Outer Space | Spruceworth 6.3

Chapter 4: The Audition

Chapter 4: The Audition

~Grant~

       I was sitting at the counter in the 50's diner, drinking a chocolate milkshake when someone suddenly sat down beside me. "Hey, stranger," Sunny said.

       "Hey," I said but I guess it was clear I wasn't too happy right now because of what Sunny said next.

       "You okay?" she asked. "You seem a bit... down."

       I sighed, not wanting to rant about my current relationship problems with my ex-girlfriend. "Yeah, I'm fine. There's just... Something going on. But it's fine."

       "Need someone to talk to about it?" Sunny asked.

       I shook my head. "No, it's really fine." And I didn't want to say it directly to her but I would rather talk to literally anyone else about my relationship. If I had to talk to someone, it would be Hennessy. Or Shaw. Or Holden. Or Vikram.

       Basically anyone except August because he would tell me to suck it up and stop ignoring Ollie before he kicks me out of the house.

       "So you told me the milkshakes here are the best," Sunny said. "But which flavour is the best?"

       "That depends on who you ask," I said. "I personally like chocolate the best. My fiance did too but then he stabbed me in the back and switched to banana."

       "Well, then I think I will get a chocolate one," Sunny said.

       She got off the stool and headed to the line up to get a chocolate milkshake. Ernest, who was on the other side of the counter since he was working, walked over to me and resting his arms on the counter. "Need some customer to worker therapy?" he asked.

       "Why would I need that?" I asked.

       "Because that's your second chocolate milkshake," Ernest said. "And you seem moody. And normally when you order a milkshake, you take it home so you don't have to be apart from Ollie for too long. Is everything okay between you two?"

       "I want to say yes but I really don't know," I said. "I might just be overreacting but I think he's hiding something from me. We normally tell each other everything but last week, he got this text message and when I asked who it was from, he said no one."

       "Yeah, I think you're overreacting," Ernest said. "He loves you. He's not going to... whatever you think he's doing with that secret message."

       "But why would he need to keep a secret from me?" I asked. "I wasn't lying when I said we tell each other everything. Even the smallest things. It's just... weird having him hide the text message from me. And I tried asking him why he's hiding it and he just... won't tell me."

       "I'm sure there's a reason," Ernest said. "And whatever that reason is, you should't ignore your fiance. Especially because he just walked in here."

       "What?" I asked, turning to look at the door. Ollie was standing there, scanning the diner before his eyes landed on me.

       I looked back at Ernest but he already walked off so he wouldn't have to deal with all the drama that might happen.

       Ollie walked over and sat down beside me. "Have you been here all day?"

       "I don't know, have I?" I asked.

       Ollie sighed. "Can you please stop being mad at me? There isn't anything to worry about."

       "If there isn't anything to worry about, then you would have told me what that secretive text message was about," I said. "But you're refusing to tell me. So please, leave me alone to drink my milkshake in peace because you clearly don't love me enough."