Without You (Short Story)

Chapter 5: Confessions, Rejections, and Assurances

Avery

I was just getting out of the shower when my phone started ringing wildly by the nightstand where I kept it at. I hurriedly stumbled through my messy room, barefoot and dripping wet from the shower. I made a mental note to clean all that up later so I wouldn't trip on the water I left behind as I walked.

Hurriedly, I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and instantly answered the call, not even bothering to look at who the caller was.

"Hello?" I spoke clearly, bewildered at the incessant calling of whoever was at the end of the line.

"Hey, big sis! Thank God you answered!" a familiar voice answered from the other side, panic clearly lacing through her voice.

"Lexi? What happened? Are you okay?" I hastily asked, worry instantly making its way through my voice at the sound of my younger sister's nervous voice.

"Yeah, I'm okay, don't worry about me. You just gotta get down to the coffee shop right about now, there's an emergency in the kitchen," she answered, making my heart stop at the thought of anything happening to my precious shop. I sat down on my pristine white bed to steady myself from the impact of the news.

"What do you mean by emergency? The store isn't burning down, is it?" I panicked, imagining bright orange flames devouring everything I ever worked for.

"No! No, the store isn't burning down! Just, uh... just come over here right now, okay? I'll see you in a while. Bye!" she hurriedly drawled out into the phone, and before I could even get a chance to answer, she already turned off the call, leaving me seated on my bed just staring at my phone screen.

What the hell just happened?

I immediately flew out of my bed and started rummaging through my closet for something decent to wear, and since I had a habit of putting my most comfortable clothes in the most visible line of sight, I just hastily grabbed the first things I saw.

I put on a simple white top, which I paired with black skinny jeans, my favorite black boots, and a creme-colored scarf to match. Then, I was out the door and already making my way to the coffee shop in less than fifteen minutes. As I was driving through the busy streets, panic and worry kept on messing with my emotions, and I had to trample them down and tell myself that I didn't want to get into a car accident. Effectively, that thought shut up my emotions.

When I got to the coffee shop, I didn't even bother parking in my usual reserved spot; instead, I just parked my car by the driveway in front of the store and hurriedly got out. My shoes clicked on the pavement as I hastily made my way to the other side of the car so I could see what was wrong.

What was peculiar though, was that the building staring out at me as it stood there in the dark of the night, didn't look one bit like it had an emergency going on inside of it.

Something kept on nagging at the back of my head though, that there really wasn't anything wrong, and that this is just another one of my twin siblings' crazy ploys to get back at me for some prank that I obviously did. Archer and Alexis think alike so much it bothers me sometimes, although what I did for them to prank me like this was something I couldn't quite remember.

I'm gonna have to start thinking about how to get back at them again for this crazy antic they pulled out on me.

The weird thing about it, was that it was only seven o'clock in the evening and the shop was already dim and locked up. We usually close at eight but the staff leave at around nine because they still have to prep the food and pastries for the next day.

Puzzled, I made my way over to the front doors, remembering to bring my own set of keys this time. I slowly made my way inside the store, the heels of my shoes constantly clicking against the smooth wooden floors.