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three years later.
“Holding on too long for something falling through our fingertips.” She hums, chestnut hair falling in neat waves along her shoulders and back as she runs a wet cloth gently over the smooth surface of the counter.
“Good work there, Swan!” Her companion, Mary, calls from the other end of the diner, hands on her hips and green eyes sparkling with happiness.
“Thanks, Mary.” She grins, dumping her cloth into the sink under running cold water, rubbing cloth against skin to rid it of stains.
Mary sent a friendly wink her way, but faltered, her lips falling into deep creases, brows furrowed in troubled recognition.
Realising her friend’s sudden mum, she looks up from washing the cloth and stares at Mary’s still frame, questions rolling out of her lips. “Is there something wrong?”
Mary’s frown deepened, her green eyes directed towards the large windows of the diner that were right behind her friend.
“Nothing,” she finalises, tucking a strand of ebony behind her ear and taking up her mop again. “Must have been my imagination.”
“What did you see?”
Mary tensed at her question, worry lines edging deeper into her features, and her grip on the mop tightened.
“A nightmare. Not to me, though.”
Her companion frowned, hanging the now-clean cloth on the dishrack, then treaded tippy-toed across damp floor to be by her friend’s side. “Nightmare to who, then?”
Mary smiles, albeit far from a fond one, as she started to work on a new patch of stained tiles. “No-one who concerns you. She’s gone now.”
Pouting, her friend leaned against one of the tabletops she had just wiped down minutes ago, rolling playfully on the balls of her feet while watching Mary work. “Why won’t you tell? I’m your best friend. Promise I won’t spill.”
“Doesn’t matter. Now shoo, go do somehing useful. Take out the trash or something.”
“Oh, that’s right,” She pushed herself back onto her feet and brushed down her dirtied apron. “Thanks, Poo. Wouldn’t know what to do without you around.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know how much you love me. Now go.”
Leaving her friend to mop up the rest of the diner, she rounded the back of the diner, where there were three gigantic trash bags waiting faithfully for her by the back door.
She bent down to pick one up, and used her free hand to turn the knob of the back door, allowing it to open and welcome a gush of cold winter night into the diner.
Shivering, she quickly plopped the bag down by the trashbin outside, using a sturdy foot to prevent the door from closing. She slithered in just a little to reach the next bag, but froze when she heard a deep, gentle voice by the door.
“Need help?”
Slowly, she looked up at another woman, half a head taller, with calm chocolate eyes and wavy brown locks that cascaded charmingly down her shoulders. She had a biker helmet in hand and a leather jacket on, providing little protection against the cold, Swan could only assume.
Legs in dark jeans, hair slightly tousled, and her other hand in a pocket, Swan immediately pictured a typical biker girl who was probably up to no good.
“No thanks, I’m good.” She rejected as nicely as she could, her foot firm against the door even as the very pretty stranger removed her pocketed hand to hold it too.
For some reason, this stranger gave her the jitters and an unknown emotion she could not put her finger on, what with the way her smile was slightly crooked, a show of charmisa.
“Really?” The stranger asks, pale pink lips curled upwards into a coy smile.
Heat crawled up her neck, her heart starting to make itself heard, but there was only a loud ringing in her ears — one that was not familiar.
“Lex, what’s taking you so...long...”
Alexis spins at the sound of Mary’s voice, a comfort amongst the noises in her ears that were starting to hurt. Really hurt. Her voice colours relief when she leaves the stranger to hold onto Mary’s arm, letting the woman hold the door instead.
But something was not right. Mary was trembling, her skin hot against Alexis’ fingers. Was it the cold? Winter was right around the corner.
“May I help you?” Mary spits out, venom lacing her tone, and her body tenses up further under Alexis’ grip. Her eyes were bloodshot, an angry fire burning in them, and Alexis wonders what had gotten her friend to be so riled up.
The stranger’s smile just widens. “Just wanted to say that you have a very beautiful friend.”
Mary’s fists were white, now. She scoffed, lips in a scowl.
“Too bad, Monroe. You shouldn’t have done what you did. Go away to your stupid lies, to your stupid selfish desires, to your stupid delusions and curse your foolishness!” She chokes out, trembling even harder, using all her self-control to throw herself at the stranger.
Alexis had never seen her best friend this angry before. Attempting to calm her down, Alexis pats her arm awkwardly, hoping to draw her attention.
“You know who she is, Poo?”
“Don’t ever associate me with the likes of her, Lex. It’ll be an insult.” Mary fumes, but still managed to keep herself from seeing red, lest Alexis might find out.
“Just,” Mary growls, rubbing her temples, her breathing heavy. “Leave. I don’t have the patience to deal with you now.”
“Gladly.” The stranger says, her smile amused as she lets go of the door, shooting Alexis a meaningful look as the door shut her out from sight.
“Let go.”
Reeling, Alexis clutched her head, her world spinning, disconnecting, her groans the only noise she could hear distinctively among dozens of other ones, all piling up and shading a mosaic in her sight. Where had she heard that voice before?
“Lex! You okay?” Mary’s panicked voice pulls her out of her blurry images of chocolate, of wafts of lemongrass, of memories of pine trees and birds.
But she was back in the four walls of the diner, nowhere in another world, though it felt like she had been. And there was only thing she could remember—
“I’m fine, Mary, thanks.” She assures her friend, finding strength in her limbs again. “Just had a weird dejá vü, I think.”
Mary’s brows were lined with worry as she reaches forward to Alexis’ hand, out of fear that she might have another fit.
“What did you see?” Mary asks slowly, green eyes still concerned even as Alexis brushes her apron down.
