clean slate ✿ luke hemmings

three

Cecelia slowly walked into Sunny's Fish Shack, not knowing what to expect. She was greeted by an older gentleman with a beard and a fishy smell.
"Hi! Welcome to Sunny's Fish Shack! Just a table for one?"
She assumed he was the Sunny. He caught Cecelia off guard with his rambling until and she responded with "Actually, I was wondering if you are hiring?" 

"Yes! We are! When can you start? We are understaffed and desperately need some help! Can you start now?" 

"I can start whenever ya need me!" "Cecelia laughed, knowing he's gonna be a party to work with, which is nice because fun people make work bearable.

"Calum!" Sunny yelled as a boy the same age as she and Merrin scurried over. "Calum, can you grab the paperwork for our new hire and help train her" Sunny questioned.

"Yeah, of course... does this mean I get a raise now?" Calum joked before introducing himself to Cecelia. "I'm Calum, by the way"

She stuck out her hand for him to shake it, "Cecelia. I'm friends with Ava, she said to apply here. I'm new in town and staying with her for a little!" 

Calum and Cecelia began to bond over their mutual friend and laughed over how her bright house matches her bright personality. 

Sunny lightly laughed, knowing they would be a power duo to get into trouble at work and went to refill some customers' drinks.

Calum got Cecelia some shirts and explained the uniform, which was just a t-shirt and whatever bottoms you would like to wear luckily. She had waitressed before in college, so there wasn't a whole bunch to learn, just a new place to navigate. 

At the end of the night, Cecelia asked Calum where she should buy her essentials, like food and whatever else she needed.

"There's a little shop called 'Captain Jack's'. At the end of the pier, turn left and walk a little and you'll find it," the brunette explained while clocking out. 

"OK, thanks! I'll see ya around" Cecelia responded, making a mental note to stop there on the way home.  She had only been in Bayside for a day, but hadn't felt this happy in a while.

Following Calum's instructions, Cecelia walked to Captain Jacks' before heading home. She walked into a small, beachy store and gathered food. She got mostly Ramen, knowing she didn't have that much money for anything fancier.  

She headed to the checkout, growing more and more tired from work, and was greeted by a little girl with a head full of golden curls and piercing blue eyes. She couldn't have been older than 5 but still, she knew how to scan Cecelia's items. 

"You're really pretty! My name is Lily" The little girl exclaimed. 

"Why thank you, sweetheart! I'm Cecelia! I just moved here!" she giggled in response to the little bundle of joy.

"Yay! A new friend! There's never anyone new in town!" Lily began to babble on before being cut off by a man coming out from the backroom. "Daddy!"

"Hi Lils, why didn't ya tell me someone was checking out?" the tall, blonde man asked while hugging his daughter. Cecelia let a yawn escape and handed her money to him before thanking Lily and waving goodbye.

On her walk home, she thought about how sweet everyone she met was, even the kids. Once arriving home, Ava introduced her to Michael and she thought the same thing about him, super sweet. The three all chatted about their days and Cecelia told them about meeting Calum and working at Sunny's. 

"See! I told you that you and Calum would get along!" Ava exclaimed, making everyone grin.

"You've gotta meet the rest of the group! Saturday night we usually have dinner together, you can come and meet them all." Michael explained. Cecelia happily agreed, already loving everyone she's seen so far. 

Once the chatter died down, they decided to start getting ready for bed, realizing they still have work the next day before they can celebrate at dinner and meet everyone. 

Cecelia fell asleep quickly from her long day but was eager to see what the future brings.