Saviour in a Misfit's Disguise

After going to a coffee shop to grab a French Vanilla Cappuccino, I made my way back into the diner. Going through the back entrance I dropped off my sweater in my cubby and made my way to the front of the diner. It was slowing down a bit and there was only the regular customers scattered around the booths and tables. Beth was serving a small family of four, Anna was at the front counter having a conversation with one of the regulars and Joe was in the back dancing to the radio when he thought no one was looking. He was an oddball but he made diner life vey interesting. I finished my small coffee and went to clean off some of the table that the busboy hadn’t had a chance to get to yet. On my way to the back corner I noticed Misfit was sitting at his usual table with his usual cup of coffee but this time he had an empty plate and for beside him. I smiled as I picked it up and placed it in the dish bin. He looked at me as I grabbed the plate.

“You know who I am.” He stated as he maintained eye contact with me.

“I never said I didn’t. I just said you never gave me your name.” I shrugged as I balanced the bin on my hip.

“Why did you act as if you cared what I’m going through?” he asked as he glared up at me.

I sighed and placed the bin on the table beside his before sliding into the booth across from him. “I didn’t pretend. I do care. I recognized the look of pure heartbreak and loss in your eyes because I see that every day I look in the mirror. I come to work when all I really want to do is die with the ones I lost. I hold it together even though on the inside I’m dying. I know what you’re going through and it hurts so much. So I didn’t pretend. The only thing I did was offer some advice. I don’t expect you to take it or to even be with ok with what I did. But it’s nice to know that there are people willing to be there for you. You have friends and family willing to help you. I’d kill to have that right now. I’m sorry if I came across pushy and annoying, that wasn’t my intention. I’ll ask one of the other waitresses to change sections with me so that when you come in here you don’t have to deal with me. I am sorry. For everything.” I said genuinely as I moved to slide out of the booth.

“Wait. Wait I’m sorry. I just assumed you were just some random fan trying to push your way into it all. Your heart was in the right place I just assumed you were doing it for selfish reasons. I’m sorry.” He said with a sigh as he ran both hands through his dark hair.

“It’s ok. It’s natural to just assume. There are more than enough assholes out there who would have done what you thought I was doing.” I waved away his apology with another shrug.

“I’ve been a dick to my family and friends since it happened. I’ve been pushing them away when what I really should do is bring the closer. I’m an asshole.” He said with a disgusted scoff at himself.

“No you’re not. You’re just hurt. And you’re angry. You have every right to be. A lot of people push those closest to them away when things are at their lowest. My step dad did the same thing to me, only difference is he pushed me out of the country. You’re friends and family love you and will forgive you because in their eyes you did nothing wrong. You just need some time alone.” I replied as I played with my fingers as I stared at the man across from me.

“You sound as if you are speaking from experience.”

“Not really. I’ve just been pushed out by someone who I thought cared about me. But I should have known better. He was never much of a dad anyway.” I sighed as I pushed my side bangs away from my eyes.

“Can I ask who you lost?” he asked as his green eyes stared into my purple ones.

“I lost my mom and fiancé in a car accident three months ago. A drunk driver hit our car on the driver’s side and I’m the only one that survived. My step dad blamed me for my mom’s death and my fiancés only family; his sister blamed me as well. After the funeral they told me I wasn’t welcome around anymore so I packed up my car and drove till I was out of gas money. I for some reason stopped here in Huntington at this very diner and found a chance at a new life. I haven’t come to terms with what happened and it still hurts to get out of bed every morning. I haven’t told anyone but two virtual strangers.” I said as I wiped away a few tears.

“I saw you talking to Matt. You told him?” he asked absently playing with cup in his hands and looking at me.

“Yes. He seemed confused as to why I never said anything about who he was and why I was willing to just walk away after bumping into him. I told him it’s not my place and I’m sure he’s sick of it by now. We got to talking and we shared a brief story with each other. He asked if it got easier and I told him I hope so. That eventually you will heal, it’ll hurt but you’ll heal. It’s all I could offer really.” I explained.

“We’re not alone in our grief I guess.” He said his green eyes peeking out from behind his fringe bangs.

“No. You’re not. But even with Jimmy’s passing millions all over the world are feeling that loss as well. Not the same way you and your families are obviously, but they still feel the loss. I know I do.”

“It’s unbearable to think about a life without Jimmy.” He spoke quietly, his voice breaking on his best friend’s name.

“’To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.’” I quoted quietly. He looked up at me as I said it with a small frown across his features. “I heard it somewhere and never thought much about it before, but somehow it matters now.”

“It does matter. The memories are still there, there not the same but there still there. As long as we have those we never really lost him in a sense.”

We sat in silence, each lost in memories of our loved ones till a crash from the kitchen made us jump and remember the world around us. we looked at each other with a new understanding. He nodded at me and gave me a small, barely their smile, a gesture I returned.

“I’m Zacky.” He said as I slid out of the booth and stood in front of him.

“See you tomorrow Zacky.” I said with a smile as I grabbed the dish bin and the dirty dished before heading into the kitchen.

The rest of my shift past in a blur and again I left the diner before Zacky. I made my way to the daycare and picked up Sam. It was Joe’s day off work but since it was on my way home I picked him up. Joe sent him to daycare almost every day just because the kid loved it so much. I suspected it was only because Emma went every weekday. Once we got home Sam demanded that we go to the park, so once he convinced Joe we went to my old Mustang and drove the park. The moment I parked and turned off the car sam was pushing on my seat for me to let him out. I climbed out and pulled the seat forward. The moment he was able he took off towards the swings.

“I swear I have no idea where that kid gets his energy.” Joe commented as we calmly walked to the teeter-totter and sat down on it.

“He’s five Joe. He’s going to have crazy amounts of energy.” I said as I pushed of the ground so I was in the air. Joe made it so that she was sitting flat on the ground, keeping me suspended in the air.

“Ya but he never stops. Only when he’s sleeping but other than that he’s like the fricken energizer bunny on crack.”

“Have fun with that in the years to come.” I smirked.

“Oh please, he’s going to spend more time over at Aunty Ellie’s playing drums on your kitchen pots instead of mine then.” She scoffed as she pushed of the ground.

“Maybe he will become a drumming legend one day and you will never have to work another day in your life.” I speculated.

“God I can only hope so.” She muttered.

“Aunty Ellie come swing with me!” Sam called from the swing set.

“Coming little man.” I called as I got off the teeter-totter making Joe fall on her but, good thing she was only a foot from the ground. She grumbled at me as I took off for the swings. I sat beside Sam and started to swing. “Let’s see how high we can go Sammy. Let’s try to touch the clouds.” I said as I pumped with my legs to get higher.

“I’m gonna beat you aunty!” he squealed as his little legs pumped hard.

I pumped with all my might till I was as high as the swing would let me go. The wind was blowing through my hair and felt nice on my skin. I felt like I was flying and then came the sensation of falling. I pumped hard with my legs till I was at the highest I could me and used the motion to propel me from the swing. I felt myself sailing through the air and distantly I could hear Sam and Joe screaming at me. I let myself fall and met the ground with enough force to know the air out of my lungs. I lay on my side on the ground stunned before moving onto my back and trying to suck air into my lucks. I had a few moments of panic before I felt the air rush back into my lungs and at the same time I felt a sharp stabbing pain from my right wrist.

“What the fuck were you thinking you moron Elliot!” Joe screamed from beside me as she grabbed my shoulders.

“I wasn’t Joe. I was just feeling. I think I broke my wrist. Can you take me to the hospital?” I said calmly as I reached into my jeans pocket with my left hand and hander her the keys to my car. I sat up slowly, cradling my right wrist to my chest. Sam was sitting beside his mom crying, tears running down his small cheeks. “I’m ok Sammy.” I said as I laid my left hand on top of his hair and ruffled his hair.

“But you fell. You’re hurt now.” He cried.

“It’s ok Sammy. It will heal. I was just stupid and fell from the swing. That’s why you should always be careful how high you go.”

“I’m never going on the swings again.” He cried harder.

I pulled him to my side with my left arm and kissed the top of his head. “You don’t need to be afraid of the swings Sam. Whenever you get hurt you just have to pick yourself up and try again.”

“Will you go back on the swings?” he asked through a hiccup.

“Of course I will. I love the swings. Now come on. I need a doctor to fix up my wrist.” I said as I stood up with Joes help. We walked back to the car and Joe helped us both into our seats and buckled the both of us. We drove to the hospital all the while Joe was giving my murderous looks from the corner of her eye. We got to the hospital and entered the building. Joe raised a big fuss when the nurse told us it would be a bit of a wait so we were placed in a room and told a doctor would see us shortly just so Joe would stop yelling. Within minutes an young doctor was in the room to take a look at my wrist.

“How did you hurt your wrist Miss Winslow?” the doctor asked as he gently felt my wrist. It was swollen and I bit back curses as he touched it.

“I fell off of a swing in the park.” I said through my clenched teeth.

“Yeah because she was a moron and went way to high and jumped off.” Joe hissed at me angrily.

“I thought I could fly.” I said with a shrug as I looked at the doctor with a raised eyebrow.

He chuckled and smiled as he shook his head. “You need wings to fly Miss Winslow.” He commented flashing me a grin.

“And here I thought I had some.” I said sarcastically before grunting in pain and jumping as he hit a particularly sore spot.

“Though you may look like an angel you do not have the wings sadly.I just need to take x-rays for sure but I’m positive it’s broken.” He commented as he let my wrist go. Instantly I cradled it to my chest. He put my arm in a sling and had me follow him to the x-ray room. He took an x-ray and escorted me back to the room with Joe and Sam and said he would be back momentarily.

It was quiet in the room until Joe turned to me. I fully expected her to start yelling at me but what she said instead surprised me. “Your doctor is hot! He’s totally checking you out. He fricken called you an angel for crying out loud.”

I was shocked and it took me a moment to respond. Unfortunately my response wasn’t all that bright. “Huh?”

“Oh jeez. He’s hot, he’s young, he’s a doctor, he’s flirting with you and he’s checking you out. Do you need any other reasons to flirt back?” she scoffed at me as she rolled her eyes.

“Jeez Joe. I don’t care about any of that and I didn’t even notice what he looked like.” I scoffed.

“How could you not?!” she asked incredulously.

“Um, maybe because, oh I don’t know, my fricken arm is broken!” I yelled at her just as the doctor came back in the room. He looked at us with a raised eyebrow as he shut the door.

“Problem ladies?” he asked as he came to sit in front of me.

“Not at all Doc.” I replied airily as I stared back at him. For the first time I took in his features. He had light brown hair that was short and styled in a messy fashion. He had hazel eyes and same facial scruff, and a good smile. He was fairly tall and broad shouldered and looked good in a white lab coat and scrubs. Overall he was rather handsome. Damn Joe.
“Well I was right your arm is broken Miss Winslow. It’s a neat break so it should heal just fine in a number of weeks. We can put a cast on it and you can be on your way. Unfortunately we can do nothing about the pain except give you some Tylenol.” He replied as he set to work on my wrist.

“Thanks Doc. And please stop calling me Miss Winslow. It sounds weird. It’s just Elliot.” I said as worked.

“Alright Elliot. A rather unusual name for a girl.” He commented with a smile.

“It’s better than a lot of the names out there though.” I shrugged my left shoulder.

“This is more than true. My name can be a boys or girls name so I guess I don’t have much room to talk.” He replied with a chuckle.

“What is it?” I asked curiously.

“Morgan. Morgan Reese actually.” He said as he shot me a smile.

“Ya it be used for either.” I agreed. “It’s a nice name though.”

“I like Elliot better.” He said with another smile, causing me to give him a small one in return. “alright I can wrap it in a colored gauze. What color would you like?”

“Do you have bright green?” I asked.

“Yes we do.” He said with a nod as he got the color out for me.

“Awesome.” I said as he wrapped it. He dried it quickly and had me sign a few papers and I was free to go.

“Thanks Doc. I appreciate it.” I said as I shook his hand with my left hand.

“My pleasure Elliott. It was nice to meet you.” He said with a smile. I smiled and turned to leave with Sam holing my left hand and following me, Joe caught up with us a few seconds later and we left the hospital and got in my car. Joe drove us back the apartment building and opened my door for me. I kicked off my shoes and collapsed on my couch being carful of my arm in the sling.

“You are an idiot Elliott Yale Winslow.” Joe scolded in her mom voice as she made me take some Tylenol for the pain. “What in the world were you thinking when you did that?”

“I wasn’t Joe. It was a stupid idea and I paid for the price. I’m sorry I scared you and Sam.” I apologized as I hugged Sammy to my left side.

“Can I draw on it?” Sam asked before his mom could reply.

“Go ahead little man. It needs some art.” I said I took a permanent marker of the coffee table and handed it to him. He immediately set to work on making my cast cool and soon enough Joe joined in. Once they were done doing a few designs each we had a small supper before they headed home. I lazed around my apartment for a bit before changing into pajamas with some difficulty and climbing into bed. That night I fell asleep before I could cry.