Chapter Text
“Where is the waitress?”
Shelby looked up from her menu, across the circular booth to where Fatin was sitting. Fatin’s menu was closed in front of her, instead she was looking at the smaller drink menu.
“We just sat down, like, thirty seconds ago,” Dot reminded her.
“Yeah and I want a drink,” Fatin said with a shrug.
“When don’t you?” Leah muttered.
“They’re gonna spit in your food,” Toni told her without looking up from her menu, one arm around the booth behind Shelby.
“Just because you did that, doesn’t mean everyone does,” Martha said with a laugh.
“Look, I’m not being difficult,” Fatin insisted. “It’s been forever since I’ve had a good dirty margarita and I’ve been looking forward to this all week.”
Rachel scoffed. “I hope for the bartender’s sake, they know what they’re doing.”
A dark-haired woman in a white button up stopped a table away from theirs, making Fatin groan as she took the other party’s order. “Relax, she’ll be here soon,” Shelby said.
Something about the waitress’s voice caught Shelby’s attention, there was a familiar drawl that she’d slip in and out of as she introduced herself and took the order, almost as if she were trying to train herself to speak without it. The woman was from Texas, Shelby could tell, no matter how much she tried to hide it.
Shelby decided she would ask where in Texas she was from, maybe ask what brought her to Los Angeles, hoping to counteract Fatin’s bad mood with some polite conversation, maybe she could save their table from being the one that the servers dreaded. She glanced at Fatin, who was finally looking at the food menu then looked back to the waitress as she turned, Shelby’s breath caught in her throat.
She didn’t notice Shelby, but Shelby recognized the eyes immediately, the same light blue she’d so easily let herself get lost in all those years ago. She tuned the conversation at the table out, she could almost feel her heart skip when the waitress smiled, a smile she’d know anywhere.
She shook herself when the woman turned towards their table. “I have to go to the bathroom,” Shelby quickly announced. “Babe, will you order for me?” she asked Toni, not waiting for an answer before she stood and half-ran towards the restrooms.
Before the rest of the group could question Shelby’s behavior, the waitress stopped at their table. “Hey, looks like we’ve got ourselves a girls’ night over here. My name’s Becca, I’ll be your server tonight. Are y’all ready to order?”
-----
“She hasn't changed a bit,” Shelby told Toni as they sat on the couch in their apartment. “Don’t you think so?”
Shelby hadn’t been as friendly as she’d planned, once Becca returned to deliver their food, she could barely offer her more than a cursory glance as the pasta dish Toni had ordered for her was placed in front of her. Becca came back for their desert order, Shelby was still picking at her pasta, refusing to look at her.
Even when Becca addressed her directly, asking if everything was okay with the meal she’d barely touched, Shelby only managed to nod and mumble that she wasn’t feeling well. It was at that point Toni offered to take her home, Shelby hadn’t said a word until Toni closed the apartment door behind them.
Toni shrugged her shoulders. “I mean, I’ve only seen pictures, but I guess so. You know they say everyone’s got a twin, maybe that was hers.”
“With the same name?”
“Becca’s a common name.” Toni carefully took Shelby’s hand, resting on her knee. “And… you know… she’s dead,” she said carefully. “It’s been, what, eight years? And you really didn’t look at her, did you?”
Shelby pulled her hand free, shooting a glare at Toni. “I know what I saw!”
“I know you think…” Toni started but Shelby cut her off.
“I don’t think I saw her, Toni.” Shelby pushed herself off the couch and walked across the room, turning to face Toni with her arms crossed. “I did see her.”
“Okay,” Toni said slowly, carefully. She started to stand then sat again, deciding to give Shelby space. “Maybe I should give your therapist a call and she can…”
“I don’t need to talk to my therapist. I’m not having a psychotic break or something.” She shook her head and let out a humorless laugh when Toni looked down at her lap, not responding. “You think that’s what’s happening, you think I’m crazy?”
“I don’t think you’re crazy. I think… I think maybe it’s worth looking into if you need to change up your meds.”
“I don’t need some new fucking medication, Toni. I need you to be on my side.”
“I am,” Toni told her, standing up slowly. “I am always on your side, that’s why I think… that’s why I’m worried. What would you do if I said I saw Nora?”
“Jesus Christ, this isn’t some Sixth Sense, ‘I see dead people’ bullshit, okay? I wasn’t imagining things. She was real, she was there, and… and…” Shelby shook her head, rubbing her eyes with her thumb and pointer finger as her eyes started to water.
“And what?”
“And I remembered her funeral, I remembered her being buried and putting flowers at her grave.”
“Did you ever like… see her?”
Shelby shook her head. “It was a closed casket.”
“Maybe this is your way of getting closure or something,” Toni suggested, taking a hesitant step towards Shelby. “You know, getting to see her one last time, maybe you can finally forgive yourself because this is like a message that your Becca is okay, wherever she is.”
“It was her,” Shelby insisted again.
“I know,” Toni said softly, Shelby could tell Toni had wanted to say more, she could see it in her eyes. I know you think it was her, Toni’s voice finished the sentence in her head. “You’re okay,” Toni told her, finally coming close enough to hold her. “It’s okay. We never have to go back to that restaurant again, if seeing that waitress is too much for you, we’ll never go there again.”
Shelby almost laughed at that. “I don’t know, Fatin really liked their margaritas.”
“Why don’t you go take a shower?” Toni suggested, desperate for a subject change. “That always calms you down after a bad day.” Shelby nodded then looked at the door when there was a knock. “Go ahead,” Toni told her. “I’ll get rid of whoever it is and be in soon.”
“Okay,” Shelby said softly, kissing Toni quickly before she walked to their bathroom. Toni waited until she heard the water turn on before she answered the door and saw Dot.
“Where’s Shelby?” she asked instantly.
“Just jumped in the shower. Dude, that waitress that looked like Becca really messed with her head.”
“Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that,” Dot said slowly. “Honestly, I really didn’t know Becca that well but I did know of her. T, that wasn’t just someone who looked kind of like someone I went to high school with. That was definitely Becca fucking Gilroy.”