|
10:13pm Feb 6 2010 (last edited on 10:14pm Feb 6 2010)
|
Normal User
Posts: 1,191
|
Reese quietly yawned as she opened her eyes drearily. She had moved to the town of Golden, Colorado, for more than one reason, the foremost being that the small city of Taft had proved too memorable of the time she had spent with James. She got up and stretched before getting debating what to wear that day- A thin, black, cabled blouse and jeans or a pale yellow t-shirt and shorts. A sudden image of her wedding dress forces its way to the foreground of her mind; the shirt was the exact same shade. It was too late now; she was unconsciously leaning towards the blouse now. Reese sighs as she puts the outfit on and walks out of her room and to the kitchen for breakfast.“Good morning,” She says to herself as she plops down onto the small Cabana table and matching chair. She hurriedly eats the cold cereal and milk- she would be late to work if she didn’t hurry, and that would be bad, seeing as there was a new member on the team; Dani Breese, a quiet, ambitious 18-year old with a sharp wit and a somewhat large mouth, figuratively speaking. Reese worked at an old restaurant called ‘Avenue 64,’ which specialized in food from around the world. Of course, it had the droll foods like cheeseburgers and such, but it also had foods like mojadara, a Middle-Eastern recipe that included brown lentils, olive oil, and several other ingredients with multiple spices. Reese loved her job- she worked as head chef in the restaurant, and had several degrees in culinary school. Dani had joined up with a fabulous application, and Reese would be very surprised if he wasn’t there already, waiting outside, since Reese had the keys and the manager didn’t come until noon. Reese finish off her breakfast fairly quickly and stumbled outside into the warm spring weather, which was currently a balmy 72 degrees Fahrenheit. She quickly walked out to her scarlet Jeep Outback and hopped inside before revving up the engine. After going a bit off main street and smiling at everyone she p*censored*ed by, Reese quickly found Avenue 64, and, just as she expected, Dani was sitting outside the door and grinning as she pulled up. “Well, geez, fancy seeing you here! Come here often?” Dani kids, pushing Reese lightly, causing her to laugh as she opened the door. The 35-year old didn’t know what made it so easy to laugh and be herself in front of the young adult, it just was. She quickly stepped inside the clashing restaurant’s interior, underneath the large banner of small flags strung up against the wall, showing all nationalities.“Not really, I only come every month or so,” Reese teases back as he comes in.“Oh darn, I was looking forward to seeing you more often…” Dani says as they both walk back into the kitchen where they put on their thin gloves and aprons. Reese had to put her long, straight, brick-red hair, prematurely peppered with hints of silver, into a ponytail, but Dani had only slightly long, raven-black tresses accented by strands of white that Reese was sure he had dyed, but never bothered to ask. She could feel his cobalt eyes boring into her back as she turned on the morning equipment usually needed for the breakfast flow, since customers would be arriving soon. She didn’t bother explaining how to handle these- he obviously knew how. But, suddenly, a memory that wasn’t so much forgotten as repressed leapt towards the front of her mind like a rocket- a memory of James, with his honey-gold hair and his bright blue eyes; the exact same shade as Dani’s.“Are you alright?” Dani asked concernedly, bringing Reese out of her reverie. She must have stumbled or something to cause him to say it.“Yes, I’m fine,” Reese says quietly. “I just tripped is all. Now, get ready- Alice and Molly’ll be coming in within the next five minutes,” At this, Reese hurriedly restarts heating up a batch of plum blossom tea and cocoa. Sure enough, 5 minutes later Avenue 64’s favorite customers, Molly and Alice, walk in and sit down.“Hey there, Reese!” calls Molly from her seat. “How’re you?”Molly and Alice had been coming to Avenue 64 almost every day ever since it first opened 8 years ago, and had been coming long before Reese got her job as head chef. They were both in their mid-20s, Molly 24, and Alice 27. Reese had immediately liked them when she first met them. You couldn’t help but to like them, just being around their presence made you grin like a hyena. Molly was easily the more noticeable of the two sisters, with her pixie-style silvery-blonde hair and caramel-brown skin, and coupled by violently emerald eyes, she was quite a contrasting female, and was the one who usually attracted the most looks. With her piercing tongue and kind demeanor, she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, not to mention her beliefs. Alice, on the other hand, was a near exact copy of Molly in all but looks. She looked like she could be Molly’s parent rather than younger sister, with smile wrinkles and pale white skin, topped off with peppered hair and black eyes, she didn’t attract ‘all the boys to the backyard,’ as Molly said. She was also a bit more laid-back and calm, usually dressed in jeans and pale, pastel shirts. “Hey Molly, Alice!” Reese said happily, walking out of the kitchen carrying the refreshments she had started earlier, handing the plum blossom tea to Alice and the cocoa (with the tiny marshmallows) to Molly. “Come meet the new kid!”“New kid?” the sisters chorused, their curiosity piqued. Reese nodded and Dani shuffled quietly out of the kitchen, carrying their usual: A small roll of French bread and a few slices of butter. “Hey!” Molly said enthusiastically, while Alice just smiled and waved. Dani grinned hugely, seeming to lose his apprehension. A few hours later, the breakfast flow ended and Reese decided to sit down at a table until the next customer came in. To her surprise, Dani came to sit with her as well.“What is it?” Reese asked, and Dani grinned.“Nothing, I just wanted to sit down.” He said simply, blushing for some reason, and causing Reese to blush as well. “So…. What were your parents like?” Reese asked after a long and awkward pause, and Dani smiles slightly.“They weren’t what you’d call the best,” Dani says slowly. “I’m sorry,” Reese immediately says, embarr*censored*ed and furious with herself for inquiring about it. “You don’t have to talk about it.”“It’s fine,” Dani hurriedly re*censored*ures her, smiling and, making a seemingly unconscious movement, twitches his hand so that it lied upon hers. Reese blushed, but, for a reason she didn’t understand herself, didn’t recoil from it. “Anyways…. Like I said, they weren’t the best parents. My mother- Esmeralda- and father- Micheal- weren’t the best to each other, either. I harbored a hope for some time that they would grow out of their drinking, smoking, and certain other habits that I won’t mention in front of you or anyone- but it faded away after I turned 11 and they didn’t mention it at all. That was the day I actually realized that they didn’t even care about me, just their whiskey and their Camels.“A few years later were when the beatings started- first just for when I did something ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’….” Reese could tell that he knew that those weren’t the words that were appropriate. “…. But then, it started when he was stone drunk, and then when he was furious, and then it degraded to whenever he felt like he needed to ‘relieve some stress.’ Those were his words, not mine. I could tell that a beating was about to happen when he told my mother that, and she’d call me down from my room and he’d take off his belt…” Dani trailed off for a moment, before looking up and smiling, half-sheepish, half-embarr*censored*ed. He noticed how Reese’s eyes were set into the distance, cold and hard. How could anyone dare do such a thing? To their own child, no less! “I’m sorry,” Dani says quickly, as if he had lost his tongue and then found it, and wanted to garble out the words, as if that might make them less painful. “I should have stopped…. Here I am with you, I’ve barely met you, and I’m telling my whole life story to you…” He chuckled slightly, and Reese managed to pull her face into a warm smile. “It’s fine, Dani.” She said, not unkindly, but not with so much gentleness it could be mistaken for something else. And yet… a part of her almost wished he had mistaken it for that other thing. Reese immediately recoiled from the thought- I’m 35! She thought, He’s only 18! It could never work out. Dani smiled and quickly changed the subject, to which Reese enthusiastically started in, trying to forget about what just happened. A few hours later, most of the kitchen crew had come by: Jake, a tall, lean, and slightly tanned 22 year old with reddish-brown hair he kept combed back; Chelsea, a slim 19 year old with a pixie-style auburn hair-cut; and Adam, a 31 year old male who was tough, quiet, and blunt to the point of rudeness.“So, your new,” Adam said simply, walking up and inspecting Dani. He blushed and stepped back a few paces.
“Yeah,” He said quietly, still red as a stop sign. Jake laughed.“Well hey, bud, no need to be shy!” He said loudly, slinging an arm over Dani’s shoulder. “We’re all friends, aren’t we?” Chelsea grinned, showing off filed canines and flashing off her red contacts. She was the resident ‘vampire.’“Grr. Jake, your creeping him out, leave him.” She said, her lilting voice contrasting with her frightening appearance. Jake snorted and rolled his eyes, but yelped and jumped back as Chelsea poked him, hard, on the forearm.“Ow, Chels! Reese, Chelsea’s touching me!” Jake whined as Chelsea laughed and continued to drive him away from Dani as he shot grateful looks at her. Reese smiled. “Alright, guys, let’s get to work. Lunch rush is almost here.” And thus ends Chapter 1. _________________________________ Chapter 2 Reese silently drove home in her Jeep Outback, thinking hard; Dani was an extremely good cook, he worked twice as hard as several of the staff, gave the most smiles, and had already memorized a recipe. As Reese pulled into the driveway, other thoughts invaded her mind like ants at a picnic. Thoughts that Reese had purposely suppressed. Thoughts too painful to relive. Thoughts of him.His hair.His laugh.His grin- never truly leaving the face.His eyes… that striking shade of cobalt fire that always were so p*censored*ionate, so kind, so happy that you could tell when he was smiling even when you couldn’t see the mouth. Reese vainly tried to get in control, to push the memories straight into the back of her head and never peruse them again, like she had for the past 18 years.But she couldn’t- they were too strong. Memories of him were always the strongest. Here he was, in all her glory, right in her mind. His promise echoed through her cranium as if he was right there beside her.‘I will always love you,’ he had whispered into her ear. “Forever and always,” Reese choked out, finishing the sentence for his nonexistent voice, which had disappeared like a sudden gust of wind. A dry sob racked her body, and she quickly, feverishly shut off the ignition to the car as if it would quell the outbreak of memories like the engine.It didn’t.Reese slammed the door closed and quickly stumbled through her house. She read the clock as if in a haze, the LCD numbers cherry red. 8:52 PM. She had been sobbing in her cars, reliving her memories, for the past nearly three-and-a-half hours. Reese shambled up the stairs of her modest two-story house and quickly entered her room. The near silence, broken only by Reese’s cracking sobs and dry gasps, was absolutely palpable. Without eating dinner, or even getting undressed, Reese lay down on her bed and fell into a fitful sleep before crawling under the covers. The dreams probably wouldn’t scare many people. But it had always terrified Reese. Reese was in a flowing gown and train of pale gold, alone at the alter with only a bouquet of forget-me-nots and wilting roses for company. Smog clogged the air and the normal sirens in the distance were as usual. But Reese knew she was dreaming of her wedding. All that was missing were the friends, family, the priest, and, of course, the husband… and also the policeman bursting through the door and informing her (and the rest of the audience) that her almost-husband had been found dead in an automobile accident. Reese woke with a start as she heard the doorbell ring. She checked the clock- 10:19 AM, the LCD screamed back at her. She had slept most of the morning away.She grabbed the nearest things and threw them on haphazardly- a nearly too-small dark purple long-sleeve and some capris. Only a few minutes had p*censored*ed when she opened the door. “Hello,” Said a familiar voice, rich as Mexican hot chocolate and as honest as a morning bluebird. Dani.“Oh,” Reese said suddenly, smiling. “Hi, Dani. What’re you doing here?” “Well,” Dani began slowly. “I came to see you. I already talked to the rest of the staff and they agreed to give us both the day off… it’s been a slow day,” he finished.“Oh.” Reese said. “Well, thanks for telling me.” She made to close the door, but Dani’s hand grasped at it and stopped her. “I don’t think you understand,” Dani begins, his dark eyes smoldering like coals in the golden light, “there was a catch.”“A catch,” Reese repeated breathlessly as she gazed into Dani’s eyes, ambling silently amidst a pair of twin lakes, deep and mysterious as the dark side of the moon.“They would only let me take the day off if I spent the entire day with you… and footed the bill.” He finished off lamely, his head hanging low but his eyes burning bright with a fierce p*censored*ion that surprised Reese. Once again, unbidden thoughts leapt into her mind, but this time she succeeded in pushing them back.“Footed…the bill? You mean…your taking me out?” Reese said, slightly incoherent. Dani nodded, and suddenly, Reese regained her composure.“Alright.” She said, moving out into the driveway to see that only her car was there. This didn’t surprise her much- in the town of Golden, you didn’t need a car to get from suburbia to suburbia. She leapt into the p*censored*enger side of her Jeep, fully intending to scoot over to the driver’s side, but saw that Dani had beaten her there and was already holding his hand out for the keys, a warm smile on his face.“You didn’t really expect me to let you drive, did you?” he asked mockingly, his tone full of sarcastic surprise. Reese sighed, rolled her eyes, and handed him the keys. “So… where to? I’m a captive audience, you know.” Reese said as the drove along the familiar main street, p*censored*ing Clear Creek Bookstore and idly crossing the bridge that spanned across the bookstore’s namesake before making a turn and heading down towards what appeared to be a small restaurant.“There’s this little place I know… I hope you like Mexican.”“If I didn’t like Mexican, Dani, I’d have Jake fix the corn tortilla bread.” Reese said with a light hint of asperity, though the impatience was lessened by the soft smile on her face. “Hello Dani, Hi Reese, how may I help you?” Milo asked, his fake fox ears and tail a shockingly rust orange, topped with black. He was the resident furry- a fandom of anthropomorphic people, pretty much werewolves of all species- and was constantly butting heads with Chelsea. The 16 year old had a muscular build, but not so much that it was body-builder, burst-out-of-your-shirt muscular. He had dark brown hair with slight auburn hints to it in Golden’s sunsets and sunrises, and his eyes were a plain green, nothing too unusual. Milo was a junior in high school, and while he wasn’t friends with the entire student body, he was for the most part accepted. “Hi there, Milo,” Dani said. “My usual.”“My usual,” Reese chorused, and Dani grinned.“Quesadilla and chicken strips with a Dr Pepper and a root beer respectively it is,” Milo said amiably, writing the order down on a pad pf paper with a ballpoint pen. {{A work in progress, comments needed}}
my name's russ and i only care about uldavi and cute men |
|
10:14pm Feb 6 2010
|
Normal User
Posts: 1,191
|
Pardon the lack of paragraphs, I have them, but it wouldn't show since I copy + pasted from word. :D
my name's russ and i only care about uldavi and cute men |
|
10:29pm Feb 6 2010
|
Normal User
Posts: 6,511
|
Mexican hot chocolate is rich. xD
Well, depending on how you make it. o.o' I screwed mine up today and it tasted like instant hot chocolate. o.o' Dani reminds me of my brother. o-o A lot. And then, I thought Dani was a girl for some time, and I don't know why. o.o It wasn't until I read "he" for the first time somewhere in the story that I realized he was a male. Great writing, Russett! I like how everything was so well described. I pictured the neighbourhood Reese lives in as being...I dunno, nice? Like, kind of where rich people live. o3o And then, I also imagined her having a really large backyard for some reason, and a closet full of summer clothes. Just summer clothes. ...I like Reese's hair. o-o
Seasons are changing and waves are crashing and stars are falling, all for us. |
|
10:46pm Feb 6 2010
|
Normal User
Posts: 192
|
Incredible!!! Absolutely incredible!!! I love the age difference between the two, it adds this unique spice that's rare. I am a sucker for romance, so the second I read your ti
tle I was hooked :p Please continue!!!! And if you could, could you read my story "Pictures of You"? It's also a romance, but also has friendship, drama, family, and "finding yourself" in it too. There is no romance, yet, but there will be. LOVE YOUR WRITING!!! |
|
2:30pm Feb 7 2010
|
Normal User
Posts: 1,191
|
Kira, well, Golden is a real town in Colorado where I used to live, and it's int he foothills of the mountains, so it gets cold there. REALLY cold. When I lived there we broke the state record cold. It was -12 degrees.
my name's russ and i only care about uldavi and cute men |
|
4:04pm Feb 7 2010
|
Normal User
Posts: 2,962
|
Lovely. :D It's pretty well-written, and in depth, but not too rushed. xD I'll always think of Pet and Milo when I read this. .-. I can't wait for more! ;D
Actively inactive. Formerly lolalover6. |
|
7:32pm Feb 7 2010
|
Normal User
Posts: 1,191
|
Lolbump. o___o!
my name's russ and i only care about uldavi and cute men |
|
7:42pm Feb 7 2010
|
Normal User
Posts: 3
|
BUMP :) Welcome
http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/ae155/ThaliaFlame98/alliesbannerres.jpg
|
|
7:43pm Feb 7 2010
|
Normal User
Posts: 3
|
haha, that post above me that says "bump" is actually from luvsarahdessen97. im on Redd's username right now but she knows :) im not so smart
http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/ae155/ThaliaFlame98/alliesbannerres.jpg
|
|
8:29pm Feb 7 2010
|
Normal User
Posts: 6,216
|
D; *waves fist* You were serious when you said you'd use my name. Well, I REFUSE TO GET MARRIED. I REFUSE! XO ... Though that Reese' character is disturbingly similar to mine. >.> You wouldn't know though, as none of you the real life me. lol. Reminds me of how I used to like my friend back when we were in fourth grade, and now we're closer and I began to like him again but then I got over it because I found someone else. XD So now we're just really close friends with nothing else between us. -pokes black hair- I think I'm a tad too young for grey hairs. D; -cough- STORY. 8D Good details, though my only suggestion is in some parts you need to vary how to begin sentences. That's just my opinion. Overall, it's a very good start. Looking forward to reading the rest of it. WRITE FASTER! XD
Wat.
ಠ_ಠ
|
|
10:25am Feb 8 2010
|
Normal User
Posts: 1,191
|
:D REESE SHALL NOT BE MARRIED! *Coughmutter* In THIS novel... ;)
my name's russ and i only care about uldavi and cute men |
|
4:04pm Feb 8 2010
|
Normal User
Posts: 6,511
|
Homai. o3o
Someone's getting married in a novel? o.o Russ, it's been colded in Illinois. e.e And I was stupid enough to decide to go outside and play in the snow. My dog stole my jacket and I got cold. o_o
...Golden's a pretty name for a town~
Seasons are changing and waves are crashing and stars are falling, all for us. |
|
10:00pm Feb 9 2010
|
Normal User
Posts: 1,191
|
Peekabump.
my name's russ and i only care about uldavi and cute men |
|
6:00pm Feb 15 2010
|
Normal User
Posts: 1,191
|
Bump~
my name's russ and i only care about uldavi and cute men |
|
