Ruby's

Chapter 5

Friday arrived and I felt conflicted. I was happy my sister was coming and I was happy I was going to be working with Noel, but it was also Halloween which was the anniversary of the worst day of my life and I was feeling a little down. I went to my classes and then to work. Jeff was leaving as I got there.

"Hey, Claire!  You coming out again tomorrow night?"

"I don't know, my sister is coming tonight."

"Bring her."

"Maybe." I shrugged.

"Ok, see ya."

"Bye."

I went to the back room to drop my backpack off and found Noel at the desk.

"Hey."

He turned and smiled.

"Hi."

I flashed him a smile then went up to the register. I tried not to think about certain things, but like every year, the thoughts wouldn't stop coming. I felt my eyes start to well up and tried to keep the tears in, but couldn't. I wiped my eyes and tried to think about something else but the tears kept coming. Noel came out from the back room. I turned away from him and wiped my eyes, hoping he wouldn't see the tears.

"Claire?  You ok?"

"Yeah." I cleared my throat, but kept my back to him.

"Hey." he said softly and I felt his hand on my left shoulder. I took a deep breath and turned to face him. He looked concerned when he saw my face.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"I'm fine." I tried to smile.

"No you're fucking not."

Just then a customer walked into the shop.

"I'm sorry, we're closed." Noel said.

"It says you're open."

"Yeah sorry, we had an issue come up so we are closing early for the day, sorry."

The customer gave him a look and left.

Noel walked over and locked the door and turned off the Open sign. He turned and walked back over to me.

"Talk to me, what's wrong?"

"I'm fine, really. You don't have to close the shop."

"I know I don't have to, but I'm fuckin' gonna. Come on, lets 'ave it." He said gently.

I decided to tell him everything, but when I opened my mouth to talk no words would come out. Instead, I burst into tears. He reached out and pulled me into his arms and held me as I sobbed. I was so embarrassed that he was seeing me this way. I finally managed to stop crying and calmed down a little bit. I lifted my face from his chest and his shirt was soaked from my tears.

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok." he said, looking at the giant wet spot.