Diluted

~3~

She grabs her car keys out of her pocket and jumps into her Dodge Challenger.

"Let's hope I'm not fired," Ember mutters to herself as she speeds off down the road.

Jim walks back inside his apartment. He feels bad that Ember is very late but he knows there's nothing he could have done.

Jim sits down at the table and grabs his phone when it starts ringing.

"Hello, Jim Root," Jim answers the phone.

"Yeah. I know you're Jim Root dumb ass," Corey's voice cackles through the speaker.

Jim rolls his eyes.

"What's up?" He asks.

"Would you like to come over to Mick's tonight. We are going to go over some things," Corey says through the speaker.

"Yeah I'll be there, what time?" Jim asks.

"Seven," Corey says.

"Alright see you then," Jim chuckles.

"Yup. Bye," Corey says.

"Bye," Jim replies as he ends the call.

Jim goes into his spare room and grabs his guitar.

He tunes it and begins strumming.

—

Ember pulls up into the staff parking lot of the record store she works in.

She grabs her bag and locks the door to her car as she runs in.

"Ah, Miss. Rose, I'm grad you could finally make it in," she hears her boss say.

Ember gulps and turns around to face him.

"Hi Mr. Parker. I'm sorry I lost track of time," Ember explains.

She braces herself for him to fire her.

"It's fine. Just know you're two hours late so I have to doc that from your pay," her boss acknowledges.

Ember nods and sets her stuff down.

"Of course. I'm really sorry," Ember tells him.

"I know you are. I can tell you're a hard worker so I won't hold this against you," Her boss says.

Ember nods and thanks him.

She grabs a couple boxes and begins shelving the CD's and posters in them.

The door bell rings and Ember looks up from the shelf.

A middle age man walks in and begins to walk around.

"Hello. I'm Ember, I'll help you when you're ready," Ember calls out to the man.

Ember finishes unpacking the box and then goes to put it in the back.

When's he comes back out the man is by the register.

"Ready?" Ember asks as she goes behind the counter.

"Yup," the man says, popping the 'p.'

Ember take a moment to take in the mans features. He has long multi color hair and piercing blue eyes.

"Is that it?" Ember question as she scans the CD the man set down on the counter.

"Yes," the man says again. He smiles at her and she gives a small smile back.

Something about this man doesn't sit right with Ember.

"You look familiar," the man says.

"Really?" Ember question, she knows she's never seen this man before in her life.

"Yeah. I'm Corey by the way," the man who's name is Corey says.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ember," Ember tells him.

Ember starts to get nervous as Corey studies her face.

"I swear I've seen you somewhere," Corey says.

"I highly doubt it. I just moved here," Ember chuckles as she opens the register.

"10.85," Ember tells Corey.

Corey nods and grabs his wallet.

"That's probably where I saw you," Corey mutters.

Ember raises an eyebrow.

"Do you know Jim Root?" Corey asks as he hands Ember the cash.

"I've meet him. He's my neighbor," Ember tells Corey.

Corey makes an 'aha' sound.

"That's where I've seen you. I think I saw you moving in the other day when I was over at Jim's," Corey explains.

Ember nods.

"How do you know Jim," Ember asks curiously.

"He's a friend of mine. We're in a band," Corey shrugs.

"Oh I see. He was telling me about Slipknot? Right?" Ember says, she's not sure if she remembers the name of the band correctly.

"Yeah, Slipknot," Corey smiles.

Ember nods and hands Corey his receipt and CD.

"I guess I'll see you around then," Ember smiles.

"Yes you will," Corey smirks with a wink.

Ember watches as Corey walks out the door.

Ember sighs as she looks at the clock.

Five more hours until she can go home.

—

Later that night Ember comes home.
She smiles as she walks past Jim's place.

She thinks about saying "hi" but decides against it.

Ember walks into her apartment and sets her stuff down.

She decides she's going to go to the dancing studio she works part time at.

Ember puts on her work out clothes and grabs the keys to her car, her house and the studio.

She walks back down to her car and drives off down the road.

—

Jim walks into Mick's house. There's not too many cars out just the ones that belong to the rest of the members of slipknot.

Jim takes his shoes off and follows the sound of voices into the living room.

"About time you showed up," Mick's loud voice cackles,

Jim chuckles and sits down on the couch.

Corey stands up and begins talking about the plans for the new album.

Jim listens when Corey talks about the parts for him and Mick.

"I've been up all night thinking about this album," Corey says excitedly.

Jim smiles, Corey has really good ideas for this album.

Mick hands Jim a beer and he thanks him.

"Okay so when touring starts, I want my turntables to be really high up," Sid mentions.

Corey nods and takes notes, he wants to make sure that everyone's ideas are heard.

Once they finish planning for the night.

Mick turns on his play station and invites the guys to play.

Jim gets to talking with Joey.

Everyone is enjoying themselves.