“This movie sucks.” Tyler complained, shoving another cookie in his mouth.
“I know.” I looked up from my sketchpad, where my attention had been focused for the past hour and a half, then to Dalton, who was sprawled out and sleeping on the couch after I had opted to sit on the floor. A crease had marred his brow and every so often he mumbled incoherently about things I didn’t bother listening to. His forehead glistened with a thin sheen of sweat and he turned slightly, the frown deepening. Aren’t people supposed to look peaceful when they sleep?
“I have to piss.” Tyler announced. “Feel free to let the movie die while I’m in the bathroom.”
“Yea, ok.” I placed the tip of my pencil against my mouth, resisting the urge to gnaw on the end like I used to do as a kid. He got up, placing his cold, half eaten soup on the table as a convincing prop for Tara’s amusement, leaving the room on silent feet. Dalton let out a low groan, shifting slightly again, a sharp breath escaping his mouth. Glancing at him, I noticed a tremor in his hands. Nightmare?
A loud bang from the movie startled me, causing my heart to stutter, and Dalton sat erect, a strangled noise bubbling in his throat. He ran a shaking hand over the shiny skin of his face, breathing labored, as if he was running from invisible demons.
“Sorry.” he muttered at my concerned glance. “Didn’t mean to bother you.”
“It’s ok. The movie was kind of loud.” I smiled weakly, giving him the opportunity to pass off the unconscious fear with the over-dramatic horror of the movie. His head bobbed jerkily before he laid back on the couch, propping himself up so he could glance over my shoulder.
“Sketching?”
“Yea.” I muttered, a wave of self-consciousness crashing on my shoulders. I hated people looking at my drawings. It was one of the few things I thought I was good at and other people analyzing my pieces made me anxious for approval –a desire I despised even more.
“Sam?” Tyler questioned eyes flickering towards Dalton. “You got the thing, right?”
“Oh. Yea, I did.” I frowned. How could I forget?
“Sam bought you something for Christmas.” Tyler grinned, flinging himself back onto the chair. “She’s just late because she had to find a new job and everything.”
“So Rita hired you?” Dalton’s head dropped back to the arm of the couch, hair splaying across his face. When did this happen? When did you start feeling comfortable hanging out around me? When did I start thinking it was ok for you to be here?
“She didn’t even wait for Sam to finish asking.” Tyler bragged, causing me to scowl.
“He’s over-exaggerating.”
“No, she literally cut her off and was squealing like some sort of friggin banshee in an opera.”
“Thanks for the imagery.” I muttered, flipping my notebook close, so I could stand.
“When’s you’re next shift?” Tyler wondered.
“Four.” Rising to my toes, I pulled my arms up in a stretch, feeling my shoulders pop and the muscles extend, pulling the tension from my limbs.
“Hey!” Tyler scowled, picking up the half-empty box of crackers and throwing it behind me. There was a thud as it connected with Dalton, who quirked a brow questioningly at the offender. “Do you mind not checking out my sister right in front of me? It’s weird.” Flames exploded on my skin and I dug my fingernails into my palms, mentally screaming at the monster for doing everything in his power to make things uncomfortable.
“I’ll try and keep it to myself next time.” Dalton responded drily, moving to a sitting position.
“You do that.” Tyler sniffed, changing the channel from the movie player to normal TV as I wallowed in humiliation. “But, after she gives you you’re Christmas present you owe me something, since I did convince her to not make you go to school an all.” A smirk dangled on the edge of his mouth.
“He could help you with your math homework.” I offered, pulling my arms to my chest. “You’re in calculus or something, aren’t you?”
“Uhm,” There was a rush of pink blooming on his cheeks, nearly making me double-take. You take Tyler’s annoying comments in stride but once someone mentions you do good in school you freak? “I sort of lied that day.” An impish grin settled itself above his chin.
“So you’re in the normal math class?” I questioned, tilting my head.
“No. AP Statistics and Probability,” he muttered, causing my jaw to unhinge.
“Oh?” Was that squeaking noise my voice? Why would you lie about being that smart?
“So you’re some sort of mathematician?” Tyler perked up. “Cool. You good at all that x and y crap?”
“Algebra?” Dalton asked wryly.
“Yea, that.”
“Sure, I guess.”
“So you wouldn’t mind helping a struggling compadre out?”
“No,” he shook his head, “You on the other hand, I have a problem with.”
“Ouch. That one stung a little bit.” Tyler placed a hand on his chest, wincing. Snorting, I headed to the stairs. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
“No, take him with you!” Tyler called. “I don’t want him!” Ignoring him, I continued up the stairs, noting as a second pair of footsteps echoed my own. I got to my room and Dalton stopped just inside the doorway, leaning against the frame, as if coming in would intrude on my privacy. Pulling a box from my closet, I turned to see one of my books in his hand.
“This new?”
“Rita got it for me.” I shrugged, wondering how he had noticed that was one of my newer books. Was his memory that good? Holding out the box towards him, I glared down at the floor, shuffling my black, sock clad feet. “Here. Merry Christmas and whatnot.”
“You’re an idiot.” he muttered seriously and I glared up indignantly to see his dark, hard eyes staring at the box, as if he was unsure how to open it. He didn’t look at me as his fingers deftly undid the wrapping paper, and he wadded it up, tossing it into the garbage can in the corner of the room, as I waited in tense silence. “Nice wrap job.” He mocked my lopsided mess, flipping the corner of the box open. He stared at the contents for a moment, then glanced up to me, face stoic. Slowly he reached in, pulling out the sketchbook, slender fingers running over the binding as he flipped through the blank white pages, before he found one sketch in the center of the notebook and he stopped, glancing up at me. The tree was simple, leaves floating around it and resting on the ground, the leaves various shades of burnt amber and yellow orange. Against the trunk, a small figure leaned against the bark, staring up at the sky, face hidden from view.
“You drew this?” he asked, voice empty, as if he was purposely shoving all emotion down to the pit of his stomach. I knew this was going to be a bad idea. He was doing what he did to everyone else. He was trying to scare them off, make them think he didn’t care.
“Yea.” I mumbled. “Look, if you don’t like it, it’s cool. I can always return it. They won’t notice one sheet missing-” His chilling look stopped my rambling.
“I didn’t say anything.” His heavy gaze was making me uncomfortable and I squirmed, feeling ridiculous.
“Ok.”
“Sam?”
“Yea?”
“Thanks.” He placed the book back in the box, fingers brushing the new drawing pencils I had bought to add to his collection. He glanced back up at me, dark eyes searching for something.
“Yea, no problem.” I mumbled, glancing at the clock. “I have to get to work. You want me to drop you off at your house?”
“I promised Tyler I’d help him with math, remember?” He tilted his head, voice steady, emotion unreachable.
“It’s not too late to run.” I joked and he lips flickered, even though the action didn’t really mean anything.
“Have fun at work.”
“Sure.” Hitching my bag over my shoulder, I studied him for a moment. He pulled at the sleeve of the hoodie he had borrowed and glanced at me, stopping me from passing through the doorway.
“Why doyou have all these guy clothes?”
“I have a brother.”
“Tyler is shorter than me.”
“The older one.”
“Mason?”
“Mason.” I winced at the name, his image flickering beneath my eyelids.
“How come he’s never around?”
“Because we’re a shit family.” I shrugged, a pang of hurt reverberating in my chest.
“So he left?”
“Something like that.” I murmured. “See you later.”
“Yea.”
I sat in the driveway for a moment, hands resting on the steering wheel, head leaning against the headrest. Mason. Mason, Mason, Mason, Mason, I repeated the name until it felt like goo on my tongue. “Sammy, you’ll never understand.”
“I’m sorry.” I whispered, my breath puffing in the air. “I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.” Slamming my hands against the steering wheel, I felt my chest tighten, trachea collapsing in on itself, as betrayal coiled in the pit of my stomach, springing forward like an arrow, ripping through organs before peeling away the sides of my throat until all that was left was a raw, gaping mess. “Fuck. Fuck you. Fuck you for leaving me behind.” Taking in another shaking breath, I put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway. Work Sam. Throw yourself into work and you’ll be indestructible.
“I’m here!” I called into the employee’s backroom, throwing my bag into one of the tiny lockers.
“Oh, hey Sammy.” Rita grinned at me, poking her head from the kitchen as I tied the black apron on, tension leaving my shoulders at the familiar neon splatters. “You mind taking some orders? Gage is out today so I’m running a bit behind.”
“Yea, sure.” I nodded, picking up one of the notepads. “You know if you need extra help with dishes and stuff I could drag Ty along next time.”
“That little hellion? I’m sure he’d cause more trouble than it’s worth. Now booth fourteen, shoo.” Rolling my eyes at the frazzled woman, I backed out of the kitchen, walking to the corner booth a couple of teens around my age were sitting at. Nerves trembling, I tried my best to look friendly without making eye contact.
“Hi, my name is Sam, I’ll be your server today. Can I start you off with something to drink?”
“Oh, hey Sam.” A familiar voice said, causing me to jerk up. Fay was sitting between Riley and another girl, grinning, her noise ring glimmering in the light. “Didn’t know you worked here.”
“Just started.” I responded nonchalantly, shifting my feet.
“Cool.” Fay bobbed her head. “I’ll take a diet coke.” Scribbling down the orders of Fay and her tablemates, I gave them a weak, forceful smile.
“We’ll have you’re drinks out in a little while. Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Ok.” Fay said, turning into a conversation with the girl next to her as I spun away, trying to ignore the feeling of Riley’s eyes burning the point between my shoulder blades.
“Oi! Sam!” Rita called from the counter. “Order up!”
I miss the bookstore already.
It was near the end of my shift and I was leaning against the counter when two women came through the door, cool air swirling into the room. It was quiet for the evening –Sweeties was only ever busy on the weekend, when the not-so-sweet bands preformed on the stage in the back- so their laughter echoed around the vacant room, bouncing off the walls too loudly. They sat at one of the stools in front of the bar and I picked up the notepad, feeling a strange sense of deja-vu. Rachel was sitting next to a blonde beauty, swaying back and forth, nodding her head animatedly. She saw me move from the corner of her eye and she froze, the smile hard on her mouth. Have I seen you here before?
“Oh, hey Sam.”
“Hey.” I responded politely. “What can I get for you two today?”
“You look kinda familiar.” The blonde said, tilting her head. “Doesn’t she?”
“She’s my brother’s friend.” Rachel waved absentmindedly. “We’ll have the special, please. Just one, with an extra bowl if you don’t mind.”
“Sure.” I nodded. “Anything to drink?”
“Just water, please.”
“Cool. I’ll bring it in a minute.”
“Thanks Sam.”
“Uh huh.” I walked back into the kitchen, filling up the cups and starting the machine to put ice-cream in the dish.
“Hey Rita?” I asked as she loaded up one of several dishwashers, her graying hair swept back into a bun, baby hairs sticking up in all directions.
“Yea?”
“Those two woman at the bar, how long have they been coming here?”
“Rachel and Bethany? Oh, wow.” She put her hands on her hips, brow furrowing in thought. “Probably since they were in high school. You were younger then and scared of almost anything that moved, and always buried in your books, so I doubt you remember them. They were here a lot back when your brother first started working here.”
“Oh.” I glanced down at the cups. “Can you please take them their waters? I have to make this but then I’ll finish up the dishes for you,”
“That’d be sweet of you.” Rite smiled, coming over and pressing a light kiss to my forehead. Don’t make me miss my mom, Rita. Don’t do this.
“Thanks.”
“Of course honey. You ok with locking up tonight?”
“Yea.”
“You’re the best.”
“Yea, I know.” I mumbled as she patted my cheek.
“I expect your brother to be here next time. If he’s not working here in two years, I’m filing a complaint!” she called, exiting the kitchen with waters.
“I guess,” I whispered to myself, pouring the last of the toppings on the ice cream mountain, “It is a family tradition.” Grabbing an extra bowl and spoon with some napkins, I went back out to the booth where Rachel and Beth were chatting quietly.
“Here you go.”
“Thank you.” Rachel beamed. “Oh, and Sam, did Dalton ask you about the wedding?”
“What wedding?” I frowned, stopping, as Rita perked up from where she was wiping down the counter.
“You’re that young man’s sister?” She dropped the cloth, leaning forward. “How did I not see that? Oh my goodness, did you get him to pull a move yet? Sam’s too scared to admit if she likes anyone and I’ve known you long enough-”
“Rita.” I snapped irately.
“Did I get carried away again?”
“Sorta,” I muttered, picking up a separate cloth and starting on one of the glasses.
“My babies are all going to die alone if I don’t step in.” she stated, continuing to wipe down the counter.
“As I was saying,” Rachel sighed, mouth curved in an affectionate upward tilt, “My cousin has a wedding coming up on Thursday and Dalton has to come with,” she held up a finger, “But Rob is my plus one and Dalton doesn’t like that, which is why I told him to ask you to come with, and he obviously didn’t do so.” Her voice lowered. “Wait, you did find him yesterday, right?”
“Sort of.”
“Good.” She nodded, features softening. “It’s on a school night, so you don’t have to come with, but I’d really appreciate if you would.”
“What’s the theme?” Rita stopped, hovering over my shoulder, face bright and glimmering with elation.
“There really isn’t one, so you can wear whatever color you want.” Rachel shrugged. Rita turned around, placing her hands on my shoulder.
“I saw the absolute most stunning red dress at the store the other day. It would be perfect for you!”
“Uh, that’s ok.” I ducked away, shrinking beneath her fervent gaze. You’re going to have way too much fun with this and that’s not happening.
“Will you come?” Rachel sat straighter in her seat.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I winced and Rita deflated, eyes narrowing.
“One sec.” Rachel pulled out her phone dialing a number. “Hey.” She smiled even though the other person couldn’t see her. “Where are you?” Her brow rose quizzically and she pressed a button, so we could hear the response. Dalton’s voice buzzed from the other line.
“Tutoring.”
“Really?”
“Yea, Sam’s brother is kind of an idiot when it comes to math.” A faint protest came from the other line but whatever Tyler said in response was too muffled to hear over Dalton’s annoyed sigh.
“I’m sure he’s not that bad.” Rachel rolled her eyes.
“It’s been two hours and we’ve done… seven problems.”
“Out of how many?”
“Thirty eight.”
Stifling a snort, I switched to another cup, trying to get rid of the foggy glass.
“Anyways…” Rachel winced, changing the topic to avoid the struggle of a math tutor, “Did you ever get the chance to ask Sam about the wedding?” There was a pause and Tyler said something from the other end, prompting a “shut up!” from Dalton.
“No, why?”
“Because it’s coming up soon and if you wait too long she won’t be able to find a dress.”
I hate dressing up.
“Do I really have to go?”
“Yes.” Rachel’s voice hardened.
“Don’t fight it pretty boy.” Bethany chirped up. “She’ll drag you with. Might as well make it enjoyable.”
“Besides, if worse comes to worse, I’ll tell Mr. Taylor about it and she might end up coming anyways.” Rachel looked up to me as the color drained from my face. “So man up or I’ll ask her myself.”
“What if she says no?”
“Didn’t I just tell you what I’d do?”
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. She’s a female version of Tyler.
A sigh crackled through the line. “Fine, when do I need to ask?”
“Now would be perfect, actually. Let me know when it’s done.”
“But-”
“I’ll be waiting.” She sang, clicking the ‘end call’ button.
“I think you broke my Sammy girl.” Rita chuckled and I gave her a helpless glance. What is wrong with you people? I wanted to scream. This is why I don’t talk to other girls. They’re lip gloss wearing hellhounds.
My phone rang and I slipped it out of my pocket, heart spluttering at the caller ID.
“Answer it!” Beth hissed and I groaned, pressing the answer button. Rita plastered herself to the other side of my phone so she could hear.
“Hello?” I asked flatly glaring up at the ceiling before squeezing my eyes shut.
“Hey, Sam.” Dalton’s voice was breathy and Tyler was yammering about something on the other end.
“What’s up?”
“You ok?” His voice tilted up in a question.
“Yup.” Could he hear my teeth scraping together? Fan-fucking-tastic.
“So, uh,”
“This is adorable.” Rita hissed at Rachel. My face flamed and I shifter further away from her, hating the proximity –hating the entire situation. Screw you all.
“My sister is dragging me to this wedding on Thursday,”
“Ok?” Kill me.
“And she wants to know if you wanted come with.”
“Why?” I asked, leaning against the counter. Rita’s eyes widened and she glared, reaching for the phone. Rachel stopped her, frowning at me. Tyler screamed something else and something crashed to the floor, followed my cursing and shuffling noises.
“He’s being a wuss,” Tyler exploded in my ear and I pulled away, wincing. “Tell her what you really want to say.”
Silence.
“Uh, please?” Dalton’s voice resonated in the phone and I snickered.
“Considering the number of girls you’ve probably been with is it really that hard to ask one out on a date?” Tyler bordered on a whine.
“It’s not a date.” Dalton mumbled and Rita ripped the phone from my hand, clicking speaker.
“Tyler?”
“Rita?”
“This is going to be difficult.”
“I’m working on it.”
“Good. Let Dalton know she’s going.”
“Let her know it’s a friggin’ date.”
“It’s not a date.” Dalton repeated and Rachel giggled, muffling the noise with her hand.
“Bye sweetie.”
“Bye Rita.”
“You,” Rita shook a finger at me, lips curving, “Are making things way more difficult for that boy than they have to be.”
“Spend the day with him. I’m not nearly that difficult.” I muttered. “Besides, it’s not even a date.” I echoed his previous words.
Rachel’s phone rang. She opened it, smirking at me.
“Hey.”
“Happy now?”
“Not yet.”
“I’ll be home later.”
“See you then.” she chirped as the line went dead. Pulling a five dollar bill from her purse, she placed it on the booth. “See you Thursday Sam.”
“Yea.” I muttered, clearing the bowl from the counter.
“Night Rita!”
“Night honey!” She waved and as the door closed behind Rachel and Beth her smile faded. “That girl’s had it rough, ya hear? Just humor her.”
“Ok.” Because of her father?
“And Sam?”
“Yea?”
“Don’t be so dense.” She rested a hand on the top of my head. “You’re a pretty girl, hon. You just need to let someone in.”
No. I thought, even as my head bobbed up and down in agreement. Never again. It isn’t worth it.
A/N
SO, I have some important news regarding the first part of the story. The prologue has been edited, so it's not Riley that Sammy is seeing in the beginning -In fact, it's not even Sammy's POV (let me know if the transition between Prologue and Ch.1 is too confusing?) and it takes place five years ago *HINT HINT* Thanks everyone for reading! Let me know if you have any questions, qualms, general writing advice, etc!