Azaleas
A gloomy day with no sun...I was working in that hotel for hours, hours on end.
"Cooper, get your sorry arse in here in here right now to help with the customers. Seriously girl, what do you think we're paying you for?!"
"Honestly please, just a moment to myself for christ sake," I cried in anger. Joy always works me s'damn hard just because I'm a Yank. I'm starting to develop a slight accent. I wonder if it will go away...
"I said get the bloody hell in here you lousy Yankee or I'll put you out on the street with all the other airheads," Joy screeched.
"Fuck off," I muttered as I took my final drag. Damn. If it weren't for cigarettes and groceries I'd quit. I'd just fucking quit this job. Then Summer, Ryan, Seth and I could run away to the English country side just as we'd always planned. And yet here we were in London, working our asses off for no good reason.
"SERIOUSLY GET THE FUCK IN HERE COOPER!"
"Coming," I yelled back. I threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stamped it out with my worn out Converse. I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the window as I walked in. I looked like shit. Literally. My face was sooty, my hair greasy. I hadn't stopped working in days. My face was hard, as was my attitude toward the world right now. And then I saw Sum negotiating with that son of a bitch bell hop. And I softened a bit.
"Joy, there's barely anything to do here anyway. Why the hell d'ya need Sum and I here to keep working," I bellowed. Seriously, I was pissed. We had been working so many hours.
"Fuckin'ell," Joy mumbled. "Whatever, you're right Cooper, I'm sorry for keepin' you here so long. You two just shuffle on out now. I'll call up Madison and Morgan. They oughta be startin' there shift now anyway."
"Thanks," I beamed, and I looked to see Summer's reaction. But that stupid bell hop was still arguing with her. He pushed her. "Hey ass hole! Quit it!"
"I was just asking the broad for a coupla shillings for my hard efforts and she's refuses," the bell hop spat in a thick cockney accent. "Whatever George, just leave her alone," I muttered.
"Thanks Coop," Sum said to me and I shrugged it off. "We should go shower and then maybe try to meet up with the boys for dinner."
"If they're up for it," I said.
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"You shower first, I'm gonna try to contact the boys at work," Summer said. I nodded and walked into the bathroom. By now I was used to the grimy floor. I scrubbed off the dirt that was caked on my skin in layers from the days and days of filth. At night, Summer and I had been cleaning the rubbish out of the street in front of the hotel. And there was a lot of it. I'd lost track of the days. I didn't have time to get very clean, but by the time I was done with my shower I looked at least decent. One of the few things we'd spent money on besides necessities was the hair dye. I thought it was pretty important to stay unrecognizable, since we hadn't received news on Trey. I examined my self in the dingy mirror when I stepped out of the shower. It was very over grown, as was Summer's. We could've trimmed it, with scissors, like the boys were doing, but we'd decided not to. It was so stupid that we had to live this way. We wouldn't have to, except that the majority of the money we'd taken with us when we left Newport had been stolen one night.
"Alright Sum, you go ahead and shower," I called as I walked back into the room the four of us had shared for what seemed like an eternity.
"Kay Coop," Summer said as she ambled toward the bathroom. "Oh, the boys said they wanted to do dinner like we used to before we all worked so much," she added.
"Oh...well, cool," I said, a smile gracing my face. The first since I'd last seen or spoken to Ryan days ago before Summer and I started The Shift from Hell.
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Summer and I were at a decent grocery store. We walked a couple miles out of the place we lived, which was a ghetto, in order to go to a decent grocery store. We didn't want to risk dying of a poisoned tomato.
"Should we get ramen," I heard Summer ask me from somewhere far away. All I could think about was falling into the safety of Ryan's arms once more.
"Hmm..." I murmured.
"Ehmagawd!! Who was that?!" Once again, I heard Summer but did not fully process it.
"Ah..." I murmured as I continued to examine a stalk of celery. "Eh...Seth still thinks celery's gay thanks to Sum's dad..."
"Marissa! I could've sworn I saw my mom and my dad, and then they were gone," Summer breathed.
"That's impossible. Your mom's back in Alabama, and your dad's in the States. You're just not feeling well, you've been way overworked," I replied, trying to soothe Summer by rubbing her back.
"You're right, you're right..." Summer mumbled as she sighed into my arms. "Thanks Coop..."
By eight, we had made it home, and were stalking up the stairs sluggishly. By eight thirty, the boys were home. I felt so happy. Ecstatic, even.
"Ryan!!" I squealed, unable to control myself. Summer threw herself at Seth with such tremendous joy that I wouldn't have been surprised if the sky had begun to fall.
My memory fades here into a delicious pool of light as I remember the boys' news.
"So, we spoke with Joy at the Desk and she said it'd be fine if you two took some time off," Ryan said.
"So we were thinking, since we've finished our latest job, maybe you guys wanted to go the country, like we'd been planning," Seth added.
"Sounds good, but...I don't know, I don't know exactly where to go." I was overcome with giddiness and my words and animated alacrity pervaded throughout the room.
"Does it really matter precisely where," Summer smiled widely.
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The next day it happened. The best day of my life. The weather was cold, and it had snowed last night lightly, but enough to dust the country side in a light white haze. We'd gotten a lift from a middle aged man driving to his cottage. He dropped us off in the center of his little town, in the square built of stone. It was quaint and beautiful. The town was called Smith. Summer and I stopped in at a dress shop while Seth and Ryan went exploring in search of an Inn.
"Hello ladies," said the man at the front desk said to Summer and I as we ambled in, hand in hand. I wore a pleasant smile, as did Summer.
"Hi," Summer sang. Yes, I do believe she sang her greeting. I snickered at her a bit, but secretly, hearing Summer so happy allowed my heavy heart lighten its burden a bit.
"How can we help you," asked a polite lady with rosy cheeks and curly dark hair.
"Ah...just coming on through," I replied.
"They look like angels mum," a small child sitting beside the curly haired lady murmured loud enough that Summer.
"That's nice of you to say Charlotte," said the curly haired lady.
"Ladies, would you mind if we tried to make you some dresses? Charlotte here has little experience and needs to learn some of the trade," said the lady, whose name we later learned was Annette.
"Sure," I said. Summer smiled her million dollar smile.
The seamstresses cut and measured and adjusted for about an hour. I was amazed at the cotton creations the women had formed. From blocks of white fabric impeccably designed and sewn into dresses that fit Summer and I so well you'd think–well, they had been made for us. Eventually, the boys happened upon us, grinning with immense energy.
"Wow, you guys look beautiful," Ryan said softly as he entered the shop, the door alerting me of his presence with a light ding.
"You look like those white azaleas we saw while we were wandering around," I heard Seth whisper in Summer's ear. She laughed.
"Are you comparing me to a flower," Summer inquired in a voice that you might think indicated she was annoyed. But I knew it made her heart leap when Seth said cheesy things like that to her.
"Cut it out you two," Ryan smirked.
"There's some place we wanted to show you," Seth said smiling widely. I opened my mouth to comment, but Ryan interrupted.
"Come on now. No arguments. You two are coming with." Summer nodded and made a motion to go change. I walked up to Ryan, raised my eyebrows and kissed him lovingly.
"And you might need those dresses," Seth added as he and Ryan went outside, presumably to wait for us.
"Um...okay..." I said. But Summer's eyes twinkled like she knew something now that I didn't.
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It could easily have been the best day of my life without the series of events that happened next.
Sum and I had been imagining this day for a long time. Maybe since...wow...I don't know. In my dream, I'd always pictured Summer at my side. More recently, Ryan and Seth had been included too. I'd never pictured it would be in a chapel in England. But somehow, this was where I'd ended up on my wedding day.
