Grey Waters

1: Kennedy

Hi hi hi! Thank you sm for giving my story a shot. I just wanted to warn you and tell you to bare with me for the first few chapters since they definitely need some work LOL!

"Sarah? Can you hear me now?" I yell into the phone, walking out of the finance building.

"Yeah, yeah I can hear you now, what were you saying?" My sister mutters distractedly, probably walking to her next class.

"I'm gonna come home for a few days," Pausing, I make sure I don't fall down the stairs to my death, and put my sunglasses on, "Probably tomorrow until Saturday. I work Sunday morning."

"You're coming home?" I can tell I have her full attention now, and by the sounds of it she's moved to a quieter spot.

"Yeah, I have a few days off work and only a couple classes that I don't even need to go to. I wanted to grab some more of my clothes anyways." And sleep in my bed, and do laundry and, eat some good food for once. "And I want to visit you."

"Oh my god, YAY!" My sister screeches. "Can we go to that book store downtown? And can you bring that sweater you bought the other day so I can borrow it? This is so exciting Kennedy, yay!"

I laugh while my sister continues to ramble about what we can do while I'm home making me feel even better about my decision to go home. She doesn't need to know that my decision has more to do with my lack of friends than I'm letting on, and she definitely doesn't need to know that it also has to do with all the weird phone calls I've been getting lately. 

"Yeah, I know! I'm excited too, Sarah, but listen I'm already late for my shift but I'll call you tomorrow before I leave."

"Okay. Have fun at work, love you." She says.

"Bye, love you too." I tell her before hanging up. I can see Campus Cafe up ahead and mentally prepare myself to see Alison or Caitlyn, or even better, both of them. They're sweet, I think, just not really to me. Maybe they just need time to warm up more. Even though it's been 2 years... Still it's probably just because they're already best friends so they just feel like they don't need another friend. That must be it.

A guy and girl walk out as I approach the door, the girl waiting to hold it open for me. I'm just far enough away that I kind of have to run so she doesn't have to wait forever. I give her a huge smile and thank her. She gives me a small smile in return. She's nice, I could be friends with her.

Except she's already walking away. It's fine, maybe she's secretly a bitch. Or maybe that was her friends boyfriend and he's cheating with her or maybe she's a murderer. That would be really bad, I think I probably dodged a bullet.

I head behind the counter and into the back to drop off my bag and change, seeing Alison at the register on the way and saying a quick hello. She returns my smile but doesn't say hi, and her smile look a little fake. After I grab my apron I rush out to the counter just as Cam, the guy who had the shift before me, is heading back to the break room.

"Hey, pretty lady." He grins.

"Hi Cam! How are you? Long shift?"

"Better now that your here," he says, wiggling his eyebrows. "My shift was pretty shitty if I'm being honest. A whole bunch of annoying morning rush students, and this one girl spilt her coffee all over this guy, he turns around and is yelling at her, she starts crying, and who has to fix it? Me! I'm not built for that." He complains, telling me about how the guy was complaining about his $700 loafers and how they're ruined now. Sounds like someone I used to know. "And then this guy has the audacity to roll his eyes when I told him they could be cleaned. They were leather loafers. You can fucking clean them." The volume of his voice has caught the attention of a few people in the cafe, so he turns around giving them a crazy person smile. "Sorry about that, busy day!" He says with fake enthusiasm.

I like to think of Cam as my best friend. He's the sweetest guy ever, with bleached hair cut short to his scalp and pretty blue eyes. We aren't all that close but I blame that on my lack of desire to party. He's invited me out before with him and his boyfriend but I never feel up to it. It's okay though, he's still my friend so clearly he doesn't think I'm boring. I hope.

"Anyways, I have to get going, Beck's picking me up like," He glances at the clock and winces, "5 minutes ago. Love you, catch ya later." He pets my head like a dog and runs off to the back before I can respond.

The next 6 hours pass slowly but I enjoy it none the less. I love the cafe. It's always busy but still managed to keep it's quiet, cozy vibes. Most of the people who come here are either grabbing a coffee to go before or after class, or are sitting down to study or read, so there's not a lot of conversation. I love the people watching part too. Seeing how people interact and funny little quirks that only come out when a person is relaxed and focused to the point that they forget they're in public. That sounds creepy but I promise it's not. Well maybe it is... I don't know.

I also like getting to talk to all the people. There are a lot of regulars that I've come to know over the years. Especially the professors and other staff who all like to chat when they get their coffees.

When my shift ends I say a quick bye to the girl who took over for Alison and grab my stuff from my locker. I also make a mental note to make sure she feels welcome, since she just started. And to ask her name... oops. I swear I knew it. I just forgot. It'll come to me... probably. She's really pretty, with long black hair, big blue eyes and freckles. And from what I've seen she's really sweet. Maybe she'll become a friend.

On the walk home I make a mental list of what I need to do before I leave tomorrow, and what I'll need to bring.

Books,
Laundry,
Skincare,
Kindle,
phone charger,
snacks for the drive because duh...

I'm just about the cross the road outside my apartment when someone blows by on a motorcycle, almost hitting me. Well that was rude. Good thing I didn't get hit, definitely would have died, I bruise like a peach. But think of the insurance money Kennedy...

After carefully crossing the street and only kinda hoping I'd get hit so I could sue for millions, I unlock my door, only to see an envelope shoved under it. There's nothing but my name on it and I get this sour feeling in my stomach.

As I'm leaning down to pick it up, Coco comes out of my room meowing and looking like he only slightly wants to murder me. I adopted the brown cat 2 months ago and he still hasn't warmed up to me. It could be because I named him Coco Chanel... and bought him a pink sweater I try to put on him all the time, but that's besides the point. The name just fit so well and the sweater has rhinestone. I couldn't not.

Instead of opening the letter I set it down on my kitchen counter and make myself a dinner of pasta with rosé sauce. Gourmet. 20 minutes later I just want to go to bed and read but I can thank my really amazing hormones for having to go through a five step skincare and wash my hair every other day.

I see my reflection in the mirror and oh dear god. Did I go out like this? People saw me like this? Oh no... no wonder I don't have any friends, I look like a homeless man. My skins is irritated and red where I broke out last week, my blonde hair is somehow so greasy even though I showered yesterday, and my under eyes are puffy and purple which seems false considering I got at least 5 hours of sleep.

Okay maybe 3, but laying in bed is the same as sleeping is it not?

Sometimes I just want to bleach and fry my hair so that it will never get oily again... but that's not gonna happen because what if my hair starts to fall out? Or I go to a bad salon and my hair turns orange? That's scary.

When I finally get in bed with my current read, "From Lukov With Love," I'm exhausted but determined to finish it because there's only 200 pages left and it's so good. It's hard to focus, though, with the thought of what might be in that envelope on my kitchen counter. I'm not going to open it. I'm in a good mood and don't want to ruin that. I'll just leave it for a few days.