The Last Season

I walked into the Koffee-Time, the small coffee shop I’ve worked at for the past five years. I love the smell of freshly ground coffee. I put a bright smile on my face and made my way to the employee break room. I popped inside and burst out laughing at what I saw. Sophia Nelson, my manager, best-friend, sister, family, whatever you want to call her, is standing in the middle of the room in only her bra and panties dancing to a BTS song playing on her phone. I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my phone to snap a picture. I stowed my phone back in my pocket and coughed loudly to get Sophia’s attention. She turns towards me, her tan skin flushed in embarrassment when she sees me. I glance at her from head to foot as I try to hold in my laughter. Her long black hair is tangled around her face, but her brown eyes sparkle in amusement. “Hey Allie, enjoy the show?” Sophia giggles at me as she tries to straighten out her hair. I shrugged my shoulders and headed towards my locker. I placed my bag on the metal hook and turned back towards her. I cross my arms and lean against the cool metal. “Remind me again why I’m your friend?” I joked out and Sophia gave me the middle finger. I’m glad I’m able to joke with her like this. She has taken care of me for the past five years. “Because you love me!” She replies and wraps her arm around my waist. I shake her off and roll my eyes. “I guess that is true.” I turned back to my locker and pulled my work shirt out of the locker. The brown t-shirt isn’t the most attractive thing to wear, but at least it is comfortable. My long blonde hair hangs down past my shoulders. I reach into my jean pocket to pull out my scrunchie and curse when I realize it’s not there. I slammed the locker door shut and ran back into the coffee shop, my eyes scanning the floor. It can’t be gone. Please don’t be gone. My mind screams and I feel tears start to fill my eyes. The front door opens and I smile when the wind blows my scrunchie out from under the trashcans. My brain hyper focused on the pale pink of my precious item, I made my way across the coffee shop. I reach my hand out to grab it when I run into something solid that sends me flying onto the floor. I groaned in pain and looked up to see a pair of stormy gray eyes staring down at me from above. My heart speeds up and I find myself unable to move from my spot. I feel the color stain my cheeks as my mind refuses to form words. The stranger finally breaks eye contact and looks down at his feet. I followed his gaze and saw the pale pink of my scrunchie under his shoe. Before I can react, he picks up his foot and kicks the object towards me. I clutch it to my chest, grateful to have it back in my possession. “Watch where you are going.” He grumbles out in a voice filled with richness. A voice that seems to linger around you even after the sound has faded away. I stand up and watch as the man walks out the door and disappears into the crowd of strangers on the street. My heart feels like it is running a marathon in my chest. “Allie?” Sophia’s voice rings behind me and I turn towards her. She looks confused, so I shoot her a smile and secure my hair back with the scrunchie. I shook off the strange encounter and made my way over to start my shift. One of the perks of working in a coffee shop as a writer is the variety of people you interact with in a single day. As a writer, this constant influx of personalities helps me when I am coming up with new characters. I can pick the best and worst of people and meld them together into something unique. I smile as a young boy walks up to the counter and pulls out a small bundle of crumpled dollar bills. He gives me his complicated hot chocolate order and I reach down to take his money when my body freezes. Adam? I thought to myself as I spotted the man outside the shop window. I walked towards the window and my heart dropped with each step. Outside, I watched as my boyfriend of two years, Adam, leaned in to kiss my best friend Ashley. I reached to open the door when someone pulled me back. I looked over my shoulder and broke down when I saw Sophia, her eyes ablaze as she watched Adam. She pulled me into her arms and took me to the breakroom. "Are you kidding me?" She yelled and her voice made me jump in her embrace. "How could that asshole cheat on you? After everything you have done for him?" I wrapped my arms around myself and sunk to the floor, my brain numb. Adam cheated on me. Adam cheated on me. My brain repeats over and over in an endless cycle. Nothing makes sense to me. What did I do wrong for him to leave me like this? As the thoughts continue to swirl faster and further in my head, they start to stab me like thousands of tiny knives. The onset of pain made me grab my head. My stomach started to roll and I fell to my knees as acidic liquid shot from my mouth. The noise of the world dropped away, my entire life being focused solely on my head. I spot Sophia through my blurry vision and try to reach for her. "Sophia..." I let out, in a broken voice. She runs towards me and I feel her lift me into her lap. Tears streamed down my face and I had to force myself to keep my eyes open. Sophia strokes my hair, which helps to relax me a bit. After what felt like hours, four men ran up to us and I was pulled gently from Sophia's arms. They all try to talk to me at once but I can't make out their voices through the roar in my head. *** My eyes feel like they weigh thousands of pounds as I forced them open. I looked over to my side and saw Sophia asleep in a chair nearby. My panic eased at the sight. Ever since the accident, I don't like hospitals. Only Sophia would know that. I smiled to myself and reached my hand out to wake her up. At my touch, she jumped from her chair and her eyes locked on mine. She stared at me for a long moment before she broke into a broad smile. "You aren't dead!" She exclaims. I laughed at that. Only she would make a comment like that after such a serious incident. "What happened?" I asked her. I still don't know why I passed out like that. To be honest, I haven't been feeling well for a few weeks. I didn't tell Sophia anything because I knew she would be worried. Now, I'm a little upset at myself for keeping my mouth shut. Maybe if I had told her she wouldn't have the worried look she has on her face. I reached out to her again. Sophia took a deep breath and looked down at our hands. "You're sick, Allie." She tells me and I rolled my eyes. "Of course I'm sick i***t. If I wasn't, I wouldn't be in the ER." Sophia squeezed my hand and then looked up until we met eyes again. "No, Allie. I mean you are really sick. The doctors say you have a brain tumor. You are going to die." All the blood in my body ran out of me at her words. "That's not funny, Sohpia. Be serious, what's wrong?" Sophia's eyes softened and I could see the tears swimming in them. She isn't joking? I pulled myself upright so I could wrap my arms around my knees. Sophia sat next to me and wrapped her arms around me. "Sophia, if what you said is true. Take me home." Sophia hugged me and nodded her head. I knew right then that this wasn't a prank. If this had been a joke she would have insisted I stayed. She would have pushed me to face my fear of the hospital. The fact she didn't fight me at my request to leave made everything real. Outside the hospital, I looked over and sighed when I saw how stiff Sophia looked. I threw my arms around her and squeezed tight. She looked at me with a funny look on her face. "Hey, maybe I should use this as a plot point in the book." I said and Sophia broke down, her laughter rang out around us. "Only you could find something positive in this situation." She shrugged me off and we walked to her car. Once inside, she started to drive. It only took a few minutes before I noticed we were going in the wrong direction. "Sophia, where are you taking me? This isn't the way to my place." Sophia, remained quiet, her attention focused on the road ahead. "Sophia, you are scaring me. Where are we going.?" She sighed and pressed her foot onto the gas. "I'm taking you to someone who can help." "Who?" "My brother." "Brother? You never told me you had a brother." She groaned and gripped the wheel tighter. "I have a reason for that. My brother is kind of famous?" Sophia said and I could tell she was a little uncomfortable. "Famous?" She stopped the car at a light and turned towards me her eyes filled with worry. "My brother is Asher Night." The blood drained from my face at those words. What have I gotten myself into?