Byleth wouldn't lie; she just kept staring at her phone.
All day, she had just been staring at the blank screen of her device, waiting and hoping for a notification from an unknown number that belonged to Claude. She didn't have his number, so all she could do was wait for him to text her....
...and that was agonizingly slow.
She lay back in the comfort of her bed, holding her phone above her. The blank screen just taunted her, and Byleth sighed in annoyance. As if in response, the phone slipped out of Byleth's grasp and hit her square in the face.
Byleth let out a slight grunt of pain, more irritated more than anything with how she had practically squashed her nose. As she moved her hand to pick up the phone, she felt it vibrate.
Excitedly, Byleth picked it up and looked at the notification.
Unknown number (maybe: Claude)
heya, teach, it's claude! i thought of something rl fun. meet me at 1AM in front of the bar, yeah?
1AM? Byleth frowned. She was working at the bar until three. She had always worked every day, even more so now that her father was unresponsive. She quickly typed out a response after adding his contact to her phone.
Byleth
That sounds great, but I have a problem. I'm working tonight until three.
His response was almost immediate, and Byleth almost felt giddy about his automatic reply.
damn .. can someone take ur shift
Byleth shrugged, running her tongue over her teeth as she pondered the thought. She'd spent almost every day working except for the holidays; having a break was something she had never done before. Was she even allowed to do that?
Hell, she was next in line for the bar. She could do whatever she wanted! Byleth felt her lips curl into a smile. If she got a chance to be happy, then there was no question about what Byleth was going to choose. The same, mundane life over and over again, or a chance to experience something she'd never had before?
Yeah, easy answer to that.
I'm sure that Leonie and Shamir can handle it. They're both capable, and my father will be there too. Hopefully, he'll be able to help them. I'll let my dad know before I leave.
Byleth pressed the send button, sitting up on her bed. She wondered just what he had in store for them. Would she love it? Would she hate it? She honestly had no idea.
What would they even be doing at one in the morning? Oh, well. She guessed that all she could do was really wait and get going for work. She was sure Claude was expecting her to take off work entirely, but Byleth would rather do something than stand around waiting for him.
She gathered her belongings, and stopped when she saw her father standing in the doorway. He had a bottle in hand, and Byleth frowned.
"I can't ignore my problems with a bit of alcohol. Not when I've got to take action to change my own destiny."
Claude was right...Nothing could be changed by the bottle. Jeralt needed to hear it, too.
"You know, Dad..." Byleth said, a solemn look on her face as she adjusted the purse around her shoulder. "...Some wise guy once told me that ignoring our problems won't do anything. That I should take matters into my own hand. We can't change anything by sitting around...maybe he might be right. I haven't gotten anything done by wallowing in my sorrow."
"...And who told you that?" Jeralt asked skeptically, clutching the bottle tighter. "An idealist who has never been through anything rough?"
"...Maybe," Byleth said honestly. She knew Claude had problems with his family, but she wasn't sure that qualified as anything terrible considering what she had been through. "But it was from someone who's helping me forget about the fact that I'm dying."
Byleth left as he remained silent, knowing there was no use in trying to reason with him. With luck, he'd pop back into normalcy again.
She drove to the bar alone. Jeralt was taking another day off from the bar once more, apparently. Hopefully Leonie and Shamir could hold the bar while she was gone. Well, she was leaving at one in the morning, what could she be missing?
She arrived, opening the bar with her key and began to open up. She greeted Leonie and Shamir, and then began to wait around as customers began to enter.
All she had to do was wait for Claude to arrive, and her day could kick off into something fun.
Finally.
YOU ARE READING
Race Against Time
Fanfiction"BYLETH, YOU'RE DYING." Those were the words Byleth Eisner had heard her entire life...but it had never rang true. She had always known that the doctors were wrong, that she was going to keep living, but the fear of death was constant. Born with a h...
