Ashlee batted the rat with her boot and it gingerly slide across the floor and scuttled away. She’d moved out of her and Jacob’s apartment 2 days ago and was busy eating away at what little money she had staying in a run down apartment on the wrong side of town. Thankfully she had a friend who worked as a waitress in a nearby café, and was able to get a job working there. She slammed the bottom of a fry pan, releasing her frustration on the cockroach underneath.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Nick tapped the steering wheel of the Durango and hummed along in his mind to the music in the background, trying his best to block out Amanda’s annoying habit of never shutting up. He wondered a lot, now more than ever, why he was still with her, he supposed it was because despite his seemingly independent stature he desperately didn’t want to be alone. He would never admit it, but he was almost needy, looking to dead end relationship with girls as the answer, when deep down he knew it wasn’t.
He knew on the exterior, to the world that looked at him he was confident, cocky even. Playing it up to the camera at every opportunity, smiling and grinning, the face of a guy that knew he was stunning, but truth be told that was nothing more than an act. When no one was around he would star out into the ocean from the dining room in the expansive house he called home, and pretend he was free from the burden of the mask that he wore. When no one was looking he sometimes found himself crying, a secret he never told a soul, not his best friend, not his girlfriend, no one, and he was positive he would never tell anyone, for fear they would reject him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ashlee’s feet were killing her, but she carried on, taking orders, giving out bills and collecting tips. The pay was minimal and the tips were hardly enough to make her rich, but strong willed and determined she knew she’d make it, regardless of what others would say. She found herself sighing, and on the brink of tears. She scurried to make herself busy, refusing to allow herself to cry. Sometime she just felt so scared, she never understood why, and no body could ever tell her why. She knew she had the strength to do things, she knew she had the willpower, but sometimes, overcome with tears she felt alone and scared, and above everything else, that feeling was Ashlee’s greatest fear.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Fate is open the book to the right page
Fate is the light turning green as you approach
Fate is seeing the person you spent your whole life imagining
Fate is neither controllable nor unavoidable
Fate is making a decision that will change your life forever
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“This place?” Amanda cringed, the small café didn’t have valet parking, or doormen, rather it was a breezy street café with green umbrellas and wooden picnic tables scattered around outside, and not much more flasher furniture inside. Outside customers sat chatting between each other, birds hopped from one table to the next scavenging for anything that dropped from the tables.
“I heard it was good” Nick shrugged, pulling into a park that a VB just exited from
“From who?” Amanda muttered, Nick thought for a moment she was going to hold her nose in disgust, but she didn’t
“Rebecca and Brian, they come here a lot” Nick replied, stopping the engine
“Well you know what I think of THEIR thoughts” she huffed under her breath, but loud enough to be heard
It was common knowledge Amanda and Rebecca didn’t get on, though no one really knew why. They tolerated each other only because Brian and Nick were friends. Of course Amanda was the main ignition for any fight that happened between them. He smiled to himself imagine them getting more physical then just the biting words they threw at each other, the thought had also crossed Brian’s mind and the two thought the sight of it would be rather amusing. Nick of course would bet on Rebecca wining, she had a nasty right hook on her, but that’s what you get growing up in a family of all boys.
“It looks nice, just give it a go” Nick shrugged, easing his mind away from the ideas of a chick fight
“Fine, whatever” Amanda sulked as she slammed the car door
Nick groaned to himself, the worst thing about Amanda wasn’t her ability to throw a shoe across the lounge or the fact she could blurt out a whole sentence of expletives, or even the fact she could scream with the best of them – it was in fact her sulking. At least when she screamed and threw things Nick understood why (or at least sometimes, other times he could just duck) but when she sulked, he shuddered, he didn’t even want to think about it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They were seated quickly, inside – Amanda flatly refused to sit outside incase someone saw them and ‘ruined their day’. The walls were painted with colorful murals, one depicting 3 ladies dressed in white cloth, that seemed rather to be draped over their bodies then actually used for clothing. One lay down across a cloud, looking and pointing down to a crowd of shadowed people, pointing with her arm outstretched, the other sat beside her, her eyes looking downward to where the first one pointed, and the final one sat on a round seat, her hair flowing down her back as she stared down at a swirling object hovering in her hands. There were no explanations about the mural, so it kept his attention until the waitress came to the table.
“Interesting huh?” the young girl smiled, her blond hair pulled back into a bun, her hands holding a small pad and pen
“Yeah” Nick smiled, glancing away from the mural
“It’s supposed to depict the 3 goddesses of fate, the Greek one, the Roman one and Mythology, something like that” she smiled “they decided the fate of humans, their destiny that sort of thing, a bit weird for a café but I believe it has a meaning” she smiled
Amanda sighed loudly, “we’re ready to order”
The waitress smiled sideward then took the orders.
“What a stupid little story” Amanda laughed, picking at her long nails
“You don’t believe in fate?” Nick questioned, his eyes fixating on hers, even though she wasn’t looking
“No, we make our own destiny”
“You don’t think that there is a little bit of fate how people meet and-“
“No Nickolas” she cut him off “it’s stupid to think that”
He sunk down in his seat and waited quietly for his order to come.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Fate is making a decision that changes our lives
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Damn” Kelly muttered as bright red blood streaked from her palm
“What happened?” Ashlee questioned, putting down her tray and rushing to her blond friend Kelly
“Damn glass broke in my hand” Kelly announced as Ashlee covered the wound with serviettes
“You should get that seen to” Ashlee announced, almost like a trained nurse
“I got work to do, customers and all”
Ashlee smiled at her friend.
“I’ll take them, you go, 2 hours and you’ll be back”
“You got your own customers to worry about”
“Guess I’ll just work faster then”
“Sure this is okay?”
Ashlee didn’t have to think hard, it was an easy decision and it would change anything. She nodded.
“Now hold those on there and get going to the hospital”
Thankfully the hospital was within walking distance and Kelly would only need a clean up, maybe a few stitches, nothing life threatening, the café wasn’t too busy, Ashlee was sure it wouldn’t be a problem.
Kelly grabbed her bag and left out the back door. Ashlee grabbed her pen and went to work getting both her orders and Kelly’s done.
“Table 6, 1 burger and fries, one Cesar salad, rolls on the side” Ashlee smiled, looking down at the plate
As she looked at the customer he spun his head around. She almost dropped the food, but the table caught it with ease.
“Nick” she muttered, thinking she would never see the guy that saved her life ever again, let alone here – in front of the 3 goddesses of destiny.