Wake Up Call

CHAPTER 2

Avery

THE MORNING ARRIVES BEFORE I know it, causing me to roll out of bed, no longer able to force myself to sleep. The early morning sunlight that streams through my bedroom window hits me so hard that I curse to myself and cover my eyes, blindly making my way into the kitchen in search of food. Taking a quick look inside my fridge, I slam it shut after finding it practically empty. I don't even know why I bother checking. I never have crap in there. I really need to stop avoiding the grocery store, but for some odd reason; I hate that place.

Sighing and rubbing my hands over my face, I make the decision to find a local diner instead. There's a few within walking distance and I'm sure one of them has something way better than anything I can manage to cook up anyway.

Still in a sleep daze, I throw on my lingerie, skinny black jeans and a faded gray sweater without bothering to tame my wild hair. I have to admit that the wild, animal look sort of suits me anyway.

Once on the street, I notice so many happy couples – laughing and kissing, looking as if it's normal to be this happy at this God awful hour. The sight annoys me, thinking of how much bullshit love and happiness really is. What is love when you beat down the ones you supposedly care about? And what is happiness if you don't have love?

As far as I'm concerned the world is full of people pretending. I refuse to be one of them.

Exhaling and pulling the sleeves over my hands, I set my gaze on the sidewalk in front of me and walk for at least ten minutes, eyes focusing on beat up cement. I'm about to turn down another road when I take notice of a small, stark white diner sitting across the street. It's so small that it looks like a two-bedroom house; but is still very picturesque with a stylish black sign hanging outside that reads The Indy Go. I've never heard of it, but just the sight, already has my stomach growling like mad.

I cross the road, barely checking for traffic and quickly walk over to the entrance. Reaching for the silver doorknob, I open the door, stepping inside.

The Indy Go is – to my surprise – bigger from the inside and a lot cleaner than I had first expected. It has a collection of large booths that sit on a black and white checked floor. I skim my eyes over the collection of customers who are currently seated in the various booths before focusing my attention on the counter; complete with a clear glass cooler in the front that displays all of the desserts: lemon meringue pie, chocolate fudge cake, vanilla ice cream. Everything looks delicious at this point and I almost have the urge to just jump behind the counter and dig in.

I look over to the waitress, a cute blonde haired woman, and notice she is currently serving another customer, so I find a seat at the closest booth and sit down. A laminated menu lays on the metal table in front of me, and I pick it up and begin to search through it eagerly, just needing something inside of me before I end up in someone else's plate like a lunatic.

Everything manages to sound good at the moment, making it hard to make a decision. Not to mention I'm almost too exhausted to even read at the moment. Everything seems a bit blurry, causing me to repeatedly blink my eyes to get a better view.

Five minutes later, the cute waitress I had noticed earlier comes rushing over and takes my order. Her blue eyes seem distant as she jots down the corned beef hash, eggs, bacon and a small coffee, that I order. She doesn't even attempt a smile before taking off in a hurry, her short skirt flapping around her thick, muscular thighs.

Looks like some's panties are just a tad bit twisted this morning...

I lean back into the leather booth and pull out my cell phone to distract myself until my food can arrive. I could've called Caleb, but I know I have to be more careful with him. Ever since meeting him at the bar less than a year ago, he's seemed to quickly grow attached to me. It makes things hard and far more complicated than I can handle. He's looking for something that he knows I can't give and he pushes me too hard to trust him.