|мιnт cнocolaтe cнιp тυeѕday|
|Louis|

|Chapter Nine|
|7:32pm|

The rain battered against the glass window as Stevie came bustling into the diner, dressed from head to toe in an old school navy uniform.

A mouthful of stale coffee came dribbling down the corners of my lips as I held back a laugh, cupping my hands around chin in an effort to stop the flood of coppery liquid that came drizzling down my neck.

I could barely keep my eyes off of him as he walked in slow steps across Joyce's, his blue booted feet loudly clicking against the checkered tile as all eyes followed his every step, like a flock of pissed off birds watching you give the rest of your PB&J to another flying fiend.

Baby blue and buttoned up to his tightened neckerchief, the sleeves rolled up to his non-existent muscles, a stylish striped print that ran just above an ironed pair of flat assed shorts that highlighted his hairy chicken legs.

As my eyes shifted to the other side of our booth I could practically see Rossi's mind explode as his hard drive became overrun with far too many baby-sailor jokes.

"Aww," Tommy cooed, playing up the childish act as much as he could, batting his orange lashes and placing his pale freckled chin on his knuckled hand, "Well, aren't you just the cutest little munchkin in the Patch. Did you lose your mommy?"

"Cut it out Tom," I defended as I wiped the coffee from my face, "Steve clearly had a photo shoot to attend to, he's only eighteen years late and missing his baby teeth. So, uh... You still wearing your Huggies underneath that bad boy?"

Without a word Stevie took a seat across from Tommy and I, his lips drawn into a thin line as he let out a sigh,

"I'm not wearing a diaper, Kaede. I'm a big kid now..."

Black coffee spewed from Tommy's nose as the Irish poser broke down in laughter.

Something I've never told anyone else?
In second grade our class guinea pig "disappeared"

What really happened was that a friend and I sneaked in over two dozen helium balloons while everyone was at recess.

Butternut never came back down...

If we're being serious though?

I'm afraid of growing up.

I know I'm "technically" already an adult, and college students are supposed to feel invincible, but I'm petrified of walking out those doors.

How about you?

-Honestly, Loveless Louis Kaede

"So... You gonna explain the sailor suit or just keep us guessing whether or not you are a wildly underfunded male stripper?"

Stevie shot me a deadly look as I threw my hands up in defence, turning to my least favourite Italian stud for assistance.

My friend of many faces reached across the diner table and snatched the menu straight from Tom's fingertips, "She's really hot..."

One of the most vivid things I remember about Joyce's is that it only had a few employees.

The night crew was always the freakishly nice southern lady who seemed as if she'd been plucked straight from an episode of Little House On The Prairie, there was the old man who never seemed to take off his roller blades, and last but not least my favourite of the lot.

Maxwell.

A burly man with a looming brow and a burning hatred for Tommy that we never quite seemed to comprehend.

"Sparkles," Max purred in his deep and sultry drone, as he pulled out his pink notepad like he was the star in an old western film, "Tall Kid, and... I'm not even gonna ask".

"Hey, Maxy," Tom hummed, his snakelike smile slithering its way across his freckled face, "Would you ever consider starring in a sitcom with me? I mean, just picture it. The life of a sexually appealing Italian womanizer with twice as much charisma than any gangster from a mafia story, and his sidekick Maximum Something, a rippling piece of dark chocolate with a heart of gold. We'll live in an apartment together, or own a bar and grow thick handlebar moustaches. It'll be 60's themed, you can even wear your hair like Elvis, oh wait... You're bald...".

"You better watch yourself, Linguini," Maxwell huffed as he puffed up his chest, looking down at us as Stevie and I prayed that we wouldn't have to be the ones carrying Tommy's lifeless body out of the restaurant.

"I'm sorry Maxwell, I guess I'm just a hunk, a hunk, a hunk of burning love,"

To this day I don't know how Tommy walked out of that diner alive.

The worst he got was Max snatching the hot coffee from my hands and pouring it down the neck of Tommy's signature leather jacket and writing the word 'Sparkles' across his forehead.

As the waiter holstered the permanent marker back into his apron and took a step back to admire his work Tommy just smiled up at him, "Can I get milkshake?"

"So uomini, how's the hunting going?" Tom chirped, slipping off his damp windbreaker and shaking it out to dry.

"Hunting? Pretty sure Stevie got over that trend in October," I snorted as Stevie stared at me deadeyed, "Oh, you mean hunt for women! Well, you date vulnerable bimbos with severe daddy issues recovering from a string of failed relationships and then hit on their mothers, I'm in love with a girl I met in the woman's restroom and Stevo is clearly trying to gain some of Popeye's sweet sweet spinachy lovin', so... Excellent?".

Well, I'm sure Butternut's running round in the tunnels in the sky now.

And trust me, I know what it's like to be afraid of growing up...

I've never told my family that I dropped out of school.

Guess I just didn't have the courage to admit that I couldn't do it.

I've been thinking I should come clean soon and tell them the truth...

Then again today is National Popcorn Day so I'll probably just sit at home and drown my sorrows and my doubts in a vat melted butter.

As Tommy and I began to pack up our things to leave my phone began to buzz in my pocket.

Unknown Number

Covered in nerdy logos and a jagged scar down the center I swiped my finger across the screen and held it up to my ear.

"Look, whoever this is either answer the phone or stop calling, I mean, it's not like I actually have a social life that I need to get back to or anything but I'm just not interested in a long distance relationship if I'm gonna be the one who's doing all the talking. I tend to over share stuff, like the time I told the hitchhiker I couldn't give him a ride to the airport because I just wasn't sure if there would be room for two dead bodies in my trunk; my grandma took up quite a lot of space. See? I tend to just go on and on if no one is there to cut me off mid sen-"

"Look I'm sorry for calling, I know this is super lame and it'll be the last time I promise, I've just been watching you and your goofy ginger friend for two weeks now and I just didn't want to come over and say anything, so I found your number in the girls bathroom... and fuck, am I coming off entirely insane right now or just partially crazy?"

"Oh I'm almost ninety-nine percent certain that you're wearing bunny slippers and have recently escaped from the asylum, but go on,"

"Hey you don't have to be a jackass about it, and they're sheep if you want to get into detail".

A small smile tugged at the corners of my lips as I listened to the girls nervous aura, her voice was sweet but strong, a city tone that made my heart flutter, civil and sophisticated but I just knew she screamed during the Jays game and had stolen a cab from old lady once or twice in her day.

"Guess I just wanted to say... Hi? Don't know why it took me twenty three outgoing calls..."

My smile reached up to my thin green eyes as I laughed beneath my breath,

"Hi,"

But as I began to look around my smile was replaced by a flood of guilt.

Because as I scanned the diner for anyone on their phone, for the voice, for the girl who'd called me nearly two dozen times in the span of a few days I could feel my heart pull and tear,

Because the soft voice on the other end,

Didn't belong to Almond.

And a new character steps into the light...

How's everyone feeling about this?

Next chapters gonna be a new POV so stay tuned ;P