Page 12 of The Pact

I smile brightly, apologizing for getting stuck inside my head.

“There’s nothing wrong with it, Ausra.” He smiles back. “I was just wondering if someone was rude to you or something. You seem deep in thought since you came back from outside.”

This stranger is very perceptive but I downplay the turmoil of emotions that’s warring inside of me and I hurry to collect the beers the guys just ordered.

“When you come back in, could I have another beer too? Maybe buy you one? Drinking with a pretty girl sounds much more fun than drinking alone.”

Oh gosh. I immediately refuse, blushing and saying something about not being allowed to drink when on the clock. Aaron isn’t ugly, don’t get me wrong but if I already felt out of my element when Shep flirted with me, I know that having a drink with a stranger who’s at least one decade older than me isn’t a great idea. I feel flattered that I’ve got more attention tonight than I’ve ever had in my whole life but while with the guys I felt tempted to accept if I had had a break, I know for sure that I wouldn’t be into Aaron.

5.

Dazed and confused

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Ausra

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THE NIGHT GOES FAST and we get a couple busier spells but there are two constants, the guys hanging around until late, ordering more drinks and trying to get me to stop at their table and Aaron drinking beer at the bar and engaging me in conversation every time there’s a lull with orders.

After Joe announces last orders and every punter remaining in the bar is served, I’m asked to help with clean up, so I don’t see the guys leave.

Again, I’m confused about the weird pull of emotions I feel toward them. I’m angry about the stuff they said about me six months ago but I have to admit I’m also intrigued about them and seeing them flirt with me tonight was fun. I keep going back and forth between telling myself that I’m an idiot for not telling them who I am and calling them out about being a bunch of pricks and admitting that they didn’t do anything different than most of the people I went to school with.

Maybe my dad isn’t completely wrong when he says that reflection is projection, I think as I wedge the backdoor open with my hip dragging out two heavy trash bags. Of course as soon as his words echo in my head, my heart fills with resentment. I’m not justifying the guys or all my classmates who laughed at my weird clothes that made me look like a hybrid between a character from The Handmaid’s Tale and The Little House on the Prairie. But I don’t entirely blame the way they felt about me because I looked so different that they must’ve not known how to approach me. It doesn’t justify them laughing at me but it’s understandable. And it’s exactly what my dad wanted. My sister had been popular at school and he wanted to avoid me running into the same kind of temptations. He said that so many times. His heart wasn’t in a completely bad place but turning me into a freak show definitely wasn’t the way he should’ve gone about protecting me. But then again, as usual, the only person Dad was protecting was himself and his business by safeguarding his family’s reputation.

I lift one of the trash bags above my chest, throwing it into the large dumpster that lines one of the walls of the narrow alley at the back of the bar. I stumble backward, losing my balance and expecting to land on my ass but instead my back meets a solid chest and a pair of hands steady me by holding my hips.

“Whoa careful there! Those trash bags are bigger than you.” Aaron’s voice reaches me together with the overpowering scent of his cologne.

I immediately make a point of walking away from him and out of his grasp, feeling uncomfortable about being alone with a complete stranger in this dark alley. “What are you doing here? This area is for employees only,” I say turning to face him and pointing at the sign by the backdoor that reads exactly “Employees Only.”

“I just saw you carry those heavy bags as I was getting out of the restroom and I thought it would be nice to help you,” he says with a smile and I take a step toward the bar’s door but Aaron steps closer to me effectively blocking my way.

“Thank you for your help but now if you don’t mind, I’m exhausted and I need to go home and you need to leave because we’re closed.”

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