Unfavorable || a.u.

Chapter 53

Sierra and I stared at each other. She didn't seem to notice the dropped plate. She just looked at me with a mixed expression.

I don't know what surprised me more. That Sierra was alive or that she had managed to stay hidden for six years.

Sierra seemed to jump out of the trance we were both in. She quickly leaned down and started picking up the broken dish with her bare hands. She obviously never learned.

I quickly went over and pushed her out of the way. "Here, let me." I started picking the dishes up. I ended up cutting my thumb and ignoring it. A little cut on my thumb was nothing to the fact that my dead girlfriend wasn't so dead.

I finished picking the dish pieces up and threw them away in a trash can Sierra gave me. She then rushed back into the kitchen. I watched her go.

I sat down next to Alex in a booth he had chosen. "Dude, is that her? Is that actually Sierra? Is that the girl that you've spent the last two years moping about?"

I didn't reply to Alex. I was too stunned. I looked back at Sierra. I could see her through the kitchen window. She was arguing with a woman in her 50's.

Sierra had changed. First of all, she had dyed her hair. It was now a stark white with her dark roots showing. 

She also looked sadder. She had more worry lines than I remembered. It seemed like in the past years she had aged ten years instead of six. She had also gained a little it of weight. Somehow even like this, she was a sight for sore eyes.

"Ciara, I'm not doing that table," the woman argued with a New Jersey accent. "It's your table."

"Please," Sierra begged quietly. "I don't ask you for much, Kathy. Please do this for me."

Kathy groaned. "Fine, but only because you lied for me this morning."

Sierra hugged her. "Thank you so much."

"Luke, I'm not going crazy, right?" Alex said. "The girl that is supposed to be dead is right there. Tell me I'm not going insane."

I nodded. "That's her. That's Sierra." I looked at her. I didn't understand how she had faked her own death. That was some action movie stuff right there.

Kathy came over to our table with a notepad. "What do you guys want?"

"Information," I said.

"I don't sell people out," Kathy said. I took out twenty dollars and slid it to her. "Who do you want to know about?"

I pointed at Sierra. "Her. Who is she?"

Kathy pressed her lips into a thin line. "I especially don't sell out my friends. " I took out another twenty. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything...anything," I said.

"Alright, her name's Ciara," Kathy said. "She's an absolute diamond of a thing. She's everyone's pretty rock to cry on.

"She gets good tips. Just look at her. She's a dime. Could do much better than what she's set for. I think she's 'bout twenty-six. Real young thing." Sierra had said she was two years older than she actually was.

"What else?" I pressed. "When did she come here?"

Kathy shrugged. " 'Round about five years ago. Now what do you want to eat? It'll look suspicious to the boss if I don't come back soon."

"Coke," Alex said.

I looked at the menu. "Water." I didn't think I'd be able to hold down anything else.