Go to work.

Keep busy for hours.

Go home, shower and then nap.

Sit up with Seth for half the night because everything with Leah was overwhelming for him.

Go to bed for another few hours.

For nearly a month, her routine hadn't faltered. The girl working the evening shift at the diner was still in high school so instead of Mona having to do all the table waiting, Rosemary stayed until she got there. It wasn't much trouble as once she got herself into her work persona she could be that bubbly, energetic girl that she needed to be.

For the next few weeks, since Kim had tutoring after school hours for maths, Rosemary was working later than originally planned.

She didn't mind. Most customers were lovely and the later crowd kept buying her coffee when they found she started her day at 5AM. Martin would made her something to eat around noon, and Mona refused to let her pay for. Either Martin or Kim's boyfriend, Jared, would give her a ride home. She would go out with Seth for a little while if she had the energy.

Every day for three weeks, it was the same.

Another set of staff — some of the older folk struggling with cash — usually worked the weekends so now that she was fully trained Rosemary would largely work weekday mornings. On the brief occasions she was able to work with Kim, she was always excited.

Kim was a year older than her and starting in the eleventh grade this year. She took the evening shifts because they usually weren't as busy and it gave her somewhere to do homework that wasn't her house. Mona didn't mind as apparently Kim's mother was extremely over-helpful.

The first time they bumped into each other, Rosemary was met with half a dozen apologies as Kim explained she was feeling real awful for making a tiny little sixteen year old work her ass off.

Rosemary just laughed and when it came out that she was no longer in school, there had been some relief. Then, "I really suck at history so...I might ask for a little help? Maybe?"

They swapped numbers and had been chatting in their free time ever since. Having Seth as her friend was amazing, but it was nice to have a friend that was a girl. She could complain about the discomfort of bobby-pins and how much she hated washing out hairspray. She wouldn't even go and complain to her other friends about how boring she is, seriously?

Changing her start time at work from 5AM over to 3PM was definitely a shock to her routine. Kim promised her that she would only ask to switch for important reasons. This wasn't one, but Rosemary offered anyway.

After mentioning Jared finally had a few days off they had gotten chatting about their weekend plans. Rosemary told her that naturally, the only thing she planned to do was maybe go shopping again and then dig Seth his grave while they played guitar hero; after all these weekends of losing, he still believed he could beat her.

They'd laughed about it for a while, then the topic briefly drifted to Leah. It was quickly directed back to Kim's weekend plans. Since her nor Jared had anything planned for the weekend, she was going to spend all of Saturday with him, hopefully spend the night, and then as much of Sunday as she could get before her mother became an apparent control freak.

"Why don't you go over Friday night and sleep? Once you finish work, I mean," Rosemary had asked.

"I don't want him to have to drive out here to get me and then go back when he's as exhausted as he will be," Kim had explained.

It made sense. She hardly thought about it before offering to take the shift. Kim agreed after a little bit of convincing.

So for the last few hours, Rosemary had been drinking coffee and trying to stay awake until the end of the night. There had still been quite a few people in and out but as it wasn't nearly as intense as the morning rush, she found herself wishing she'd brought a book. The kitchen closed at 10PM so it left customers with the goods at the front counter for the last hour.

The last hour or so was usually quiet enough that she could pack things up at her own pace. Rosemary had been balancing milk packets when the bell above the door rang and signalled someone had come in. She looked up, and smiled at Quil. "Hot chocolate and a cinnamon bun?" She asked with a knowing smile.

He blinked at her with wide eyes. "Um, yeah, please...I thought you worked mornings?"

"Just switched for today, it gave Kim the night with her boyfriend," Rosemary shrugged. "Jared's promised to help me build my bed when it comes in so I don't mind."

He had.

As soon as Kim told him she had the evening he called and made several promises, all three of them knew he couldn't keep. Jared couldn't paint, let alone paint her in the image of Jesus. The bed building, however, she would hold him to.

Harry's back couldn't handle all that lifting, but getting him to admit it was like pulling teeth. From a bear. A wild grizzly bear.

At the mention of Jared, Quil's mildly panicked surprise turned sour. "Yeah...Jared," he muttered and sat down at his family's usual table.

Rosemary grabbed a cinnamon bun from its shelf and filled the kettle. "You don't like him?" She guessed as she set his food down on the table.

He seemed to bite back a comment before finally shrugging. "I don't like them."

"Them?"

Quil gestured again with his hands, still deeply frowning. "Them. There's a whole...a whole group of them. Over the last couple years five guys have gotten sick and taken weeks of school, and when they came back they cut contact with all of their friends and have these tattoos now." A large inhale. "Me and Jacob, it happened with our friend Embry the first day I saw you — uh — the day Seth brought you down to the beach that day."

Fighting back a smile, Rosemary made two mugs of hot chocolate. She wasn't going to comment on his stumbling of words when he was this upset. "Do they give a reason for ending the friendships?"

"No, they don't," he slumped in his seat and accepted the hot chocolate as she handed it to him. He did seem surprised when she sat in the chair across from him and continued to listen. "Uh, they don't ever give a reason, just I can't be around you anymore, I'm sorry but it's safer that way, or something like that and then it's like you never existed to them."

"That's rude," she frowned, her head golfing.

He stared at her for a moment with red cheeks before he blinked rapidly and began picking at his cinnamon bun. "It's bullshit, honestly."

"Agreed. How are you and Jacob dealing with it? That's a shitty thing to do to someone."

The sour expression turned downright bitter. "We were dealing with it okay until he got sick a couple weeks ago. Came back to school today and ditched me like knowing him since we were in diapers is nothing."

Rosemary frowned. "Asshole."

He huffed. "Kinda, yeah."

"No Quil, he's definitely an asshole."

A smile quirked at his mouth as he glanced up at her. "Yeah, you're right."

"I know," she hummed and then sipped from her mug.

A calm silence fell over them for a moment. This was the first proper conversation she had had with Quil but it felt as if she had known him for years. It was similar to Seth, who understood her the way characters described their friends in books.

Only it was...it was different.

"Well," Rosemary hummed. "I don't have many friends right now, and it seems like both of yours were asses, so uh...we're friends?"

It wasn't meant to be a question but she had no other way to say it.

Quil stared at her for a moment, that same little smile now directed at her. "Yeah, um...yeah we're friends."

"Cool," she beamed. "Friends have each other's phone numbers and I don't — right now I don't have a cell phone but this is the number for the Clearwater house, so if I'm not here then that's probably where I am."

Internally, Rosemary cursed herself for the rambling while scribbling the phone number on a napkin. She could write songs that have been compared to poetry, yet she couldn't string together a proper sentence.

Quil wrote down his in return while she took the last sip from her drink.

Both of them had now run out of hot chocolate. She absentmindedly looked at the clock when she went to make more and yelped. Ten minutes past closing.

"Everything okay?" Quil asked curiously.

"Totally fine, I was just supposed to start shift end about twenty minutes ago," Rosemary grimaced.

So she began cleanup.

Cleaning the pots, wiping down tables and putting the leftover baking away for the morning. It didn't take a long time but she still liked to be done early.

Despite her telling him to go home, Quil waited for her to finish up.

They chatted for the twenty minutes it took her to finish everything, about his classes and their hobbies and anything else they could think of. Two more times she tried to send him home, but he was adamant about waiting for her. When she was finally done, she grabbed her things from the back room and hurried to meet him outside.

Quil stood with his hands in the pockets of his rain jacket, toeing at the loose gravel on the road. Clearly lost in thought. When the door slammed shut, he looked up at her with wide brown eyes.

"Sorry," Rosemary grimaced. "The door is really loud."

"No, no it's fine."

The beginning of the walk was awkward.

Neither of them had much to say as all the small talk had been used up during her cleaning. A cool breeze drifted between buildings down the road, chilling her hands and nose. Rosemary put her hands in her pockets and watched her feet as she walked so there would be no uncomfortable eye contact.

Thunder rumbled softly overhead as rain began to fall in a light drizzle, wetting her hair and successfully making her even colder. She shivered in her rain jacket, only to find Quil looking perfectly content when she looked over at him.

"I don't understand how you're not cold," Rosemary grumbled, trying to keep her teeth from chattering. It was futile as a sharp gust of wind blew through her.

Quil grinned at her. "Get used to it, it's not even winter yet," he laughed.

Without meaning to, she cringed. This only made him laugh again. "I don't think I'll ever get used to it," she grimaced, then unable to hide her own smile.

Quil was incredibly easy to like, and his uneven smile made her want to match his expression. It was almost impossible not to. A small laugh escaped her.

"You'll need a much warmer coat than that," he told her, still smiling. "For when it snows."

Her horror must've been less hidden than she hoped for because he burst into another fit of laughter. Then he tripped over a rock, and she joined him in laughing.

They were likely too loud for walking through town at nearly 11:30 PM, but Rosemary couldn't bring herself to care. It was nice to have a friend. A thought ran through her mind and she turned to him. "Thank you for the cinnamon bun, by the way," she told him earnestly.

Even in the darkness, she could see his cheeks flush red. "It was nothing," he mumbled, avoiding her gaze.

Rosemary couldn't help but smile. He was sweet. "Still, I appreciate it," she told him.

Quil finally looked up at her, still flushed, his dark brown eyes winking in the street lights. "No problem."

They were nearing the Clearwater's now, and part of her was, quite frankly, disappointed. Just like Seth, talking to Quil was incredibly easy. It felt as if she had known him for years.

As they rounded the corner onto her street, she stopped and turned to him. "What're you doing tomorrow afternoon?"

Quil stumbled as he stopped walking to look at her. "Um, nothing, now that I have no friends. Why?"

"Did you maybe want to go for a hike?" He grimaced, and Rosemary immediately regretted asking the question. "Sorry, sorry, forget I asked," she cringed, slapping her palm to her forehead.

"No no no!" Quil rushed out. "I can — no I can totally go with you. My mom and Gramps just wanted to go for lunch but I'll go with them another time."

"Absolutely not," she decided firmly. "We'll go a different day."

A mildly panicked look crossed his face. "Maybe we could just go for a walk? You work in the morning don't you? I could find you after your shift ends. Gramps will probably want to talk to Maggie anyway."

Rosemary hesitated. "As long as it isn't interrupting any plans."

"It won't be," he all but promised.

They began walking again, him slowing down to match her tired pace.

"Alright, then," she agreed.

Quil seemed to fight away a grin. "Cool. Um, I'll find you tomorrow then?"

She smiled up at him. "Sounds like a plan."

They slowed to a stop in front of her house and Rosemary couldn't help the giddy feeling that swelled in her chest. She was actually making friends — a feat that had never worked out for her before.

"Good night," she told him softly.

"Night," he answered, awkwardly avoiding her gaze.

Rosemary all but skipped up the front walk and gently closed the door behind her. She toed off her shoes and went up stairs to the kitchen, where she found a single portion of lasagna on a plate in the fridge.

Thank you Sue, she thought to herself.

She ate her dinner quickly before going downstairs and getting ready for bed. She still had work in the morning at 5, so she could at least get a few hours of sleep.

Rosemary closed her eyes and drifted off with a small smile on her face.

AUTHORS NOTE:
I'm sorry if this is horrible I promise I'm trying you guys