start over | dreamwastaken x reader (sequel to split)

01 | MASK

"Assistance to register three please. Assistance to register three." Gets called over the loud speaker and that's my cue to leave my hiding place. To come out of the shadows. The dungeon of my existence.

I paint on my fake smile and hop my way out of the office. I feel like an infomercial, the fakest of fake, as I pull the customer service voice out. God, I hate being fake. "How can I help you?" I place my hands behind my back as I speak. Be open they say. It makes you more friendly, more inviting.

"Are you...?"

"No." I respond as a trigger. It's blunt and harsh and I instantly fold in on myself. I cough, holding my fist over my mouth as I do so. "I apologize for that. Am I whom?" I usher the customer on, placing the mask back over my emotions.

"The manager." The customer affirms.

"I am, how can I help you?" I question the customer again directing them to step away from the register for the next customer to do their duties.

"We just wanted to say," the customer speaking motions between themself and the person their with, "that ever since you started here this store has turned around. This place has been a shithole and we just want to thank you for devoting your time to bettering the environment here."

"I take pride in my work." I glance between the two people before me. "I learned from the best and I hope to pass that on to more people. Hard work pays off eventually." I pay homage to Clay. I have to.

I can't hate him. I can use what he's done, what he's taught me and I can grow. I can be myself and I can learn to love myself. I can do more than I give myself credit for. I am good at what I do. Hell, I am great at what I do. And I owe it to myself to prove that to the world.

"Do you mind if we ask what brought you here?" The customer gestures to the building.

"I was ready for a fresh start. I was out of work for awhile due to personal reasons and I was ready to come back to a world I once existed in again. I actually just picked a random town on a bus station board and here I am. This is where life decided to take me." For the first time in awhile a genuine smile appears on my face. A warmth simmers just barely in me. It's a feeling I haven't felt in so long that it startles me. I have forgotten what it feels like to feel something, anything.

"Well, we just wanted to say thank you." I nod my head in thanks and the customers depart. I watch them leave the store before venturing back into my hobbit hole for the rest of my shift.

Despite the warmth I begin to feel I can't risk the trigger of withstanding a run in with anyone. I have been close. So close to having his world slide back into mine that I have to hide. I can't chance losing the battle I've fought with myself to get where I am.

As I lock up the building for the night a sharp chill fills the air. Despite the Florida heat being brutal during the day, the nights have been below average. The wind sending chills through my body. I pull a hoodie from my bag and slide it over my shoulders before starting the short walk home to my apartment.

The moon is out and the stars twinkle bright in the sky. I get mesmerized every night I walk home. I stop and stare for awhile watching plane lights flash with the stars. Listening the world just pass me by as I admire something so quaint and beautiful.

"Excuse me." I feel a tap on my shoulder as I gaze into the sky. I jump at the sudden touch. Flashbacks of the past fill me for a second before I'm met with eyes so blue that fear seizes to exist the moment my eyes meet his.

"Sorry." I step to the side and out of the middle of the sidewalk.

"Oh, no, no." The stranger comforts me. Comfort. "I just wanted to know if you would mind if I joined you." The blue eyed stranger points up at the sky. "The sky looks beautiful tonight. No one ever stops to just admire what the world has given us. But here you are, doing exactly what we all should be doing."

"It is quite beautiful." I agree. "The world is too busy. No one ever wants to stop and just... enjoy." I shrug my shoulders and stare at the Orion constellation in the sky as I look up. It's the only one I've ever been able to notice in the sky since being here. It's become my favorite.

"I'll enjoy with you." The boy perks up as he glances in my direction. I can see it out of the corner of my eye and it brings another genuine smile to my face. Two for two. Just one day is all it took. One day to start an array of smiles. Smiles that are just seeming to come so easily now.

"Is this your way of hitting on me?" I joke and take my eyes off the sky to meet his face again. His eye brows are raised as his eyes meet mine again.

"No, it's my way of slowing my world down and enjoying life for what it's supposed to be." His eyes leave mine and drift up to the stars above me. I can see his eyes bounce from star to star as if tracing an image in the night sky.

"Simple?" I reply with one word.

"Exactly."

I feel a heat hit my cheeks and it burns. I haven't felt this way for anyone but Clay. But this stranger has pulled me to a place I never thought I'd be able to go again. I thought I'd just be locked cold forever. I was okay with being cold. But I had the chance to be warm, feel warm. I was going to latch on and hope to never let go.

————————-

A/N: it's back. the story is back. don't hate me please. i hope you grow to love our new character. mister blue eyed beauty here. she's trying. okay? clay hurt her she can't just ran and frolic back to him.

if you enjoyed make sure to vote and leave a comment <3

much love, Ashley