The Devil May Care

Chapter 2

The sunrise was stunning, reds and yellows slicing through the navy blue sky, cold early morning wind pushing through the heavy curtains over my windows, sending them fluttering. I was sitting cross-legged on my bed, blankets all kicked to the floor from the heatwave that had rolled into the city. The rich fumes radiating from the French press filled with hot coffee was tempting, but the soreness in my legs prevented me from getting back up with any sort of ease.

Inhaling the cool breeze that busted through the room once more, I watched the lines of photos swing. I thought about reaching for my laptop to finish writing my essay for Duke, but a strange sense of dread dropped in my gut every time I thought about it, so I forced myself up and into the tiny kitchen area. Pouring a steaming cup of coffee into my favorite black mug, adding far too much cream and sugar, My eyes fell to a piece of paper stuck on my refrigerator.

An invitation to an open night at the local photography and electronic art gallery. They had seen my photos in a cafe and decided they wanted to showcase an artist unlike the other. They liked my darker photography, saying it showed off the areas of life that needed to be captured.

They had even offered to pay for the prints and I could invite anyone to the event. I bit my lip, thinking how maybe if someone was there, someone who was looking for a photographer, I wouldn't have to fill out that scary Duke essay. Silly of me, thinking that. But something like the event would mean big things for me, It would put something behind my name.

I had two months to submit my three photos to the gallery, a few days after that, the event would be filled with people, rich people.

I pushed off from the counter and found myself looking over my lines of photos. There were so many, of so many different things, the bright landscapes, and the dark alleys where I was incredibly unnerved by the flickering lights. I sipped my coffee, trying to make a whole life of decisions in a few moments was only going to drive me crazy, I needed to get ready for work, needed to ask Abby how the rest of her date went.

I took a long shower, seeping in the bad water pressure and semi-hot water, the tension in my shoulders racking my brain with a killer migraine that lasted long passed the shower and into my shift at the restaurant.

"You don't look very good," Ben, one of the chiefs, stood at the end of the bar, watching me with a smile across his face. "Take to many drugs?"

I scoffed and tried to refocus on the IPA that I was supposed to be pouring. I wiped the back of my hand across my forehead. "Just LSD," I placed the pint glass down and smiled back at him.

"Did Abby talk to you yet?" Ben fiddled with the capless pens beside the ticket printer

I stopped and frowned. "No," I turned towards him. "Why?"

"She came in late last night after you left, talking about how she needed to tell you something." He shrugged. "If she hasn't said anything about it, I doubt it was too important." He turned and sauntered down the shallow hallway that leads to the kitchen. I frowned as I placed the pint on a black tray and quickly checked my phone to see I had a text from her, it simply asked if I wanted to meet up for fries and shakes after work.

I ran the drink to the table, checking that it was all he needed, I headed back to the bar and sent a quick message saying I'd be there. There was a heavy heap of dread in my gut for the rest of the shift, I hoped nothing back had happened with the boy she had been with, Jamie, was it?

I was eager to get off work, so even when a co-worker asked me to stay later so that she could go get her hair cut before her family photos, I muttered an apology and clocked out. . I hurried out the door as the dinner rush hit its full swing and no one even looked at me as I slipped out and into the packed streets, just after normal people were getting off of their office jobs, the sidewalk was barely visible. I just barely caught the last train uptown, into a smaller area where our favorite McDonalds was, mostly because of the bulletproof glass that we had seen several people get drunk and try to break with their own heads.