Everlasting

"Wake up sleepy one! I made breakfast this morning, so go pig out," my roommate Valen mentioned to me as she opened the curtains to my room. The light flooding every little inch in the room. I blocked the light with my hand and groaned, not really wanting to get up at all. "Besides, you have to tell me how work went last night. You came really late last night and didn't want to bug you just in case you were tired."

"Seriously, you couldn't wake me up any earlier?" I groaned looking at the clock displaying 8:37 AM. "I'm going to need you to set your alarm for a much later time, like 12!"

"Oh shut up, you know I'm an early bird," she paused tying up the last curtain. "Well, sometimes."

"Exactly."

"Well, c'mon, I made bacon, eggs, toast and waffles," she smiled as she kicked my bed causing me to once again, groan like a five year old. I threw the covers to the side, making sure to hit her with one of the corners. "It's okay, I'll get you back for that." We laughed and both made our way down to the small kitchen table we had in our apartment.

"Did you seriously make the bacon? Or is the microwaveable kind, because the last times you've made bacon they end up all black," I added as I took a seat near the window and poured myself a cup of orange juice.

"Are you criticizing my cooking?" she gasped dramatically as she placed a hand over her mouth.

I rolled my eyes and just laughed along with her. Valen and I had been roommates for quite a while now. Her and I had been friends since back in 8th grade in middle school, so basically we spent our whole four years in high school together and now college. I guess you could say she was my baby sister, only by a few months. She was actually one of the few people that knew about my ability to read people's minds and persuade them to do things. Sometimes she even made convince some of her crushes that she was their soul mate, even though I knew it was wrong, we had our fun times.

"So tell me how yesterday went, I want you to spill your entire brains out, detail to detail," she grinned as she shoved a piece of bacon in her mouth. I rolled my eyes while I shook my head and smiled. "C'mon! Spill!"

"Alright, alright," I sighed still smiling, "it started out really boring because I literally had nothing to do or no one to talk to, but then the other employee, Nick, came in and joined me at the register. He was really sweet and explained everything about the store to me." I nodded as I paused to take a bite of the waffles that were laid in front of me. "He actually went to school with us. Do you remember that curly headed kid with the guitar?" she put on her thinking face and pursed her lips, followed by a nod. "Well, that's him; but yeah, we talked about high school and what not...then it was time to close and well I was going to walk home like always when I'm out late, but he insisted on his brother giving me a ride. I kept saying no because I didn't want to be any trouble, but he insisted, and well..." I trailed off thinking back to last night. Thinking back to the wonderful human being I'd met last night, Joe. His genuine brown colored eyes that had just a splash of green in them.

"Hello! Earth to Annie!" Valen waved her hand in my face. "Keep telling the story! I need to know what happens next!"

"Sorry, well...when his brother pulled up in a black Land Rover, he rolled down his window and told him it was fine to drive me home. I got into the car and was able to see his face, and let me tell you," I paused hoping to piss her off. Mission accomplished when she bugged her eyes open and then glared at me, giving me a 'don't you dare' look. "he was beautiful. His eyes were brown with a beautiful green in the middle of them, his lips...they looked so soft and just," I paused again, this time really thinking of him. "I could actually feel them on mine for a second." I shook away the thoughts, "anyway he had this rugged look to him, black shirt, black jeans with combat boots and of course the messy faux hawk hair style. They brought me home and the end!"

"Are you kidding me? And you didn't invite them in?" she narrowed her eyes.

"You were asleep and it was late," I explained.

"Hello! I wouldn't mind if the hot curly headed guy would have snuggled up beside me last night, besides, I was cold." I stared at her, really not believing what she had just said.

"Whatever," I chuckled looking at the time and realizing I had to make my way to work if I wanted to be on time. I thanked Valen for the delicious breakfast she'd made and went upstairs to my bedroom and jumped in the shower. It took me no more than 15 minutes to get out of the shower and then go through my short selection of clothes in the closet. I picked out my favorite washed out jeans and long sleeved navy colored shirt.I quickly scrambled to check underneath my bed to see if my converse were there and more than sure they were.

I made my way down the steps and grabbed my purse and shades. "Bye!" Valen waved me out the door with a smile. I waved back and made my way to the bookstore. I had twenty minutes to get there, which was more than enough time.

On my way to work I managed to think back and try to remember if maybe I'd previously met Joe in high school. He just seemed to familiar to me that past night, as if him and I were friends or at least made a small conversation somewhere. Then again, Nick and I never did speak one word to each other during all the years of high school, but I did know him even if it was just by looking at him in the halls and around school. I thought back to as far as I could remember and yet I couldn't make anything out. I guess I'd been thinking really heard because the next think I knew I was at the entrance of the bookstore and with a huge headache.

"Welcome back," I heard a familiar voice say. I looked up and let the door go as it closed behind me, noticing Nick behind the counter with a book sitting under his hands. "I thought I'd bored you to death last night."

"Not exactly, so you thought wrong," I smiled as I made my way to where he was and removing my purse from my shoulder and setting it behind the counter. "Just so you know, I'll be leaving early so my brother that you met last night will be taking the rest of my shift."

I froze, not really knowing what to say.

"Does Ava know?" I questioned as I tried my hardest to make my face look like I didn't really care if he was taking over his shift. Which I really didn't mind at all, simply because I wanted to know more about him and why it was he looked so familiar.

"Yeah, he does it all the time, it'll give you guys both time to get to know each other," he smiled as if he had just won a huge trophy at a school award ceremony.

"Sure, I guess I could use another friend," I sighed hoping to convince him, "what was his name again?"

"Joe, he's 24 and just came back from Eze, France a few weeks ago," he explained as he closed his book and crossed his arms over it.

"Eze, France?" I questioned as I had never heard about a town, city whatever it was, in France.

"It's a small town in France, he went for a little vacation after graduation from college. You'd be surprised how really pretty it really is," he explained still keeping his eyes pinned to mine. I wanted to look away to the other direction, but some how couldn't.

"That's cool, sounds like it'd be a lot of fun to leave Texas," I admitted. My entire 19 years of existing, I'd never left the state, only the city, which believe me, it wasn't enough. "So do you guys have family over there or something?"

"Yeah, well..." he paused just for a few seconds, "somewhat." He smiled as he immediately switched his gaze to the entrance door that'd just been slammed shot. He glued his gaze to a guy that was looking a bit shocked at how hard the door had slammed behind him.

"I'm sorry, didn't know the doors to this place were light," the tall guy mentioned as he looked over at both Nick and I. He showed a faint smile and made his way towards one of the last isles. I shrugged it off, but noticed how Nick continued to stare over at the guy. I didn't quite get a good look at the guy, the only thing I noticed was that he was tall and had a very lean and toned features. The black leather jacket covered up his white v-neck t-shirt and the perfectly ironed jeans that he wore suited him very well. I cannot forget his gray eyes with a splash of blue in them, they matched his dark hair very good. Alright, so maybe I did get a very good look at the guy, but who could blame me? He was beautiful.

Just then Nick mentioned that he'd be right back and snapped me out of my thoughts. I noticed how he made his way towards the last isles to where the guy had disappeared. To make matters any more weird, Joe had arrived. He was wearing a gray Adidas hoodie with worn out jeans and shoes that looked like they could be high top converse. Simple, yet some how very attractive. He made his way over to the register and leaned on the counter. Only a glass case separating the both of us.

"Good to see you, again," he spoke in a very soft voice that made it seem as if he were almost whispering it to me.

"Same here," I replied with a smile across my lips. Just as he had returned the smile, a loud 'bang' noise came from the back of the bookstore. I jumped in surprise and quickly stepped from behind the register to see if everything was okay, not to mention the fact that Nick had been back there along with the other guy.

Taking me into surprise, Joe jumped in front of me and grasped my elbow, pulling me back to him. His grip was firm, but his facial expressions told me something was wrong. "What's going on?"

"Don't ask questions, now is not the time," he spoke as he took me by the arm and stuck me into the small closet that was near Ava's office. "Stay here, and don't make a sound." I stared straight at him with a terrified look on my face, which I'm sure he could read.

What the hell had just happened? Better yet, what the hell was going out in the bookstore. Whatever it was, I was determined to find out.