Two years prior, the Bowen's cafe had been one of those dingy dive bars that only catered to their regulars and lost tourists that clearly didn't know any better. After nearly a year of hardly any trade, it became apparent that in their small town the main beverage was coffee and not beer. The bar's owner, who happened to be Lisa's mom, Karen had the place renovated into a coffee house. They hadn't gotten rid of the grease filled burgers, which were the greatest hangover cures Addison had ever had and she could happily spend the rest of her life eating them.

Brigid's main reason for going, apart from the coffee, though was because of the barista, Brett. Brigid had been nursing a crush on him for months since he started working in their favourite coffee shop. Addison had been forced to witness the pair of them dancing around one another in a weird form of flirting wherein neither Brigid nor Brett would actually admit that they liked one another and all their conversations revolved around coffee.

"There you go Addison." Brett said handing Addison the two mugs with a friendly smile. "One black coffee with cinnamon and one hazelnut latte with an extra shot of vanilla." He said and Addison smirked at hearing the extra shot Brett had put in Brigid's drink.

"Thanks." Addison said taking the drinks back to the table where Brigid was sat with several of her textbooks littering the table. "Extra shot of vanilla from your cappuccino Casanova" Addison said placing Brigid's drink in front of her. Brigid looked up and when Addison nodded over to the counter where Brett was stood, Brigid blushed furiously as she glanced over. Brett gave her a small smile before going back to stacking mugs or whatever it was he did when he wasn't making coffee or heart eyes at Brigid. Brigid's head dipped down and she became incredibly focused on pulling a stray thread from her thick green cardigan. "Are you thinking about maybe starting a conversation between the poor guy before he goes insane?"

"What? Brett? Don't be stupid...he's just being friendly." Brigid said.

"Yeah, because he just hands out the free shots of syrup to everyone." Addison said. Brigid shook her head at Addison's sarcasm but she could see her smiling to herself as she sipped on her coffee. "You could just talk to him." Addison prodded. Watching the dance between Brigid and Brett had been slowly driving her insane for the past few months.

"About what exactly?" Brigid asked.

"He's a guy who likes art and works in a coffee shop, Brigid. I think you could easily find one subject to talk about." She said. "Lisa agrees with me you know, she thinks you should say something to him."

"Don't say that Lisa agrees with you when she's not here to back herself up." Brigid shot back frowning slightly. "And I don't like the idea of the two of you gossiping behind my back."

"Who said she wasn't?" Addison asked when she spotted the small blonde head of one Lisa Bowen. "And we weren't gossiping, Lisa just happened to mention Brett. That was all."

"Hey Lisa." Brett called as Lisa came waltzing into the coffee house. She gave Addison and Brigid a quick wave before hurrying behind the counter and grabbing an apron. "Was detention the same ol' barrel of laughs?" Brett asked.

"Oh yeah, it's always a real joy to be there." Lisa said derisively. "If my mom asks, I've been here since classes finished." Lisa said glancing around the coffee shop as if looking for her formidable mother.

"I already signed you in; as far as she knows you've been working for two hours already." Brett said.

"Does that mean I get my break now?" Lisa asked smirking. Brett rolled his eyes and walked off towards the kitchen.

"Don't push it Lisa Mary Bowen." Brett called as he went. As soon as Brett was out of view Lisa skipped around the counter and sat down by Addison and Brigid. Brigid gave Lisa a quick smile as Lisa reached over to take a sip of Brigid's coffee.

"Don't you two get sick of this place?" Lisa asked making a face at the sweetness of Brigid's coffee before. Instead, she grabbed Addison's and took a large gulp. "Much better. Brigid, you're drink is basically liquid sugar."

"Oh I was sick of it after about week, its old extra vanilla shot over here that can't get enough." Addison smirked nodding at Brigid. "Brett's at it again with the free shots of syrup."

"That guy has got it so bad." Lisa said shaking her head.

"Told you so." Addison shot at Brigid.

"I have no idea what either of you are talking about." Brigid said primly, refusing to look at either Addison or Lisa. Instead, she rummaged through her bag and picked out the book she was reading for English. Addison had read the book about two years before. For the life of her, she couldn't remember what it was even about.

"Yeah, sure you don't." Addison said rolling his eyes. "Why don't you just let him out his misery and throw the guy a bone?"

"He might stop going through our entire syrup supply and talking about Brigid ad nauseam if you do." Lisa said as she carried on taking sips of Addison's coffee. "I'm sick of hearing about how pretty hair is in the light or how cute it is when she's concentrating on a book. It's kind of gross."

"So Lisa, what did you do to land in detention?" Brigid said clearly trying to change the subject.

"Very smooth there Turner." Lisa commented. "A shoe happened to find itself being thrown at Ryan Cooper. I might have caused said shoe to go flying towards the dickhead's face." Lisa added with a shrug. Brigid shook her head but smiled at her friend.

"I wonder how I ended up being friends with either of you two delinquents." Brigid said more to herself.

"You moved pretty much next door to me." Addison said.

"You lent me a sparkly gel pen when we were ten and we've been friends ever since." Lisa said.

"Lisa Mary Bowen!" a firm voice called making Lisa jolt in her seat. "I don't pay you to sit around on your backside talking to customers and not doing any work." Karen, Lisa's mother called when she came walking into the coffee house.

"Woman doesn't pay me anyways." Lisa muttered pulling herself up from her seat and nearly dragging herself to the counter. Brigid chuckled to herself and went back to reading her book while Addison smirked and drank the rest of her coffee.

---

The Harper house was in complete silence by the time Addison returned home. Some would have taken it as a good sign but with her family, the silence was sometimes worse than the screaming and shouting. A note on the kitchen table told Addison that her father had been made to work late. That didn't explain for her brothers' not being home. Shrugging her shoulders, Addison classed this as a small victory despite the house being empty. At least this way, neither Eric nor her father would find out about the detention or the fact that Addison would most likely fail her English A-Level. Though, not knowing of Mark's whereabouts never failed to make Addison feel uncomfortable because Mark could be anywhere and be doing anything. The possibilities were endless and terrifying.

Once alone in her room, Addison sank onto her bed as a weary sigh escaped her lips. Even though it meant the house was quiet for once, Addison always disliked being home by herself. The size of the house and the lack of noise made her feel small and very insignificant. She preferred having the house filled with noise because even if it made her want to stay in her room at least she knew she wasn't alone.

She pulled out her sketch pad from her bag and looked over what she had done during the day. There was still something missing from her drawing of the woods backing onto the Harper property. The sense of familiarity and warmth despite the lack of sun and near constant mist was missing and Addison couldn't figure out on how the hell to make her drawing come to life. She knew deep down that she had nothing to worry about; her art teacher had told her over and over again she really had nothing to worry about with her art because she was one of the most talented people in the class. It still worried Addison, she had long since stopped caring about impressing her other teachers because of losing her passion to succeed but when it came to art she wanted to strive. It was the only class of hers that gave her any joy. She wanted to strive to be brilliant at it. It was just like running, as long as she knew she was succeeding with it, then Addison could be happy. She would know that she had an escape route if needed.

She stayed sketching until she heard the front door downstairs open. Her father called out into the house and Addison responded by turning up her music. She heard her brother, Eric say something though she couldn't pick out the words. No doubt it was something relating to the music Addison was blasting out. It was the same music that Mark used to try and drown the house in when he was a teenager. It was thanks to Mark's determined noise pollution that Addison had grown to love the same classic rock, which no doubt pissed off her father and Eric. Addison was long since past caring.

"Addison? Addison?" someone called from the other side of her room after nearly half an hour. Addison lowered the volume in reply. "Have you eaten? It's kind of late I know but Dad wanted to know." It was Aaron. Addison walked over to the door, opening it slightly.

"I ate with Brigid at Bowen's." She said. Both she and Brigid had ended up ordering two 'Original' Bowen burgers so she was still pretty full.

"Oh ok." Aaron said with a nod. "I also came to say that it's just gone nine; you're supposed to take your meds now." He added holding up a glass of water and a small off-white pill. Thanks to Eric's fretting and paranoia that Addison might OD, Addison's medication was stored in the kitchen in plain view of the family so they could make sure she was actually taking them. Addison's protests, mainly pointing out that she wasn't a fucking child and could handle her own medication, were met with near silence or scathing comments like always.

"Oh joy." Addison said.

"I know that this is hard." Aaron said. "But can you try to not be so sarcastic all the time?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Addison asked with a grin. Aaron rolled his eyes and motioned to the water and pill. "Thanks Aaron." Addison said taking the water and pill from Aaron's hands.

"How was further education today?" Aaron asked as he sat down on Addison's bed.

"The same as it always is." Addison said with a shrug once she'd taken her medication.

"Dad was asking about your UCAS application again." Aaron said. Addison let out a groan. "He's not a fan of this whole 'university of life' thing." Aaron added. For months, Addison's father had been on at her about applying for various university courses. Every time he brought it up, Addison would change the subject. It wasn't that she had ambition, she just didn't have a clue what she wanted to with her future. Half the time she felt as though she had no future. It was hard enough making it from one day to another, let alone plan out the next ten to fifteen years of her life.

"Well, he'll have to get used to it. He's just got to accept that I'm not going to Cambridge like the rest of you." Addison said with a shrug. Aaron blushed, just like he always did when he was reminded that he'd attended one of the world's most prestigious universities.

"Good luck with that kiddo." Aaron said. "You could always just apply to please him then defer."

"Oh yeah, because that will go well." Addison said. "I'm kind of tired so I'm going to go to bed, ok?" Addison added. She wasn't tired but she knew that the pills would soon make her drowsy. She wasn't completely lying. Aaron nodded and gave his sister a small and warm smile.

"See you in the morning Addison." he said as he rose from Addison's bed. "Try and get some sleep." He added knowing how restless Addison sometimes got. She would end up lying awake until the early hours of the morning no matter how drowsy she felt. Thank God Brigid was always on hand in the mornings with coffee.