Remembering Sunday

When we finally arrived and stepped inside the Honey Bee Diner, we were instantly greeted by the refreshing draft of the overhead air conditioner. A girl at the podium just inside the door instantly perked up at the soft chime of the small golden bell hanging over the door.

"Mornin' Alex!" She rang, a smile so large plastered onto her face you would have thought someone had gotten ahold of her on break and smeared Vaseline on her perfectly placed teeth. "Just the two of you?"

"Just us today." He said, a rather bland expression taking over his complexion as he looked anywhere but at the pale girl with the thick blonde braid falling over her shoulder.

"ALRIGHTY!" She said in an obnoxiously chipper tone. Managing to grab two menus despite all but completely ignoring my presence their entire brief exchange. She said nothing more for a few moments as she wrapped around the small wooden structure and made her way off down a long row of booths and tables. "Your usual booth as always!" The girl grinned on, letting Alex and I slide into opposite sides of the table, both of us quick to slouch into the beaten red pleather of its benches. "Can I get either of you a drink to start you off?"

"A cherry coke, if you don't mind?" I couldn't even help but squeak out in the hot second it took the girl's lips to shut after voicing her generic question.

"Make it two." Alex added, a small smirk playing on his lips as he held up two fingers in a general gesture to validate his request.

"Coming right up!" The girl grinned automatically, the routine redundancy of her job showing as she turned to me. Smiling still now, but it looked almost grimace-like in my eyes and said, "And Kennedy, I just wanted to say how happy everyone is to have you back in town for the summer!"

"Thanks," I muttered, uncertain of who this everyone was or why it mattered to this waitress as I pressed on the most half-assed smile for no more than a brief moment. "I'm glad to be back."

"Highbrow" Alex muttered under his breath when she finally slipped away, fidgeting nervously in his seat. And I waited for him to look up, just so he could see the cock-eyed expression I was sending his way. And when he finally did he furrowed his brows and huffed down at the table, as though he was actually mocking my confused state. "What?" He scoffed, picking at a grove in the table's lamination.

"Do we not like her or something?" I asked him quietly, leaning into the table on my boney elbows. Watching every move he made with the utmost of attention as he halted his picking and instead shifted his attention to the menu in front of him.

"No." He said plainly, eyes never lifting from the plastic-coated sheets as he flipped it open and began to quickly skim all that I'm sure he'd memorized ages ago. "We have about as much use for her as a trap door on a canoe."

"Why is that?" I inquired.

"Where do I begin..." Alex muttered, hardly audible over the redundant sounds of the pages slapping together as he haphazardly flipped through them, one after another, after another. Soon a small smile began to play at his lips, and the page turning halted, being replaced with a subtle chuckle and a head shake. "You used to call her a penny." He remarked, still laughing to himself.

"A penny?" I asked, the height difference between my eyebrows growing even greater than before as I watched the smirking boy across from me. "Why on Earth would I call someone pocket change?"

He scoffed, his smile reaching from the corners of his mouth all the way up to his glistening eyes as he started to laugh even louder, gaining the attention of the few other families that had gathered around on that mid-morning weekday. "There's no way I could say it that would do your own words justice." He said, tossing his hands in the air and letting the page he'd been holding stationary fall back down. "But I will just say it was not the nicest of remarks you'd ever said regarding another person."

I nodded softly to both Alex and myself and began to gaze down on my own menu, a small flutter of something making its presence known right beside the ever-growing hanger that had begun to bubble up in my bowels. Gross, I know but factual.

"Should have known it was you two when an order came in for two sodas at ten in the morning!" A voice laughed loudly beyond Alex as we both turned our attention to see where it was coming from. A rather short, stalky young man was approaching us, delicious looking drinks in hand, and a wide knowing grin on his lips.

"Rico!" Alex chimed before I even had a chance to read the boy's nametag. "The Hell are you still doing here, I thought you were finally out of this place?"

"Yeah, I was," Rico sighed, laughter still sewn into his tone as he placed one drink in front of each of us and pulled two straws from the pocket of his tight black jeans. "Work at the shop has been slow, and it'll be a week or two before people start bringing their toys out of storage to tune up so the old man thought it'd be best to start scrapping up as many hours as I could, here in the meantime."

"Understandable" Alex noted aloud with a nod as he stripped his straw from its wrapper and slid it into his carbonated drink.

"So, what'll it be?" He asked, sliding a pen and small notepad from his back pocket, playful expression still being sported on his lips. "The old usual's I'm assuming, it's been a good while!"

"Sounds perfect to me buddy-old-pal!" Alex chuckled, Rico, being quick to scratch something down quickly on the lined paper in hand. And I watched with hesitant confusion as he did, slowly turning to Alex for any sign of what it was I was supposed to – or would normally be doing in this scenario.

But of course, I was greeted with a useless cheeky smile from the brown-haired boy and was forced to swallow my pride and anxiety. "What is that, exactly?" I asked slowly, watching as Rico lifted his eyes to me and his large genuine smile fell into a softer, more knowing one. But still, he smiled.

"Alex here always gets our western breakfast wrap with bacon on the side, and you my dear prefer a short stack of banana pancakes, two slices of bread – lightly toasted, with whichever pot of jelly I feel like grabbing off the shelf that day!" He told me, and as though it were trained to do on cue, my stomach let out a large audible growl. A sound which of course only encouraged the two of them to snicker like children on the playground.

"Sounds delicious" I muttered, physically feeling my cheeks grow red and hot in embarrassment.

"Be right out!" He smiled again, as though that was all this kid ever did. And with a click of his pen and a turn of the heal he headed back off in the direction he'd came from. Leaving me to look back to Alex as he sipped on his drink and lean back up on my elbows as I'd done just moments before.

"Do we like him?" I asked, my soft subtle tone hardly audible over the sound of ice cubes sloshing in his glass as he stirred them round and round with his straw now.

"He brings us food..." He said blankly staring up at me, "We love him."

I chuckled softly at the boy, deciding it was time for me to free my own straw from its casing and send it diving into my drink. I shut my eyes and sucked a big cold gulp of the sweet refreshing soda down my throat. The nostalgia was almost as pungent as the sugar and artery-clogging ingredients that contaminated it. And as horribly wrong as it was for my body, it felt so right.

I leaned back, with my eyes still shut, letting a rather dramatic sigh of relief wash over me as the cool carbonated liquid slid down my throat into my painfully empty stomach. When I opened my eyes, I thought I would be greeted by a judgmental look from Alex but when I finally did after a moment or so, I found something completely different. Without a single stab or a headache in warning, when I opened my eyes I found myself in the very booth I'd been sat in just moments before, but in a completely different time of my life.

"About damn time!" I shouted with a fit of laughter as I looked up from my soda to see the boys jogging towards me single file. Each looking just as pleasantly annoyed as the next to see me already set up in our usual spot in the corner of Honey Bee's Diner. "I've been growing old and senile in here waiting for y'all!"

"Oh, can it!" Jack jokingly spat as he slid into the booth across for me, making room for Alex to follow as he did. "We can't help that Zack's car only goes about seven miles an hour in the snow!"

The boy in mocking huffed quietly as he trailed last in line, slowly sinking into the bench beside me. Eyes narrowing at Jack behind his long dark strands as he pulled his frost coated hat from his head. "Maybe you should have thought about that before getting yourself so trapped in Gaskarth's car we had to cut you out of it!"

Jack quickly made a sound that I could only describe as blatantly wine like before he crossed his arms dramatically over his chest in mock protest. Something we all loudly giggled at, aside from Jack as he muttered something under his breath.

"I can't wait till I have my license and won't have to harass Rico to drive me here every day after school!" I groaned, leaning back in my seat as all three boys around me playfully rolled their eyes. Each and every one of them sick of hearing me bitch and moan about how bad I wanted to drive the car my dad and I were so close to finishing fixing up.

"Where is Rico anyway, working already?" Alex asked, one hundred percent making the conscious effort to ignore the main point of my remark. But still I nodded with pursed lips.

"He should actually be out any second..." I said, and as though on cue, his voice rang through the almost always empty diner as I looked over the back of our booth to see him headed our way, gifts in hand.

"Gangs all here I see!" He chuckled, walking over and placing the large black tray he'd been carrying on the edge of the table, sliding each of the three boys their usual drinks before finally placing an overwhelmingly large pile of french fries and gravy – a Honey Bee's special – in the center of the table. A sight that had Jack's eyes mere millimeters from popping out of his head.

"Did you do this?" The dark-haired boy asked me with the largest smile I'd ever seen spreading on his face as he dragged the dish in front of him. An act which had both Alex and Zack racing to see who could slap his hand away from doing it first.

"Yeah, obviously I did!" I laughed, smiling at Rico for a second to watch him shake his head at the next level ridiculousness that was Jack Barakat.

"Have I ever told you how much I love you..." He said blankly, staring at me now with his same goofy grin and stone set eyes.

"Many of times..." I nodded, giggling more. "But feel free to remind me."

"I love you more than anything in this entire world." He deadpanned, daring to lean into the table ever so slightly without breaking eye contact once. "Even more than Alex loves jacking off-"

"Hey!" Our friend quickly tried to defend. But it was too late. Everyone was already doubling over in laughter at Jack's remark. The long brunette scowled at the small group of us around this table before reaching out and flinging a fry clean at my face causing an almost too loud shrill to escape me.

"What did I do?" I laughed loudly, crumpling up the scattered remains of the straw wrapper I'd been mutilating to pass the time and throwing it at him. Glaring at his satisfied smile as he watched it fall short not even halfway across the table.

"You egged him on!" He tried to defend through his small fit of laughter as we all shook our heads in unison.

"Alrighty you goofs, what'll it be?" Rico finally managed to ask when all of our laughter faded to soft scuffs and miniscule chuckles. And we all went around placing orders. Most of which consisted of greasy burgers and gravy smeared sides, even a salad which almost caught cocked brows and warning looks from the rest of us till Zack quickly added bacon to the top of it.

And when my turn rolled around, last as always, I grinned widely at my short working friend. "My usual please!" I sang – a request which only brought groans from my fluffy headed friends. "WHAT?"

"It's three PM," Alex said blankly, palms extended outward to express his exasperation. "Why the Hell are you ordering banana pancakes?"

"Hey" I warned sharply, being sure to point my bony finger at him, "there is never – EVER, a wrong time to have banana pancakes, okay?"

"They're already being made." Rico laughed softly. Cutting off any snarky comment Alex could have fired at me then as he shook his head and tore the page with our orders from his small tattered notebook. Knowing me oh-so incredibly well before heading back off.

"I swear you're actually a 97-year-old man!" Alex laughed, his smile spreading all the way to his eyes. "You always order the same exact things at the same three places!"

Cheekily, I bared my teeth in his direction with a tilted head as I propped my forearms up on the table. "I despise change almost as much as I despise you!"

"Funny." He said, deadpan expression adorning his face causing our two friends to laugh almost as hard as they had been before.

I sat back in my seat, content with my antics when I heard a little bell chime from inside the kitchen. Taking an educated guess from vacant tables around us that it was my order I jabbed my scrawny elbow into Zack's side, bringing out an agitated whine from the boy whilst still succeeding in making him scoot over.

But of course, to my demise. When that swinging door of the kitchen flapped open I couldn't even attempt to suppress the groan that escaped my winter chapped lips at the sight of braided blonde hair now headed in our direction, my delicious pancakes in tow.

"Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth." I muttered. Slouching back into my seat I allowed Zack to return to a normal human position now that I wasn't trying to wedge myself between his ribs.

I didn't even care what kind of looks my friends were giving me. Confused, knowing, or just downright disagreeing. And I puckered my lips and crossed my arms at the young waitress making her way over to our table. Reminding me yet again of the one, single, trashy flaw that kept Honey Bee's Diner from being the perfect escape destination for any broke and starving teen.

"Short stack and toast!" She all but smirked, somehow managing to coat even those generic words in rancor and sarcasm.

Trying my hardest to play nice with the girl I'd most often described as the spawn of Satan himself, I smiled. Even moved my soda over to free a place my plate in front of me so she could get on quickly and retreat back to where she came, Hell – I mean, the kitchen.

For a second no one said anything, and all six eyes watched intently as I examined my plate for any signs of obvious tampering. But shockingly all I came up with was the fact that she'd forgotten to bring out any form of jelly for my toast. But her brief presence alone had been enough to make my blood boil, so any added annoyance was enough justification in my head to roll my eyes to the back of my God damn skull.

"Get a good look at your brain just then?" Alex joked, pulling me from my deep seeded displeasure as I quickly poked my tongue out at him. Making small mocking sounds as I did.

"I sure as Hell did!" Jack laughed, fidgeting in his seat in a manner that made even me uncomfortable to the point of cringing. "I don't care what anyone says, Maddison Russo is a dime!"

Rolling my eyes yet again, only with less brute force this time I began to prod at and investigate the undersides of my pancakes. Smirking and chuckling softly to myself, "She's no dime, Jack." I murmured, "That girl is a penny if I've ever seen one."

"A penny?" Zack asked head cocked like a dog who had just been asked if they wanted to go for a walk.

"Yeah, a penny!" I restated, laughing fully now as I watched all three of my friends look at me as though I had three heads and fourteen eyes sat on my shoulders. Looks which only turned the dial of my laughter's volume up higher. "You know, two-faced, worthless and found in everyone's pants!"

"You- Kennedy Paige, are a terrible person!" Jack scolded, despite failing miserably to conceal his spilling laughter.

"just another thing you love about me!" I cooed, lifting my chin and sending my best award-winning smile across the table.

"Right above ordering fries with gravy!" He giggled, waving a fry around as though in reference.

Not even a second had passed for the air to be filled with laughter at Jack as it so often was before something was being slid across the table. I looked down at the unexpected sound to see the most adorable little jar of strawberry jam dink ever so slightly against the side of my plate.

"I know it's secretly your favorite." I heard Rico's voice suddenly as I shook myself back into reality. Looking down now at an almost identical jar from what I'd just seen flashing before my eyes, now beside a short stack of banana pancakes that looked almost even better than I'd remembered.

"Thanks, Rico..." Alex said slowly from where he sat across from me cueing the boy to head back to work. Alex looked so much older and alone now when I lifted my eyes from the table, the presence of his youthful glow and tongue-and-cheek best friend had completely dissipated from the air. My blue orbs met his golden ones to see his painted-on look of concern. Thick brows pushed together in the same manner mine had made a habit of doing. "Another memory?" He asked quietly, as though if he spoke any louder I might shatter.

I nodded slowly as my teeth sunk into my lower lip.

"you've been having these memories a lot..." he noted and I continued my nodding, letting my fork subconsciously scratch around the corner of the plate in a nervous habitual manner. Not even bothering to care about the horrid sound that was probably pissing off everyone around us.

"More and more recently..." I told him after a moment, softly stabbing at the hotcakes. "It started off with just small realizations, really little things I wouldn't even notice really. Then the other day..." I trailed off, scratching at the side of my neck with my free hand. Trying to find the right words to describe the phenomenon that had been happening to me when Alex stepped in.

"When you showed up at my house?" He noted, and I nodded again. Swallowing the lump in my throat, for at that moment, as hungry as I was I couldn't bring myself to eat just yet. I was already stuffed full of overwhelming thoughts swirling around in my close to empty skull.

"I didn't realize I was there till you came outside." I started to explain, "one second I was on the corner and remembered nothing, and the next I was having this incredibly vivid flashback – of you, and before I knew it I was standing outside your door and you were calling my name."

"I see..." Alex hummed, a thoughtful expression being sported as I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Then I had another on your porch, one when I'd gotten home, then in the car and now well, here..." I elaborated, starting to fully play with my food. "I'm not going to lie, most of them have been about you. Not all of them, but a large number are. And I don't know what it is that brings them on or how to make them happen. Sometimes they just come out of nowhere, but none of them really feel connected and I don't know what they all mean yet... And some of them hurt – like a lot. I'll get these piercing headaches seconds before and I'll come too crying. But other's I just slip in and out of I-"

"Kennedy" He called, stopping my rambling and leaving me slack mouthed before reaching out and wrapping a rough hand gently around mine. Halting the horrid squeaky of my fork in the process. "It's okay, it's progress." He told me, brows lofted and a hopeful tone taking over his husky voice just seconds before he smiled softly at me.

"I guess..." I shrugged. Casually sliding my hand from his and away from the strange sensation that it'd brought on. Finally scooping a small fork full of pancakes into my mouth before I looked up at him.

A second passed as I chewed, and another as I swallowed. And with every passing heartbeat, I stared at Alex, and his large brown eyes stared right back at me. Older now, but just as full of light as I'd remembered.

"What?" He questioned, letting his eyes bounce across my serious composure.

"I want to remember more." I said blankly, not wavering an inch. "And I want you to help me."
Alex pursed his lips for a moment. Placing the breakfast wrap he'd been slowly devouring back onto his plate as he took the break in conversation to empty the contents of his cheeks down his throat.

"What can I do to help?"

Notes