Cammie sighed deeply as she awoke from her slumber the next day. She had a peaceful night sleep, with no odd or bizarre dreams like she had before. She didn't actually have any dreams, just a peaceful sleep. The bed was actually more comfortable than the bed she had back at her home on Galupeagus. She rubbed her eyes and picked up her glasses off the nightstand. She removed her night clothes and put on a fresh set of clothes.
She wore a plain white T-shirt and long black pants that came and covered most of her shoes. She looked over at her usual lab coat, then outside. She opened the door and felt the warm breeze. It was warm enough for her to decide not to fully wear her lab coat, but it was also cool enough for her to not want to leave without it. Coming up with a solution, she threw her lab coat over her and buttoned the first one around her neck, much in the fashion a cape. She grabbed her room key and stuffed her journal into her lab coat. She took some money from the $350 that Lindy had given her and put it in her front pocket. She walked out and locked the door behind her as Yarren approached her.
"'Ey there Cammie. Heading over to Mikayla's huh?" Yarren asked her, scratching the back of his head.
"Yeah. Would you be able to give me some directions?" Cammie asked, but when she glanced at Yarren, she realized he had fallen asleep. She recalled how Mikayla had awakened Yarren, so Cammie reared back and smacked Yarren on the back of the head. He snorted and shook his head.
"Sorry about that," he chuckled. "Yeah, you just head down that there road and hang a left and just keep walking." He pointed to a path that lead around the motel. "Say hi to Mikayla for me, eh?" With that, he slumped over and fell asleep again.
Cammie couldn't help but smile. Yarren's ability to fall asleep on whim was pretty humorous to her. She side stepped around him and headed down the path, but her stomach stopped her. She hadn't eaten in quite a while and was pretty hungry. Not seeing any sort of breakfast area, she decided to go ask Yolanda for any restaurants. She walked over to Yolanda's office and knocked on the door. Yolanda stumbled to the door and stared at Cammie.
"Yeah? What you want?" she asked in an annoyed voice. She clearly did not get a lot of sleep last night. She rubbed her eyes and yawn, attempting to doze off.
"Hello Yolanda, not get any sleep last night?" Cammie nonchalantly asked, trying to hide the fact she already knew the answer.
"No, not really. I haven't slept well in four days now." She yawned again and rubbed her eyes some more. "Did you just come to talk, or did you have something important to talk about?" Cammie knew Yolanda wasn't trying to be rude, she was just sleep-deprived.
"Yes. Are there any restaurants or diners close-by?" Cammie asked, trying to repress her stomach growling.
"The only restaurant or anything of that sort here is Carlos and Catalina's. It's-" she paused, yawning and stretching. "It's that way, about a 5 minute walk." She pointed down the opposite direction of the path Yarren had sent her. With that, she slinked back into her office and shut the blinds, leaving out a DO NOT DISTURB sign.
Cammie walked away and started walking down the path, admiring what was around her as she walked. She held a grip on her journal as she walked and tried not to attract too much attention. Finally, she reached a large building.
There were neon signs on the outside which made, in large glowing letters, "C+C'S A REST TO DINE". The place itself was split into two visible parts. The western side was darker, much more like a bar than a restaurant. The eastern side was much more like a restaurant with brighter colors, such as yellows and peaches. Cammie decided to go to the eastern part and walked inside.
Inside, there were a few people scattered about, eating. Cammie looked, hoping that perhaps Mikayla was there. As fate would have it, Mikayla was just being seated to a booth. Cammie calmly walked over and sat down.
"Hey Mikayla. Long time no see, huh?" Cammie calmly asked. Mikayla was a little startled at Cammie's sudden appearance, but smiled and greeted her back.
"Hey Cammie. I thought you were going to come over to my office yesterday. You feel asleep on the train and I wanted to wake you, but Yarren kinda dragged me off." Mikayla looked sheepish and rubbed the back of her head.
"Sorry, I went to the Backfoot Motel so I wouldn't have to carry my luggage and then I kinda fell asleep." Cammie looked sheepish back and stroked her hair. "I can come over after I eat though." Mikayla nodded and smiled. "So, can you tell me about this restaurant and some of the people?"
"Of course, it's no problem." Mikayla smiled and continued. "This restaurant is owned by Carlos and Catalina Rodreguez. Well, more Catalina than Carlos. Carlos owns the western side of this building, which he renovated and turned into a bar. Catal-"
"Hello there Mikayla! Hello there stranger!" spoke an exceedingly cheerful voice, startling Cammie. Standing there was a woman with cherry blonde hair in a waitress smock. Her hair was up in two strands and then fell behind her to her shoulder blades, much in the shape of a heart. She had a cheerful expression on her face and freckles dotted her cheeks. She wore a long dress with hearts dotted all over. The front had a heart shape cut out, which would have revealed much of her chest, if not for her waitress smock. "May I get you two some drinks?" she asked, somehow more cheerful than before.
Cammie was a little startled at the woman's cheeriness. Not even Lindy or Volt was this happy. "U-Umm...I-I'll take a c-coffee please." Cammie stammered, trying to regain her composure.
"I'll have a nice hot cup of green tea please, Harley." Mikayla told the woman. The woman wrote down on the pad, smiled, nodded, and walked away, her smiled never leaving her face.
"Wh-Who was that woman?" Cammie asked, regaining more of her composure.
"That was Harley Tera, one of our most popular residents. No matter what, she always has a cheerful expression and feel to her."
"No kidding."
"She's very well known and widely loved by everyone. Just everything cheery about her makes her an amazing friend. However, it also makes her a very strange case. She was born without a sense of anger or sadness. Nothing will make her cry of get mad, not injury nor emotional torment. She's always happy, which also makes it impossible for me to get a clear reading on her."
"It does?" Cammie asked. She figured that because she read body language, Mikayla should be able to get a reading on anyone.
"Yes. Emotion is the one weakness I can't quite overcome. If there's an overflow of a specific emotion like happiness, fear, or sadness; a person may get facts mixed up, which means that testimony they give for events cannot be fully trusted. Normally I just have to find the source of the emotion, but I can't with Harley. It's like there's no source, it's just...there."
"Here you go ma'ams" As Cammie was about to ask more questions, Harley came back with Mikayla's tea and a pot of Cammie's coffee. Mikayla started drinking her tea as Harley poured coffee for Cammie. "So, what can I get you girls to eat?" Cammie once again lost a bit of her composure. She had been so focused on learning about Harley, she forgot to look at the menu.
"Umm...well...umm" Cammie stammered, quickly glancing over the menu. "I'll have the...signature C Breakfast Special." Harley scratched that down on her pad.
"I'll three blueberry pancakes and a side of ham please." Mikayla told Harley, who promptely wrote it down. Harley nodded and walked off with the menus, her smile never leaving her face.
"Ugh, it'll take me a while to get used to all that happiness of hers. So, um, you were saying about the owners of this restaurant/bar?" Cammie spoke, restarting their conversation that they were having before Harley interrupted.
"Oh, right. Catalina wanted this place to be a family oriented place, however Carlos wanted a place people could call a "hang-out". So, they compromised and split the place like you see now. It was a little rocky at first, but then it really flourished." Mikalya's wide smile told Cammie that Mikayla was a fan of this place, thought something she heard earlier nagged at her.
"Hey Mikayla," Cammie spoke, interrupting Mikayla's thoughts, "I was wondering something. For such a, well, medium sized town, I'm surprised there aren't more restaurants or anything. Why is that?"
Mikayla scratched her head, thinking and pondering. "I can't really say off the top of my head, Cammie. However, when we get back to my office, I can pull up the relevant files." Cammie smiled back and nodded. "I must say, that's a very unusual...umm...fashion statement of yours Cammie." Mikayla gestured to Cammie's lab coat. Cammie tensed up again and felt her face get flustered. She stroked her hair again in a tense motion. "Oh, hey, sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you or anything."
Cammie took a deep breath and regained her composure again. She pulled out her journal and decided to make herself a checklist of all the times she lost her composure and what caused it.
"Hmm? 'Mikayla talked about clothing.'" Mikayla read out loud. Cammie quickly closed her journal and stuffed it back inside her lab coat. "Hey, what was that about me in there Cammie?"
Cammie, instead of being flustered, smirked at Mikayla. "If you wanna know, you'll have to read it for yourself." Cammie replied. Mikayla crossed her arms and huffed, then smiled.
"Deal."
As Cammie was about to retort, Harley came back with their breakfast. "Hello girls! I have your food for you!" She handed Mikayla her plate of pancakes and side of ham. To Cammie, she handed a plate with an Dippy Egg Sandwich, a pile of hash browns, and bacon. "Enjoy!" Harley smiled and walked off. As Cammie and Mikayla started to eat their breakfast, Harley came back, about 5 minutes later. "Sorry to disturb you two, but did I leave my special pen here?" Mikayla looked for it, but the word "special" piqued Cammie's interest.
"What about your pen makes it special?" Cammie asked her, watching Harley's never changing expression.
"Well, it was a gift from my father before he passed away. It's very special to me. All the parts of it are one of a kind, from the barrel to the tip, to even the ink inside. You can't find any parts of this pen anywhere else." Her smile never faded even once. Mikayla found her pen from under the table, which Harley had dropped earlier.
"Here you are Harley." Mikayla said, handing Harley the pen. Cammie took extreme notice to the pen as Mikayla handed it off.
It was a thin, blue pen. The end of the pen looked like a red jewel held by a golden ring. The grip of the pen was a dark brown rubber and the barrel was completely metallic. The tip of the pen resembled the tip of a quill pen, all in silver. Along the side of it bore the words "To my dearest Harley".
"Thank you Mikayla." Harley's smile somehow got even larger as she walked off with it. Cammie quickly pulled out her journal and sketched the pen, also making note of everything that Harley said about the pen. she stuffed her journal back into her coat and continued eating. As she ate, she looked around and scanned what she could see. There were empty booths, with only a few people dotted around. She didn't recognize any of them, but she didn't expect to either. She wondered and pondered to herself.
"What's Harley's secret?"
She wore a plain white T-shirt and long black pants that came and covered most of her shoes. She looked over at her usual lab coat, then outside. She opened the door and felt the warm breeze. It was warm enough for her to decide not to fully wear her lab coat, but it was also cool enough for her to not want to leave without it. Coming up with a solution, she threw her lab coat over her and buttoned the first one around her neck, much in the fashion a cape. She grabbed her room key and stuffed her journal into her lab coat. She took some money from the $350 that Lindy had given her and put it in her front pocket. She walked out and locked the door behind her as Yarren approached her.
"'Ey there Cammie. Heading over to Mikayla's huh?" Yarren asked her, scratching the back of his head.
"Yeah. Would you be able to give me some directions?" Cammie asked, but when she glanced at Yarren, she realized he had fallen asleep. She recalled how Mikayla had awakened Yarren, so Cammie reared back and smacked Yarren on the back of the head. He snorted and shook his head.
"Sorry about that," he chuckled. "Yeah, you just head down that there road and hang a left and just keep walking." He pointed to a path that lead around the motel. "Say hi to Mikayla for me, eh?" With that, he slumped over and fell asleep again.
Cammie couldn't help but smile. Yarren's ability to fall asleep on whim was pretty humorous to her. She side stepped around him and headed down the path, but her stomach stopped her. She hadn't eaten in quite a while and was pretty hungry. Not seeing any sort of breakfast area, she decided to go ask Yolanda for any restaurants. She walked over to Yolanda's office and knocked on the door. Yolanda stumbled to the door and stared at Cammie.
"Yeah? What you want?" she asked in an annoyed voice. She clearly did not get a lot of sleep last night. She rubbed her eyes and yawn, attempting to doze off.
"Hello Yolanda, not get any sleep last night?" Cammie nonchalantly asked, trying to hide the fact she already knew the answer.
"No, not really. I haven't slept well in four days now." She yawned again and rubbed her eyes some more. "Did you just come to talk, or did you have something important to talk about?" Cammie knew Yolanda wasn't trying to be rude, she was just sleep-deprived.
"Yes. Are there any restaurants or diners close-by?" Cammie asked, trying to repress her stomach growling.
"The only restaurant or anything of that sort here is Carlos and Catalina's. It's-" she paused, yawning and stretching. "It's that way, about a 5 minute walk." She pointed down the opposite direction of the path Yarren had sent her. With that, she slinked back into her office and shut the blinds, leaving out a DO NOT DISTURB sign.
Cammie walked away and started walking down the path, admiring what was around her as she walked. She held a grip on her journal as she walked and tried not to attract too much attention. Finally, she reached a large building.
There were neon signs on the outside which made, in large glowing letters, "C+C'S A REST TO DINE". The place itself was split into two visible parts. The western side was darker, much more like a bar than a restaurant. The eastern side was much more like a restaurant with brighter colors, such as yellows and peaches. Cammie decided to go to the eastern part and walked inside.
Inside, there were a few people scattered about, eating. Cammie looked, hoping that perhaps Mikayla was there. As fate would have it, Mikayla was just being seated to a booth. Cammie calmly walked over and sat down.
"Hey Mikayla. Long time no see, huh?" Cammie calmly asked. Mikayla was a little startled at Cammie's sudden appearance, but smiled and greeted her back.
"Hey Cammie. I thought you were going to come over to my office yesterday. You feel asleep on the train and I wanted to wake you, but Yarren kinda dragged me off." Mikayla looked sheepish and rubbed the back of her head.
"Sorry, I went to the Backfoot Motel so I wouldn't have to carry my luggage and then I kinda fell asleep." Cammie looked sheepish back and stroked her hair. "I can come over after I eat though." Mikayla nodded and smiled. "So, can you tell me about this restaurant and some of the people?"
"Of course, it's no problem." Mikayla smiled and continued. "This restaurant is owned by Carlos and Catalina Rodreguez. Well, more Catalina than Carlos. Carlos owns the western side of this building, which he renovated and turned into a bar. Catal-"
"Hello there Mikayla! Hello there stranger!" spoke an exceedingly cheerful voice, startling Cammie. Standing there was a woman with cherry blonde hair in a waitress smock. Her hair was up in two strands and then fell behind her to her shoulder blades, much in the shape of a heart. She had a cheerful expression on her face and freckles dotted her cheeks. She wore a long dress with hearts dotted all over. The front had a heart shape cut out, which would have revealed much of her chest, if not for her waitress smock. "May I get you two some drinks?" she asked, somehow more cheerful than before.
Cammie was a little startled at the woman's cheeriness. Not even Lindy or Volt was this happy. "U-Umm...I-I'll take a c-coffee please." Cammie stammered, trying to regain her composure.
"I'll have a nice hot cup of green tea please, Harley." Mikayla told the woman. The woman wrote down on the pad, smiled, nodded, and walked away, her smiled never leaving her face.
"Wh-Who was that woman?" Cammie asked, regaining more of her composure.
"That was Harley Tera, one of our most popular residents. No matter what, she always has a cheerful expression and feel to her."
"No kidding."
"She's very well known and widely loved by everyone. Just everything cheery about her makes her an amazing friend. However, it also makes her a very strange case. She was born without a sense of anger or sadness. Nothing will make her cry of get mad, not injury nor emotional torment. She's always happy, which also makes it impossible for me to get a clear reading on her."
"It does?" Cammie asked. She figured that because she read body language, Mikayla should be able to get a reading on anyone.
"Yes. Emotion is the one weakness I can't quite overcome. If there's an overflow of a specific emotion like happiness, fear, or sadness; a person may get facts mixed up, which means that testimony they give for events cannot be fully trusted. Normally I just have to find the source of the emotion, but I can't with Harley. It's like there's no source, it's just...there."
"Here you go ma'ams" As Cammie was about to ask more questions, Harley came back with Mikayla's tea and a pot of Cammie's coffee. Mikayla started drinking her tea as Harley poured coffee for Cammie. "So, what can I get you girls to eat?" Cammie once again lost a bit of her composure. She had been so focused on learning about Harley, she forgot to look at the menu.
"Umm...well...umm" Cammie stammered, quickly glancing over the menu. "I'll have the...signature C Breakfast Special." Harley scratched that down on her pad.
"I'll three blueberry pancakes and a side of ham please." Mikayla told Harley, who promptely wrote it down. Harley nodded and walked off with the menus, her smile never leaving her face.
"Ugh, it'll take me a while to get used to all that happiness of hers. So, um, you were saying about the owners of this restaurant/bar?" Cammie spoke, restarting their conversation that they were having before Harley interrupted.
"Oh, right. Catalina wanted this place to be a family oriented place, however Carlos wanted a place people could call a "hang-out". So, they compromised and split the place like you see now. It was a little rocky at first, but then it really flourished." Mikalya's wide smile told Cammie that Mikayla was a fan of this place, thought something she heard earlier nagged at her.
"Hey Mikayla," Cammie spoke, interrupting Mikayla's thoughts, "I was wondering something. For such a, well, medium sized town, I'm surprised there aren't more restaurants or anything. Why is that?"
Mikayla scratched her head, thinking and pondering. "I can't really say off the top of my head, Cammie. However, when we get back to my office, I can pull up the relevant files." Cammie smiled back and nodded. "I must say, that's a very unusual...umm...fashion statement of yours Cammie." Mikayla gestured to Cammie's lab coat. Cammie tensed up again and felt her face get flustered. She stroked her hair again in a tense motion. "Oh, hey, sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you or anything."
Cammie took a deep breath and regained her composure again. She pulled out her journal and decided to make herself a checklist of all the times she lost her composure and what caused it.
"Hmm? 'Mikayla talked about clothing.'" Mikayla read out loud. Cammie quickly closed her journal and stuffed it back inside her lab coat. "Hey, what was that about me in there Cammie?"
Cammie, instead of being flustered, smirked at Mikayla. "If you wanna know, you'll have to read it for yourself." Cammie replied. Mikayla crossed her arms and huffed, then smiled.
"Deal."
As Cammie was about to retort, Harley came back with their breakfast. "Hello girls! I have your food for you!" She handed Mikayla her plate of pancakes and side of ham. To Cammie, she handed a plate with an Dippy Egg Sandwich, a pile of hash browns, and bacon. "Enjoy!" Harley smiled and walked off. As Cammie and Mikayla started to eat their breakfast, Harley came back, about 5 minutes later. "Sorry to disturb you two, but did I leave my special pen here?" Mikayla looked for it, but the word "special" piqued Cammie's interest.
"What about your pen makes it special?" Cammie asked her, watching Harley's never changing expression.
"Well, it was a gift from my father before he passed away. It's very special to me. All the parts of it are one of a kind, from the barrel to the tip, to even the ink inside. You can't find any parts of this pen anywhere else." Her smile never faded even once. Mikayla found her pen from under the table, which Harley had dropped earlier.
"Here you are Harley." Mikayla said, handing Harley the pen. Cammie took extreme notice to the pen as Mikayla handed it off.
It was a thin, blue pen. The end of the pen looked like a red jewel held by a golden ring. The grip of the pen was a dark brown rubber and the barrel was completely metallic. The tip of the pen resembled the tip of a quill pen, all in silver. Along the side of it bore the words "To my dearest Harley".
"Thank you Mikayla." Harley's smile somehow got even larger as she walked off with it. Cammie quickly pulled out her journal and sketched the pen, also making note of everything that Harley said about the pen. she stuffed her journal back into her coat and continued eating. As she ate, she looked around and scanned what she could see. There were empty booths, with only a few people dotted around. She didn't recognize any of them, but she didn't expect to either. She wondered and pondered to herself.
"What's Harley's secret?"