"I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream"

- Blank Space by Taylor Swift

With a sigh, I tied my blue bandana around my head and adjusted it to get ready for my four-hour shift at the diner. I took one last look in the mirror before walking out of the bathroom. I entered the kitchen and smiled at my coworkers as they cooked over the stoves in Danny's Diner. I carefully tied my apron around my waist after putting it over my head and made my way to the cash register.

There were days when I wished I worked in the kitchen. But then I remembered that I may be a good cook, but I tend to burn things. The cash register and waiting on people was a good place for me.

I sat on my stool in front of the cash register and took a look around. All the Christmas decorations had been taken down back in early February. Only some of the small strands of Christmas lights were still up. I noticed an old couple sitting at a booth by the door. They were chatting away while sipping their steaming coffee. The old lady was smiling from ear to ear as the man talked animatedly to her.

I sighed and picked up a pen before lazily doodling on the notepad beside the cash register. I didn't realize someone had come into the store until they sat down at the bar in front of me. My head snapped up to look at Charlie. I gave him a small smile before moving over to him with my pad and pen.

"Hey, how can I help you?" I asked. I never understood why I asked him what he wanted since I knew he'd say the same thing every time.

"The usual," He told me with his usual grin. I nodded my head and wrote down all the things he wanted. Clipping the order on the string for the cooks to see, I turned back to Charlie to see him already looking at me expectedly.

I leaned on the counter and looked at him. "What's up?" I asked, shielding my emotions. Charlie always knew what was up in my head - it was like we were related.

"What's up with you?" He asked me. I looked down at the counter and back at him.

"How's Hunter?" I grabbed my stool and pulled it over so I could sit in front of him.

Charlie took a deep breath as if he were about to tell me bad news. With Hunter, I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

"He hasn't been the same, Jasey." Charlie said tiredly as he lifted his hat to scratch his almost-bald head. I nodded my head in understanding.

"Because of what happened in New York." I stated as an answer. Charlie shook his head slightly and looked me
in the eyes.

"Because you left him. I know you guys weren't together or anything," Charlie told me, "but I know he's upset about it. He was fine when he came back from New York because he expected that adventure to end like that. He doesn't like to admit anything, you know that. It's not hard to tell why he's upset." I listened closely to Charlie because I wasn't used to hearing him talk like that.

I wasn't sure how to respond to that. Hunter didn't want me telling him it was a bad idea to go to New York, yet he already knew it was. He had his hopes up too high. He told me he wanted alone time when he did get back, so why is he upset?

"I talked to him last week when I stopped by your garage. He told me he wanted alone time and wanted me to leave. I asked why he was back so soon and why he had a bruise under his eye." I explained to Charlie. I heard the bell ring that signaled an order was ready and I hopped off my stool. Grabbing the plate of hot food, I sat it in front of Charlie. He didn't touch it, instead he just looked at me.

"Hunter is very confused in what he's supposed to do. The reason he came home was because he found his mother using drugs again, in an alley, with a stranger. He got that shiner after trying to get his mom to stop and the man she was with stepped in. He came home right after that went down." Charlie explained and took a sip of his drink. I was quiet as he continued.

"He even moved into the house with me when he got back. The poor boy's been through a lot and if I'm being honest, Jasey, I think you're the best thing that's happened to him. The only real smiles I've seen on his face these past few years was because of you." Charlie said with such seriousness in his voice.

"I don't know, Charlie..." I trailed off warily.

"He needs you more than he says. Just don't give up on him, okay?" He said with pleading eyes. I could see how much he really loved his grandson. It was hard to turn that down.

"I won't." I quietly said.

With a smile, Charlie asked for a box for his food so he could go home and eat. I gladly gave him one and watched him leave after paying for his food.

I had so many things running through my mind to where I thought I'd have a headache later on. I sat comfortable on my stool for that next ten minutes until the door to the diner opened, ringing the bell above it and making nearly fall off my stool. My eyes almost fell out of my head when so saw who it was.

Hunter came in with the same sullen look on his face with a blonde girl leading the way. She looked over at me and smiled politely before sitting in a booth. I noticed Hunter glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes so he wouldn't have to make eye contact with me. I glared at his back and watched him sit down.

Grabbing a few menus and walking to their table, I dropped them on the table and pulled my pen and notepad out of my apron.

"What can I get you to drink?" I asked the girl who I didn't recognize. My eyes scanned her skeptically as she put some thought into what she wanted to drink.

So much for alone time, I thought to myself.

The girl finally looked up at me and smiled brightly. I had to admit, she was beautiful with her blue eyes, blonde hair, and her tan. She was the exact opposite of me. That made me slightly more jealous of the situation.

"Can I get a sweet tea, please?" She asked. And smiled sadly but nodded my head. Kill him with kindness is what my mom always used to say to me. I never really got why people did that, but I do now.

"What can get you, sir?" I asked Hunter. He looked up at me and I searched his eyes to find nothing but emptiness once again.

"Same as her." He told me after looking back at his menu. I pursed my lip and nodded my head, telling them I'd be back to get their orders.

I went back to the kitchen to grab two sweet teas and some straws. After giving those to the two of them, I got their orders of two hamburgers with fries to share and gave the order to the cooks. All I could think of when they said "fries to share" was that I'd never say that. Why would I share my fries with other people? That's just ridiculous.

I may have been trying to avoid thinking about Hunter and the girl while having those thoughts.

I tried not to stare, but that became harder as the diner emptied out. My shift was coming to an end after four mostly boring hours. Hunter and the girl finally got up to leave after the rest of my coworkers left. I was in charge of locking the diner up at eight o'clock.

Hunter sent the girl up to pay for their food which I wasn't surprised about. She gave me a bright smile while handing me cash.

"I'm sorry we're leaving so late," The girl apologized. I gave her a small and tired smile.

"It's fine. Did you enjoy it?" I asked her as I out the money in the drawer and got out the right amount of change.

"Enjoy what?" She replied. I assumed she didn't know what I meant.

"Your date." I said.

"It was okay. Hunter... he's upset and it's not hard to tell. I think I was just asked to come and spend time with him. I'm Julia, by the way. Hunter's friend from Virginia." That would explain why I had never seen her before.

"Oh," Was all I could say. Hunter called an old friend all the way from Virginia to talk to instead of me? Had I really pushed him too far?

"I know that you're Jasey. Hunter wouldn't stop talking about you." She told me quietly so Hunter wouldn't hear. He was busying himself looking out the window into the parking lot.

"He likes you a lot, doesn't he?" I shrugged my shoulders at her question.

"Talk to him. You have to make him listen, Jasey. He's hard headed." She gave me a reassuring smile before waving bye and leaving with Hunter. I sighed as I let all the things I was told sink in.

I sighed as I let all the things I was told today register in my brain. Of course I wanted to try to make Hunter feel better, but how was I supposed to do that when he was unwilling to cooperate with me? The frustrating thing about it was that I was the only one he wouldn't cooperate with. Everyone else only had to ask him to spill his guts and he does it. It kills me mentally.

After taking my apron off and fixing my bandana so it wouldn't fall off, I made my way to the front door with my jacket on and walked out the doors. I made sure to turn the lock on the doors before shutting them to make sure they were locked. Searching for my car keys in my jacket pockets, I pulled them out and was about to automatically unlock the doors until I felt the presence of someone else behind me. You know that feeling you get when someone is staring at you? That's what it felt like.

Slowly turning to my right, I saw Hunter sitting on the sidewalk with a beer bottle in his hands. He had his head hung low as he squeezed his eyes shut. I dropped my keys into my pocket and laced my fingers together to keep them from shaking from my nerves. I wasn't sure what to say to him right now, but I was willing to try. Taking a deep breath of courage, I marched over to him confidently and sat down beside him. The street lamps were illuminating the both of us as we sat there under the starry sky.

"I can see you had enough alone time," I said, thinking I could get some sort of reaction out of him. He didn't budge. I reached over and grabbed the bottle out of his hands and sniffed it. It smelled like the kind of beer my dad would drink, so I took a swig of it. It didn't taste too bad, but I still sat it to the side.

"Yeah," He mumbled in response.

"Charlie told me what happened..." I trailed off when Hunter chuckled and looked the opposite way. He looked back at me with a look on his face I couldn't decipher.

"What can you do about it? Crap happens." He told me before swiftly grabbing the beer bottle that was the other side of me. He started to drink it while I talked.

"I know that life sucks but you can't just stop living." I said while grabbing the bottle and jerking it from him. The beer spilled out a little and landed on the ground. I tipped the bottle over and watched the liquid splash onto the asphalt. Hunter didn't seem too bothered by that.

"It's possible." He breathed out and stood up from the sidewalk, "I have to go."

I stood up right along with him and put my hands on his chest. His red-rimmed eyes bore into mine which only made me more confident in what I was about to say.

"Hunter, stop." I said to keep him from leaving. "I know that you're upset and don't want to talk to me right and maybe not ever, but you can't keep pushing me away and pulling me back in." I stated without hesitating. I dropped my hands to my sides and stepped closer to him, now craning my neck to look up at him. He looked ahead of him instead of me now. Although his eyes looked lost in another universe, I knew he was still listening. In the four seconds I was staring at him, I noticed tears brimming his eyes and I couldn't help but think he'd had enough sadness to last him a lifetime.

"You can't get rid of me." I whispered to him and he looked down at me again. I felt his breath fan my face and smelled the alcohol in it.

"Just because you're life hasn't worked out in the past, doesn't mean it won't now or in the future." I continued talking. Now I felt that I didn't need to pray for confidence; it was coming naturally.

Hunter remained quiet as I talked and hopefully let it all sink in. After a few moments, I spoke up again.

"Hunter?" I asked quietly.

"Hmm?" He replied. Yep, he was still there.

"Do you like me?" I was now trying to get him to just talk and say a little something so I know he's not dead. My face heated up at the realization of what I had just asked him. I rephrased my question. "I mean, do you like having me around, talking to me?"

"Yeah, why?" He said in monotone.

"Why do you act like you don't, then?" I asked innocently. It was the most frustrating thing in the world to me.

Hunter took a deep breath and sat down on the sidewalk again. I mimicked his actions.

"You just don't belong in my world, Jasey." He told me after giving it some thought. When he said this, it was like a fire ignited inside of me. I instantly had a million thoughts run through my mind at the same time.

"Why?" I demanded. "Why don't I?"

"Because, don't you see? You have a great life! Better than great. Why would you want to turn around and like a guy like me? A guy with my past? I don't want to make your life any harder than I already have. You've gotten into trouble because of me. That's where it all starts. I'm going to end up like my dead-beat parents and I am not dragging you down that road." He said all of this like had planned on telling me this eventually. It was in the back of his mind the whole time.

"People like us aren't supposed to fall in love. We're supposed to stay as far away from each other as possible." He finished. I stared at him with my mouth slightly ajar. Has he been watching romance movies? Okay, that was inappropriate for this situation...

I shook my head before speaking.

"What are you even talking about? You are so much better than your parents. Would your parents have done half the things you've done for me? No, I don't think so. Charlie loves you like you are and doesn't want you being miserable all the time. Same goes for me. And I did all those things to myself, you didn't make me do anything. They were my choices." I told him quickly. I'm sure some of it didn't make sense because as soon as I thought of it, I said it.

"Oh, and people like us are allowed to love whoever the heck they want." I added to my speech.

Hunter was quiet as he thought what I had just said over. There was a crease between his eyebrows that meant he was obviously thinking hard and I wanted him to. I didn't even realize that we were sitting so close until he turned his head to me so we were face-to-face, breathing in each other's faces.

"I don't want to be a bad influence on you. I like you way too much to let you fall through my fingers after you see you how horrible I really am." He said barely above a whisper.

Ignoring the urge to grab his face and kiss him, I focused on his beautiful brown eyes.

"You couldn't be a horrible person if you tried. I know you aren't. I just don't get why you don't see that." I told him more calmly yet fire was still running through my veins and burning the back of my eyes.

"Jasey..." He trailed off while running a hand through his hair.

"Don't 'Jasey' me." I mimicked his voice poorly. "You know I wouldn't give a crap whether you were homeless or lived in the zoo. I still, one-hundred percent, like you."

He bit down on his bottom lip as he stared at the pavement below us now.

"I let you push me away and let me back in too many times, Hunter. You either want me in your life, or you don't. You choose. I don't want to be hurt anymore." I told him and watched his reaction. He didn't move an inch as he continued staring. I stood up and stared down at him for what seemed like five minutes. He never said his answer aloud, but I could guess well enough to know it.

"Well, there you have it." I said and turned my back to him. I could feel his eyes on me the whole time I walked to my car and unlocked it. I slid in and started it up.

Without taking a second look back at him, I drove away from the one person I didn't mind almost getting run over by.

_____________________

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year everyone!!

So who thought they would kiss and make up in this chapter?

sorry. lol

Song is Bleeding Out by Imagine Dragons. 😍 The picture belongs to tumblr, not me!

We're getting closer to the end you guys. There's only maybe two or three chapters after this and then an epilogue and maybe a few select chapters told in Hunter's Point of view if I'm feeling it. You guys tell me what you would like me to do.

Poll!!!

Comment below what your favorite name is: Violet or Camilla? Jesse or Ryan?

*Pick one of each please!! I'd appreciate if you did choose because I'm having a hard time deciding.

Thank You! I love all my readers with all my heart <3