Koda

Chapter 1

Gracie

I was standing at work looking into the eyes of my colleague and the boy I had had a crush on for the last year. His brown eyes looked like honey and had me hypnotized.

"Grace?" he asked. His nickname for me rolled off his lips. I was staring. Again.

"Yeah," I said and focused on what he was saying. He dragged a hand through his dark brown hair.

"Are you listening to me? I was asking if you could switch shifts with me this weekend," he said as he was touching the back of his neck. I smiled at him and nodded.

"Yeah, sure, it's no problem," I said back. I had planned to go see my parents but I would just have to tell my brother that I couldn't go.

"Thanks, you're a star," Nathan said and smiled. He leaned over and kissed my cheek in a hurry before he left me alone in the storage room. I worked at a diner as a part-timer by the outskirts of town by the side of the highway. I was here pretty much every night and weekend when I wasn't in school. I walked out of the storage room with a pack of buns for the burgers.

"Gracie, sweetie what are you doing?" Mrs. Jackson asked me as she met me by the bar counter. "You are supposed to work the floor."

Mrs. Jackson was a sweet older lady and she owned the diner together with her husband. They had been married since high school and were like my extra parents. My real ones were not much to talk about. I loved them but they were more focused on their own life than their children. Always had been.

"Sorry Mrs. Jackson," I said and smiled at her. "Mr. Jackson asked me to get the buns really quick since he ran out in the kitchen."

"I see, hurry up then," she said and smiled back. It was a knowing smile. She knew I had lied but had decided I had a good reason and let me pass with it. We both knew it so I ducked my head as I passed her to the kitchen and left the buns.

Mrs. Jackson put her head in the door and looked at me.

"Gracie, when you're done you can go home, everyone else has already left," she said and disappeared again. I looked at my watch. It was past 01.00 AM. My brother would start calling soon if I didn't tell him I was on my way home. I made my way from the kitchen, into the staff area, onto the floor of the diner and to the door before I sent a quick text to my brother.

On my way. Be home soon.

It only took a second for him to reply.

Drive safe.

As I pushed the door open to leave Mr. Jackson peaked his head out the kitchen window where we fetched the food.

"Bye Gracie!" he said with a big smile. I smiled back and waved to the older couple goodbye before I left. I went to my car and drove home in peace. As soon as I parked my car outside the house my brother came out to the porch, like he always did. I got out of the car and went up to him.
"You are late," he said and looked at me with his piercing green eyes. His eyes were the same color as mine, just like his hair, the same golden brown. We were so similar we could have been twins. My brother was, however, 4 years older than me and when he moved away from home he asked if I wanted to come with him. I had not hesitated. I was still in high school but I didn't mind. He took care of me, more than our parents ever had.

"I was at work," I said back to him, crossing my arms. He looked crossed at me before smiling, not able to be mad at me.
"I know," he put his arms around me and pulled me into the house. My brother had not gone to college, instead he had opened his own business in high school and made enough to rent his own studio as a tattoo artist.