Rey
"Get out of my apartment!" A young girl exclaimed, throwing clothes at the man standing in front of her.
"Hey, c'mon baby-"
"Don't." She warned angrily, "I have to pay that rent by the end of the day and you spunked all of my money on fucking crack." She spat, throwing his phone at him, aiming directly from his unmentionables and scoring as he groaned and doubled over, "Fucking piece of shit." She spat, pushing by him out of the bedroom and into the main area of the apartment.
"Can't you just ask for… for like an early pay?" The man waddled out of the bedroom, "Rey, come on. I… I made a mistake."
"You spent all of my money. All of it." Rey, a dark haired girl turned around standing in her underwear, "We're done. I mean we were… we were done a long time ago but now we're actually done. Don't come near ever again." She made clear, "Get your things and go."
"Rey." The man sighed.
"Zac, I mean it. Get out." Rey nodded.
"Fine." Zac spat, "I'll just go to the other bitch I've been sleeping with. You fuck better but… she complains less."
"Get out." Rey spat angrily.
"Enjoy working the rest of your life at hooters, bitch." He stuck his middle finger up at her as she watched him and nodded, watching him leave the apartment as she turned around, running her hands through her hair and leaning her elbows down on the kitchen counter.
It wasn't the first time she'd had rent issues, especially when her on and off boyfriend continued to steal from her to get drugs. She knew she should have known better. She always took him back. She figured she just didn't like being alone at times.
She quickly rushed into the bathroom, turning the shower on and stepping in. If she hurried quickly she knew she could leave the apartment for her shift without running into Tim, the rent man. Which meant she could possibly beg her boss to give her some pay early this month.
She rushed around the messy apartment, getting into her work clothes which consisted of a black denim skirt and a white t-shirt, and quickly grabbed all the things she would need.
She left the apartment, locking it behind her and heading for the stairs, looking down the middle of them to the next floor when she saw the rent man, sighing to herself and panicking. It wasn't the first time she'd gone through this process, but it was still a pain in the ass.
She ran over to the fire escape on her floor and climbed out of the window, going down the ladder and reaching the bottom, leaving the apartment block and heading to work.
"Rey, you're late."
"Sorry, Sal." Rey sighed, rushing into work and getting behind the bar. She worked in hooters and she wasn't ashamed of it. The money was decent and the tips were pretty good. She was sure people were tipping her for her ass and not her table service, but money was money in her books.
"C'mon, kid. You can't keep being late. All the other girls get a hard time for it. I'm easy on you because you're my favourite." Sal nodded as Rey just smiled.
"I'm sorry, Sal. Zac was at my place and we had a fight." Rey shook her head, clocking in and tying her short apron around her.
"I thought you got rid of that guy?" Sal scoffed. He was an older man who ran the bar. Sometimes she felt like he was the only one who enjoyed listening to her tragic life stories, which was why she appreciated him so much.
"I did. Many times." Rey sighed, "He'll come to me upset and I'll be lonely and it's just… the same mistake being made over and over again." She shook her head, "I bet you think I'm so dumb." She rolled her eyes.
"Hey, we all make mistakes, kid." Sal said, "You're a bright girl. Joanne told me you were applying to college."
"I'm thinking about it." Rey nodded, "I always wanted to be a doctor when I grew up but… I dropped out of high school at 16." She rolled her eyes, "So I doubt that will happen."
"Hey, never give up on your dreams." Sal smiled, patting her on the back.
"Hey, Sal." Rey said as he turned around, "So… Zac took all my money and spent it on drugs. My rent is due today. Is there any chance-"
"Wait behind later." Sal nodded, "I'll give you tips early." He said, "But don't… tell the other girls." He warned as Rey smiled and nodded.
"Thanks, Sal." She smiled as he nodded and walked further down the bar.
"Hey, girl." Joanne smiled, a blonde haired girl, the same age as Rey, sitting down on a stool across the bar as Rey smiled. Joanne was one of her best friends from high school and they had pretty much fell down the slippery road of struggle since dropping out at sixteen. They now worked full time waitressing at the age of nineteen.
"Hey, how was dinner at your mom's?" Rey asked, doing a cash check. They got extremely busy at night, so they spent during the day doing stock checking and making sure everything was ready for the night ahead.
"Uh… terrible." Joanne groaned, "I was only in five minutes and she started yelling at me. She didn't know I still worked here."
"Why doesn't she like you working here? Rey laughed a little.
"She thinks hooters is a strip club." Joanne shook her head, "She literally thinks I serve people with my tits out."
"Well… sometimes you do." Rey chuckled.
"Yeah, when I'm struggling for money, obviously. It's just a sports bar. What's the big deal?" Joanne sighed, "Anyway, I had dinner, my brother announced his engagement, I drank a full bottle of wine, got too drunk and they had to put me in a taxi home." Joanne smiled as Rey laughed.
"You idiot." Rey laughed to herself.
"I'm over trying to impress her." Joanne sighed.
"At least you have someone to try and impress." Rey chuckled as Joanne frowned, "Hey, don't tell anyone that I wanna apply to college. It'd be embarrassing if everyone found out I did and… got rejected or something." She shook her head.
"The girls here don't even know what college is, Rey. I'm sure you'll survive." Joanne chuckled, "Have you decided if you are gonna do it?"
"Well after this morning, Zac taking all of my money and spending it on drugs." Rey said.
"No." Joanne gasped, "Are you sleeping with him again?"
"Well not anymore." Rey shook her head, "I don't even know if I'd have time for college. I need to work here full-time for the money." She said, "Maybe it's nice just to have as a dream."
"I'm sure you'd make it work." Joanne nodded, "You're smart. You just never had the right people behind you, I guess." She shrugged.
"You can say I never had a mom and dad, I don't bite." Rey smiled.
"You do sometimes." Joanne said, "You know what I mean. You moved around a lot. It must have been hard to focus on grades and school work with that happening."
"Yeah, it was." Rey nodded.
"Why don't you go look for them?" Joanne asked, playing with the napkins beside her.
"My real parents?" Rey asked.
"Yeah." Joanne shrugged.
"Why would I ever want to do that?" Rey shook her head, "Meet the dickheads who didn't want me?"
"If they didn't want you they just would have aborted you." Joanne shrugged.
"Gosh, you're so positive, aren't you?" Rey nodded sarcastically.
"I know." Joanne nodded, "I mean, you have their names, right?"
"Yeah, so what?" Rey shrugged.
"You're old enough now, you're allowed to ask questions. Maybe they'll have answers now." Joanne nodded.
"I don't have any interest in them, Joanne. None what so ever." Rey said, of course knowing that was a slight lie, "They didn't want me and they went and lived their lives without me." She shrugged, "So whatever. I'll do the same."
"Well can you do one thing for me?" Joanne asked.
"What?" Rey asked.
"Lean in." Joanne whispered, wiggling her finger towards her as Rey leaned forward, "Stop sleeping with that crackhead." She slapped Rey in the face as Rey held her cheek and turned to her, "Ok?" Joanne smiled.
"Bitch." Rey muttered before walking away with a crate of glasses to the other dish washer.
Later that night, Rey was back in her apartment after the longest shift ever. She didn't get home until 2am and had picked up a pizza on the way back. As soon as she got in, there was a knock at the door and she groaned to herself.
"Reylissa! It's Tim. I know you're home." The rent man knocked her door as Rey rolled her eyes, grabbing the money Sal had gave her and walking over to the door to open it up.
"Hey, Tim." Rey smiled.
"Rent, please." Tim said as Rey extended it over to him as he counted the money.
"It's all there." Rey smiled.
"You're short by ten." Tim disagreed as Rey shook her head.
"No, I'm not." Rey shook her head.
"I'll… I'll forget about it if… you know…" He looked down at his crotch as Rey laughed.
"You do this every single time. It's exhausting." Rey groaned, taking the money back from him and counting it out loud to make sure he understood she had paid the correct amount of money, "There… see. All there." Rey handed it back to him, "So you're little stunt that you pull every month will never happen." She made clear, "I'm never sucking your dick, you're never seeing my tits as much as you stare at them." She spat as he looked up a little, "Be on your way." She waved her hand at him as he collected himself and walked off as she slammed the door shut and locked it.
Just as she was walking back to enjoy her pizza in front of the TV, there was another knock at her door.
"Tim!" Rey exclaimed, walking back to the door, "I'm not sucking your-" She swung the door open, pausing when she saw it was a delivery man, "Oh." She smiled as he looked her up and down and smiled back.
"Reylissa Mariana Brooks?" He read the name on the delivery form.
"Rey is fine." Rey shook her head, taking the form and signing for what appeared to be a bottle of wine.
"That's a shame. It's a pretty name. Spanish or something?" He asked.
"Yeah something." Rey shook her head, uninterested, "Thank you." She nodded to him, taking the wine and the card and closing the door over, opening the card up and reading it.
Drink this instead of calling Zac. It'll help you fall asleep and you won't get a chance to feel lonely. Joanne.
Rey rolled her eyes and shook her head, shrugging and walking into the kitchen to grab a glass and pour some wine, making her way back into the living room, opening her pizza up and putting on some shows she had recorded on the DVR.
She didn't have a family. She'd supported herself her entire life whilst moving from different foster families. When she was finally able to go out into the world on her own, she'd made sure she secured a job and an apartment. She'd had difficulty with some boys, but she supposed that was pretty normal. Having no sense of family sometimes made her feel like she didn't know who she was at times, and that was something she struggled with.
She almost drank the full bottle of wine before heading over into the kitchen, opening up a drawer where she had very little documents from foster care, taking them over to the couch and opening them up as she looked at her birth certificate.
"Philip Jack Brooks." She looked on, "April… Jeanette Mendez." She read her mother and father's name on the certificate, resting her head back against the couch. Sometimes, she really wanted answers from them. Other times, she wanted to forget they existed.
A/N: Different kind of story here but I'm excited for it! Let me know what you think.