Then, she was normal again.

Five

Leah

I was dead.

I could hardly keep my eyes open behind the cash register. My boss, Gary, thought I had an “attitude problem” because I didn’t smile at the customers. I wanted to ask him how he would feel if he had to watch the girl of his dreams singing on-stage, ripping his heart into shreds in the process long after returning home and pondering the what-ifs. But then, looking at his unfriendly face and the way he barked orders like a freaking king on top of his mole hill, I wondered if he even had a heart.

Dickhead.

“Smile!” he roared at me after another customer walked out.

“The guy’s gone,” I retorted. “No point smiling now!”

“Then practice!”

“You want me to smile at the air, Gary? Fine, I’ll smile at the air.” I stretched my mouth wide, and the muscles at the corner of my lips were wondering what the fuck was going on as I proved my point. I probably looked like Joker, minus the goddamn make-up. “Happy now?”

He cringed in disgust and then swore under his breath, marching down the aisles of the dollar store he owned. He made a show of straightening cheap products on the shelves that didn’t need straightening, before heading out back for smoke number seventy-seven.

Ugh, the second I found a decent job in an office somewhere, I was out of here.

My phone buzzed in my pocket just then. I discreetly pulled it out and swiped the screen.

Mel: U wanna have a Game of Thrones marathon tonight?

Me: Again?!

Mel: I figure we’ll just watch Jason Momoa on repeat. I need a Dothraki god in my sexless life. By the way, I left my bottle of vodka in your car when I stopped at the bottle shop before the concert. Let’s get pathetically drunk tonight. Shots, baby!

Me: That sounds tempting, but I can’t. =(  I’m spending tonight at Marlena’s house for their anniversary dinner. Thought they invited you too.

Mel: Nah, I told them I couldn’t make it… It’d just be awkward with the whole hating Rome thing. It’s hard enough I work for them and have to hear about him. Oh well. Just put the bottle in the kitchen right before you leave. It’ll be a night drinking all by my lonesome self. When will you be back?

Me: OK, I’ll put it in the freezer for you. I’ll be spending the night, by the way. So we’ll have a marathon tomorrow night after I’ve come home. I want to see the unclothed Dothraki god on screen the second I step thru that door, and I’d love to get drunk with u 2…

Mel: This is why ur my other half

I chuckled and exited the conversation.

I hadn’t seen the Myers in a long while, and since they regarded me like their kid, they invited me over to every occasion. I couldn’t say no, especially because Rome hadn’t showed up at their anniversary last year, stating he was busy instead. A part of me hated him a little for dropping off the radar. Not on me, but on his folks.

He hadn’t seen them in over ten months, and even when he did, he’d flown them out to him, which was pretty damn shitty in my opinion. We talked, but hardly since he’d left. I got some texts from him once in a blue moon, wishing me a happy holiday, but it was pretty half-assed.

I got a little angry thinking about it. I’d just watched him play the other night not even two hours away, and he probably didn’t let his parents know he was around the corner. Guilt stirred inside of me. Maybe I should have told them about it.

The hours ticked by excruciatingly slowly, and my Joker smile scared customers away before they got to the checkout. Gary huffed at me, shooting me his I’m-gonna-fire-your-ass-if-you-don’t-perk-up-for-real look. I just shrugged, knowing damn well I was the only worker that had lasted so long under his command.

“I’m doing what you want,” I told him. “Don’t hate on me for it.”

The second my shift was over, I was out of there faster than a bullet.

*

There were two brand new BMW’s sitting behind Harold’s clunker of a truck. I stared around their quiet front yard, before my eyes scanned the windows on the top floor of the house. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Who had they invited, and why didn’t I know about it?

With no room in the driveway, I parked my ten year old Jeep – that I’d slaved myself saving for, by the way – on the side of the street in front of their house. The back wheel went over the curb, and I sighed in irritation as I drove forward and tried to line the beast up. It took me a few minutes. Needless to say, I wasn’t the best driver in the entire world.

When I finally stepped out of the car with my ugly mammoth tote bag stuffed with my change of clothes, I stared at my parking skills and cringed.

You fucking stink, Leah.

Whatever. My parking skills were currently irrelevant.

I hurried to the front door, eyeing the cars once more on my way. They looked luxury type. I hoped there weren’t rich people inside, or something. I didn’t look all that great today in my hurry to get here on time.

I rang the doorbell and waited a few moments. I heard Marlena’s excited voice from inside. I wondered what she was hooting for. It couldn’t have been me. I wasn’t all that exciting.

The door opened and she stood before me with a radiant smile, her dark hair up in a bun, her green eyes a little wet, as if she’d been… crying.

What the hell?

“Hey, are you alright –”

“Rome’s surprised us with a visit!” she immediately cut me off to say, bursting with excitement.

My face fell. “What?”

“It was absolutely out of nowhere, Leah! Did you know he had a concert the other night in the city? He has a few days off and he showed up not even an hour ago.”

“Wow. That’s… Wow.”

“Come say hello to the boys! They’ve been asking for you.”

The boys?

What?

Oh, shit.

No, no, no.

I shook my head. “Actually, you know, I don’t look all that great. I might slip away and change first.”

“Nonsense, you look fine. Let’s go.”

She took me by the arm and pulled me into the house, forcing me up the spiral staircase as she rattled on about how unexpected their visit was. Did she seriously not know how hard she was squeezing me? Or was she sending me some message, like I wasn’t going to get out of this whether I liked it or not. It was too late to question her, anyway. I felt my body sag in defeat.