The coffee shop had grown steadily more busy as the morning wore on, but Lola and Bryon sat content in the corner booth. The banana bread, as promised, had been delicious and they each were picking at the last bit of crumbs that were left.
“Wow, I’ve never seen anyone eat so fast,” Bryon said eyeing his plate. “And you ate pretty fast yourself.”
Lola smiled, unable to stop herself. “It was just as good as I remembered, and I haven’t wanted to chuck it back up or anything.” she laughed at herself.
“So, I see your peppermint tea is empty, your bread is long gone, what would you like to do next?” he asked.
Lola’s eyebrows dropped, and she looked at her hands gripping the empty mug.
“Or, I could let you carry on with your day. I’m sure you have some big plans to get to.”
She laughed a short laugh. “Right,” she said sarcastically. “Huge plans.”
Bryon turned to look at the window behind him. The sun was still bright and high in the sky, and only a few puffy white clouds had moved in.
“Well, I was thinking, it’s-” he glanced down at his watch. “10:20 now. A trolley is due to run through in the next ten minutes or so. My next shift doesn’t start until this evening. Would you be up for a ride?”
Lola thought for a moment. She could easily let her mom know her plans, and Bryon would probably give her a ride back home, but there was uncertainty that crept into the pit of her stomach.
“I’ll give you a ride home,” he smiled. “I think it only takes about an hour or so to go around town, and then before you know it, you’re back at home doing whatever it is that is making you frown so hard.”
Lola tried to relax her forehead.
“Ok,” she said hesitantly.
Bryon jumped up, and extended a hand to help her out of her chair.
“Now, the steady rocking of the trolley won’t make you nauseous, will it?” asked
“Everything makes me nauseous.” she said lightly. “Give me just a sec, I just need to let my mom know.”
She stepped out into the entryway of the coffee shop, and quickly swiped open the screen of her phone.
Hey mom, I’m hanging in there okay. Bryon asked me to ride the trolley, so I think I’m going to try it. Is that alright?
Of course that’s okay, sweetie! You have a good time, and I will see you at home. Did you bring a sweater? I can’t remember.
No, but I should be okay.
Lola tucked her phone back into her back pocket, but it immediately buzzed again.
Lola, sorry I haven’t been in much contact. Listen, your dad just mentioned Bryon stopped by your house. Please be careful with him, I‘ll be in touch later. Delete this text when you’re done.
Lola stood there, the color drained from her face. Mark hadn’t talked to her since before the accident. The one time she reached out to a friend, it was him, but he hadn’t even returned her phone call. What did he even mean…be careful…careful of what?
“Hey! You ready?” Bryon asked standing behind her. Lola jumped, then tried to recover with a smile.
“Uh, yeah.” she said unsure of the steadiness in her voice.
“Great. Oh, and did you ever get a chance to look in that envelope I gave you?"
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"You have to make the prompts work for you." ~@borrowedearth
