There it was. I couldn’t imagine any scenario where Michelle cared about the condition of trees and bushes in this area. She was laughing atherjoke.
“Amused?” Iasked.
“Oh, come on. Don’trainon myparade.”
“Did you stay up all night coming upwiththat?”
“What can I say? When itrains, itpours.”
They were all jokes I’d heard before. Sometimes lighthearted, other times cruel. Things like that didn’t really bother me anymore. But for some reason, when Michelle said it, I wanted to gouge my eyes out. With her stupid smile, and the way she sat in my chair like she didn’t have a care in theworld.
“That’s really funny, Michelle. So clever.” My voice lackedemotion.
The laughter stopped, and she looked up from the magazine and directly at my eyes. I expected to see a mask of indifference, but there were too many emotions in her expression to nail it downtoone.
“My dad gave me a regular schedule today. We’re going to be working together a lot, and I thought I’d give civility another shot. Who knew the girl I was a jerk to in high school could be more forgiving than some homeschooled nerd who didn’tknowme?”
She shut the magazine and grabbed a couple of books off the cart anddisappeared.
Tap,tap,tap.
The band had another show tonight, and I couldn’t focus on Michelle and her little temper tantrum. I stayed up near the counter while she was off doing whatever it was she wasdoing.
I'd told myself I wouldn’t practice in front of the mirror, but I couldn’t get Owen’s remarks out of my head. He’d made a point to tell me every time he saw me how I needed toloosenup.
I hadn’t shown off my moves in practice because I didn’t want his ever watchful eyes on me when I first attempted it in front of people. With any luck, he'd be too busy making love to the microphone to notice the awkward kid behind him playing theguitar.
And if I were really fortunate, everyone else would be too busy watching him and the other guys to pay any attention to me. I was still the guy that most people only knew inpassing.
I needed to find the best way to blend in because I really enjoyed playing shows. It wasn’t something I wanted to do long term. I’d be going back to school in the fall. That didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy it while it lasted and make every effort not to get kicked out for lack ofcharisma.
Mrs. Bristol came in and bought her weekly stack of romance books. Mercifully, I didn't see Michelle anywhere as I checked her out. I wasn’t going to start picking up historical romance, but that didn’t mean I wanted her to be embarrassed every time shecamein.
I organized nearby shelves and helped customers during my shift. When I finished that, I decided I should put away books that were waiting togoout.
The books on the cart to be put away didn’t magically disappear or anything, but I did notice it was getting slightly smaller even when I wasn’t working away at it. Michelle must have been doing something. I wasn’t sure what to think about that. I knew she was an entitled brat. I knew she didn’t want to be here. What I couldn’t figure out what heranglewas.
Why pretend to make an effort? Why try to impressJenny?
The end of the shift went pretty much like it had the previous time I’d worked with her. I didn’t see her while I counted down the safe, I didn’t ask for her help with anything. Yet somehow she knew when to reappear from whatever lair she was hiding in when it was time tosignout.
“See you in a couple of days,” Michelle said, with a smile that looked like it physically pained her to make. It was a weird mix of cruelty andembarrassment.
“Yep.” I grabbed my stuff, barely payingattention.
“For what it’sworth–”
“It doesn’t matter.” I interrupted. Whatever she had to say, I didn’t care. I needed to get to Wild Bill’s pronto. “Let’s just get outofhere.”
“Fine,” she said, before we walked out of the store, pulled down the gate that closed it off from the rest of the mall, and walked out of the building toourcars.
ChapterSeven
Michelle
“And who doeshe think he is?” I asked Avery as we pulled up to Wild Bill’s. She’d invited me to come with her to the show tonight, and after my shift with Rainier, I decided it might be what Ineeded.
“I don’t know, Michelle,” she said, annoyance lacing herwords.
