Something New Yet So Familiar

Hilltop Views

Amber's alarm blared through the room, and the girl groaned, turning over to her side to turn off the annoying noise. It was 8 in the morning, too early for her to be waking up during summer break, but she did promise to drive her parents to the airport.

She hated waking up early, especially when she had to get to work. While her and Tara both worked in coffee shops, Amber worked at Peet's Coffee, Starbucks' competitor. She and Tara would make jokes about being enemies, since they worked for competing companies, but it was all in good fun.

Amber's availability was pretty much free the entire day. She was fine working either mornings, mids or closing shifts, but was mostly scheduled for either mornings or closings.

Amber rubbed her eyes, waking up and feeling somewhat ready to start her day. She sat up in her bed, looking up in the mirror right above her that she had installed with the help of her dad. Her parents made a few teasing remarks about it, which slightly annoyed her, but she didn't mind it too much.

The raven haired girl got out of her bed and went straight for the bathroom, not wasting any time getting in the shower. The water temperature was somewhere between cold and warm, which helped Amber wake up a bit more.

During early mornings, Amber made it a point to take cold ish-warm ish showers, just so that she wasn't half asleep during the morning. Of course she also drank coffee to stay energized, but when it came to waking up and getting ready, the raven head needed a cold shower, otherwise she'd be like a zombie and on the verge of falling asleep.

Amber was a night owl, staying up late during the night and having trouble waking up in the morning. It's not like she hated mornings, it was just hard to wake up for her.

After her shower and morning routine, Amber quickly got ready, throwing on a pair of black ripped jeans and a white crop top, before heading downstairs to join her parents in the kitchen.

"Hey guys." She smiled softly, going up to give both her parents a kiss on the cheek. It was very rare for her to do that, considering that once she got older, her affection for her parents slowly vanished away, and with her parents being caught up in work most the time, she couldn't even display that affection, but Amber would still do it from time to time.

"Good morning sweetheart." Her mom, Vivian, smiled, kissing Amber's cheek as well.
"You sleep well?" Her dad asked, removing the pan from the stove.
"Yeah, I did. Did you?" Amber said, helping her mom bring the cups and silverware over to the table.

"Hard to sleep well before a long flight." Her dad smiled, putting the eggs and bacon on all three plates before setting the pan in the sink.

He grabbed two of the plates, Amber taking the last one and grabbing the orange juice box from the fridge, before following her father into the dining room. She set the juice on the table, putting her own plate right in front of her, and sat down.

The Freemans began eating their breakfast, enjoying their last meal as a family before Vivian and Ron left to D.C. for two weeks.

"Where'd you sneak off to last night?" Ron asked, receiving a somewhat embarrassed look from Amber.

"What?"

Vivian and Ron chuckled, sharing a look.

"We heard you sneaking out of the house last night. You weren't exactly super careful when opening the front door. Plus we heard you unlocking the car." Her mother said, a knowing smile on her face.

Amber usually left her car parked in the driveway since her bedroom was right above the garage, and it was far enough from her parents' bedroom, but last night she parked right in front of their bedroom window, since she knew her dad would park his car in the garage when he and her mom got home.