As the Moon Rises

I am so scared, and my heart is racing. I do not understand what’s going on. My mother is holding me so tight that it is almost painful, and I can’t move. We are in a small hut that I haven’t ever seen before. Surrounded by women that I do not know, chanting in a language I don’t understand. I look up at my mother, and she is crying. I’ve never seen her cry before and I start crying too. She leans down and whispers in my ear, “It’s okay Rowan, there’s nothing to be afraid of, we’re almost done, and then we’re going on an adventure. Doesn’t that sound fun?” I nod yes at her and clutch onto her as the women continue chanting. It gets louder and louder, until my head begins pounding. I don’t understand why it hurts so much. I press my fist against my eyes and my mother clutches me tighter to her chest. I let out a small whimper that turns into a scream as the pounding in my head gets worse. Until I am finally swept into oblivion.

I wake up suddenly, but the dream is already slipping away from my memory. I haven’t dreamt about my parents in years. I barely remember them, and I’m not even sure if what I just experienced was a dream or a distant memory. My parents left me when I was four, and I haven’t seen them since. Since then, I have been living with my best friend and her father.

Victoria’s dad Connor used to be really close with my family, so I’ve known him all my life. When my parents left, he told me that they had gone back to Scotland to visit family. They did not take me with them because they were not all good people, and my parents did not want to take me anywhere near them. They never came back. I don’t really remember them anymore either, and Connor doesn’t talk about them. He says we shouldn’t speak of the past lest it come back to haunt us.

A sharp knock on my door breaks me out of my thoughts as my door opens and Victoria pokes her head into my room.

“Time to get up sleepy head, Dad needs us at the diner this morning. I’ll start the coffee while you get ready.”

“Thanks, Tori. I’ll be down in ten minutes.”

Tori nods at me and slips back out the door, closing it behind her. I sigh, wiping my hand over my face. I’m going to need that caffeine in spades today. I toss my blanket to the side and get out of bed. I stumble to the bathroom to brush my teeth in a hurry and attempt to do something with my wild curls. I honestly don’t know why I bother when I know that I don’t have time to do anything with it, really. I scoop up my shoulder-length curly brown hair and twist it into a knot on top of my head and secure it with a hair tie.

I grimace at myself in the mirror as some of my baby hairs instantly come loose and stick out. I guess this is as good as it is going to get. I trudge back to my room, strip off my pajamas, and wiggle in to a pair of dark jeans, a substantial amount of jumping up and down is a better description of what really happened, and throw on a black t-shirt.

Downstairs Tori is at the kitchen table ready with two cups of coffee. She passes one to me as I sit down, “Just how you like it, cream and sugar with a splash of coffee.” She smirks at me.

“You know I don’t actually like the taste of coffee, I just need it to do its job.” I glare jokingly at her over the rim of my cup.

She just shrugs at me and offers a small tired smile, “Fair enough.”

Tori is a morning person, even when she’s up half the night partying, I on the other hand am not. I drink my coffee while Tori and I chat idly about nothing in particular. When we’re both finished, I place our cups in the sink and grab my jacket, even in the summer I don’t like to leave home without it. Tori and I head out and she locks the door behind us and then loops her arm through mine as we set off on a walk to her father’s diner.

We have both worked there since we were fifteen and her dad actually pays us pretty well and we get to keep all our tips. I’ve even managed to save up for an apartment, although I haven’t told them yet that I am planning to move out. I’ll be eighteen tomorrow though and I think it is time to branch out on my own. I know I’ll have to bring it up soon though.

I am lost in my own thoughts for most of our walk. The best thing about Tori though, is that she respects that and isn’t always trying to fill the silence with mindless prattle. She just lets me be, so we walk together in an easy silence. In normal circumstances, Tori is normally very chatty, she is a very outgoing person with a big personality. Practically my polar opposite, Tori is tall and tan, with pin straight waist length blonde hair and the most peculiar eyes, a golden color that almost looks yellow in a certain light. I’ve met anyone else like her before in my life. She is outgoing and bold while I tend to be shy and quiet.

Her mother was also from Scotland and moved here after she met Connor. That’s how our parents knew each other in the first place. Her mother was a childhood friend of my mother. They died in the same accident. It has bonded us together.

It’s a nice day out, and I’m pulled from my thoughts as Tori begins skipping down the road pulling me along with her. I guess she’s decided that I’ve had enough brooding time this morning, she tells me all about the party she was at last night. She ran into her on again off again boyfriend Ryan, apparently after last night, they are definitely on again. We laugh together as she describes all the shenanigans of our classmates.

Graduation was three weeks ago but everyone has been partying basically non stop since then. Well, everyone except me, it’s just not my scene.

Tori slows to a walk as we approach the diner, “You know, there’s another party tonight. You should come with me, maybe you’ll finally meet a guy.”

I fidget with my shirt, “I don’t like all the chaos, besides I get all awkward and sweaty in a crowd, no guys gonna swoon over that.”

“We don’t need swooning, you just need to get out of that shell. Get some practice. It’s not like most of the guys there will be swoon worthy either.” She snorts a laugh.

“I don’t know Tor, I’ll think about it, okay?”

She sighs, “Okay, but promise me you’ll actually think about it.”

“Promise.” I say, as she sticks her pinky out and I wrap mine around it.

She grins at me and pulls open the door, holding it open for me. Our friend Declan is leaning against the counter waiting for us. Declan is cute, with his short red hair and dark blue eyes, he works out a lot too so he’s really muscular, he kind of has a baby face though, its very soft. Except he has a nice square jawline. He smiles at us as we approach, “Well good morning, ladies, I was starting to think you were never going to show up, and it’s just dreadfully boring here without you.”

Tori laughs and flips him off, “No one said you had to spend all your free time here. We’ve got enough work without catering to you.”

Declan clutches his chest feigning offense, “You wound me, and here I thought you only came here to see my beautiful face every day.”

I stifle a laugh behind Tori’s back, and just as Tori is gearing up for a particularly spectacular verbal sparring, Connor pops his head out of the kitchen. “You’re late girls.”

“Sorry, dad.” Tori fake pouts.

“Just get busy, please.” Her dad replies as he ducks back into the kitchen.

Luckily Tori just has to slip her apron on and get behind the counter to work her section. She sticks her tongue out at Declan, who has settled down onto a bar stool to talk while she fills coffees and takes orders from all the regulars.

I grab my apron and slip it on, tying the stings around my waist before heading into Connor’s office to grab a new order pad and a pen from the stash I like to keep here. I head back out to my section of the diner which covers all the booths in the back corner of the room, its only about five tables total and they’re never all occupied at once. Since the regulars tend to always sit up in the front section where Tori and Connor work. Connor lets me work the slower section because he knows I get nervous around too many people, and the corner section is a lot calmer. I do occasionally have to help with Tori’s section, but it’s normally just running plates to tables if she’s busy at the counter.

Work was slow to start, but by 11 AM even my little section was busy. Tori and I were running ragged trying to take orders, fill coffee and run plates. Plus clear off tables between customers, even Declan had to give his seat up. We didn’t have time to do more than wave as he called out a quick goodbye and a promise to meet up later.

The lunch rush finally ended at 1, and Tori and I were slumped in a booth. Trying to rest our feet and nurse a couple of cokes, when the bell above the door chimed again. We both groan and peek around the side of our booth to see which one of us has to get up again. Tori lets out a quiet victory whoop as the man heads to the very back booth in my section. The first thing I notice about him is how tall he is, at least 6 feet.

The second thing I notice as I walk toward him, and he sits in the booth facing me and I can finally see his face, is how gorgeous he is. My jaw almost drops. This man is one of the most beautiful human beings I have ever seen in my life. He has a solid build with beautiful olive skin and looks like his body was sculpted from marble. His eyes are green and his face is all sharp angles, except his lips, which look soft and full. He has thick black hair that falls down into his face, just slightly past his eyebrows, and curls around his ears. I can see at least one tattoo on his left bicep peeking out from the bottom of his sleeve.

He smiles at me as I approach, and my breath catches. I mentally shake myself, he is just a customer Rowan, pull yourself together. He catches me staring and my face flames and I’m pretty sure the temperature just jumped up 20 degrees. I can feel myself starting to sweat a little, but I continue making my way over to him anyway. I just have to get this over with and I can go back and hide in my booth with Tori.

I steel myself as I finally reach his table, “Hello sir, what can I get you?”

He takes a moment to answer as his eyes travel along my body before settling on my face and he smirks at me, “Just coffee for now, I’m waiting for some friends, and you can call me Blane.”

I stiffen at the attention but nod at him and leave to grab the coffee pot from behind the counter, quickly making my way back to his table. He keeps his cup on the far side of the table and I have to lean over to fill it. As I do I swear he sniffs me and inhales sharply.

I pull back fast and almost stumble backward. He stares at me with narrowed eyes as his nostrils flare. I’m caught in his gaze for a moment before I shake myself mentally and quickly walk back to Tori. I don’t look back once as I slide back into the booth and set the pot on the table. Tori is laying across the seat on her side with her arm thrown over her eyes, I reach out with my foot and nudge her.

She groans at me while peeking out from under her arm, waiting for me to say something.

“Can you take my table, pleeease?” I beg making my eyes wide.

“Any particular reason why?” She asked.

“I don’t like the way that guy was looking at me. Plus I think he was smelling me.”

Her lips quirk up at that and she sits up, ” Rowan, people are going to look at you. You’re hot. You’re all curvy and delicious. Of course he was looking at you. And I seriously doubt he was smelling you.”

“Well we can agree to disagree about that. Can you please just take care of it. I don’t like the attention. And he totally sniffed me.”

“Are you sure he wasn’t just breathing?”

I glare at her, “I think I can tell the difference. Besides, he made me lean practically across his entire body just to fill his coffee.”

“Maybe he just wanted a look at that bodacious backside.” She said, trying to hold in her laughter.

Tori is practically rife with despair over my lack of general interest in the opposite sex. She never wastes an opportunity to push me to date, but after my first and only boyfriend Tyler and I broke up after three years because I wouldn’t sleep with him, I’ve kind of given up on it.

After some more back and forth Tori finally agrees to cover the table for me. She sits with me and teases me until his friends show up and then wanders over to take their order. But when she gets to the table all the men and Tori become visibly tense, they are all glaring at her, nostrils flaring. She is speaking angrily with Blane and then blows out a breath. Whatever their argument was over, it’s done now, she stomps off to the kitchen to give their order to Connor, I wonder what all that was about. Tori comes back over and as I’m about to ask what that was about she interrupts me.

“Dad needs your help in the kitchen.”

“Okay, I’ll head back there now.” I wanted to say more, like why she wasn’t helping in the kitchen, especially when Conner never puts me on kitchen duty, but she still looked so tense so I let it drop and headed back to the kitchen. I can feel the start of a headache, maybe after I’m done Connor will let me go home early.

Connor is up to his elbows in sauce and pasta when I walk in. I can literally feel my mouth watering as the smell of his homemade pasta sauce wafts over me. Connor is my favorite chef in the whole world, he has this way of showing us all the little tricks of the trade while maintaining perfect control over everything that happens in the kitchens, and still making us feel included in preparing the food, plus the finished product is always a show stopper.

“Hey Connor, what do you need me to do?”

“Well sweetheart, if you could start slicing up those mushrooms it would be a big help, I’m starting on our pasta.”

“Sure thing.” I say as I quickly grab the knife and set up the cutting board, thankful to be working on something simple and meditative like chopping the mushrooms.

It’s giving me a chance to calm my nerves and collect myself. I glance up occasionally, and can see Tori standing behind the counter staring daggers at the men at Blane’s table, I want to ask Connor about it but one look at him tells me he’s feeling tense too, his shoulders are tight and he’s hunched over focusing on his tasks with a single minded purpose he doesn’t usually possess in the kitchens. Normally being in the kitchen while he cooks is the most fun I would have all day. That and the pain building behind my eyes has me dropping the subject to focus on my own task until I can get out of here.

Connor keeps me in the kitchen until Blane’s group leaves, which is only about an hour. The pounding in my head has been building the entire time and has finally reached a crescendo. Connor takes pity on me and tells me I can leave early, but Tori makes me stay while she calls Declan and tells him to come get me and walk me home. I try to protest but Tori waves me off and points me in the direction of a booth to lie down while she continues talking to Declan. He arrives about 20 minutes later and he walks me home in silence, it feels like every step I take is a nail in my head.

We finally get back to the house and Declan offers to help me up to my room but I wave him off, unlocking the door. I thank him for walking me home and tell him goodbye and shut the door. I trudge up the stairs to my room and grab the bottle of Tylenol on my bedside table, unscrew the cap and dump three into my hand. I pop them in my mouth and swallow them dry, and collapse on my bed. Hoping sleep comes quickly.