Chapter Text
After waiting outside for almost half an hour after your shift ended, you figure it’s safe to say that your sister won't be showing up anytime soon to bring you home. Figures. You pull your cell phone out of your pocket, and look up the closest taxi service. You didn’t know your way around enough yet to just walk home, since you had recently moved, so that wasn’t even an option.
“Hello, Woodhurst Taxi speaking. How may we help you?” The woman that had answered the phone was very monotonous and boring. If it hadn’t been for the loud sigh afterwards, you could have almost been convinced that it had been an automated message.
“Oh, yes, hello. Uh, I need a taxi-”
“Obviously. Where are ya’ located.” Okay, monotonous, boring, and quite rude. You’d remember to not to use this taxi service again, if you could help it.
“Oh, uhm.” Looking around for a quick second, you see the street sign a few buildings down. “West Main street? Outside of the Café?”
“Alright. It’ll be about 20 minutes.”
“Thank y-” She had already hung up. Alright, time to wait outside for at least 20 more minutes, you think. It could be worse, you guess, you’re just lucky that it’s mid-July and not mid-December, when it gets to as low as -4°.
‘Uhg, why didn’t I just get a ride from Arin,’ you think to yourself. Arin was your coworker, and close friend from high school. When he heard you were moving to Woodhurst, he had talked his boss into giving you an interview, and you had gotten the job, starting immediately the day after. Today was only your second day, and since he knew you didn’t know your way around quite yet, he had asked if you had wanted a ride home, saying it would be no big deal. You had declined his offer, putting too much faith into your sister, and her ruining your said faith in her, yet again. And now, you have to wait for someone to bring you home, standing by the side of the road at 7pm. Surprisingly, you notice, there’s barely any traffic, even though you would consider this a fairly popular street.
You decided to play games while you waited, figuring that it would be some way to keep your mind off things. After a few rounds of pool, the taxi cab pulls over to the curb and rolls the window down.
“someone call for a cab?” A deep voice drifts from the vehicle, and you think you catch a slight New York accent.
“Oh, yeah! I did, thank you so much.” Putting your phone to sleep and finally looking up at the cab driver, you realize that he’s quite boney. In the sense, that he is literally made of bone. He is a skeleton. You feel like you should be surprised, but you’re not, somehow. Over the past few days in the café, you’d seen some pretty interesting people come in. Anywhere from the one woman where her head was a giant hand, to the young orange reptile –dinosaur?– with no arms.
You refused to call them what they even call themselves, “monsters”. It sounded so harsh and cruel to you, reminding you of nightmarish stories from things living under beds and in closets. And after all, they have feelings too, just like all the other people in the world, and you decided to treat them just like anyone else.
Opening the passenger seat door, you get settled down and buckle yourself in. “ ice to meet’cha i’m sans. sans the skeleton. where we headed tonight?” Looking over at the driver once more, you realized he looked fairly short, and was wearing something you’d think was straight from some kind of gangster movie; black slacks with a striped shirt –rolled up at the sleeves, so you could see all the bones below his elbow– and suspenders. You couldn’t see his shoes from here, but you could only imagine that they’d be those shiny black ones they’d be wearing in the movies.
Chuckling, you have to address his not-appropriate timed pun. "Ha ha. Ice puns don't work in the summer, Mr. Funny Bones."
"heh, sorry. i just say anything to try to rattle your bones, stuff like that just goes right through me." He –somehow– gives you a sly wink, and gives you the biggest shit-eating grin. "now, location?"
You fumble in your purse to find the piece of paper you wrote your address on, given that you couldn’t remember it yourself. Finding it, you quickly rattle it off, and he starts the meter as he pulls the cab away from the curb, towards the direction of your house. After a long day, your hair feels gross being up in a ponytail all day, because of having to wear a hairnet and a mandatory work cap. You quickly reach up and pull the tie from you hair, wrapping it around your wrist as you shake out and loosen your hair.
“so, what’s a pretty girl like you doing out, stranded on the road by herself? hair has got to be something I’m missing here.” He glances over for a second, giving a slight grin and a chuckle, before returning his eyes to the road. Great, you got the taxi driver with a –dare you say it– funny bone.
‘Oh yeah, just my older sister leaving me out of the loop, again’ you think. But you feel like you shouldn't indulge your problems on a complete stranger that you just meant. Especially one that was probably just trying to be nice, and wasn’t actually concerned with you.
“Just, some issues with my plans for a ride, is all. Never showed up like she said she would.” You sigh, probably more dramatically than you would’ve tried, and watch out the window at the houses passing.
“oh, well that wasn’t very ice of her, now was it? sounds like a pretty cold-hearted thing to do, to me at least.” He chuckles again, a little more harshly than before. And even though he’s laughing, you can tell he still means it. Something about his laughter makes you unable to help yourself, and you soon find yourself giggling along. “there’s that smile i knew you had. now, you wanna talk about what happened? might help.” His smile turns genuine, and you notice that in his eye sockets, he has bright lights that seem to dissipate your angers. The lights somehow seem… thoughtful. Caring.
Resolving that you might as well explain the basics of your problems, you sigh in defeat and piece together what to say in your mind. “I mean, it’s really not important. Unreliable sister, told me she’d pick me up, never showed up. That’s about it, I told you it was nothing.”
He seems to think about this for a second, long enough to make you think he just isn’t going to respond at all, before he speaks again. “eh, that’s still a pretty shit to do, especially to family. sorry ‘bout that, hope she makes it up to you someday.” He audibly sighs, sounding irritated. The lights in his eyes seem to flicker and dim slightly.
“Well, I doubt that, but thanks anyway. It means a lot.” You give a polite smile, and turn your head to watch out the window and see the houses becoming a little more familiar. Realizing you have work again tomorrow, you should probably schedule a cab for tomorrow morning. “Oh, uh, I don’t know if people usually do this or not, but is there a way I can schedule a cab, like, in advance? I don’t have a ride in the morning to work, and I don’t wanna bother my friend to have him come get me.”
He glances over and gives you an odd look. Okay, you guess, that that is not something people do here. “uh, sure i guess. same place i’m dropping you off?” He asks, still sounding quite confused.
“Yeah, at probably 7? I work the early morning shift.” You feel your face warming from slight embarrassment. You figure you probably should’ve just waited until the morning to just call a cab.
“ok. not many people at work drive that early in the mornin’, ‘sides me, anyway. i’ll just pick you up myself. i mean, is that alright? not gonna weird you out, having a skeleton driver and all?” His voice sounds more even now, even though it isn’t completely softened back to normal. He gestures with an arm and his eyes at his body, trying to get the point across of his lack of flesh.
Of all things that it would be considered a proper response, you choose the less proper, and laugh. It isn’t until you see the offended look he’s trying to cover up that you stop to address his question.
“Hey, oh, geez I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that, uh, that probably seemed like such a dick move, oh my god. Sorry. I don’t care that you’re a skeleton, I mean obviously it matters but—” You pause a moment, trying to pull words from your mind. “The point is, is that I have nothing against monsters. Or skeletons. You’re fine, I mean, you’re great. Just–” He chuckles a bit now, and holds up his hand to silence you.
“hey, hey, no worries. it’s all alright, don’t need to work yourself down to the bone .” He pauses while both of you chuckle. You didn’t even realize you were holding in a nervous breath, but now the conversation certainly feels lighter, easing away some of your embarrassment. “also, i may have been getting a little concerned with how little you were breathing when you starting rambling. but that settles it, i’ll be here tomorrow morning.” His face molds back into a peaceful smile, making it seem almost like he had actual cheeks instead of just cheekbones. “but, it seems like we have reached-” he pauses for what you can assume as some sort of humerus dramatic pause as he pulls into your driveway. “-our destination.” He puts the cab into park and reaches over to stop the still running meter, now paused with your total coming out to be $13.18.
You hand him a 10 and a 5 dollar bill, then tell him to keep the change, seeing as to get out a dollar and 82¢ wouldn’t be worth it. You feel like just counting it as a tip. “Thanks a bunch, Sans. I’m glad I got a driver nicer than whoever answered the phone, at least. I almost just hung up, but you know what? I’m glad I didn’t. See you… tomorrow? I guess?” You chuckle a bit and smile at him, before opening your door are stepping out. As you close the door you hear a muffled ‘see ya’ tomorrow, sweetheart’, and you feel your cheeks heat up after hearing his choice of nickname for you. The car swiftly backs out of the driveway and back down the road you just had came from.
Not lingering outside longer than needed, you head into the house and take off your jacket, already feeling the blanket of heat surrounding you. You didn’t remember leaving the heat on this high, you almost never have it so hot inside in the Summertime. You walk over to the thermostat, and turn it down, you figure that 50° is probably good enough. You’d rather the house be cold instead of hot anyway, especially on such a warm night.
Walking into the Living Room, you throw your bag through the dark room onto your recliner, promptly followed by a loud “Ow!”
Startled, you jump back, and a string of curse words fall from your mouth. You take a few steps back, and catch your breath, staring down your chair through the darkness.
“You know, you could try turning a light on first? You know, instead of just throwing stuff on me?” You finally recognize the voice as your sisters’, and your fear turns to confusion. “Are you just going to stand there? You even going to say anything? Not even a ‘hello’?”
“Why are you here? You just scared the crap out of me, Sam. And why were you in the dark?” You walk back over to the doorframe, flicking on the light once you’re close enough. Sure enough, there was your sister, lying in the recliner, a blanket messily on top of her.
“Still no hello? Wow, you don’t even know how to greet your own family. But, if you must know, my friend kicked me out, I can’t live there anymore. So I came here, guess I’m crashing here for now.” She rubs her eyes and struggles to keep them open now with the sudden bright light, in a room that had previously been dark as can be.
“Uh, you didn’t think to, you know, ask me about this first? How did you even know where I lived? And… why’d you get kicked out?” You raise your hand to your face, supporting your head, too tired to even want to deal with her right now.
“I’m your sister, should I need to ask? You’re supposed to be there for family! But boy, you sure are a bunch of questions. Still have that thing where you just need to know all of what’s going on, I see.” She pauses to yawn and stretch out, seeming to take her sweet time. Her presence rises bubbled down anger to your mind, who comes into your house just to be rude to you? “...Anyway, I asked Arin. Would you know why he didn’t even want to tell me? Does he not like me?”
You sigh and raise your head back up from your hand, dragging your palm down your face. “Look, ok, whatever. You can stay here. I want you out within a week. I barely make enough to feed me, and we both already know you don’t work.” You’d rather not answer all her questions, and get the conversation over and done with. “No friends over, either. Alright? Is this conversation over?”
“Yeah, sure. Whatever.” She rolls her eyes at you and throws the purse you had thrown her onto the couch on the other side of the room.
“You realize I have a spare bedroom, right?” You don’t want her staying here, but you figure you like it even less thinking of her sleeping on your recliner. You don’t like her, but you aren’t a horrible person, right? The look she gives you confirms your suspicions and it seems as if no, she did not know you had a spare bedroom. “Up the stairs, first door on the right when you go down the right hallway.” She nods at you knowingly and sluggishly pulls herself up and trudges up the stairs.
You walk through the kitchen door to do what you originally planned on doing when you came in– get a glass of water. You realized working today, that working a 5 hour shift with nothing to drink can really be tiring. And you hadn’t wanted to just take a drink from the café, since you knew you would have to pay for it.
You grab your glass from one of the top cupboards, and fill it with tap water. Drinking slowly, you relax a bit. You hadn’t even realized how on edge and defensive she made you, just from being around her. After you dumped the remaining water in your glass down the drain and threw your jacket on the couch, you grabbed your purse and headed upstairs for some well deserved rest.