Away From the Sun
Chapter one
"Oh my loooorrrrdddd! I need a fucking smoke so bad!" I'm whining to Rosalie because I'm hoping she is going to take over the kiosk for me so I can go have one. She ignores me so I turn to Allie." I'm going to die if I don't have a cigarette soon" she laughs and points to her watch indicating I've got another 4 hours left here. "You suck you know that, I hate you both and I'm never talking to you guys again." I turn away from their kiosks and pretend to love the stupid hair bows they sell at mine.
"Oh look at that" Allie says in her high pitched girly voice. Her voice isn't annoying or anything it's just very girly sounding, like a 15 yr. old girl. I laugh to myself and continue ignoring the douche hats I have for friends.
"You better look Bella I think Allie is in love, again." Rosalie giggles and I do to. Allie has a tendency to fall hard and fast for any cute guy. She doesn't really have a type except that they have to be tall which is weird because she is only 4'11. She dated a basketball player once that was nearly 7 feet tall and it looked so funny. I turn to see who her new ex-husband is going to be and am shocked at how gorgeous he is. He is tall, of course, he has awesome dirty blonde hair and has strong facial features with beautiful blue eyes. As I'm gawking he turns and winks in our direction and I'm kind of hoping it was towards me. That is until I remember that my life doesn't really permit men in it.
"Bells it wouldn't kill you to date you know" Rosalie says looking all sad and I know she knows exactly what I was thinking about.
"Yeah it actually might." I try to make the joke but none of us laugh because there is too much truth in the statement to allow any laughter. So I change the subject.
"I still need a freaking cigarette ladies, would one of you please watch my stand so I can?" I stick my lip out hoping it will win me the time I need to smoke and get the heck away from this pity party
"Fine, go have your cancer stick but you better not take too long, I sell sophisticated Avon makeup not children's hair things." Rosalie says like she is some queen of cosmetics. I don't argue though because I really need that smoke. I grab my purse and walk straight to the exit of the mall. Thanking god that the kiosk area is right next to the door all the way to the parking lot.
As soon as I inhale that first drag off of my menthol cigarette I feel like I've finally found the surface after 4 hours of drowning. I hated Tuesdays for this very reason. First off I have to be in here at 9am and then get out at 5pm which isn't bad but nobody is scheduled to work with me so I have to go all day without a cigarette unless Rosalie or Allie is working, but of course they usually aren't because they have school during the week. Thank the lord for spring break though because they are both off for the next two weeks.
I finish my cigarette and head back into the hell that is my job. I wish I could get a better job but with no college degree I'm kind of stuck. I thought this job was great when I started here but that was almost 10 years ago. Now I make a whole 10.75 an hour and I hate this job. I hate the hair bows I have to wear to work and I hate the teenagers and toddlers we sell these stupid overpriced things. I used to have big plans for owning my own restaurant but those were quickly squished when my mother tore up the scholarship id gotten for a full ride to the u of m. she said that if I left her like my brothers had that she would kill herself, so I stayed. I know now that she was just guilt tripping me into it and never would have followed through but I still can't leave her. She needs me and I won't desert her like my father did. Some douche bumps into me and I wince, I look down to see that the bruise from last night is pretty bad. I decide to see if Rosalie can get Emmet to take a look.
"Thank you savior of my sanity for allowing me that smoke!" I say while pretending to bow to Rosalie.
"Whatever lady, you won't be so thankful when you have lung cancer."
"Probably not but hey by then you will be a nurse and can take care of me since it will be partially your fault I have the cancer." She tries to look offended but then ends up laughing and so do I.
"So did the hottie propose to you while I was gone Allie?"
"No, he did come over and say hi though so I'm planning a June wedding" she says with a cheesy smile.
"Naturally. So what's his name?"
"Jazz, how cool is that? He is originally from Georgia and has the sexy accent as proof. He just graduated from u of m Duluth with his master's in business and his mom makes the lotions in her home down south out of all natural ingredients. He lives in Eagan and has a dog named Bruits."
"Wow take a breath girl, I cannot believe you got all of that while I was out smoking. You are amazing"
"Well I do have a talent. I invited him to the bar with us this Friday."
"Hey girls" Jake says while squishing me in a bear hug. Again I wince and Allie notices and pulls him off of me.
"Geez Jake you're going to break our little bells here." Rosalie says while pulling him in for her own hug. Jake works at the cell phone kiosk right across from us. When he first started working here I thought he was super-hot but very soon learned that he is so gay he couldn't even walk a straight line, his words not mine. He is kind of like my work husband and completes our little clique here in the kiosk corral. He works at the coffee kiosk and we love him for that. Whenever a new kiosk employee turns up they are snatched up into a little clique, everyone bitches about the cliqueiness but nobody does a thing to stop it so we just go with it. Mostly it's a status thing. If your kiosk is owned by a private owner you will most likely end up with us, if it's owned by the mall then you go with those guys and if it's owned by a company then you go to that group, then lastly there is groups that have owners who own two or more kiosks. Then of course there is subdivisions of those groups, we are a sub division. The entire first floor common area is filled with kiosks so there is a lot of little cliques, kind of like a high archery for the mall kiosks it actually keeps thinks interesting and for that I am thankful. Jake also works with me at the bar on the weekends. He brings in the ladies and I bring in the men, we make a good team. He doesn't really know me but then again few people do and I like it that way, makes things easier.
"So did you see the new kiosk? I am going to marry the owner in June, you can be an usher!" Allie says excitedly and Jake laughs.
"I saw it, I also peeked at the schedule and the girl, Lauren, is starting at 4. "
"sweet! I was hoping id be here when the new one came in. we neeed new people!"
"Rosalie, what is that supposed to mean? You don't love us anymore?"
"Of course I love you Jackie! I just want a new friend, you know make new friends but keep the old and all."
"Alright well I will snatch her up as soon as I can. You get out at 5 today bells?"
"Yeah, thank god! I will have like 20 minutes to change and then get to the bar. I don't know why James keeps scheduling me at 5:30 on Tuesdays when he knows I'm here till 5."
"Yeah he over booked me last weekend on Saturday and I had to beg Sam to come in early to I could get there on time. If the money wasn't so dam good id quit."
"Same here, oh I think I see her!" I push Jake over toward his kart so he can be ready to steal rose her new friend.
"She is so tall" Allie says like she is amazed, when in reality she is like 5'10.
"I love her! I want a tall friend, I'm sick of being the tall freak with you two!" I worry I may have to hold Rosalie back, she is acting like she has found her height soul mate or something.
"Yawl are weird, she is not going to want to be our friend if keep acting weird. Besides we don't even know if she is cool. Last time I checking being tall doesn't make you a cool person. She has weird hair but overall I think she is pretty. I bet she is a bitch though look at her expression."
"Your one to talk, you are my best friend and I love you but you are often a bitch and have weird tattoos. I like her hair and I can totally fix it if she wants. Red is so not her color."
"You don't think the whole uneven side's thing is weird? What's weird about my tats? They express who I am and cover up who I am not."
"We love your tats bells Allie is just being insensitive because she needs the girl to like her for her master plan of marrying her boss to work out." Rosalie says while throwing her arm around me. I hug her back and stick my tongue out at Allie to which she replies with blowing me a kiss. I love these bitches. I start giggling when Allie tries to blow me a French kiss. Before she turns to help a customer choose what color she wants to dye her hair.
Half an hour later Jake comes walking over with the new girl, Lauren, who turns out to be pretty cool. She just moved here for college and is studying accounting starting next semester. She is originally from California and has the tan to prove it. she is hilarious and has us laughing while we work and when 5pm comes around I'm sad that I'm not going to get to hang out with the new girl anymore so I invite her to the bar Friday with us and she accepts. As we exchange numbers I notice a very handsome guy coming towards us from the direction of her kiosk.
"Miss. Mallory is this young lady a customer?"
"No sir" she answers and I connect the dots that this must be the co-owner of the kiosk she was telling us about.
"Well is she having health problems and needed you to call 911 for her?"
"No sir, we were just getting each others numbers before she left for the day. I swear I only stepped away for a moment.' She turns back to me.' I will see you Friday Bella" as they walk back to the kiosk I call her boss an asshat and he stops for a minute and I think he will say something and then he just keeps walking and I feel justified in my assumption that he is in fact an asshat although he is a very attractive ass hat just like Lauren had said, isn't that the way it always goes though. I wave tot the girls and head out the door for a boring night at the bar and hopefully a more boring night at home but I doubt it.
Authors note: well this is the beginning of my new story. No DLAM is not on break, I actually have chapter 7 ready to post just need the hubs to look it over. Tit for tat is getting moving again so yay tit for tat readers! Super excited to get things moving in this fic though this story has a large portion of my life in it and I am happy to not only make it a happier ending than I had but to spread the word about domestic abuse. Not sure if this will have tons of lemons but it will definitely have at least a few. It's more about the story though and less about the sex ya know. Oh and for those of you smarty pants who figured out that my titles are always songs good job! Anyways love yawl and hope to get some reviews and favorites on this little love bunny. =)