He shook his head, walking out of the room, before I could manage to say anything else. The door shut behind him before he took off down the hall as I listened to his heavy footsteps. Moments later the door to his bedroom shut a little harder than expected, causing me to jump.

Part of me wanted to go and apologize, but the bigger part told me to stay put. I was an idiot and I didn't mean to upset him. Jace didn't deserve that.

I pushed my face into my moist pillow and closed my eyes, defeated and helpless.

What is he doing to me?

Chapter 9

Hours passed before I decided to just get out of bed and face the day. I couldn't stop thinking about Jace and it made it nearly impossible to fall back to sleep.

Groaning, I pushed myself out of bed and sauntered down the hallway in search of Jace. I knocked on Jace's door. "Jace," I questioned. "Are you up?"

There was no response. I waited by the door for a few minutes before I finally gave up and decided to look through the rest of the house. As soon as I walked into the kitchen, my eyes settled on a piece of paper lying on the middle of the dining table.

Be at work by ten o'clock. Don't be late.

-Jace

I crumpled up the paper and tossed it into the trash. I couldn't believe that he had left without waking me up. We always went to work at the same time.

I quickly got ready for work and called for a taxi. The emptiness in my stomach made me feel weak and I really just wanted to get the day over with.

After arriving at the diner, I tossed the driver some cash and jumped out of the taxi. I was getting close to being late and I didn't want to disappoint Jace anymore than I already had.

I sprinted over to the diner, gripped my purse under my arm, and opened the heavy door. Without looking, I quickly made my way to the waitress station, bumping into Jace in the process. A bunch of papers scattered across the floor, causing Jace to look down at them while slapping his forehead.

"Get it together, please. Now all of these orders are mixed up and we're already falling behind," he grunted. He bent down and started picking them up, without even bothering to look at me. "Just hurry and go find Stacy."

I got ready to bend down, but Jace grabbed my arm to stop me. He looked into my eyes and then quickly looked away. "Don't worry about it. I can get these," he said firmly.

I turned my head away ashamed. I somehow managed to upset him even more. The one thing that I was trying to avoid. "I'm sorry. I didn't-"

"I said it’s fine," he cut in. He looked at me, expressionless and then quickly turned and walked away.

I felt a hand grip my shoulder, causing me to jump away unexpectedly. I turned around to see Stacy, wide eyed, and looking panicked. I'd never seen her that way before.

"Come on, sweetie," Stacy said. "We need to get busy. I'm so behind." She grabbed my arm and started pulling me behind her. "Throw your apron on. I'll let you grab the next table."

Stressed, I grunted to myself and threw on my apron. I couldn't believe that I had managed to mess the day up even more.

Brushing past Stacy, I made my way to the back of the diner, noticing the back of a woman's head as she took a seat in an open booth.

Walking over to the booth, I pulled out my pen and paper and prepared for my first customer. "My name is Avery, what can I-"

"I was hoping I would get you."

I looked down at the woman for the first time since I had walked over to greet her. I had seen the same strange woman a few days before and seeing her again didn't please me one bit.

She grinned revealing her rotted teeth. "Go and fetch me a coffee," she huffed, with a wave of her hand.

I grinded my teeth and shoved my pad of paper in my apron. The last thing that I wanted was to deal with some crazy bitch as soon as I started my day. "Listen here, lady." I leaned into the table and gripped the back of her booth with my right hand. I was tired of taking people's shit. "If you keep talking to me like that then-"

"Feisty. I like that." She laughed. "I guess some things do change." She leaned back in the booth and pushed my hand away, her rough skin scratching against my skin. "Coffee, black."

She ran her hand through her stringy hair and coughed. Her eyes stayed glued on mine, making me sick to my stomach. She sounded as if she were about to cough up a lung. Who is this nut job?

I pushed past Stacy in a hurry, and over to the waitress station. I grabbed a coffee mug, slamming it down on the station, as I poured it high with steaming hot coffee, hoping and praying that she would burn the crap out of herself. Who does this lady think she is messing with?

I stomped over to the woman's booth and slammed her coffee down in front of her. She looked up stiffly. "Here's your damn coffee," I groaned. The coffee splashed over the sides of the little ceramic mug and spilled on the woman's hand.

She jerked her ashy hand away revealing a piece of paper underneath. She glared up at me and shook the paper off. Then she pushed herself to her feet and smirked, as she slammed the paper back down on the table. "I've changed my mind on the coffee."     

She brushed past me, leaving the smell of booze as it lingered off her heavy breath. She almost fell into a young couple’s booth, but caught her balance and reached out to open the door. Glancing back in my direction, she nodded her head at the table, and laughed before disappearing. Everyone in the diner stared in disgust.

A wave of relief washed over me as the door to the diner closed behind her.

I reached down to grab the cup of coffee when I noticed that the piece of paper had writing on it. It was written in childish handwriting. Almost even a scribble. It looked like some sort of note.

My heart raced as I reached for the paper and shoved it into my apron. I didn't need anything messing up my work performance at the moment and I knew that if it was meant for me that it would just be something to mess with my head. Maybe even a hate letter or something. I didn't care to find out anytime soon. I already had a lot on my mind and she was the least of my worries.

The rest of the workday surprisingly flew by and Jace somehow managed to avoid me the whole day. It made me angry. I didn't understand why he was so mad. It wasn't even a big deal. I only told him the truth. We barely knew each other.

I stared out the window lost in thought. I watched as the rain splashed against the window and slowly trailed down to the ground. It reminded me of my life. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop falling.