BLANK SPACE ; jess mariano

ɪx. ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʏ ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ

SAGE walked to the diner. Her head was hung low as she buried her chin in her scarf. She almost crashed in Babette on her way there.
"Careful doll!" Babette's scratchy voice said, as the woman smiled at the girl.
"Sorry." Sage mumbled. She wasn't in the mood to talk. She felt uneasy about what had happened the day before. She entered through the door, hearing the bell chime and took her usual seat at the counter.
"Hey Sage, you okay?" Luke sympathetically asked the confused teen.
"Fine." Sage's speech was barely audible as she looked down. Luke tutted to himself before marching over to the stairs and shouting,
"Jess!"
"What?" a muffled voice was heard from
the tiny apartment upstairs, as the loud rock music was paused.
"Get down here right now." Sage heard Jess run down the stairs like an excited five year old. When he saw the girl, he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"What have you done?" Luke ironed out his face as he confronted the boy.
"He's done nothing Luke." Sage told, giving Jess a small smile.
"Are you sure?" both Luke and Jess questioned, staring into the girl's olive eyes.
"Sure." Sage grinned wider, looking up. Luke flung his cloth over his shoulder and went into the back. Jess approached Sage from the other side of the counter.
"Are you okay?" he muttered quietly.
"I'm fine. Just confused." Jess put his head in his hands.
"I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."
"That's a load of shit Jess." Sage assured him, "Yesterday was very confusing. I'm sorry I ruined what you wanted with Rory."
"Hey, it's okay." Jess' cheeks flushed at the mention of the girl's name. Sage playfully shoved his shoulder. She turned when the she felt the warm autumn breeze travel through the door as it was opened by Rory. She was accompanied by a tall blonde. They were both in Chilton uniform, so Sage assumed they were classmates. Like Sage, Rory had dreams to go to a top university. Rory's dream was Harvard, and Sage had always envied her for getting into an Ivy League school, she believed it gave her a better chance of achieving her dream. The two close friends avoided each other's gaze as they recalled what happened yesterday. Rory awkwardly nodded to outside and Sage followed. They stood, both shifting side to side on their feet.
"I'm sorry." the two both said in unison. They giggled slightly.
"Honestly Rory, your boyfriend is so stupid." the two plunged into a deafening silence after Sage's comment.
"Sorry, that was stupid, I shouldn't have said that.." Sage murmured, clearly embarrassed.
"It's okay." Rory smiled broadly at her friend.
"Anyway, how was your time with Jess?"
"He's okay, actually, once you talk to him he's actually really sweet." Rory told, going off into her own train of thought. Once she snapped back to reality, she discovered she had been staring into the diner at the boy. She blushed and chuckled.
"Yeah, I suppose, so we're good?" Sage queried.
"Of course." Rory embraced her friend tightly.
"Who's your friend?"
"That's Paris." Rory's smile faded slightly, "We're working on a project, she thinks this is the sort of town that would fit." Sage scoffed and opened the door, allowing Rory to get back to Paris. She was chatting to Luke, who looked to Sage helplessly.
"Paris, this is Sage." Rory gestured to the brunette.
"Hi." the stiff girl mumbled, before yapping back at Caesar who had just emerged from the back. I shared a look with Rory, and she rolled her eyes at the talkative blonde.
"You're the owner here?" she asserted, and Luke turned swiftly, "You get a lot of truckers through here? Yeah. You know, guys on the road for weeks, lonely, looking for company, a little pick me up. Things like that." Sage bit down a laugh.
"What's she talking about?" Luke queried, and Rory shrugged,
"You're guess is as good as mine." Jess was heard stomping down the stairs. As soon as he got down, many questions were thrown in Luke's face.
"Hey, where'd he come from? What's up there? Is that where you keep the girls? You got yourself a little cathouse up there?" the girl could really talk. Sage scoffed almost inaudibly.
"Wow, I think she got you Uncle Luke. You better give up now." Jess added, wiggling his eyebrows at Sage until she gave up and burst out cackling.
"Do not add to this insanity!" Luke threw a dismissive hand at Jess.
"An innocent boy like me should not be raised in an atmosphere like this." Jess whined.
"Jess!" Luke snarled, his temper rising.
"I wanna be good, life's just not letting me." Jess raised his hands above his head in defence as he spoke.
"And you know the reason I'm always here?" Sage told, smirking as she went behind the counter and poured herself another cup of coffee. Luke was speechless as he watched, trying to get out his words but only muffled sounds were heard, "It's because he won't let me leave." Sage pointed an accusing hand at Luke, "He makes me stay up there with the others." Sage pretended to weep as Jess made pouting faces at the girls, gesturing to her.
"Get out of here." Luke sighed, opening the door for Sage. She breathed in the air before turning,
"The outside world!"