey, I'm here," she adds and I open my eyes to see my mother standing before me. I smile and move my hand to touch hers, only I can't feel them.

"Mom?" I question as she fades. 

I snap my eyes open as I am thrown back into reality. My room is dark, too dark and I bat my hand around like a zombie searching for my phone on the bed. It's only four am. I close my eyes again and the dream is coming back to me, crystal clear. My mother. The way she called me Gracie with her soft voice, and the way she smiled down to me. She's the only one to ever call me by my middle name and it has always been my favourite nickname ever since. I haven't seen my mother in ten years, I don't even know where she is or how she is doing. I found myself gripping to the memory of hers as sleep begins to take over me once again.

When I finally wake up again, it's seven. I get in the shower, taking my time like I usually do. When I'm finished getting ready, I smile, satisfied with my choice of clothing and I actually look pretty decent for once. It's still too early for my shift so I decided to catch up with my study to kill time. Half an hour later I'm bored to death and the weather isn't doing me any justice. I walk to the kitchen and start the kettle. I figured I could really use some coffee before my shift. I lean myself on the kitchen counter, pull out my phone and goes straight to twitter, the only social media I use.

I barely have time for any social media really, and I like to keep personal things to myself. I noticed I have a notification and I tap the screen to reveal a new follower. Is he who I think he is? I click the profile and my thoughts are proven right. Nolan Allen, the new guy from work is following me. Nolan isn't exactly the friendliest people I've known, he barely talk to me but he does stares a lot. Like, a lot. Maybe he's just shy. I guess I could really give him a chance so I tweeted him a simple hi after following him back. 

The kettle let out a whistle that snapped me out of my trance. I grab a mug and made myself a cup of coffee and lean back against the kitchen counter with the mug on one hand. I was scrolling through the tweets when I hear the front door slam shut.

I can hear the footsteps coming towards my direction, revealing Kenzie with a huge bag on one shoulder. "Kenzie? What are you doing here?"  

She rolls her eyes before responding "Sleepover? Remember? Last week's plan?" Oh yea. I smile sheepishly before apologising for forgetting. I've had a lot going on lately I keep on forgetting stuffs. She disappears into my room to drop her bag and head back to the kitchen, sipping my coffee. 

We both have a day off tomorrow and Kenzie thought it'd be great to have a sleepover like we used to have. I live alone most of the time so it's always great to have a roommate, even it it's just for the weekend. 

Kenzie and I walk into the cafe earlier than usual. It's raining and we don't want to be late so we thought we'd start walking early. This time of the day, the streets are usually filled with tourists wandering around wearing overly-colourful shirts and big hats. 

Upon entering, my eyes immediately landed on Nolan who is leaning on the wall behind the counter, daydreaming I assumed. My shift didn't start for a few minutes so I figured I'd talk to him. "Hi Nolan," I greet, as soon as his eyes meet mine.

"Uh, hi." He says, standing straight. 

"How's working here so far?" I ask, trying to make small talk with him. We'd be seeing a lot of each other so I suppose we should try to be friends. I usually don't feel comfortable having a conversation with people I'm not close with but seeing that he's my co-worker, it's an exception.