Three Losses, One Second Chance

Chapter 5: Like a Couple of Lackeys

The sun rose as usual that day, and by midday the streets around Hartwell High were flooded with students looking for lunch. Ethan spotted his old favorite diner, a two-story red-brick building that had been there since the early 1900s. It wasn't like the renovated fake "historic" storefronts you'd see in later years, with their matching signs and factory-made trinkets.

Then again, without some repair and preservation, the place really was unsightly. The rotting wooden beams, the dust-caked windows with their old ornate frames, the wood-paneled walls inside the diner caked with grease and soot.

Then he looked at the prices posted on the wall.

"Grilled cheese... $2.50. Cheeseburger... $3.25. Chili fries... $2. Patty melt... $4..."

For a moment, Ethan felt like crying. Damn it, in later years even a plain cheeseburger at a roadside dive started at twelve bucks!

Back then, ten dollars could buy a decent meal, and twenty could easily feed two people.

He remembered this diner as absolute five-star dining for students back then. Every dish was incredibly delicious. Of course, perhaps it was because the people he had liked, missed, and never been able to forget had all passed through this place, making the food all the more memorable.

Ethan had gone back a year after he started working, but the whole block had long since been torn down and redeveloped, and the diner had closed, leaving him no way to relive those memories.

Now he and Danny walked in, sat down, and ordered. "Here's the chicken-fried steak, the meatloaf, the BBQ ribs, and the T-bone plate (yes, they have it)!"

Ethan practically ordered every dish he had ever craved back then. Danny, meanwhile, exclaimed, "Oh, this is good!" "Wow, Ethan!" "Ribs, beautiful, I've been wanting to eat this forever!" "T-bone plate, wow!"

He was like a stand-up comedian, and together they were practically a comedy duo.

Still, to be fair, the good thing about Danny was that he constantly gave you emotional support. Perhaps that was why people on the same wavelength could become good friends.

Throughout the whole thing, people at nearby tables cast surprised glances. Several students in Nike and Adidas glanced over, clearly assuming the two of them were richer than they looked.

Dishes arrived one after another. Danny was hungry too, so he grabbed his fork and dug in eagerly. Then he asked, "This is so lavish! Ethan, what were you thinking? Are you treating?"

"I'm treating! Enjoy your meal! You can make up for the barbecue you owe me next time."

"How do I owe you anything..."

Ethan smiled, subconsciously reaching for the phone that should have been on the table. Then, realizing what he was doing, he dug into his pocket instead. He pulled out two one-dollar bills and one five-dollar bill, a total of seven dollars.

Danny, still with food in his mouth, stared at him wide-eyed.

Ethan suddenly remembered that this was all he had. Margaret Carter gave him seven dollars every day, enough for lunch and dinner!

Under Ethan's gaze, Danny started pulling money from his pockets, finally coming up with thirty dollars. He was definitely much richer!

"How much is all this?"

Ethan counted on his fingers. "Grilled cheese, three-fifty. Two cheeseburgers, about seven. Ribs, let's say ten. T-bone, probably twelve. That's... thirty-two, thirty-three? Plus tax."

"You have seven, I have thirty. That's thirty-seven. We can cover it," Danny said, counting the bills out on the table.

Danny was both amused and exasperated. "But we still have dinner tonight, and we might need to buy water in between! I only get twenty a day. Damn it, if you don't have money, why are you pretending to be rich!"

Ethan said helplessly, "If you'd just reminded me of our financial situation, I wouldn't have ordered so much. What were you trying to say? You made me feel so cocky!"

Watching the two of them frantically rummage through their pockets and count their money, several students in the diner who had been watching them since earlier chuckled. Some who had been envious of their order now scoffed. *What are they pretending for?* They were strapped for cash and embarrassed.

That was exactly what Ethan looked like.

Suddenly, everyone's attention was drawn to the other end of the street. Nora and Jenna were walking past on the left. Nora, with a red bow clip in her hair, was extremely eye-catching. Groups of boys along the sidewalk stopped talking when they saw the two go by, stealing glances at her.

After all, she was a celebrity at school. Not long after she started high school, it was rumored that several upperclassmen liked her. Some confessed and were turned down, and the whole school knew about it. That wasn't surprising. She had always been like this in elementary, middle, and high school.

Some kids were popular because they were always surrounded by friends. Others were admired from a distance, almost untouchable. Nora belonged to the latter group.

She had plenty of friends outside school, but at school she mostly kept to herself. Jenna was the exception—the person she spent the most time with, both at school and outside it. Jenna was actually quite pretty too, with a quirky, mischievous look that made a nice contrast to Nora's cool elegance.

Ethan thought for a moment, then suddenly walked out of the diner and approached Nora and Jenna.

The two girls stopped in their tracks.

"Whoa, Ethan, what are you doing? Why did you just appear out of nowhere?" Jenna exclaimed.

"I'm short on money for dinner," Ethan said to Nora. "Can you lend me some?"

Jenna looked at Ethan in surprise, thinking: *Ethan Carter, how dare you ask? Wasn't a guy supposed to be proud enough to hide something like that? Especially at a school like Hartwell, where half the students had connections and money.*

Ethan kept his eyes on Nora as he asked. It wasn't just because she happened to be passing by. It was also a test.

He wasn't sure whether the incident at Nora's birthday party had been the trigger for their falling out.

If she lent him the money, that wouldn't necessarily mean she'd forgiven him. But it would give him a reason. When he paid her back, he could add a small gift as thanks and make up for the trouble he had caused her that day.

The red bow in Nora's hair caught the light. She looked at him with clear eyes, but before she could speak, Jenna cut in. "Nice excuse! Didn't bring enough money for food? Maybe be more careful. We don't have any. Come on, let's go!"

With that, Jenna took Nora's arm and pulled her away.

Nora didn't resist, only glancing back at Ethan one last time as Jenna hurried her down the street.

Watching them disappear, Ethan stood frozen. That was it, then. The last thread was cut.

He eventually walked back helplessly to Danny, who was completely baffled by the whole situation.

He could be indifferent to ranking last or second-to-last on a test, yet he had a strong sense of pride in certain areas.

For example, now, at a school where comparison was rampant, they had tried to borrow money from Nora and her friend because they didn't have enough for food. And they hadn't even managed to borrow any!

This damned pride.

In Danny's eyes,

this year, not yet eighteen,

he and Ethan were standing in a diner like a couple of lackeys.

...

Sitting back down at the table and looking at the sumptuous meal, Danny was listless, while Ethan had a hunch. It seemed that after this incident, Nora wasn't very fond of him.

She was his childhood friend, the girl of his boyhood dreams. A beautiful feeling, but such feelings might not withstand the test of time.

Ethan didn't want to cause regret over some misunderstanding.

But perhaps regret is just regret. People rarely regret what they gained. They regret what they lost. And because that loss is irreparable, they remember those moments for so long.

Maybe that was just how things worked. Maybe his relationship with Nora had already developed cracks, and trying to fix them now would only delay the inevitable. Maybe it would all just fade away.

And maybe that was okay.

Danny was still chattering away across the table. "What are you thinking? Even if I, Danny Brooks, starve to death, even if I have no idea where my next meal is coming from, I will not borrow money from those two girls...!"

His words trailed off as his gaze hardened.

Because Ethan was sitting a bit farther back, it wasn't until a figure appeared at his right that he realized what was happening.

*Thud.* A hand pressed a twenty-dollar bill onto the table.

It wasn't the kind of slam a gunslinger delivers on a saloon bar to announce his arrival, or the gavel-crack that ends a trial, but its impact was still considerable.

The group of boys under the sycamore ahead, the people in the corner store and the diners on both sides of the street, all looked up, and every eye turned toward them.

Perhaps because she'd had a bit of a cold recently, Nora's somewhat husky voice came from the left. "Only twenty, no more. Remember to pay me back."

After slapping down the twenty, Nora turned and walked down the steps, past the suspicious stares around the diner, and back to Jenna, who was making faces at them.

Beneath the red bow, her dark hair swayed, framing a slightly baggy blue-and-white varsity jacket, though a subtle lightness and slenderness could still be felt beneath it.

Ethan and Danny were left standing there, facing each other.