~9.

[RABBIT]

Monday came faster than expected.

“Weekends are for meeting deadlines…Monday is for making sure I’m not dead” he groaned and made his way to the bathroom.

Although his classes didn’t start until afternoon, he had to prepare for this morning shift by 8AM at a diner uptown.

He rinsed his face, grabbed a toothbrush, squeezed toothpaste onto it and got to work.

His alarm went off as he rinsed off his mouth, peeking at his phone on the desk from the bathroom;

7:15AM.

“Oh” he groaned again, facing the mirror.

A tired face with heavy dark circles stared back.

“It will soon be over,” he muttered and hopped in the shower.

His alarm went off again.

7:30AM

He quickly patted himself dry and pulled on some fresh clothes, a black tee, jorts(one of his jeans he modified) and sneakers.

By 7:45; he was racing out of his dorm chasing the morning uptown bus.

By 8, the doorbell rung announcing his presence.

“Oh hey Angel!”

Mrs Owens, the owner of the dinner, called out in her thick Scottish accent,

“Hello Mrs Owen”

“I told ye to call me Margret!”

Rabbit smiled and shrugged, he didn’t like too much familiarity.Mrs Owens was nice and sweet to him but he didn’t want it go beyond that.

“Y’know, I wonder how ye manage yer life, look at those huge panda circles under yer eyes! Yer eyesight would get even worse!”She nagged as she tied his apron for him, all he could do was get barraged with more talks, even though he couldn’t understand most of her words because of her accent.

After nearly nagging his ears off, Margret left him to man the counter.

Halfway through his shift, a face he dreaded stepped into the diner.

“Hey honey bunny”

Rabbit rolled his eyes,”for the last time, my name is Rabbit”

“Whatever you say bunny bun”

“Chris, leave Angel alone!”

Margret poked her head out, warning her son.

Chris, Margret’s son and Rabbit’s ex-boyfriend.

“Ma, I’m heading to work soon, I’ll like the number 5 to go”

“Okay!”

Margret disappeared behind the bead curtains, leaving them to themselves and a bunch of hungry customers eating to their fill.

Chris’ eyes never left Rabbit’s face and that sent chills down his spine.

The two of them had dated—when he had just moved here. He was tired and needed someone to lean on other than his deadbeat father, and that person was Chris.

The first few months were like a breath of fresh air in Rabbit’s life, they had great chemistry, great sex, everything was good as good can be. Until Chris started acting weird. Conversations were not like they used to be, he started cutting back on their frequent meetings, sex became violent, and sometimes he’d hit Rabbit when they had an argument. And like that, their relationship turned sour.

“Hey”

“I’m at work, please, kindly fuck off”

A year after they broke up, Rabbit ended up here, looking for a part-time job. After 2 months of working there, he met Chris again, only to discover that his mother owned the diner. It took time for him to adjust—he needed the money.

“You’re going to keep being like this?” Chris reached forward to grab Rabbit, but the man quickly stepped back. His eyes filled with anger and warning,

“Christopher, I’m at work, you are disturbing me” Rabbit said coldly, “please stop.”

The other man said nothing, his pale blue eyes scanning him before he leaned forward, “I already apologized, why so cold?”

Rage fueled Rabbit, he so badly wanted to lift the cashier machine and slam it on this asshole’s head.

“I also told you to fuck off and leave me alone, why won’t you do just that?”

“Don’t be like th-“

“I’d like you to have, uh, number three please”

A customer cut off Chris, temporarily saving Rabbit from him,

“Alright, please have your seat, your food will be delivered in a minute” he quickly wrote down the customer’s order and passed it to the back, where it would be prepared.

He was about to face Chris again when more customers came in.

“Fuck off”

He said to him before going to attend to the seated customers.

By the time he had finished, Chris had left and his shift was nearly over.

“Why don’t ye go get ready for school? Shift’s almost over.” Margret helped him adjust his glasses and wipe a few beads of sweat off his face,

“It doesn’t start until 2”

“Yes, I know, why don’t yer get some rest before it starts. Look at yer, yer’ll collapse at this rate!”

“I’m fine, Mrs Owens”

“Bullshit”

She quickly untied his apron and kicked him out,

“Don’t worry, your salary will remain intact, just go get some rest, jeez, I can use the dark circle under yer eyes to paint the Mona Lisa!”

“Bu-“

“Ye don’t wanna argue with me son, now take this”

She shoved a hot paper bag into his hands,”it’s Monday’s special, make sure ye eat it before ye become all bones and glasses!”

Rabbit gave a weak chuckle before finally accepting and heading home.

His back hurt, he hadn’t even eaten.

“I’m so tired”

He muttered to himself.