I drove along Maple Drive, only two more blocks until I reach my house. Oh boy. It was usually a zoo around there, the house was never clean. I mean, vacuumed but clothes everywhere, and kids running around. I was very ready to get my own apartment. My piggy bank was full of tips and paychecks and what was sad was I only had about twenty dollars inside.

It wasn't that we were poor; just we had a big family who ate a lot and worked. It was hard to keep things going and keep food in the house when you have a little one and three teenagers eating everything once you get home with the groceries.

And it wasn't only the kids who ate like horses, my dad ate every minute. I turned right and drove down the street until I parked in my driveway where two other battered cars were parked. Our cars were old but the only thing that mattered was that they got us where we needed to go.

I got out and shut the door behind me, walked up the walkway and entered through the front door. Just what I expected. Toys everywhere, Carson and Jessi my cousins running through the house and screaming like a pair of banshees, my dad and my step-mother Pam sitting on the couch with my grandmother in her chair, and Emma my other cousin was probably upstairs.

"Hey, hun how was work?" Pam asked as I slipped my sneakers off on the shoe mat.

"Just great." I said and walked upstairs. The hall was full of doors, naming the kids bedrooms, Carson, Emma, Marissa, and Jessi. Emma's door was open and I peered inside for a second. She was hogging up the phone, giggling and flirting. I rolled my eyes, went one more door down, and opened it. That was my room. I had my own bathroom inside, thankfully. I went straight into and started warm water in the shower place, wanting to get the smell of pancakes out of my hair and feeling like a human again. I brushed the knots out of my hair after taking down my ponytail and stripped my uniform from my body then after my bra and panties.

I got in and shut the door, pulling the little lever up and feeling the hot water on my skin and wetting my hair. I closed my eyes and breathed, my tense body relaxing under the water. Showers were pretty much the best thing about coming home from work. I thought about Heather. I really didn't mean to, we didn't even know each other she was a total stranger, but I thought about the way she made me act today.

I was blushing, which I hardly ever did especially when I talked to people. Why was it that when our fingers touched the first time I took my hand away from hers as if she was some kind of germ magnet? I wasn't like that either. And why was it that when every time I realized I had to go back out into the main room I started dreading it? And the thing that got me most was when she said my name. She said it and I could've sworn she gave me butterflies.

It was weird. She was a stranger...and I was straight. Girls didn't give me butterflies...ever. But she did. What was about her that made me like that? I looked at the shower tile puzzled. I squirted some shampoo into the center of my palm and lathered it on my head, massaging my scalp. The scent of strawberries filled the room and I took a big whiff, smiling as I washed my hair. I rinsed and did that again, afterwards rinsing and putting conditioner in. I left it in while I washed my body with a tropical scent body wash that had beads inside, massaging my skin and making it smooth. I rinsed my body and then my hair for the third time and got out, wrapping my hair in a towel and then my body, walking into my room.

I looked through my drawers on my Captain's Bed and found a little tinkerbell tank and a pair of black short shorts for my comfies. I put on fresh underwear and then slipped my tank on without a bra, and then my shorts.

I popped in a movie. Yeah, I had a TV but I didn't have cable. And then I blow dried my hair which took me about fifteen minutes to do. After that, I opened my door a crack and shouted

"I'M GOING TO BED FAMILY!!" I shut it, turned off my lights, hopped into bed, and automatically fell asleep.

I looked around, I was in the pancake house. What? I thought I had a vacation. The place was empty except for table three, where Heather sat. I walked over to her and she looked at me.

"I'll have the chocolate chip pancakes with some orange juice." She said to me. I nodded and turned around but then turned back to say something, but she was gone.

"Hello?" I shouted through the restaurant. The only thing I heard was an echo of my own voice.

"HELLO?!" I felt something on my back and swiveled around so fast it felt like I was dizzy. There she was. Smiling at me.

"Heather..." She cut me off by putting her hands on my shoulders. She started shaking and I scowled.

"Wake up, Marissa!" She started to say. "WAKE UP!!"

My eyes opened tiredly to see Pam shaking me awake. I rubbed my eyes.

"Aren't you going to work today?" She asked. I sat up reluctantly.

"No. Selene gave me a vacation." I explained.

"Oh." She nodded. "Well then would you like some breakfast?"

"Naw, I'll eat out today." I said, hoping to God I'd see Heather wherever I went.

"Well, okay but be back shortly. I don't want to worry my ass off not knowing where you are. Maybe Carson should go with you." I shook my head and blinked at her.

"Are you effing crazy? I'm not taking Carson with me to breakfast!" I protested. She looked at me.

"All right, but be careful. New York is a scary place, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." I said indifferently. She walked out of my room and shut the door behind her. I yawned and shoved my covers off me, flipping my legs over the side of my bed and getting up, ready to take my shower and get out of this house.

I took my morning shower, washing like last night absentmindedly, got out and dried off, dried my hair and got dressed in a blue halter-top and a pair of light blue low-rise jeans and slipped on my Adidas sandals. I hopped downstairs happily, bade goodbyes to my tired family and walked out of the house.

I hopped in the driver's seat of my Ford and started the engine, hearing Forever by Chris Brown on my radio. I smiled and turned it all the way up so that the car vibrated with every beat and backed out of the driveway.

I really didn't want to go to McGregor's, but I wanted to see Heather. She probably wouldn't be there, I reminded myself. But what if she was? Then I could see her again.

My mind criss-crossed with different thoughts that she wouldn't be there and that she was going to be there as I drove down Maple Drive and then Prospect Ave. I sped up as the song changed into Low by Flo Rida and I took a turn, stopping at a red light.

"So what if she isn't there, Marissa! You don't even know the girl!" I said to myself in the car waiting for the light to turn green.

I started up again when it did and kept thinking, speeding up as my thoughts started racing. I took a left turn, only three more blocks to the pancake house.

"What if she isn't there..." I said. "I want to see her." I looked down and then huffed.

"She's an effing stranger! You don't go around thinking about strangers just because they did something nice for you!" I said. "She probably would've done that for anyone if they looked stressed." I parked in the parking lot and got out, shutting the door and practically running to the front door of the restaurant. When I walked in, I saw Selene behind the counter getting yelled at by an angry couple.

"I CAN'T HAVE A FREE REFILL?!" The man yelled. I snorted with laughter, shaking my head. Not even one day without me and she's already getting in trouble with business.

"Not of pancakes, sir." She tried to explain.

"Let's go somewhere else, Lydia." He said and stormed out angrily. I smirked and walked over to the counter where she was standing.

"So house business, Selene?" I asked purposely. She gave me a dirty look and rubbed her temples. Her cheeks were practically scarlet with anger.

"What's the good of giving you a vacation when you're showing up anyways, Marissa?" She snapped. That was a good point. I started feeling like Spongebob. Whenever Mr. Krabs gave him a vacation, he'd always come back.

"Maybe I want to eat here." I said and smiled. She shook her head and walked away from me, muttering curse words. I looked around and then grinned at what I saw.

There she was, sitting at table one sipping on hot chocolate, reading the morning paper. I felt a surge of excitement through me. I knew I'd see her here. I slowly walked up to her table and sat down the booth opposite her just like yesterday. She looked up at me and then set down the newspaper, grinning from ear to ear.

"Did you get your vacation? You're not in your uniform." She said. I nodded.

"I demanded it." I said, my voice obvious of excitement to see her. She giggled.

"So then why are you here?" She asked. I looked down and then back up at her.

"I um, came to eat breakfast." I lied. She nodded her head slowly as if she knew the real answer.

"Why are you here?" I countered.

"Fair enough." She began. "I came to see you, Marissa." I must have looked shocked because she gave that little giggle again.

"You did?" She nodded and sipped her hot chocolate again, setting it down still holding onto the mug.

"Well, the real reason I came here is to see you too." I said honestly. She blinked.

"Then why didn't you say that in the first place?"

"I was afraid you'd think I was weird." I said. She laughed, her shoulders shaking.

"D'you think I'm weird for coming here to see you?" She asked. I shook my head. "Well then, why would I think you were weird?"

"Cause I'm a stranger." I said back a little too fast.

"Not anymore."

"You don't know about me..." I challenged. She raised her eyebrows and folded her arms together, lacing her fingers.

"I think I can guess pretty much about you." I raised my eyebrows.

"Try me." I said. She cleared her throat.

"You graduated from high school not too long ago and now you're working here to help your family. You're accident prone, searching for love and you think you'll never be able to find it but I know you will. You'll find someone that cares deep for you soon and you know that as well, but its deep, buried in your negative thoughts." She said. I blushed.

"How do you know all that when I haven't told you anything about me?" I asked.

"I'm just cool like that." I laughed along with her. She looked at her watch around her wrist and sighed.

"I have to leave." My smile left my face.

"I have a birthday party to go to today. Will I see you again?"

"Yes."

"Here?"

"Wherever you want."

"Okay." She tucked in her lips for a second. "See you then."

"Bye, Heather." She got up and waved, and walked out of the front door. I sat back in the booth and smiled.