✓ | 𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐀, j. hale [2]

VI. Visions

"When I took this job I did not sign up for this," Leah groaned, cautiously scraping leftover food from a customer's plate into the garbage can. Evelyn grinned, the hot water from the sinks nearly burning her hands as she scrubbed at the dishes that had already been emptied.

"Don't act like you haven't washed a dish before, Leah."

"I thought waitresses didn't have to wash their own dishes, doesn't someone else have that job?" Leah grumbled to herself as she grudgingly moved on to the large stack on the counter beside her.

Marie came into the kitchen just then, arms full of books and papers as she walked toward her office in the back of the building. "Unless someone answers my ad in the paper for a dishwasher it looks like your stuck with the job, sweetheart." At Leah's scoff, the woman grinned. "Oh, hush, I'm paying you extra for staying late to help. I don't want to hear any complaining."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Evelyn countered, giggling when she saw Leah grimacing as she struggled to avoid getting ketchup all over her hands while scraping one of the plates.

Once Leah had successfully cleaned off all the plates, she moved to Evelyn's right to start drying the dishes that she had already washed. They worked quickly and quietly together, the only sound being the splash of water and soap suds and the gentle clink of the plates as they were stacked on top of each other.

"Seth and I used to take turns doing this with my mom," Leah spoke suddenly, breaking the peaceful silence. "Back when we were younger."

Evelyn smiled to herself and nodded. "Me too. It used to be kind of a bonding moment for us, I guess."

"At least you didn't have an annoying little brother stuck to your side the whole time trying to keep all the attention on him." Leah sounded annoyed when she spoke about Seth, but from the corner of her eye Evelyn could see the fondness that the girl held for her little brother. "And at least now we're getting paid."

Evelyn smiled softly to herself, her fingers stilling for a brief moment as she lost herself in her thoughts. "I always wanted a sibling," she breathed, and suddenly she was taken back to that day months ago when she and Edward had stood in her kitchen in the very same position as they were now, washing dishes and bickering like they had grown up together. Her heart clenched; it had been the first time that she had thought of him as a brother-like figure to her, and the sudden reminder of him was like a punch to the gut. She hated to admit it, but she missed him, too.

She shook her head, mentally locking her memories away once more. "So Leah, do you have any fun plans this weekend since you aren't working?"

Leah shrugged, not stopping as she aggressively dried the worn, aged plate in her hand. "I don't know, I think we're planning on having a cookout on Sunday. A bunch of family friends are coming. So basically no different than any other boring weekend in my life." She sighed loudly before eyeing the brunette next to her. "What about you?"

"I'm going shopping in Port Angeles with Bella and one of our friends from school. We might see a movie, too, but I don't know yet."

Leah scrunched her nose. "I didn't know zombie girl was out of her funk yet."

"Leah!"

"Sorry,but it's kinda true," Leah shrugged, though she didn't sound very apologetic. Evelyn didn't really blame her, though; she didn't know Bella the way she did.

"She's not a zombie, Leah. She's just... lost, I guess. She got her heart broken but I think she's finally starting to put in an effort to get back to normal."

Leah scoffed, aggressively putting the plate she was drying on the counter. "Whatever, all I know is that I know what it feels like and I'm not acting like my whole world just ended."