Somehow, amid all the disastrous things happening, working at Enigma actually had a calming effect on me. The loud music and neon lights prevented me from thinking about anything longer than a few moments. Tilly and I worked side by side pouring drinks for our classmates and not mentioning anything vaguely relating to the supernatural.
I was still curious about her supernatural involvement. She had said that her mother's family line were witches- not with wands and broomsticks but believe me; I asked. She explained that the magic was more natural, using ley energy to connect with nature spirits and power. She explained that while ley energy and power were within me her family could only manipulate the energy and the energy that their ancestors left behind. The wolves would contact their coven whenever they needed to enlist magical help.
Harry was sitting at the bar chatting to Tilly and neither of them seemed to be able to keep the smiles off of their faces. It was adorable and a little nauseating watching my brother fawn over her. Tilly didn't seem to mind.
"Can I have a vodka cran," A new voice said, taking my concentration away from restocking the cups. I turned and inwardly groaned. She, however, outwardly groaned. "Oh...great."
"Uh hi Rose," I greeted lamely, "I'll get right on that."
The blonde seemed as awkward as I felt. She gave me an uncomfortable half-smile and leaned against the bar. Her long hair waved perfectly down her back, make-up was flawless, and her outfit was just the right amount of fashionable. I saw what Tilly and Ben meant about her being perfect. It was hard not to notice- and I tried so hard not to notice it.
"So...you still work here?"
I nodded. "Hopefully, or else I just cleaned the bathrooms for no reason."
To my surprise, she laughed. I noticed with dismal certainty that her laugh was also perfect. An awkward silence fell over the two of us as I mixed her drink. The loud, reverberating beat of the music wasn't enough to drown out the knowledge that hung in the air between us. I slid her finished drink across the bar toward her. Rose took it but didn't move.
She cleared her throat. "I suppose the free drinks are kind of lost on Tucker now that you're dating."
I was so shocked at hearing his name come from her lips that I blanched.
"Huh?"
Her blue eyes inspected me, filled with a foreign emotion.
"Because he doesn't drink."
"Oh." I hadn't known that.
She nodded, sensing that I didn't know what to say and turned to leave.
"We're not dating," I told her, truthfully.
"You're not?"
I shook my head. Tucker and I hadn't ever talked about anything like that. A supernatural bond didn't allow for much defining of the relationship. Rose did not seem pleased or relieved with this information. I honestly wasn't sure what I expected her to look like, but I didn't expect angry.
"Really? So he broke up with me for you and you're not even together? Men are fucking ridiculous."
"I-" the words didn't come. What could I say?
She held up her hand and scoffed. "I don't need an apology if that's what you're going to give me. I'm not interested and I'm not totally sure you even owe me one." She went to leave again but turned around once more. "God, I've been wanting to yell at you for two weeks and now that I have you in front of me, I don't even know what to yell at you."
I winced.
"Everything was fine before you moved here and fucked it all up." She was heating up, even more, the alcohol giving her courage. I barely moved. "My sister warned me about Tucker and I should've listened. I should've fucking listened. She doesn't even live at home, she's barely met him but she was right, he's terrible and a liar and he always has been he's a-"
My skin crawled with the mention of Alice Galloway, and my eyes flicked to Rose's face.
"No," I interrupted, unsure of what she was going to say next. "he's not. You don't really think that."
"You just say whatever you think, don't you?"
I thought of the memories I'd seen of the two of them. It was an intrusion into their privacy, and I guess my response to that was my own blatant honesty.
I shrugged. "As long as I know it's the truth."
When her eyes met mine, I knew I was right. There was no longer anger in her eyes, just a mixture of sadness and hurt glazed over with alcohol. I knew she wasn't a hunter; she was just a girl who wanted to hate a boy she was in love with- and, because of me, he didn't love her back anymore. Or, maybe he did. Truthfully, I didn't know.
She looked at me seriously and I wondered what bombshell she was going to drop next.
"I'm going to puke."
I was not prepared for that.
***
The air was biting outside the club. It was truly well into fall now and I longed for the sweat of summer. Rose sat in a somewhat dejected position with her perfectly blonde head in between her knees, a bucket in front of her. I leaned against the doorway, periodically giving her sips of water.
Tilly had given me the strangest look as I mouthed my apology to her and took the drunk girl to the bathroom (the very one I'd just cleaned) and held her hair back from her face as she puked up at least forty-five dollars worth of drinks. Eventually, I led her to the side of the club for some fresh air.
Her condition was largely my fault and thus, I felt responsible for her. However, it put me in a slightly awkward position when I had to make an uncomfortable phone call.
"Hi... I have a strange request," I began the call.
And we waited. Me and the girl whose boyfriend had chosen me. Whose boyfriend hadn't really had a choice at all, had he? The ley lines had pointed him toward me and neither of us got any say in the matter.
Rose laughed a little from her spot on the pavement. She didn't even shiver as the night wind blew across her bare shoulders, her crop top did little to shield her from the elements. I, however, pulled my zip-up hoodie as tight around me as possible.
"Hey, Sunshine."
Both Rose and I looked up at the familiar voice. Tucker took in the scene before him with surprisingly more grace than I could have imagined. I hadn't exactly explained the situation to him very well on the phone- and by that; I meant that I failed to mention that Rose was the one who needed help.
"She needs a ride home. I don't know if her friends are here or if they left. I haven't seen any of them."
Tucker knelt down next to the blonde girl and my heart squeezed painfully in my chest seeing them so close together.
"They probably left," he muttered and put an arm on the other girl's shoulder.
"They left," she agreed, nodding her head vigorously.
"Rosie?" I squeezed my eyes shut. "You want help getting up?"
She nodded and Tucker put her arm over his shoulders and began walking her toward his truck. I stayed where I was in the club's doorway and watched them walk away together. He was saying things to her, things I couldn't hear. I felt their closeness as a physical weight in my chest.
He positioned her comfortably in his truck and paused for a moment before he walked back over to me. I observed him as he approached. He was tall- taller than me by at least 4 inches- his shoulders were broad and strong, his hair was dark as night, and his face was all angles and hard planes. It was his eyes, however, that made my heart pound. They were brown at first glance, but the gold rings in them- the ones you could see only if you were standing close to him- that's what made my breath hitch.
And she'd seen them. She'd noticed these things about him too.
I hugged my arms around me, only a little because of the cold.
"Why'd you call me?" he asked, standing a few feet away.
I shrugged. "I knew you'd come."
We both looked at each other for a long moment. He must have sensed my mood because he knew to keep his distance. I wasn't angry with him I was just... confused. He chose to be with Rose. He made no such choice to be with me. His choice was taken away from him by some supernatural bond that neither of us understood and until I saw Rose, I hadn't realized it. He was my tether (for whatever that meant), sure, but did I want to be with somebody just because some outside powerful force was pushing Tucker and I together?
No. The answer was no.
"Lou-"
"You still love her."
It wasn't a question.
He swallowed and looked at his feet. "I don't think it's like that with her. "
His words in his room echoed in my head.
You know how I feel about you.
Did I? I saw the way he thought of me in his head, but was it really him? Was it power? I had so many questions again and just like before; I had no answers. I couldn't even kiss the boy in front of me without seeing his death. There was something wrong with that, wasn't there?
"I think," I swallowed, "that until you figure that out we should... we should... not. We should not."
His brow furrowed in confusion, and he stepped toward me, reaching his hands out. I knew I couldn't let him touch me. Things got confused when he touched me. I stepped back.
"Lou? What do you-" he began to ask, concerned.
"I should go back to work." I swallowed and motioned toward his car. "You should take her home. I- I'll see you later."
With that lame goodbye, I walked back into the club not turning around to see whether he was looking after me wondering what the hell had just happened like I was. I shut the door behind me and pressed my back against it, struggling to breathe.
It was good to break whatever we had off early before either of us got too involved in a relationship that forged with a superficial connection. I repeated that over and over to myself but I still felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach. I wondered how I could feel so much loss over something that I'd never really had.
I finished my shift in contemplative silence, trying to remind myself how to breathe again. Tilly kept shooting me worried glances throughout but I could hardly tell her what had happened as I didn't know myself. The ride back on my motorcycle was hardly therapeutic as I kept seeing glimpses of a large black wolf that wasn't really there. When I'd arrived home, the house was silent, for which, I was grateful. I didn't even have the energy to be afraid or wary of Owein as I walked through the dark house. We'd set up rotations of wolves that the Joys trusted to watch the house to protect Mom, Harry, and me.
My thoughts drifted to the only wolf that I'd sense like a shock of electricity flowing through my entire body. When I opened my door, I was relieved to see a different Joy boy in my room.
Ben was sitting on my bed reading one of my romance novels. He looked up with a goofy grin on his face and motioned to the book.
"You, my motorcycle-driving-Jedi-mind-tricking-leather-jacket-wearing friend, are not who I would expect to have an extensive collection of shitty romance novels."
I rolled my eyes at his greeting but was relieved at the normalcy of it.
"I don't wear leather jackets," I reminded him and settled in next to him on the bed.
"You should invest."
I shrugged and laughed a little. He must have noticed that my heart wasn't into it because he nudged me with an elbow, his blue-green eyes softening.
"You look like you've been helping drunk girls all night." He patted my head sympathetically.
"Either that was a surprisingly accurate guess or Tucker called you."
Ben grinned.
"I like being your friend. I get to enjoy all the drama of your life for free."
I groaned and flopped back onto the bed.
______________
Ugh. Don't you hate characters who are self-destructive??!!?! Oops.
Let me know your thoughts!!! Thanks for getting this far!