Status: A Work In Progress, slow updates

Saviour in a Misfit's Disguise

Chapter Four

The next day I was able to sleep in since I didn’t have to be at work till 1. It was 10am when I got up and I laid in bed thinking of my mom and Ethan before getting up and wrapping my cast in a bag so it didn’t get wet. I showered with one hand which was a little awkward and difficult. When I got out I dried off and found some clothes. I put on a pair of worn and ripped dark jeans, purple chucks and an off the shoulder Pantera shirt. The reason it hung off one shoulder was because the collar had been cut out of it years ago so I wore a grey tank top underneath it. I ate a small breakfast of grapes and orange juice before brushing my teeth and putting on my sweater and grabbing my bag. I locked up my apartment and made my way for the diner. It was 12:30 but since I couldn’t exactly work today this would give me time to call someone to take my shift once I got to the diner and explained things to Anna and John.

I walked into the diner from the back entrance and found John and Anna at the front counter. Anna immediately saw me first and immediately her eyes went to my cast.

“Elliot what happened?” she asked in concern as I came to stand by the two of them.

“I broke my wrist last night at the park. Sam and I were on the swings and I was an idiot and jumped off. So this is what I get.” I said as I raised my right wrist.

“Oh dear you can’t work like that. Take a few days off till you get used to things left handed and you can come back, light duties of course.” John said as Anna squeezed me in a hug.

“Ya I came to tell you that’s what the doctor said and to find someone who could take my shift.” I said pulling out of Anna’s death grip.

“Oh no I will do that for you dear. You just go and relax. Well actually server your friend his coffee then you can relax.” Anna said as she nodded to the door where Zacky had just walked in. He was wearing dark blue jeans with the cuffs rolled over a pair of black chucks and a black sweater. He headed right for the table at the back and sat down. I smiled at Anna and John before grabbing a cup and pouring coffee in it for Zacky and made my way to the table holding the cup carefully in my left hand.

“Here you go.” I said as I placed the cup in front of him.

“You don’t work today?” he asked as he eyed his bands sweater I was wearing and my bag.

“Nope. I was supposed to but doctor said to wait a few days.” I said as I held up my casted right wrist as an explanation.

“How did you do that?” he asked shocked as he motioned for me to sit across from him. I slid into the booth and placed my arms on the table.

“I was being an idiot last night at the park with my neighbor and her son. We were on the swings and I was an idiot who thought I could fly so I jumped. I landed on my wrist and knocked the wind out of me and broke my wrist.”

“Wow. And you’re right handed. Must suck.” He said as he shook his head before sipping his coffee.

“Ya it does. My own fault though. Think you could teach me to be a lefty?” I joked as I played with the cast.

“Maybe. It’s a secret society with many secrets. I don’t know if your worthy enough for them.” He chuckled as he motioned for me to place the cast in his hands.

“Oh nice Zacky. Way to be inclusive.” I scoffed playfully as I placed my wrist in his hands.

“Hey I do need to have my secrets you know.” He replied as he took out a marker and signed his initials to my cast before drawing a small deathbat beside them.

“It is officially the coolest cast ever now.” I replied as I smiled at him.

“It looks like you already got some decent artwork on here.” He replied as he moved my wrist around to look and Joe and Sam’s pictures.

“Ya my friend Joe and her son Sam went to town. It’s who I was in the park with when it happened. Sam thought the cast needed to be cooler than just green.” I said with a smile at Sam’s batman logo that he drew.

“I tend to agree with Sam.” He commented as he picked up the marker and started to doodle designs on the cast. “What are you going to do today since you don’t have to work?”

“I honestly have no idea. I’ve been in Huntington for three months and I haven’t been anywhere beside the park, the grocery store, here, the daycare and now the hospital.” I shrugged.

“Are you serious?!” Zack asked incredulously as he looked up at me in shock, his half-finished guitar momentarily forgotten.

“I-uh… I hav-um. Yeah.” I stuttered as I blushed with embarrassment.

“That’s just unacceptable. I gotta change this.” He said as he finished the guitar and stood up “Grab your stuff we’re going on an adventure.”

I slid out of the booth and slung my back pack over my shoulder. We made our way to the front of the diner and Zack dropped some change on the counter to pay for his half drank cup of coffee before making our way out the door. We walked across the street to Zack’s car. He opened the door for me and motioned for me to get in. “Get in. You need to see what Huntington has to offer.”

“I’m not gonna say no to that.” I said with a shrug as I climbed into the passenger side of the car. Zack walked around the car and got in the driver’s seat. He started the car and moved away from the curb.

“Please tell me you have at least seen the ocean.” He said as he glanced at me before looking back at the road.

“In movies.” I said with a sheepish shrug.

“Jesus. At least we know our first stop then.” Zack said as he shook his head.

‘Hey I’m a small town Canadian girl. I lived in the middle of nowhere with prairie all around me. The ocean will be a big thing for me. Christ I’m not even used to wearing just a sweater in January. At home I’d be wearing a coat, a touque, mitts, scarf and boots, possibly some long johns.” I explained in my defense.

“Well you’re in California now. We have to make you native.” He said as he shot me a smile.

“Ha well I don’t know about that. I think I’m to pale.” I joked causing Zack to laugh.

We drove to the beach and got out of the car. We walked down the sand till we were standing just before the water. It was windy and the air smelt like salt. The water was hitting the shore and I loved the sound of it. I bent down and pulled off my shoes and socks and rolled up my pant legs a bit.

“What are you doing?” Zack asked as he watched me.

“Putting my toes in the ocean.” I said as I walked forward a few steps into the water before squealing. “Jesus it’s cold.”

“Come on Canada. We have lots to do today.” Zack called after a few minutes of me playing in the water. I walked back to my shoes and sat down, wiping off the sand before sticking my socks and shoes back on.

“Canada? Really?” I asked as I stood up and looked at him.

“For now it’ll work as a nick name. Let’s go.” He urged as he walked back to the car with me following.

For the rest of the afternoon he took me around Huntington and showed me everything he thought was important. He showed me the school and shared some stories about him and the guys. We walked down the boardwalk and went sight-seeing. We had a small supper of burgers and shakes and somehow we ended up at the park. It was now 8:30 in the evening and we were sitting on the swings.

“You’re not gonna jump off are you?” he asked as he raised an eyebrow at me.

“No. I don’t wanna break another bone. It wasn’t pleasant the first time.” I said with a laugh as I swayed back and forth in my swing. “So 20 questions?” I asked as I looked over at him.

“Sure you start.” He replied with a nod.

“Hmm, favorite genre of movies?”

“Horror. Hands down.” He said, “What about you?”

“Horror, Comedy and action. But mostly Horror. Favorite color? And just so you don’t recycle the question mines green and purple.” I said with a smile.

He smiled and playfully rolled his eyes before looking up at the sky. “Any tattoos?”

“I have a few yeah. I have Ethan’s and my mother’s hand prints on my left shoulder my way of saying their guiding me and always with me. I have birds and a few fallen feathers in the middle of my back and the words ‘ to live in hearts we leave behind is not to die’. I have Ethan’s initials and D.O.B and D.O.D behind my right ear and stars on my right foot.”

“Do you want anymore?” he asked as he swung back and forth a little.

“Yeah. I want song lyrics to go with their hand prints but I haven’t found any that mean what I’m feeling yet.”

“It would be hard to find lyrics that are perfect for something like that.” He agreed.

“What about you? Any tattoos?” I said in a serious tone of voice before laughing at Zack’s surprised and confused facial expression. After a few seconds he laughed with me. For some reason I was laughing so hard and I fell backwards off the swing which caused Zack to laugh just as hard and clutch the swing hard just so he wouldn’t fall off. It felt good to laugh. We laughed so hard we had tears in our eyes and we could barely breathe. Once we calmed down enough to breath we sighed and glanced at each other. I was lying on my back under my swing and I had a small smile on my face.

“I haven’t laughed like that in so long. It felt good.” I commented.

“It did. Laughter is the best medicine after all.” He replied with a smile, his green eyes sparkling just a little.

“Your eyes are sparkling again.” I commented with a big smile.

“So are yours.” He said with an equally big smile.

“Zack?” A male voice asked. Both Zack and I jumped at the voice and I sat up hitting my head with the swing. Zack laughed at my expense and got off his swing to help me up off the ground. Once I was standing we turned to the voice to see Matt and his wife Val standing in front of us. “Elliot?”

“Hi Matt.” I said with a smile and a wave of my right hand.

“What did you do to your wrist?” Matt asked confused.

“Oh. I jumped off the swings last night. Well this very swing actually.” I said pointing to the swing behind me.

“Matt?” Val asked in a question as she looked from Matt to me then to Zack.

“Oh. This is Elliot. The girl I bumped into yesterday. The one I told you about.” He explained to her taking her small hand in his larger one before turning to me. “You know Zack?”

“Officially as of today yes. He comes every day to the diner I work at. I’ve been serving him for three weeks but today he introduced himself.” I said as explanation.

“So that’s where you disappear to.” Matt commented as he looked at Zack.

“Yeah. I just needed to get out of the house and the diner seemed like a good idea at the time. It just became habit these last few weeks.” Zacky said with a shrug as he stuffed his hands in his sweater pockets.

“I’m Matt’s wife Valary.” Val introduced herself to me as she stuck out her hand for me to shake.

“Hi. I’m Elliot, or Ellie.” I said with a smile as I shook her hand. She smiled at me before standing back beside Matt.

“What are the two of you up to?” Matt asked curiously.

“Zack was just showing me around Huntington. He seemed rather upset that I’ve been here three months and haven been anywhere beside home, work and now the hospital.” I said with a sheepish shrug.

“Well that is upsetting. Huntington is a great place.” Matt said with a smile at me.

“It is. I love it here.” I agreed with a smile. “Oh crap. Damn it. I have to get back home. Nice meeting you Valary, it nice seeing you again Matt and Zacky. Thanks for today. It was really great. Bye everyone.” I called as I grabbed my bag and ran out of the park.

I ran like my life depended on it until I got to the apartment. I hightailed it up four flights of stairs and raced to my apartment door. I quickly unlocked it and closed the door behind be. I kicked off my shoes dropped my bag and ran to the couch. I just managed the throw myself on it and turn on the TV when Joe walked into my apartment with Sam right behind her.

“Thanks for watching him Ellie it means a lot to me. I know it’s kinda late for a date but I’m glad you can watch him.” She said as she walked into the living room. She was done up all pretty in a Little green dress with heels. Her hair was curled and her makeup was done. She looked very pretty.

“It’s not a problem at all Joe. You know I love watching Sam. I hope you have a good time with this guy.” I said trying to hide the fact that I was out of breath.

Joe didn’t seem to notice and she went over the rules both Sam and I were already familiar with. He was supposed to go to bed at 9:30 and no scaring movies before bed, no junk food all that jazz. “Joe I know the rules. I’ve watched him enough to memorize them. Go have a good time. Sam will be fine with me.” I said as I stood up.

“Alright alright. Bye my boy. Love you. Goodnight. I will see you in the morning.” She said as she kissed him and hugged him before walking to the door.

“Have a good time.” I said as I shut the door behind her. It was quiet till I walked back in the living room to see Sam sitting on the couch looking at me in his batman onsies with the feet. “So wanna watch a movie?”

“Yes!” he cried standing up and running to my DVD collection to choose one. I went into the kitchen and made some popcorn while he picked a movie and got it ready. He pulled the blanket off the back off the couch and grabbed a few pillows from my room and made us a bed on the floor. I came back in with the popcorn and we settled down to watch Horton Hears a Who.
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It's short but it's an update. I'm working on chapter five now.