Page 5 of Tangled Up In You
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Waking up to the sun shining through my window, I winced at the assault on my eyes. I turned my head the other way on the pillow and tried to go back to sleep. Right as I shut my eyes, my alarm sounded.
I worked at my parents’ diner on the weekends, and I had to be there by nine. The pay wasn’t much, but I enjoyed helping them out. They’d had the place ever since I could remember, and a lot of my childhood had been spent with Corbin as we ran around the diner causing trouble. There was a section in the back for kids, and I knew it was because of us that my parents had added it.
I sat up and rubbed my eyes before grabbing my phone to kill the alarm. A new text message was on the screen, and I clicked to open it.
Corbin:U need to rethink ur stance on the whole S-speare thing, dude. “I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.” That shit is beautiful.
Smiling, I texted back.
Me:Looks like someone had some fun on Google way too early this morning. But, ok. You may have a point with that one. What are you doing 2day?
Corbin:Idk. Probably come hang out with u at the diner.
Me:Okay, stalker. See you in a bit?
Corbin:lolK <3
I rolled my eyes at the heart emoji, even though I thought it was cute.
After getting out of bed and going to the bathroom, I took a quick shower before getting dressed. There was a McDonalds down the road, so I’d just stop in to get breakfast there instead of trying to scrounge around the kitchen for something.
I went through the drive-thru and scarfed the sausage biscuit before pulling into the diner. Mom’s car was there, and I parked beside it. Dad told me good morning as I walked into the back office, and I groaned as usual for having to be up early. He chuckled.
“There’s coffee,” Dad said, adjusting the glasses on his nose. “Help yourself to some before talking to the customers, so you don’t snap at them.”
I laughed, knowing he had a point. Me before coffee was a scary sight.
Caffeinated and no longer plotting murder to those around me, I took customers’ orders and served their food. The morning went on as normal. I kept looking out the front windows to see if Corbin had pulled in yet, but he still hadn’t shown up.
My eyes focused on the spot at the bar he liked to sit and talk to me while eating his breakfast platter of pancakes, hash browns, eggs over easy, and bacon. A weird feeling went through me at seeing it so empty.
I couldn’t explain it, but it seemed symbolic in some way.
By mid-afternoon, I got a break, and the first thing I did was grab my phone and call him. It rang. And rang. No answer. My hands started shaking, and I re-dialed him. An unsettling feeling landed in the pit of my stomach, and when he didn’t answer for the fourth time, I called him again.
His words from the night before went through my head, “If I died tomorrow, would our love not be a romance?”
I felt like I was going to puke.
I was just about to go into full panic mode, when the jerk face finally decided to answer his goddamn phone.
“Hey!” he said, and that one word was the best thing I’d heard all day.
“For fucks sake, Cor, I was about to send out a rescue team for your stupid ass,” I said in a rush, shaking with relief. “I thought you were coming to the diner. What’s up?”
“Hunter, I have some fucking amazing news. I don’t want to tell you over the phone, though. Come over when you get off work, ‘kay?”
“Okay,” I said, curious. I didn’t like surprises, so with that curiosity was also nerves. “See you later.”
The day dragged ass after that, as if the universe was having a nice laugh at my expense. The clock moved super slow, and minutes seemed to last hours. By the time I was finally able to leave, it was around five o’clock.
I told my parents bye before hightailing it out of the diner and getting into my car.
When I got to Corbin’s house, I jogged up the steps and didn’t even knock on the door before going inside. I went over there so much that I practically lived there, and Bill—Corbin’s grandpa—had even made a joke before that he was going to start charging me rent.
“Hunter?” Bill asked before rounding the corner into the living room.
