Abandoned

Chapter Twelve

Clarissa's pov.

Miranda was serving some customers but I couldn't see Jessica.

She must be taking the trash out, I thought.

We walked behind the bar and put on our aprons. As soon as we walked out from behind the counter, Miranda saw me.

She gasped. "Clarissa! You're back!" She ran over and gave me a hug.

I hugged her back. Then I heard something from behind me.

"Bless you, girl, bless you."

I turned around. Jessica was standing there, her hands clasped near her heart. Tears were coming to her eyes.

I smiled. She walked over and gave me a bear hug.

"Thank you," I whispered,"thank you,"

After a moment, we pulled apart. Jessica was grinning at all of us. "Tonight," she said,"we will have a staff party."

We looked amongst ourselves and nodded, vigorously, as a reply.

Suddenly a voice rang out, calling my name. We all looked were it came from. It was Reggie.

He was standing over a frying pan with some stir fry in it, and he was holding a spatula in his hand, waving it towards us.

I smiled and started towards him. When I got to him he gave me a huge hug, nearly squeezing my inside out of me.

"Great to see you too," I giggled.

Parker gave me an awkward hug.

Zach stood beside me the whole time and every chance he got he held my hand. I looked around. Miranda was back to serving customers with a huge smile on her face. Jessica was doing the same. Reggie was finishing off his stir fry and doing a happy dance. Parker looked relieved.

So many people cared about me, but I was too blind to see it.

Later that night

Jessica suggested closing earlier to have our party, so we did.

After cleaning up, we headed out for pizza.

We rode to Pizza Hut in Reggie's van. Reggie drove and Jessica was riding shotgun. Parker, Miranda, Zach and I were all riding in back. Parker and Miranda had their back to one wall and Zach and I had our backs to other and he held my hand the while way there.

At first it was an awkward silence, then, thank goodness, Reggie turned on the radio.

Ten minutes later, we were piling out of the van and heading into Pizza Hut. We walked through the doors and a gust of warm air greeted us.

Tables scattered orderly around the room. Posters of pizza hung on the walls. The main colors were red, white and green. We walked up to the counter and decided what we wanted. After several minutes we decided on a half pepperoni half supreme and a chicken, bacon, ranch pizza. We sat down at a table of six, talking back and forth. Two other groups of people were there, eating pizza.

"254 you order's ready. 254."

Reggie and Parker went up and got the pizzas and we dug in.

Three pieces later I was stuffed along with everyone else. Zach had five pieces, Jessica had one and a half, Reggie had three, Parker had two and Miranda had one.

We threw our thrash away and left.

"Thanks Jessica, for the pizza," Zach said as we piled into Reggie's van.

"Yeah, thanks," everyone else agreed.

"No problem," she said and we drove back to Lou's Coffee.

We piled out and said our farewells then Zach took my hand and led me to his motorcycle. We hopped on and drove to his apartment.

A few minutes later, Zach opened the door to his apartment. He flipped the light on. The room we stood in was a living room. One small couch stood in the middle of the room. A coffee table laid in front of that. A tv was in front of that. The far left corner of the room was the beginning of a hallway. A doorway, leading to the kitchen, was on the opposite side of the room as we were.

Zach led me down the hallway. A few steps later a bathroom was on my left and a closet to my right. A few steps more was Zach's room, ending the hallway.

"I thought you said you had an extra bedroom," I said.

"I was planning to sleep on the couch," he admitted.

We were in his room, talking. I was sitting on the bed and he was leaning in the doorway.

I looked him over. His dark brown hair, soft brown eyes. He was tan, had a muscular frame, but he seemed pretty thin. He had bags under his eyes. His face looked older than it should've been.

"You wouldn't mind if I hurry and take a shower would you?" I asked.

"No, go ahead," he answered.

I got off his bed and walk passed him to the bathroom. As I closed the door behind me, I heard Zach walk down the hall and leave the apartment, locking it behind him.

I stripped down and turned on the water. I glanced at myself in the mirror. I was pale, very slim and fragile-looking.

"This is what everyone sees," I say to myself,"a fragile girl to weak to take care of herself."

I looked away and stepped into the shower. Warm water, welcomed me. I stood there, letting the water rush over me. I looked down at my feet. Dirty brown water ran down the drain.

'Ew. Grody,' I thought.

I stepped out of the shower, found a rag, and stepped back in. I wet the rag down and scrubbed myself clean, watching the water running off my body slowly turn from brown to clear.

-Hey awesome readers! Thanks for reading. Let me know if I make any grammar mistakes. Thanks. Keep reading. And please vote, comment, or follow. I enjoy it very much. And sorry that was a short chapter. 😉✌️