Breathe.

Chapter 2

Vixen entered 'the sweet sherbet café' through the entrance and walked to the locker room, she took off her jacket and put it in her locker with her bag, she took the red apron that each employee had to wear during shifts and tied it around her waist. Vixen swept her hair out of the neck strap of the apron, brushing her shoulder lightly, then she remembered the warmth of Zaiden's arms around her; she ran her hands from her shoulders down her arms, feeling the lingering warmth, heat rose to her cheeks as she realized what she was doing. She shook away the thought of Zaiden and walked into the café area. The café had opened only thirty minutes ago, so there were not many customers yet, only the few early birds. Vixen's phone buzzed in her back pocket, she pulled it out and hid behind the cash register so that she wouldn't get in trouble, it was a text from Natasha,

Nats😘 : Hey vix, is everything okay? The call cut out and i didn't hear from you.

'Shit! I forgot to call her after what happened with Zaiden!' she cursed to herself.

Vixen: Hey Nats! Yup I'm totally fine, i just had a situation and couldn't call back, I'll tell you everything as soon as you get here.

Nats😘 : Sure thing vix! See you soon! 😘

Vixen: 😘

Vixen sighed, she felt a tap on her shoulder, and whipped around to find her co-worker Sam,

"Hey vixen! Good morning to ya!" he said brightly,

"Morning Sam, bright and cheerful as always i see." she replied smiling.

He smiled brightly and nodded vigorously his thick black locks bouncing at the movement, vixen smiled at him, they both heard someone yawn loudly, it was coming from the locker room. They turned to find Natasha walking in, she yawned and rubbed at her eyes, Natasha looked up and saw their sympathetic smiles. She smiled tiredly at them and stretched her arms out,

"Let's get ready for a big day of work!" Natasha said tiredly yet cheerfully.

The day went as any normal day at the sweet sherbet, vixen and Sam were waiters and Natasha was cashier, there were also two other workers behind the counter with Natasha and three workers with Sam and vixen. It had hit noon, signaling the half hour break that Sam, Natasha and vixen had, so vixen decided to go talk to Natasha. She walked behind Natasha to the break room and began speaking,

"so.... The weirdest thing happened to me today," vixen said,

"with you.... every day is weird," natasha replied sarcastically, earning a pinch on the arm from vixen.

"shut it, nats," she said giggling, "But listen, in the morning, when you mentioned Jeremiah, i started to have a panic attack an-" vixen was immediately engulfed in tight hug from Natasha. She was surprised for a minute, then relaxed in her embrace; Natasha pulled away and gave vixen a sympathetic smile. Natasha was the only one who vixen had allowed to touch her,

"I'm sorry vix, i really should have been more careful with where i mention his name, we're you able to calm yourself down?" she asked guiltily,

Vixen smiled gently, "that's where the weirdest thing happened! i was calmed down by zaiden!" vixen yelled.

"wait wait, hold on now..... You mean to tell me that 'Zaiden Maxis'....Zaiden Maxis! Helped you through your anxiety!?" Natasha asked in disbelief,

Vixen nodded vigoursly, her eyes wide from her own unbelief of the morning events.

After the half hour of resting and drinking multiple cups of coffee, the trio exited the break room, Natasha took her place at the counter and Sam took his place in the lounge area. The day was moving quite fast and in no time the trio's shifts were ten minutes away from ending, just then the bell attached to the entrance door rang, signaling a new customer and probably the last for tonight. Vixen sighed in exhaustion and stretched her arms, collecting the dirty dishes and cups from her tables, she placed the load of dishes on the counter, where the cleaning staff would take over.

Just then, hands grabbed her waist pulling her backwards. Her heart skipped in fear and she twisted around, elbowing the stranger on the side of their head. she stumbled backwards, grabbing a hold on the edge of the counter. She gripped her apron, catching her breath and blinking the tears from her eyes. Her vision cleared, only to be immediately filled with tears again, those messy brown locks and those brown eyes, she was staring at the same man again, the man who owned those warm pair of arms. Zaiden Maxis.

"ow! What the fuck?! Why did you fucking elbow me?!" zaiden yelled rubbing at his temple, where a noticeable bruise was forming,

Before vixen could remark, Natasha appeared in front of her and in one swift motion slapped zaiden. Vixen's eyes grew wide and she saw the red mark of Natasha's palm was slowly forming on his cheek, his eyes wide with shock.

"Touch her one more time you piece of garbage, and I'll rip your arms off.." she said with a venom laced voice,

he recovered from his shock and looked at vixen, at that moment tears slipped down her cheeks, her grip on her apron tightened as she looked away. Zaiden's eyes grew even more wide, he watched as vixen walked away shaking, and in tears. "I what? I didnt mean to make her cry... I just did what i... I didn't mean to ma-"

'NO! STOP IT! DON'T TOUCH HER! STOP IT! MOMMY!!!'

His thoughts were interrupted with the images of his past, his heart quickened, as his breathing started to get shallow, he left the café, walking to his apartment, that was two blocks away. He stumbled through the front door and fell to his knees,

"zaiden? Honey is that you? You're home ear- ZAIDEN! Sweetheart what's wrong?!" the voice that belonged to the only woman he would ever love. His mother. She held him till his breathing calmed and he had stopped panicking,

"what happenend sweetheart? Why did you start having a panic attack?" she asked gently, he wanted to tell her, of the girl who was afraid to be touched, but he couldn't. It would hurt her bringing back those old memories, so he lied, telling her he thought he was being followed only to find it was an alley cat. She smiled and ruffled his hair, he got up, and went to wash up for dinner as his mother had asked him to, he kept thinking

"I've seen that look before... That's the same look that mom would give back then... When any stranger would touch her... The look of fear and pain... Was she..? What happened to her to make her react like that? I want to know.... I have to know... "

Back at the sherbet café vixen had been calmed down from her third anxiety attack that day, she was held by Natasha, while Sam kept whispering sweet reassurances to her. She eventually calmed down and left the café, waving goodbye to her friends, she walked back to her apartment. She unlocked the front door and locked it behind her, dropping her bag and jacket she peeled of her clothes and went to take a shower, she replayed the day in her head, Zaiden seemed to be the main event, if you didn't count the times Sam dared Natasha to donkey ball challenge the cream puffs. But in a weird way, she liked that he was the main highlight of her day. She ate her dinner in silence, took her medication, and went to bed, falling asleep while lightly caressing the places that Zaiden had touched.