Four months. Four long months I had been working at Reta's, day in and day out, happy as ever. The guys had become a staple in my life, taking up as much of my time as I would let them, which was most of it. I still took my days where I would go to the library, or to the museum, but I let them monopolize most of it. I had brought them over to hang out at my place several times, they had awed at the paint job the first time and I think I saw Sharon's eyes water.

I had gone to every show that they had had, especially since they were going on tour soon, Warped Tour. It was big doings. And I didn't know how I felt about having them gone for so long, I believed that I was fine with it. It didn't bother me so much, especially when I had some time before that happened. Sharon was even going along, so that left me mostly to myself. Sheela and Star were both going to be here so that helped. But I liked the idea of being on my own again, I loved the guys more than anything, but they were ALWAYS around. And I figured the alone time would help me find more of myself.

Though that's not to say that they hadn't help me in that department. I found that I loved sushi, and that Mikey and I shared that as a love. I learned that I loved laughing at stupid shit, and that swearing came to me like second nature from time to time, yet not all the time. I found out that I was eccentric in most people's eyes, but loved regardless. I had come to know all the regulars at Reta's and had their orders memorized like my own name.

My friends from my other life had contacted me and I had finally spoken to them. I had been avoiding them to a point at first till I knew I had something concrete to tell them, something solid to give them as evidence. And afterwards I realized that they really weren't a part of my life anymore, they weren't attuned to the person I was finding myself to be. One of them had even accused me of running away, which I had to admit was awfully close to what I had really done. But it wasn't so much life itself that I had been running away from, it had been the shadow of my formal self that was swallowing me whole that I had run from. And I had lost it in time, no, more like I had turned and finally faced it, and won the battle.

So so far Jersey was perfect, life here was perfect, and I was beginning to find out that the person I really was was perfect as well. It all seemed to good to be true, almost fairy tale like, like something bad HAD to happen eventually for this to be reality. But I didn't dwell on it, I decided to live life moment by moment and deal with the unpleasantness, if any, when it came.

I was currently fiddling with my uniform once again in front of the mirror, like I always did in the mornings. I still hated having to wear a dress for a uniform, but I lived with it, it went with the feel of the diner. At least Reta didn't have us on roller skates or anything such ridiculous type thing. Sighing I straightened my dress once more and slid my things into my apron before heading down the stairs.

As I got to the door to the back of the kitchen I heard shuffling around and whispered voices. I was little scared a first, not knowing what was going on the other end and fearing for the worst. Of course I knew that nothing had to be wrong, but it stemmed from my feeling that things were too perfect. Slowly I opened the door and pushed my way in. The kitchen was empty, and slightly dark, Ernie wasn't back there and neither was Sam. I made my way out to the front.

"Hello?" I asked from behind the counter, the lights were off which was odd.

"Surprise!"

I stood there shocked. Ernie, Reta and Sam burst up from where they were hiding and the lights were flicked on. Reta was holding a small cake and beaming me a smile. I had no idea what was going on, as my birthday was a little ways away, which Reta knew as she had the info for paying purposes.

"Uh, what's this for?" I managed to stutter.

"It's to celebrate you being with us for four months!" Reta said happily as she put the cake on the counter.

It looked to be one of her homemade ones, with "Four Long Months Jay Bird" written across the top in lime green lettering. Jay Bird had taken on as a new nickname for me since Gerard had started calling me it on a whim. The cake made me smile, and I smiled more as I looked up at saw everything else. There were a few balloons bopping their way along the ceiling, and a congratulations banner above the middle booths.

"Jersey sure is weird," I said happily as I took the knife from Reta she was holding out so I could cut the cake.

I sliced up the cake and we feasted before getting back to work to open for the day. Though the decorations Reta left up so others would know, it made me smile.

The morning went as it usually did, though the guys didn't come in when they normally did before they went off to their respective works or to band practice. It was odd not to have them in first thing in the morning, but figured that all schedules get jumbled from time to time.

At about eight o'clock though, the front door came bursting open and a shouting group of familiar faces came running in.

"Jay, Jay, Jay! Guess what, guess what, guess what?" Frank yelled loudly, not really disturbing the patrons as they were use to him.

"What, what, what, Frankie, Frankie, Frankie?" I asked, mimicking him.

"We're going on tour," Frank said loudly and happily.

I smiled back at him and his enthusiasm for the littlest things.

"I know Frankie. Warped Tour, it's big doings. But I knew already," I teased as I made more coffee behind the counter.

All the rest of the guys were silent but had similar shit eating grins plastered on their faces, seeming to be almost in a daze as they sat down.

"No it's changed," Frankie said as he sat down along with everyone else.

I stopped making the coffee, but didn't turn.

"How?" I asked as I remembered that I was making coffee.

"We got added to other stops on the tour," Frankie said giddily as I went to go get their drink orders.

"Oh that's sweet," I said just as happy as I got his orange juice.

"So that means we're leaving today!" Frankie said with even more enthusiasm.

I felt my heart stop. Today? They were leaving TODAY?

"That's great guys," I managed to choke out as I swallowed my momentary shock and placed a happy for you smile on my face and gave them their drink orders.

"I can't believe it. They said they wanted us for more stops because they liked our sound that much," Gerard said, still in a partial daze.

"Who wouldn't," I said as I poured him his normal coffee, trying not to lose my smile.

I didn't know why it was affecting me so much. I guess I wasn't as prepared as I thought for them to be leaving. I guess I had figured it would be easier to deal with with all the time we had till they were suppose to leave. They were going to be here for my birthday, and now I would be spending it in a new city, in a new state, all by myself. For the most part. But I was happy for them, this was big.

As I finished filling their drink orders I smiled and then made my way back to where Reta was placing an order on the wheel. I quickly jotted down what I knew the guys would order and hung it up.

"I'll be back in a sec, I gotta use the restroom," I said as I stuck my order in and made my way to the employee restroom in the back.

Getting in I locked the door and went into the stall and locked that door after me as well. Sitting down on the toilet I placed my elbows on my knees and my face into my palms. And cried. I guess I wasn't as strong as I thought. I didn't know why I was crying, they'd only be gone for a little while, and I had known this. I summed my tears up to stemming from the feeling that had taken up residence in my gut. The feeling that everything was too perfect and that something had to go wrong to even out the balance of things.

Five minutes later I had washed my face, fixed my eyeliner and removed any evidence of my randomly shed tears. Putting a smile on my face I walked back out, hoping to spend the rest of the time the guys were in the diner before they left with them.

"You all right hun?" Reta asked as I came back out.

"Oh yeah, just didn't feel good for a second," I said as I took up my filled orders.

"You need to go home?" Reta asked as she picked up her own.

"Nope, I'm good. It passed," I said as I brought the guys their dishes.
-xXx-
The guys had left with promises to call since I had put my cell phone back into working order again. I had wished them luck and then had gone back about my work. So my smile may have been a little forced for the rest of the day, but I knew it would be back to normal the next day. I was good at getting over things quick.

I finished the day and had tallied up everything, my tips, my orders, all of it and then said goodbye to Reta and everyone before heading upstairs. My feet felt heavy and I knew that I needed fresh air to clear things up in my head space. I decided that I would change and go for a walk, possibly pick up a new book from the library to read since I would be having plenty of days alone.

Notes

Dun dunn dunnn. . .
Can life really be all good all the time or does it really need the bad to balance it out?

Sorry this was short!!!