Close to the Bone

Part 3: Nineteen

Veronica got out, after high school. After that first trip with Randy, she looked around for a job - a real job, not odds jobs - that she could get in town, and decided on waitressing, because of the tips. Just before she hit sixteen, she talked up all the same ladies she used to run errands for, because their kids were older than Veronica, and had jobs as supervisors or managers at places she could work. One of the women, Maggie, had a daughter who ran a diner.

"I'm sure she could help you get some kind of work there, bussing tables, or hostess, and you could work up to serving."

"I can't tell you how much it means to me." Veronica was sitting in Maggie's apartment, having tea. She reached over and squeezed Maggie's hand. "If I'm going to go to that community college, I'll need the work experience to get a job out there." The college Veronica was looking at was several towns over, and she wouldn't have the luxury of staying at home.

"Waiting tables is hard, honey. People are funny about the service they want, and they can be mean as hell, and won't tip. So remember: it never hurts to shake that ass of yours to keep 'em happy and the money coming." Maggie leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her tea.

Veronica choked.

"Oh, I don't mean go back to their cars or anything, but, you know, some people wanna look, men AND women, so don't be afraid to use what you got. 'Cause you got it, you know."

A burning sensation spread over Veronica's face.

"I don't know...if...uh, - "

Maggie looked hard into Veronica's eyes. "Honey, I sure hope you aren't too sentimental about sex. Because you can't afford to be, not around here. Not anywhere, really."

This was not the conversation Veronica had imagined. She sputtered her way through the rest of it.

But when Maggie's daughter called a couple of days later, inviting Veronica to come down for an interview, she was careful to pick out an outfit highlighting her best attributes.

She raked it in, for two years.

And now, she was off. Off to the Big City - well, not the Big City, more like the seventh biggest town west of the actual Big City. Off to start her General Education classes, and seek out a career she could afford. Something practical, something that would help a lot of people.

Randy had kept his word, bringing her along when he had to drive out for parts, so this town wasn't completely strange. She rented a tiny room at a boarding house near the college in hopes that maybe she could find a roommate once she got there. She'd scoped out bars and restaurants, too, and had a list of places in her head for job hunting. She spent that first night shivering in the strange bed, afraid to sleep, unconvinced that she wouldn't wake up back where she started.

Orientation was the next morning, and she was early. She sat outside the building, nibbling a sweet roll she bought on the walk over.

Someone threw themselves down on the bench beside her, a laughing blur of blond and blue. Veronica grappled to keep a hold of her breakfast.

"Hi! Are you here for orientation, too?" The blur came into focus, and turned into a pretty, blond, physically fit young woman. She looked the same age as Veronica.

"Oh! Uh, yeah. Hi - my name's Veronica."

"I'm Betty." The blur stuck out her hand.

Veronica's eyes popped out a bit as she flashed back to her eleven-year-old self. "For real?!"

"No, not really! You just remind me of that girl from the comic books. I'm Sandi."

Veronica grabbed her hand and shook it in amazement. "Nice to meet you."

Veronica had never hit it off so completely with someone before. Sandi had just driven in from her hometown, and planned to stay in her car until she found a place. Before she could even think about it, Veronica heard her own voice saying, "Well, I need a place, too!"

Sandi leaned forward with a devilish grin and said, "What makes you think I'm gonna trust you? And why should you trust me?"

"'Cause neither one of us have anything to take! Except for your car, and I don't drive."

"We'll have to change that. After we move our two little pathetic suitcases into a new place."

They had similar life stories, and similar plans - get through classes, make a life. They studied together, and waitressed together. Even their work habits were in sync - show just enough, but no touching, maybe a little touching after a tip, maybe a little more next time around, and after a bigger tip. But only up to a point. And neither one of them were particularly sentimental in their dating lives. But that was separate from work.

Until.

Until that particular month, of that particular year, when everything dried up faster than a California desert, faster than all the non-tipping patrons leaving their tables. Faster than the college closed down, along with the restaurant, faster than they were kicked out of their apartment, and all they had left was Sandi's car.

Sitting in the front seat, watching the sun go down, Veronica had no tears, no sadness, no nothing. She and her momma had moved so often, some part of her simply said, "Shoulda seen that coming." It was too close to home, too close to the bone, all her nerve endings cut.

Three days passed in the car. They took turns sleeping. Veronica missed her bed so much - what she wouldn't do to lay down properly again.

The third night, they decide to chance a beer out somewhere. There were a few places the underaged could sneak a drink before the great collapse; there were many more now. They pulled the car up to the closest bar, parked as near to the front door as they could, and went inside PixelDust.