The diner was a busy place. People coming in and out all the time, waiters bustling around and chefs calling at each other. The girl lived for her breaks. Her little slices of silence where she got to call her best friend. Just outside the diner where smokers usually hung out was the quietest spot. Everything seemed a million world apart when she sat there watching the rain come down. She didn't take breaks unless things started to get too much for her, and recently everything had been too much for her. The business of the diner was starting to get to her social anxiety, and she was about ready to quit. But every time she went to talk to her boss she always found herself asking for a raise instead of quitting. She knew she couldn't quit. As much as the diner destroyed her mental health it just made her that much happier to get home and crawl into bed. She always told her best friend not to wait up, but she always did. Something about being a mom friend she suspected. She always noticed that her fried wanted nothing more than to parent, and coo over something. That's where all the plants had come from. She got the first plant just after her cat died, and a second plant not long after. Her plant collection just started to grow. Both girls knew that it was because she needed a way to cope that was fairly inexpensive but neither of them addressed the topic. Her cat was strictly off limits unless she brought it up herself. More than once she had jokingly suggested to her friend that she should go out an get pregnant so she had someone to actually mother, but a child would just add so much stress to their already stressful situation. She ran through her friends checklist for tomorrow.
-shower
-coffee
-food
-class
-book
-class
-book
-dinner
She usually tried to make it home while her friend was still in class but she usually never did. Recently she's been picking up extra shifts to cover for her friends lack of job. It was so stupid in her opinion, and if her friend had been herself she would've fought for her job. But since her cat had just passed she didn't. She just accepted that someone had framed her for something she didn't do. The girl always tried to make it seem better for her friend than it really was, commenting on how much she hated the job, and how awful the times were. Her friend had truly loved that little tea shop she worked in though, and no amount of convincing could change that.
Her phone dinged with a text and she dragged her eyes slowly across the bright screen.
'Movie tonight? Your pick'
She smiled softly at the text but didn't respond. She didn't want to watch a movie tonight. She just wanted to go home and sleep. She pocketed her phone and slipped back into the busy diner, feeling her chest contract with hatred.

It was always dark when she walked home. The diner car pool didn't include her because she lived too far away, so she walked. A light drizzle was coming down, but she didn't mind the company of rain. The street lights flicked playfully across the damp street making shadows loom and lurk just out of grasp. The cold night bit slightly at the girls neck and she turned her hood up against it. Summer wasn't going to last forever.
She unlocked the door and stepped inside her body finally relaxing with the familiarity of the home.
"Hey!" She called softly to the dark empty room. From down the hall she heard her friend get off the creaky bed, but she was already at the door before her friend could come out. Her friend was dressed in a soft grey t-shirt and grey plaid pants. Both hugged her tightly, and the shirt showed off her body gloriously. At least in her opinion anyways. She looked up to her friends eyes which were a soft baby blue tonight.
"Hi" she whispered softly setting her ukulele down near the door. She didn't usually play unless she was extremely bored, or stressed. The girl assumed it was both. Her friend pulled absently at the bottom of her hoodie, so she took it off, and then the rest of her clothes were also discarded by the laundry hamper, and she dug through the drawers to find something comfy. Her friend moved across the floor silently and held out some pyjama's to her.
"Thanks," she mumbled softly getting into them. They were large and loose, hanging off her curve-less body. The girls seemed like polar opposites but it was clear they worked together well. Her friend pulled her hair out of the bun it was in and added the elastic to her wrist, which already had an accumulation of them.
"I have to show you something" her friend mumbled pulling at the girls shirt, "but you can't get mad at me." She said her words quietly and hesitantly. She knew her friend had been stressing about whatever it was she had to show her all day.
"Okay." She agreed pushing her friends hand away from her. Her friend then left the bedroom, and she followed. The two went to the workspace and her friend picked up a bundle from under the table. She handed it to the girl. She gasped.
"Fern'..." She held in her hands a cream coloured puppy that was fast asleep.
"Please just hear me out-" Fern started to say but she was cut off.
"We can't afford this!" She snapped looking at her friend instead of the puppy. Fern had her hair twirled right around her finger.
"Please let me explain-"
"You need to put it back! Or better yet sell it for some extra cash!"
"Please you know I can't-"
"Can't what! Can't sell it?! Sure you can! It's easy! It'll give us some extra money since you obviously aren't brining any in!" The girl froze as soon as the words left her lips. She started to apologize but Fern held up her hand.
"Save it." She took the puppy and went to the bedroom slamming the door behind her making the plants shiver.

She crawled into bed next to Fern and the pup and wrapped her arms around them.
"I'm sorry." She mumbled into Fern's back. Fern shifted so they were facing each other despite not being able to see each other.
"I know you're stressed out...but I've already got their food, and bed covered. They should be here any day." The girl nodded, and Fern tied their legs together under the blankets. "I've thought this through Anne." Anne nodded.
"Of course you have." She shut her eyes for a little too long, and Fern watched her slip into sleep. The household currently couldn't afford Medication that helped Fern sleep so she lay curled around the pup with Anne curled around her. Minutes turned to hours of laying there letting stories come and go. Eventually she slipped out of bed and went to take the young puppy out for a walk.
The walk turned into Fern adventuring down the streets with the pup tucked in her jacket. Rain was dropping from the sky and down her jacket chilling her.
"I can't afford to get sick." She thought pulling her good up. The puppy shook against her body. Both of them were soaked, and the chilling night wind only added to that. Fern decided she would go home the next time the puppy whimpered. The pup had curled deep into her jacket and had stopped shivering. When the sun started to come up Fern realized how long she'd been out. She started back to the apartment and was almost there when she was hit in the face by a flyer.
"Ack!" She pulled it from her face and looked at it, but it was too dark to make out all the words. She tucked it into her pocket and went up to her apartment.
"Where have you been!" Anne snaps throwing her arms around Fern. Fern didn't hug back, she didn't really hug anymore. She let the dog out of her jacket and pulled away from the hug.
"I needed some air..." She mumbles. Anne grabs her friend by the shoulders.
"Fern you left at 2!" Fern didn't think she'd been out that long. "Are you okay?" Her friends eyes were deep with concern. Fern currently didn't feel anything. Just empty. She nodded.
"I'm just tired." Anne hugged Fern again.
"Don't lie to me." She whispered.

Fern sat with the puppy on her lap in the hammock facing the mocking computer screen. Anne had left three hours ago, and class didn't start for three hours. And so she sat starring at a job site. She'd been looking at the same jobs for months, but none would respond to her. So she sat staring, and the screen stated back.
A soft knock on the door caught her attention, and made her softly pad over to the door with the puppy trailing behind her. The house always felt so big without Anne. She opened the door and was greeted with the fresh scent of peppermint. One she knew quite well. A tall man stood in the doorway with a broad smile. She gave a small smile back and accepted the gift of a peppermint hot chocolate. The young man stepped into the apartment and closed the door behind him.
"How're you, Fern?" He asked discarding his jacket on the ground and walking across the floor in his boots. Fern winced and hung his jacket up for him.
"Ça-va," she responded. It goes. He laughed and plopped into her couch. She curled up on the other side of the couch from him. He sat with his legs spread, and she sat curled up against the arm rest. She sipped her drink. The young man launched into an explanation of his first class of the day, and Fern nodded along politely. About halfway through his story Ferns phone rang from her work desk. She pretty much bolted to it.
"Hello?" She gasped.
"Hey." Came the response. Anne. Relief and a bit of irritation flooded through Fern. She walked back to the living room.
"You're dying? And you need me to come get you? Of course. I'll be there in a bit." Fern spoke making sad eye contact with the young man.
"What? What're you talking about?"
"Thank you. I'll see you." Fern hung up and shrugged.
"Girlfriend needs you?" He joked getting up and started leaving.
"She isn't my girlfriend." Fern responded. The man scoffed.
"You sleep in a bed together, you cuddle, you hug and kiss, you hold hands. If you're not dating what are you?"
"Friends."

After a brief visit to Anne, and a few classes Fern found herself and the puppy back in front of the computer staring at the job page. When no new jobs appealed to her she switched over to The Tumblr to check her dash. Nothing overly interesting.
Suddenly an ad took over the page. It was large and flashy. The words 'We Need You' flashing in bold. Curious Fern read the ad.
WE NEED YOU
GRAND PRIZE WINNER OF THE FREAKTASTIX FILM FESTIVAL RECEIVES A GRAND MONEY PRIZE!
IT COULD BE YOU!
The picture on the ad looked familiar, but Fern couldn't seem to remember where she'd seen it before. She stared at the ad for a long time before she realized the pup had jumped off her lap and gone searching for food. She padded over to the pup and picked him up. Together they ventured to the fridge and got a snack of turkey. The two ate for a while, and Fern got a quick drink, and then she took the pup for a walk.
She was in the park when Fern pulled the folded piece of paper from her pocket. On it was the ad from her computer. The Freaktastix Film Festival.