The Forever Plan (18+)

The lights downstairs had not been working for a few days. The stairs were leading to a vast void. But my feet knew the path by heart. They had walked on this way so many nights and so many mornings those past five years that they seemed to have developed a mind of their own. Everyone was out or in their apartments, most probably enjoying the evening.

It was getting dark outside, while I was stepping out of the building. The sun was setting, far in the horizon, and I had to trust the gloomy yellowish light of one poor lamppost to lead my way. As I was putting my right foot past the broken iron gate, I saw my reflection in the windows facing my building’s entrance.

I looked a mess. My brown curls badly needed to be washed. I cut them – myself – not long ago and they still look dry. My brown eyes had huge bags under them, indicating the deprivation of sleep I had made my body endure for the past years. In the pale and darkening light of the day slowly withering away, my normally tanned skin had a yellowish sickly tint that did not flatter my already unflattering waitress uniform. The dress was made in a plain dark red dress that stops at my knees. It had been so imbued with the odour of fried food that it was now its natural smell. Every day I put it on, there was this weird stickiness about it – even after washing it every day. Anyway, just another day in pure bliss!

Rose’s Dinerwas on the border of Ortelly, right before the skyscrapers and the fancy neighbourhood. It took me around fifteen minutes to walk to the Diner. The pink and blue building was already shining bright with his outside blinding neon lights when I arrived next to it. I glanced at the sign at the top: the logo showed a little girl with blond pigtails and rose bows, welcoming me with a wink.Perfect, I see you again, Rose…

I entered theRose’s Diner, receiving a warm whiff filled with an intense odour of burnt coffee mixed with the smell of meat grilling in the kitchen. Jake was already behind the counter, a cup of coffee in his hands. His icy and very light blue eyes met mine as soon as I was entering the double door at the front of the diner. While I was walking towards the counter, he told me with his usual boastful tone: “You’re late, Letty.”

Once my bag was stored under the counter, I pined my nametag – with “Scarlett” written in bold black letters in a horrendous font – on my uniform. I retorted back at him: “You’re not even in uniform.”

He finished his coffee in one go and looked back at me. “But, I’m here on time.”For once, yes, you are, Jake. I was only five minutes late for once. Jake – or Jacob Reed – was one year older than me and we met when the two of us were neighbours in our small hometown Nomyla, next to the White Desert and bordering the Red Sea. Some strands of his wavy jet-black hair were falling nonchalantly on his forehead. He was wearing some faded blue jeans and a white – almost as white as his skin – short sleeves shirt, showing off the muscles he was so proud of.

Suddenly, I heard Nellie’s voice roaring from the kitchen: “Get in uniform, Jacob!” Her voice already showed annoyance. Nellie, our boss, was a usually very annoyed and stressed character. On Saturday night,she was even more stressed out. This was our busiest nights, and she needed her two waiters up and running.

I smiled, looking at my best friend being scolded by our boss. “Come on, Jake!” I told him, nudging him a little. “The boss is yelling at you.” He rolled his eyes but did not answeranything. I loved when he got yelled on. Jake was the narcissistic and boastful kind of guy. He was a good friend, but still, he got irritating sometimes. But still, he was my best friend. And he had been my best friend for the past ten years.

While my co-worker was getting changed into our hideous uniform, I began to wait the tables that had been impatiently waiting to order. I repeated my usual role as a waitress, here. I had occupied this job for the past five years. I started back when I entered Sixth Cycle and had to work a part-time job to pay for my studies. Forsyth’s educational system was expensive. Coming from an unaffluent family, my choice was clear:fend for yourself, Scarlett. I was lucky enough to be recruited for Sixth Cycle - in the Fifth Cycle’s class I was in, five years ago, only five people out forty in the class got accepted in Sixth Cycle. I did feel lucky to have the opportunity to pursue a higher education, but I had never agreed on Forsyth’s elitist school system. Most of the people in Sixth Cycle were either children of diplomates or politicians, celebrities, or rich people in general. I had only met one student that has to work part-time to pay for her studies: one of my friends, Gwen. The both of us were studyingAncient Languages and Forsythian Literaturein the hopes of getting recruited as a teacher for Fifth Cycle at the end of this year. Gwen worked as a part-time barista and a part-time cashier atFourracreoutside of the city. While I worked thirty-three hours per week, Gwen worked almost forty hours. The girl hardly slept. With our seventeen-hour schedule in school, we barely had time to study, but we always did it together - after five years of studying in Sixth Cycle, we found it was our most efficient way of success.

With my orders written on my notepad, I went to the kitchen to communicate them to the cooks. WhileRose’s Dinerhad five cooks - each of them at a different station - it only had three waiters, Jake, Mitch and me.

When I entered the kitchen, Mona came up to me. “I have never seen that many people so early on Saturday!”

I gave her the orders. “A lot of them are already drunk, too.”

She smiled and grabbed the orders. “I would also be drunk if I didn’t have to work!” Ramona Miles had her wavy, purple-dyed hair under her fishnet cap, a bit of her bangs sticking out on her forehead. She had slit grey eyes and a slight tan. She was tall – smaller than Jake but taller than me – and slim. Even though she was wearing the large white and dirty cook uniform, Ramona still looked beautiful.

Mona and I had been working at Rose’s Diner together for the past three years. We were in school together back in Fifth Cycle. Then, Mona was recruited into the Car Sector in Orania’s factories. Two years later, she got injured on her shoulder – a piece of car door fell on her right shoulder whilst on the assembly lines – and prohibited her from working on the assembly lines. I helped her get a cook position at the Diner.

Her grey eyes suddenly lit up. “By the way, I got something interesting!” She got her phone out of her back pocket and showed me a picture. “I did not know you even made a plan for your future romantic life.”

I frowned and looked at the picture she was showing me.Shit… I had forgotten about that. It was a picture of a pink paper with written in cursive letters:The Forever Plan. “How did you get that?”

“Your sister sent it to me.”

Oh, Ruby, why are you exposing me to my friends like that?Okay, let me explain. When I was a kid, I had the habit of doing plans. It was an idea from my father – he always told me: “You got to plan everything for your future, Scar. With no plans comes no future.” It was my father’s radical view on the world, and I agreed with it. I made many plans. The only plan that I was still following wasThe Work Plan. I had planned what I needed to achieve each year academically until my twenty-third year where I should get recruited. I had achieved everything in my plan except the last point:getting recruited at 23 years old as a teacher in Fifth Cycle in Ortelly. I just had a few exams left but at the end of the schoolyear, if my plan went well, I was going to be a teacher in the most selective and well-paid part of Forsyth.

The Forever Plan was something stupid and this was the only plan that I had not been able to complete. I remembered the different points of plan – there were only seven points:one, go on your first date at 16 years old; two, get your first kiss at 18 years old; three, have your first time at 21 years old; four, move in with your boyfriend at 23 years old; five, get married at 24 years old; six, be pregnant at 25 years old; seven, have a second child at 27 years old. Well, I was currently twenty-three years old, and I had not had a first date, nor a first kiss, nor my first time with anyone, ever.The Forever Planwas a total embarrassing disaster, and I wrote that back when I was thirteen and still had the illusion that I could get a romantic life. But with school and… other things, I figured out that this plan was doomed to fail.

“Well, that plan did not work out…” I sighed, grabbing the drinks ready to be served.

Mona smiled. “You don’t know yet!” She nudged me. “I’ll find you a boyfriend.”

I quickly corrected her: “I don’t need a boyfriend.”

She chuckled. “You’re just too scared to do it.”

“Do what?” I told her, checking where the drinks needed to be served.

Mona’s smile widened. “You know what I’m talking about.The thing…” She gave me looks full of innuendos. I felt my cheeks flushed suddenly. No, do not think about it, Scarlett.You’re working. Just serve the drinks.

“I need to serve this,” I told her, going out of the kitchens with the drinks.

I heard her tell me whilst I was escaping this embarrassing topic: “You can’t avoid it forever, Scarlett!”Oh yes, I can, and I will! I didn’t need a boyfriend or any sort of romance whatsoever. I did not have time to date nor the money. I needed to focus on my studies. And that was it! I needed my job as a teacher in the city, no more waiting tables in this horrendous diner and no more living in my small and crappy flat.

After having served the drinks, I went back at the counter to enter the orders that I had already taken. Mr Early Reed was finally in his uniform. I told him, finishing to type in the orders: “What took you so long?”

He stopped next to me and leaned on the counter. “Did you miss me, Letty?”

I turned in his direction. He was looking at me, an eyebrow arching and a smirk on his face. “Not at all,” I replied, shaking my head.

His smile expanded. “As always you are so nice and friendly.”

He flicked my nose, and I moved my head back, frowning. “I told you to stop doing that!”

He chuckled and flicked my nose once again. “You mean, this?”

I took another step back. “Stop! And go do your job!”

He sighed and straightened. He walked in my direction, grabbing his notepad from the counter. As he passed me, he murmured to me: “So bossy, Letty!” I rolled my eyes but did not answer. He went towards a table where four young attractive women were waiting. He told them, with a flirtatious smile: “Hey, ladies! You all look lovely tonight!” The women fell under his charm after this sentence. Jake usually chose to wait on feminine tables in hopes to charm them enough to get a major tip. Indeed, using this technique, he tended to receive way more money than I did. Jake knew how to use his charm and I would be lying if I did not say that he was very attractive. Since we were kids, everyone fell in love with Jake’s beauty. Tall, muscular and almost naturally flirtatious, Jake was easily the walking wet dream of many – and trust me, he was very aware of that.

In the corner of my eye, I noticed Nellie’s gaze staring at me angrily. Right… get back to work, Scarlett!I went to the other side of diner to wait on the tables that were still waiting to order. Whenever I worked, I tended to black out. I do not exactly know how to explain it, but it was as if someone was controlling me, and my body was just forgetting how to have its own will. I went to the tables, barely looking at the person I went up to. I just repeated the same thing, wrote down what they ordered, gave the orders to the kitchen, and typed in the orders in the Diner’s computer. I came up to one of the tables and said the greeting I had learnt to perfect those past years: “Welcome toRose’s Diner! What would you like to eat?”

A male voice I had not heard from quite some time said back to me: “Grace?”

I froze. Completely.Oh no…Nobody called me Grace anymore. It was my other name and I usually used it back in Fourth Cycle. Then, after my father’s death, I did not want to hear people call me by this name anymore. I looked up from my notepad and gazed at the man sitting on the red booth, a menu in his hands.Oh, shit!You’ve got to be kidding me!I recognised him right away. I had not seen his face for at least eight years. “Peter?” I asked him, shocked to see him here.