I worked the rest of my shift in a constant state of anxiety as I kept watching the door for ‘Linda’.
When the afternoon rolled around and nothing came, I figured he was just messing with me and left for the day.
I made my way through the streets, heading towards my bus stop, plopping down onto the bench.
Jeremy handed me half of his sandwich. We always got off work at the same time and since we lived at the same apartment building, we usually brought each other meals at the end of our shifts, splitting them to save money. Today was a Tuesday which meant that Turkey was on sale. I savored my sandwich, knowing it would be probably be till tomorrow I would eat again.
“I had a big tipper today, but Mrs.Reynolds took half of it before forcing me to payout” I said, kicking small rocks off the sidewalk, forcing them into the street. It wasn't a busy road and because of that the bus only stopped a few times a day. It would be awhile before it arrived. I was okay with that, waiting at the bus stop was usually my only sort of down time outside of sleeping.
“What a bitch” Jeremy mumbled, shaking his saggy blonde hair over his eyes. Jeremy was semi-attractive man, even though he did not see it. We both too broken to ever work out, and a mutual understanding of it without having to discuss. I was thankful he had never tried to flirt or make any advances to me because the awkwardness would have been awful since I considered him my only friend, kind of.
“Also had a total pompous ass.” I realized I never did get the name of the guy from the coffeehouse. I smirked at the thought that he was some big hotshot, but I did not have any idea who he was.
Jeremy gave me a half laugh before returning to his sketchbook in silence. He never really talked much and it never bothered me. I hadn’t asked him why he was in the shitty apartment building; I figured he would tell me if he wanted. After a few weeks of realizing we work at the same time and took the same route, we started to get more comfortable with one another.
I never really had friends growing up in foster care. The other kids in the house either hated you or were just as scared as you were. It was nice to have someone to talk to that didn’t expect anything in return.
“And? Did you kick him out?” He asked. I smiled at the thought he probably forced himself to continue the conversation.
“Duh.” I pushed Jeremy’s shoulders playfully. He pulled his sketchbook to himself, making sure to shield it from me.
We went home in silence, parting ways on the 2nd floor of the small apartment building that was turned into government housing.
I quickly took off my clothes and took a shower to wash away the sweat and smells from today.
My apartment was a small studio size. The bathroom was the only part with privacy, otherwise everything else was in one giant room. My kitchen was merely a small counter with a microwave and one single electric burner plate. I haven’t had the money to purchase any cooking supplies. Nor have I had the money to purchase a small fridge to store any type of food I could make.
I was phased out of foster care for almost a year and they were able to place me in this building. It was nothing great but at least it was something. The manager was fairly quiet and rent was acceptable. He didn’t care to spend any of it on repairs though. The hallways ran with dirty carpets and the walls had peeling paint. The elevator hasnt been working since I moved in, but I was fine with taking the stairs, but thankfully I lived on the 2nd story.
Majority of my neighbors are in similar situations like mine, working multiple jobs, so the building usually has a quiet hum of people coming and going.
Throwing my hair into a bun, I quickly got dressed and hurried off to the gas station on the corner for my night shift.
Unlike the coffeehouse,the same boring constant lull of customers usually makes the night drag on. The upside is that this one offers health insurance and a set hourly rate. I also didn’t have tips to share with others. The worst part about the coffehouse was the unreliable income. Some days I made more than what I make the gas station, but other days I barely made enough to cover a meal, if I paid for any.
The ding of the door being opened brought me out of my thoughts. I glanced at the clock, it was about 10 minutes before the end of my shift. I rarely had customers this late, if I did, they were headed straight to the restroom.
I put down the mop and headed towards the cash register.
A man in what looked like an expensive suit stood by the counter. I stopped dead in my tracks, having a slight panic attack that it was the man from this morning. He turned towards me as he had heard the loud squeak of my sneakers rubbing against the tile. My body practically collapsed from the tension when it was not the coffeehouse man.
“Hi, how can I help?”
“You charged my card multiple times.” He said, throwing a black card onto the counter. The ping of the metal as it bounced was like nails on a chalkboard.
“Do you have your receipt?” I replied, leaving the card where it landed.
“No you didn’t give me one” He scoffed, barely looking up from his phone this entire time.
“Oookay. Well either way only the manager has access to the electronic transactions so you’ll have to come back in the morning.”
The man paused, narrowing his eyes at me. “I can’t do that. I need that reversed tonight, it was a company card.”
I felt my eyebrow raise. “Even if I could reverse transactions, which again I cant, it usually takes a couple business days for it to return.”
He waved his hand at me dismissively, returning to his phone. He aggressively typed away. “No, you need to reverse it tonight.”
I slid the card across the counter. “Like I said, I’m not authorized to do that”
He slapped his hand on the counter in frustration. “You weren’t authorized to charge it multiple times either but you did”
I inhaled deeply through my nose, pinching it. “You keep saying I did it when I have nothing to do with electronic transactions. You stick your card in the machine, it goes through, that’s the end. I don’t have any other way of charging your card. I’m sorry you don’t understand how it works but I can’t help you”
He scoffed at me again. “I understand completely. You’re just refusing to help me. If you knew who I worked for, you wouldn’t be giving me a hard time.”
“I’m not giving you a hard time. I simply explained what I can and can not do. And it has nothing to do with whoever you may or may not work for. Because frankly I really dont give a shit who anyone works for” At this point, I started to raise my voice in irritation. “If you continue to harass me, I will call the police.”
The man grabbed his card off the counter, shoving it in his pocket. “I’m going to call the police for criminally charging my card. I’m also going to have my boss sue you guys for fraudulent charges.”
Laughing, I picked up the landline phone we have on the counter and reached out to hand it to him. “Do it, buddy. Call the police. I would love to explain the situation”
He tugged tightly on his suit jacket, leaving without another word but managing to flip me off before disappearing into what looked like a very expensive car.
After a few minutes, my coworker came out asking if I was okay because he had heard the commotion. I refrained from rolling my eyes at the fact he wanted till the customer left to come out, but whatever.
I told him I was fine and left for the night, desperately wanting to fall into my bed and sleep away the shitty customers I dealt with today.
As I approached the coffeehouse, I noticed a woman standing next to Mrs Reynolds. I paused before getting in view of the window, I debated I had a sneaking suscipion who she was. After a 30 seconds, I convinced myself I really wasnt that important and that man was just saying it to get a response out of me.I walked in carefully, hoping not to disrupt their conversation and bring attention to me. Unfortunately, it did not work.“Avery” Mrs. Reynolds hissed. “This woman is telling me, you accepted another job.”I looked at the young woman, she was not much older than me. I presumed she was Linda. “Accepted is a bit presumptuous” I said,
"Well Avery... It will certainly be a pleasure to work with you.” Derek said.I narrowed my eyes, unsure how to take that. Fortunately I was saved by Linda softly knocking.“I have her stuff ready.”Derek waved her in, walking back behind his desk.“Go ahead, take her. Tell Matt I want to talk to him if you run into him.”Linda nodded, pulling my elbow to lead me out of the office. We walked back toward the apartment style space again and into a small bedroom. Well, smaller. This bedroom was still larger than my entire apartment. An outfit we had picked out at the store was laid neatly on the bed.
After trying to find Linda and being unsuccessful, I headed back to my room. There was a thin pretty brunette in the kitchen and I decided to head there instead. She greeted me with a smile as I hopped up on a barstool.“You must be Avery, I’m Natalie” She said, as he placed a bowl of grapes in front of me.“Are these for me?” I asked her, confused.Natalie nodded while she continued to cut and prepare other food on her counter. I picked the grapes, and they were delicious. It had been a while since I had fresh fruit. Ms Reynolds swapped for only baked goods since there was less waste because we could freeze them.“How long have you worked for Derek?” I ask
They sent me to the waiting room as they rushed him off to another section bending closed doors.Someone finally came up and handed me a clipboard with a bunch of paperwork and walked off before I could ask how Derek was doing.The paperwork was asking for a bunch of his information like date of birth and insurance which I didn’t know so I threw it to the chair next to me as I sat down.After a few minutes, the phone in my back pocket started to ring, scaring the shit out of me as I had forgotten about it.The screen had Linda written across and a green or red button, assuming the green was for pickup I selected it.
I awoke with a slight panic before remembering where I was. Glancing at the empty hospital bed, I walked over to the window to let in the sun peeping through the bottom of the curtains. I could hear the shower running and I had a wicked thought of curiosity to open the door. To my disappointment the shower turned off before I could decide to act upon it. I scrambled back to the bed, turning my back to the room so it didn’t appear I was waiting for him. The door opened and I could hear him walking across back to the bed, rustling with either the sheets or clothes. “You snore when you’re asleep” Derek said, breaking the silence. “That’s a lie if I’ve heard one” I said, turning around confirming my r
When we arrived in Tokyo, it was dark. We headed straight for the hotel without a word together. It was raining but the light up towers were just as pretty as back home. When we got to the hotel, Sam was quick to get out and grab everyone’s suitcases. We didn’t have much considering Linda only had me book the rooms for a few days.She accompanied me to the receptionist desk as I went to check in and grab our keys, while everyone else waited by the elevator. The lady was nice and welcoming, greeting us in English to my surprise. It did make me feel a little guilty for not knowing the language of the land but also I know Linda had mentioned this was one of Derek's favorite hotels to visit while here.The hotel was small but luxurious enough that I was able to book an entire floor for all of us, so we would all have ou
Groaning, I rubbed my head as it throbbed from a headache unlike anything I had ever experienced, peeping through one squinted eye at the darkened room around me.“Drink the water on the table” Derek said somewhere to the right of me.“Shhhh!” I said back, my head hurting at the sound of my own voice as I sat up. The room wouldn’t stop spinning so I quickly clamped my eyes shut, pushing down the wave of nausea that came with it.“Water Avery. Then aspirin” he demanded. This time he shoved the items into my hands. I gulped down the water and pills blindly.We sat in silence for what felt like to me an eternity before I braved to open my eyes agai
I wrapped my legs around Derek as he pushed me harder into the wall. Derek gasped at the motion, dropping my legs as I slid to the floor. He clutched at his side, blood seeping through his shirt. “Fuck I think you tore some stitches” he said, pulling his shirt off to revealing the bleeding wound. “I’m so sorry” I apologized, running into the bathroom to grab a towel. He took the towel from me and pressed against it. “Do you need anything else?” I asked him. He looked at me blankly. “I need you to leave” His harsh tone shocked me and I don’t know why it also hurt. I bit down onto my teeth to stop myself from crying as I nodded and hurried out the door