TWO

"Cade! One-ten needs bussing!"

I nodded at the bubbly server who I only worked with every once in a while since she usually worked nights. Most of the servers were going to leave soon, going back to college out of state or find a better paying job in the winter. That only meant they might train me to serve on the weekends.

Grabbing a sticky bin, I made my way to table one-ten and started to do my job when I felt the nip at the back of my neck again. Like a cold aura surrounded me.

I stood up straight and looked around. There wasn't really much out of the ordinary at first glance. The guy from the hardware store was here for breakfast, as he was every other morning. A few bored waitresses with nothing to do were standing idly by the hosts' stand. I was about to shake it off and just bus the damn table when something caught my eye.

Two people sitting in the farthest booth in the corner. It was probably per request, since no one would seat them so far out of the way on purpose. It was two men, neither of which I immediately recognized.

Strangers weren't common in Edgewood.

I started piling up the dishes while subtly sneaking looks over to the table. It was a bit too coincidental for me to have gotten Spidey senses all of a sudden just because there were strangers in the diner.

The person facing me was a bit too far to see details of their face, but it almost appeared he was looking directly at me. He had his hood over his head and his arms crossed across his chest. I shivered, having just gotten caught staring, and decided to just leave it alone. It didn't matter who he was or why he was in Edgewood.

But I couldn't.

I just kept thinking about the electric shock that felt like it went through my bones when locking eyes with the boy. It felt like I knew him, despite never having seen him before in my life.

Even as I carried the dish bin to the kitchen, I felt like he was burning holes in my back.

"The guy at two-twenty-eight is creeping me out," I heard the server Katie say to another. "He's not saying anything. The other guy just ordered for him."

I took my break and stepped outside. I generally would just sit in an empty booth and scroll mindlessly on my phone while eating fries. But I felt a bit wary about doing that today.

So I sat in my car with the AC cranked up high, listening to some music and just relaxing. In a week, I'd be settling into my new class schedule. I would miss my mornings at the diner. It was such an easy job I could do it in my sleep.

Then I saw the two men walk out of the diner. I sat up straight in my seat.

Man number two was older. Only a little bit. He seemed a bit authoritative, though. Powerful. Dressed casually, but had a sophistication about him.

But the one that I'd seen earlier . . . The first thing I noticed was that he was quite tall. At least six inches on me. At least. He had a soft, almost child-like face, but he was so intimidating. The expression was hard to read. It was a mix of angst and confusion, which seemed out of place on such a beautiful day.

But he was also looking directly at me through my window. I looked away so fast that my neck cracked. Whoever that was probably thought I was an absolute creep.

When I looked back, he was gone. My body relaxed. I no longer felt that buzzing behind my ear, the tickle at the nape of my neck. I sighed in relief, feeling like I was just caught in a spider web.

At the end of my shift, I drove home tiredly. I was out until five in the morning with my friends and then worked on three and a half hours of sleep. My mom was making her world famous spaghetti so I'd probably eat my weight and then sleep until December.

The routine continued. I prepared the garlic bread, set the table, and mediated a fight between the kiddos. I was in the middle of my third bite before my mom popped the question. "Have you thought about college anymore?"

I looked up like a deer caught in headlights. I hated that question.

"No," I admitted. "I'll probably end up at tech, which is fine because I can help you here."

Mom sighed, holding her fork carefully over her plate, but not taking a bite. "We both know you are meant for much bigger things than being here, son," she said, and I could hear the tears in her voice. "We'll be fine. Bethy starts school next year, so we'll manage without you."

"Mom–"

"No. We're going to have a meeting with your counselor to see about some college tours so you can get your smart behind out of this small town."

I didn't reply, only set my fork down and stared at the table. My mom was the strongest person I'd ever met. Everything I learned was from her. Being a single mom of three wasn't easy. More often than not, I'd hear her crying after the kids fell asleep in her bed.

But if there was anyone in the entire world that would fight a pack of wolves to protect us, it would be her.

Family was so important to me. Small as it may have been, I'd do anything for them. Even if it meant staying in this tiny town with nothing here for me until Beth turned eighteen.

"Love you, Mom."

"Love you, too, sweet boy."

--

Dylan invited me over to play the new first person shooter game on his Playstation, so I headed over around eight.

We played for a couple of hours until I was feeling my eyes drooping. I wasn't sure if it was my exhaustion or the bong rips Dylan made me take, or maybe a mixture of both. Probably both. After raiding his fridge and deciding to call it on the game, we collapsed on his bed to watch some videos.

I was closest to the window. Goosebumps littered over the skin on my arms and neck, and I figured it was just the chill of the AC on the glass.

"Can I tell you something?"

Once I'd snuggled myself so deep into his blankets that suffocation was a hazard, I looked up at him curiously. Dylan didn't talk much, but he didn't keep very many secrets, either. "Yeah, man. What's up?" I asked.

I watched his curly hair bounce as he looked down at his lap and then up at the ceiling. He seemed nervous, like he was about to confess something huge. Finally, he murmured, "I think like crack."

The neighbors must have heard me scream, "WHAT?" down the block. Dylan? Doing crack? I knew he was a pothead, but hard drugs were way not cool.

"Please don't make a big deal out of this, Cade."

My eyes widened even more. "How am I not supposed to make a big deal out of this? You need help. Does your mom know? Now I know why you wanted to drop out of school. Are you okay?"

Dylan's eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, what?"

"Um," I breathed, "you just told me you like crack."

Horror filled his face, his heart shaped lips agape. I was more confused than ever now. Then he started laughing harder than I'd ever seen him laugh, almost gasping for air. So I started laughing, too, because, okay. He was just joking! That was . . . really funny, Dylan.

"Oh, my–" he dropped to breathe. "No! I didn't say crack!" Huh.

"Then what did you say?"

"Mac. I said, 'I think I like Mac.'"

Then for the second time, all of his neighbors, up and down the block, heard a shrill teenage boy scream, "WHAT?" at the top of his lungs, a heart attack on the verge. Dylan shushed me, slapping a hand over my mouth.

I stared at him with my eyes like saucers. "No, Cade. You're not allowed to freak out. I'm telling you this because it's freaking me out and I don't know what's happening and I need you to talk me out of it," Dylan said, ever so calmly. His voice was so deep and soothing that I took a deep breath through my nose and nodded.

"Are you . . . are you gonna' tell her?" I asked.

He ran his hands through his hair anxiously. "I don't know. Should I?"

I leaned back on my hands, looking at the foot of the bed in thought. "Well. How do you know you like her? Did you just realize it today?"

"Uh," he mumbled and I feared he'd shut down and stop talking for the night. He did that sometimes. But then he continued. "I think I've known for a while but I was denying it because . . . ya' know – BFFOUWD."

Chuckling at that, I rolled my eyes. Best Friends Forever Or Until We Die, or BFFOUWD, was what Mac called us when we were young. Who knew that 'until we die' might actually mean 'until we catch feelings'.

If Mac and Dylan started seeing each other then I'd just be the third wheel to their love fest. I secretly hoped Mac didn't feel the same way, just so things could stay the same. At least until graduation. I wasn't sure I could make it to second semester if I had to watch them flirt and make out all the time.

"I could talk to her? Get a feel for how she feels about you?" I suggested. Dylan glared at me, shaking his head silently. "I'll be low key, I swear! I'll just say, 'Dylan's ass looks great in those jeans, don't you agree, MacKenzie?' and then look at her like this–"

Then I gave Dylan the most exaggerated pointed look I could manage. It made him laugh, at least.

As he searched for the right video to put on, I glanced out the window. I nearly jumped out of my own skin when I saw a figure standing in front of the house across the street from Dylan's house, looking directly in my direction.

I let out a squeaky shriek, elbowing Dylan in the ribs to get his attention. "Dude, there's a dude staring into your window," I cried.

He knocked heads with me as he moved over to look, but when we looked back to where the figure was, it was gone. I gasped, eyes searching every nook and cranny of the neighbors lawn but didn't see a sign of anyone.

"I don't see shit," Dylan mumbled before going back to the TV.

With one last look out the window, I shivered and drew the curtains closed, trying to get the image of the shadow just standing there out of my head so sleep could find me soon.

I knocked out in a matter of minutes.