[chapter 2]
I lay faceplanted on the counter as Amanda busies herself around me. There weren't many customers around but there was enough to keep my friend on her toes. Normally, I would sit in my usual corner and look out at the customers and people passing by the windows; people watching they call it.
There were customers with all kinds of personalities. The stereotypical old man who basically lived at the diner. That one single-parent mom who brought her kids here for a meal almost every day. Where there are people there will always be gossip, and no story was ever repeated. There was never a dull moment at Amanda's 'little Miranda'.
But not today. I'm tired.
"The usual for you?" She asks while sweeping past me, the edges of her skirt brushing against my arm, light, and swift. Amanda runs her hand through my hair and she breezes past, I can almost feel it sticking up haphazardly, I don't mind much, I just waved my hands in a futile attempt to swat her hands away.
I don't look up, I just raise my hands and offer a thumbs up that I pray she sees. Not that it mattered much, she knew that I would never say no to one of her smoothies. I had one of them for lunch every day for these past couple of weeks. The food here was good, and inexpensive too. I think that's why despite how new it is, Amanda could already brag about loyal costumers.
A few minutes pass before I hear the delightful click sound of the container meeting the wooden table. It was by far my favorite sound to hear after a stressful morning at work. I almost feel the lost energy coming back to me. Almost.
I look up in time to see Amanda sliding into the seat opposite mine. She smooths out her half apron as she takes a seat. It wasn't a necessity for her to wear one as a waitress, but she did so as a statement to her customers, a big 'We value cleanliness' poster, but without as many words. I'm pretty sure they don't care too much but whatever makes her happy.
I say my thanks and waste no time in reaching for my drink. A large dark pink smoothie of strawberries, syrup, and love. At least that's what she tells me is in it. She doesn't give out the recipe, and so she keeps me chained to this place. I can't remember my days without this every day and I hope I never have to.
I Immediately take big gulps. Maybe one day I'll have drunk so much I can guess the recipe just by taste, but that day is not any day soon.
"What's got our lovely Kayn so stressed. I can almost see dark circles forming." She asked with a snicker. Amanda had a head of short and insanely curly black hair, it bounced as she spoke. She held back the whole lot of it with a grey headband. It was her trademark at this point.
"The usual."
"Seeing you like this makes me happy I stuck with my course back then. Haha, who could imagine? Breaking News! The Ice Queen, Kayn Caine, was defeated by the feat of putting mere words on paper. How shocking! That would have caused quite a stir at Uni back then."
"Driven to near death, but not yet defeated." I corrected. I take a long sip before continuing, "It's not the words that are driving me crazy, it's the researching. The interviewing. Just data collection in general. A huge pain."
Amanda was about to respond when the loud blaring of police sirens completely mutes her. She watches the police cars pass, worries shining bright in her hazel eyes. I watch as it passes too, headlights flashing as they zoomed past, turning corners at breakneck speed. A total of four police cars.
"Here we go again, ay." Amanda sighs with a tinge of regret in her voice. "I hope this time it doesn't get too bad. This is the fourth time this month and the third week just started."
The city had three unofficial separations. The rich area, with mansions and fancy stores, poor and middle-class people could only dream of shopping in places like these. It was catered to the rich by the rich. The closest we, the normal working class, ever come to these stores is working in them. The middle-class area, it housed lots of high-rise apartment buildings and is where you can find the general commercial district (which is where I work). The last area is the slums.
Little Miranda stood at the edge where the slums met the middle-class area. Because of its location, it was too out of the way for most of the people who live in the middle-class area and it was also too near the edge of the slums to be pulled into the chaos of the slums. As good a location as one can get this close to the slums, at least for the price range that it comes in.
Even though Little Miranda's location prevents it from getting sucked into slum chaos, it still doesn't escape it unscathed.
Every time the slum becomes a hotspot business plummets drastically. Customers are unwilling to travel this far as they risk getting involved in whatever is happening there. In a place like this police sirens are like a death sentence to Amanda's business for the day. When the sirens start to blaze all she can do is close up, there was simply nothing else she could do. The chances of seeing customers after that was so slim it was basically nil.
Customers quickly finish their meals, some even getting up without finishing. In no time the diner is completely empty. It was almost depressing to look at.
Amanda laughs it off. It was always something I looked up to in her. Her optimism. "Looks like I just got a day off."