Chapter Six ~ Spaghetti Junction
It was like having dinner with the queen.
You couldn’t just show up in anything. You needed to look professional and a t-shirt and jeans would not cut it. I had thought about this before but after standing inside of a local dress shop for over an hour now, a t-shirt and jeans seemed to be the way to go.
I ran my fingers along the price tag of the suit, eyeing it cautiously. There was only one dress shop in town that specialized in men’s formal wear and it was expensive. And definitely not the good kind.
“Have you found what you’ve been looking for?” An older male, seemingly in his mid-40’s with a thinning hairline appeared from around the corner.
“Uh, yeah,” I responded quickly, “but unfortunately, it’s not in my budget, sorry.”
The man blinked in confusion. “You’re a fresh face aren’t you?”
“Huh?”
The older male placed his hands on his hips, peering down at me through his light lashes. “Everyone knows this store is way too expensive. You, however, didn’t.”
I glanced down at my feet in guilt. “Well, it was the only shop in Clearbourough. I had no clue until now.”
The man sighed. “Tell you what, they’re going to shut us down anyway. So, I’ll let you buy two suits for a discount fee. Twenty for both.”
“Seriously?”
He nodded.
“Gee, thanks,” I told him, pulling the selected suits off the rack. “That’s very nice of you.”
The employee waved me off. “Don’t mention it. This place is way to pricey anyway. That’s why no one comes here.”
I nodded in agreement. “And what are you going to do when this place closes down?”
He shrugged. “The cost of living keeps getting higher.” The man grabbed the two suits from my arms and began to walk to the back of the store where the cash register was. “Without this job, I don’t know what I’ll do. I'll Probably be laying out on the street somewhere.”
I felt sympathetic. Dad told me never to feel sorry for other people, it only brings us down but I couldn’t help it. The man looked like a nice, friendly, caring guy and he didn’t deserve this.
He rung up the items for me and placed the suits neatly in a plastic covering. I handed him the money in return. “Thanks, uh...” I narrowed my eyes in search of a nametag.
“Phil.”
“Thanks Phil, I wish you the best.” Grabbing the two hangers that held the suits, I walked out of the store and was immediately greeted by warm summer breeze smacking my face.
Glancing down at my watch, I checked the time to see it was forty minutes after five. I had about an hour before I’d have to show up at The Samuels’ mansion at the edge of town. Deciding to take a quick walk around the block, I stored the suits in the backseat of the sedan and began strolling the streets of Clearbourough. I came across an ice cream shop and decided that now would be the perfect time for some ice cream.
The bells attached to the door chimmed when I walked in, alerting everyone else. My eyes landed on the familiar female leaning against the window.
Melanie’s phone was pressed to her ear and her brows were pulled together in frustration. She talked louder than she realized because I heard every word of the conversation on her end. “Yeah, okay. But--you’re not listening! I’m tired of this I…you--stop cutting me off, god dammit!”
I checked out of the conversation a little after that, not wanting to hear the rest of it. I ordered a cone with two scoops of vanilla ice cream and strolled over to Melanie who had just gotten off the phone. “Hey.”
She flickered her eyes to mine. “What do you want?” she asked bitterly.
“Uh, just saying hi.” I attempted a genuine smile. “I couldn’t help but notice your conversation. You okay?”
“No,” she spat, “I’m not okay.”
“Want to talk?”
She glanced up at me and scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief. “We aren’t friends, remember?”
Suddenly remembering, I sighed. “Look, I’m sorry about that. I’m just not used to being around people who care.”
Melanie’s coffee colored orbs lit up, “I do care! Whether I just met you or not, you mean the world to me.” She jabbed afinger in my chest.“You’re my friend and friends care about each other.”
“Yeah.” I glanced down. “Thanks.”
She offered a friendly smile before changing the subject by pointing to her phone. “Joe. We got into another argument. It turns out my parents were right after all.”
I furrowed my brows. “Right about what?”
“They didn’t want me dating Joe because he’s white,” she explained briefly. “They don’t understand that love comes in many shapes, forms and colors.”
“They might have a point,” I said, “about Joe, I mean. You two have a lot of fights.”
Melanie averted her gaze from mine, staring out the window. “Joe’s guarded, that’s all. He has a lot of stuff that he’s going through.”
I examined Melanie’s behavior more closely. There were gaps in her story that she knew I knew. But I decided not to prod too much. “I’ll take your word for it,” I ended up saying, “I wish you luck.”
* * * *
I was currently sitting on a long extensive table with The Samuels. Gretchen and her husband, Henry, sat on opposite side of the table. I was seated in between Levi and Sam. Their youngest son, Jax, sat on the side opposite me with their eldest daughter, Crystal, who was just visiting.
Getting here wasn’t difficult. It was the only big estate in town and the house was secluded from everyone else’s which made it even easier to find. When I got there, I was instantly greeted by the family. They were standing outside of their big fancy house with big fancy smiles on their big fancy faces. They really where the perfect family unit.
Now, here I was, sitting awkwardly at a table filled with people who were much wealthier than me.
Sam nudged my ribcage with her elbow and smirked. "Are you having the time of your life?” she questioned, waggling her eyebrows. I could sense the sarcasm that was dripping from her words.
I gave her a half smile as I turned my attention to Gretchen, who had her big forest green eyes on me. “So Damien, how do you like your food?”
I glanced down at my plate of spaghetti and meatballs. “It’s good,” I told her, “I’m a real fan of spaghetti.”
She nodded in agreement, “Your father told me.” Her red-painted lips spread into a full smile. “Did you know that the wheat used to make this spaghetti was grown on one of the richest farms in the United States?”
“No.” I shook my head, wondering why it mattered. It looked and tasted like regular spaghetti. “I did not.” Here I was, having rich spaghetti with the royal family.
Levi obviously sensed how ridiculous this conversation had gotten and let out an annoyed sigh. “Mom, can you just shut up about that? You do realize you scare people away when you say things like that, right?” He turned to face me. “I apologize for my Mom’s behavior.”
I forced a smile. “It’s fine.” Soon, my eyes were roaming around the dining room. Across from me, against a wall, stood a bookshelf. It had to have held thousands of books. It seemed odd that all wealthy families had similar bookshelves.
There wasn’t any sign of where The Samuels could possibly keep their money but from experience, I noticed rich people installed safes into their walls and covered them up with some sort of painting. Now all I had to do was find the conspicuous painting.
“Have you ever had a job before, Damien?” Henry asked me.
“Uh--” I cleared my throat, "--small jobs. Most consisted of coffee shop cashiers or waiters. When I had these jobs, I was in college so there was nothing too serious.” I was lying through my teeth. I had never attended college nor did I ever had a job. These things were only said just to make me look better. If these people knew who I really was, they’d call their bodyguards or their own personal secret service.
“And how old are you?” Henry was not eating his food anymore. His eyes were set on mine, his left eyebrow raised.
“Twenty four,” I replied.
“Really?” Sam’s voice spoke up. “You don’t even look twenty four! You look way younger!”
I am younger. Three years younger. But, of course, I didn’t tell her that. I knew from research that Sam was nineteen and Levi was twenty. Crystal, though, I was unsure of. “Thanks,” I told Sam while taking a glance at Crystal. She seemed to be uninterested in the dinner and was more focused on her cell phone. She looked much older than Levi and Sam and because I had never seen her around before, I assumed she had a separate life of her own. She was probably a newly-wed.
Overall, the dinner went better than I had expected. Henry and Gretchen continued to ask questions in which I answered with no hesitation. When we all finished our food, a maid came over and took away our plates. The parents excused themselves from the table to discuss whether or not I should be hired for the babysitting job.
I thought that I did a pretty good job at answering questions and there was no reason for them not to hire me. Even Jax seemed to be impressed with me.
“Are you going to be my new babysitter?” the boy asked me, looking up with his big brown eyes.
I shrugged. “I don’t know yet.”
“I want you to be!” he beamed, “you’re really cool!”
I couldn’t help but smile at his comment. “Thank you Jax, that means a lot.”
Crystal stood up from her seat, folded her arms against her chest and looked down at the rest of us. “This dinner was fairly boring and you guys wonder why I never come for holidays.” She scoffed, turned around, and walked out of the dining room.
Sam rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry about her,” she told me, “she’s a brat.”
“And you forgot bitch,” Levi included.
“That too,” Sam added.
“You said bitch!” Jax accused Levi, pointing his finger at his face.
“So did you!” he teased, sticking his tongue out at him.
Jax fell silent and poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue. “Touché.”
“You don’t even know what that means." Sam narrowed her eyes at her little brother.
“Yeah I do!”
“No you don’t!”
“Yes I do!”
I checked out of the bickering conversation between the siblings and let my eyes wander around the room again. In the far distance, Crystal was leaning against the window with her phone pressed to her ear. She actually looked happy. An expression that I did not have the privilege of seeing earlier. Whoever she was talking to made her much happier than her family ever did.
I smiled at that thought and moved my eyes to a large painting of a lighthouse against the wall of the foyer. It seemed rather odd to have such a large painting there but I highly doubted there was a safe underneath. They weren’t dumb.
Henry and Gretchen came back minutes later, clearing their throats to announce their presence. “After much deliberation, we have decided that you can now be Jax’s babysitter!” Gretchen exclaimed. “Welcome to the family, Damien.”
I tried to act surprised but I really wasn’t.
“If you want to hang around and chat, then you are welcome." Henry gave me a warm smile as he stuck his hands into his pockets. “My wife and I will be getting a head start on our beauty sleep.” He placed his hand at the small of Gretchen’s back.
“Thank you very much for this opportunity,” I told them.
They responded by giving pleasant smiles and excused themselves from the room. Now, I was left with Levi, Sam, and Jax. I didn’t know what else I had to do so I decided I would just leave. As I got up, Levi’s hand wrapped around my wrist, tugging me back down. “Where are you going?”
“Home.”
"My parents said you could stay for a bit.”
“I know what they said." I yanked my wrist out of Levi’s grasp, feeling a tad bit uncomfortable. “But I’m going home.”
Sam spoke up in her dainty little voice, “Why so soon?”
“I have other things to do,” I told her, simply.
Jax growled. “You know, we can get you fired just as easy as we got you hired.”
I snapped my gaze to the little boy in confusion. “What?”
Sam giggled. “Our parents asking you those stupid questions was just to throw a curveball at you! You practically had the job when you walked in. Thanks to us, of course. Since we are your friends and everything.”
There was that word again. Friends. Nothing I ever did with Levi or Sam should make them assume that we were friends. The word was used way too loosely in this town. “That doesn’t seem fair.”
“Whatever.” Sam waved it off and grinned. “You’re here now so just stay for a little while! Let’s have a nice chat.”
As I glanced at the trio before me, I slowly sat down in my seat. Was there something about being wealthy that made people more demanding? “I really wish I could stay,” I said softly, “but I have to walk my dog before she shits all over the house.”
Sam’s eyes widened. “You have a dog?”
No. “Yes.”
She swallowed harshly and pulled her lips into a half smile. “Sorry, you should probably take care of that.” Sam glanced over to Levi who was nodding in agreement. “Stop by first thing tomorrow morning, okay?”
I nodded shortly as I pushed my chair back and got out of the seat. “I’ll see you tomorrow, buddy.” I ran my fingers through Jax's silky black hair as I made my way to the front door.
Crystal was there, eyeing me suspiciously. As I reached for the door knob, she grabbed onto my wrist, turning me to face her. She had hazel eyes like Levi, but they looked much colder and unfriendly. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“I--” I swallowed a lump in my throat, “--I was invited here for dinner.”
“Not that, you idiot,” she barked, “you don’t belong here. I can practically smell the dirt on you. You, my friend, are scum.”
I darted my eyes back and forth between hers, not knowing what to say.
“If you dare try anything on my family, you’ll have to answer to me.” She tugged on my wrist harder. “And don’t take that lightly.”
“I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”
She pulled me closer to her so that my face was inches away from hers. “There’s something off about you and I can sense it. I’m only warning you of what’ll come if you do some dumb shit,” she snarled, loosing her grip on my wrist. “Now leave.”
Not wasting any time, I rushed out of the door, scared of what she might do to me next. She was definitely intimidating. I just hoped what she said wasn’t true because I’d be really fucked up.
~*~*~
Well, here is another chapter my lovelies! If you like it, vote and comment on this chapter! It really means a lot to hear feedback from you guys! This story will be getting more regular updates from now on! LOVE YA! :)
~Lara