The diner is my home. My family has owned it for over 60 years, it's called "Johnson's Diner" after all. My family has always been in Georgia. My cousins all live in my neighborhood, everyone here are so close knit. We all have cookouts and go to church together and I guarantee I'll know these people for the rest of my life.
"Well isn't it Sawyer Johnson!" I see Mr. Brawn smiling from across the gas station smiling. He leans against a stack of 12 packs of beer. He's worked here forever.
"Yeah it is." I say laughing and walk towards him.
"You back in town?" He asks and I nod.
"Yes sir, Maryland was great but Georgia is home." I tell him. I struggled to get the words out.
"I can't imagine you not working at the diner." He says with a furrowed brow.
"Just wanted to see my options." I tell him and he nods.
"Take care of yourself and tell your folks I said hello." He says.
"Will do." I say and walk towards the soda. I can practically here my mom telling me "sugar is going to rot your teeth". As I head for the cashier I hear the bells on the door jingle.
"Nice seeing you back Sawyer." Mrs. Wilkins tells me as she scans the soda.
"Thank you Mrs. Wilkins, it's nice to be back." I say smiling. She grins back. Her long black hair hands over her shoulders and I can see that is turning grey, she's been working here forever too.
I can feel a presence behind me.
"Have a nice day sweetie." She tells me and I nod and thank her. I turn and am faced with the most blue eyes I've ever seen. The girl stands in front of me with a blank expression. Her hair is long and curly. It looks like curled silk and her skin is pale. Her eyes are big and a beauty mark is under her left. She's unique, beautifully unique. Every girl around here has golden, straight here and all look kind of the same.
"Is something wrong?" She asks me. There's a small circle scar on the side of her nose. Maybe I was staring.
"Sorry no." I tell her and go around her. I walk out the door and stand out of the store. I can't get her face out of my head. I almost recognized her. She couldn't be from around her.
"Where have I seen her?" I whisper to myself, thinking.
"That's creepy stop it." She says and my face heats up.
"I uh you look familiar." I say and she shrugs her shoulders and shakes her head. She pulls out a cigarette and lights it. She leans against the brick and lets out a breathe.
"You new around here?" I ask curious.
"Kinda." Is all she says.
"Kinda?" I ask.
"My families from around here." She says with gritted teeth.
"I moved away when I was little." She says.
"Maybe I do know you." I say.
"What you want my name or something, you could have just asked?" She asks laughing.
"You would have given it to me, I'm practically a stranger ." I say and she shrugs her shoulders.
"Leila Rockwell, my names Leila Rockwell." She says. I've heard that name before.
"Rockwell? Who are your parents?" I ask her.
"My mom's name was Lucy." She says. Was?
"How about your dad, maybe I know him." I say. Everyone knows everyone around here.
"Good question." She says laughing. Maybe not.
"Sawyer Johnson." I say and reach out my hand.
"Well Sawyer I guess I'll be seeing you around." She says and shakes my hand.
I take a minute to admire her. She wears a long, navy blue off the shoulder dress and a necklace that has a purple pendant on it. Amethyst. Her hair flows with the breeze and she feels different. She steps on the now small cigarette with the heel of her wedged sandals and begins to walk down the sidewalk.
"Leila!" I call out and she whips around, her one eyebrow perked up.
"Welcome home... I guess." I say and she smiles.
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As I walk back to the diner I think about Leila. Her hair, her eyes, her whole being. She's seems so different.
"Mom?" I fall out as I open the back door and there she sits at her desk in the back office.
"Sweetie." She says smiling. Mom was beautiful , I mean she's pretty but she's almost 45. Her and my dad met in high school and had me and my brothers when they were still really young.
"The Rockwell's, What happened to them?" I ask and she stiffens.
"Well Mrs. Rockwell still lives here she lives on Asbury, she's about 80 now." She tells me.
"What about her kids?" I ask.
"I went to school with her oldest daughter Olivia, sweet girl but her youngest Lucy was what I guess you would call a troublemaker." Mom says laughing. I listen intently. That must be Leila's mom.
"She got knocked up at 16 and when she the baby was about 4...disappeared." She says sadly.
"Why do you ask?" She asks me. I think it's best if I tell her.
"I think I met Lucy's daughter today..." I trail off.
"You're kidding me!" She says smiling.
"No she looked familiar." I tell her.
"You two went to preschool together." She tells me.
"Weird." I tell her.
"Maybe she's living with her grandmother." She offers and I shrug my shoulders.
"Your dad needs you in the front, okay honey?" She asks and I nod.
I thought about what might have happened to Lucy and where she disappeared to. Maybe Leila needed a friend, I'm sure my friends wouldn't mind.
"Sawyer!" My dad snaps me out of my thoughts.
"Yes dad?" I ask. He throws a towel at me.
"Wash the counter would ya?" He asks and I chuckle and I catch the towel. Dad loved the diner maybe even more then he cared about what I wanted.
"Yes dad." I reply and wash the counter down.
"And Sawyer?" He calls out from the kitchen.
"Yeah?" I ask.
"Stop that day dreaming." He snaps.
YOU ARE READING
Sweet Tea & Cigarettes
Teen FictionSawyer is stuck in his home town while Leila has just returned. Their secrets seem to intertwine as they both long for more than their dreary Georgia town holds.
