"So you're telling me you can't do anything?" I asked. To say I was annoyed at this point would be an understatement.
"Ma'am," First of all, don't call me ma'am. "Unless you can prove it came from him, then I told you I can't help you. Besides, it's not in our jurisdiction." The man wasn't even trying to hold his eye rolls at this point. How am I supposed to prove he physically sent it? Do I have fucking cameras on him? Do I have spies following him? Did I put the fucking phone in his hand and force him to type what he did? Like, what the actual fuck does that even mean?
"Not in your jurisdiction? So you're telling me crime outside of this tiny as fuck town doesn't really matter to you?" I asked with such attitude that I was waiting to be escorted out at this point.
"Unless you can prove to me that he sent it, I can't do much. Now is there anything else I can help you with?" He asked with the most obnoxiously fake voice.
"Unless you can find me an apartment that doesn't fall under this town's police force, then no. Thanks, officer." I rolled my eyes before turning and storming out of the tiny building. I've seen enough Murder She Wrote episodes to know that police forces were fake as hell but I didn't necessarily believe that happened in real life. Until now.
"Fuck this place." I muttered under my breath as I shoved the door open.
"Oh!" Someone let out and I tried not to trip while also grabbing onto the door.
"Oh, I'm sorry." I muttered, realizing I just shoved the door directly into someone. I felt pretty bad about it until I looked up and saw he was wearing a police uniform too. Never mind.
"That's alright. Can I help you with anything?" He asked, letting enough room for me to pass if I wanted to.
"No, I've already been helped enough." I sneered at the poor guy and stormed past him. While I knew taking my anger out on an innocent person was unnecessary, I couldn't help it. I just wanted to fucking get away and drive until I couldn't drive anymore and even then, I knew that wouldn't be enough.
I climbed into my car, slamming the door behind me and tried to calm my breathing. I pulled out my phone and glared down at it.
"Fuck you, Nick and fuck this fucking piece of shit town." I slid my finger and deleted the texting thread he had texted me and threw my phone behind me, not really caring where it landed.
I took a few deep breaths before starting the car and pulling away. I had a few hours before work and all I wanted to do was crawl in a hole. Maybe I could nap for a bit and then go to work. Nap off all of this anger and frustration.
While I was driving home, I heard my phone ding from somewhere in the car and it made me let out a small scream and accelerate a little more than necessary. I didn't want to even exist right now. Maybe I should go off the grid, like every other person who tried to 'find themselves' in Alaska or something. A self-discovery mission to the middle of the forest sounded like hell actually, so scratch that idea.
I pulled into my parking spot by my apartment door and while I was turning the car off, I heard the phone ding again. I groaned before leaning behind me to look for the phone. It took a few minutes before I actually found it on the floor but I managed.
The phone had a notification for some stupid app I had and a text from Jacob.
'You working tonight?' It read.
I sighed not knowing if I should respond or not. It seemed pretty rude not to but I wasn't exactly in the mood for proper manners. The thought of work was horrible right now. I didn't know if I could even interact with people properly, let alone be nice and cheery to them.
I sighed and looked back down at my phone deciding to bite the bullet.
'Yeah. 4' I sent him and climbed out of the car. After letting Miles out I plopped down in my bed. I pulled my phone out and set an alarm for when I needed to get up.
Eventually I jolted awake to the alarm going off and was surprised that I managed to actually sleep and sleep hard. Granted, I was running on no sleep for days now but still. I was thankful my brain managed to shut down long enough for me to get a few hours rest. I was also thankful I had no notifications on my phone. I don't know how much more my stress levels could handle.
I decided to go heavy on my eye makeup so I could play off any circles as smudged makeup and not stress. I pulled out a pair of black skinny jeans and a baggy white v-neckthat I tucked in. I had a flannel somewhere around the apartment that if I could find in time I would grab. Not being able to find one flannel in the box of a shack I live in just goes to show how NOT together my life was at the moment.
After making sure the dog was fed and everything was in order, I did manage to make it to work in time.
I opened the door and made my way around the bar to Joe who was putting glasses back in the chiller.
"Hello." I greeted, noticing in my head that I was already in a better mood. That nap really did wonders.
A cat call whistle greeted me when I made it behind the bar from a group of regulars that were sitting at the end of the bar. They were the ones who gave me crap about not knowing sports.
"Well there is a sight for sore eyes today!" One of them yelled out and I rolled my eyes while waving them off.
"Hi boys." I mumbled and went to go clock in, dropping my purse on the counter.
"Aye, you leave her alone, you hear?" Joe shouted at them. "I don't need you lot chasing off the best bartender I got." He grumbled.
"I thought I was your only bartender?" I asked and the group behind me burst into laughter.
"You can come bartend for me, honey." One of them snickered.
"Depends on what you're paying." I shrugged which made him laugh a little more.
"Right to the point!"
"Always." I smiled and walked away from them to help Joe finish putting glasses away. Grabbing two glasses out of the wash and putting, I noticed a couple sitting towards the other end of the bar that looked of native descent. They were both staring at me. When I looked at them the girl turned away but the guy held the stare. He was massive and built kind of like Jacob was. His stare turned into a glare and I had the decency to look away.
If he was built like that, there must be something in the water on that reservation. There is no way every guy looks like that. But, if that was the case, they should really look into creating a sports league of their own. I bet they could hold their own with the Seahawks. Or they could all start a wrestling league or something. Whatever it is that giant people play.
"Alright, missy, I'm out of here. You know the drill." Joe nodded towards me and I gave him a thumbs up. First thing I did after he left was change the music by plugging my phone in. I was playing to Led Zepplin playlist and if anyone here didn't like it, I didn't care. I had a long day and I just wanted to listen to some classic rock.
"Never pegged you as a Zepplin girl, Baylee." One of the quieter regulars spoke up.
I shrugged and walked over him to him. He was sitting a few seats down from the couple that I noticed kept staring at me.
"I enjoy a lot of classic rock in general." I told him. "My music taste is all over the place."
"I don't enjoy the music your generation is really big into. That boom boom bass stuff." He waved and hand and I laughed.
"Boom boom bass stuff? EDM?" I asked, giggling.
"Huh?" He looked confused.
"Like, the techno stuff." I tried to explain and he nodded.
"Are you into that music?" He asked and I shrugged again.
"I guess. Music like that just makes me want to go out to a bar and drink a vodka cranberry." I told him and he laughed.
"That's very specific."
"And ironic because I don't really like vodka cranberries." I joked with him. I noticed the girl wasn't doing a very good job of trying to discretely look at me. Maybe I was just being paranoid after the morning I've had but I didn't get that feeling from anyone else at the bar rail.
We talked about music for a few more minutes when I noticed the big Jacob-like guy slam half his beer in one gulp and put it down.
"Want another?" I asked making my way to stand in front of them. He still had this pissy look on his face and she was a little wide eyed but kind of looked familiar.
"Yeah." He muttered to the point where I almost didn't hear him.
"What were you drinking?" I asked.
"Budweiser." He muttered again and his glare narrowed a little. I tried to fight it but I probably glared back a little. I wasn't in the mood to deal with problem customers. I walked away and poured him his beer. The chick thanked me when I turned to walk away after setting his beer down and I was already ready to get this guy the fuck out of my bar. You're going to just sit there and let your girlfriend speak for you because you're too rude? It kind of left a bad taste in my mouth and suddenly I felt bad for this chick even though I knew absolutely nothing about the two of them.
It was hard not to compare relationships in my head to my own in the past even though I've know come to realize that I wasn't in a normal situation back then. I would never wish a relationship like mine on anyone and I would hope anyone in a situation like that finds the strength to get help. That's the most I could ask for.
I don't know why I was dwelling on this couple. For all I knew, they were madly in love and had great sex. That would be ideal and I hoped for this girl's sake that that was the case. Maybe he was having a bad day too and that's why he was so pissy. I felt annoyed at him for being in a bad mood and taking it out on everyone and I felt annoyed at myself for caring so much about something so petty. My emotions seemed to be all over the place today.
I was especially annoyed that I was dwelling on it when a couple minutes later they asked for the check, paid (he paid, I noted), and left without a word. That's what I wanted right? Them to leave so I wouldn't feel like I'm being stared at and for his pissy attitude to get away from me?
The night seemed to drag on and eventually all my regulars left and left me with an empty bar rail a little before 9 at night. It dawned on me after a while that Jacob never showed up after asking me if I worked. He never texted me back either which wasn't like him. He always seemed to be the one to get the last word in.
I decided to start washing all the bar matts and start wrapping up for the night. I was collecting all the matts off the bar when the door opened, forcing myself not to roll my eyes. Only I didn't need to when I saw it was Jacob walking in.
"Wow. Packed place." He made his way to the bar, setting his phone and wallet down.
"Hey. I was just thinking about you actually. Weird." I told him, throwing a couple of the rubber matts in the wash.
"Thinking good things, I hope." He smiled. He looked beyond attractive. Not that he's not always attractive and he wasn't even wearing anything out of the ordinary. A simple cotton shirt and a zip up hoodie with jeans. Maybe it was the relaxed million dollar smile that was doing it. Or maybe it was because I was having a crap day and just his presence seemed to make me happier.
The fact that him walking in alone was enough to make my crappy day better was kind of freaking me out. I didn't need to get attached especially when I had already made up my mind that nothing was going to happen between us. If he was even thinking along those lines…
I still had no idea.
"I was just thinking about how you texted me and then never showed up." I explained, not trying to give him any ideas. I turned around to pour him a beer before continuing with my cleaning.
"I figured I would keep you busy while you closed. Plus, now you have someone to walk you to your car at night." He shrugged and I couldn't help but openly stare at him. He came specifically to walk me to my car? I didn't know if I should be flattered or kind of freaked out.
"How chivalrous." I commented dryly. The sarcastic-ness in my voice didn't seem to deter him away from conversation.
"How's your day been?" He asked.
"Shit. You?" We fell into small talk pretty easily.
"I've been doing stuff around the house all day. Pretty mundane. What's been so shitty? Besides your lack of customers right now."
"Rough morning." I didn't want to get into the details with him. I didn't need him thinking I was some psycho ex girlfriend or just psycho in general. Though I wasn't too sure we could rule that out yet… "And then rude customers. Just a long day." I thought back to this morning, thinking about how that seemed so long ago by this point.
"Oh!" I remembered earlier. "I had this couple in here earlier and the guy reminded me of you. You know, built like a linebacker?" It left my mouth before I could really think about it. I hoped I didn't offend him. Thankfully he let out a little laugh.
"Really? Bet he wasn't as charming as me." He smirked.
"Oh gosh no. He was a fucking prick." I shook my head. "Really though, what is in the water out there? Is everyone on the reservation built like that? You should all get together and start a sports league." I rambled while pulling a rag out to start wiping everything down.
"Wait." His eyebrows pulled together and I realized I probably did offend him. "He was Quileute?"
I nodded. "Yeah. He was with a girl who looked native too. I'm assuming they were together. Kept whispering to each other." His eyebrows were still pinched together. "Why? Do you know who it is?" I asked. I realized then, if he did know them, I probably shouldn't have called the guy a prick.
"I mean, probably. He was with a girl?" He clarified and I nodded again.
"Yeah. She had long hair, pretty chick. I don't know what else to describe. I tried to avoid them after he kept glaring around."
"Paul." He practically growled.
"You know him? Sorry I called him a prick."
Jacob let out a snort. "He is a fucking prick. Don't worry about it. That means he was with Rachel. That's my older sister." He muttered the last part.
Oh shit. Well great, I was rude to her boyfriend and silently judging her relationship the whole time. So one of my only friends in this new town and I've managed to insult his family. I'm on a roll. He must have noticed my frown deepen.
"Don't worry about it. I can't stand Paul half the time." He rolled his eyes.
"Well that must be tough since he's dating your sister."
"Eh," He didn't look too thrilled. "He's family. I tolerate it." He took a sip of his beer while I walked away to start putting stuff away. "So he was a prick to you?" He kept questioning.
"Not really to me," I said to him from across the bar. I leaned over the register to turn the music down a little bit. "He was just being short and in a horrible mood. I feel like I wouldn't really have noticed if I wasn't also in a horrible mood." I hoped he wasn't going to go home and give Paul crap or anything. He really didn't do anything to me and I would feel pretty crappy about it.
"What's got you in a horrible mood?" He asked and I didn't really know how to answer it without giving details away.
"I'm not in a horrible mood anymore." I clarified.
"It's because I'm here now." That cocky smile took over his face.
"Whatever you have to tell yourself." I tried not to look at him.
"So you didn't tell, what was so bad about this morning?" He asked again. Was he not going to let this drop?
"Running on no sleep and trying to deal with loose ends from Everett. " I summarized.
"Did you deal with it?" He asked and I shook my head.
"No. I'll figure it out though. I did take a really nice nap before work though. That's been a highlight so far." I changed the topic.
"I haven't taken a nap in a long time." He glanced down when his phone lit up on the counter.
"It was pretty great. Had to wake up to an alarm and everything."
"Would you still be sleeping if you didn't have an alarm?" He asked, looking down at his phone with a frown. He must not have liked what he saw because he put it face down back on the counter.
"Probably. I feel like I don't sleep and that was the first time in a long time I've really knocked out." I rambled on, yet again.
"Why don't you sleep at night?" He asked with a small frown.
"Eh," I pulled out the small brushes that went into the tappers to protect them overnight. "I just don't sleep very well in general. Plus, I don't think I'm used to my apartment yet." I looked over at him and he still had a small frown on his face and didn't seem like he was going to comment back.
"I think I just need to make it more 'me'. I've been looking online for little knick knacks to jazz it up a bit." I continued to talk.
"There is a thrift store in town, I think." He finally commented.
"Maybe I'll check it out. I need something on the walls."
Making small talk with him was equally as easy as it was weird. It seemed so mundane and a little lame but for some reason I kept talking and he kept jumping in. I felt like it almost should be awkward but it's not. And I still have no flipping idea if he's been flirting with me or not. He makes flirty comments and jokes and then we end up in situations like this, talking about a thrift store. Nothing flirty about would someone who was just interested in being friends show up just to walk someone to their car? That seemed a little to chivalrous than friendly. Or maybe he was just genuinely a nice person and I wasn't used to having people like that in my life. Maybe I'm just overthinking everything.
"How's the car running?" He asked.
"Just fine. Haven't noticed any strange noises." I still needed to work out some way to pay him back, now that I think of it. "You still haven't let me pay you." I reminded him. He rolled his eyes but a smile started to grow on his features.
"I told you, you don't need to pay me. You bought the cheap ass parts and that's enough. I barely did anything." He waved me off.
"Come on. You changed the oil too. People pay to have that done so just let me pay you!"
"You can pay me back by hanging out sometime. You've been blowing me off." He had that cocky look again. I let out a small gasp.
"I have not been blowing you off! I'd just rather not hang out with a group of strangers." I explained myself.
"How do you think you make friends, Baylee. You start off as strangers." Duh, his face read.
I didn't really have an argument against that other than me being awkward.
"At least hang out with me." He continued.
"Hang out? Like we're fifteen?" I snickered.
"Is there an adult equivalent to 'hang out'?" He asked.
"Let's get together. Or maybe 'Let's meet up'." I guess he had a point with that too. "Oh, you know, I really liked that diner in town. Let's do lunch." That was a compromise, right?
"Lunch?" He thought about it. "Okay, I'll do lunch." He smiled and I couldn't help but smile back. I also realized I wasn't doing any of the cleaning I said I was going to do. I was getting distracted. "Tomorrow?" He added.
"I can do tomorrow. What time?" That was fast.
"What time works for you?" He asked leaning forward on the counter.
"Noon? I don't know. What works for you?" I asked, being that cliché indecisive girl.
"Noon is good. It's a date then." He leaned back and crossed his arms. His arms were so big I'm surprised they managed to cross easily. I suddenly had a mental image of Popeye pop into my head.
Then I realized he said it was a date. I shook my head.
"False. It's not a date. It's two friends meeting for lunch." I corrected him. I supposed I expected him to deflate a little but he just laughed.
"Whatever you say, Bay. I'm on your terms." He smiled, only this time it wasn't cocky.
"What does that mean?" I questioned.
"It means if you want to be friends then we're friends." He uncrossed his arms and leaned forward again on the counter. "And if you ever change your mind, then I'm here." Well that was a little cryptic. At first I was a little dumbfounded on how to respond but then I got the idea to play along with whatever he was trying to say.
"So if I wanted more than friends, you'll just be waiting? Are you that confident in yourself that you're going to make me change my mind?" I asked, crossing my own arms now.
"I guess I am." The smile was twisting into that smug one.
"So if I told you I wasn't interested in a relationship but I wouldn't mind if you came back to my apartment tonight, what would you say?"
I must have threw him a curve ball because the smile dropped a little and he looked surprised.
"R-Really?" He managed to spit out.
"We are strictly talking hypotheticals." I hopped I had that smug look on my face that he's been rocking for most of the night.
"Hypothetically then, that's what you're looking for?" He seemed a little too serious for my liking now. I thought we were joking and having a good time.
"Friends with benefits? No, because I don't believe in that. I don't believe two people could be that intimate for that long and not eventually start to feel something." I explained. "One night stands are an exception, I suppose."
"I agree." He finally commented after a few seconds of silence. "But people do start off as just friends and it eventually can turn into something more." Why was he trying to argue his point? He's not wrong, it does happen to people. That's how most relationships start off but that's not what I was looking for.
"Sure. But that's not what I'm looking for right now. So if you're waiting for me to wake up and suddenly realize I'm in love with you, I wouldn't hold your breath." I shot him down. Even though it's what I wanted and I wanted him to realize that too so he wasn't wasting his time, it still left a bitter taste in my mouth. I wasn't trying to hurt his feelings or anything.
"What makes you not in a place for a relationship?" He asked. I didn't really want to answer that.
"I'm just working on myself and getting my life together. My last relationship was a really bad one and I want to make sure I'm in a better place before I go back to anything like that." I surprised myself with the honesty in my own answer.
"What was so bad about it?" He kept digging. While I did just surprise myself with my honesty, I don't think I was ready to answer this one yet. Even if the words were coming out of my easily.
"Everything." I shook my head. "I'd rather not talk about it." I looked over at him to see he had a frown on his face. "What about you? Any ex girlfriends?" I asked, trying to get the conversation away from my past.
He snorted. "No." Was his only answer. Touchy subject too?
"I find that hard to believe." I told him over my shoulder while I counted the money in the cash register.
"Why's that?"
"Because you look like a football player met a Calvin Klein model." I gave him my best crossover. He busted out laughing and I smiled down at the money in my hands, happy that he couldn't see my face that was heating up a little. His laugh was contagious though and I couldn't help but giggle too.
"I like that!" He continued to snicker.
Eventually I did manage to finish everything and put all the money in the safe. Jake tried to pay me for the one beer but I waved him off.
"If you won't let me pay you for the car then I won't charge you for the beer." I had told him.
He stood behind me while I turned all the lights off and set the security alarm. I locked the door behind me and turned around to see him looking out into the woods.
"I think it's so creepy at night." I told him and he looked down at me.
"What? The forest?"
"Yeah. The longer I look at it, the more it freaks me out." I don't know what compelled me to tell him about it but the words were pouring from my mouth before I could stop them. "A while ago when I was still getting used to the apartment, I was taking Miles out and something was right at the edge of the trees just staring at me. Freaked the hell out of me."
He looked a little upset. "Something? You don't know what it was?" He asked but it seemed a little strained. Maybe he's seen this monster thing too.
"No clue. I could barely see a silhouette but it looked huge and we held eye contact for a bit. I still get freaked out about it at night if I think about it for long enough." Why was I still talking?
"I bet it wasn't anything threatening." I couldn't help but snort at that.
"Then why was it looking at me like I was something to eat?"
He didn't respond to that which I thought was a little strange. We fell into this weird silence and suddenly I didn't like standing out in the dark next to a forest.
"Well," I broke the strange silence. "I'll see you tomorrow for lunch then. I'll just meet you there?" I questioned but he still seemed a little distracted.
"Yeah, sure. Noon." He turned back to me and nodded.
"Thank you for walking me out." I gave him a hug, which he seemed happy about. He was warm as hell too. Felt amazing. "See you tomorrow. Text me if anything comesup." I told him while climbing into my car.
"Yeah. Can't wait."
One Hundred Sleepless Nights by Pierce The Veil
Also, was having issues uploading this. Ended up doing it through the app so I have no idea how to format looks or anything. Sorry for any mistakes!