I'll Take What I Can Get
"Well, it looks like times up Miss Anderson." Mr. Marx says, his eyes not meeting mine. I've been fidgeting in my seat since he scolded me for getting distracted by Jason. My few seconds of confidence was wasted on smiling at him cross the restaurant instead of answering questions so I could get an actual job. The husky man sitting across from me stood up, holding his papers to his side with one hand, offering his other over the table for a handshake. "It was nice to meet you, Emilia."
"Nice to meet you, too, sir." I reply, nodding my head at him with a large smile. Mostly relieved that it was over. The moment he was out of sight, walking out of the Apple Rose Grille and probably out of my life, I let my posture slump into the cushion behind me. My heavy blazer was shed onto the booth and a particularly painful hair pin that held up my bangs was removed. The clock above the restrooms told me it was about 6:15. And not being in the mood to eat whatever Karen fixed for dinner, I raised my hand to summon a waiter.
"I take it the interview didn't go very well." I hear from above me. My head lifted from the menu to see Jason himself standing at the end of my table. My face flushed as I laid the laminated paper on the table. My bangs were pushed behind my ear before I decided to respond.
"Yeah, well, that guy was a stiff anyways." I say, playing it off as if I didn't desperately want this job. "Working for stiffs is never a fun gig."
"Working, period, is never a fun gig. Let alone as a bust girl." He says. I let a small chuckle leave my lips.
I guess he's right. Maybe my bombed interview was for my own good. Who would want to work for a man like Mr. Marx anyways?
"I guess you're right." Jason gestured to the seat in front of me, silently asking if it was okay to take the spot of my interviewer. I nodded immediately. Who am I to keep a man like Jason waiting?
"So I never got your last name." Jason says after he is comfortable in the booth across from me. I shyly hide behind my menu, trying not to act as if I have never had an intimate conversation with a boy, let alone a man, before.
"Um, Anderson," I reply, letting my eyes skim over the seemingly endless choices for dinner. But, my emerald eyes find their way to the blue hue of Jason's eyes. "Yours?"
"Dilaurentis," He says, watching me intently.
"Wow, that's a mouthful." I joke, seeing his eyebrows pull in briefly, before they return to their relaxed position above his soft eyes.
"Yeah, I guess it is." His surname bounces around my head for a moment. It was familiar to me. Literally on the tip of my tongue. But, nothing came up. "So, any plans for this dull Tuesday night?" He pushed the conversation on lightly.
"Um, no, not really. The interview was all I really had planned." I respond. "But, I wasn't really up to going home, so I was going to grab something to eat and maybe take a walk or something." He nods, playing with the packets of Sweet and Low at the table.
"Well hey, now neither of us have to eat dinner alone." I smiled at him, watching him tear a pink packet of sugar substitute onto the table.
"I guess not," The conversation carried on slowly, the weather, plans for the weekend(I left out the party and just kept to painting), foods that looked good on the menu, and after our food is placed in front of us, finally we came across the subject of family.
"So what's the Anderson family consist of?" Jason asks curiously. I take a gulp of air before I answer.
"Um, me, my dad. My step-mom; Karen. And my half sister, Avery." I say dully.
"How old is your sister?" I can see that he wants to ask about Karen, but doesn't.
"Four," He nods, still holding his tongue about my mom. I mean, as far as he knows, my parents could be merely divorced. Separated by a means far less permanent than death. But, even so, it would be a touchy subject. But, his resolve breaks.
"So your mom and dad are..."
"My mom passed away ten years ago." I say. The last thing I wanted to do was beat around the bush. I hated doing that, and I hate when people do that to me.
"Oh," I shrug at him, letting him know that my wound is well healed from time. I've moved on. I haven't forgotten, far from forgotten, but I've moved on. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"It's fine, you didn't know." He nods, letting his fork push a piece of broccoli around his plate. "So, what about your family?" I ask, directing the attention off of me.
"Uh, at the moment, it's just me, but it used to be me and my mom and my dad and my sister." I smile at the fact we have something in common. Something simple and easy.
"Oh, how old is she?" My smile was not reflected back at me.
"Um, she died about three years ago." My grin dropped the second the word 'died' reached my ear canal. "She was fifteen."
"Oh my gosh," Finally it clicked. Jason's sister is the girl my dad had me read about in the paper. Jason's sister is the girl who was buried alive in their own backyard. "Your sister is Alison Dilaurentis." I said tactlessly. A silent moment passed over us. "I can't believe I just said that." A surprised chuckle bubbled from his lips, but not one of glee or amusement. One that made me realize how sad Jason really was.
"Um, yeah. That's her." I suck my lips into my mouth, trying not to say anything else stupid. "She went missing and my family couldn't stay here any longer so we all moved away from this town. We came back for her memorial and her funeral, but my patents couldn't stay in that house. Not after everything that happened. I left too."
"Wow. Well, I'm glad you were able to come back." I was sincere and honest. Just how I wish people would be with me after they learn about my mother. But somehow, I don't think I'll have that problem with Jason. I think he wants the same thing I do. To stop being pitied. I don't know if he took what I said a different way than I intended, but he smiled at me softly.
"Yeah, I am too."
I pulled my car into the driveway in front of my house. As I killed the engine I couldn't help but let a huge sigh pass my lips. I sighed because part of me didn't want this day to end, but, the other just wanted to crawl into bed and forget about everything. But, no matter what, what happened today, happened. All the good, and all the bad. So, I yanked the key from the ignition and exited the car.
I acted like a ghost, practically floating to my room. The last thing I wanted to do was talk to anyone. I mean, I should be giddy and giggly. The man who, I may or may not have a tiny, itty-bitty school girl crush on, sat and ate dinner with me while we had comfortable conversation. We even mildly flirted a tiny bit at a few points during the night.
But, I couldn't shake this bad feeling I had in my gut.
As I laid down in my bed to sleep, it didn't matter how I felt, because sleep- much like life- waits for no one.
"Ave, you have to get in the car." I said to the four year old in front of me, deadpanning.
"No!" Avery screamed back at me. "You can't make me." An exasperated sigh pushed it's way from my lips. She was putting up more of a fight than usual today. I swear her tantrums flip on like a light switch sometimes.
"Yes, I can." I retorted. My arms scooped up the resentful little girl and shoved her in the backseat. "Just like that."
"Treason!" She screamed in my face while I was buckling her seat belt. "Treason!"
"Shut up Avery! I don't want to hear it!" I yelled back. I instantly regretted getting loud with her, but I've lost my temper with her over less. After she was buckled in, I got in the front seat and started our drive to the day care center.
When I pulled into the school parking lot, everyone was already inside, probably already sitting in their classrooms too. Considering we had three minutes until school started. I gathered my stuff, booked it to my locker, dropped off unnecessary items, and picked up the items I needed. The warning bell rang over my head while I swung my locker shut.
To say I hauled ass to my English class was an understatement.
When my left foot crossed the thresh hold of the classroom the bell rang. I gave Mrs. Montgomery a sheepish smile, hoping she wasn't one of those "be in your seats when the bell rings or your tardy" type of teachers.
"You're pushing it Miss Anderson." She said sternly. I nodded and rushed to my desk. "Please try your best to be on time to my class." My head bobbed respectfully again, not wanting to get on her bad side. I took my seat behind Emily, giving Spencer, Hanna, Aria and finally Emily all polite smiles on my way. Aria and Spencer were the only ones who seemed polite enough at the moment to smile back. I could tell that Hanna was still cautious of me, so I wasn't surprised when she didn't smile back, but simply turned her head to Mrs. Montgomery as if she hadn't seen me. Emily looked too deep in thought to even be bothered to smile back.
But, I took what I could get.
The rest of the day went by smoothly. I sat with the Testosterone Train at lunch again. And when I saw Royce while I was walking to class, we waved at each other and said "hi". And when Chad and Damion passed me in the hallway, Damion yelled an almost crude, but funny, greeting at me while Chad ruffled my already messy hair. Chase even helped me get my stubborn locker open when he saw me struggling with it between classes.
Day 3 and I already was able to call a group of people my friends.
Maybe this party won't be too bad after all.
A/N
Okay I lied. the party was not in this chapter. please don't hate me. I literally was procrastinating so bad with this story. I was writing the whole time, to be honest. But, I would write like a little section each week and eventually I just felt bad for making you guys wait so long that I just decided to end it there and put the party in the next chapter.
the next chapter is in the works at this very moment and I can't wait for you guys to read it.
since im out of school for the summer now i will be able to update much more and this next chapter will honestly probably be done in about a week or so.
thank you to all who have read or followed or favorited or all of the above.
but a special thank you to tobyequalshottness(thank you so much), Guest(I will try to fit in the bf's but no promises for the next chapter. soon though :]), Guest, and emmaspeck(:]) for the lovely reviews.
xoxo
