“…I don’t remember.” Ithought back, but nothing came up. I was disoriented and shadows were starting to reappear. My eyes stung; I could tell they were swollen from crying in my sleep. I ruffled my hair and lay back down.
“You should probably eat something. Or drink, I mean. Do you wanna get up now?”
“I wanna keep sleeping.”
“Okay, hun. Let me know if you change your mind and wanna do something.”
“Thank you,”I murmured, sniffling as I realized she was the only one who cared.
“Dennis was here earlier.”
“What?” Irolled over to look at her.
“He wanted to see if you’re okay, but I told him you’ve been sleeping all day. He brought this for when you wake up.”She reached down and picked up a large bottle of red liquid. “Two days’ worth in case you don’t feel like going out tomorrow, either.He said to tell you it’s freshly squeezed,” she nearly gagged at the words, “and to keep it room temperature so the flavor stays.” I blinked as my eyes flooded with tears.“What’s wrong now?”Sheputtheblood down and came to my side.
“Why does he care about me?” I sniveled as she frowned. “I don’t understand why he cares. I don’t deserve him. I don’t deserve any of you guys.”
“Don’t say that. We have a million reasons to care about you. You forget sometimes, but you’re pretty great.”She placed Frankie in my arm beside Drakie.I squeezed both tight. “I have exciting news that might make you feel better.” She waited for me to ask what. I didn’t. “Aunt Helen is coming for Thanksgiving! She’ll be here on Wednesday.” Normally I would’ve been ecstatic, but I only stared. “You’re not excited?”
“I am.” My voice wavered, giving the lie away. I wasn’t excited about anything. “I’m going back to sleep.” I turned away and let my eyes fall shut. Two warm tears slid down as I willed myself to sleep.
Keeping Promises
My heels echoed through the parking lot as I approached the deserted bar.It was time for my first opening shift, which would hopefully be more fun than closing.I’d woken up happy and cheerful this morning, much to Ari’s relief. And mine and my uncle’s.After two full days of sleeping, crying, and isolation, I was thankfully back to normal. Better than normal—I’d almost died of excitement the second time Ari said Aunt Helen was coming to visit.
“Hi,Emy.”Sean looked up as I strode inside.“Ready for your first real shift?”
“Yes! I’m a real bartender now. A free bird, if you will.Hi, Nate.”I smiled brightly and nestled between them.“What’re you doing?”
“Setting up,”Nate said.
“Looks boring.”I hopped on a counter instead of helping and crossed a leg over the other, careful not to flash them in my short skirt. The background noise was easy to tune out as I hummed and tapped away at my phone, logging into Ari’s socials to stalk people for funsies.“Hey Sean,”I looked up to see him preparing a well,“do you have one?” I waved my phone to show what I meant.“Ari should add you.”
“Yeah, but I never go on it. You can search Sean Aoki if you wanna add me. Do you have one?”
“No. I have no one to add,”I said.“I don’t have any friends, remember?”Both guys stared at me.“No one in life likes me. Except people here, and I don’treally know why. This is the first time people haven’t disliked me since I was fifteen. It’s weird.I guess my coworkers at the strip club were nice, but we never actually hung out. I was kind of a mess when I worked there.”
“I think you’regreat,”Nate said. “Perfect.” He had just finished setting up his well and was starting on mine.
“Thanks.”I went back to stalking. I’d already found Sean and added him.
“You’re not being any help at all, by the way,”Sean said.
“I know, right? You’re welcome.”I grinnedand uncrossed my legs to swing them.
“You’re lucky you’re you,because I don’t think we’d let anyone else do this.”
I looked up, confused about what Nate meant by that. But then I decided to go flirty with it instead of being confused.“Aw, really? That’s so sweet.”
“Yeah.”Nate half smiled.
Sean glanced between us but didn’t say anything.
“Ican finish mine, if you want,”I said. Nate smiled fully at the garnish he was slicing but didn’t say anything. I waited, but still no response.“Are you okay?”
“What? Yeah. It’s nothing.”
“Ooh,is it something exciting?”I perked up as he laughed.“I wanna know.”
