Tweetie

14

After another sleepless night, Hazel's brain was a mess. If she had to visualise it, it would probably look similar to a truck carrying a garbage fire that swerved off of the road and plummeted into the ocean. Or, maybe it just looked a bit like a messy library. One or the other.

 Her mind constantly trailed, it wore her thin and she couldn't help but question what she was even looking for. Why was she looking for a missing boy, again?

She knew it was her own fault, she was too insistent on staying busy. So much so that she didn't fully consider what exactly she was getting herself into.

She hadn't noticed that she reached the cafe, not even as she pushed the glass door and stepped into the golden light where everything was so quiet, it made the empty, lifeless street outside seem noisy.

It was difficult to think clearly. She constantly drifted into her head, becoming so distracted that she missed most things. She missed Stewart's greeting as she pulled the apron over her head, she missed Leo sitting at the table alone, she missed that she had even pulled her apron on and tied it clumsily.

She may as well have been wandering around town, tapping her chin like a cliche Hollywood detective.

"Hey, Tweetie, you alright?"

She didn't miss Leo's voice.

She looked up, slowly approaching with shuffled steps so she didn't have to raise her voice when she couldn't gather the energy to.

He was slumped in his seat for just a moment before he picked himself up and sat up, instead, he leaned his elbows against the table and let a slightly rugged uniform show more than it had moments ago when it was hidden under the table. She knew that typically, his uniform was the most put together of the groups, so seeing a wonky tie and ruffled brown hair was a little odd, but not too odd.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said while rubbing her eyes, "you're early."

"My house gets hectic on Friday mornings. I like to leave early."

She found it hard to imagine. As an only child, the things she imagined came from movies and books and they always seemed a little unrealistic. She doubted that clothes went flying from doorways and that there were literal fights over the bathrooms. But then again, she hadn't experienced it herself, so maybe that was the case.

She shifted from one foot to the other, imagining the scenarios which would force him to leave early. How hectic would his house have to be? How big was his family?

"Are you sure you're alright? You seem a little out of it."

"Mhmm-"

"Robin, sit down and take a break. We have a while until anyone is going to show up." Stewart called out, forcing her to turn a little too quickly and turn back to see Leo nod his head towards the spare seat Ryan used for his foot. She wasn't going to say no. So, she slumped down and sank across from Leo who, now she was sitting and wasn't drowned out by the light that was behind her a moment ago, he could see the injuries and tiredness from the previous day perfectly.

She looked a little worse, truthfully. Her cheek was red and blue with a bruise that formed just beneath her cheekbone and mimicked the texture of watercolour paints pooling in one area, her lip had scabbed and reddened and the bags beneath her eyes were a shade of purple blended with a dull blue which was just subtle enough to go unnoticed by comparison of the colours of her bruises. She looked exhausted.

"Hey, so," he leaned into the table, giving Hazel a chance to see his own tired dull blue eyes which were a little lacking in colour under the artificial light of the cafe. "I know he's intimidating, but if Ryan ever asks you to do something and you don't feel like it, you can tell him to shut up. Like, if he wants you to do his work but you're too tired. Or yesterday, when you were hurt. You don't even need a reason. If you say no, he'll take it."