A Harsh Reality | ✓

Chapter 18

Amanda

"Rise and shine, Amanda," Tyler woke me up. He opened the curtains from my small window, letting the light pour in through it. I groaned and covered my head with my mattress, turning away from the light. Tyler started shaking me.

"Come on," I heard him say, "It's past midday and you're still in bed."

"I have a hangover," I groaned again.

"How much did you even drink?"

"Two bottles of beer," I said, and when I heard him chuckle I added, "I get drunk easily! Now go away!" Suddenly, he pulled my mattress and covers off me.

"Tyler!" I sat down and rubbed my eyes.

"Get dressed," he said, "We're going somewhere." I saw him walk across the room towards the door from my tall bed. Before I could even ask, he had closed the door and had left me alone in my room. I sighed heavily and climbed down from my bed, sitting down on the couch underneath it and looked at the mess I called my wardrobe. I decided in putting on shorts and a simple shirt, not in the mood for jeans and sweaters since it was really hot outside.

As I was putting on my white converse, I looked up at the hook behind my door, where my light blue and black leotard hung from. I had gymnastics today and I had totally forgotten. When I looked up again at the hook, I saw that something else was hanging from there: a very familiar black leather jacket. Guess I had also forgotten to give it back, Noah will have to survive a day without it.

I looked at myself on the mirror in my bathroom and examined my arms and legs for any bruises. I found a few, but covered them with makeup the best I could. I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, finding Tyler and Mom sitting on the counter and deep in conversation.

"Hi honey," she said standing up before kissing the top of my head, she looked down at her watch and added, "I better run, I'll see you two tonight, take care of your sister, Tyler." She grabbed her coat and bag, blew a pair of kisses and walked out the kitchen. We heard the front door slam shut and the engine of her car roar as she drove away towards work.

"We should go as well," Tyler said and stood up, "Come on." When we were finally inside his ford mustang and driving, I asked where were we going.
"There's a place I want to show you," he explained, "You'll love it, plus we'll eat breakfast there." We drove downtown, passing houses and shops, people staring at us and Tyler's car. How could I blame them? This mustang was a beautiful car. After a while of driving, Tyler parked in front of a diner. Neon lights read things like, 'Open 24h', 'Milkshakes', 'Hamburgers', etc. A huge sign on top of the diner said 'Johnny's Place'.

Tyler led me inside and I gasped. Red booths were lined next to the huge front windows, couple sharing milkshakes and groups of friends sitting in them. The place was completely clean, obviously stating it was new. A long white counter divided the place in two: sitting area and kitchen area. Red seats were placed along it, like the booths with the windows. Waitresses were running all around the place, delivering and taking orders in red skirts and matching shirts with an apron around their waist, most had their hair up in a messy bun being held together with a pen or pencil. Johnny's looked as if it had come right out of a 1950s movie, with a flashing jukebox in the corner spilling music into the place.

"Oh my god," I gaped, "This is amazing!"

"I told you you'd love it," Tyler grinned, "Come, let's get a booth." We slid into one of the red booths, they were soft and the table was clean. I sat in front of Tyler, who was looking for a waitress to take our orders. A girl with blond hair tucked into a neat ponytail and blue eyes behind a pair of glasses approached us. She was also wearing the red skirt with the apron and shirt. She looked around early twenties. I noticed that the name tag on her shirt read "Heather".