Feathers of a dream

Chapter 4

The sound of something slamming jarred Lythia awake. The professor accidently dropped a book he was carrying. Looking around, she noticed everyone was gathering their stuff and heading toward the door.

            Quickly she threw her books in her bag and followed suit. Bell was leaning against the wall waiting for her. It was the normal routine for them. If one finished class early they would always come find the other. Bell was not only her best friend but she was a sister. From the day they met it was instant friendship. Lythia put all her trust into her and she did the same. Through good times and bad times they stayed strong and true to each other.

            Striding across the courtyard they slowly made their way to the café that was on campus. It was called Empress coffee shop which was located right next to the art center. They served a wide variety of drinks from coffee to bubble tea. What Lythia loved about this place was not only did they have coffee but they were also a small deli. It was her favorite place to just hang in between classes. Strolling in a group of familiar faces greeted them.

            “Over here!” Called Jackie to the two girls.

            Lythia smiled seeing Davin, Jacob and Jackie sitting on a couch. Bell waved and quickly walked over to joined them. Lythia stayed put and waited in line. Once she was next she ordered two lattes before and headed over to their little group.

            “Don’t you have class?” Jacob looked confused.

            Bell smiled at him. “Yeah, but we got out early. Something or other about working on our projects.”

            “Or you skipped class?” Davin smirked.

            “Look, don’t make me beat you up right now!” Bell’s voice grew irritated.

            “You can try but we all know who will win.” Davin leaned back into the couch with a cocky smile putting his arms behind his head.

            “I’m so going to wipe that smirk off your face one of these days!” Bell hissed.

            “Children! You two are giving me a headache already. Will you stop?” Jacob glared at them.

            “It’s not my fault! She is just so easy to rile up.” Davin winked at Bell.

            “I’ll show you riled!” Bell balled her fist and stomped toward him.

            Jacob was so quick he took everyone by surprise. Grabbing her arm, he turned her around and pulled her down next to him. Still holding her arm he took a sip of his tea. Bell sat there for a minute in shock staring at Jacob. Hearing Davin laugh she shot him a glare.

            “A married couple!” Someone piped up as Lythia took a seat in the oversized chair next to the couch. Everyone looked over at their friend Eric as he sat down next to Lythia. “They so act like a married couple and you all know I’m completely right!”

            Bell tried to ignore him and turned toward Jacob. “But he started it.” She whined as he finally released her arm.     “And you always try to finish it.” Jacob tried to keep from chuckling as he patted her head.

            “Bell-err-ina how was your short class?” Davin winked again at her trying to rile her up.

            “Davy dear, I bet my grades still top yours even if I miss a class or two.” Bell smirked triumphantly.

            “Oh I hear a challenge! By the way you just stated you skipped your class.” Davin returned her smile.

            Lythia started laughing, looking over to Eric. “I never got and invite to the wedding… I’m kind of hurt.”

 Eric smirked. “That makes two of us.”

“Since they are married does that make Jacob the father? He’s always breaking them up.” Lythia joked.

            Jacob choked on his tea. “Hell no. That’s way too much of a headache to have children as bad as them.”

            Eric stared at Jacob for a moment and winked back at Lythia. “I think your right. Daddy Jacob to the rescue! Does this mean Jackie is their mother in law?”

            Jackie glared at Eric. “Yeah I’m going to poison them with apples if they don’t stop giving me a headache with their bickering.” She snickered taking a sip of her drink.

            “Me and Bellssyy here married? I think one of us would be six feet under before the first hour was up!” Davin interjected. A smirk tugged the corner of his mouth. “I’ve got a good idea who would be first.”

            Jackie cut Bell off before she could retort “Alright, before I really poison “my children in law” with apples because they can’t behave for five seconds, we need to discuss Friday.” A devious smile spread across her face.

            Bell matched her devious smile and piped up “A few of my friends from class are coming. Lythia is defiantly going too.”

            “Going to what?” Lythia questioned.

            “The block party of course!” Jackie sang looking beyond excited. “It’s on frat row. We are going between each house!”

      Jacob wrapped his arm around her pulling her in for a kiss on the cheek. “Let me guess, I’m going to have to stay sober and look after everyone?”

            Davin rolled his eyes at their display of affection. “I’m out. Got a hot date and all.”

            “I’m shocked. Davin has play?” Bell couldn’t help but tease.

            “I have all kinds of play if you want to see Bell-err-ina.” Davin blew her a kiss.

            Bell scoffed then stuck her tongue out at him. “Jinn will kick your ass if you come within five feet of me.”

            “Jinn's back?” Davin’s smirk faded.

            Bell's eyes sparkled just thinking of him. “Not yet, he will be here in a few weeks.”

            “Where did he have to go again?” Eric asked as he was replying to text messages on his phone.

            “Japan. He’s been there for the last two months.” Her smile fell, as a sad expression seeped across her face.

            Davin took a long sip of his soda. Then mumbled into his cup. “Two months isn’t long enough.”

            Jinn and Bell had been dating for the last year. He seemed perfect for her. Always keeping her busy and out of trouble. Bell was four years younger than him but that didn’t seem to make a difference to either of them. For the last year though he took over a large portion of his father’s company and has been going across seas to handle certain aspects of it. Lythia knew it hurt her best friend to have to be separated for so long from him.

            Eric cracked his neck and sighed. “Count me in. After the month I’ve had, definitely time from some fun.”

            “I think I have no choice in the matter. Bell said I was definitely coming.” Lythia chirped in.

            “So are we lying to mom and dad for you?” Jacob raised a eyebrow at her.

            “They definitely blew a gasket the last time we were all caught in a lie.” Bell shrugged. “Just give them a partial truth. Like our group is going to hang out this weekend, and she’s spending the night at our apartment.” Her phone pinged notifying her of a message.

            “Don’t remind me.” Lythia shuddered. “They almost killed us all when we stumbled in drunk. That lecture still gives me nightmares.”

Even though she had turned eighteen this year there were still rules to follow. They wanted to know where she was going, when she would be out late or not coming home at all. If she wasn’t coming home they needed to know who she was with. Her two brothers didn’t have to go through the same thing. They just told their parents they wouldn’t be home and that was the end of it. However since she was the youngest, they felt the need to keep track of her.

“True, we definitely almost died that night.” Jacob sighed. “Don’t worry I’ll handle them.”

“Thanks bro.” Smiling at her big brother, Lythia took another sip of her coffee.

            The group went into a conversation about the projects they all had coming up. Each of them had different majors, but some of the core classes they shared were the same. Lythia was the youngest out of the group. A senior in high school, but taking college freshman courses. She would spend two days a week at the high school and three at the campus branch. It was a lot of extra work, but she pushed herself hoping it would all pay off in the end.

Jacob, Davin, and Jackie were sophomores on campus. Jacob just started dating Jackie a few months back, but she fit real well into their crazy little group that you would think she was there from the beginning. Bell was a freshman just like Lythia. Eric was the oldest, being a junior. He joined their crazy group a few years back.  Most subjects everyone had already taken, so they had no issue in helping Lythia and Bell keep caught up.

          As the group rambled on Lythias thoughts slowly shifted back to the dream. The young boys, the scenery,  questions kept running through her mind. Why did she only ever dream of that place? It was magical, peaceful, and eerie. Who were they? Even if they were familiar to her, there were no memories of them. Everything about it was beyond confusing, but yet apart of her yearned to be there again. It was vast and mysterious, and she wanted to know more. Different thoughts and ideas swirled around her mind, no matter what thought it was, it always ended in more questions.

            The rest of the day seemed to pass through like a blur. After her last class of the day Lythia headed toward the family’s restaurant. The building was long and lite up with beautiful lights. Around the outside, the walls were painted a dark shade of gray. Big windows surrounded the building with white frilly curtains covering them. She walked through the front door carrying the case of jars from her grandmothers house.

Stepping up two steps there was a hostess stand. Beyond that spilled into the dining room. Café tables filled in the space. Near the windows were tables meant for two people, and the ones toward the center were larger tables meant for bigger families. On the far wall sat a bar with high top stools.

She noticed the tables were starting to fill up. Quickly she headed into the back throwing her jacket and purse underneath the serving counter on her way. The kitchen was bursting with life. Lythia set the box of jars down on a empty table and grabbed the new order tickets that were printing from a machine and set them next to the others.

            Sitting down in the chair perched at the back prep table she started peeling potatoes. Her father was dictating to the others about what orders need to come up next. She smiled to herself and continued peeling the last of the potatoes that were sitting there.

            When she had first started working for them she tried to waitress. It wasn’t horrible but it was very demanding and she would get frustrated when she punched an order in wrong. Eventually she got the hang of it but she never really liked it. Her father suggested she should help out in the kitchen instead. He gave her the task one night of prep cooking and she really liked it so from then on that’s what she did.

            “Hey sweetie how was school?” Her father kissed the top of her head as he passed by with a hot pan.

            “Fine, what needs done next?” She asked tossing the last peeled potato in a giant pot.

            Picking up a bucket of onions he placed it in front of her. “Can you peel and chop these? I feel a French onion soup is on the menu for tomorrow.”

            Tears sprang to her eyes as she peeled the top layers away. Carefully she started cutting the onions into strips. With a quick flip of her wrist she shoved them into another pot. What felt like a hundred onions later, Lythia stood and headed toward the sink. Washing her hands, she grabbed a pot of washed carrots off the counter and returned to her seat. For the rest of the evening Lythia continued peeling and cutting different vegetables and meat for tomorrow.

            As her shift ended Lythia took some hot broccoli and cheese soup out of the pot and put it into a bowl. Then grabbed a few rolls out of the bread warmer and headed out to the dining room. Choosing a table close to the kitchen she sat and started eating.

Some of the other kitchen staff followed in suit. Eventually before she knew it all the staff was sitting down in the tables close to her. It always marked the end of a busy night. This was the reward to the employees for working so hard, her father always made a employee meal at the end before they started cleaning and closing everything for the day.

Davin and Jacob took a seat next to her and started eating their meals. Davin and Jacob floated between serving and cooking. Both of them definitively knew how to charm their away around the customers. It was something Lythia hadn’t mastered yet. Since neither of them were in the kitchen she assumed they were serving tonight.  

Next their mother and father came out and sat at a table with the other severs. They were on a discussion about changing some items on the menu. Her mother was good at organizing and planning while her father took everyone’s opinion seriously. Those two made a great team running this restaurant for the past ten years.

            “Hey your father made a roast if you want more to eat. “Lythia’s mother eyed her daughter’s small bowl of soup.

            Lythia smiled while she push the soup around the bowl. “I’ll get some later. Thanks.”

            Lythia finished her food without engaging with the idle chit chat everyone else was having. Glancing at the clock on the wall it was a half hour before closing. Grabbing the empty dishes she tossed them into the sink. Then started cleaning the kitchen with the other cooks.

            Once it was all done and the building was locked up everyone said good-night and headed toward their cars. Blaring the music she made the drive home. This was her ordinary life. School, work, and friends in that order. Not boring but never super eventful either. However it always felt like something was missing. Like she wasn’t whole.

Pulling into the wide driveway she parked off to the side knowing everyone one would probably be gone before her in the morning.