Fate is a Funny Thing

Talk To Me

--BEEP-- --BEEP-- --BEEP--

Reaching my hand out to press the stop button on my alarm, I get annoyed when the beeping doesn't cease. Even when I press harder it still doesn't stop. Is this stupid thing broken, why won't it stop?

Finally giving in, I slowly open my eyes to see where the annoying beeping is coming from, if not my alarm. Imagine my surprise when I see Rafael standing above me holding his phone next to my ear as it beeps loudly. Struggling to understand what's happening, I sit up with my eyes still squinted and look around the room blankly.

"Hey Hope," he says chirpily.

"Who?" I croak still half-asleep.

"What do you mean who?" Rafael asks looking at me strangely. I don't reply still trying to process what's going on. When my brain finally starts to work, I look at Rafael in confusion and then at the clock, which says it is 9:00am.

9:00AM?!

"Shit," I curse, scrambling out of bed. Realising what I just said to him, I make it seem like it was because I was half-asleep by saying, "I wish my brain would work faster when I wake up. Sometimes I don't even know what planet I'm on."

He still looks confused, but he shakes his head and then looks at me like I'm a weirdo, "what are you doing?"

"I'm late for work," I say running around my room, but then I stop and turn around, "wait, why aren't you at work?"

"You and I have half the day off," he says randomly, "I'm taking you somewhere."

This surprises me. He wants to do what, now?

"Are you going to take me to an abandoned outhouse and torture me until I reveal my deepest darkest secrets?" I quip only half-jokingly.

"Have you got a lot of deep dark secrets?" he challenges and I laugh nervously and look away, hoping he isn't being serious.

"Just let me get ready," I say before disappearing into the bathroom.

Nice going, Acecia. At this rate, you'll reveal who you are by the end of this week.

After half an hour, I emerge from my bedroom to an angry-looking Rafael.

"What?"

"Why do you take so long to get ready?"

"I didn't take that long," I defend, looking at the time. He mutters something about me needing to fix my punctuality. What a drama king! I didn't even take that long, and even if I did, it's not like I do it all the time. Plus, we've got the day off, so what's the rush? Rolling my eyes, I decide not to respond. There's no point.

When I get downstairs, I make my way to the kitchen, but he grips my arm and pulls me back towards him. Ushering me out of the door, he tells me we're getting breakfast from the café. I shrug in response and get into the car. He triple-checks all the doors are locked before getting into the car. Noticing the confused look on my face, he raises an eyebrow questioningly. Remembering his usual responses to my questions, I remain silent and decide it's better not to ask him anything.

The drive is silent. It's also slightly uncomfortable. I have no idea what to say to him and he does not say anything to me either. We remain in silence until we get to the cafe and sit down when he asks me what I'd like to order. I choose something from the breakfast menu, and we place our orders, before descending back into silence.

"So, on your day off you decide to take me to another tourist spot?" I finally ask, breaking the unbearable silence.

"It was Mason's idea," he shrugs.