An Old Friend

"You know I planned on sleeping in, right?" I scoff, slouching my form as I scan Kelli's face, ready for an outburst.

For a moment, silence lingers near while Kelli stares blankly at the road before scrunching up her face and chuckling. Her eyes travel over to her car's clock before she looks over at me and lets out another small laugh.

"Sleeping in? You have to be at work in like two hours. How much sleep were you planning on getting?" her laugh continues as she takes another quick look at me.

Mhm, just a little over... all day.

"Not much," I laugh awkwardly, fixing my jacket to my liking against my agitated chill bumps.

I planned on calling off of work today and spending the rest of the day thinking how I'd make it in the next day without failing not to embarrass myself.

Kelli knew of me embarrassing myself a second time on Friday, but she didn't know of my current plans, and I hadn't hoped for her to. If she were aware, she'd kill me, bring me back by lecturing me for three hours, kill me again and repeat until I was set on going to work.

By then, I'd probably already have been fired.

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Closing my phone and pulling it from my view, Kelli had already locked her glossy brown eyes on me, squinting them in the process. She had her elbows pressed against the table with her phone in her hand as she pursed her lips.

"What," I say, staring back at her.

She shakes her head softly as she finally lets out her statement, "Did you seriously just call off of work?"

I nod while shrugging my shoulders, causing her to exaggerate a frown. If I didn't call off now in front of her, I'd probably attempt to slip away, and it would seem like I was trying to hide something, which would result in an interrogation alongside a lecture.

I'd also most likely receive a call from Arden himself If he didn't show up or call, and that was the last thing I wanted to happen today.

I am pretty lucky to have gotten to speak to the receptionist instead of Arden. Usually, the call-offs would be sent straight to him to analyze the sound of someone's voice to see if they weren't honest.

Thank god she said In her own words, 'he's running late, If he'd answered my call, He'd know I was lying in seconds, but the reception was kind enough to understand that I wasn't feeling well without questioning me to death.

"What did you expect?" I question, rolling my eyes as a defense so that I wouldn't give in so quickly. I was already on the verge of admitting to my wrongs.

"I expected you to grow up, get over it and take your ass to work," she argues while crossing her arms over her chest, narrowing her brows in the process.

"I am over it," I say in a low growl as I leaned my back against the diner chair.

"Well, obviously not. You're trying to avoid the situation by calling off of work, but that adds more suspicion and makes you seem like you're not over it," she explains, emphasizing her lecture as her words sink into me.

I let out a dramatic scoff, oblivious to the conversation. I was speechlessly lost and had nothing more to work up a comeback.

The most I could come up with was a simple, "It's not that serious." As I stuff my mouth with a large bite of a pancake while eyeing her approaching reaction.

She shakes her head with a smirk growing on her face, obviously aware of my fail at this argument.

"Yeah, I'd probably agree with you if you didn't call off an hour before it was time to go in," she continues narrowing her eyes while sliding one side of her hair behind her ear.

My lip slips between my teeth as I fiddle with my fingers to stop my inner thoughts from taking over me, but they were becoming too strong for my tolerance. I couldn't agree with Kelli more, and I shouldn't have called off of work for an idiotic reason of relief in an attempt to cure my anxiety.

I acted out of proportion after mine and Arden's simple "meet up." I only hoped to confront him on his actions, not make it seem as if it bothered me to the point of me crying and calling off work.

He wasn't supposed to see me cry or act foolishly, and I don't think I'm mentally ready to face him or even speak to him.

I was blessed not to have Arden answer my call off. I was still feeling odd about that moment. If he were the one to have answered, from the sound of his coarse voice, I'd most likely either punch him through the call or race to work and drop my panties; no questions asked.

My eyes wander from my fingers over to Kelli's judgmental expression. I don't blame Kelli for lecturing me, especially since I could get fired at any time if Arden finds out I lied about being sick so that I could avoid any confrontation between the two of us.

Kelli wasn't by chance letting this one go, so my only other options were to go into work or avoid eye contact as long as I can to stall the process. I searched the restaurant for any other thing to focus on, but there was nothing remotely interesting.

The diner was practically empty; there were no other people besides the helpless older man reading the weakly paper and one other person.

It was what appeared to be the only working guy at the moment since it was never bustling around morning hours.

His dark brown hair was in some tapered wavy cut that was odd but compelling. His eyes contained a milk chocolate shade that brought even more attention to his bright lips and enchanting smile. He had given the elderly man another senior citizen's coffee for what seemed to be the second time, and I guess the elderly man cracked a joke which made the beautiful guy smile.

He had one stud in his ear, a dangled heart in the other which moved every time he wiped the counters. One thing stood out more than anything else; it was his mole sitting on the left side of his pale cheek, beside his nose.

It was an all too familiar mole. The way it lifted when he smiled. It almost reminds me of a friend that got away.

There was this boy, Kylo Melton. The boy I had met one summer, Kelli left to visit her grandparents in Korea, They had moved there two years back, and she promised she'd visit one of the upcoming summers. I begged my parents to go along, but they hadn't considered it for a second because it was too far for their comfort, and I had only known Kelli going on three years at the time.

I was forced to stay home the entire summer with no friends whatsoever. I ended up friending the new neighbor, kylo, after he decided to come outside for the first time since he moved in. We played every day of that summer doing countless things; some of our favorite things to do were to tease and beg my father into taking us out for ice cream and a movie.

Our friendship was endless. We were like twins, we couldn't be apart for more than a night, and if we were separated any other time than us sleeping, we'd act out like our life was over.

It remained that way until the last week of summer. I don't understand how or why, but he had moved within the time frame of one night. It was like there was no trace of him anymore, and I was forced to move on.

It would be practically impossible to know who he was now since that was almost 11 years ago. Still, he looked the same as he did before. It didn't come to me right away because I hadn't thought of him in forever but now that I remembered and could thoroughly compare the two faces.

This guy is Kylo Melton. My long-lost best friend and childhood crush.