Four

“Hey Quincy, get up!” I manage to stop myself from falling off the couch this time. I’ve decided that today, things are going to go well. I snatch the spatula from Amber and race downstairs, stumbling slightly on the last step. 

“Morning, Quincy!” Astraeus is already up and cooking breakfast. 

“Good morning!” I say brightly, handing Astraeus the spatula. He opens his mouth to say something, but I get there first. “I would love some coffee, thanks!”

He looks at me in a slightly confused fashion, but he seems thankful for the spatula. Astraeus hands me a steaming mug and Freddie walks past and heads for the stairs. This time, I’m ready. I put my cup down on the table and rush to the bottom of the stairs. When Freddie falls down them, I catch her in my arms in a very romantic style. Not that I like Freddie in that way, of course. I twirl her away and she goes to sit down in the kitchen. I follow after her and manage to pick up Robespierre in the nick of time, just before he knocks the breakfast that Astraeus prepared off the counter. The four of us, that is to say, me, Amber, Astraeus and Freddie, eat a peaceful breakfast together. Everything goes exactly to plan, and after breakfast, I’m off to the grocery store. As I had hoped, the strawberry blond man is just leaving the store when I arrive. 

“Give me the biscuits,” I say, gesturing to the blue packet decorated with stars in his hand, just in case I wasn't clear enough which biscuits he should give me. I kind of feel bad about forcing him to give them to me, but I need the biscuits in order to have a good day and escape this time loop. The man glances down at the biscuits.

“They’re for my daughter,” The man explains. 

“I don’t care who they’re for.” Gosh, I feel like a terrible person right now. But I might as well get this over with.

“I can give you the money for the biscuits, if you’d like?” Offers the man. I explain that I don’t want the money, I want the biscuits. He says that he also wants the biscuits, and why do I deserve them anyways? I tell him that I really need the biscuits, which is a bit of a stretch, but it works. He glances sadly at the biscuits one last time and then hands them to me. I enter the store with my well-earned biscuits and buy the other things I need, and I take extra care to buy some Lemon Stars. The cashier thinks I’m trying to steal the Cosmic Crunch biscuits, so I end up paying for them too, but it’s fine. Nothing is going to go wrong today. When I get to the Egg & Rye, Lev is already sitting there. I think he was just about to leave, but then for some reason he remains seated when I approach.

"Sorry, is this seat taken?” This time it’s me asking. 

“No, feel free to sit,” Says Lev. I sit down and put the Lemon Stars on the table to make sure that Lev will notice them. He does.

“Hey, are those Lemon Stars?”

“Yeah, do you want one?”

I know that he will, and I’m right.

“Sure, thanks.” I give him one of the bright yellow pentagram-shaped biscuits and he eats it happily. 

“Those have always been my favourites,” Says Lev when he’s done with his biscuit. “I’m Lev, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Quincy.” 

“Well, it was nice talking to you.” He gets up to leave, but before he does, he scribbles something onto a napkin. 

“Bye!” I say after him, when he’s almost at the door. He turns around to give me a warm, genuine smile before he leaves. I look at what the note says, and I see that he’s written his phone number, along with the words call me and a smiley face. I stuff the napkin into my pocket and get up to leave the café. Today’s the day I escape the time loop, I’m almost sure of it. I can’t think of a single  thing that’s gone wrong today, and I run home happily and try to get to sleep as fast as I can so that I can wake up tomorrow and live my regular life. It’ll be so nice to escape these endless Sundays.