As days passed and bruises faded, the jokes and easy banter returned. The tension around Cole and Riley thinned until you almost couldn’t tell anything had happened. I stayed in the dark, unwilling to pry, but I made sure both brothers knew I was there.
I stopped sitting in my car on days that I got there early. If I saw any of my friends hanging out in the bushes by the half-wall, I’d join them. Even if it was just Cole. I was trying to make it a point to show him that I was interested in being his friend too and not just talking to him because of Riley.
~*~
One particular dinner shift had started out busy, but quickly trickled to a slow. In an hour and a half, I went from having five tables sat to having one. I grabbed them a fresh basket of breadsticks and heard the door buzz as I
